Tournament.. sigh..

[jackvance]

Ok, as I said in another post.. still trying to digest all the information this site has offered me.. this hand dominating that hand.. pocket pairs slipping in to potentially steal a major haul.. calculating pot odds.. reading players.. player tables and table-selection.. pot sizes and blinds.. height of the stack and how it affects play.. etc..

Basically odds here and there.

So I played in this freeroll MTT a few hours ago. I decided to just stick to the "19 hands" to play and fold the rest (until I can get a better read on things myself), but nothing ever came - bad luck I guess? (how often can you expect one of the 19 to drop in your hands anyway?)

So finally I hit one of the 19, had KQ, did a small raise, flops J and two lower cards. One guy raises one guy calls. Ok time to bail out I guess? I fold.

By now the blinds are seriously eating into my stack. So the time comes I simply have to do something.. A9 I decide to make my move, I raise.. one even lower guy goes all-in, one guy with a huge stack calls.. I call too.. the Ace falls! Great! I push all my remaining 65 chips into the middle. Big-stack-guy calls. Cards turn, none of them have an ace, great! Turn and river bring two Queens to the table, giving the other guy a set. I'm out.

Ok, that last bit was mainly bad luck, but all in all.. what am I to think about this? Bad luck? Played bad? Feels like I never had a chance..

[Renton]

the 19 hands thing only works in cash games. As your stack gets smaller and smaller in relation to the blinds, you have to make plays in tournaments. You have to loosen up and make blind steals. I have seen people win tournaments just through pure conservative play, but you have to get lucky and run hot for that to happen. Take a look at WildBobAA's blog and he has a tournament HH where he played exactly like that. He didn't bluff hardly a single time in the whole tournament. However he was also catching cards like a madman.

When the cards don't come though, you have to make plays in position. You have to hang your balls out there on an ace high occasionally when you sense weakness at the table.

[jackvance]

Yeah I tried to do that.. actually I was mainly just waiting for AA-TT or two unpaired high cards, only sneaking in with lower pocket pair if it would be cheap (maybe), because that's what I saw my friend, who is very good at poker, do at tournaments early round.

But I never got a break really.. and when I did, I got the worst luck possible on the runners. Guess there is nothing you can do about that right? But it still pisses me off..

Hope I have better luck (or less worse luck) in the next freeroll (in 2 hours and 15 mins).


Generally I don't mind to lose if atleast I can tell myself in confidence that I did the right thing.. but this is hard sometimes when you have a bad streak of luck.. you always go "is it the cards or is it me?" It's not always straight-forward which is the case..

No doubt I do have many leaks, so if I just blame it on the odds (bad luck) all the time, that's not a good idea either.. I want to improve.. but sometimes you really simply have bad luck.

Is it me or the cards? It's not easy unless you KNOW you're good from past experience.. and even then you might be going tilt or going through some overconfidence phase.

Personally I like to calculate the odds to justify my play afterwards, even if I luck out (or think I luck out).. but this is not very straightforward either, since reading the table and each individual player is crucial too.

Tricky bussiness, but I guess everyone has to face these demons ^^

(again, sry for the rambling, my brain is going in overdrive because of the overload of information you guys have given me, lol)

EDIT: have to note I've been playing holdem for exactly a week now (played my first game ever march 8).. which is probably not a lot.. but I take pride in the fact that I normally am good at these kinds of things, so I want to improve quickly

[Setzy]

It's like I'm looking in a mirror from two months ago.

I played MTT's when I first started as well. The draw seems very cool, such a little amount of investment for a huge payoff. The thing is, you can't be expected to win (or even get ITM) in these every time, that's why people who solely play MTT's have like 100 buyins of the level they play at. To me, it seems the variance is a lot higher.

I recommend you check out the low-level ring games. The knowledge you're talking about is really good for this; playing tight and aggressive, eating somebody's stack with a set, so on and so on. MTT's are a different breed altogether, and there's a whole other forum section for just that.

[shysti]

Ok, as I said in another post.. still trying to digest all the information this site has offered me.. this hand dominating that hand.. pocket pairs slipping in to potentially steal a major haul.. calculating pot odds.. reading players.. player tables and table-selection.. pot sizes and blinds.. height of the stack and how it affects play.. etc..

Basically odds here and there.

So I played in this freeroll MTT a few hours ago. I decided to just stick to the "19 hands" to play and fold the rest (until I can get a better read on things myself), but nothing ever came - bad luck I guess? (how often can you expect one of the 19 to drop in your hands anyway?)

