Originally Posted by cF00

yea so how do i recognize these opportunities?

can u suggest some good reading on this?

Harrington on Hold'em Vol I &II.

Super system will tell you nothing about how to be successful in todays tournaments. It's just one big ego trip for Brunson.

And Jason...............I'd love to play in a tourney with you. You think and play very similar to me...............I am just a bit more risk averse than you are though.

Originally Posted by Antneye

And Jason...............I'd love to play in a tourney with you. You think and play very similar to me...............I am just a bit more risk averse than you are though.

I forget how to spell his name, but I live by Amir Vivendi's motto:

In order to live, you must be willing to die.

Jiffman... its been my experience to date as well... the only tournament ive won so far has been some pretty sweet suckouts and really hot rushes.


My typical tournament now is a strong conservative game which wins me chips of around 2 to 3X the average....

Then when the tables tighten up and blinds are 75/150 to 300/600... i attempt to use my stack to push off lower chip holders (the guys holding on for dear life).

But what seems to happen is i end up against someone who hit a great hand and nails me for a large chunk of my chips...
or the short stack raises me all in and the pot odds dictate my calling... where they suckout and take more chips...

generally, i will lose my large stack to 3 or 5 terrible hands... and i end up with a stack that leaves me hanging on for dear life to make it into the money.
Then I generally get knocked out on the bubble...

its getting frustrating going out 41 or 47...

Originally Posted by cF00

But what seems to happen is i end up against someone who hit a great hand and nails me for a large chunk of my chips...
or the short stack raises me all in and the pot odds dictate my calling... where they suckout and take more chips...

generally, i will lose my large stack to 3 or 5 terrible hands... and i end up with a stack that leaves me hanging on for dear life to make it into the money.
Then I generally get knocked out on the bubble...

its getting frustrating going out 41 or 47...

Look, I know I'm the king of calculating pot odds and making decisions based on them, but I want to say this about them: They ain't everything.

Late in a MTT, If I'm pushing to steal, get reraised back and find myself with just ok pot odds, I'm folding if I think I'm beat. Ring game poker is about taking every small advantage and pushing it for full value. If you bust out, you buy more chips.

In a tournament, particularly late when we're in good shape, we don't want to push marginal advantages, because we don't have an infinite time/chip horizon to make our money back "over the long haul".

So if you find yourself trying to steal with a $1000 raise when you have $10K in chips and have it reraised all in by a shortstack to $3K total and you're holding J9s - even if you're getting 3:1 on your money I'd fold. Yes, you're likely getting your odds, but if I gave you 100:1 odds on your stack when you're 50:1 to win late in a tourney, would you take it? I wouldn't. Reason being is that the chips in front of you are not actual $, and busting out 50 out of 51 times would be a net loser in terms of real $.

So you also need to think in terms of tournament odds. That is, if I win this pot, is this going to significantly increase my chances of winning the tourney (placing in the $)? If I lose, how will it affect me? This basically relates to your tournament payout equity - in other words how much are my chips worth right now. Add up all the chips in play in the tourney and divide your stack by that number. That's the % of the total prize pool that you have equity in. Now multiply that % by the total prize pool (or just the first 10 places or something like that). That's your current equity. You can also divide the total prize pool by the total amount of chips in play to get the equity per chip.

This should get you started in understanding your decisions in terms of the overall tournament, instead of just pots. (Remember, poker isn't about winning pots, it's about making good decisions).

Excellent posts Jason.

Have you got an evil twin who sometimes posts on your account

Originally Posted by Irexes

Excellent posts Jason.

Have you got an evil twin who sometimes posts on your account

Yeah, and apparently he's a play money player who thinks "inside the box" too much. LOL

Originally Posted by Jason75

Yeah, and apparently he's a play money player who thinks "inside the box" too much. LOL

Ill have to find him and bankroll him.