A small change that actually helped my tournament play

I noticed recently that one small change made a bigger difference to my tournament results than I expected. I used to play too many “maybe” hands from early position, especially in low buy-in MTTs and I’d often end up in awkward spots after the flop.
Now I try to be much more patient early and save those hands for later position. Once I’m on the button or cutoff I feel more comfortable opening up and putting pressure on players who are playing too loose. The game feels simpler, and I’m making fewer tough decisions for my whole stack. It’s nothing revolutionary, but it’s helped me stay out of trouble and keep a healthier stack as the tournament goes on. Has anyone else noticed a small adjustment that made a big difference in their MTT results?

Well, it might be a good time to dive into some structured pre-flop charts and ranges based on position, effective stack size, and table dynamics. A lot of those “maybe” hands become much easier to manage once you have a baseline idea of what you should be opening from each spot.

Studying charts doesn’t mean memorizing them perfectly or becoming robotic, but they give you a solid framework so you’re not guessing early in the hand or drifting into marginal spots from early position. You can always adjust as the table gets looser or tighter, but having those fundamentals dialed in really cuts down on tricky post-flop decisions and helps you keep your stack in better shape throughout the tournament.

Making that one small adjustment—tightening early and opening up more in late position—is already a strong step. Adding some structured pre-flop study on top of it can make an even bigger difference.

That's fantastic strategy and one of the most important, basic things to understand about MTTs.

Andreas Kyriaco said:

I noticed recently that one small change made a bigger difference to my tournament results than I expected. I used to play too many “maybe” hands from early position, especially in low buy-in MTTs and I’d often end up in awkward spots after the flop.
Now I try to be much more patient early and save those hands for later position. Once I’m on the button or cutoff I feel more comfortable opening up and putting pressure on players who are playing too loose. The game feels simpler, and I’m making fewer tough decisions for my whole stack. It’s nothing revolutionary, but it’s helped me stay out of trouble and keep a healthier stack as the tournament goes on. Has anyone else noticed a small adjustment that made a big difference in their MTT results?

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Kind of similar to yours!
Over the last couple of months, this change has helped me to consistently crack the bubble and be amongst the ‘In The Money’ players! ✌🏼

It's always good to make adjustments to the way you play, and when that brings good results, it's satisfying.

I’d cash out—otherwise, you risk losing everything. For building a poker bankroll, you don’t need any money to start if you stick to freerolls.

Once I was in a Casino I only played with non-returnable entry chips and ended up winning about $200, even playing a bit of a Hold’em-style approach where you have some impact on the games against the house. I cashed out once the entry chips were gone. But honestly, I was mostly there for a ballroom dance event, so the casino was just a side activity.

I can totally relate. A similar small change helped me a lot too: I started avoiding marginal spots on purpose, especially early in tournaments. Before, many tough decisions came from hands I didn’t really need to play in the first place. Respecting position more and being patient made the game feel calmer, and I’m risking my stack far less in unnecessary spots.