As announced, here is the follow-up article to MTT (early stage). While, for the early staged, I advise to pick your spots carefully and play relatively TAG, I recommend a more aggressive style for the middle stage of an MTT. This is purely because of the fact that during this stage, there will be a lot more dead money on the table as a result of the higher blinds. When talking about the middle stage of a MTT, I mean the phase when there are 100 people left until the bubble, up until the moment where the bubble bursts (it is assumed that the MTT started with at least 1000 players). Players usually start looking at the bubble during this phase and stop playing too many hands. So it's on you to exploit this.

In the middle stage you need to distinguish between two different types of players. The one player plays for the win (category 1) and the other player is happy just to win his buy-in back by surviving the bubble (category 2). Make sure to be a category 1 player but play the game intelligently. The manner in which you play is determined by the size of your stack. When playing the way I advised to in the early stage of a tournament you should often have around an average stack. Sometimes you'll already be in the top 30, and sometimes you'll be a short stack.

Bigstackplay (2x average and higher)

Wonderful to have. You can bust other players and it costs you next to nothing. A big stack is naturally loose, and even if you're not, players will expect you to be. Your task is to figure out how much resistance you encounter at the table. With a little bit of luck there will be a lot of category 2 players at your table and you can steal the blinds 5 times in every orbit. You basically play any two cards and you enter every pot with a raise. The size of my raises are usually not the standard 3BB but rather 2,5BB. Why? Well simply because I'm trying to find out how strong the table is and because I will have to fold my rags to every re-raise. This way you save yourself chips. Somebody who folds to a raise of 3BB will also fold to a raise of 2,5BB in this phase, and if you do happen to have a hand it makes it easier for the short stacks to some over the top. If the table is weak you will find out that you can pickup a lot of blinds. To begin with, start stealing from the button, then the CO, the Hijack, and all the way to UTG (if the table lets you do this). The main rule for this type of play is that you have to be the first one into a pot. If a player before you limped in, then it's â€"EV to try a pure steal attempt here. You can obviously still arise with your stack, but no longer with any two cards. If somebody ends up going all-in after you raise then analyze the hand in the following way. How big is his stack? For less then 1/10 of my stack and relatively good odds of 2:1 I will basically call here with any 2. This will have the advantage that you're building up a maniac image at the table. Player see you call an all-in raise with a hand like and will think twice before going all-in against you next, especially if they see you suck out. You should be aware though that if this happens once, you can't call the next all-in with a similar hand, because your opponent will actually have a good hand this time. If the player has an average stack I will call with TT+ and AQ+ and maybe some weaker hands if the player has a bit of a loose image. In this phase of the MTT I will play as many of the 45/55 and 40/60 coinflips as I can, as long as my stack allows it. If my opponent does have a big stack and is able to break me I will only call with AK, AA and KK. If he is also a very tight player, I would probably lay down AK as well. When raising with rags, also make sure there isn't a shorty sitting behind you or in the BB who is pot committed. That is just a waste of chips.

Resteal to your hearts content in the blinds. Treat every raise from the button or the CO as a steal attempt and resteal by 3-betting any reasonable hand like suited connectors or little pocket pairs (incase they get the crazy idea to call you in position). You should however pay attention to your opponents' image and only do this against average or big stacks. Against short stacks you just don't have any fold equity. Do this as often as the table allows you to do so. Sooner or later you will get a monster hand and, as a result of you maniac play, there's a good chance you will get paid off.

Shorty

Unfortunately you're not going to have a big stack every time and sometimes you'll be sitting at your table with an M of 8 waiting for a good hand. Here it really depends on whether you are a category 1 player or not. If you're a good player you can easily afford to loose the buy-in of the MTT and make up for the loss through good bankroll management. If this is the case, then don't start playing for the bubble $ that wont even get you some French fries with the current exchange rate, but play for the win. With an M of 8 or lower, therefore, I play by the rule "First in is All-in" with any two cards. You will be surprised at how often you will still manage to steal the blinds because you do have some fold equity left, you built up a tight image over the course of the tournament and there will always be a couple of category 2 players at your table. The only exception to this rule is when there is a big stack on the BB. In this case you can only go all-in with your premium hands. B e aware that if it works out once, you can wait a whole round before you have to do it again since you now have an M of 9.
Another disadvantage of being a short stack is that you lose the option to trap players. Don't make the mistake in trying to trap people. In most cases you will just trap yourself. If I get UTG then I just push all of my chips in and don't play the limp/raise game. Look at it from the perspective of your opponents. He sees a shorty limp UTG for 800 with a stack of 7k behind. In most cases the first thought that comes to mind in this situation is "he has a monster and the rest of my stack is going to go in anyway". Only if you are lucky enough that a player behind you wakes up with a monster hand as well you will get the raise you were hoping for. The chance is greater that big stacks will want to bust you and comfortably limp in with so called ace-crackers. Don't give them this chance in the first place. Another advantage of the insta-push with the best hand is that a big stack will often call as he sees an all-in UTG from a short stack and thinks, "he might be holding something but his range is relatively big, and which idiot goes all-in UTG with ?" After which he will kindly double you up.

