4/8/2022

Online Poker Mtt Tournament Strategy

While tournament payout structures vary depending on the poker site or live tournament organizer, the winner of the tournament will always get the biggest chunk of the prize pool by a fair margin. In a typical $20 buy-in, $10k guaranteed online tournament, the winner will get approximately $2,500 and the runner-up will be left with $1,500.

Early, Middle, and Late MTT Strategy

Online poker mtt tournament strategy odds

Multi table tournaments are different from single tables in many different ways. There is a larger field to fight through, game play can often last several hours if not days, and the prize pool is much more attractive often paying out hundreds or thousands of dollars if not millions. They are also much more difficult to play, as players need to know how to switch gears often as they move through the different stages in the tournament.

  • Multi-table poker tournaments (also known as MTT's for short) of all field sizes and buy-in levels can be found online 24 hours a day. This article will cover basic multi-table tournament strategy at the various stages that a tournament will go through before the lucrative final table.
  • Tournament poker strategy has advanced in leaps and bounds over the past decade. And an 'old-school' style will no longer cut it at the poker tournament tables. In modern tournament poker playing styles, bet-sizing and the general approach to specific situations have all changed drastically.

Early Tournament Strategy

In the early stages of a tournament, it is really important for players to focus on playing ‘ABC’ poker so that they can try to start accumulating chips to get themselves in a good position for later stages of the tournament. The first step in to accomplishing this is by playing the right starting hands. Now, while ‘starting hands’ may seem like a broken record that you have heard numerous times, it really should be the center point of your strategy. The reason being is that everyone has the same goal which is to make it into the money. So, by playing hands that are huge underdogs pre-flop in hopes to flop something huge and stack someone is not only highly unlikely, it is very risky and just a waste of money, chips, and your time. And time is a huge factor since many times it is common to play for hours on end, if not days, to make it to the money much less the final table. The starting hands that would be suggested to play would include:

Early Position: AA-JJ, AK-AQ suited AK off suit
Middle Position: AA-1010, AK-AJ suited/off suit
Late Position: AA-88, AK-A10 suited/off suit, connectors (suited or not) situational

This may seem fairly tight but again, the goal here is to outlast the players who are taking more risks and busting out. At the same time, this does not take the GAP concept into affect either. So if you are in late position and see a raise in early position, it is crucial to only call with hands that are better than what you would raise in your position.

Other things to try to avoid or use sparingly is huge bluffs, stealing the blinds, or slow playing hands. At these stages of most tournaments, the blinds are 20/40, 30/60, 50/100, 75/150 and so forth. That really is not enough money to risk your chips for.

Middle Stage – Bubble Play

At this point in the tournament, the blinds have gone up and a good portion of the field is gone. But this does not mean that it is time to get super aggressive and reckless. In most cases, players who make it to this point have average stacks with a select few that have been able to build a huge lead due to good cards, luck, and/or gambling.

Since the blinds have gone up, it is time to loosen the hand range a bit and start choosing spots to try to pick up the blinds to add to your stack. It would be suggested to add maybe a hand or two to each range, so for early position you may add 1010 and AJ-A10, middle position 99 and A10-A9, and late position 55-77 and A9-A8. It is important to add a few hands to your range as you do not want to be consumed by the blinds and by this time, you should have a feel for your opponents and their tendencies.

Opening your hand range will especially help when getting near the bubble. Now, it will depend on how big the tournament is before people start switching gears for bubble play, but what you will be able to notice is most everyone tightening up as they do not want to risk busting out so close to being in the money. Depending on your chip stack, image, and opponents, you may elect to do the same thing. On the other hand, if everyone here is tightening up, why not raise and steal more of the blinds? Stealing the blinds here can definitely keep you around long enough to make it inside the bubble and most people will fold to the slightest bit of pressure regardless of the hand they have.

Strategy

Once players make it inside the bubble, they tend to loosen up a bit and play more aggressively. From here, it will be important to pick good spots to play and get your money in while you are ahead and hope the cards fall your way. If everything seems to be going your way, then it is possible to make it to the final table.

Online Poker Mtt Tournament Strategy

Final Table Play

The bigger the tournament, the harder it is to cash much less make it to the final table. And while it would be nice to provide advice on how to beat the final table, it really is situational. If you happen to make it in as a large stack, then it may be in your best interest to do one of a couple things depending on your opponents.

Be Relentless – Apply relentless pressure on your opponents picking up blinds and easy pots and just adding to your chip lead. This should be easier to do against players who are average stacks or higher, as any short stacks are looking to push and double up through you.

Pick and Choose Your Spots Carefully – Sit back and watch the action unfold and wait for several others to bust out. The only thing to keep in mind is that by now, the blinds are huge and you will want to try to pick up the occasional blinds as not to lose your stack.

As an average stack, you cannot sit back and do nothing. It may be in your best interest to avoid the larger stacks unless you have a very good hand. Another thing that may work in your advantage is put pressure on the short stacks when you have a high enough hand that you are willing to go all the way with. Many times short stacks will put their chips in the middle with any 2 face cards or Ace. Short stack players should push with just about any pair and two face cards. Sure, this may be a gamble, but if you are a coin flip then it is a very reasonable gamble to make and as a short stack, your choices are limited anyway.

