Need some MTT Advice

[^Newbie^]

You are in the stage where blinds are starting to go up . Say from 100/200 onwards . You have a decent chip stack and you wish to steal some blinds regardless of what you're holding . How much should you actually raise preflop ? I guess i need to do some attacking as i always find myself short-stacked most of the time .

[Jaded]

Re: Need some MTT Advice I normally go for 3 x BB - I think the key is to be consistent with your pre-flop raises, whatever you're holding.

[daftpegasus]

Re: Need some MTT Advice I think the level of raises is based on 2 things: Position and Reads on Your Opponents. In early position I often go for 3xBB (however with a monster in early position I'll also go for about 3xBB). In late position it varies based on my reads of my opponents. I know some people who in late position will go All In every time and hope that the people behind them don't have a monster. Personally I don't subscribe to that. Often a 2x BB raise in late position will do it particularly because if you do get a caller the chances are that you'll be last to act post flop.

[^Newbie^]

Re: Need some MTT Advice Trying to read my opponent but sometimes overreading isn't going to help too much isn't it ? :loon Had A9 today in bet365 $1000 freeroll with around 3900 + entrants . Blinds were like 100/200 i think . I raised 450 pre-flop and one mad bugger ( Who i've seen calling with rags ) went all in and called by a much bigger stack . Wasn't too bothered with the bugger's hands . Kept thinking the big stack had what to make him call . Guessing that he might have me beat with a better kicker , i folded . Turns out that none of them had Ace at all . (Bugger had K10 off ,Big stack had KJo ) In the end , 2 aces came on the flop and one more on the turn . :wall:wall:wall:wall:wall:wall Would have had a very good stack had i called . Finished about 160 + for about 1.50 in the end for an hour's + work .

I think the level of raises is based on 2 things: Position and Reads on Your Opponents.

[daftpegasus]

Re: Need some MTT Advice That's unfortunate but in this situation I think you made the correct call (and not just because A9 is my bogey hand). If they had not gone all in pre flop, but had gone all in post flop, what would you have put them on? Would you then have folded A9, fearing a bigger kicker?

[Cloud]

Re: Need some MTT Advice I would agree that you should raise 3xBB. I would also add that if you are trying to steal - try and target the middling stacks. The small stacks will be looking to go all-in and the large stacks have the potential to make you go all-in.

[Belly77]

Re: Need some MTT Advice When I play the Bet365 freerolls I tend to only really play the big hands. The first hour or so just seems to be an all in fest. Doesn't seem to matter how much you raise you always get put all in. I got fed of them after a while so haven't played for a while. I've learnt more playing the STT's so might give it another go soon and see how I get on. I played in the Virgin daily freeroll yesterday. Came 11th and won 50c. Took me nearly 3 hours but I was watching the tv and drinking vino at same time so wasn't that fussed.

[^Newbie^]

Re: Need some MTT Advice well , it gets even worse after the break when the blinds shoot up . Can't be waiting for a premium hand to play . Could be busted by the blinds eventually .

[^Newbie^]

Re: Need some MTT Advice True , i would have to face more chances of my chips being reduced to zero and get knocked out .

That's unfortunate but in this situation I think you made the correct call (and not just because A9 is my bogey hand). If they had not gone all in pre flop, but had gone all in post flop, what would you have put them on? Would you then have folded A9, fearing a bigger kicker?

[stevie-p]

Re: Need some MTT Advice with the blinds at 100/200 and with a decent stack you shouldnt be thinking about stealing blinds imo. they are not worth much in relation to your stack and as said the short stacks want to move and people are still willing to gamble. yes take the opportunitys as and when the arise but i wouldnt be too concerned about blind stealing just yet....esp with atc. with a solid stack you want to keep alert and solid ..not raising every other hand from any position. blind stealing is of the upmost importance to win a tourney but not when the blinds are so low in relation to your stack.. if you must go stealing: dont steal too often think about how the table sees your image at present try to raise from different spots...nothing as horrible as the 3*bb raise on the button...makes me cringe every time. forget about blind stealing and try re raising instead... also stealing blinds isnt going to win you anything...remember that you are only stealing blinds in order to keep an above average chip stack whilst waiting for a hand. if you do get re raised ...dont be thinking that thats it i have junk i fold ...try to think about your chip stack , pot odds , likely holdings etc

[guesswest]

