Any help would be appreciated-struggling in later stages of MTT's

KidPoker3

Hi guys just a quick one.

I am dabbing into the MTT's lately and i seem to bed into most of them quite well,stay around the chip average and genuinely have a chance at making the final table.

But i seem to be struggling and lulling when the blinds reach around 300/600,i cant seem to put my finger on what is going wrong,things dont really work out and it seems im not getting the cards.

Do i need to open my range up the further stacked and deep i get? or is it just down to the luck of the cards.

I play the same game i play all the way through the tourney and try to adapt as i go,

Any help would be greatly appreciated,thanks guys and gals

big_mick12

You need to be opening your stealing range from the button and the cutoff. You need the blinds to stay alive. Also if you get a some resistance from the blinds make cbets you will be surprised how many fold to a cbet. People think that they must defend there blinds and its mostly with junk. 

I could go into huge detail about cbetting and on what flops to do it on, but with experience you will learn. But remember you can wait for hand you need to be stealing blinds to stay alive. Everyone does it and sometime you get lucky and flop massive.

DOHHHHHHH

Go even deeper than that Mick, and huge detail. wud be gr8!

500 runner tourny, chip leader, 20 left...

big_mick12

Ok maybe huge detail was an exaggeration. Just things like..... Know you oppo who will defend light and c/f alot of flops. Which will donk bet with air or even a piece of the flop and with a go running to a raise and are willing to add more chips then just 1.5bbs. 

Then flops texture which flops are good to cbet on, iv lost alot of chips in tournys cbetting the wrong flopd. Draw heavy flops just check behind even make a delayed cbet on turn if check to twice. People like to call in the blinds with suited connectors and stuff like J10, so a Kd 10d 9c its not a flop to cbet on as its very connecting and your A rag is not looking to strong.

Also on the flip side if you flop a big draw i rather check behind to try and hit my big draw then bet and get raised off, this way educes bluff also on the turn.

Dry flops are very good to bet into they rarely hit are oppo and your cbet cannot be called. In the CO we hold AK, we raise he flop comes 9 4 2 rainbow. It is very unlikely that this flop has helped our vilain unless he has 99, 44, or 22. Even though we missed completely a cbet here gets the job done most of the time.

we do not want to be C-betting OOP in multiway pots. We still have a players left to act behind us and we have no idea where they stand because they have not acted yet.

cbetting and blind stealing is very important in tournament poker and you will get used to seeing which flops are good and which are bad.

The big thing not to forget is the importance of mixing up your play. Check/raise with good and bad hands. Check/call and lead the turn. Continuation bet monsters and air, and marginal hands, but also check behind on the flop with them

Ok just a few thing i think about when "trying" to blind steal, it can go horribly wrong lol.

Im sure you didnt need advice from me though  being a TPer dohhhhhhh your a fine player. Hows the tounrament going??

unknown_username

You've had some good answers there and I can't add much. There are some general points though that you need to fix on.

You have to decide what you want to do. Do you want to make the money, as your bank roll needs a fix. Or, do you want to FT and get into the big money. If you want to win it then you must retain folding equity no matter what. That will mean you taking risks well before the bubble. You don't have to be the CL but you must maintain your stack in order to successfully make any moves. Other players will be in the same position as you, lots of them, and you need to pick out the weak ones amongst them. The CL's at your table will only back off if you have sufficient chips to do them damage. Waiting for the monster hand rarely works because generally by the time it arrives your folding equity is so low you will get called, sometimes multiple callers. Better to take control by being the aggressor. This of course means that you will often crash out earlier than if you were to hang on for dear life, but that's the price you pay for trying to win it. The reward is that when it comes off, you will be in good order to make the most of it, and most importantly your mindset will be a winning mindset not a surviving mindset. One big win generally cancels out all the minor payoffs achieved by hanging-on ........... and some. 

Mtt's are like a minefield that has to be negotiated and progressing further up the finishing order is part of learning to understand the dynamics of a tournament. Have the courage to lose and you will find the secret to winning.

I could ramble on, and I'm probably stating the obvious, so I'd better stop.

Seagull158

"In order to live you must be willing to die" - Amir Vahedi

unknown_username

In Response to Re: Any help would be appreciated-struggling in later stages of MTT's:

"In order to live you must be willing to die" - Amir Vahedi
Posted by Seagull158

WP tonight Seagull, a fine performance....... are you sure you didn't steal my blinds?

MAXALLY

In Response to Re: Any help would be appreciated-struggling in later stages of MTT's:

In Response to Re: Any help would be appreciated-struggling in later stages of MTT's : WP tonight Seagull, a fine performance....... are you sure you didn't steal my blinds?
Posted by elsadog

I only saw him steal one lot.....but he did show the K 10 nuts!!!  

Seagull158

In Response to Re: Any help would be appreciated-struggling in later stages of MTT's:

In Response to Re: Any help would be appreciated-struggling in later stages of MTT's : WP tonight Seagull, a fine performance....... are you sure you didn't steal my blinds?
Posted by elsadog

Thanks Elsa. I stole as many as I could but, as Maxally pointed out, only when I had K 10, the absolute nuts!