What am I doing wrong...I start off well in a MTT then just before first hour break everything goes to .........

I have this problem - I start of well in a tournament mtt - I gain chips - I move up the ranks, and i'm playing the right hands, than just as I close to the end of the first hour break - things just break off for me. All my good hands now started missing on the flop, I get players who won't fold - and my chips end up bleeding - Than I get those players who won't stop raising heavy - refusing the chance to call any hands, since I'm already scared of losing the tournament even before the registration is over. And before I know it, my stack which was very ok in the start and the middle of the game - is now close to finishing me off....Anyone who relates to this....

didi58xx said:

I have this problem - I start of well in a tournament mtt - I gain chips - I move up the ranks, and i'm playing the right hands, than just as I close to the end of the first hour break - things just break off for me. All my good hands now started missing on the flop, I get players who won't fold - and my chips end up bleeding - Than I get those players who won't stop raising heavy - refusing the chance to call any hands, since I'm already scared of losing the tournament even before the registration is over. And before I know it, my stack which was very ok in the start and the middle of the game - is now close to finishing me off....Anyone who relates to this....

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definitely face the same problem. I often start an MTT well, build a healthy stack, and feel confident about my decisions. But as the tournament progresses, I sometimes become too cautious after losing a few pots or missing good flops. Then I start folding too much and watching my stack slowly disappear. I think the key is to stay patient, trust your decisions, and not let fear of busting affect your game. Variance is part of poker, and we just have to keep making the best decisions we can

I know that feeling! 😄 If you’re consistently starting strong, that’s already a good sign. The key is probably to stay patient and avoid changing your approach just because the blinds increase or the tournament gets deeper. Keep focusing on making the best decisions rather than trying to protect your stack at all costs. Variance is a huge part of MTTs, so don’t let a few frustrating tournaments discourage you. Keep studying and grinding — the results will come!

Yeah it could be a number of things that you are doing wrong or could be doing better to put yourself into a better position to win. Winning a tournament is hard, especially one with lots of players, it’s not easy, it’s not supposed to be easy, a lot of these players now days are really good. How to improve your game, you have to get studying, that and more experience is the only way to level up your game and the only way to find the leaks in your game. You have to be your own trainer. Just think about those spots that you find difficult and look up how to better play those spots on YouTube, it’s free and there are plenty of good coaches on there that can help. Also the 30 day free course on here could help.
Playing against players that won’t fold, you can exploit them, also players that are raising too wide can be exploited. You just have to study up a bit when you have time. Eventually, if you keep at it, it will all come together and then you can feel more confident in you play and abilities to win! Good luck!

Funny you mention late registration. I usually register for late registration games 5 minutes before they close by setting my alarm clock. Problem was back in the heydays, The bubble would be before the late registration was over, so no one else was allowed to register. So what was supposed to be 90 minutes late registration was in reality maybe as short as 81 minute late registration. When I went to register at the 85 minute mark of late registration, people were already in the money and registration was closed once it was ITM.

A lot of tournaments if they have late registration, have multiple rebuys. If that is the case, then you may be able to allow yourself 3 or 4 rebuys.

didi58xx said:

Than I get those players who won't stop raising heavy - refusing the chance to call any hands, since I'm already scared of losing the tournament even before the registration is over. And before I know it, my stack which was very ok in the start and the middle of the game - is now close to finishing me off.

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The text highlighted with bold is likely the issue. Its only, when the money bubble is near, that it becomes important to try to survive a bit longer by avoiding unnessesary risk. If 50 players get paid, there is no reward for finishing as number 52 rather than 287. And if you make it a priority to avoid being eliminated, even when the money bubble is still far away, you end up playing scared and blinding away.

The reason, why you feel, its going well in the beginning, is likely, that when stacks are deep, you are rarely put to a decision for all your chips. But after an hour or so blinds have already gone up, and from now on eliminations are common. In most cases we need to win a "flip" or two to survive this phase of the tournament, and if you try to avoid this, you end up blinding away instead.

So the solution is to get rid of that fear, you describe. Its totally ok to be among the first, who bust from a tournament, as long as it did not happen as a result of poor play. The question then is, why do you have this fear? If it is because, you can only afford one bullet and want to have more fun, then you need to look at your budget or bankroll management.

Don't let losses change your mindset or shake your confidence. It's okay to lose 3 straight pots at showdown so long as the reason that we lost was not just poor play. Sometimes Villain hits the river. Sometimes Villain flops disguised strength. Sometimes Villain just happens to have the top of his usually wide range.

Always remember that streaks in poker are meaningless. No two deals ever influence each other. No matter how many wins or losses you take, your odds never change. If your AA cracks twice in a row, AA is still a strong hand that you need to play because the odds of it cracking have not changed and are still relatively low as they always have been.

Another thing that it sounds like from the OP post is that Hero might be having trouble with changing stack depths at different stages of the tournament. Don't think of blinds getting larger, think of stacks getting shorter because when you measure stacks in BB instead of chips it's the exact same thing. When stacks get shorter and more varied, the game changes. Villains will play differently and this will affect our ranges, frequencies and our sizings. We can't just keep playing the exact set system all the way through. A good tournament player adjusts to stack sizes as the tournament goes on and tends to exploit and beat the ones who don't.

You cant win playing with scared money.

You may want to run your hands through a icm tool or use a leak buster to see what the leaks are in your game.

I can definitely relate to that. I think the hardest part is when you start the tournament well and then suddenly become afraid of losing the stack you built. That can make you play too cautiously and miss good opportunities. I try to remember that chips are there to be played, not just protected. If the situation is good, I’d rather make the right decision and accept that sometimes I’ll lose the hand. Once you start playing scared because you’re worried about busting, it becomes much harder to make good decisions.

fzap1983 said:

I try to remember that chips are there to be played, not just protected.

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Someone told me once, "Your chips are your soldiers." Obviously we do not want to just send our soldiers carelessly into slaughter, but also we cannot win any battles if we keep them in the barracks.

I know this feeling all too well. Wish I could give you the answer buddy, just keep playing its gonna happen for you.

Semprini said:

Someone told me once, "Your chips are your soldiers." Obviously we do not want to just send our soldiers carelessly into slaughter, but also we cannot win any battles if we keep them in the barracks.

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I really like that analogy. "Your chips are like your soldiers. You gotta protect them, but you also gotta put them to work if you wanna win", I’ve killed way too many soldiers for no reason. hahaha

fzap1983 said:

I really like that analogy. "Your chips are like your soldiers. You gotta protect them, but you also gotta put them to work if you wanna win", I’ve killed way too many soldiers for no reason. hahaha

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Yes, it's great for our mindset. Remember, we have no control over the cards but we have full control over our chips, so the only way that we can influence the table is with our chips actions. There is no player on Earth that is better because he hits more than most. Everyone hits the board at the same rate. Every one of us hits the flop with the exact same frequency as Daniel Negreanu. It's what he does with his chips that makes the difference and as we can all easily see it can make an enormous difference.

I also believe that none of us ever bets thinking that they have no good reason to do so. We always bet because we think we have a good reason, however we are often wrong with that reasoning. Not only do we sometimes bet when we should check, call when we should fold (or raise) we also check when we should bet. ; )

I think many tournament players go through this at some point. It sounds like you're becoming too cautious once you've built a stack. Instead of protecting your chips, keep making good decisions based on your stack size and position. You don't need to win every pot, but you also shouldn't let your stack slowly disappear by folding too much. Sometimes it's just variance, but staying confident and adjusting to the increasing blinds is very important.

I definitely relate to that. Once the stack starts shrinking, it’s easy to feel like you have to force something to happen. I think staying patient, tightening up a little, and letting the aggressive players knock each other out can save a lot of chips.

this is like making a post look good but then it flops when released, not turning out as expected, so the chip gets worn down gradually

Well I can relate to you very much. As I play a lot of tournaments.
The game starts well, I am building my stack gradually and become the chip leader for the longest time as the game goes on I fluctuate from being 1st, 2nd and 3rd. And then as we are nearing the money bubble; I start getting bad beat after bad beat so I am forced to just fold a lot of hands just to make it into the money, never mind the final table.
Sorry! I do get frustrated by this.

I think a lot of MTT players can relate to this. The key is not to panic when the stack starts dropping. As the tournament progresses, blinds and antes increase, so you can’t play the same way as in the first hour. I try to focus on BBs, position, stack sizes and good spots rather than worrying about finishing the tournament. Sometimes protecting your stack too much is what actually makes it disappear.

Almost always I start good or great , then the second or third hours I'm being f****d by rng mostly , such hands cannot be explained only due to bad luck or good/better opponents. I have seen a lot . That discourages sb to keep on playing tourneys .

Maybe you’re becoming too aggressive once the blinds increase. I’d focus on adjusting to stack sizes and avoiding unnecessary big pots with marginal hands.