MTT Strategy Conclusion

While none of these suggestions is set in stone, many of them such as starting hands, bluffing less, and picking up the blinds are strategies that many players employ to ensure that they do well in multi table tournaments. And although everyone may play MTT’s a little bit different, the goal is the same; make it inside the bubble and then aim for the final table. By utilizing even one of these strategies, players should find themselves much deeper in the multi table tournaments they play in.

Multi-table poker tournaments (also known as MTT's for short) of all field sizes and buy-in levels can be found online 24 hours a day.

This article will cover basic multi-table tournament strategy at the various stages that a tournament will go through before the lucrative final table.

MTT prize pool structure.

We will start by looking at the key factor of how the prize pool in a multi-table online poker tournament is distributed – and the big influence this needs to have on your strategy in order to maximize your poker winnings over time. Next we go through the early, middle (including the bubble) and later stages of a poker tournament showing what factors influence your strategy at each point.

Tournament prize distribution is very ‘top heavy’. The players who reach the final table will split up to half of the total prizes between them – while those who make it into the first paying spots only will often win less than twice their initial buy-in. Even at the final table the top 3 paying places will give a disproportionately larger payout than the other places.

This has a large effect on tournament strategy for those players who are looking to maximize their long-term profits. Aggressive, positive play is rewarded at all stages of the tournament - by a shot at reaching the final table. Passive play during the later stages may enable you to sneak into the money positions – however this will not make up for just a few final table appearances when adding up profits at the end of the month or year.

Early stage tournament strategy.

Online Poker Mtt Tournament Strategy

In the very early stages of a poker tournament the game plays in a similar way to a cash game table. This is because the stack sizes are many times the size of the blinds, allowing betting on the flop, turn and river for many hands. ‘Deep Stacked’ play involves its own adjustments including favoring hands which can make hidden ‘monsters’ such as small pairs and suited connectors. Hands that are easily dominated such as Ace-Ten and King-Jack should generally be avoided at this stage.

Your strategy objective in the first few blind levels should be to accumulate chips from the weaker opponents who will still be in the tournament at this stage. At the same time you should avoid big ‘gambles’ for all of your chips if you feel that your skill advantage will have time to show over a larger number of small pots.

One saying for the early stages of multi-table tournaments is that ‘you need to take the chips from the weak players before someone else does’ – after all they will be harder to take from a stronger opponent later down the line.

Transitioning from early to late stages.

As the blinds and antes get higher when compared to the average stacks your tournament strategy needs to adjust to new conditions. Since you must invest more chips to see a flop the value of the speculative hands played in the early stages goes down.

High cards however go up in value when you are the first to enter the pot. Since calling a raise in the middle stages requires investing a large proportion of your stack this should be avoided where possible. Your opponents are often in the same situation – meaning that you’re raising requirements can be ‘lighter’ than before, especially from late position.

Playing on the bubble.

Online Poker Mtt Tournament Strategy Game

The bubble is the stage of the tournament where just a few players need to be eliminated in order to reach the money paying places. At this stage the single most important factor affecting your strategy are stack sizes – both your own and those of your opponents.

Having a large stack at the bubble will allow you to pick up many pots uncontested – as players will be less likely to fight with a big stack when they risk busting out before the money. Other big stacks and very short stacks should be avoided here, as they are more likely to call you.

If you have a medium stack at the bubble then you can use the knowledge that bigger stacks are likely to steal pots to your advantage. If you are dealt a reasonably strong hand and expect the big stack to be ‘raising light’ you can have a positive expectation situation for a re-raise. Sure you will get unlucky and bust out sometimes – but your strategy for the whole tournament is to reach the final table and doubling up could give you a chance to do so, more than making up for losing the small ‘in the money’ payout.

After the bubble ‘bursts’ players will often loosen up considerably in an effort to accumulate enough chips to reach the final table. At this stage you need to choose your spots carefully. As with all forms of poker it is better to be the raiser rather than the caller.

MTT final table strategy.

Online Poker Mtt Tournament Strategy Games

The final table brings in yet another factor into your poker strategy thinking. Stack sizes are still very important, but now the payout structure – and your opponent’s strategy in relation to this come to the fore.

The presence of a very small stack is a good example of how this affects the dynamic of the final table. Medium stacks will see that one player is just 1 big blind away from busting and will tighten up to avoid going out before this player. This can lead to some great opportunities to pick up chips without too much risk.

Online Poker Mtt Tournament Strategy Odds

Aggressive and positive poker are again the key elements to success at this stage of the poker tournament. The top three places will pay proportionately more than the rest – aim high by picking fights with those opponents who look like they would like to move up in the money. Big stacks and small stacks should again be avoided, the medium stacks are much more likely to fold to pressure at this stage.

Online Poker Multi Table Tournament Strategy

MTT strategy evaluation.

In summary, tournament strategy involves adjusting to the various stages which a poker tournament will go through. At the same time your goal in every tournament should be to reach the final table. Busting on the bubble never feels good – however if for each time you bubble you reach another final table then your long-term profits will be better than that of opponents who tighten up in order to make the money.

Go back to the awesome Texas Hold'em Strategy.

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