[Sherman]

First of all, this is a great post. As someone who just learned to really take advantage of position in the last 3 months, this really hits the nail right on the head. I had to go to cash games to learn all the advantages of position, then apply them to MTTs. For everyone else, here they are spelled out right in front of you. Nice one Bond.

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When it comes to playing in position, I think a lot of people on this forum can go even looser than they realize. At the point the antes kick in, anytime it folds to me on the button, assuming the blinds aren’t in a situation where I have very strong reason to suspect they’ll shove, I’m raising an absolute ton of hands.

To give a rough idea of that range, assuming lets say, 30 BB stacks for myself and the blinds would be: 22+/A2o+/43s+/65o+/any two cards 8 and above. T7s+


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I pointed this out in a post by Cheburashka (sp?) a few days ago. I actually like your range better than the range I gave him.

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When you raise a very wide range like that people in the blinds will start adjusting, however most bad players will adjust by just trying to call more than 3 bet,

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This is undeniably true, especially at SSMTTs.


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So say you get a flop like QT8 after raising 55 on the CO. On a flop like this, villain will have connected enough that your continuation bet will be called or raised an absolute ton so checking behind often becomes optimal. Flop textures to be more cautious on are things like:
QJx, QTx, 89T, 89J, KJ9, JTx, 9Tx, thing’s of that nature.

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I agree that these are flops you should be more cautious on, but I wonder why we shouldn't c-bet our 55 hand. If a villain checks to me on this type of flop and I hold an underpair like 55, I don't really see much value in checking. What am I hoping to accomplish? Not to get check/raised off my 2 outer? In SSMTTs, villains don't check/raise bluff very often, so a check/raise is pretty reliable information that you are behind if you bet with an underpair.

Anyhow, what I am saying is that I don't mind turning my 55 into a bluff in those spots b/c I don't have many outs if I am behind anyway. And if villain check/raises, I have an easy fold w/out putting any more money in the pot. Because we are going to pick up so many pots anyway (b/c they miss 2/3 times and don't bluff enough in SSMTTs) we can profitably c-bet here.

The hands that I don't like c-betting are hands that hate getting check/raised. Like most of our draws (OESD, gut-shot, under-flush). If I feel villain is getting tired of my c-bets, I much prefer to take one off for free on the flop with these types of hands.

Fantastic (and dangerously so) post Bond. I can't help but be concerned that this post will lead to changes in the dynamics of SSMTTs in the near future.

Sherman