I'm finally getting to the leak that Dom proposed back in episode 42 of having difficulty w/late stage MTT play.  I'm assuming for most people with this leak, it’s one of nitty late stage MTT play: not being aggressive enough.  It’s time for us to open up our game and start stealing more in order to accumulate chips from the other nitty players at the table.  And of course, doing this will give ourselves a better chance of taking this sucker down.

In case you missed it, in episode 45 I taught you how to calculate the odds of hitting your hand based on the number of outs you have on the turn and river using the 4/2 Rule.

Leak Plugging: Nitty Late Stage MTT Play | #47

Podcast Mission

My mission for today is to show you how to navigate your way through the late stages of an MTT and make it to the final table with a healthy stack.

Hello Sky,

Another leak for me, happens in MTT’s and I’m the big stack and deep, say the last 18 and I'm not sure what to do.  What should I open vs the 10-15bb stacks and what do I do vs a shove.  And vs a call, what do I cbet?

Dom

This nitty late stage MTT play and not knowing what to do are related to these three problems:

1. Thinking like a loser (4:07)
   • What would Ivey do?  He'd consider stack sizes, opponent tendencies and player types, the nittyness of his opponents, who he can attack and who will fight back.
   • Fake it 'til you make it and force yourself to find spots to get aggressive
   • Don't be scared for your tourney life
2. Not showing aggression and accumulating chips (5:30)
   • Look for important stats to find spots: High Fold to Steal, low 3bet and high Fold to Cbet
   • Know the math of how often your steals have to work
   • Keep steals to the CO, BTN and SB.
   • Stack sizes are important, so consider who you're targeting with your steals and 3bet resteals
   • Be thankful that you made it deep, now get aggro to make it even deeper and take the thing down
3. Not thinking about how to exploit your opp’s tendencies and your reads on them (16:04)
   • Opponent notes, history and stats are super important
   • Make reads and go with them with the intent of exploiting your opponent's weaknesses
   • The Gap Concept is important: you need a better hand to call than you do to shove yourself
4. Not studying late stage MTT play (18:22)
   • Know break-even math and run calculations off the table
   • Use Flopzilla to study steal spots
   • Use Flopzilla again to work on calling ranges vs different shoving ranges
   • Review hand-by-hand all of your deep MTT runs, find your mistakes, and resolve to not repeat them
   • Study your push/fold game

Podcast Challenge

Here’s my challenge to you for this episode:  Get used to looking at the Fold to Steal stat in both the SB and BB positions.  Start practicing stealing from the “right” or susceptible opponents now.  This is a skill that will benefit you at all stages of MTT’s, not just the late stages.  Once you’re comfortable with reading these stats, look further to their Flop Fold to Cbet and Turn Fold to Cbet stats to help you gauge how far you might have to take your post-flop barreling to push them off their hands.