Re: Need some MTT Advice IMHO you should first ask why you're raising, everytime you raise. Once you have a purpose in mind it's easier to decide on amount. If you don't have a specific purpose in mind (ie I'm just raising because I have a decent hand and that's what you do) it's better to not bother raising at all. If you're raising for position you don't need to raise much, if you're raising to isolate you need to raise more, if you're raising to pot build somewhere inbetween, if you're raising to steal the blinds you should look at your opponents stack and previous calls etc. The other option is to raise exactly the same amount whatever the situation. That has the disadvantage of being inflexible but it's also an advantage in so far as your opponents have no idea what you have. A good time to do that is when you feel like you're up against decent opposition and they're taking note of your raises and putting you on hands and you don't feel like you can use their perception to your advantage. If your tables not paying attention, and loads of them don't, it's probably a bad idea to have a standard bet. If you put in a standard bet 3xBB is probably the way to go. It straddles neatly between all the different raising 'reasons'. If you don't have a standard bet the 3xBB idea is still useful, look at 3xBB as your 'base' bet and add/subtract from it depending on what you're trying to achieve. Edit: Just realised that didn't answer the original question at all! Had forgotten what it was by the time I read the other posts. I'd stick with 3xBB for stealing at that point. 2xBB gives the blinds odds to call with a wide variety of hands, more than 3xBB is more than you need to get an answer. More important than the raise amount I'd look at the stacks behind you, light-stack play like this is much more about stack dynamics, you want to be avoiding supershort stacks behind you because they have a tendency to push, likewise you want to be avoiding big stacks (unless you have a legitimate hand) because they're likely to push back in a battle for dominant table image. The ideal stack to steal from is a stack where calling your raise would see them approaching pot-committed but not quite there.

[slapdash]

Re: Need some MTT Advice

IMHO you should first ask why you're raising, everytime you raise. Once you have a purpose in mind it's easier to decide on amount. If you don't have a specific purpose in mind (ie I'm just raising because I have a decent hand and that's what you do) it's better to not bother raising at all. If you're raising for position you don't need to raise much, if you're raising to isolate you need to raise more, if you're raising to pot build somewhere inbetween, if you're raising to steal the blinds you should look at your opponents stack and previous calls etc. The other option is to raise exactly the same amount whatever the situation. That has the disadvantage of being inflexible but it's also an advantage in so far as your opponents have no idea what you have. A good time to do that is when you feel like you're up against decent opposition and they're taking note of your raises and putting you on hands and you don't feel like you can use their perception to your advantage. If your tables not paying attention, and loads of them don't, it's probably a bad idea to have a standard bet.

Getting off topic a bit, but I strongly agree with what you say. A lot of books seem to state as a cardinal rule that the amount you raise should be independent of what your hand is, so that your opponents can't make deductions from the amount. I've always been sceptical, especially as the same books almost invariably give examples where they recommend you raise a certain amount because of what you hold! Of course, there's some truth in it, and it would be silly to always raise 2.5xBB if you're bluffing and 3.5xBB if you're not. But disguising your hand is only one among many factors, and it seems to me that so long as you include some randomness into the size of your raise, it's almost certainly true that with some hands you should raise on average more than with others. Now I just need to figure out which hands are which, and I'll be a better player. :unsure

[^Newbie^]

Re: Need some MTT Advice trying to absorb all the quality answers that are put here . I'm sure i learnt plenty of it . Now to head to the freeroll tables to try it out .

[ubermonkey1]

Re: Need some MTT Advice i think a great deal depend on the types of player your on the table with ,position and relative chipstacks. you try to steal from the mid stacked tight players(these guys are just trying to stay in there like you are). low and high stacks are no good ,as are calling stations or super aggressive players as they all have a good reason to call or raise you. late position is always the best time to steal ,but if you have been very tight sometimes the early position raise scares a lot of the mid range hands out and only really premium hands stay in ,but beware doing this on a table full of nutters. if your going to bluff at least do it with a out of some sort (connectors or 2 suited cards or a highish card a k q)at least if someone does call you may hit a decent hand anyway. when you do hit decent hole cards try to get one of the aggresive or high stacked players in the hand and try to get the most out of it you can,remember somebody with a lot of stack or very aggresive play is more likely to push more chips in . because of this i tend to vary my raises a bit but i use 3xbb most of the time ,i find that if you've been playing tight and you've only played premium hands, keeping the raises constant makes them think you've got a decent hand ,but it can change dependant on my thoughts on what the other players are going to do. with really good hole cards (aa kk qq ak)i use a 2xbb from a early position to get a raise hopefully if im on a aggressive table,but on a tight table i might start useing 4xbb for steals because im less likely to get a call .