Kicking off a series on online MTTs, PKR pro James “James666” Sudworth, who drops in with his top tips for MTT glory.
I see 'Old School' live pros every day in the casino, grinding out small-stakes cash games and tournaments for minimal profits. Respect to them but I know for one that I could not grind out those games live. Online is a different story, where I know I can play the relative stakes, and be a very successful winner, with a considerably higher hourly rate, not to mention being far less bored!
I hope to elaborate here on the productivity and profitability of playing poker tournaments online rather than live, and present my top 10 tips for successfully conquering the world of online MTTs!
No.1: Multi-tabling
An obvious one to kick off with, but one of the major benefits of online over playing live is that you can multi-table.
Some players cannot handle the extra concentration needed for multi-tabling cash games and believe that your win rate per table drops with the more tables you play (which can be true) but MTTs are different. In general you play far fewer hands in a tournament per hour than in a cash game which means you do not have multiple important hands requiring decisions continuously. With no damage to your win rate due to playing too many tables (in a cash game for example), you are simply multiplying your expected profits for every tournament you enter.
No.2: Free money
Added-money tournaments and guaranteed prize pool tournaments that have overlays are great ways to increase your expected return on investment (ROI) when you play an MTT. You should always scan different sites regularly to make note of all the tournaments that are giving away free money, and play these tournaments as much as you can!
No.3: Hitting the big time
Grinding out a decent living is great, but what every aspiring poker player wants is to score a big win, net some seriously decent money and get your name noticed. Most big names do this by winning a one-time single large live event, but online you can increase your chances of winning big on a weekly basis, with many sites offering up $50,000 to $250,000 payouts every Sunday. Add to these frequent online festivals featuring $1,000,000+ prize pools with buy-ins of only a few hundred dollars, and you have a range of big-money tournaments you should be making a beeline for.
No.4: Bankroll discipline
This is a no-brainer for most players. To treat poker as a game of skill, you have to have discipline. Players have different bankroll requirements, with the very aggressive cash gamers requiring far more than the rock-solid low-stakes grinders.
A good rule of thumb to follow is to try asking yourself before you buy in to any tournament, 'Can I really afford to lose this money?' For instance if you find yourself buying into a $2,000 online tournament and you think this will change the way you play due to the added risk involved, then you are playing well above your limits. You should never play a game unless you are happy to treat your buy-in as 'already lost'; this will help you to play your A-game constantly without fear.
No.5: Targeting the fish
In cash games you have the benefit of table selection, scanning the lobby to see which tables have the most value. You cannot, however, do this in MTTs, where the table is selected for you.
Nevertheless, whatever you are playing, there will always be fish at the table and your aim should be to target these players. If there are three bad players at your table, then these are the ones who you should be watching very closely to understand their betting patterns and tendencies. There is no point targeting the sharks (unless you have a very strong hand); only when all fish are dead should you be attempting to attack the decent players at the table, unless you think you have a substantial edge on these guys too.
No.6: Mistaken aggression
In general, to score big in MTTs you have to be fearless throughout and play to win, not to ‘bottom-end’ cash. Most players know this but also mistake 'aggressive play' for a needlessly reckless attitude. This means you should not be 3-betting just because everyone on the strategy videos does it. Instead you should be applying pressure at the right times, and against the right players. There is no need to raise 4 times the big blind every hand, as 2.5x-3x will do exactly the same job, and will risk less of your chips for the same outcome.
Targeting weak players is also important; these are the players you want to be 3-betting regardless of your cards when you feel they are stealing blinds as they are far less likely to defend than an aggressive player. Pick your spots wisely and apply a small-ball technique to accumulate chips through winning lots of small pots. This way you will get paid off with your loose image when you do have nut hands without having risked your stack many times along the way.
No.7: Attacking the big stacks
Attacking short stacks when you are deep-stacked is heavily documented but very rarely does anyone mention how short stacks should target the big stacks during a tournament. If you need to double up to have a fighting chance at 1st place, then the easiest chips to get hold of are gained from bullying the big stacks. They are far more likely to stack off with marginal hands than short stacks or attempt to put pressure on short stacks with over-bets. This means hands that you would normally fold are actually ahead most of the time and you should constantly try to get it in lighter versus the larger stacks as they will usually stack off with even worse hands just for the opportunity to knock another player out. This strategy has its risks, namely that you are committing your tournament life against a bigger stack when you could be picking on even shorter stacks than yourself instead. However, if you are playing to win in the late stages of tournaments, you should be looking to gamble a little.
No.8: Outplaying the players playing you
When the weaker players are weeded out in the later stages of tournaments, and the majority of the players left are decent, you can start to react to what they themselves are thinking about you. Put yourself in your opponent’s shoes, work out how they are perceiving your style of play, then do the opposite to confuse them. If you think they are reading you as 'weak' in a hand, they will most likely attack you, so you should not trap nut hands. If they feel that you are strong, then they will shut down - this is where you can bluff them. If they are still raising you when they can only be viewing you as 'strong', then you can read that they have a better hand than the strong one they are putting you on, and you’ll be able to fold.
No.9 – Structures
Every player has a different style of play that they are good at. Some players love to short-stack through tournaments, whilst others prefer to play deep-stacked with lots of post-flop play. Either way, there is such a wide range of MTTs online in today’s world that you will always be able to find one that suits you.
Turbo tournaments are fantastic for people who like to play short-stacked, with very little post-flop action. The blind levels go up every few minutes, you get into the late stages of the tournament very quickly, and it usually lasts 2 hours or less. If you are good at deep stacking, you will find many deep-stacked tournaments around, with double the starting stack to a normal tournament, and 15-20 minute blind levels giving a lot of play throughout.
In re-buy tournaments, you can play very deep-stacked because of the higher number of chips in play compared to a standard freezeout after all the re-buys have been completed. With the added bonus of higher prizes throughout due to the extra money, this format offers a great payout for an initially small buy-in – as long as you don’t go crazy. If you are dead set on playing tournaments just to reach that final table and the coveted 1st place, then it would be wise to play the larger field weekly and monthly tournaments offered by a number of big sites which guarantee five-figure payouts for 1st place. Great if you’re happy with playing for 10-15 hours through a field of 2,000 – 6,000 players.
No.10: Take everything with a pinch of salt
One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to take all of the tips here, or any strategy article for that matter, as gospel. Many players have spent hundreds of hours skimming strategy articles and videos in an attempt to carve out a set playing style for themselves. However, it’s often the same playing style adopted by thousands of other players too!
The game changes every 3 or 4 months with a new wave of playing style. One month TAG will be the way to go, the next month 4-betting light will be the name of the game. With all the information in the world, you still have to possess one fundamental skill to be a successful poker player - absorb information, filter out the best parts, and then change and adapt, carving your own playing style, not that of another player. The best poker players in the world benefit from evolution! |
