Tips for beginners who want to make their first cash in a MTT

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knocker

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Making your first cash is like making your first birdie in golf. It seems like a high mountain to climb that you're just never going to get over. But once you do it once, and you've got that out of the way, making birdies is a whole lot easier.

The first thing you have to know is that you really don't have to do very much to cash in a big online tournament. You really don't. But you don't know that until you do it once. The first time you try, you start with 5000 chips, you imagine you need 500.000 to get to the bubble, so you go nuts taking all kinds of silly chances and you're gone in 3145 place. The truth is in most tournaments you can make it to the cash with just 20,000 chips. Some even less than that. Take the $11 Sunday Storm at pokerstars for instance. You start with 10,000. If you can get to just 20,000 chips and stay there, you will cash. So as a rule, shoot for 25,000 no matter whether you start with 5 or 10 thousand. 20 or 25 gets you to a cash. You don't need a one million stack to do it. Just play steady small ball poker, small pots, take a few chips here and there when you have a good hand. Don't feel like you have to make J/5 into AA to do it. Muck the J/5.

Play in tournaments with long blind levels and big starting stacks. You want 10 or 15 minutes per level and 5 or 10 thousand to start. That way you can afford a few 500 beats in the early levels, and it doesn't put you right out of the tournament. That way there's not so much pressure to build a stack quickly. You can remain calm, muck the bad ones, play the good ones. Being calm and patient is about 90% of what will get you there. Don't play turbos or hypers with 5 minute levels and 1,500 starting stacks. In 15 minutes you're going to be running scared, if you last that long. Don't put yourself into that situation.

One thing you have to understand about big tournaments is that eventually you reach a point where small stacks can no longer keep up with the blinds and start going all in. And once it starts happening the field goes from 3000 players to 800 in about a half an hour. Every time you look at the leader board there's 300 people less. That's going to happen probably about or 3 hours in. Don't get discouraged when you see you're 1846 out of 3460 players. When the dam finally breaks, and it will happen all at once, people start flowing off the tables like a river. Just be cool and wait it out.


You have your 25,000 chips, all hell is breaking lose, people are going to the rail left and right. This is the time you have to play tight. Only play made hands, only call bets that are cheap and only when you know you're good. Keeping your 20 or 25,000 is what you have to do. Tables will begin to close, you'll probably be shifted around. That's good when you see that. It means you're getting close, almost there. Don't worry about losing blinds. They'll probably be about 1000 every time the BB comes to you. 1000 or 1200 is usually what it is. But don't worry, you got more than enough to make it. Let those muck hands go when you have nothing in the BB and SB.


Keep watching the stats, the knockout rate will start to slow a little but will remain steady. It's not ever going to stop until the bubble is made. The last 50 or 100 go pretty quickly, in 10 or 15 minutes, maybe less. Make sure you're not one of them. If you've made a mistake and got knocked back down to 5000 just fold everything and wait it out, you'll still make it.

Congratulations buddy, you made your first big tourney cash. Now don't get stupid and just throw all in with K/2 the moment the bubble is made. That's what everybody does. That's what I did my first time. You don't want to that because this is when the real tournament starts. You could make it deeper and make even more money. Don't sell yourself short. You made it this far. One good pair of pocket queens and you maybe get to 40,000. Then you got some chips to play with. It's a whole new game after the bubble. Stay in it if you can with the same calm poker you played all along. Only now when you got a good hand you get in there and take some serious chips with it instead of sitting back. And if you go, you go. But this time you go away happy.

Good luck, good poker.
 
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brettlums

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Seems like some solid advice thanks.
 
Amanda A

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Good advice if your goal is to make the money, although there is also something to the ideas of taking on more risk in the middle stage of the tourney to increase the chances of winning or coming in near the top although you will min cash less often.. Let's face it, your not going to make much money in poker by min cashing.
 
57noona

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Good advice if your goal is to make the money, although there is also something to the ideas of taking on more risk in the middle stage of the tourney to increase the chances of winning or coming in near the top although you will min cash less often.. Let's face it, your not going to make much money in poker by min cashing.


I agree with Amanda A. If you want to finish in the top end of the Tourney you are going to need to take more risks.
 
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knocker

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Yeah, you're right Amanda. You want to play tournaments a little tougher than that. The point of it is, once you cash once, it at least gives you some idea how to do it a second time. And it's really not that hard to do. Learning general discipline and patience, learning how to muck cards that belong in the muck, and making good good plays when things are in your favor is what the beginner has to learn. Playing a calm patient game is a good way to start learning.
 
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knocker

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I agree with Amanda A. If you want to finish in the top end of the Tourney you are going to need to take more risks.

I don't disagree, except that the beginner isn't going to make it to the final table. He probably won't make it through the first 5 levels calling every bet on the table with J/9 and betting the pot every time he hits bottom pair like he does in the freerolls. Learning patience comes before learning when to strike.
 
liuouhgkres

liuouhgkres

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Upvoted just for effort you put in making this post. Although I kind of disagree with your premise, because I think we shouldn't really care about making ITM, I can appreciate your good intentions. Most of new members make ridiculous bot like posts, good to see something different. Keep it coming.
 
Brandlad

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Your strategy is ideal for minimum cashing in normal tourneys but you are not going to reach at the final table because of this strategy. If your goal is the minimum cash then it is okay but if you are playing for final 9 then you need to take some risks.
 
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paapcity

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Well you cant as beginner(or you must be very lucky) reach the final table of a big MTT. So i think Knocker gave this plan to at least be in the cash once to get the vibes of it.

Besides that learning how to be patient in big tourneys can be a big advantage in the future tourneys , so i get why knocker shared this story with us.
In poker patience is a big key.

In my eyes aiming for a big win will be at a later stage, not as complete beginner.
So getting a min cash isnt that bad to start with.
 
Lena M

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Hello.
I am convinced that for beginners, the best option is freerolls. Thanks freerolls, beginners can get valuable experience and a good opportunity to improve the game. Sometimes, even beginners can successfully build a small bankroll playing freerolls.
 
evildoesit2003

evildoesit2003

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You need a lot of patience to play in those I should know I played a ton of freerolls before ever playing any cash games.
 
dino

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I do agree with you on that.
For someone new to the poker, it makes sense to play freerolls to learn about stakes, hand values, percentage, position, etc.... and to get out of them quickly as they get in, as soon when they build a small bankroll to play other games.
If they just stick to freerolls, they will be just freeroll players, and have freerolls mentality.

Also, on OP, thanks for writing this, it's informative from your side. but if you play for min cash and learn how to get there, great.
But, play just for ITM, is not good in a long run.
Have to take calculated risk, to get on FT, not just ITM.
:)
Thanks again for writing this, someone may/can find useful.

Hello.
I am convinced that for beginners, the best option is freerolls. Thanks freerolls, beginners can get valuable experience and a good opportunity to improve the game. Sometimes, even beginners can successfully build a small bankroll playing freerolls.
 
V_Sigme

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thanks for an advice, have won my BR only on frerolls, as the commentators rightly pointed out, if you want to be a big stack in a tournament, you have to accept that sometimes you need to shove and sometimes you will lose even with the AA :D
 
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