Joined: Jan '12
Location: Canada
Age: 34 (M)
Posts: 162
my question is
how would you generally play during the late stages of mtt play? meaning after the bubble has bursted? i have been struggling lately in pokerstars, cashing in barely after the bubble if anyone has any tips or strategies
Joined: Jul '14
Location: Australia
Age: 29 (M)
Posts: 218
It depends on the type of tournament. Post-cashing in turbos is pretty much a short stacked affair, so it's pretty simple; a big stack should bully and a short stack should shove. In a regular/deep tournament is where strategy, reads and positional play is vital.
After you've cashed (assuming you haven't been moved tables), you should have a decent read on your opponents tendancies, and now is definately the time to exploit them more than you should have been doing earlier.
Look to steal the blinds from late position at every opportunity, as winning the blinds and ante's at least once per orbit keeps your head above water. If you get called, a c-bet is good a lot of the time for the play to be profitable (assuming you are in position). Risking 2k to win 2.4k (stakes 500/1000/100) in itself will keep you afloat.
Take careful consideration in what your opponents have been doing/how they've been playing. Hopefully by the time the bubble bursts the majority of players should be at least somewhat decent, so bingo shoves will be less.
Tighen your range from early position on a smaller stack, and be complete table captain on a huge stack.
Attack the average stacks (even the short stacks, a strategy I've found quite successful in micro turbo's).
Don't be afraid to 3-bet from position, particuarly against opens from villan's you've seen opening wide. Be careful though, doing this too often will see you eventuallycaught out, but 3-betting people who open light can be seriously profitable. If they call, you at least have position.
Pick your spots. Tighten from early position, and raise late. Having a loose image in late position can become exponentially more (correct grammar?) profitable when you pick up a huge hand.
Mix it up. ABC poker will see you getting smacked around by someone who knows what the're doing.
Speak to BeMyATMplz is particuarly good at SnG's so his advice will undoubtedly be more valuable than mine, as this is some all over the place opinion from a losing micro player
Joined: May '12
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 38 (M)
Posts: 2064
I would suggest playing an "ABCX" strategy. Meaning play tight aggressive, but throw in the odd hand (maybe 1 in 20) where you represent a big hand... Occasionally after calling a raise, try a reraise on the flop if it's not too draw heavy...
Also, you should increase your pre flop 3-bet percentage - so hands like A10, KQ and smaller pocket pairs will be re-raises rather than flat calls.
Be careful targeting small stacks when you don't have a hand - they will be much more likely to push... Avoid pots vs big stacks where you have a marginal hand (don't call down on one pair)....
Joined: Oct '11
Location: Sweden
Age: 32 (M)
Posts: 1410
I think the biggest problem might even be your game BEFORE the bubble. That's what I'm doing wrong most of the time and I struggle to actually change my way of playing MTT's (which is why I choose to play SnG's instead). I can only speak for myself but when I get to middle part of the tournament and I can see myself cashing in it, I start playing more tight and folding more often then I usually would just to get passed the bubble. I'm fairly sure that if I wouldn't do that, I would either bust before the bubble or go really deep which in the long run would be more beneficial.
I don't know if that's the case with you but maybe something to think about the next time you find yourself just min cashing? Think of how you played before the bubble (mainly when you started seeing yourself getting payed) and then compare that to your usual game.
Joined: May '12
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 38 (M)
Posts: 2064
Posted by erru9107: I think the biggest problem might even be your game BEFORE the bubble. That's what I'm doing wrong most of the time and I struggle to actually change my way of playing MTT's (which is why I choose to play SnG's instead). I can only speak for myself but when I get to middle part of the tournament and I can see myself cashing in it, I start playing more tight and folding more often then I usually would just to get passed the bubble. I'm fairly sure that if I wouldn't do that, I would either bust before the bubble or go really deep which in the long run would be more beneficial.
I don't know if that's the case with you but maybe something to think about the next time you find yourself just min cashing? Think of how you played before the bubble (mainly when you started seeing yourself getting payed) and then compare that to your usual game.
