Meta Poker Bug

The later stages of a multi-table tournament are the stages that separate the good poker players from the great poker players. Players who regularly final table and can be seen winning MTT’s often take advantage of the opportunities that arise at this stage of a tournament.

Playing tight late in tournaments

This is a mistake novice pkr.com poker players and some more advanced players make when playing MTT’s. They tighten up as blinds increase. Being more selective about that hands you play the later you get in tournaments is not a bad thing, as adjusting your hand selection is the correct thing to do. However, players can go too far and start folding hands they should not.

Playing hands like 9s-10s is a good idea early in MTT’s, when you have plenty of big blinds. However, do not just stop playing this hand as the blinds increase. For example, if you find you have 9s-10s in late position with no other players yet involved in the hand, it would be a mistake to fold 9s-10s. It is counter productive to stop playing hands like this and limit your opportunities to steal blinds.

Loosening up late in Tournaments

The reason loosening up late in MTT’s work is because pkr rakeback players begin to notice the size of the raise less and the actual cards they have more. This presents an opportunity that is not possible earlier in tournaments.

For example, later in a tournament with blinds at 600-1200 and 100 antes, most tight players will fold hands like 10-8 off suit and everything below regardless of the raise. If you raise to 3000, 3400 or 3800, it usually does not make a difference. Therefore, by choosing to raise by just 3000 will usually have the same result as if you where to raise by 3800.

Most poker players fail to realize this. Playing looser in later position when the blinds are higher is more effective than when blinds are small. It is also more profitable as you can also win the antes as well as the larger blinds.

This is just a loose generalization of playing late in MTT’s. You have to consider other things before committing to raise from late position. Stack size of opponents, blinds, the amount of big blinds that you have, and how tight your opponents on the small blind and big blind all have to be taken into consideration to truly use the looser approach late in MTT’s effectively. Nevertheless, as a rule opening your range or at least not limiting it is a good rule for increasing you chip stack so you can reach the final table.