How to do well in MTTs...

[Irexes]

Get dealt Aces every hand.

Despite my best efforts to invite trouble with my preflop play amazingly I won them both.

These were the 4th and 5th hands of the MTT..

***** Hand History for Game 5606032928 *****
NL Texas Hold'em Trny: 31357207 Level: 1 Blinds(20/40) - Monday, January 22, 14:05:07 ET 2007
Table Regular (908006) Table #10 (real money)
Seat 2 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: Irexes ( 2940 )
Seat 2: positiveRiver ( 2920 )
Seat 3: DOR2801 ( 3160 )
Seat 4: dermopskater ( 2960 )
Seat 5: jezperA ( 3000 )
Seat 6: ttc17 ( 3060 )
Seat 7: graco9 ( 2960 )
Seat 8: milas_opa ( 3000 )
Seat 9: erlingruud ( 3000 )
Seat 10: cdwheels222 ( 3000 )
Trny: 31357207 Level: 1
Blinds(20/40)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Irexes [ ]
jezperA folds
ttc17 raises [80]
graco9 did not respond in time
graco9 folds
milas_opa folds
erlingruud folds
cdwheels222 folds
Irexes calls [80]
positiveRiver folds
DOR2801 folds
dermopskater calls [40]
** Dealing Flop ** [ , , ]
dermopskater bets [280]
ttc17 folds
Irexes raises [600]
dermopskater calls [320]
** Dealing Turn ** [ ]
dermopskater checks
Irexes bets [800]
dermopskater calls [800]
** Dealing River ** [ ]
dermopskater checks
Irexes checks
dermopskater shows [ , ]two pairs, Nines and Fives.
Irexes wins 3060 chips from the main pot with two pairs, Aces and Nines.


Next hand same opponent...


***** Hand History for Game 5606037761 *****
NL Texas Hold'em Trny: 31357207 Level: 1 Blinds(20/40) - Monday, January 22, 14:06:41 ET 2007
Table Regular (908006) Table #10 (Real Money)
Seat 3 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: Irexes ( 4520 )
Seat 2: positiveRiver ( 2920 )
Seat 3: DOR2801 ( 3140 )
Seat 4: dermopskater ( 1480 )
Seat 5: jezperA ( 3000 )
Seat 6: ttc17 ( 2980 )
Seat 7: graco9 ( 2960 )
Seat 8: milas_opa ( 3000 )
Seat 9: erlingruud ( 3000 )
Seat 10: cdwheels222 ( 3000 )
Trny: 31357207 Level: 1
Blinds(20/40)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Irexes [ ]
ttc17 folds
graco9 folds
milas_opa folds
erlingruud folds
cdwheels222 folds
Irexes raises [80]
positiveRiver folds
DOR2801 folds
dermopskater calls [60]
jezperA calls [40]
** Dealing Flop ** [ , , ]
dermopskater bets [280]
jezperA folds
Irexes is all-In [4440]
dermopskater is all-In [1120]
** Dealing Turn ** [ ]
** Dealing River ** [ ]
dermopskater shows [ , ]two pairs, Eights and Fives.
Irexes shows [ , ]two pairs, Aces and Eights.
Irexes wins 3040 chips from side pot #1 with two pairs, Aces and Eights.
Irexes wins 3040 chips from the main pot with two pairs, Aces and Eights.
Player dermopskater finished in 263.

All skill, no luck.

 

[t1riel]

So basically you're saying miniraise with premium hands and bet hard on the flop to do well in MTTs?

 

[Dorkus Malorkus]

dermopskater is my new hero.

 

[Irexes]

So basically you're saying miniraise with premium hands and bet hard on the flop to do well in MTTs?

Pretty much. It's the element of suprise that does it.

dermopskater had every reason to believe his K high was good in the second hand Dorkus, I mean it's Kingfreakinghighwithathreekicker!!!11!!!!1.



