Being ready to change gears and bet sizing are often skills that are overlooked. As the tournament progresses the players start coming and going to your table bringing an ever increasing variety of stack sizes. You need to react to the changing environment. For example, in a re-buy mtt short stacks can catch you off guard with a shove you weren't expecting when the bubble is a long way off. But this player is playing loose because he is prepared to rebuild thru a re-buy if necessary. So always be aware and ready to adapt. When you are in the pot and think you have the nuts you need to think carefully about your bet sizing so you can maximize value. These opportunities don't come as often as you think in an mtt so maximizing your roi also means making sure you seek the most profit in any situation where you have a winning edge.
LEV1ATHAN said:
No. I am saying that you cannot dismiss the idea of cashing and just go for the win because you will find wins hard to achieve.
What I am saying (as said by Colin Moshman) is you need a balanced approach. It is easier to get ITM than to reach a final table. In turn it is easier to final table rather than to win a tournament. Common sense prevails.
Experience and intuition will win out. You will know when you are comfortable to reach the cash, so sometimes you can relax and aim to ladder up. Other times you scrape into the cash and however minimal, it is positive reinforcement. Sometimes we all swing for the fences but invariably I would rather min cash that not.
Collin Moshman said:
This is exactly the point. In my last session I cashed in 1 out of 5 tournaments, and near the bubble I was a below average stack. Some players were very short and one of them sitting out as well. So for that reason I stalled the action as much, as I could. Took the maximum time whenever the turn got to me.
However I did not stop playing hands. In fact I open jammed 4-5 times during this period, when for instance I picked up KQo in CO with a 12BB stack. This time I picked it up each time, so I actually ended up accumulating a lot of chips during the bubble play. But I still stalled to increase my chance of min-cashing rather than letting someone with 1-2 blinds cash instead of me.
And this time a min-cash was all, I got. After the bubble burst, I had around 18-19BB, and when I opened AK, someone jammed on me. Easy call of course, he flipped over AT, and he hit a T on the river. And the point is, you cant PLAN on "winning the tournament", because at any time a bad beat or cooler can send you out. And then its better to go out with a min-cash than with nothing.
It depends on your strategy and players on your table.
Most good tournament players want to build a stack early in the game so they can play their normal game with a decent stack.
That's why you often see them play aggressive for the first hour and if they bust early they do another re-entry .
I always aim for the cash first, then change strategy depending on my stack so I can focus on a good run.
When you are up against 2000 players you need patience and discipline, and some luck to reach the final table.
Most good tournament players want to build a stack early in the game so they can play their normal game with a decent stack.
That's why you often see them play aggressive for the first hour and if they bust early they do another re-entry .
I always aim for the cash first, then change strategy depending on my stack so I can focus on a good run.
When you are up against 2000 players you need patience and discipline, and some luck to reach the final table.
Like you, I played for many years with the aim of getting into the money. Now I completely change my strategy of the game, expand the range, play more aggressively, and enter the game more often. I definitely agree with you that in order to make money with poker, you need to set yourself the goal of getting to the final table. Personally, I got bored playing only with premium hands. I expanded my range and it became much more interesting to play than before.
It often happens that in one tournament you are lucky with cards, and in another you are not. Therefore, it is better to play up the distance and in tournaments where there is more luck to get the maximum profit. In any case, to be profitable, you need to study a lot of the poker strategy of the game, and then the results will be better, and there will be more wins. This way helps me