Ariston and on - MTT Series - next few levels/approaching the bubble

I have had an absolute nightmare in the 14k this month and haven't finaled once (closest was a 14th and I got knocked out after one of the worst plays I have ever made). The advice I give in these articles is specifically aimed at the MTTs you will play on Betfair. In live play I do everything in my power to avoid being all-in for the whole of the tournament, online I will be all-in on most of the hands I play in the latter stages.

Hopefully you have made it to the next level with a reasonable (average) stack. Now your starting hands should be a little more varied and position becomes a lot more important. The field should have now strung out a little and there won’t be as many people willing to "give you" their chips. The most important thing you need to do is stay ahead of the blinds. Ideally you will have a minimum of 15 big blinds, if you can stay ahead of that you will cruise to the last 2-3 tables. If you fall below this figure you need to do whatever it takes to get yourself back up. If you fall below 7 big blinds you are critical and will have to start to gamble alot more. Ignore where you are on the leaderboard, it really doesn’t matter. If you want to look at anything in the lobby note the average stack size, if you are above this you are in good shape.

The deeper into the tournament the less likely it is your table will be broken so observe the other players; it will become pretty obvious who are the rocks and who are the aggressive ones. Bluff/steal off the rocks and avoid confrontation with the aggressive ones. The aggressive "ram and jam" type players are easy to spot as their chip stack will be up and down. I will not try to outplay this type of player post flop as they may beat you to it. If you have a hand stick it all-in pre-flop- you are far less likely to walk into a "real" hand with this type of player. Take the rocks on as much as you can they are easier to outflop and/or outplay. Position is everything when attempting steals, not just your position with regards to the button but the position of the largestacks/shortstacks. It is possible to steal with any two cards but be careful- if you steal when a monster stack is on the BB he may sherrif you with any hand if the all-in only takes a small percentage of his stack. On the opposite side of the coin someone who is very low on the BB will call with any two thanks to pot odds. If you are choosing a blind to steal look for someone who you can hurt but can afford to pass and still play. Quite often I will have decided on a steal before I even look at my cards. If you are going to steal do it properly, if you need the blinds go all-in and allow yourself to get lucky if you are called.

Nothing worse than raising on the button with 36 and having to fold to a re-raise. If you commit 50% of you stack with your raise you should probably call with the 36 and hope he has an AK or similar where you have the correct pot odds to get lucky. If you are going to do that why not just stick it all-in in the first place.

Don't go calling away your stack from the blinds, better to raise all-in with.

78 than call someone elses all-in with AJ. They may be at the same game as you and have two live cards but I would only be calling all-ins if I can afford to take the hits. If I am a monster stack be very aware, I sherrif the short stacks with most hands and regularly get ripped into for beating an AK with a J9 or similar.

How you play the blinds is one of the key parts of the game. If you simply give up both your blinds you won’t get very deep into the money without hitting some very good cards. If someone is raising your blinds every round make note of it and play back at them. Defend your blinds with hands that are not likely to be dominated- I am more likely to defend with a 9T than an A8. If you defend with A8 and hit an ace on the flop you will be risking all your chips, as if you call to hit an ace you shouldn't be passing when you hit it. The most common hands people will be moving on your blinds with are Ax's or 2paints. If you are going to try and outplay play people on the flop try to pick people who can't knock you out. A bit like real life- If you had to pick a fight with a man in a Las Vegas bar it would be better to take a swing at Prince Naseem than Mike Tyson. Although the little one can still damage you he ain’t going to knock you out.

As you approach the bubble with hopefully a reasonable stack you will notice play slows down. A few of the players will be using all their available time on every hand in the hope other players will go broke and put them in the money. If you are lucky you may have a couple on your table, these people are so desperate to guarantee themselves a money finish it would be rude not to steal their blinds. Just move in on them and help yourself as they are going to need aces or kings to call you. Beating the bubble gets you 30 in the 14k yet people still seem to want it. This is a good time to build a nice stack as far fewer flops are seen and the blinds are really worth having by this stage. I would rather bubble 20 times and win the 14k once and by changing gears at this time you may get a few early baths but it will be worth it in the long run. Even if you are unlucky enough to walk into a hand you may get lucky- by putting all your chips in the middle the skill factor is gone. If you move allin with J7 on the button and get called by a pair of 10s in the BB you will still win the hand 30% of the time. You may get called a lucky so an so but the simple fact is you allowed yourself to be lucky, you stuck your chips in and you deserve the pot. Hopefully you will get through the bubble and will now be in the top 10 on the leaderboard.

2 sample hands from one live tournament:

1/ I am the chip leader with a big stack and put a standard raise in from the small blind with J6 (but they were suited) and the raise is doubled back at me from the BB. This guy hand plenty of chips but I could afford to take the hit so I decided to take a flop with him. The flop came J85 with one of my suit and I bet roughly half his stack. He re-raises allin. Now I think I am behind and even though I may need to get lucky I have created the correct odds for my call. I had never played with this guy before but I had noticed he was what I would class a "player" (didn't mind dancing in a few pots) and there was always a chance I was in front (although I really didn't expect to be).I wasn't going to pass after putting all those chips in to hit a flop and hit it. I call and he turns over AT which didn't catch up and I now had enough in front of me to walk me to the final 3.I played this hand awfully as I allowed myself to be put to the test (If you are chip leader it should be your opponent who has all the tricky decisions). I should have moved allin on the flop but by playing the hand badly I actually won more chips (strange game at times). By simply not giving up the J6 and giving the BB a walk I had increased my stack and more importantly eliminated another player.

14k comp a few nights ago, 2 players to go to get into the money and I am in hyper-raise mode. The table I had was perfect with all small stacks and all very passive. I had built my stack by continuously moving all-in and I could now afford to double anyone up without losing too much of my stack. This could not last as it was only a matter of time before the table got broke and I had to face an opponent with a similar chip stack. I raised all-in every hand that nobody had already entered, I think I raised 14 hands out of.

17 before the table got broke but those 14 steals more than trebled my stack. When someone finally found a hand to call me with he went ballistic when his AK was slaughtered by my mighty Q3. Did anyone on the table actually believe I had a hand every time? By playing this way I never had a difficult decision to make, if no one came into a pot I just clicked the little square marked all-in. Beware though this tactic can only be used with a serious stack and a table full of smaller stacks-don’t start using when you are a small or medium stack or you will be on the rail pretty soon.

Next month playing down to the final.

Ariston