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 For players looking to build a BR with MTTs (long)
This is my first crack at a write up with some type of value. I have noticed a lot of questions regarding how to build BR playing strictly MTTs. I would say that I am no where near an authority on this subject. However, this is something I have done and fairly recent. So I thought I would list some things that I think might be able to help beginning players looking to accomplish the same thing I have. Here we go...
Bank Roll Management
This is something that has been touched on many times before and in much more depth than I plan on going. Most players recommend a 100-200 buy in rule. While this is great once you have a BR getting there can be some what of a challenge. Ill be honest and say that I was lucky to gain a BR using this type of strategy but I also had money in the bank and could reload if needed.
I started out with $50 and played the $4.40 180 man non turbos and large field $1-$2 MTTs. To me, what was important was actually having a shot at gaining a real BR. I didn't want to be stuck playing 10c tourneys but I also wanted to start out slow so I could properly relearn the game. So I figured I could take a calculated risk to get some cash flowing. This advice was given to me by a player many levels above me: “There is no pride in grinding to a BR”. Sure, you get to pat yourself on the back for a job well done. But when your looking at your on-line account and you see $100, $200, $300 sitting in there. You feel like you put in a ton of work for not a lot of pay.
So for me the risk of going bust was worth the reward. Note that I now use a 150-200 buy in rule for MTTs. The absolutely MOST important thing about MTT BR management is that you need to allow yourself plenty of buy-ins to learn how to play the game. If your just consistently going bust then your not doing something right. You need to study away from the tables to learn key concepts that will aid your BR in success. Having a 100-200 BR does nothing if you don't know how to play the game.
Variance
At the micros you need to do your best to understand variance and control your tilt. Tilt is defined by your emotions causing you to knock yourself out of a tourney or loose any amount of chips. If you are a tight aggressive style of player. Understand what this type of play style requires. Just because you bet doesn't make you aggressive and just because you only play QQ+, AK+ doesn't mean you are playing “correct”. A majority of micro players are either weak-rocks, loose-calling stations, or hyper aggressive.
Your goal as a micro player should be to learn what type of style you are or at least understand why you enjoy playing the way you do. You cannot continue to think that just because you got knocked out of a tourney you played something incorrectly. As a good exercise, save every hand you busted out of in a day and then post all of those hands in a single thread as a nightly recap. Make sure to include why you played the way you did, what you think villains range is, and any reads you have.
I got a little off topic, sorry back to variance. The fact of the matter is this: “Variance will always be higher at micro stakes”. But do you know why this is the case? Well, for starters no one knows what they are doing. FE or fold equity is a large part of the game as you move up in limits. This entire concept doesn't exist at micro levels. Save yourself the time and energy by just focusing on putting people on ranges and working on trying to understand odds.
Another reason variance is higher is because you will end up all in a ton of the time. I wish I could say this one gets better but so far it has been the same. But yeah, you will end up with your tourney life on the line more often playing micro stakes because players just don't fold. Which is why I think playing the 180man non turbos are so great. The player pool is much smaller and in turn so is your variance.
Ranges
This is the most important concept micro stakes players never seem to understand. This is such an important concept that if you don't get it you will stay stuck in the micros. You have to understand that every player you play against plays multiple hands the same exact way. Let me rephrase that. Every villain you face plays multiple hands the same way in the same situations.
So what does this really mean? Say the pot is 100 and your opponent bet 50 and your on the button. The flop is K 10 7 with no flush draw. What could villain be betting with here? Well if he had a K he would bet, his bet was semi weak so a 10 would bet, if he is looser then he could bet with 98, he could also have a pocket pair from 77 to AA. So villains range could look something like this (any pocket pair, AK, KQ, KJ, KT, T9, JT, QT, AT etc) which is 21 different hands he would make this bet with. See now how ridiculous is it to just say villain has AA? Another thing to note, I haven't even told you what your hand is yet and we are already able to put villain on a range.
The point is, you don't need to know your cards to know what your opponents possible holdings are. Once you find out your villains range, plug it into poker stove. I wont go over poker stove because there are many better threads covering that.
Being open minded
This is another crucial skill needed to not only succeed out of the micros but to also become a much better player overall. You have to accept the fact that there is a reason why you continue to lose over and over again. You don't know what the answer is so you make yourself believe all these false proofs that have no merit what so ever. Its not poker stars fault, its not someone else playing poorly, its not the odds gods out to get you. Its that fact that you are more than likely a very close minded player. You convince yourself at the table that its the other person who sucks and thats why you lost. Or you get it all in pf and someone sucks out on you so you blame your poker site of choice. Or even worse yet, your the type who refuses to play a hand differently and even when the other player basically turns their hand face up its so obvious your top pair top kicker is beat. But yet you still call just to show that you were the favorite at one point and the other people are worse than you.
These types are the hardest players to give advice to. Because they are so stubborn to the fact that they never ever want to be incorrect. When really thats the reason you chose to join sites like FTR in the first place. I can tell you first hand that I am a member at FTR, PocketFives, two video teaching sites, and I have a coach. I have plenty of faults that I am consistently working on every day and every chance I get. Reason being is that the people I ask advice for know what they are talking about and I don't.
What good would it be to me if I was spending all this money, time, and effort to become a better player. Just to turn around and spit in their face? I mean they wouldn't care because I am paying them, my loss. But what if, what if they are right and their advice helps me to succeed at my goal? What if for just a month or a year, I shut up and applied every concept they told me about. I bet at the end of this process I would have learned a ton and my BR would be a bit bigger as well.
So to wrap this section up. Keep your mind open or you will continue to lose. Poker is a game where everything can change by just one card. If you don't move with the game it will move around you.
Understanding levels of thinking
In one word, DONT. There are no levels of thinking done at the micros and no it wont make you a better player to apply them if learned. People bet what they have and sometimes bluff...thats it. Don't get tricky or go for massive check raises and such. The craziest you should get is learning how to maximize value and chip extraction.
Final Thoughts
These are kind of all over the place but I wanted to just give some thoughts on what I think are key concepts to understand while grinding the micros. Thank you for reading and please feel free to post any questions.
edit: this was also my 600th post 
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Originally Posted by revolvingiris
