Help with Multi-Table Tourneys

Here's my problem. I do well enought to win SNG's, but for some reason, my multi-table games runs out of gas. I always seem to just finish out of the money. I consider myself Tight Aggresive. And I protect my blinds when possible. Should I be more aggresive? I'm not sure. Seems like everytime I take a chance, it dosen't pan out on Multi. Or should I just stick with what I know best, which is SNG's?

Are you talking about the 30 player multi-tables? If so, tight/aggressive is the way to go. You figure there are 30,000 in chips available, so making it to the final table only requires 2 double ups or a couple of good pots. You just have to be patient, then when switching gears it is all about picking the right time to be aggressive. Defend your blinds, but don't risk your entire stack on a bad hand to do so.

The bigger muti-player tourneys I play close to the same, but you need to be a little more aggressive with more players in, because it takes much bigger stacks to make the final table.

Yeah, I was talking about anything more than one table. I mean 30 plus players and up. Like I said before, I do well enough. My chips stack just seems to run out of gas when I need it most. Aside from bad beats, I just don't seem to get the same results I get when I play a single table tourney. So I wonder if I'm waiting around too long for premium hands. When I should be "Gambling" with something less than premium and hoping for the best.

Sometimes I get the feeling being an "educated" player hinders me. Especially when you see the junk taking pots down. Just today I folded hands which I have been taught were not playable, only to see they would have held up and won. I know it's coincidental, but damn! Anyways.

First thing, you need to take some risks in MTTs, especially semi-early, so you can build up some chips. Nothing completely insane, but things like calling all ins or big bets preflop with AK, pocket pairs, AQs, and calling all ins on the flop with top pair, or shoving all in, etc. You can't sit around waiting for the nuts in MTTs, but you don't need to be a maniac either.

Once you have a comfortable chip lead over the average stack, you should start stealing blinds (once they're a decent size) and pressuring the small stacks had with good but not amazing hands. Keep picking up pots when you can.

Once the blinds get huge near the end, and the play gets very aggressive, is where I tighten up, if I've built a nice lead and am one of the chip leaders. You still have to pressure blinds when you have good hands, and all that. But you don't need to risk everything on an average hand if you're a big stack.

Anyway, its really the middle section of the MTT where I like to build my stack, and that's where I think you need to be more aggressive. Let the maniacs kill themselves early on (and help them if you can), and then keep building your stack little by little.

Well I played two Multiplayer Tournanemts today over at Absolute Poker. And I altered my gameplay a little and finished pretty decently.

Tourney #1- 58th out of 731
Tourney #2- 70th out of 850

Here is what I've learned from both.

1. I am not a good enough player to play two tourneys at once. Which is what I did. There were some pots I folded out of that I could have won if I were paying more attention.

2. Eventually Mr. Bad Beat showed up. And each time I was crippled. I'm talking major losses. One time to quads and the other to pocket Aces. So for all my brilliant play, these two plays cost me both tournaments. TWO PLAYS. The quad was rivered. And the Aces were just bad timing due to the size of the blinds and my stack. I had to go all in with J/J.

I'm proud of the fact that I finished top 100 in both. Even though I didn't win any money. I know now that I'm capable of doing well at more than one table. You can't beat luck though. It's as much a part of poker than skill. It just sucks that luck kills quicker than skill does in this game.

Oh well, I guess that's why it's called gambling.

Originally Posted by FyrFytr998

2. Eventually Mr. Bad Beat showed up. And each time I was crippled. I'm talking major losses. One time to quads and the other to pocket Aces. So for all my brilliant play, these two plays cost me both tournaments. TWO PLAYS. The quad was rivered. And the Aces were just bad timing due to the size of the blinds and my stack. I had to go all in with J/J.

Same thing happened to me this afternoon.

I had QQ, 3 people saw the flop. I had over-pair. One guy triped his 66 and the other was confident in his TT (the TT was overpair also)

We all 3 went all-in afte the flop. The TT guy hit runner-runner to give him quads. It was pretty good if it hadn't happened so quickly. Knocked me out just before the money.

I agree with Michael
You have to play some hands early on but be super tight...can't wait for the Nuts but play group 0 and group 1 hands. Occaisional group 2 depending on your position, limpers etc. Dont be afraid to fold these hands but here again how important to pick up tells.

Originally Posted by JunctionA

I agree with Michael
You have to play some hands early on but be super tight...can't wait for the Nuts but play group 0 and group 1 hands. Occaisional group 2 depending on your position, limpers etc. Dont be afraid to fold these hands but here again how important to pick up tells.

Well I could do that, but I have to at least be dealt them. Tonight I was dealt nothing the whole night. I can't tell you the number of times I was dealt 6/2 off suit. At least 4 times. Tonight was just not my night, and I'm okay with that. You can't win them all.

I think what I'm coming to realize is that I'm psyching myself out. For some reason. It's in my head that if there is more than one table I got no shot. Which I know is not true, but with all my success at SNG's and no success at MTT's, my thought process is tainted. I hate making the final table on the bubble and not being able to pull anything out of my bag of tricks. And making the final table has stopped being a Moral Victory for me, a long time ago.

Now I can see why some Pro's leave the tourney scene. Why waste time against people catching runners on the river when you can bide your time at a cash table? Other than the fame and glory of tournament play. What else is there? One can make just as much money in cash games as a big tourney would pay out. You'd just have to put in extra time. Think of cash games as unlimited rebuy SNG's.

With the ATTY GENERAL OF CT. shutting down all the local tourneys. It may be a moot point. I'm gonna be Casino bound once more. Where I can pick and choose the type of live game I'll play. As well as home games. He who has the home, makes the rules.