puzzlefish
👆 the guy who's opinion you would trust on this!
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Thought I would post this here in case it might help someone in their games. Maybe I might add a few more posts here over time.
Too Long Did Not Read TLDR Version: MTTs may not get going for you until you are nearly busted out, with almost nothing left. The hardest thing to do is to continue playing your A-game when nothing goes right for over two hours, sometimes for days.
I just finished a $1 MTT on a final table on 888, I think a turbo of some sort (https://www.sharkscope.com/#Find-Tournament//networks/888Poker/tournaments/273682286).
For the majority of the tournament, almost nothing went my way. There were no easy pots or, more accurately, no tournament changing pots that went my way easily. Many of my opponents seemed to be getting the easy mode treatment by 888, with completely random cards connecting, forming ridiculous draws, and knocking out other opponents who held better cards. It was nightmare fuel for over two hours and eventually it was push fold time.
I managed to stay alive for a while, finally made it to ITM, 39 players remaining, still nothing really special happening, still a short stack with little going for me. I did the push fold play style, but it wasn't keeping me far beyond 10bb. A few times I dipped slightly below that. If anything it just kept me alive around that level.
Then in a span of three hands I was top 5 in the MTT and then again back into the bottom 10 or so. It started when I shoved with AJ and ended up chopping with another AJ in a multiway pot against AK (first lucky break). Immediately after that, I was shoving AQ and beat two other players (QT and A9). This put me in 5th, I think, at that point (final 24 or so). The very next hand I had QQ and my raise was jammed into by the player on my left. I called and was up against AJo and he spiked an A on the flop. I lost! That pot could have put me 2nd had I won it.
Instead, back into push fold and trying to survive. Meanwhile, the players with the big stacks continued to knock out everyone around me who were pushing with better cards but they all just kept getting knocked out (with the exception of maybe one player who manages to chop a big stack player in half). Before I knew it, it was the final table. I got it in with AQ and doubled up against a bigger stack who called with some kind of Broadway connector KJ/KQ.
After that, the leading player just started jamming all in every hand and it didn't seem to matter who called, they got knocked out regardless of what they were holding. sharkscope puts him as a losing player, but 888 shows he has almost $100000 MTT winnings. Anyway, it came down to probably a poor play by me, but I was still sub 10bb and I jammed with 44 and that same player called with Q7 and I was out. Whatever, a coin flip of sorts.
Some things I learned (or reinforced what I already knew):
1. Everyone's journey to the final table is different. It's definitely not good play that guarantees a seat at the final table. A lot of it is luck for a lot of people, especially at this level. That player who was the big chip leader shoving all-in every hand at the final table ended up finishing 3rd. The winner in the end was a relative unknown who started on the site in 2022.
2. All you need is a chip and a chair. I would add that it probably helps to have more than 10bb remaining, but I was down to 5bb at some points when I was just not getting anything to play. It doesn't mean it's over.
3. The hardest part seems to be to stay focused for so long, hours, through the entire game when your stack is just shrinking and shrinking, while seeing all this bad play around being rewarded. Then, in the end, all it takes is to either fall asleep or get bored and look away, and that important sequence of hands to get to the final table can be missed.
Poker is hard. It's hard to concentrate for hours on end. It would be nice to just get an easy run to a final table for once.
Too Long Did Not Read TLDR Version: MTTs may not get going for you until you are nearly busted out, with almost nothing left. The hardest thing to do is to continue playing your A-game when nothing goes right for over two hours, sometimes for days.
I just finished a $1 MTT on a final table on 888, I think a turbo of some sort (https://www.sharkscope.com/#Find-Tournament//networks/888Poker/tournaments/273682286).
For the majority of the tournament, almost nothing went my way. There were no easy pots or, more accurately, no tournament changing pots that went my way easily. Many of my opponents seemed to be getting the easy mode treatment by 888, with completely random cards connecting, forming ridiculous draws, and knocking out other opponents who held better cards. It was nightmare fuel for over two hours and eventually it was push fold time.
I managed to stay alive for a while, finally made it to ITM, 39 players remaining, still nothing really special happening, still a short stack with little going for me. I did the push fold play style, but it wasn't keeping me far beyond 10bb. A few times I dipped slightly below that. If anything it just kept me alive around that level.
Then in a span of three hands I was top 5 in the MTT and then again back into the bottom 10 or so. It started when I shoved with AJ and ended up chopping with another AJ in a multiway pot against AK (first lucky break). Immediately after that, I was shoving AQ and beat two other players (QT and A9). This put me in 5th, I think, at that point (final 24 or so). The very next hand I had QQ and my raise was jammed into by the player on my left. I called and was up against AJo and he spiked an A on the flop. I lost! That pot could have put me 2nd had I won it.
Instead, back into push fold and trying to survive. Meanwhile, the players with the big stacks continued to knock out everyone around me who were pushing with better cards but they all just kept getting knocked out (with the exception of maybe one player who manages to chop a big stack player in half). Before I knew it, it was the final table. I got it in with AQ and doubled up against a bigger stack who called with some kind of Broadway connector KJ/KQ.
After that, the leading player just started jamming all in every hand and it didn't seem to matter who called, they got knocked out regardless of what they were holding. sharkscope puts him as a losing player, but 888 shows he has almost $100000 MTT winnings. Anyway, it came down to probably a poor play by me, but I was still sub 10bb and I jammed with 44 and that same player called with Q7 and I was out. Whatever, a coin flip of sorts.
Some things I learned (or reinforced what I already knew):
1. Everyone's journey to the final table is different. It's definitely not good play that guarantees a seat at the final table. A lot of it is luck for a lot of people, especially at this level. That player who was the big chip leader shoving all-in every hand at the final table ended up finishing 3rd. The winner in the end was a relative unknown who started on the site in 2022.
2. All you need is a chip and a chair. I would add that it probably helps to have more than 10bb remaining, but I was down to 5bb at some points when I was just not getting anything to play. It doesn't mean it's over.
3. The hardest part seems to be to stay focused for so long, hours, through the entire game when your stack is just shrinking and shrinking, while seeing all this bad play around being rewarded. Then, in the end, all it takes is to either fall asleep or get bored and look away, and that important sequence of hands to get to the final table can be missed.
Poker is hard. It's hard to concentrate for hours on end. It would be nice to just get an easy run to a final table for once.
