Am I thinking about this the right way?

[jimmer]

As you know, for the first time ever, I’ve started playing MTT tourneys. Yesterday was my 4th MTT tourney. I opted for a $4.40 NLHE 180 seater sng and finished 6th.

I just want to write a little about my thoughts at various stages of the tourney to see if I am maximising the opportunities open to me. I don’t want to discuss any specific hands.


Early stages (Starting chips 1,500, starting blinds 10/20)
My key aim in the early stages was to play tight. I decided to try and limp a few pots where I had position. This happened a few times, but I was either raised pf or didn’t hit the flop and folded to a bet. I basically concentrated on limiting the amount of money I was risking, and was happy keeping the pots small. My key aim was to not get eliminated.

I lost around 500 on one hand when I hit two-pair on the river and lost to a higher two-pair.

With around 120 people left I had just over 1,000 chips. At the time, the blinds were 25/50.

Middle stages (My stack was just over 1,000, 120 people left, blinds were 25/50 increasing to 50/100 soon)
I knew I would have to take a few chances soon. Currently, I had an M of 14, but as soon as the blinds go up, I’ll have an M of 6, and I was thinking that it’s far too early to have such a small stack/compared to blinds.

Just before the blinds increased I managed to pick up a 3 way pot that took my stack to 1,900.

The blinds then increased to 50/100. I now had an M of 12. Although this was still pretty low, I figure it gave me some breathing space. Therefore my plan was to use position to start steeling the blinds. There were 100 players left and I decided to change gears and loosen up.

I saw a couple of cheap flops, hit the jackpot twice and ended up increasing my stack to 7,000.

Late-middle stages (My stack was 7,000, 50 players left, blinds were 150/300).
I had two key aims here. 1). Find some tight players and steel their blinds. 2). Stay clear of the stacks bigger than me. Unfortunately, every time I tried to steal blinds, I ended up being called and losing the pot on the flop or turn. Either the others had genuine hands, or they knew my plan.

I did fold a few reasonable hands against larger stacks, which maybe I would played earlier in the tourney or if their stacks were smaller.

I didn’t really have any decent starting hands at all during this period, so struggled to find a balance between increasing my stack and not losing it. (if that makes sense?)

At the end of this section my stack was down to 4,000.

Near the bubble stage (My stack was 4,000, the blinds were 125/250 with 25 antes, 30 players left, 18 get paid).
As soon as the antes arrived, the table took on a totally different feel. Now players were raising and re-raising preflop and as many players had small stacks, most hands were either pushed all-in or simply won on the flop.

I was now totally confused on what to do. One side of me said I should start raising trying to steal a few pots and increase my stack, the other said I didn’t have enough to play with, so it was best to remain pretty solid and wait for a time to double up.

I decided on the first option, however never found an opportunity (as there was always action in front of me). Therefore I ended up sitting tight and my stack decreased to 2,500. The blinds were now 150/300 with 25 antes. There were now only 23 players left.

Luckily, over the next 10 minutes I was dealt QQ and JJ, pushed all-in both times and doubled up twice. With 21 players left I was up to around 8,700 chips-giving me an M of 12.

Now, with three players to be knocked out before we all cashed, I decided that even though I only had an M of 12, now was the time to start getting aggressive. I knew who the tight players were and decided to start picking on them. However, once again, I faced a lot of action and ended up losing around 5,000 chips.

With 20 players left my stack was 3,500. Now I simply closed shop, and decided to try and hold on for the money. I knew this tactic was wrong, but I’d never cashed ever before, and was really hoping to finish 18th at least.

Late stages (My stack was 3,000 blinds were 300/600 with 50 antes).
I’m in the money! Because I had an M of just over 2 and was now in the money, I decided to push all-in if I was opening the pot with Ace-junk (or better) or any pair.

By the time we got down to 10 players I had 8,000 chips. My push-or-fold tactic was still the only one, but as I knew 9th place gets more money, (10th-18th all pick up the same amount), I decided to sit tight and hold out. So I folded everything.

As soon as we got down to the final table, I doubled up a few times and at one point had 28,000 chips. However, I then found I had a massive, massive problem. The guy sat 3 seats to my left, was ultra-aggressive. He was raising and re-raising everything. I really wanted to start playing more hands, but because I knew he would fight back, I still played my usual tight game. This meant I sat there until I had around 6,000 chips. However, by this time I was in 6th place.

I pushed all-in with K6 and lost finishing 6th.

To review, the game never really went in the direction I wanted it to. When I decided to try and accumulate chips (by stealing blinds) I always faced action and ended up losing more than I won.

Either way, I absolutely loved this game and was so glad I finished in the money alone 6th.

Hopefully there’s more to come!


All I wanted from you guys was a quick indication of whether there are any glaring errors in my thoughts or tactics.
I appreciate this is a long post, but your thoughts are welcome.