Tight or loose? Which is more profitable in MTTs?

[helpspb]

Tight or loose? How about smart?! I don't think there's one way that will always work for you ... You need to watch for good opporunities and use them. Generally, I think tight aggressive is best but it doesn't mean that you have to keep folding and folding.... If you see you have super tight players around, you can exploit that. If there are maniacs at your table who go all in every single hand, then wait for your chance. Patience is a virtue

Also from my experience, it's not as important to double up early in MTTs. Lot of ppl seem to think so, but as long as you keep your stack around average size it's fine. Play your game. I wouldn't take unnecessary risks early in the game, even if it's just freeroll, only to double or triple up. Blinds are tiny at the beginning, no need to risk it all really.

 

[hffjd2000]

I still believe being tight is the right strategy. It somehow protects you from losing much.

But since poker is situational, you have to change gears for a while.

 

[danyclub80]

play tight tournament Micro is not the best but loose could help you get in a good position to award .
Instead, for the major tournaments playing loose could be very risky and you might win playing it tight .

 

[Lexxx]

I feel your pain on this one. Just busted out I raised pre-flop with AA and got shoved all in by a J4 and lost. Hey at least it was suited. With that being said free-rolls are a whole different world and take a complete different mindset to even play in.

Exacty! That´s diferente everyday. freerolls are Always a surprise!

 

[SwiftHax]

In lower stakes tight is best, but when getting late into the tourney and going against tighter players that can fold marginal hands pre-flop and post-flop you can start playing looser and float pots, etc.

 

[gklcap]

In Turbo Freerolls, as long as there are no raises, I will limp in with any 2 cards when the blinds are 10/20 or 15/30. Playing tight is pointless IMO in Turbo MTTs. The blinds creep up on you too fast and if you aren't catching cards, you'll be forced to shove with very mediocre holdings quite soon.

Also, I think it is better to check/call your draws until you hit it. Playing your draws aggressively rarely works because the people you are playing against do not know the meaning of the word FOLD. They will call your re-raises with their bottom pair or Ace High.

 

[Benman120]

Exacty! That´s diferente everyday. Freerolls are Always a surprise!

People play freerolls super loose so playing tight can work there as well.

 

[subdylzep]

It can go either way, Many players are profitable playing either style, its understanding your opponents, the math and the game itself that makes the play work. You generally have to adjust depending on how the table is playing, if they are playing super loose you may want to tighten up, if they are playing super tight its easy to take chips playing a little more loose, just dont get over committed to any pot. Its about reading your opponents and playing against their style, not just playing your own. Im generally just a solid, tight player, but i have played very loose in certain situations when i know i can get away with it, and when i know it will psychologically disturb my opponents. It just depends on what works for you, if you played really well by playing loose in the tournament maybe you should think about playing looser in general. If you play tight and end up never getting enough chips then maybe you need to play looser just in general to get more chips. I generally play tight, but allow myself to make some pretty loose calls when i have some chips to try and outflop my opponents and get in where implied odds are high, so i make up my tight play by getting the pot odds and implied odds. If you are always tight you will never obtain enough chips to make those calls where you are 50/50 and it wont hurt your stack. Whereas, when you play loose you can gain a lot of chips and make loose calls preflop where you are 60/40 or 50/50 and it wont hurt you much if you lose because its only, say 10% of your entire stack. This is why a lot of times loose play becomes great in tournament play, The only problem is that if you take a couple big losses in a row or end up playing a less than strong hand preflop, you will get yourself into cooler situations where you cant lay down your hand against tighter players with stronger hands. You should basically adjust according to your table, but it sounds as if you dont play loose enough in your general "tight" play to get enough chips to make it to 1st place, So try to loosen up a bit, but still keep your wits about you, thinking about pot odds, %s, implied odds, players to the flop, time in the tournament, and your chip stack. Good luck in future tournaments and congrats on your first place.

 

[robertocoelho]

I also play very tight, I'm trying to be very aggressive, more difficult this

 

[jacksonionh]

I'd say as a very general statement, tight in beginning, tight still but a bit more loose and aggressive in the middle, much more aggressive around the bubble, then play controlled (a good balance) towards the end. Of course it still also all depends on your stack size but this is a good general base to follow.

 

[kdawg71]

I just pick and choose my spots more than anything. I try to find out what the mood is on the table and if I see a pattern than I try to manipulate it. Basically what I am saying is that I try to play what I consider to be a smart style of play and when I see an opportunity I make the most of it.

 

[bakreni]

if you have rush end you cant lose play loose..but i think tight is right

 

[gryphon3005]

I play in early position, blinds etc, and loosen up on the button and in late positions. Most folks, like in this thread, play tight. I try to figure out early who they are. When they raise I fold unless I have AA or KK. If they limp or fold to me then I'm raising.

 

[Gaviria8]

Depending of the tournament, if you're talking about Cardschat Freerolls and low buy-in, Tight-Aggresive is right

 

[playinggameswithu]

Tight is the incorrect way of playing in my opinion in the beginning of an MTT...just my opinion because you will never be as deep as you are which means loose speculative nut strong play is the optimal. You want to play loose speculative hands to stack someone getting your stack in only with the nuts and avoiding run outs.

 

[Flight777sem]

You need both of them. It’s about right time and right play. Start it tight and get agro every new stage, it’s gotta keep going up !!

 

[AxelJPB77]

tight game

since or personal, it is not to play tight.
Better impose law from a prnciple.
You will have better results.

 

[igrok8503]

In free tournaments tight, in MTT and SnG-more agressive.