Well Rhound, you know I feel differently but that is ok. I will concede that you do see people playing your style do well in on-line Trns's but it is never the same player. It's like the fish at Party the same fish doesn't suck out on you that fish is broke and gone it's the new one that took his place sucking out this time. You have to be in position to get that rush and if your on the rail the rush will never come. Once your down to the bubble a lot of luck comes into play. But then sometimes you have to make your own luck by playing solid poker.

Limit Trns I like to wait wait wait. I wait till the blinds are big enough that limit is now no limit. When I get a hand I push push push. Once the blind are big they stop playing suited and connected cards so you can steal blinds or play heads up.

It looks like need to loosen up when it is down to the top 20%. Most MTT's pay the top 10%. a lot of players are just wanting to make it to the money. Push them, steal there blinds, make them fold the best hand. I like to start making my run after the second break. The first hour your are going to lose 50% of the field. The second hour you are going to lose 50% of the field left after the first hour. Now it is down to 25% of the field and time to start building your stack. Double up when you can.

All you need to do until this time is stay around average. So keep an eye on the average not the chip leader. If you have an average stack after the second break then 2 double ups and you are the chip leader or damn close.

The only place that matters is the place your in when the MTT ends. Who's in 1st, 2nd or last doesn't matter until the money is paid out.

Hope this helps,

Kowboy I had a feeling you would disagree . Thats cool thats what makes this site great. I had really nice run when I started playing MTT when I first started playing. I had three top 5 finishes in my first 10 mtt's all with 400+ people. Since then I did win my first MTT but other than that nothing but frustration. Playing tight agressive poker got me into a lot of top 100's and a couple of times I slipped into the money but made no real money. For me personally I would rather take a bad beat in the middle of a tournament than get blinded down to nothing playing tight. One of the most frustrating thing for me about MTT is playing for 3 hours and just mising the money. I would rather put myself in a position to win.

Rhound, Are you taking a bad beat or losing to a better hand? If your going in with the best hand then I say go for it! If your going in with QJ and AK is calling you down then I am against it.

Just remember the law of averages. The more times you are all in the better the chance you are going to get knocked out.

Kowboy I almost never will put all my chips in a pot when I'm way behind but what I dont do is portect my hand like I do in cash games. I dont raise as big with big PP, I willl call a larger bet with a small PP than I will in a cash game. I will slow play sets more. My whole goal is to double up, if I flop a set and draws out on me with a flush draw, so be it. I'm more worried about winning a big pot than, I am about being sucked out. Once the blinds get big enough to make it worth my risk, I become hyper agresive, my goal again is to double up. I want to make it look like I'm a maniac, than hopefully when I have a big hand people are going to be willing to give me chips because they think I'm a loose maniac and no one can put me on a hand.

Another good example is one horrible play I like to make in a MTT. If I get AK and I'm at a new table I like to push all in. Its a horrible play, my risk reward is horrible, and the only thing that calls me is somethng that beats me, but here is what it does. It makes me look like an idiot and I will get more action because of it. This is all play I would never make in a cash game, but a tournament is a whole different animal.

It sounds good!

I like to slow play monsters. Hell I might need to use this in cash games since I am having trouble with them as of late.

Rhound, I definately agree with your strategy. Playing tight aggressive is the way to get in the money, but it doesn't seem to make many final tables. I disagree with the "standard MTT strategy" which says basically:

Play REAL tight early, and loosen up around the bubble.

I prefer this strategy:

Play REAL aggressive early, and if you're still alive around the bubble, which you should be about half the time, you'll have a killer stack of around 40BB, and you can just get Tight Aggressive for the bubble, and you'll be in prime condition to win. I also think this holds true in big tournaments with longer blind levels. You need to be dancing around in those pots.

Kowboy, I disagree when you said that loose players might win often, but it's rarely the same one, or something like that. Take a look at all the best tournament players out there:

Negraunu, Helmuth, Ivy, Brunson, Chan, Hansen, etc.

These guys are all playing 6 4 offsuit for a raise, and winning a ton of tournaments. There's just no way anyone could claim that these guys are playing wrong. These guys are the most consistant tournament players out there.

My conclusion is this:

To be a top-notch tournament player, you need to loosen up a lot at the earlier stages.
In order to do that well, you need to be an incredible post-flop player.
In order to be an incredible post-flop player, you need a TON of experience!

So start playing a lot and you'll be a pro tournament player in no time, and you can publicly thank me and send me tons of students.

Without knowing FloppymyFlsuh personally, it is kind of funny we seem to be having the same debate that is going on in poker today. Floppy and I are more of the new school of thinking like Hansen, Negraunu, Esfandiari, the old style for Brunson. Kowboy is more of an old school player, kinda figures he lives in the birthplace of NL as we know it. He is more in the Harrington, Chan, Tompko, style of tight play. There really are advantages to both, but the agressive style seems to work better for me in online tournaments.

Is Chan really that tight? I haven't exactly studied the guy, but he seemed to mix it up a lot in some things he's written. Maybe my memory's off.

The majority of the time yes, but as it true for all of the top pro's he can change gears with the best of them.

Ah, Oh well, I got it right with the rest of 'em.

This is VERY cool...It looks like I started a decent thread here...More input from others would be greatly appreciated; Thanks for the responses and the "debate"...Obviously I have been a "Kowboy" type player for a long time, and it WAS successful, but I am sure adjustments need to be made...keep the comments coming
Bobby

Another thing to consider is structure. If the tournament gives you a LOT of chips with really really slow blinds, being a LAG just won't work in the long run.

These days, 95% of my tourneys are at P Stars...I have yet to find an online tourney situation with a slow blind increase...
B