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June 24, 2012
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When I'm playing mtts I usually have a tendencey to get excited and nervous when I'm approaching the final table. I start to tighten up and I'm nearly afraid to put any money in the pot without a really strong hand for fear that Ill get knocked out and curse the fact that I played so long and got **** all money. My thought process also goes out the window and I can't seem to analysis a hand the way I would in the early stages and end up making silly mistakes. From reading the Jared Tandler books I understand why the second one happens because I haven't learnt my skills to a level of unconscious competence, but has anyone got any tips on how to stay calm and not worry about getting knocked out.
February 1, 2014
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It helps to think of being at the final table differently. One instructor advised that in any game, you want to be a black belt at the poker table, playing a bunch of white belts. I want to be the poker ninja at the final table, soaking up all the information from the players around me, and taking skilled shots to weaken my opponents. Let the stress/excitement help you focus keenly on the task at hand. Breath deeply, and stay in the moment.
I go back through the Jared Tendler book every few months to fill another hole in my mental game. Great idea to work through that book.
June 24, 2012
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TBMeyer42 said:
It helps to think of being at the final table differently. One instructor advised that in any game, you want to be a black belt at the poker table, playing a bunch of white belts. I want to be the poker ninja at the final table, soaking up all the information from the players around me, and taking skilled shots to weaken my opponents.
It sounds very poetic and a nice way to put it but it really doesn't mean anything to me in a practical sense.
Let the stress/excitement help you focus keenly on the task at hand. Breath deeply, and stay in the moment.
I go back through the Jared Tendler book every few months to fill another hole in my mental game. Great idea to work through that book.
I like these ideas, taking a couple of deep breaths before making a decision is a great idea, and from Jareds book at that point I should try to inject some logic. I just have to come up with a good statement. Then work on the underlying problem, which I guess is fear. I also try not to look at the payout schedule anymore and just play the table I'm at without thinking about anything else which seems to be helping a bit.
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August 25, 2012
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Ultimately I find the best way to maintain a sense of reality and manage your expectations going into a deep run is to think about how realistic the possibility of you winning the tournament actually is.
For example, say you're going into a 9-handed final table. If the winner were drawn at random, each player would have roughly an 11% chance of winning the tournament. If all skill levels were equal and the tournament played out as normal, the biggest stack would have the best chance of winning the tournament, followed by the shortest stack – so while an average stack may still have an 11% chance of winning, a short-stack may only have a 5% chance, while a monster chip leader may have a 20% chance. If all skill weren't equal, and the big stack were the best player at the table, he might be able to increase his chances to 25%, while if the short stack were the weakest player, his chances might be as low as 2%.
What this means is that you can use your perceived edge and stack size to make an estimate of your chances at each final table you play. Instead of saying to yourself “I really hope I double up and win this tournament!”, you can say “well, I have an average stack, but it's a fairly weak table, so I think I might win this thing 15% of the time from here”. You can adapt this estimate as you get short-handed, too – if you get four-handed with an average stack against three very good players, you might win a lot less than 25% of the time, but if you get heads-up with deep stacks against a huge fish, you might win as often as 65-70% of the time.
This should help you stay more level-headed and grounded in reality. It also prepares you for thinking more deeply about ICM spots and edges, because it keeps you in touch with what kind of edge you have on the table at any given moment. Obviously it's very hard to assign accurate values to your edges in specific spots, but over time you'll get a better handle on it.
January 16, 2014
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Take extra time to make every decision. Take at least 10 seconds before doing anything just to make sure you're not missing any possibilities. I'm not saying take 10 seconds to fold 72o preflop or to call a shove with the nuts, but any other situation take your time.
One thing I used to do before my headset broke is start recording my play (I used BB Flashback, free version) anytime I got deep, approaching the final table. Make a running commentery explaining your every decision like you would if you were making an instructional video. Put people on ranges and what you think they will do with that range, go through through all your betting/folding/raising and sizing options, things like that. Even if you never share it, and even if you never watch it yourself just the act of verbalizing your thought process helps. Technically you dont need a mic/headset or recording software in order to do this but I find if I'm not actually recording I get too lazy and revert back to may “**** it, snap call/fold/shove” decisions.
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