A Poker Strategy Question

[Flea]

Hi all,

I realise this is likely to receive lots of different answers but all opinions appreciated please.

I'm not a great poker player but I don't think I'm a bad one either, definitely need a bit of advice to improve though. My problem is I like playing NL MTT tournaments (often with quite a quick strusture) and often cash/go deep but very rarely make the final table.
The reason is I don't think I maximise my good hands and can become too aggressive so am wondering if anyone disagrees with me on a typical (but hypothetical) situation (hence why not posted in hand analysis).

Down to say the last 20 with avg stack say 60,000 blinds 5,000/10,000 and your stack 72,000 (in about 5th but positions change dramatically every hand as only 1 or 2 have more than 10 times big blind).

5 handed table and your sitting on the button with JJ (for example), it folds to you - what do you do? and would you act differently if you had say AQ or AK?

[raab11]

with 7 big blinds left im pushin with the hands u mention and probably any pair and any ace.

[turny]

instashove with all 3 hands

[Moskvich]

Obviously with any of these hands and only 6 bbs left you're totally committed here. Reading between the lines I'm guessing you're getting annoyed that you're pushing here and only picking up the blinds, which means you're still in trouble and haven't really made much progress with this big hand. I wouldn't really have thought there's anything wrong in that case with, say, min-raising and trying to entice someone to call and see a flop/play back at you. It might increase your chances of doubling up, though obviously it also increases your chances of getting knocked out, and clearly you won't be able to fold post-flop pretty much whatever comes. When the structure is this much of a crapshoot though it probably doesn't make an awful lot of difference, since a button push with 6 bbs isn't likely to get a great deal of respect in any case, and anyone who knows what they're doing will know that you can't pass once you've raised, even if only a min-raise. There's also a slight danger that if you make these sort of trappy little raises when you're strong, you won't get any respect for your pushes when you're weak and just want to pick up the blinds. I think I'd probably just shove it in, hoping that that makes me look weaker than I actually am.

[Flea]

Reading between the lines I'm guessing you're getting annoyed that you're pushing here and only picking up the blinds, which means you're still in trouble and haven't really made much progress with this big hand.

I wouldn't say annoyed as I'm always happy to win a pot no matter how small but I'm just trying to work out what I do differently to more successful players (maybe I've just picked the wrong situation as it appears the consensus is the all-in which is what I do).

Maybe it's other situations where I fail to maximise my pay-offs (oh well back to the drawing board - I'll have to watch other players more closely maybe).

Thanks for the replies.

[totalise]

what do you do here with 89 suited?

[turny]

what do you do here with 89 suited?

i instapush here to

[totalise]

what do you do here with 89 suited?

i instapush here to

yah me too,  the point i was hoping to make was that if you are pushing here often enough, you dont mind that much if they fold when you have JJ/AQ/AK, because most of the time you should want them to fold in this spot, assuming you are shipping it in with the right frequency.. ie, not just waiting for a hand better then random.

[tikay]

Push, 100%.

In fact, I probably Push with a very wide range - certainly including 8-9 suited - in any unopened Pot at this stage, or certainly with even minimal Positional advantage. It depends on the stack sizes behind me, too, but on balance, it's easier for you to Push than for them to call. By a long way!

[Snatiramas]

I would push and if I had the slightest chance of getting it through would push again the next hand. All the usual stuff comes into it......stack size, player profile.......but if you are 5th with only six or seven BB's then if you can pick up two sets of blinds you are going to put a load of pressure on other players.

[kinboshi]

what do you do here with 89 suited?

i instapush here to

yah me too,  the point i was hoping to make was that if you are pushing here often enough, you dont mind that much if they fold when you have JJ/AQ/AK, because most of the time you should want them to fold in this spot, assuming you are shipping it in with the right frequency.. ie, not just waiting for a hand better then random.

Was going to say that it's probably not a problem of only picking up the blinds with premium hands, but a case of missing out on other opportunities to pick up the blinds with other hands. 

You will be 'looked up' sooner or later, but this gives you the chance to double-up as well, or you will have stolen enough previously to make sure you can survive a call.

I do have a question though.  With the small PPs, such as 22, 33, 44 and 55 - are you pushing from any position with fewer than 10BBs, assuming you're first in to the pot?

[matt674]

Personally if i wanted to improve my game i would look at playing MTTs with a slightly longer structure. If you improve the standard of your game then you should be playing in a tournament where you can use the skill factor to your advantage.

Playing in a tournament where average stack is only 6bb's and chip leader has about 10bb's with still 20 players remaining then the skill factor is reduced greatly as all players will be relying on luck pushing preflop.

[ripple11]

Personally if i wanted to improve my game i would look at playing MTTs with a slightly longer structure. If you improve the standard of your game then you should be playing in a tournament where you can use the skill factor to your advantage.

Playing in a tournament where average stack is only 6bb's and chip leader has about 10bb's with still 20 players remaining then the skill factor is reduced greatly as all players will be relying on luck pushing preflop.

agree with matt....the longer the better! (so to speak )

[Flea]

Personally if i wanted to improve my game i would look at playing MTTs with a slightly longer structure. If you improve the standard of your game then you should be playing in a tournament where you can use the skill factor to your advantage.

Playing in a tournament where average stack is only 6bb's and chip leader has about 10bb's with still 20 players remaining then the skill factor is reduced greatly as all players will be relying on luck pushing preflop.

yep therein lies my problem, I find playing longer structures is ok for 4 to 5 hours but then I think concentration/patience goes out the window and I play far too lag or more like UBER LAG. During the week finding time for longer structures is an issue aswell with work, don't want to just play sng's during week as I play for enjoyment and like tournament play more but I do want to improve (if possible).

I've got a decent SNG record so if I could make more final tables I think I'd do reasonably ok.

[Canuck]

instashove with all 3 hands