My first big live MTT. Advice please.

bandini

Posted it on the ask TSP thread first but I'm going to copy it here too. Ant advice gratefully recieved my friends;



Hi TSP.

A little advice if you could please.

I've just paid into the biggest live MTT I've ever contemplated. Ok, the only big MTT I've ever contemplated.

I've played live a few times before and even got interviewed on Ch.865 regarding a thread I'd written regarding live play. Got tons of good advice from the community and Tikay was his typically gently self in the advice he gave me. I learnt loads. It's stood me well.

But now I've a quandry.

A structure that's new to me.

It's not hugely stacked but the blinds are very slow moving. You start with 25,000 chips. The blinds start at 100/200 and move up slowly, per hour if I'm not mistaken. There's expected to be 120 runners. I know non of the other players. I'm fairly new to the game but have no fear.

How would TSP recommend I approach this? Nitty for the first day like Tikay pretends he does? Or totally loco like I've seen ljamesl do on ch.865 when it comes to tourneys?

Any suggestions most gratefully recieved.

The_Don90

I always start evens like this ultra aggressive for the first blind level then nit up. I like a loose image at a table where i then nit up and then get paid. The risk with this is that if you dont hit a hand after that first blind level and you lose a few you can blind out easy.

Ms_Chips

Well, i'm not sure if your asking for advice on how to play the tourney... or asking advice on whether you should play like Tikay or James. So i suggest another style, Tikay + James = Dwan... (Yeh right) Then it comes down to table image and cards. Very good luck ya, hope you do well.

DeucesLive

Well, for my liking- in a structure as deep as that, it's about gear changing. You need to switch between playing tight and aggressive as the blind structure dictates, and use your image to the table to keep everyone offguard. If it's a high buyin, deep tournament- a lot of the players will be more than good enough to read your image enough to respect it.

Early on, stay quiet- don't worry about limping a few pots to hit a monster, but ONLY do it with proper cards- any suited cons and lower pairs. Don't get carried away raising, keep pot size manageable, and don't call raises unless you have enough invested with a moderately decent hand. If you get a big hand, throw in a raise and see how the table reacts. But don't get tied to hands like AQ early, if someone comes back over the top- don't be afraid to muck it.

When antes are introduced, keep an eye out for them- because it's the time to start stepping up and stealing more. Even if people know you're at it, it's still hard to play back without a hand. At this point (say like 4/5 hours in) you want to have around your starting stack, a little less is fine too. Anything around 20k. A couple of small pots here will get you straight back up- early on, it's just not worth getting involved unless you have the absolute nuts.

Then it's a case of being aggressive until you feel the table's onto you, then tighten up your range dramatically, but make the same plays with the big cards as you were with the smaller cards. With any luck, you'll start getting action from inferior holdings. Just kind of go with the ebb and flow, and aim to be the one dictating the pace where possible.

If you see someone else is constantly at it and raising, don't be afraid to shove on him with a hand that plays well postflop (89s/pps/strong ace). Almost always he'll end up folding (if your stack's still big enough) and it'll make him think twice about raising your blinds in future, just putting doubt in opponents minds.

I really, really recommend Hansen's book if you want to learn about deepstack tournament play- I think that guy has the best handle on it of anyone I've seen.

bandini

In Response to Re: My first big live MTT. Advice please.:

I always start evens like this ultra aggressive for the first blind level then nit up. I like a loose image at a table where i then nit up and then get paid. The risk with this is that if you dont hit a hand after that first blind level and you lose a few you can blind out easy.
Posted by The_Don90

Interesting Don.

I prefer to give the image of a total Nit. And then go through the gears. But that's maybe a hackneyed approach?

