Like Piers with the limit section I saw the void in the MTT section and decided to add a first post. I have nowhere near the expertise Piers has, so this is meant more to inspire discussion than to instruct. Also note, posts like this one tend to write themselves at the expense of a logical progression. Let me know what you agree/disagree with, what you like and what just plain confuses you. Lets get this forum started right!

It's easy to find a book or forum discussion about solid MTT play. Going into the tournament you should feel good, have a good idea of how to adjust your play. The point where that always seems to break down for me revolves around scope.

What do I mean by that? In an online tourney it's very easy to look at your standing compared to the chip leaders/small stacks. In a live tourney a quick glance around will get you the same comparison. While this information is useful and can help you judge when and how to change gears, you must be very careful not to put too much stock into it. Especially early in a tournament.

Likewise, rises and dips in your own stack must be looked at in the correct perspective. Don't create artificial goals ("I want to get to 3500 by the first break" or "If I drop to 500 then..."), that will put undue pressure on your play. Until you get down to the critical stack size (5-10BB) or a fairly significant chip lead you should not change your strategy greatly based on changes to your stack alone.

My greatest successes in MTT's have come when I focus on the hand being played. For me, the times when I look or plan too far ahead (or too often) are the times when I make mistakes. You will not survive deep into tournaments if you don't take stock and adjust, but don't overdo it and outplay yourself either. Remember, what it all comes down to is playing good poker, and in order to do that you have to buckle down and pay attention to the hands being played.

I think you're right about not creating artificial goals, good advice.

I have nothing to add in this forum for the time being, because I might not even be a winning MTT player, nor do I really strive for that goal.

Great point. Another thing you need to look out for is letting past hands effect your play.

One common problem is if you were a large stack for an amount of time, and then lost a large portion of your stack for some reason. Let's say you are now a bit below average stack. In this situation it's very easy to adopt a mentality that you need to double up soon to stay alive. You naturally want to get back your big stack, and have the advantage you felt you just had. This can lead to taking chances you normally wouldn't. You just might push all-in with TT after another player raises in front of you, hoping to quickly double up. (I'm assuming you are a little below average, but not *desperate* yet).

Now imagine that you were playing the same tourney, and didn't get any hands for the first hour or so. You're on the verge of being desperate, and get lucky and double up to put yourself just below the average stack. Normally it's a lot easier to play a solid game at this point when you are actually in the same position you were in the first example.

It seems obvious, but you need to play your stack optimally, no matter how you got it to that point.

Is that a picture of you Jav?

One other thing worth mentioning about MTTs is that you should almost never bluff a major pot in the first hour of play. When blinds are that low, you should be concentrating on picking up small pots here and there and looking to double up off someone else's stupidity. Bluffing has a very low risk-reward ratio, and in tourneys where it's all about survivla, risking a big part of your stack on a hand that you don't hold the goods is just not a good idea. I have been staying away from the cash tables for the most part and playing lots of MTTs lately, and I've found there to be a direct correlation between how I play in the first half hour and how I end up. My best results have come when I've played extremely tight-aggressive in the first hour and not tried anything fancy, letting all the morons beat themselves. When it comes to the latter stages of the tourney, however, I do believe in taking chances and playing extremely aggressive. When luck is on your side and you win a couple of coinflips, you should be able to make it into the money, something that you can put yourself in a position to do everytime if you don't mess up the first hour.