This is true for a lot of players Erru... and that's why it's massively beneficial to open up your raising range coming up to the bubble. Players won't want to risk getting knocked out so close to the money, so will fold a lot of hands they would otherwise have called with.
One of the first things I read about poker was this:
"The most profitable style of play is always the opposite of the general style of play at your table"
So if people are being tight, you should be aggressive, and if people are being aggressive, you should be tight. That also means that as people are tightening up approaching the bubble, you should loosen up.
Joined: Jan '12
Location: Canada
Age: 34 (M)
Posts: 162
ok, thats the kind of stuff i like to see... well lately i have been playing my premium hands very aggressive preflop, this is at early stage, and trying to double or triple myself up.... this is to set myself up to get itm... works pretty well with me, toward the bubble i target the low stacks, and steal off them when i get the chances... and mainly avoid the bigger stacks than me, that is when i get a good run..
before that i was floating lightly into the flop with hands like a10o+/99pocketpair + and figured out i was losing value in my hands, while others were hitting there low cards, and kept getting rivered by people calling my bets and raises postflop.... that was my biggest problem... but ive figured that out ...
this brings me back to Late Stages of the mtt... im struggling with the fact that im not fully equipped with strategies to beat the loose aggrresive type players, mind you they have bigger stacks of like 500k+ at this stage of the tournament, and im at 150k+ if theres any players out there that know how to exploit them
you guys also have some good points i have missed i will try opening up a bit more before the bubble also...
Joined: May '13
Location: Mauritius
Age: 32 (M)
Posts: 2688
Well i am gonna chip in some thoughts here, you can play the late phase in different manner, but the aggressive route4 is the way to go but you got to have some big stacks first and so it all relates to how you played at the early stage and middle stage , if you played aggressive you would have more chance of a big stack and at the late stage you can use this stack to push other players around otherwise if you have a small stack you will have to push too but more chance of them calling and you flipping the wrong way!
Joined: Jul '14
Location: Australia
Age: 29 (M)
Posts: 218
Posted by yout85:
Posted by erru9107: I think the biggest problem might even be your game BEFORE the bubble. That's what I'm doing wrong most of the time and I struggle to actually change my way of playing MTT's (which is why I choose to play SnG's instead). I can only speak for myself but when I get to middle part of the tournament and I can see myself cashing in it, I start playing more tight and folding more often then I usually would just to get passed the bubble. I'm fairly sure that if I wouldn't do that, I would either bust before the bubble or go really deep which in the long run would be more beneficial.
I don't know if that's the case with you but maybe something to think about the next time you find yourself just min cashing? Think of how you played before the bubble (mainly when you started seeing yourself getting payed) and then compare that to your usual game.
This is true for a lot of players Erru... and that's why it's massively beneficial to open up your raising range coming up to the bubble. Players won't want to risk getting knocked out so close to the money, so will fold a lot of hands they would otherwise have called with.
One of the first things I read about poker was this:
"The most profitable style of play is always the opposite of the general style of play at your table"
So if people are being tight, you should be aggressive, and if people are being aggressive, you should be tight. That also means that as people are tightening up approaching the bubble, you should loosen up.
Joined: Aug '14
Location: Germany
Age: 43 (M)
Posts: 766
How to play the late stages of an multi table tournament depends on how high the blinds compared to your stack size are. Normally after the bubble the the blinds are high and often your stack is small. So you have to play mor aggressive.
Joined: Mar '14
Location: Slovenia
Age: 41 (M)
Posts: 255
Know who you play against. Dont fear when u have good cards, make large preflop always. Recognize agressive player and call with A10+++ All in. Land a pair and go all the way, before river. U will need some luck anyway, its often better to lose at 2+ hours than 4+hours when rewards dont rly differ much yet...
dont call other all ins unless he is "agressive" just skip unless AA KK AK.
Your opening range should be wide, your calling range should be narrow. Forget openlimping and use the c-bet wisely. Late stage is less about stack building and more about getting onto the Final Table (u know how it is - shooting for actually to win the tourey rather than finishing in a place where you ONLY get great return on your BI). Also bluffing/semi-bluffing could come handy on many occasions.
