MTT Strategy (super long post)
Ok, I'm going to post a lot of what happened in my MTT win yesterday, and I'll probably break it up into a few posts. Be patient, because for some reason all the <CR>s disappeared from my HH file, and I'm going to have to enter them all by hand.
Let me start by saying I play very disciplined poker in MTTs. I think it's important.If I am going to play a hand, I always start with a raise, I never limp. That raise is always 3xBB + 1BB for every limper already in the pot. On the flop, if I am the first to bet, I will almost always make a bet of 1/2 to 2/3 of the pot, whether I hit or not. My goal is to not let people know what I have based on my betting pattern, so I will start off the same way whether I have AA or 55 (if 55 is in my group of starting hands for my position), and whether I flopped a set or a bust.
I play real tight in the beginning of an MTT. Super tight for the most part. No speculative hands, no bluffs, no blind steals, and if I don't have the nuts or close to it, I won't put up much resistance. The exception to this is if it's a rebuy, and I'm sitting at a push-happy table- you know, there's the one guy that is pushing every hand and rebuying if he loses trying to build a monster stack. What's he's really doing is building up the stacks at the table, and I want to catch him before he builds that big stack and starts playing normal, so I'll take a few risks.
So anyway, I sat down, posted the SB first hand, folded it, rebought, and walked away. Went and played some Madden on my new XBox 360. I don't do this all the time, but sometimes I will if I'm not going well and want to reduce my temptation. Came back about a half hour later to start playing.
As the dealer, folded J3o, then picked up a hand:
** Game ID 627267870 starting - 2005-12-28 10:36:17
** $4,000 GUARANTEE:Table 8 [Multi Table Hold 'em] (50.00|100.00 No Limit - MTT) Real Money
- 7dust sitting in seat 1 with $2565.00
- kugi sitting in seat 2 with $10600.00
- DAAAvid sitting in seat 3 with $1370.00 [Sitting out]
- Dervish1927 sitting in seat 4 with $4160.00
- __riverdog sitting in seat 5 with $6845.00
- lebegroove sitting in seat 6 with $1375.00
- Banditenessy sitting in seat 7 with $5800.00
- PhantomShark sitting in seat 8 with $2840.00
- Jobb3 sitting in seat 9 with $1915.00 [Dealer]
- pl021 sitting in seat 10 with $5125.00
pl021 posted the small blind - $25.00
7dust posted the big blind - $50.00
** Dealing card to PhantomShark: Ace of Spades, King of Hearts
kugi folded
DAAAvid folded
Dervish1927 folded
__riverdog folded
lebegroove folded
Banditenessy folded
PhantomShark raised - $150.00
Jobb3 called - $150.00
pl021 folded
7dust called - $150.00
** Dealing the flop: Jack of Spades, 10 of Hearts, 7 of Spades
7dust checked
PhantomShark bet - $200.00
Jobb3 raised - $400.00
7dust raised - $600.00
PhantomShark folded
Jobb3 went all-in - $1365.00
7dust called - $1765.00
7dust shows: 8 of Diamonds, 9 of Diamonds
Jobb3 shows: Jack of Clubs, 7 of Clubs
** Dealing the turn: Ace of Hearts
** Dealing the river: Queen of Hearts
7dust wins $4205.00 from the main pot
End of game 627267870
Goes to show you people don't respect PF raises from a guy that has yet to play a hand, eh?
I then folded 87o, 82o, Q3o, Q8o, JTo, and Q7o before my blinds hit. I'm not going to post all those hands, but the winning hands were mostly subpar hands that I wouldn't have played. I find it important to not fall into the trap of loosening up my starting requirements because people are winning with QT and 87.
** Game ID 627273731 starting - 2005-12-28 10:43:00
** $4,000 GUARANTEE:Table 8 [Multi Table Hold 'em] (100.00|200.00 No Limit - MTT) Real Money
- 7dust sitting in seat 1 with $5580.00
- kugi sitting in seat 2 with $10075.00
- DAAAvid sitting in seat 3 with $1295.00 [Sitting out]
- Dervish1927 sitting in seat 4 with $3535.00
- __riverdog sitting in seat 5 with $7245.00
- lebegroove sitting in seat 6 with $2850.00 [Dealer]
- Banditenessy sitting in seat 7 with $4200.00
- PhantomShark sitting in seat 8 with $2390.00
- SODO_MOJO sitting in seat 9 with $1880.00
- pl021 sitting in seat 10 with $5350.00
Banditenessy posted the small blind - $50.00
PhantomShark posted the big blind - $100.00
** Dealing card to PhantomShark: 4 of Diamonds, 2 of Hearts
SODO_MOJO folded
pl021 folded
7dust called - $100.00
kugi called - $100.00
DAAAvid folded
Dervish1927 called - $100.00
__riverdog folded
lebegroove folded
Banditenessy folded
PhantomShark checked
** Dealing the flop: King of Clubs, 7 of Diamonds, 2 of Spades
PhantomShark checked
7dust checked
kugi checked
Dervish1927 checked
** Dealing the turn: 6 of Clubs
PhantomShark checked
7dust checked
kugi checked
Dervish1927 checked
** Dealing the river: 6 of Diamonds
PhantomShark checked
7dust checked
kugi checked
Dervish1927 checked
PhantomShark shows: 4 of Diamonds, 2 of Hearts
7dust mucks:
kugi mucks:
Dervish1927 mucks:
PhantomShark wins $450.00 from the main pot
End of game 627273731
Later in the tournament I would have thrown a bet in there at some point to try and steal the pot from someone hanging around with something like 33, but like I said I don't do that early on. Once the blinds hit 75/150 I start taking more risks.
