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In Need of some advice!
The last few days i have played quiete alot of mtt's and im mostly a cash player. I find myself having the same tournament and im looking for advice on how to improve, i will usually start well say if the starting chips were 3,000 id usually of been x3/x4 times up by an hour so i will usally be in the cash places, as soon as it starts getting later in tournament im losing my blinds and i see my stack reduce and eventually go out on a hand i didnt fancy but felt i had no choice but to go on it. Do i need to play widder ranges from worser positions/bluff more/ squeeze more ?
Iv asked for advice because it keeps happening and it i think its pointless to keep playing unless i improve on it, thanks for any help
Robbie
Iv asked for advice because it keeps happening and it i think its pointless to keep playing unless i improve on it, thanks for any help
Robbie
Comments
To help answer a bit more info is needed....
Are you just folding away to get to the situation where you have to shove? How many BB are you shoving with and from what sort of position?
The above will help me answer but you may need to steal some pots to maintain your stack while waiting for big hands. Min raising late on can normally get the job done (eg winnings the blinds) so I would suggest raising from late position (ideally button) with any 2 and you should win the blinds. The fact you have a poor hand doesn't always matter. If the table is paying attention and realising you are playing tight they will call you (or at least they should) with a tighter range so most of the time the bet gets through.
You may also need to think about the hands you are playing given it is a 6 handed table and open your range.
Also with Sky having no antes you can get yourself down to say 8BB and then shove however you need to be aware of what you are shoving with and from what position. The later you are, the wider you can shove with.
Hope this helps
Matt
Bare in mind first of all that MTT's have a high variance, and you won't cash or run deep every time. Your aim with them is to try and run deep when you do get to the later stages, and so yes this will require some risks at times. If you play cash you should be used to making use of BTN/CO postions to steal blinds when you need to mainain your stack size, as its a needed thing in MTT's due to the blinds constantly raising where in cash them being constantly set means its not as much of a bother.
If you get a reasonable stack and have a fairly tight table then yes for sure you can open your range and bully the table a bit more. Just always be aware of others stack sizes to your left and base your aggression on how likely they are getting to be shoving etc and if you are going to want to call or fold etc if they do.
For short stacking as is said above you can go down to about 8bb stack I guess, though I generally try to avoid going below 10bb before looking for a hand to get it all in with.
Anyway your question is quite complex to cover in a forum post. I'd suggest reading some books on MTT play if you really want some ideas on how to play the stages of the tournament and some hand ranging ideas etc.
Say you have K2 on the button and 25BBs. This is a fair stealing oppertunity but it's a raise-fold situation. You are sure you have the worst hand if you get 3-bet and if you get called you can proceed with caution, maybe even c-bet depending of flop texture but you have decided that you are not likely enough to be winning at showdown if you flop a king to justify getting it all in down the streets.
In another example you might have AK on the button with 25BBs. Here you are raising 2x again but this time you will shove to any 3-bet (call any shove) and c-betting most flops, happy to get it in with TPTK on the flop and resigned to the chance that you might get unlucky vs a better hand.
The trickiest hands to play in these spots are the ones in between. KJ, QJ, A9 99 etc. These hands are unlikely to be the best hand if you get 3-bet but feel too good to fold. Here you need reads and if there is a short stack (<12BBs) in the blinds then it might be better to just open shove since it's pretty unlikely the blinds have a hand that can call you.
Bold section 2: This is not true. Stealing blinds in cash are useful as you should know if you mostly play cash, but in MTT's you have to do it to maintain your stack. Doesn't mean you have to try to steal every time its folded to you in CO or BTN, but you have to do it, and I'm normally looking to start around when the BB gets in the 200 range for sure, and maybe a bit sooner.
Bold section 3: Yes stealing blinds is obvious, and has ben obvious since poker began pretty much, and we all know it. However it doesn't change that you can't really do much about it if you are in the blinds with no hand. Sure you could play back at them with nothing thinking they have nothing, but are you sure the time you play back its not the time they do have a hand? No, so the same is for you on the BTN. Sure sometimes they will play back or call, but lot of people won't fight to hold their blinds to a raise without a hand. You saying this sort of thing makes me wonder if you watch your table closely enough. So study the people to your immediate left and right closely, as those you need to be most on top of, and so if you study you can find out how tight they are and how likely your steals get through them when its time.
As was said above you don't have to risk lots to go at the blinds once the blinds are at a reasonable level as its harder to call with random hands OOP because they are watching their stack sizes too. So while you may open 3-4x early you can drop down to more like 2.5bb during middle stages and down to 2x a bit later when really they just won't call or raise without a hand because its too costly to their stack.
if you just have a shoving stack then you have to pick spots
if your doing nothing, then why are you surprised your stack whittles away
like it or not you have to get busy, most MTT end with people shoving 10-20bb stacks in order to win
if you have a 30-50bb stack then use it