How to be more aggressive at NL? Specific advice needed (a bit long).

[Philo]

I've been playing online since mid-July. I played limit ring games almost exclusively the first five months, and was a consistent winner (close to 10BB/100 hands at .50/$1 after ~10,000 hands). I started playing the NL ring games in mid-December and can't imagine going back to limit.

I started playing NL tourneys in January and I am too conservative it seems. I'm good at picking my spots and reading hands and getting in with the best of it. I have finished in the money a number of times, in the top 100, but never high enough to make the big money. I just recently finished 13th out of 2967 players in a qualifier for a million dollar tourney.

My tourneys go the same way almost every time. I play good hands, I get in with the best of it, I win, but I accumulate chips too slowly to compete with the big stacks. If I run cold or if I suffer a couple bad beats along the way then I am in jeopardy of not making the money. In the million dollar qualifier I got beat on the river. I just went out today all-in pf with A-K against K-Q and a Q came on the flop. This happens every tourney.

So much for the preamble. I've read the Cloutier and McEvoy book, but following their advice on how to win NL tourneys, at least online against such aggressive players, doesn't seem to work.

My question is, what specific differences can I make to my game, and at what stages of the tourney, in order to be more competitive with the ultra-aggressive players that seem to win these tourneys?

master the art of the pushbot

buy HOH2 and study the inflection point chapter(s)

get to know your friends M and Q

[mornelth]

Solid game is a great tool, but will not win you any torneys (unless you get a GREAT rush of cards). Learn to steal and resteal, how, when, from who, how often etc.

Your typical FT looks something like this :
1st person - a solid TIGHT player who got a GREAT rush of cards today and had great hands more often than the rest
2nd-10th person - LAGy/TAGy types who REPRESENTED great hands at right times more often than the rest

Make your steals look like BIG hands and make your big hands look like steals. All there is to it, really [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[rothko]

I am at the same place. I cash in MTTs about 80% of the time, but rarely get to the FT. It's fairly simple to make it into the money, but not so simple to make it into the money. The key to going all the way is stated above. You have to REPRESENT big hands, put your opponents to a decision. Of course, you can't just do this every hand--pick your spots, watch for weakness. Also, as Gigabet would tell you, try to avoid pf all-ins where you only have 2/7ths of the info. Once the flop comes out you have 5/7ths of the info. If you have AK against KQ/AQ and the flop shows no Q, your opponent will have a much harder time staying in the hand. If a Q does come and you face resistance, then you know to get out. Most importantly, be patient. You haven't been playing that long. You will find that your finishes will continue to get higher and higher. We need all of this practice to help us spot those situations where we can REPRESENT bigger hands then we have and also to make the most we can when we do have the biggest hand. It's a process. Don't be unhappy with finishing in the outer edges of the money. Keep playing and you'll soon be faring even better.

[zoobird]

Some specific things I do that have been working very well to build up a big stack early in the $1+.20 45 person MTT sng's on Pokerstars (not sure how well they'll work against tougher competition):
1. Levels 1 & 2, in late position limp with weaker drawing hands than normally recommended...stuff like 98o, T7s, etc. When you hit these hands you're going to get paid off very well against generally bad players.
2. If you can get heads up in a hand with a very tight post-flop player, do it! Even if it means calling a raise with garbage. When you bet on the flop, they're going to fold unless the flop hit them perfectly.
3. Against ultra-loose, agressive players, be willing to check/call frequently with mediocro 'made' hands, like 2nd pair.