Average stack
With an average stack you have nothing to worry about. We're still playing for the win, and you can easily turn an average stack into a big stack by playing clever poker.

Trapping with an average stack.
There are two ways to trap with high pairs, and by high pair I mean only AA and KK, and maybe include AK in there every now and then. One way to trap your opponents, which is probably the best known, is the limp raise. This is simply limping in early position to send a fake signal of weakness and then come over the top after another player raised behind you. (Note: if you have an M of 30 then don't just push all of your chips in at once but just make a sizable 3-bet of 12BB). This play is relatively well known so please don't attempt it with a hand like QQ, because if you get raised after your 3-bet you are simply dead with that hand. Your opponents will quickly understand what you are doing and you will only get called by hands that have you beat, unless the player is already pot committed. Also make sure to not trap yourself. With this I mean that it can easily happen that a multiway pot gets created because the other players are scared of the so called. In this case, don't overplay your hand and keep the pot small. And even more important, be ready to fold you aces if 2 or more players go all-in after you bet on the flop. Your overpair is worth nothing anymore. Incase you did this play with KK, then also fold if a dirty ace appears on the flop. Trapping does not come without risk and this is the little price you will have to pay.

A somewhat less known play is the overcall. Imagine there's a raise in early position. Instead of the usual standard re-raise to isolate your opponent, you simply just call. This play usually works pretty well. If somebody else then decides to raise again before the flop, the pot is large enough to just push all of your chips in, also if you have an M of 30. If no one else raises and you see a flop, no player will put you on aces, and after a C-Bet from the initial raiser, which increases the size of the pot once more, you can easily raise all-in, since 90% of the time players will put you on a draw or top pair and will call more often than not. And even if they fold, you still pick up a nice pot.

If, however, you don't get the monster hands, look for spots to steal some blinds or to make plays in big pots. Here are 2 examples of how you can do this.

Playing against weak blocking bets under the motto "J-high takes it down"


As you can see I'm only playing this hand because I'm in position. Even if I am the chip leader at the table, I'm only just over average stack in the MTT. More important is that I'm playing the hand against two opponents with an almost equal stack, which gives me enough fold equity.

The flop gives me nothing more than a gutshot and the following situation arises. The Nit in the BB makes a little blocking bet of 800 into a 7,600 pot and the initial raiser FOLDS!!! ( I assume he was holding something like pocket 9's. With the rest he would have either paired or hit a pathetic draw like mine, and with the odds he is getting he would have had to call.) I call with the intention to represent anything that appears on the flop. His range is AJ, AQ, QJ or a random K with a crap kicker. On the turn he makes another blocking bet of 2,400 into a pot of 9,200. I raise to represent trips, which I could easily have according to how I played the hand so far. I also don't raise that much here, just enough to get the information I need. Firstly because I'm willing to fold the hand if he pushes all-in and secondly to keep enough chips to make a believable river bluff. (Note: it is crucial to raise the turn here because if you only call you have nothing in his eyes and you can no longer bluff the river. Following his check on the river, the only thing left to do is bet, as you would still lose a showdown to his range. Don't make the mistake here of firing out a weak bet like he did on the flop and turn, as he will easily, and correctly, call you with an A-high, even if it's just for the information. I'm still representing the 10 here and bet half the pot. This still leaves me with an M of 15 incase he was slowplaying his monster hand all along.

Making a bluff call under the motto "i have crap but your crap is worse"


I have talked about this hand before in my blog but it is a perfect example of a bluffcall. Villain was big stack and was playing very LAG. He was being a real bully. (I know I raising with nothing here but I just wanted to steal some blinds and was first in). I was 90% sure that I could put him on 1 of 3 hands. A-high with a missed flush draw, 56 or 53, and I had all of these hands beat. The reason I didn't put him on a pocket pair is because he simply called me pre-flop. He comes out betting, which actually represents some strength but I raise him to see if my top pair top kicker is good. He flatcalls me here, which to me is a clear sign that I'm ahead. Followed by a weak bet on the turn and an insta push on the river, this is an automatic call for me. All the draws have missed and he doesn't have AJ (I had seen him 3-Bet A-10 before pre-flop). I did take a moment before I made the call as it was for all my chips and I did want to be sure of my read. Note: I'm not calling here because I can't lay down top pair on the flop but purely for the fact that I'm sure I'm holding the best hand here. And for this I'm willing to risk all of my chips.

As you can see there a numerous ways that lead to chipheaven. If you end up being completely card dead or just don't get any good situations then you will have to resort to short stack strategy. Next week we will continue this series about MTT's with an article about the late stage of a multi-table tournament. For now, however, you have passed the bubble and can comfortably go get some French fries from around the corner.

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