MTT - big stack help needed

[tantrum]

Ok I have a question,

Karabiner's post prompted me to write this one out.

I used to play MTT - tight early - loose later -blah blah so my speciality was short stack play.  I would usually drag myself to the final tble or to the bubble and then sometimes would finish 3rd or 2nd (due to my stack size - the chances of winning were small)

I have changed my game a bit and recently I am picking my chips early in a tourney and sometimes  half way through I find myself with top 10 chip stack.

What shall I look at as the maximum of marginal calls against smaller stacks?  Do I only look for coinflips or my margin can be slightly higher; i.e 40-60 35-65?

I am having problems with when I am on draws and average stacks will push on the flop do I call if I am 40%- 60% 30%-70% behind?
So if I win I can be in a great shape, if I lose I can fall into average just below average stack.


Also last one if I am the biggest stack - 245K the other stacks are 30-40 , and the 40 pushes and I am on the gut shot do I call?

[temp0r]

this entirely depends on the speed of the blinds and the quality of the field for me. if it's a fast tournament with good players (high buy-in) then i may well call up to 70% behind if there's some dead money in the pot. but my general stratergy when i have a big stack in a MTT is to avoid drawing hands at all costs.

[tantrum]

no faster then  10 mins rounds - 15-20 min rounds...

[temp0r]

hmmm. if i had a final table positioned stack with around 50 BB i'd only be willing to call 10 BB when i was 60% behind on the draw. with pot odds making it look a better call.
that would go up to 20 BB whin the same situation if it was a big buy-in tournament and i felt out of my depth on the table.

[boldie]

Ok I have a question,

Karabiner's post prompted me to write this one out.

I used to play MTT - tight early - loose later -blah blah so my speciality was short stack play.  I would usually drag myself to the final tble or to the bubble and then sometimes would finish 3rd or 2nd (due to my stack size - the chances of winning were small)

I have changed my game a bit and recently I am picking my chips early in a tourney and sometimes  half way through I find myself with top 10 chip stack.

What shall I look at as the maximum of marginal calls against smaller stacks?  Do I only look for coinflips or my margin can be slightly higher; i.e 40-60 35-65?

I am having problems with when I am on draws and average stacks will push on the flop do I call if I am 40%- 60% 30%-70% behind?
So if I win I can be in a great shape, if I lose I can fall into average just below average stack.


Also last one if I am the biggest stack - 245K the other stacks are 30-40 , and the 40 pushes and I am on the gut shot do I call?

One of the things I see a lot of people do when they are big stacks is take on the "responsibility" for knocking the small stacks out. It is not your duty to do so.
You should get into any unopened pot first..you can do this with marginal hands a 40-60 shot in that case isn't too bad.
Calling when you think you are behind is always a bad idea in my opinion.

The last thing you want to do is donk off your chips and give them to a shortstack who will then be comfy.

If you can't get your chips in first and you have a marginal hand and you're not on the BB (or even if you are) feel free to fold. Let the shortstacks worry about eachothers blinds and all that.

If you are the biggest stack say 245K and the rest have 40k and blinds are say 3-6k+ why would you call with a gutshot? If you have a FD or open ender you can call (of course) but with a gutshot and a chance to make someone else more comfortable I would fold unless I have a lot invested in the pot.


edit* Just my humble opinion ofcourse..maybe some of the better MTT players (like Pab) will disagree and then I would listen to them more then to me

[NoflopsHomer]

Don't attack short stacks, attack medium stacks when the blinds are worth stealing.

[tantrum]

Thanks.

One question about the gut shot was an inverted bad beats story.  When shortish I tend to run into big stack who seems to call me on gut shots and win take me out.  Not moaning about it, but sometimes I think that big stacks get to comfy andn will call with any two because they feel the pot odds give them chance of taking me out.  But can't see how 1/2/3 outers can be justified unless huge implied odds.

[boldie]

Thanks.

One question about the gut shot was an inverted bad beats story.  When shortish I tend to run into big stack who seems to call me on gut shots and win take me out.  Not moaning about it, but sometimes I think that big stacks get to comfy andn will call with any two because they feel the pot odds give them chance of taking me out.  But can't see how 1/2/3 outers can be justified unless huge implied odds.

Like I said; Loads of people when blessed with a big stack make this mistake.