Well my win in the FTP 10k last week seemed to possibly signal me turning a corner finally in my MTT play. In various 24+2 MTTs on FTP this week, I cashed in 4 of 10 and bubbled very close to the money in two others. Every field had at least 400 people in it and I believe that except for the 20k, they all had less than 800. Maybe that’s it as well. Normally I had played in the 10pm EST guarantee there in its’ many sizes. That time slot though has progressively gotten a larger field and my results had suffered.
One reason was quite simple. I was not playing up to my full ability most of the time. It also seemed that I would become bored or distracted if I did survive to say the 2nd hour and I would end up donking my stack off when I didn’t need to. Mostly this was because I almost always multitable and have the TV on when I play. So off goes the TV and now when I play I try to stick to only two tables at a time, normally one cash and one tournament. The field size I think also has plenty to do with it. Obviously the larger the field, the longer the tournament, the more decisions to be made, the more races to win, etc…. I really think that for myself personally the optimum size is around 400-700 players. My 3rd in the then 17k in May, my win in a $50 buyin MTT on stars in June, and my win in the 10k last week all were in that range.
As people have watched me much more lately, they’ve seen how my play near the bubble all the way to the final table is VERY agressive and I’m not afraid to get my chips in the middle. That does make for some wild swings up and down but if you do not take shots at the short stacks then you let somebody else get their chips eventually and you’ll end up pushing a sub-optimal hand as the short stack later on. Can you be more patient and move up the money a few spots? Sure. But with the big payday at the final table, especially the top 3, you need chips and the bubble and shortly thereafter is where you can get them. I also normally don’t let myself get below an M of 5. That’s just a personal thing. I don’t like to have to push again so soon even if I do double with an M of 3 or less. I also like having more fold equity.
I also have loosened up the early stages a lot. I usually see around 30% of the flops in the first 3 or 4 levels. I’ll take pots when I can, push hard with monsters while the people who will call their stacks off with TPNK are still around, and generally get a pretty loose image and try to build up a stack when it’s not too expensive. The middle part of the tournament is where I slam on the brakes and just wait for big hands. This is the time to do it because stealing can become hard. You’re too far from the bubble for shorter stacks to not push with any decent hand and it’s getting to be too expensive to have to throw away steal attempts. I just try to get paid on my good hands and wait for the bubble to open it back up again.
So we’ll see if things keep up. Obviously nobody can expect a 50% cash rate over the long run in MTTs. But I really think that my play lately, combined with some well-timed luck that you need to win ANY tournament, has put me in a position to be a threat to win any time I play. And that’s what it’s all about. Making good decisions and playing your A game.
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