Cash PLO player adjusting to NLHE tourneys - #1: building big stacks

[Silent A]

Hi. I mostly play PLO cash games but I like to dabble in the occasional NLHE tourney. I've done OK and am definitely up $ but I feel like I'm doing something wrong (or more likely, not doing something right).

The main thing that I've noticed is that I'm very rarely at or near the chip lead. My typical tournament consists of me slowly growing my stack by stealing some blinds and picking off desperate shortstacks/overaggressive LAGs. Usually, this means I sit close to the average stack for almost the entire tournament - right up to the FT, if I make it.

Then I read about people who win three MTTs in one day and I can't help but wonder how can people consistently get big stacks given how easy it is to have your pocket Kings get busted by Ax, especially when you consider how shortstacked online tourney's get - it's not like you can actually play 3 streets of poker very often once it becomes an all-in fest after a couple hours.

I have to suspect that these guys either play a tonne of tourneys a day (how many is typical? - I have no idea), are pushing very marginal/-EV edges early, or are just highly skilled at pushing people off superior hands pre/post flop.

Also, I've noticed is that I get my money in with the better hand far more often than not, which suggests that I'm not being aggressive enough with more marginal holdings or that I'm simply not stealing/re-stealing/defending enough - actually, it's safe to say that I almost never try to re-steal. How important is the re-steal for building stacks?

Finally, I'd be interested to know how often a good player can expect to final table and win a typical, say, 500 player tourney (some of you make it sound like you expect to FT 10% of these). My sample size is so small (given the insane varaiance) that it's really difficult to gage how I'm doing. Going over my recent results, in the last 300, or so, tourneys I've played in with 100+ entrants I've FT'd 7 times (field sizes = 3000, 1000, 1000, 700, 500, 150, 100 - last 3 are actually Omaha tourneys) and won none.

[FortunaMaximus]

Plonk, huh? Cool.

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I have to suspect that these guys either play a tonne of tourneys a day (how many is typical? - I have no idea), are pushing very marginal/-EV edges early, or are just highly skilled at pushing people off superior hands pre/post flop.

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Some do, some don't. They are more consistent day in and day out and don't let results affect their play.

The short answer is variance and experience. How aggressive are you during the early stages? Do you play ABC standard, just your cards, or do you find LP spots with speculatives, connectors, etc. Are you capable of a LAGgier game and using your Omaha background to find spots that are natural in Omaha and can be translated to NL MTT play?

Do you aggressively felt those strong/combo draws? I'm sure you can find some spots if you run PT?

To be honest, I'm surprised a strong Omaha player doesn't naturally find it easier to build bigger than average stacks in a NLHE MTT.

Edit: Altho in my own case, actually keeping those stacks is a leak.

[Silent A]

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How aggressive are you during the early stages? Do you play ABC standard, just your cards, or do you find LP spots with speculatives, connectors, etc.

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I'm certainly not LAGy in the early stages, but definitely like to play speculative hands cheap and in position. However, the window for this is so small in these tourneys with 15 or 10 minute levels (made even worse by my tendency to try turbos lately).

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Are you capable of a LAGgier game and using your Omaha background to find spots that are natural in Omaha and can be translated to NL MTT play?

Do you aggressively felt those strong/combo draws? I'm sure you can find some spots if you run PT?

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Of course, but these kinds of hnads are so rare in HE. Perhaps my standrds for calling a pre-flop raise with these hands is too tight in terms of % of my stack. I don't like calling more than 5-10%. With $1500 starting stacks and 3BB raises, you're at 10% once the blinds reach 25/50 (level 3 at Stars).

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To be honest, I'm surprised a strong Omaha player doesn't naturally find it easier to build bigger than average stacks in a NLHE MTT.

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Significantly bigger than average is my problem (perhaps, it could just be small sample size). Doubling to trippling up at the first break is easy. It's getign those 10+ times starting stacks early which seems to be impossible, at least without being what appears to be stupidly aggressive.

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Edit: Altho in my own case, actually keeping those stacks is a leak.

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On the flip side, I'm rather good at maintianing an OK (Q = 0.5 to 2) stack. As I said in my OP, usually I do this all the way through the tourney until luck either sends me to the FT or out.

[FortunaMaximus]

Widen your specs to 32s+, Kxs+, mayyybe some Qxs hands and experiment with ignoring the 5/10 rule during the first 3/4 hour.

I build a lot of 4x-8x starting stacks in the first hour-90 minutes but bust far more frequently early. My late-game leaks prevent me from having an accurate idea of what this does in terms of overall ROI, but I do build those stacks.