(Seriously though, the last thing you want with AA is to give the blinds a chance to hit something nasty on the flop, but early in an MTT when people are pushing TPTK or even top pair no kicker, I'll take a chance with a min raise occassionally backing myself to lay it down if it gets ugly, I'm not wedded to my bullets anymore.

His pot sized bet in the second hand indicated 9x or TT at best so I felt pretty safe there. Similar kind of situation on the first. Nice flops in both cases and the other guy betting out contained a lot more information than a check. Once things progress to decent blinds I'm putting in "proper" raises to define any callers hands a lot better.)

 

[loopmeister]

If you look at the graph of preflop odds of each pocket pair (I think I posted it here a few months back), the top 3-4 hands rise almost exponentially out of the quagmire of mediocrity that are the bulk of your hole cards. And AA stands head, shoulders and torso above everything else. With the odds stacked in your favour like this, you've GOT to maximise your winnings when you get these hands, and that means loading up while you're ahead. And that means PF.

If players call you, they've made an error; and that's what you want.
I'd say early in a MTT is the IDEAL time to push AA pf, because you're so much more likely to get a caller or two, and you've got any hand dominated.

 

[stormswa]

(Seriously though, the last thing you want with AA is to give the blinds a chance to hit something nasty on the flop, but early in an MTT when people are pushing TPTK or even top pair no kicker, I'll take a chance with a min raise occassionally backing myself to lay it down if it gets ugly, I'm not wedded to my bullets anymore.

His pot sized bet in the second hand indicated 9x or TT at best so I felt pretty safe there. Similar kind of situation on the first. Nice flops in both cases and the other guy betting out contained a lot more information than a check. Once things progress to decent blinds I'm putting in "proper" raises to define any callers hands a lot better.)

I bolded what made me ok with you mini-raising, I also play them soft alot and sometimes dont raise at all with them hoping to get someone push so I can come over the top.

but most of the time when I do it I end up folding them on flop if anyone shows alot of intrest in the pot. Its the price you pay sometimes for trying to play a hand differently then is suggested.

As long as like you say you can lay them down.

 

[Irexes]

Absolutely that is the key Storm.

Much more often than not I'll raise my aces nice and big or reraise, or even push (open pushing with AA and KK in ep on the first hand of MTTs is a great way to double up). However in late position with an unopened pot, early in the tourney, with few reads it can on occassion be a decent play to raise a smaller amount looking to play things post-flop. This is completely dependant on being able to walk away from it in the face of scary betting and/or a scary board.

Now there's a huge difference between open raising and reraising, or raising limper(s) but a reraise preflop pretty much screams AA and KK with the occassional QQ and AK thrown in (I'm talking early stages of $33 and $55 MTTs at lower buy-ins and freerolls the range is much wider and includes all sorts) which decreases the likelihood of stacking someone with AK, AQ, AJ or TT-QQ when they get a flop they like.

A call preflop often induces a bet on the flop (either as a continuation bet or because they have TPTK or an overpair) which can then be reraised. Often this reraise is interpreted as a steal-type bet and much action can follow.

Of course this can go horribly wrong and they hit two pair or trips and the judgement call is to make the correct size bets relative to the size of your stack so you are still in the game (it should of course be noted that you will still lose on occassion all in preflop with aces). Laying down AA to big action on a KQT type board before the pot gets big should not be that hard (even if AK is a real possibility).

I've got a fairly high tolerance for my chipstack going up and down in the first hour of tournies and I am looking for opportunities to stack people to get ahead of the average and build an advantage. I am not at all advocating soft-playing AA as a standard, but as a context specific play with appropriate post-flop caution it's another weapon in the armoury.


I started this thread as a bit of jopke to commemorate my third set of back-to-back aces but it's turning into a Hand History thread rather rapidly

 

[cbt711]

AA twice in a row - that's how you win! I get it! It's brilliant. This chick on deal or no deal just hit all the top ammounts in one turn, it was so brutal it reminded me of my online poker carreer.