play for ITM or 1st place ?

UOne step at a time, I played to get into the money, then I played to the final table, and after that, I reached first place.

Hello ,
I think they know what they're talking about 😜

I always play for 1st place, but I must say that I almost always try to take it one step at a time. First, I focus on getting into the money, and once I'm there, I gradually work my way up to the final table. Of course, I don't always achieve 1st place, but I try to take it one step at a time.

ninjareal said:

Hi all , I have some pro's saying that we should play for the win instead of itm ? I don't know about this advice, it clashes with my soul
I like to break down a MTT into steps, step 1 last first hour, then 2nd then 3rd etc and once I get ITM then I will try harder to get further until approching
the FT , then more steps until win ! well thats the rough idea , but some pros' saying play for the win...please discuss and maybe I can change some of my ideas

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I think it’s a balance. Reaching the money is great, but the biggest prizes are at the top. Once I’m ITM, my focus shifts from surviving to building a stack and going for the win

In a mystery bounty tournament, I take more risks — I cover more players — to see when the bounty is activated, because that's where the money is in the bounty.


In a traditional tournament, if I am close to the ICM, I play tighter, play fewer small pairs and single-colored related cards, but I attack the blind if I see that I have a better opponent and my opponent is aware of the ICM.

Totally depends on structure. The hourly PP freerolls were an example where playing for ICM made sense. The relative payjump from bottom tier ticket to second lowest tier was larger than the jump from 2nd to first or any other jump. In fact it was roughly on par with 2 other levels combined or more IIRC.

I think it was: 0.11 - 0.55 - 1.1 - 2.2 - 3.3 - 5.5

I usually shot for the 55 cent tickets and beyond anything else was just bonus.

I think they changed the structure though to be less choppy.

The math says one should be playing for at least a deep run. Winning players typically have a ITM finish percentage of 17-25%. To make the math easy wise let's go with 25%. That means you got make around or at least 5-8x your buy-in back when you cash to be profitable long term. Just finishing ITM only makes one dime and nickels above his buy-in back. Playing to finish just ITM is playing to lose long term. Simple math.

Now I'll get some hate because I used AI but the facts are the facts and the math is the math. Hate it all you want.

This is the perfect us AI(Grok). Here was the question: How much does one have to make in a $10 poker MTT to be a profitable player long term if his ITM percentage is 17-25%?
Answer: To be profitable long-term in $10 MTTs with a 17-25% ITM rate, you generally need an average payout of roughly 5-8x your buy-in (or higher) on your cashes, depending on your exact ITM%, ROI target, and rake.

If anyone wants to know the exact position they need to finish in each MTT they play. Just screen shot it feed into Grok or other AI.....give your ITM% and ask. Grok will tell you exactly the finishing position to target or the $$$ you need to aim for to be a long term winning player. I don't do this I just use the 5x the buy-in rule to figure it out.

Cheers!!!

Like almost everything in poker, it depends.

Let ICM be your guide. There is a big difference in winner takes all vs double or nothing, if you understand the icm of the format you will know the answer.

I think guys like Polk dont like icm because they rather be the hammer than the nail, sometimes the icm will say fold, when he knows the situation and the villan and would rather use his skill to win the hand.

Pretty sure that most MTT pros know and understand icm, they just wish they did have to because at heart they rather play an aggressive chip accumulation style game and rely on their skill advantage.

I think there's a balance between the two ideas.

Your approach of breaking the tournament into stages is great for staying focused and avoiding overwhelm. But the pros are usually saying "play for the win" because the biggest payouts are at the final table, not at the min-cash.

If your main goal becomes simply reaching the money, you can end up passing on profitable spots that would help you build a stack. A min-cash feels good, but one deep run can be worth dozens of min-cashes.

So I'd say: use your step-by-step approach to stay disciplined, but make decisions with the goal of accumulating chips and giving yourself a chance to win, not just survive. ♠️🏆