MTT Strategy
 

Hi all,

I am a new player and have been learning poker through books and posts here. Many of them say the cards do not matter most of the time and "read"/feel of the situation matters more.

So far I am having some success in <= $10+1 buy-in MTTs with a TAG strategy of playing my cards only at first and once I get into middle stages with a good stack, I loosen up and mostly either hit my unlikely holdings or steal pots.

My question is this: Is my strategy too basic? Do pros/good players play loose from early on even when they don't have a sizeable chiplead? How do they identify the situations early on when they might not know anyone at the table?

I apologize if my questions are too broad, just wondering if there is a better strategy in case I go card dead and become a short-stack by middle stages of a MTT.

Thanks.

D

Re: MTT Strategy
 

If you play solid TAG strategy early you should not be card dead in the middle with a short stack very often. Everyone hits a cold deck and get shortstacked though and agression is the only thing that can save you, not your cards. Look for spots to pick up blinds, when a very short stack comes in open pushing call a little wider to help build a stack. Any 2 live cards vs 2 higher non-paired cards are not much of an underdog and you can accumulate chips that way.

There is a style for every card in the deck. As a beginner the standard TAG strategy will keep you out of trouble. A lot of players you see in televised tournaments play looser than even the loosest players I know. The read/ feel of the situation is more important than the cards you hold, this is true, but without a lot of experience stick to playing mostly decent holdings and your decisions will be a lot easier. Then you can gradually loosen up and add more subtle aspects to your game but as a beginner a seasoned player can sniff out when you are weak and exploit that.