Killer Instinct

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I decided to write this article today to stress a point that I’m not sure everyone quite realizes the importance of…the “killer instinct” you need to be able to close MTTs. Getting deep in tournaments is great, and obviously the first step you have to take before you can have a chance to close. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, in the MTT community has folded a hand or 2 that they normally would not have if they weren't on the bubble. It’s just human nature. You want to cash.

 

You get to a final table your 4th in chips with 9 people left. You have 35 big blinds and are feeling pretty comfortable with where you are. There are 3 people at the table with less than 10 big blinds. This is where people start thinking to themselves, “man I should just fold here and play tight until 2 or 3 people drop out and I can pick up some extra cash.” Or there are 6 people remaining and one is very short stacked. You check the money jump from 5th to 6th. It’s human nature and you want to know what extra incentive there is in seeing that short stack eliminated.

 

I’m here to tell you as hard as it may be, if you can break these habits it will help you in your quest to become a better player. I hear all the best MTT players in the world described with common adjectives: fearless, ruthless and relentless. These descriptions are all absolutely accurate. I am in a unique situation, as I had a pretty big stable of horses at one point in my life. Even when I wasn’t playing I could pull up any poker site at almost any hour of the day do a search or 2 and have a vested interest in a tournament somewhere. I had all different types of horses. High stakes low stakes mid stakes. And something I learned from all of them was that the guys that had the killer instinct were always chopping up more money than guys that didn’t. I know this seems pretty logical but I’m just not sure that people truly realize how important the concept is. It’s much more profitable to win 3 tournaments then to final table 15 and get 3rd to 9th.

 

Tournaments are so top heavy that, yes, it’s great to pick up 4th place money from 5th but it’s definitely not great to do this if you are passing up +EV spots to do so. I know that money is super precious to everyone out there, but somehow someway if you choose to play poker for a living or for extra money, you need to be able to put money jumps and money bubbles out of your thought process. If you’re able to do this, I absolutely guarantee you start seeing more wins and, as a bonus, more money from this mind set.

 

Do what you have to do to get your head in this frame of mind. Pretend it’s a play money tournament. If it’s a 50 dollar tournament pretend it’s a 2 dollar tournament.  Do whatever it is to trick yourself, or make yourself realize that nothing matters but winning.

 

 And don’t check the lobby!  

 

The lobby is a curse. I had this discussion with one of my stakes in particular. When he was deep in the money he was constantly checking the lobby. He literally checked it every few minutes and gave me updates. He would say things like, “I’m 3 of 11. Now I’m 4 of 10. In trouble now, 7th of 8 people left.”  Not only was it annoying, because I was in my own tournaments but I was completely detrimental to HIS tournament life. Finally I forbid him to check the lobby. I flat out told him if I ever see him checking a lobby again I would not back him anymore. At the time I told him that, he was in a lot of makeup. Since then he has cleared his makeup and chopped up at least a dozen times. His wins have gone up exponentially.

 

Give this mindset a try. I’m confident this will help your bottom line. And in the end, that’s all that matters. Get yourself into “the zone” as I like to call it. Take no prisoners. If you don’t worry about the bottom dollar, you will see a big difference in what that bottom dollar is.

 

 



23 Responses to “Killer Instinct”

  1. Antonio357

    Thanks for this article BigDog. I struggle with this so much in my larger buyin live events. I’m trying to find a way to have the same mentality that I take into the smaller buyin events!

  2. marios_521

    Great article!
    I swear it is the way I am thinking.
    I wish you post something about how to handle all these bad days until some good cash comes.

    Again… really like it.

  4. Dare2Dream

    Great Atricle mate!! You will find this is one of the biggest differences between consistant winners/ players that go deep compared to the solid MTT player.

    Lobbies Suck:) Great Point!!

    Are you playing to WIN when you get deep or playing TO NOT LOSE???

  7. hawkeyeK9

    Great article. I have definitely been doing this. Sometimes I just have a hunch that I am close to the money but I refuse to check the lobby anyway because I dont want it to affect my play. I just had an idea….allow yourself 3 lobby checks per tourney. I might try that for a while 🙂

  11. GaryLQ

    Excellent, thanks a lot. I’m another one who’s guilty of far too many lobby checks, I’m gonna try a self-imposed ban.

