Joined: Jan '12
Location: Canada
Age: 62 (M)
Posts: 31
I luv mtt's., but I learned long ago, after 15 yrs experience in online poker, that setting goals should be important to you. Most mtt's go 10 to 12 hrs for final tables, so goal setting is important. I usually like to set both, chip amount, and level to achieve. Once you acheive one goal then u set another for a little further down the same tourney. Keep with this and I'm sure you'll find yourself getting deeper into mtt's, and hopefully making more final tables. GL 2 all and I hope I c u at more final tables!i
Joined: Dec '11
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 38 (M)
Posts: 707
surely 14 years online (if you were playing for free or even less if you were playing cash)
i feel goals are very important..
i need to work more on my bankroll management....i get bored after building a br and end up losing it all on cash games(not that im s**t i normally get donked and then chase)
sorry if my 1st post 2 u seems cheeky im only messin around..GL at the tables
Joined: Aug '08
Location: Canada
Age: 43 (M)
Posts: 658
So true. If you are sitting in a mtt with more chips then brains and no plan you may play that AK to a raise and take a huge loss. Where as if you are goal oriented you see that pot isnt important and only puts you at risk of missing the next money ladder.
I say this because yesterday with 4th in chips and 60 remaining i hauled off 300k with AK to a small raise and the guy had JJ. i was lucky he didnt have AA or KK or QQ the way it was played but had i thought of my spot i would have let it go or just called to see a flop.
outside of individual games my bankroll management is my best asset. I used to go broke as a joke each time i cashed on in the past but havent had to yet currently and its because whenever i play crappy or blow some of my roll its not a big thing since i always have 150-200 buyins for all but one game i play ($3.30 $1k gtd)
I also experienced a downed internet yesterday just after signing up for 8 turbos. 16$ gonzo but because i wasnt playing above my roll it was only a small inconvenience.
Joined: Apr '09
Location: Portugal
Age: 44 (M)
Posts: 4827
It’s a bit difficult to think that way when playing an MTT, I think. Imagine you reach your first goal to soon, what will you do then? Sit back and relax, only playing “monsters”? If you do this, the most probable to happen is to go against someone who will try to rob you, making you decide if its worth to see if he is serious or not. You will start losing chips and then, instead of thinking about the next goal, you will be thinking again about the first one. We should try to keep low profile, even if we are top 50 in a 4,000 field, this is main advice.
Joined: May '08
Location: Lithuania
Age: 39 (M)
Posts: 10090
i think there is no reason for setting goals in such an unpredictable "sport" as poker- what's the point- you might be playing well and get a suckout...you might make an error and still win...even if you have the most solid strategy and accurate plans they can be easily spoiled by a bad beat- so why make those plans? just try to give your best and hope that luck is on your side
Joined: Aug '08
Location: Canada
Age: 43 (M)
Posts: 658
Plan for bad beats. Or fold big hands when aggression is being shown. Im not saying fold jj to the obvious shove donkey. But folding AK versus a guy who has only shown premium hands is a goal in itself.
Obviously the best laid plans of mice and men and all that but by not having a plan you are relying more on fate then realizing your destiny. "hope that luck is on your side" isnt a plan. Sometimes its obvious you are not hitting some days and to force draws on those days is a bad plan.
Im almost sure you can fold every good hand you get and just play small pot poker against late position folding to any aggression and make money. Ever see someone bet pot in late position after 3 weak calls and then show 109? He has a plan and his plan is standard.
Cmon guys you both are telling me its best to just go in hoping its your lucky day? Part of the plan and the goal is to learn how to limit bad days and all the reading and writing and thinking you've done up until each hand is planning even though you dont know it. So maybe you can say i plan on being random or i plan on being unreadable or whatever it is there is also or should always be a plan.
When you are sitting on the bubble and pick up aces and ur not at risk at all but two players dive in front of you and they both have you covered. You call right? because the plan is to play monster hands. Becuase the plan says the risk is worth the reawrd. But say you are near busto and the money in this game is good if you just fold down. So if you go busto with ur AA sure its bad luck right? When we have just shown you could have avoided it and been assured good money but you couldnt find a fold because you had no plan except to play AA to an allin.
So this is a bit chaotic but i really think you will see my point that its not luck. Mercier says lady luck sure like to hang out with the same people? on merge there are a few players you see with such regularity at final tables and they all play the same way. When im planning well and make good folds im there too. There is nothing simple or lucky about playing winning poker. Its hard work and very tiring when you fold and fold and fold and fold and fold and then lose with the better hand to a hand you wouldnt have played. Usually to someone with no plan who thinks diving with AJ in early position is awesome. I pick up KK and would like to flat and see a flop but i cant. I also cant fold because the player is garbage and is unlikely to dive with any real premium made hand so i call. He flops trip aces and im crippled. To me thats a win though. I went in with best hand. When i win this hand though the AJ player is offended at Merge for making the hands the way they did.
Never once do they consider 3betting or folding to a raise their AJ. they just click and hope. those are losing players.
Maybe it's not so much a goal, but more of a performance indicator; I look at the average chip stack (all chips in play divided by the number of players). When I'm comfortably above it, I tend to fold much more to aggression, trying to see a cheap flop, going for monster hands. Otherwise I play tight aggressive.
Also when on the bubble, I pretty much fold everything, if I can afford to (especially when playing qualifiers and the top 10 prizes are all of equal value, in that case I just stop playing if I hold 10% or more of the chips; even folding AA preflop, unless I'm heads up against a tiny stack).
Joined: Feb '11
Location: Germany
Age: 31 (M)
Posts: 1859
Setting goals in specific MTTs,like having a specific stack @ a specific blindlevel isn't good. It will make you change your game in a way you shouldn't change it to. It will make you tighten up once you are bigstack for example. The key in MTTs is to get max. value from every hand,and that's the only goal you should have. What if you go carddead for like 20 minutes? You will have either no chance on achieving your goal,or you will try to achieve the goal very badly by playing trashy hands and bluffing in -EV spots. As long as you do your usual stuff like exploiting the weakness of the fishes,get max. value from your strong hands and play every situation as good as you can,you're doing it right
Joined: Jan '11
Location: United States
Age: 42 (M)
Posts: 852
I think you should have goals, not specific chip counts ect though.. When I set goals though it's more like I set my goal to make the money, usually by obtaining maximum value/ minimizing loses on my big hands. Honestly though my main goal if to just focus and play well. You can't be afraid to lose your chips. In order to live you can't be afraid to die. Does this mean go in guns blazing? No. I will however bluff in position if I think I have fold equity, play more aggressively closer to the bubble, single out weak opponents in every tournament I play. I never ever have a specific chip goal in mind. Truth be told I'm constantly paying attention to the average stack and the chip leader & often provided I am catching hands & getting paid off try to stay within striking distance. Youhae to get all the chips to win a tournament.