There are no truths in poker though. A unique approach is quite possibly a winning one.

bandini

In Response to Re: My first big live MTT. Advice please.:

Well, for my liking- in a structure as deep as that, it's about gear changing. You need to switch between playing tight and aggressive as the blind structure dictates, and use your image to the table to keep everyone offguard. If it's a high buyin, deep tournament- a lot of the players will be more than good enough to read your image enough to respect it. Early on, stay quiet- don't worry about limping a few pots to hit a monster, but ONLY do it with proper cards- any suited cons and lower pairs. Don't get carried away raising, keep pot size manageable, and don't call raises unless you have enough invested with a moderately decent hand. If you get a big hand, throw in a raise and see how the table reacts. But don't get tied to hands like AQ early, if someone comes back over the top- don't be afraid to muck it. When antes are introduced, keep an eye out for them- because it's the time to start stepping up and stealing more. Even if people know you're at it, it's still hard to play back without a hand. At this point (say like 4/5 hours in) you want to have around your starting stack, a little less is fine too. Anything around 20k. A couple of small pots here will get you straight back up- early on, it's just not worth getting involved unless you have the absolute nuts. Then it's a case of being aggressive until you feel the table's onto you, then tighten up your range dramatically, but make the same plays with the big cards as you were with the smaller cards. With any luck, you'll start getting action from inferior holdings. Just kind of go with the ebb and flow, and aim to be the one dictating the pace where possible. If you see someone else is constantly at it and raising, don't be afraid to shove on him with a hand that plays well postflop (89s/pps/strong ace). Almost always he'll end up folding (if your stack's still big enough) and it'll make him think twice about raising your blinds in future, just putting doubt in opponents minds. I really, really recommend Hansen's book if you want to learn about deepstack tournament play- I think that guy has the best handle on it of anyone I've seen.
Posted by DeucesLive

Thanks for that mate. Appreciated and every word taken on board.

If you mean "Every hand revealed" then I've already read it. Brilliant as I thought it was, that's him writing about the one he won. And I bet he's crashed and burnt more often than not :-) But it's winning play to play for the win for sure. I love Hansen too. Might just read it again before next weekend's tourney :-)

POKERTREV

Against a field of unkowns you have to be the aggressor, show them whos in command of the table, re-raise to any raise against your big blinds and get some respect.

After that you can nit a little knowing that small bb is not going to try and pinch your chips. Make your mark pre-flop, try and take the hand without having a showdown (Showing your Cards) unless you hit big of course.

The_Don90

In Response to Re: My first big live MTT. Advice please.:

In Response to Re: My first big live MTT. Advice please. : Interesting Don. I prefer to give the image of a total Nit. And then go through the gears. But that's maybe a hackneyed approach? There are no truths in poker though. A unique approach is quite possibly a winning one.
Posted by bandini

Yea, i only play what works for me, and this works for me live, i play a completely different game on the net. Never knew why. I just always liked a looser image pre. I remember a few times when people have came up to me at the break and said stuff like "you do nothing but steal" and my personal favorite "That 72 hand what where you thinking."

I then sit back down wait for my hand, and boom, "cheers mate"

DeucesLive

(yea, he did win that and I bet he's crashed many times- but like you say, it's about playing to win, and that tournament was a perfect example of how if you go in with a pressure mentality, and keep making your opponents pay to enter any pots, you're going to leave them in danger. Look who his biggest challenge was all tournament- Jimmy Fricke- another guy who was raising and re-raising literally everything. Look at Andy Black, who just faded and died under their constant pressure. Definitely recommend a re-read before you play too if you're naturally aggressive, helps get me in the zone to play.)

And Don, I know what you mean- you want to have one image whilst playing the other, but I think you got it the wrong way round- it's almost always better to convey a tight image than a loose one where possible, because so much of live tournament poker is about stealing. Especially when you get antes introduced, stealing becomes your method of survival- not winning huge pots. If you have a loose image, you'll find steal attempts won't get through, and sure- you might get a call when you have that monster hand. But then you're still putting yourself at risk. Far far better to chip away, taking down as many preflop pots as possible and watch your stack gradually dominate the field.

That's the beauty of poker though, no real right or wrong way just do whatever works for you.