  15. praetor

    Really loved the article, I was totally one of those guys always checking the lobby. After reading your article I made a promise to myself not to check anymore. I have been grinding away all day and have not once looked at the lobby. I noticed my play was more relaxed, and aggression came easier. Thanks Bigdog!

  16. thepimpofpoker

    Casey, your a habitual lobby checker in your vids! My question is if you do this while your not recording and you believe its just a bad habit that you don’t recommend to others, or if you only do it while recording just for the sake of showing tourney info to the subscribers…I have found myself at least keeping a tourney info tab open if not the lobby while making deep runs since becoming a tpe member, do you recommend I stop doing this? I like to at least keep an eye on the avg stack size deep in tourneys if I am near it, because I don’t want to dip below half an avg stack size at any point late in mtt’s…nonetheless its a solid article…It just seems a little contradictory, which is normal in just about any aspect of learning and adapting throughout life. Lastly…a big thank you for the huge contribution of knowledge you have put into this site, you are truly one of a kind sir. -TPOP

  17. bigdogpckt5s

    Ya I check the lobby alot when Im doing vids for a few reasons. 1 I want to let people no what stage we are at. Plus it fills a little time in the vid its hard to always have stuff to talk about. But to be completely honest with you I dont check the lobby much at all when Im playing. I do it when approaching the bubble but thats only so I can try and exploit it. I do check it from time to time but more times then not i will be like oh wow starting to get really deep in this tourny or whatever because I do not check that often.

  18. kingten102

    well said bigdog. one of the many leaks in my game.

    another leak is pokerdbing people when i’m not on break.

    working on plugging all the leaks everyday

  20. ShortStackJack

    Great article. I’ve read it twice now and had already taken the concepts to heart. Since I have started playing again I have ceased to care about making the $ as my main objective. I am pretty competitive and there is nothing like the feel of taking down the top spot. Conversely, coming in 2-9 just sucks, especially when you feel like you are better than the competition. Knowing that I didn’t win because I lost a flip, rather than getting blinded away is a little consolation. Still, when I WIN … That is something special!

  22. joelshitshow

    Hey Casey, I hope you read this comment on such an old post 🙂

    How do I use this information in the context of ICM? Was ICM a less-understood concept in 2011? Specifically, ICM (if I understand it correctly) seems to be what helped Pappas ladder up to 5th in the ME final table this month. If he had been playing to win, he may have been knocked out sooner. Similarly, the guy that finished ninth again seemed to be following your advice and then, well, finished ninth again despite starting the FT higher in chips.

    I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. This blog post may get higher visibility because it is in Step 4 of TPEU, so many people would see your response! Thanks again!

  23. RaisersEdge

    Totally true!!! So on point to where I am with my game at the moment as well!!! I JUST jumped back to online playing less than a year ago. 2017 was fun and profitable but I was playing super ABC and shaking off the rust. NOW I am prepping for the summer, a ton more play and a MUCH BIGGER bankroll! I find myself running deep and bubbling a LOT. I am even making final tables but because of MANY things mentioned in this article as well as other factors I have noticed I come in either short stacked or make bad decisions and end up placing lower than I should. So LITERALLY two days ago I said FUCK IT!! I am back, I am playing a LOT of poker and I AM PLAYING TO WIN!!! ITM should NOT cut it (sure it’s nice), final tabling shouldn’t cut it (sure it’s nice), simply put you and I should have one and one goal only and that is to take first place EVERY TIME!!! If I play with THAT attitude it end up ITM, FT and 1st WAY MORE OFTEN!!! And the fu*Ki*g LOBBY, CHRIST I was annoying MYSELF by looking at it so often! Maybe on a break or if you truly need to reorient yourself but other than that checking the lobby is simply a distraction! (this is actually in the TPE U course Level 1)! Glad I read this because it also reinforced what I ALSO already started doing and that was once regging FORGET ABOUT THE BUY IN COST and if you or I can’t than it’s probably not a buy-in you can afford!

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