The game in a multi-table tournament changes
with medium and high blinds. If you are used to an ultra-tight game, we advise
you to forget about it and work on your ability to adapt because you
will have to learn how to play well in an MTT if the blinds go up.
As was the case in multi-table tournaments with
low blinds, speculative play makes much more sense in the early stages
of tournaments. When the blinds go up, watching the flop with a speculative
hand is something you should discard. Not even the most adventurous player
would be able to take such a level of risk just to watch the flop.
In fact, the higher the blinds go, the more
predominant high cards become to the detriment of speculative hands. But
that doesn't mean we should forget about speculative plays altogether.
In fact, they are the best option in some
specific situations. Playing with suited connectors is especially attractive
when the hand is at the end of the table, we are playing a multiplayer pot,
there is no short-stack involved, it is played with +20BB (less we would
say that they are low blinds), and all this as long as the table is not
especially aggressive, with predominance of limpers and residual raisers.
We must not forget that limping with suited
connectors is never a good idea if we do not play well stocked with chips.
If playing in multi-table tournaments the game
was characterized by being ultra-tight, here we simply move to a tight style.
With medium and high blinds it is feasible to steal a pot, as long as we have
strong cards and we can rely on our position. If we have previously played
ultra-tight, this can play in our favor, since others should perceive us as
credible players.
Every time we make a raise, others will give
it credibility. This is important to consolidate our position and to be
able to use a speculative raise in our favor if necessary. In online poker,
this factor is lost, although we can send the same message implicitly, simply
by avoiding semi-bluffs.
A good way to attack in MTTs with medium and
high blinds is to bet the minimum amount possible to win the pot, but forget about this in the early
stages of the tournaments, because if you win, you hardly get anything, but if
you lose, your continuity in the tournament may be in question, so you should
not do it now. The idea is to bet very little to obtain huge profits, yes, but
not at the cost of sacrificing your position.
On the other hand, we must keep in mind that it
is convenient that the players behind us have the opportunity to leave the
hand, not out of chivalry, but for their own benefit: holding back players
who do not want to be in the hand can cost us dearly.
To follow an attacking strategy, it is best to
use the range of cards with which you are most familiar. A semi-bluff can be a
good option, but be careful not to jeopardize your tight perception.
Things get interesting when the blinds go up.
The range of cards must change (cheap cards can become very expensive if we do
not make this rebalancing), and if we keep a small stack, we can run out
of room for maneuver by being committed to the pot.
Playing with a stack of -18 BB and up puts us
in a delicate situation. The basic strategy of raising preflop and following with a
continuation bet is no good if we don't have enough chips.
If we have enough chips to make a c-bet, it is
possible that the villain will see it. He will also be pot committed. It can
also happen that we raise preflop and get re-raised. If we see the bet,
we are again committed to the pot. Pot commitment with short stacks usually
comes out almost automatically. You bet, and you are automatically committed.
The basis of all attack and defense strategy playing
with reduced stacks is to keep the stack at all costs. Why? Because by
keeping it, we can make the villain consider not getting into trouble with us.
The point is not to have more chips than him, but to have enough to make him
think that getting into a hand with us is not such a good idea.
And how many chips are enough? Well, it
depends on how much the blinds go up. If they raise within the expected
range, 9 - 10 BB (+ ante) should be enough. If the blinds are too high, 6 - 7
BB + ante. We understand ante to be about 10% of what the big blind is worth.
Playing with a large stack puts us in a
position of tranquility, much more comfortable than playing with short
stacks, which commits us to the pot at the first change.
Having approximately +25 BB we can even try to
steal the blinds and regret it at the last moment. However, we have to get an idea of the stacks
of the others: it is not convenient for us to face another big stack. If we do,
we should only have premium cards. If not, we forget: remember that it is a big
stack that can put us out of the tournament.
If no big stack is going to put us against the
ropes, we can take advantage of our position to put the pressure on those
who are playing with shorter stacks. A hand of medium strength will
be enough to achieve this.
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