CARD dead for 45-60mins in middle of MTT game.

In a middle of a tournament if you are card dead for 45-60mins how do you handle the situation ? sometimes one mistake can pull you from high stack to lowest stack or exit . Your thoughts ??

Even if you're card dead for a long time, you'll still get the occasional playable hand. The key is to play the hands you should and avoid forcing the action. The only exception is when you're very short-stacked. In that situation, you may need to widen your range a bit and play some hands you normally wouldn't if you find a good spot to steal the blinds.

anbu210 said:

In a middle of a tournament if you are card dead for 45-60mins how do you handle the situation ? sometimes one mistake can pull you from high stack to lowest stack or exit . Your thoughts ??

Click to expand...

Being card dead for 45–60 minutes is frustrating, but it's a normal part of tournament poker. I try to stay patient and avoid forcing action just because I'm bored or blinded down. During those periods, I pay more attention to the table dynamics, stack sizes, and look for good spots to steal blinds when possible. The biggest mistake is getting impatient and punting your stack with a weak hand. And yes, one mistake can turn a big stack into a short stack very quickly, especially in the middle and late stages of tournaments. That's why staying disciplined and mentally focused is so important.

Being card dead for an hour is rough but it is completely normal.

Tournaments are like a marathon. Sometimes surviving some levels is part of having a deep run. I remind myself that everyone at some point has to deal with variance, and the players who stay patient usually outlast the ones who try to "make something happen."

"A 45-60 minute interruption during an MTT is really disappointing. I hope the poker site investigates the issue and treats affected players fairly. Hopefully this doesn't happen again."

You play a tournament hand for hand. It does not matter, what happened in previous hands, including if you had to fold a lot, because you were card or situation dead. Situation dead mean, you did pick up some decent hands, but the situations forced you to fold them. Like maybe you had AJo in CO, but UTG opened, and then UTG+1 put in a 3-bet forcing you to fold (or make a long-term losing play).

MAYBE you can widen your range a tiny bit, if you think, you have created a tight image. But its very easy to overdo or overthink this, because bad players often dont pay much attention do, what you are doing, and good players will often rely on HUD-data on sites, where this is allowed. Meaning that just because you have been inactive on this particular table, they will still know your general playing style from previous games. But if a situation is close, then widen your range.

If you are card dead for a long time, then usually this mean, you will not cash in this particular tournament, and it just is, what it is. Its not something, you can do anything about. Just like you cant do anything about it, when your K high flush loses to an A high flush, or when you AKo loses to A4s all-in preflop, because the opponent makes a flush or straight. Its all part of variance, and it will take care of itself in the long run.

We've all been there. It's certainly not fun when you feel like you're just folding every hand. The important thing is to continue to play your ranges correctly, don't get frustrated and just spew chips on sub-standard hands. The only exception I might suggest is being a bit more aggressive from BTN and target the blinds especially if they are slightly on the tighter side.

It's normal for that to happen, you can even go through an entire tournament without good hands, you could take advantage of your tigh image and make some bluffs.

Staying card dead for an hour is an absurd test of patience, but it's part of the game.
The secret is not to bluff out of sheer boredom so as not to burn chips for nothing.