Why MTTs are so boring early

Soupie asked the other night while I was playing whether he was the only one who felt that the only time he really enjoyed playing was after he had plodded through the first couple hours of a tourney. I instantly agreed without giving it much thought. For whatever reason, that comment has stuck in my head though, and now I am starting to give it a bit of thought and am wondering why is this so?

My conclusion, unfortunately, is not real mind blowing, but it has got me to think more about the game, which is always a good thing. So here's the deal. The reason MTTs are so boring the first couple for hours is because, for the most part, you are boxed in to just playing your cards.

And now for a bit of a thought process. Why is this so?

I think the basic reason that you are forced into playing your cards is because there are really only 4 types of players early in tourneys: 1) the calling stations; 2) the maniacs; and 3) the rocks; and 4) the AGGs. And here's why you need cards and not fancy play to beat all 4 types of players early.

1) The calling stations. Calling stations just call and chase. You can't get a calling station of his hand because he always thinks you are bluffing or just can't let go of whatever weak pair he has. So, in general, you beat calling stations by value betting the bejesus out of them, and to do that, you need big hands which generally calls for.... yup, good cards.

2) The maniacs - maniacs are playing lots of hands and aggressively trying to take them down postflop with big reraises and bluffs. The problem here is that because their bluffs are made so often and are so big, that the only way to beat a maniac is to get to a showdown with him. And for that you need your cards to be better than his. So once again you are dependent on just playing your cards against a maniac.

3) The rocks. Rocks are just sitting and waiting for their premium hands. So again, you aren't trying to outplay a rock, you are either hoping to have a better premium hand or to hit some sort of hand (like a set against their overpair) against them - and that means you are again just playing your cards.

4) And lastly the AGGs. And this category is a bit interesting. The AGGs consist of both the Tight Aggressive players (TAGGs) and the Loose Aggressive players (LAGGs) that we hear so much about late in tourneys. But what many players might not realize is that most LAGG players are not LAGGy throughout a tourney. In general, most LAGGs are actually TAGGs early in tourneys and then switch gears late in a tourney and loosen up to feast on the rocks and TAGGs players that are generally left (except for the occassional luckbox station and maniac, the majority of players that make it deep are the TAGGs and rocks who have gobbled up the chips from the stations and maniacs). So that means that most of the AGGs are tighties to start, which again means that you are going to need good hands to beat them because they aren't playing crap to start.

So what does this all mean? Not a heck of a lot - it does reinforce that tight is right early (and why fancy play syndrome early is often a disaster), and helps explain why you need to open up your game late but it doesn't make the early parts of tourneys any more fun.

I'm curious to hear what everyone else thinks.

I agree with this reasoning completely. I also think that it emphasizes differences found in different types of tournaments. Deep stack tournaments and R/A's end up being played much differently, for instance. Part of this is that the Aggs have enough chips and/or reason to try to make moves earlier.

Stakes impact things too, since higher stakes players tend to be more aggressive and less calling-station-esque. They are also more aware, which can make some more predictable. As we remove the maniacs and stations from the field, I think it becomes more and more optimal to get involved early, where you can outplay some of the Taggs more easily (before they shift their game to a more optimal line and before stack sizes make some of their plays automatic).

NH

I agree with everything you said, but I don't think that's what makes early stages boring. In fact, I don't think the early stages are boring, I just think they are much less exciting than some of the later stages. Later, you've got a payday in sight; you sure as hell better get some kind of rush from that.

Hopefully the type of rush you get isn't one that causes you to lose patience or act unprofitably, but rather enables you to focus even more sharply even as time drags on and your mind's normal reaction would be to start drifting.

There was another thread in the last couple of days with a post in it that made the point that in the late stages of a tournament, one of three things usually happens in each hand. A guy raises and everyone folds; a guy raises and someone reraises all in and the raiser folds; or a guy raises and someone reraises all in and the raiser calls.

That is a far less enjoyable brand of poker, and I would despise it if not for the bag of money at the end of the tunnel. I don't like it much as it is.

Let's say we've got a 500 player field to start with. I most enjoy moving from around 150 down to 30. There are enough players around that there are always stacks to be targeted, and with enough tables running, other players are being eliminated at a pretty good clip as well, so you feel like you're making steady progress. After that is when it gets formulaic and quite dreary.

Nice post and replies. Here are some sound bites to summarize my take on the issue.

For good cash game players the first hour might be the most exciting. I am not a good cash game player in the least, so to me the first hour is where I sit back and let the prize pool concentrate. I do not subscribe to the idea that you need to be a good cash game player to be successful in tournaments, esp large donkaments. It can help a modest amount, and is almost certainly necessary for playing really slow blind structures, but not essential for winning handily in online donkaments where the blinds move 15 minutes or less.

By playing your cards in the first hour and playing them tight, you are essentially saying "I'm planning to mostly just sit back and watch the donks who think they can/must win the tourney in the first hour bust out." To me the first hour is for noting the donks who double up early on marginal situations or suck outs and finding a good opportunity to get in a pot with them.

You'll look up after an hour of tight play and suddenly your portion of the prize pool is 50% greater simply for sitting back and playing your cards. A lot of your ROI comes from sitting back and watching people bust early.

i agree, also when a thinking player labels you as tight, you can run a risky bluff here and there later on. I did it just the other day in a crucial pot to make the final table in the 20/20..