Throughout the last 17 years, I have played poker professionally, and coached 100s of other players from across the globe. People with different levels of experience, and people with differing goals.
During that time, it has become clear to me, that most beginners struggle in Multi-Table Poker Tournaments (MTTs), for very similar reasons.
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Some play too tight, some too loose, but they usually all protect their tournament life too much.
And, overall, they misunderstand the variance in tournament poker.
In poker and tournament poker, in particular, it is possible to play correctly and lose over many tournaments. It is also possible to play poorly, and win.
In the short term, luck is a major factor. However, in the long run, skill will be the defining factor, as to who wins, and who loses.
Playing Too Tight/Loose
Beginning players come into the game with some belief – conscious or unconscious – about what is going to allow them to win.
Some players believe victory will be achieved through making huge bluffs or huge calls and trying to win every pot.
These players tend to be too loose and splashy, and need to develop more restraint and self-discipline.
Most players, these days, however, fall into the category of ‘too tight’.
They believe that victory will occur if only they can avoid mistakes. They avoid marginal situations and try not to put chips into the pot unless they are very, very likely to win the hand. Caution reigns supreme.
One common example of this, is that beginner and intermediate players, do not defend enough hands from the Big Blind.
When the Button open raises, and you are in the Big Blind, the quality of your hand is actually not the most important factor.
The situation itself is simply really profitable, The Button has raised to 2.3bb, and you have already put in 1bb blind. Therefore, you only risk 1.3bb to see a flop, and potentially win a pot of 6.1bb.
Given these conditions, almost any hand will be good enough to see a flop.
In GTO Wizard, the suggestion is to fold only 21% of hands. In practice, you can profitably fold even less of the time.
But players will regularly fold hands even as strong as 82s or 72s here. These hands likely make around 0.5bb, in practice, in this situation.
And these types of mistakes add up very quickly. On average, a good winning player will win only 5 big blinds, per tournament. So, it doesn’t take many of these types of errors, before your winrate drops to zero, or even turns negative.
There are many subtle mistakes like this, and the main danger with these mistakes is that they tend to ‘fly under the radar’. Players will usually be more unaware of these errors compared to errors where they make a spewy bluff or call, for example.
In my experience, however, these ‘tight’ errors, are by far the most costly to your winrate.
These players need to internalise the understanding that, ‘you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take’.
Protecting Tournament Life Too Much
The cautious approach tends to lead into a tendency for players to protect their tournament life too obsessively.
Many players believe that they should be aiming to cash the tournament as often as possible.
On the face of it, this makes sense, but, in reality, the percentage of the time you cash a tournament (In The Money %), is actually a ‘Goldilocks’ stat.
If you cash too infrequently, you are too loose and too eager to risk your stack.
However, if you cash too often, then you are giving up on too many situations to build a stack, and win the tournament. You are prioritizing cashing the tournament over giving yourself a good chance at winning the tournament.
Once players understand the concept of ICM, or the idea that their tournament life is valuable in and of itself, they tend to take it too far.
As an example, this is GTO Wizard’s suggestion for what to do when, 50% of the field has been knocked out of a tournament, and you are facing a 20bb shove blind vs blind:
There are more folds than if ‘tournament life’ were not a consideration at all:
But the difference is very minor. Players will, however, start to use ‘protecting my tournament life’ as a justification for not calling, in these potentially painful spots, with hands such as A5s or A7o. Hands which are making around 0.5bb.
This strategy will lead to you cashing more often, but you will make final tables and win tournaments far less often as well. And most of the prizepool is distributed towards the end of the tournament (Top-3 usually)!
Misunderstanding Variance
Variance in tournament poker is huge. However much variance you currently think there is, double it!
Even the best tournament players can, and do, go on streaks of thousands of tournaments, without turning a profit.
This will be exacerbated by playing turbo and hyper-turbo tournaments. Or by playing too many tables. So, if you are not comfortable with the reality of large swings, try to play primarily regular speed tournaments, and focus on quality over quantity.
This may seem disheartening initially. But, I actually think that accepting this, can help you a lot.
If you understand that the biggest determinant to success in a single tournament is variance, then it frees you from trying to control an outcome which is outside your control.
Now, you can simply focus on making the correct decisions and letting the chips fall where they may.
Conclusion
Many of the barriers which hold players back are in their general approach and beliefs.
These patterns can take time and effort to change, but the rewards of a paradigm shift in your approach are huge.
The game will appear more simple to you, you will become more aware of your opponents’ leaks, and, overall, you will just make more money and move up the stakes quicker.
One-to-one poker coaching can be a tremendous way to find and plug these leaks in your game.
I have 1,000s hours of experience coaching players like you to success. Here is the story of one of my students and her major live poker tournament win.
If you would like some help identifying your leaks, and plugging them, get in touch with me for some one-to-one poker coaching, or perhaps a Leak Report.
I wish you the very best of luck at the tables!