So finally I hit one of the 19, had KQ, did a small raise, flops J and two lower cards. One guy raises one guy calls. Ok time to bail out I guess? I fold.

By now the blinds are seriously eating into my stack. So the time comes I simply have to do something.. A9 I decide to make my move, I raise.. one even lower guy goes all-in, one guy with a huge stack calls.. I call too.. the Ace falls! Great! I push all my remaining 65 chips into the middle. Big-stack-guy calls. Cards turn, none of them have an ace, great! Turn and river bring two Queens to the table, giving the other guy a set. I'm out.

Ok, that last bit was mainly bad luck, but all in all.. what am I to think about this? Bad luck? Played bad? Feels like I never had a chance..

I've noticed you mention "luck" a lot in this thread, I personally believe when dealing with MTT's, you have to create your own "luck", meaning you have to know when to stay out of trouble and when to put yourself out there to make things happen.

Let me elaborate, I consider myself very decent at MTT's, since they are almost exclusively what I play, and I usually finish in the top 10% which is a goal you should have besides making it to the FT.

The way you approach these monsters shouldn't be set in stone, but you should remain flexible through the entire process.

In the beginning, you are looking to accumulate your chips while staying out of trouble, you can afford to see cheaper flops and take a bit more risk during this stage, to build your stack up huge, and early.

What that boils down to is, not being a total loosy goosy, but not being really tight either, you have to find that proper balance. Me, I play small pairs, small suited connectors, any hand that has the potiential to flop monsters that are well concealed.

You have to take your position into consideration, etc etc. I am sure you know all this, basically, it boils down to experience, I was going to write out this long post, but I am really tired lol.

I've found that as I gain more experience in MTT's I know exactly how to pace myself up until I reach the top 10% then something gives, which is the currently leak I am trying to plug. Luckily for me, I've gotten pass all the rest, I know what it takes for me to get deep into these huge tournies, and I am sure with more practice you will too

[jackvance]

Thanks for the heads-up everyone! I'm just playing freeroll tournies atm, don't feel like paying when you're just playing poker for a week.. I need some more time. My first $60 has been deposited to my account however, so we'll see.

Just finished a $1000 freeroll.. damn this was a nice experience! I actually started to "see" some of the things mentionned here! Wow what a nice feeling

And I caught myself making some mistakes, and then played them out better in the later stages of the tourney. Suddenly I started to "see" the value of position.. and damn it's big! And the value of raising instead of getting raised.. indeed big advantage! Beware the reraise.. usually means something.


So I started out with not much.. things were looking grim. I made a mistake of dropping a hand I could have won, shoulda raised first. Made a mental note there. Then I somehow completely missed a flush (4 spades on the table) vs my 2 two pair.. was just too happy they flopped on my I guess. So I'm going down. Then I got a QQ. Flop gives QQ - I got the nut! Lured two guys with me down to the river with not too large bets and I'm back on track.

So I'm getting a bit nervous, trying to calm myself down. I'm contemplating if it's maybe time for some more aggressive play? Is worth a shot.

I check the flop with crap but get a double pair. It puts me higher up. Then I think I made a mistake.. I'm on the button and everyone before me folds, I'm holding A2.. maybe should've pushed it to see if I could scare out the two blind-guys.

The table seems to play scared now.. I get that impression atleast. That is also new to me lol.. so I test the waters and get a nice pot or two with a bluff or semi-bluff. And one guy I noticed was playing pretty loose.. I got him to fold with nothing in my hand! Hehe.. these things mentionned here on FTR really work Nice feeling!

So they put me on a new table.. have to reread the players again now I guess. I try the raise-check manouvre for a free card.. first time I tried this and it worked, cool ^^.. even though nothing came of the free cards. Then I get K6 on the SB.. I make a raise, get a sucky flop and have to fold out. Then Q6 on the button.. but a guy before me goes all-in and there's a limper, so I fold out.

I'm lagging behind now. Damn. I make a raise A9 on middle position and oust a guy with a small stack. Nothing much. Blinds are up to 250/500.. I'm at 4500 so it's getting hazy. And then I get to nail a guy hard.. that was fun! Flops double pair for me, I call his all-in and I'm up to 9.3k now.

I tried another bluf-move, but got called on it down to the river, cost me.. down to 6k. Danger-zone again. I again get the impression people are playing really passive.. small raises with decent hands. So I reckon I'm either gonna need good cards or bluff em out.

