Gee, all 200 players, and not a SINGLE female player!! That's rare.

ha ha, tee hee hee, mustn't forget LEs filles!


Anyway, since I've beeen away for three days, I have extra time to give this one a gooood answer.


Of course multi table tourmasnts, are going to be COMPLETLY different than a one or two table event.!! In either of those, if you double up twice, you are certainly going to be in the money.

But, in a multi event, you need to hit WAY more hands. In a 200 PLAYER event, you figure you are going to need to survive about 10 major confrontations, to win first.

In a 2000 PLAYER event, that amount increases to about 25-30!

Hell, ATE has played single table events, where I've taken out THREE people at once, and had on the first hand, a stack that GAURANTEED me an in-the-money spot

But, such is not the case, in a multi table event.

You have to get lucky, at the beginning

You have to get lucky, in the middle

And, you sure as hell have to get lucky, at the end.


The first thing you had better do, is to STOP TAKING TOURNAMENTS, TOO SERIOUSLY.


Ok, remember, WORLD POKER TOUR, is an ENTERTAINMENT event. It is NOT NOT NOT a real depection, of the way 99.9% of successful professional players, make their living.


THERE IS JUST TOOOO (PLUS ONE MILLION MORE "O'S" MUCH luck, in tournaments.


YOU don't get to pick your seat

You don't get to change your seat, to your advantage

If you players at your table, are too good for you, you can't switch

If you just can't seem to make a hand, you ca'nt just quit, without losing your WHOLE investment.

The blinds increase at an uncomfortable level, forcing you to play hands, that you do NOT care to play.


In most hand/vrs./hand confrontations, you are NOT going to be a MAJOR favorite.


(Ed note: this is NOT to say anyting bad about WPT, just that it is ENTERTAINMENT, NOT poker)


Can anyone imagine, how MUCH the rateings with increase, if ATE was playing these events.


My GOD!, if you think Phip Laak has funny "antics" ha ha ha ATE's are 45,000 times funnier, and are scripted and rehearsed.


Ok, on to the next issue. You seem to be overly concerned, with stealing the blinds, when the situation has NOT yet come to that!!


Have you seen the DVD on the big poker seminar in Vegas, that occured a few months ago?

In it, Daniel Negraneau keeps repeating "bring back the limp" (Ed note: of course, ATE never Lost the limp, in the first place) "bring back the limp"

In the example of your pocket fives, ATE would have just called. The primary strength, is to make a set, and double up. Once you've made a big raise, you were almost committed to call all the rest of your chips, had you been reraised.

Again, same with the Ace jack. If anyone calls, you are in serious trouble with the hand. This is because the range of hands that someone would call the amount that you raised, is very limited.

But, had you only made a minimum raise, or none at all, again you are presenting yourself with the chance to double up, (against a weaker hand) while protecting yourself from getting stuck for all your chips, (against a superior hand)


Example:

You made it 4x bb with your ace jack.

For this amount, you are NOT getting rid of AK, and probably NOT AQ.

However, you will get rid of Aceminor, which is EXACTLY the hand you want in.


If the flop was going to be AJ 5, and someone had A5, you have just lost your chance to double up, with the only real potential to gain: The blinds.


Oh, don't get me wrong, sometimes, YOU DEARLY NEED THOSE w%^w$%^KING BLINDS!

But, here's a trueism.


Ok, everyone pay attention, ATE is going to give you one of his RARE "Lifemark" statments.

I'm saving most of these, for my books, becuase I dont want people to claim credit


A "lifemark" statment, is a well-worded VERY important guide to your poker life.


A person who knew little about poker, but lived their life, through my LIFEMARK statments, could do very well.

Ready?

Here we go (and I want PRAISE, please, for the PURE genius of this!!)


"In almost ALL situations, where you NEED to win the blinds, your stack will be of the size, to either FOLD, or go all in"


Ok, there it was

This means, that it's NOT good play, to raise about 1-3 of your chips, with 55 or AJ.


If you can afford to put in one third, you are NOT yet in a position where you MUST go with these hands.

And, if you are NOT yet in a position to committ the remaining chips, with these SUCKER-ASS hands, then

you should FOLD, or LIMP!!


God, I'm thinking of getting into a WPT event, I'm such a GENIUS of tournaments.
\\
Do all of you realize, that I probably have the best ratio, in the history of tournaments, between

Total tournaments entered/tournaments won.

And noooooo it's not like I've played 2 and won 1


More like

Played 130, won first in 8 (approximately)


Anyway, again I'll say not to put too much stock in tournaments, ESPECIALLY online ones, with #%^@%%^@!%^@%^king FIFTEEN MINUTE rounds.

ATE likes to play events, in the 20-50 range. YOu can still win 5-8 grand for first, yet the buy in is so low, if it looks like you're not getting hands.


SCREW it, I'm going to play something else!!!

Ha ha, you cannot believe, how this has an effect, on your future tournament earnings.


I've thrown away my stack, actually CALLI"NG on some HOPELESS hand, just to get out of the tournametn, and GET INTO THOSE PLAYER NOTES, AS AN IDIOT.

But, then, that's another article.

Hope you enjoyed this article, and gain help from the information therein.
_________________
Adam is here to help, and possibly become famous in the process

Adam, I understand exactly what you're talking about. This hyper-aggressive MTT strategy just bores the living hell out of me. It completely ruins the actual skill of the game. I can't remember who said it first, but it went along the lines of this:

"If you had to devise a strategy to give a horrible poker player the best chance to win against great players, what would you tell him? Since he's a terrible player, you can NOT let him EVER see a flop, because he WILL get outplayed! Therefore, You give him two actions, raise all in, or fold. This takes away the good player's advantage, because his only options are to call, or fold."

I feel this is especially true in online poker tournaments, where often-times, even the average stack is only around 10-15BB's. That is ridiculous! You can't make any plays with that, you can only try to steal, or fold. Because of this, the "bubble-period" is usually mostly about luck, and there DEFINIATELY is luck in tournaments. Anyone who says otherwise, the way the online tournaments' blinds structures work, is an absolute idiot.

WPT events have much less luck involved,, but still, you will never win a tournament without some luck. If that means you wiin most of your 60/40'2, and 70/30's, that is still a lot of luck. The second you go all in preflop, you have given up your right yo use skill for that hand. This is why it annoys me so much when people complain about losing tournaments when they made the conscious decision to gamble and move their chips all in preflop, YOU GAVE YOUR RIGHT TO COMPLAIN AWAY WHEN YOU DECIDED TO PUT ALL YOUR CHIPS IN AFTER SEEING 2/7's OF YOUR HAND!!!!

Sorry for my rant, bring back the limp, dammit.

BTW, your lifemark statement was most excellent.