[fivebyfive]

Wow! Congrats. Should be really fun. I’d be curious to hear what others think, but generally as stakes raise the competition gets tougher and the stacks get deeper (at least at the beginning). So I’d recommend taking some of your time to study deep stack RFI/3bet and post flop play. If you feel you’ve already got a decent handle on hand reading, I’d focus my post flop study on flop board texture: In position: On what textures do we frequently continue? What textures do we check more? If we continue, do we continue to a large or small sizing? How are we protecting our checking range? Out of position: Do we ever donk? What boards are better check raises vs. flats? In both cases, what is our approach on future streets?

[jamin96]

Ok thats really good stuff Chris and I think there is a few LwP videos out there that I’m going to revisit

[steve-fredlund]

This is amazing! Congrats on winning the drawing and having the options in front of you.

The first decision you have to make is on keeping it or not; sounds like you have already decided but just to revisit that for a second. There are two schools of thinking 1) take your shot (when else will you be able to do this)! and 2) sell it. I see both as legitimate perspectives, but my only advice would be to consider a couple of things: a) How much regret would you have if you played it and lost? b) How much regret would you have if you didn’t play it? I have done a lot of personal coaching and often life comes down to regret and there is no right answer; it depends on your situation and personality. I would likely go toward selling it because I don’t think I would be competitive enough to have a legitimate shot at a deep run; so I don’t think ‘giving it a shot’ is a high EV play. However, I am generally in the minority with that perspective as most poker players are risk-seeking and love the idea of going big or going home.

Deciding to play is certainly exciting. As far as what to study, I definitely would defer to people like @FiveByFive and other wizards who may chime in here. The biggest thing for me in playing larger tournaments (specifically live) is the patience you can have; there won’t be that same urgency early in tournaments. You should have a lot of time to patiently play the game you want. But with that, it’s important to know how your opponents will be playing… as Chris said, where they will be applying pressure, what flops they will be continuing on, etc.

I’m can feel the excitement in your words, so whatever you do and however it goes, try to savor the moments!

[jamin96]

Thanks Steve,

Your insight on the life choices really helps put things in perspective. Really the only tournament I don’t feel total confident in is the $1050 and it would certainly help my bankroll if I sold it so the choice is really hard to make.

I think for me personally I love the idea of making a deep run and possibly making a large score and the degen deep down is screaming at me to play. I think if I sold it someday I would think back and say “what if?” I’ve never liked that feeling and even if it’s a risk and even if I donk it off at least I can say I played in a 1k online tournament! Plus it would be great content for the forums 😉

[steve-fredlund]

Love the thought process! If the potential regret of not playing is bigger than the potential regret of playing & losing, the go for it! What a great opportunity and, who knows, on that day your mind is sharp and you get a bit of positive variance and you are set up for a long time! Good luck!

[petvet]

Congrats on winning a ticket to this event. Have you considered selling some action to family/friends? You could sell off 50-75% to boost your bankroll and still have the experience of playing in a larger field high buy in event. MTT Gamechangers is a great start to prep as well!!

• This reply was modified 3 years, 3 months ago by  petvet.

[steve-fredlund]

Great idea; sell part of it to balance the bankroll and “taking your shot” —

[taylormaas]

Awesome! So cool to win these giveaways and have the shot to play higher stakes than we usually play.

Usually the way I approach these, is just give it your all. You have a risk-free opportunity to play some high-level poker. A couple things to point out as it relates to these tourneys: First, cashing is insanely important. If you make a semi-deep run, put all you focus on cashing. It makes sense in a higher buy-in than you are used to, but also makes sense in large field tourneys. What most people don’t realize in these vary large field MTTs, is cashing is way more important than usual. So go for the cash. Second, players will be playing more aggressive than usual. It doesn’t mean you have to fight back every time, but you need to fight back some times. And last, players will still be weak in these tourneys, try and identify where you think players are making mistakes and try to play hands with them.

For studying — if you plan on spending extra time on things, focus on what you will be doing the most. Get those opening ranges set and ready to go for deep stack poker, and be ready for longer play than you are used to. Take some time every break and say, “I have plenty of time left, no need to rush”.

Good luck. Have fun!

[steve-fredlund]

Wizardry from the wizard @TaylorMaas

[rabman50]

Congrats on the opportunity. We did a book study on The Game Plan by Matt Matros and his strategies were for less experienced players up against tougher competition. It might not hurt to go through the book study archives for some pointers.

[eanderson85]

I like the idea of doing both. If your regular buy in is $30, and the biggest shot you have taken is $400, then selling half of your action for $500 is still a huge opportunity while still practicing good bankroll management.
As far as studying, only you know where you feel the most uncomfortable. Usually that is where you need to focus. As far what I would study, is stack sizes.
What are going to do if everyone has 150BB and you win a huge pot and now have 250BB? Tighten up? Be a bully? Play the same? What you do is you play your 250BB game that you have already studied.
What if you lose a huge pot and now you have 50BB and everyone else has 150BB?
Punt? Tighten up? Gamble? The fact is that 50BB is still a very versatile and playable stack, and you just need to take a deep breath and switch to your 50BB stack game.
The difference in play is larger from 30BB to 50BB, which is larger than 100BB, which is larger than 200BB.
Winning a tournament without taking a huge beat is so rare that there is a name for it, Going rail to rail. You are going to have that huge double up. Be prepared not to punt it off celebrating. You going to have that huge kick in the balls. Get up and fight. Think about how you want to control the pot size when the girl in the Big Blind has double your stack. Then on the next orbit when she has half your stack. How do you play differently?
Like I said though. Only you know what you need to study. Someone could go through your hand history and tell you that you are too nitty or too loose, but you already know that. Take 3 days and study nothing but one topic. Focus and breathe. All of our Learning with Partners affiliates have tons of free info. If you can’t find an article for what you want to study from Jonathan Little, Sky Matuhashi, James Sweeney, or Alex Fitzgerald, you aren’t looking.
Be sure to prep for the tourney. Do what you can to mitigate interruptions. Turn off the TV. Don’t drink the night before. Get at least 8 hours of sleep. Have good snacks prepared that won’t give you a sugar or caffeine spike and then a crash. Eat a meal an athlete would eat before competition. No carbs, No sugar, lots of veggies, medium chain triglycerides, and protein, and lots of water.
Take a breath, play your game. These people took a poop this morning just like you did. They aren’t picking on you. They are playing their game. Play yours.

[eanderson85]

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