Nothing good comes.. 4 people are in on my BB and I'm holding Q2, best to fold. I get 66 on the SB.. take the pot with a bluff-move after nothing flops. Then I get 55.. so I decide to have a look at the flop.. I get reraised, np. No 5 in the flop, damn, guy goes all-in so I have to fold out.

Down to 5k, not looking good.Blinds are 400/800 and 900 out of 12k people left.. average pot-size is at 13.4k.. not good for me. So I decide to wait for a good hand, or make a move after the blinds come and hope for something, or if it doesn't, make a move after I get a good position. I get nothing on the blinds.

Down to 3k down.. the end seems to be nearing. But I tell myself to keep focussed. And that an all-in move is starting to become necessary.

So I get AQ on the button.. time to act! Guy goes all-in with small stack, good. Another guy with a huge is in. My Q drops on the flop, yay. So I push the rest of my chips in the middle. Huge-stack guy follows. Then the turn and river give him a flush on his ace. Ok what a SUCKY end.. that pot woulda been mine with Q-pair and top kicker. But this happens I guess. I think I did the best thing I could do here?

Got place 758 out of 13k people.. not too bad I guess? Atleast I feel I learned a LOT this game! Very nice experience.

Thanks for reading

[Renton]

13000 people???

where is there a freeroll that big? The ones on party only allow like 3500.

[jackvance]

www.unibet.com

My friends who introduced me to poker play there, so I went there too. I'm in Belgium and they are represented here so I don't need to make international money tranfers (can only do bank subscripts, don't have a visa or credit card).

They don't give bonusses though.. maybe I should start looking out for sites that do to get that BR as I saw mentionned here.. but I'm not quite sure how the financials work there. My friends at unibet have played there for a long time so it's relatively "safe" to me. (yeah I'm new to all this)

[jackvance]

(sry for the double post)

Damn.. finished 39/5500 in this MTT. First 30 were ITM. That sucks.. I had some luck (or a bit more luck than bad luck I guess) but just generally played my game and kept those 5 zones next to me for reference and just tried to incorporate that into how I played.

But when I was really starting to near ITM, I got this "thing" over me and kinda lost focus.. I got a reraise but decided "what the hell" with a mediocre hand.. sigh..

Whenever I lose my focus due to whatever, everything seems to go down the drain.

[Staresy]

You should maybe try out some of the ultra cheap buy-ins on PokerStars. They have $1, $2, $3 and $5 tournies. Happen most days. Fields between 1000-2000 (depending of time of day) and most pay out their new 20% structure. So you're talking a lot of paid places (198 in a field of 1200 I think) Bit crappy, but at least ITM is not some dot on the horizon. Some solid play, one or two double-ups and you are home and dry.

[Warpe]

Try to get away from freerolls if you can afford a small bankroll. The fields are usually huge which makes the time investment significant and the play is generally donkish, which means you'll suffer a lot of bad beats. They're fun and a good place to learn the basics but not much better than play money games for the most part.

[Renton]

Ya even the 3.00/.30s on stars offer challenge and reward.

Some of the 3.30 tournaments pay over 1k for first place.

[jackvance]

I think I'll stop with the $200 freerolls.. still compete in the $1000 freerolls.. at least top 300 is ITM. Not that the payout is so great for anything beyond top 3 but it's nice to get MTT experience.

[Rondavu]

Freerolls

[jackvance]

Freerolls

At unibet, the way you get some profit from your rakes is that you can compete in many freerolls if you have accumulated enough raked hands. So why not, you know.

And god.. while yesterday overconfidence (which leads to impatience and "I have to win money QUICK here") ruined my game, today it was the opposite.. fear ("omg I might lose even more money!").

Ugh wish I wasn't so emotionally unstable. Hope it eases out with time.

Sry if I'm whining lol

[jackvance]

You know what's weird? I suck horribly at those 6max ring games. Lost $30 today on it. But MTTs.. somewhat they seem to suit me better. Dunno why. Played 2 of them today. First one a freeroll, finished ITM. Second one a paid MTT, finished FT. Fifth place.. I really think that when the amount of players goes down I start to suck horribly or something, lol.

[shysti]

You know what's weird? I suck horribly at those 6max ring games. Lost $30 today on it. But MTTs.. somewhat they seem to suit me better. Dunno why. Played 2 of them today. First one a freeroll, finished ITM. Second one a paid MTT, finished FT. Fifth place.. I really think that when the amount of players goes down I start to suck horribly or something, lol.

maybe youre a tournament player :shrugs: