MTT Play

[JPSmiley]

How do you react when you are starting to fall behind the tournament average, and its in mid stages of the tournament? Do you loosen up a little and play more aggressively, or do you tighten up and wait for a monster hand to get back in the game? Later in the tournament it is correct to loosen up a little if u were in this situation right?

[JPSmiley]

for example a 2000 person tourney and lets say theres 800-1000 people left.

[FatRufus]

Personnally i'm waiting for a monster hoping and trying to get the big chip stacks in so i can double up or even better. Playing marginal hands with a low chip stack isn't the best idea. So i wait for a monster and try to induce the bigger stacks

[Talking Poker]

Be patient... just play your game. No need to panic just because you are below the average stack.

If anything though, tighten up - certainly don't loosen up.

[JPSmiley]

okay, like just for example today i was playing a MTT and there were about 800/2500 left and i had 3k in chips, average was around 3500, and i ended up busting out because i played AK too agressively and got caught by a KK. I just find once the blinds hit 75/150 and i only have 3k in chips, any raise of 3 or 4 times the BB is 1/4 of my stack so i feel like i either have to play agressively or not play at all.

[Talking Poker]

Going broke with AK (assuming the money went in preflop) when you have a below average stack and "only" 20 BB, in your example, is nothing to be ashamed of.

At least I don't think so. I didn't see how the hand went down of course - you certainly COULD have overplayed it - but sometimes your run into KK. You can't sit around and wait for Aces all day though. I like to avoid big pots, but sometimes you just need to get your money in.

[Van_Broke]

Agreed, you tighten up your starting hand requirements, but when you hit a K with AK and run into KK, well that's just tough luck. No way you should get away from that hand if your stack is that small. If your stack is below average at that point TPTK is usually worth shoving in your stack in most situations.

[JPSmiley]

hmm, cant find the hand history but basicly UTG raised to about 3x BB then guy to his left called, then i went all in and UTG called and so did the other guy (who had a big stack). UTG flipped over AQ, other guy flipped KK, and i flipped AK. He eliminated both of us.

[jaeh00d]

boom, pretty much what i was gonna say but just worded much better