Playing and winning Multi-table tournaments is probably the most rewarding & thrilling poker game a player can get involved in. Win big money or qualify for the WSOP / WPT sat at home playing online at sites like PokerStars, Bet365 or 888 Poker.
The downside is playing multi-table tournaments can be a constant drain on a players bankroll – until you get that live game ticket or your big win.
You can make far steadier gains playing ring game and single table tournaments but their is nothing like the ego boost of making it through 10’s or 100’s of players into the big prize money. Playing MTT will involve a lot of patience both during a tournament and in terms of bankroll management. You will experience much bigger swings up and down as your entry fees mount up during the inevitable lack of wins but winning some of the big tournaments really could prove to be life changing.
Bottom line with MMT’s is that your going to get no-where fast without a cast iron game plan, patience in abundance and a solid tight aggressive game.
All the things mentioned in the article on winning sit n go tournaments are the same for MMT’s only more so
More Patience, more opportunism & even more patience.
Multi-table tournaments can be broken down into 3 main stages …
Early Stage … Morons, chancers & dreamers …
In the early stage of the tournament the tables are rammed with 10’s or 100’s of players, clearly they’re not all going to be good and so this stage represents great opportunity & also great temptation. The key thing is to try to capitalise on all this dead money and try to make as much as possible from the weakest players – they won’t be around for long. Whilst this is the best opportunity to increase your chip holding it is also very easy to become too tempted and start to lower hand requirements or play too loose. You want to maintain a good tight aggressive hand selection but pile the pressure on when you have the best of it. This is the point when you are most likely to get all-in’s called by far weaker hands – so when you have good hands milk it or fold and stay out of trouble. Whatever you do don’t start taking on any strong players – remember once your out your out.
Middle Stage … Survival …
Once you and the other half decent / strong players have taken out the idiots and the easy money you are now in much more dangerous company. Your main priory is staying out of trouble and maintaining a decent chip count so that your not dropping in the danger zone. Whilst you have a healthy chip count relative to the other players stay tight, stay alert to opportunity but do not loosen up your game. If you come up against stiff opposition alarm bells should be ringing – better to stay out of trouble or back of when you think you’ve found trouble than get your stack decimated. If your struggling then you really need to put some work in, but choose your spot carefully, consider position and the types of players your up against.
The easiest way to keep an eye on your relative chip stack is to view the leaderboard and where you are in the running and always keep an eye on just how many rounds of the table you can survive.
Remember the blinds will continue to increase eating away at the relative value of your chip stack –
If you have anything less than 8 times the big blind you are in serious trouble – your going to have to wait for a very good hand and go with it hoping to double up or get the blinds. If your this short then you will get called by someone for all your money – don’t try stealing and don’t go with anything but top hands.
If you’ve got 8-16 times the big blind then your doing fairly OK – Sit tight and stick with selectively aggressive play. If you get the opportunity to push good hands hard. The short stacks will feel pressure, the big stacks will be trying to guard their stash.
If you’ve got more than 16 times the big blind your in good shape – You can afford to play a bit looser in late position and steal blinds, move in on the other stacks and generally bully the table – but keep control and don’t go crazy – It’s very easy to start chasing and give your chips away.
Watch out for short stakes who have been waiting to get good cards. And don’t get into a battle with a mid stack who really is determined to go with a hand, chances are they’ve got something decent and they just want as many of your chips as they can milk out of you.
Final Stage … Nearly in the Money …
Once you approach the money you’ve got some decisions to make –
You want to make a place and be sure to pick up some cash … or you want the big prize or bust.
The remaining players will generally fall into one or other of these groups and they will play very differently according to their aims. The placers will be defensive and the win or nothing players will be super aggressive.
You need to decide what you want from the tournament too …
If you just want a moderate profit, sit back and don’t make trouble for yourself and just see what the cards bring you.
If you want a middle road approach trying to get the top spots but not wanting to come away empty handed then work you way up, play a solid game, avoid any big battles and the big stacks – try and pick up some chips from the short stacks.
If you want the top prize or bust your going to have to rock and roll – no mercy, no let up & really make your big stack work for you.
In the final stages just before the money you may find that the state of your chip count dictates your approach – if your short stacked and got little chance of making the top places and your better off sitting it out to get something then a win even a moderate one is better than 3 hours wasted to come away at a loss.
In summary … Go for the weak players early, don’t get hung up on personal battles, don’t blow your chips if your ahead & don’t fall so far behind you get forced to play weak cards.
