Sweat session with Buffslayer and 2 days later I have my career high mtt cash!

Warning: Longest post I’ve ever done so you might want to make a cuppa before you start to read. :)

I have so many mixed emotions about this post I am actually struggling t articulate what I wish to say.

A few weeks ago a fellow poker player by the name of Buffyslayer1 was kind enough to start a thread on 2+2 offering 5 player that are struggling with there mtt games some assistance. After contacting Buffyslayer he was generous enough to say yes to me and offer some of his time and expertise.

We arranged a time for me to watch him play some mtts and I feel it has completely changed my entire approach as to how I play these games.

I watched him play 4 mtts, for memory they were:
$3.30 > 2000 players
$5.50 2 rebuys & 1 add-on > 1000 players
$11 rebuy > 2000 players
$55 > 1000 players

We were speaking about all sorts of strategies and tactics used to get through these large fields and making it to the final table.

One of the biggest leaks in my mtt game is the “In The Money Bubble”. Something I’ve had fear of for far too long.

My general mentality with any form of mtt is simple. If we are around 100 spots from the money bubble and I feel I have enough chips to make it but not enough to take shots and try to build my stack, I simply end up blinding out and min cashing. The reason I always do that is I keep thinking “I’ve already played for 2-3 hours and I want to get something back". The problem I also faced is by the time I make the money I’m generally down to less than 5 big blinds and have no real chance or growing my stack back up to run deep.

So the main thing I’ve completely changed about my game is not even considering the money bubble, in fact as Jamie said (Jamie = Buffyslayer1) “There is no such thing!” There is only a final table bubble.

This session happened on a Saturday morning my time. The next day I opened 8 Mtts, 5 of PokerStars and 3 on Titan poker and had the following results.

Titan Poker
$5+$1 titan double. Lost AIPF KK<1010, villain flopped a 10
$5+$1 titan double. Simply lost.
$5.50 > 600 players. Busted 7 spots from the money which I didn’t know at the time AIPF QQ < 77 as villain flopped a 7. In this particular game I had around 30 big blinds and was more than healthy to cruise into the money but because I didn’t pay attention to how many spots were left I took my shot with a clearly stronger hand an got unlucky. Obviously if my hand held up I would have been in fantastic shape to run very deep in the game.

PokerStars
$11 Sunday 1/4 million. I overplayed KJ on K42 board and ran into KQ within the first 30 minutes. Mistake on my behalf.
$2.20 >5000 players. Busted 22 spots from the money after it checking to me in BB and I had J3 on AJ3 board. Obviously villain in SB had A3 and we both got it in on the flop.
$2.75 > 7000 players. Simply lost
$11 > 4000 players. Simply lost
$8.80 218th out of 3230 players. ITM started at around 320 but I didn’t know that at the time. Unfortunately blinded down to 5bbs and took a stand with A2 then snap called by AK from BB.

So the above results I played 8 with only 1 cash but I wasn’t playing to cash, I was playing for the final table. Had I have taken my normal approach I would have cashed in both the Titan $5.50 game and the Stars $2.20 game but my focus was growing to get to the end, not cruising into the cash.

Historically I have a rather large ITM rate and very low Final Table rate. I now suspect and have pretty much confirmed with this new style of play my ITM rate will drop substantially but I will run much deeper when I do make it.

I have told you about all the above results in build up to this……

Are you ready?

Are you excited?

My Career high cash and best mtt game I’ve ever played.

This happened the very next day.

Sunday, March 1st 20:00 AEST.

Buyin $3.30 with 2045 players.

Result.



8 hours & 5 mins to turn $3.30 into $539.88

My biggest cash prior to this was $287.11 when I came 4th out of 1044 in a $5.50 mtt.

So as you can see it has been some time since I had a final table experience, yet I can tell you a million times about making it into the money.

To be truthful, I am absolutely kicking myself for not changing this attitude earlier. I was always conscious of it but it was Jamie’s complete disregard for min-cashing that made it so apparent to me.

I played this game to get to the final table and nothing else. This is clearly proved by the picture below showing the first hand of the final table.



You see I was dominant chip leader. Having such a large stack in comparison to the blinds and opponents I remember getting a little to cocky and confident and took some perhaps unnecessary shots.

I remember within the first 5 minutes, “mrbibo788” had managed to double up to 500K and we both got it all in pre flop with my 77 vs. his KK. He raised, then 1 3bet, he 4bet so I, feeling like I’m indestructible, 5bet shoved only to see I’m dominated and dwindled down from 2million to 1.5million changing my entire outlook on the final table strategy. With that stack I simple intended to bully in the right spots.
I ended up playing a little tighter as people started to drop off.

I was actually amazed as to how long this game went for. By the time we reached the final table it was 3:00am and I was a combination of absolutely knackered and get so much adrenalin pumping through me.

When I finally busted 3rd I was lost for words. I was so happy about my accomplishment yet so disappointed I didn’t win. I suppose I will have to get used to this feeling as it will happen many more times.

Jamie, if you’ve read this far, which I suspect you have, I can not thank you enough for your time and words of wisdom. Whilst all we did is watch you play I learned so much about psychology and mathematics in mtts and can’t feel any better.

There is no way any of this would have happened if I hadn’t of spent all that time with you.

To everyone reading this, thank you for staying for such a long post but generally the more excited I get about something the more I tend to say.

With this cash coupled with my results from 5NL and $5 double or nothing I have got my bankroll back up over 1.2K from the $500 re-deposit so things are starting to look up again.

I will continue to play mtts from $2.20 - $11 and I really look forward to cracking that $1000+ win from a mtt. There will be many bad beats and bust outs coming up, but with this new approach there should be some more final tables and hopefully that win is right around the corner.

Thanks for reading.
Custo.