Where to talk about limit MTTs?

[Laeelin]

I've found limit MTT's to be very nice because later on they play like NL, and a lot of limit players suck for the last half of the MTT...

Is this the right form to post about that in?

[JeffreyGB]

Sure!

I'd love to hear a solid approach to limit MTTs actually...I've never managed to do very well in them.

[topsoyale]

I've placed in a couple of $10+1 limit MTT's at Pacific

Basically it seems to me that sitting out for the first half an hour unless you have aces or kings is worthwhile. Big hands get beaten by the fish in the first few levels chasing draws far more frequently than in no limit. Gutshots particularly.

Any straight or flush draw on the board and I fold tptk and two pair all day long until at least the middle stages.

Once the blinds increase and the majority of idiots have gone, the real play begins and you should start playing very aggressive poker. If you hit middle pair or higher you have to bet. You'll get folds most of the time and if you get raised, it's almost never a bluff so you know where you stand.

Near the bubble, incredibly tight play is almost a necessity as people will go a lot further in limit knowing they only have to call a couple more bets. If a player decides he is going all-in with a hand, he will raise regardless of the board cards.

If you lay back and try to steal every orbit you should be fine. Big hands have to be played very strong at this point.

If you're lucky enough to have a big stack you can try and bluff more frequently against the shorter stacks, but medium and short stacks have to play very solid poker. No getting fancy, just patiently waiting for the right hand to raise with.

The final table of limit MTT's is usually ridiculous due to the blinds and antes at this point. Most people have only 5 x bb, with the big stacks on about 9x and the shorts on 2 or 3x.

Waiting for the short stacks to bust while stealing every now and again works. Once the shorts are gone, you're finding a marginal hand and raising almost every street with it. The final table in limit needs an awful lot of luck to win (far more than in NL).

Hope that was a little helpful

[thenonsequitur]

Basically it seems to me that sitting out for the first half an hour unless you have aces or kings is worthwhile.

I've actually found the opposite. Early on in a low buy-in limit MTT there are so many donks just throwing money away and so many people who thought it was a NL tourney and entered by accident and have no idea how to play limit, that you're passing up tons of value by not playing. TPTK takes down a huge pot over 50% of the time. Yeah, everyone with a gutshot and the guy with bottom pair calls your bets and the guy with TPBK pumps it with you. But that just makes a big pot that you have the most equity to win. I'm willing to spend about 40% of my initial stack in the first hour in a few pots where I have lots of equity, because chances are I will make it up and a lot more. I frequently enter the second hour with 50% more to 300% than the inital stack size. This allows room to take a bad beat in the middle stages (and bad beats are inevitable).

Disclaimer: I don't claim to be good at limit tourneys or to have played them much. Just contributing my thoughts.

[topsoyale]

Fair points, and obviously if you don't get outdrawn you end up with a huge stack.

I just find having tried both methods that the outdraws occur too often. Of course if post flop you're heads up and have a caller trying to hit a gutshot, perfect, but especially in the lower limit buy-ins, you tend to have at least 5 callers all trying to hit their draws, and I don't like my odds too much in that situation.

In the higher buy-ins, I just play a solid game all day long and should do well. You still get the fish but if the pots are 4 or fewer players post-flop (which is likely with the higher skill level), you're obviously going to profit from the chasers much more frequently.

It's all a matter of choice. Sitting out suits me more in the buy-ins I play, but I know I have to get in there a bit more in the higher buy-ins as I won't be able to make up my chip stack later on as easily.