I got 54o in the SB and folded to 1 limper no raises. Some people will complete the SB here with almost any cards, and certainly with connectors. I used to be one of them, but I definitely do not do that anymore. Now I will complete with any pair and any 2 broadway, and suited connectors, but that is it. Later on I'd have considered a steal.
I then folded K7o on the button, K4o, 43o, 65o, T2o, Q5o, 92o, and 84o before my blinds. Folded 85o in BB to a 5xBB raise. Folded 76o in SB to 2 limpers no raises (see above). Blinds now hit 150/75 which means I now start playing a bit more aggressive in non-rebuys, but in a rebuy I usually wait until 200/100 because that's when the rebuy period ends and people tighten up.
Folded K5o on the button, then got this hand:
** Game ID 627284602 starting - 2005-12-28 10:54:45
** $4,000 GUARANTEE:Table 8 [Multi Table Hold 'em] (150.00|300.00 No Limit - MTT) Real Money
- 7dust sitting in seat 1 with $7380.00
- kugi sitting in seat 2 with $8025.00
- DAAAvid sitting in seat 3 with $1145.00 [Sitting out]
- Dervish1927 sitting in seat 4 with $4005.00
- __riverdog sitting in seat 5 with $7345.00
- lebegroove sitting in seat 6 with $4900.00
- Banditenessy sitting in seat 7 with $4050.00
- PhantomShark sitting in seat 8 with $2640.00
- SODO_MOJO sitting in seat 9 with $1360.00 [Dealer]
- pl021 sitting in seat 10 with $3475.00
pl021 posted the small blind - $75.00
7dust posted the big blind - $150.00
** Dealing card to PhantomShark: Ace of Diamonds, 10 of Diamonds
kugi folded
DAAAvid folded
Dervish1927 folded
__riverdog folded
lebegroove folded
Banditenessy folded
PhantomShark raised - $450.00
SODO_MOJO called - $450.00
pl021 folded
7dust folded
** Dealing the flop: 5 of Hearts, 6 of Diamonds, King of Spades
PhantomShark bet - $910.00
SODO_MOJO went all-in - $910.00
SODO_MOJO shows: King of Hearts, Queen of Clubs
** Dealing the turn: 7 of Diamonds
** Dealing the river: 8 of Diamonds
PhantomShark wins $2945.00 from the main pot
End of game 627284602
Yeah, I got lucky. If it had been a bigger stack, I probably would have bet $500, he'd have come over the top, and I've have folded. If I'm HU and my normal bet would be more than half of his stack (or mine), I will just go ahead and push. This was an unheard of occurrence for me- me sucking out on someone else. That made it like 500-1 against for the month, but if you are going to do well in an MTT, you will need at least 1 suckout along the way.
I then folded K4o, 87o, Q3o, J6s, then came this UTG+1:
** Game ID 627287956 starting - 2005-12-28 10:58:50
** $4,000 GUARANTEE:Table 8 [Multi Table Hold 'em] (150.00|300.00 No Limit - MTT) Real Money
- 7dust sitting in seat 1 with $7680.00
- kugi sitting in seat 2 with $7800.00
- DAAAvid sitting in seat 3 with $920.00 [Sitting out]
- Dervish1927 sitting in seat 4 with $2910.00 [Dealer]
- __riverdog sitting in seat 5 with $10195.00
- lebegroove sitting in seat 6 with $4750.00
- Banditenessy sitting in seat 7 with $4050.00
- PhantomShark sitting in seat 8 with $4225.00
- SODO_MOJO sitting in seat 9 with $1130.00
- pl021 sitting in seat 10 with $3665.00
__riverdog posted the small blind - $75.00
lebegroove posted the big blind - $150.00
** Dealing card to PhantomShark: 10 of Hearts, 10 of Spades
Banditenessy folded
PhantomShark raised - $450.00
SODO_MOJO folded
pl021 folded
7dust folded
kugi folded
DAAAvid folded
Dervish1927 called - $450.00
__riverdog folded
lebegroove folded
** Dealing the flop: 4 of Hearts, 5 of Hearts, 3 of Clubs
PhantomShark bet - $600.00
Dervish1927 folded
PhantomShark mucks: 10 of Hearts, 10 of Spades
PhantomShark wins $1725.00 from the main pot
End of game 627287956
Nothing spectacular, but you need a lot of these along the way. UTG folded 97s, got folded around to in the BB with 84o, folded J2o in SB with 1 limper, no raises, then folded 42o on the button, 83s, K7o, Q6o, K3o, 86o, and Q6o. At this point the rebuy period ended and I added on (I will always add on if I am at or below an average stack, and often if I am only moderately above average.) I'll end this first post here, let me know if I should continue.
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