Is Bluffing the Key in MTT's?

[cdavi]

Full Tilt Poker Game #11425058867: $35,000 Guarantee (85689331), Table 22 - 150/300 Ante 25 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:00:50 ET - 2009/03/30
Seat 1: Zsijn (10,886)
Seat 2: Counting Bodies (4,997)
Seat 3: sedore623 (10,520)
Seat 4: moneymasheen (6,171)
Seat 5: maw68 (6,044)
Seat 6: bumpya (3,185)
Seat 7: cdavi (8,045)
Seat 8: big_sexy1140 (22,456)
Seat 9: Northernlimit (11,507)
Zsijn antes 25
Counting Bodies antes 25
sedore623 antes 25
moneymasheen antes 25
maw68 antes 25
bumpya antes 25
cdavi antes 25
big_sexy1140 antes 25
Northernlimit antes 25
bumpya posts the small blind of 150
cdavi posts the big blind of 300
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to cdavi [6c 7h]
big_sexy1140 has 15 seconds left to act
big_sexy1140 folds
Northernlimit folds
Zsijn folds
Counting Bodies folds
sedore623 folds
moneymasheen calls 300
maw68 calls 300
bumpya calls 150
cdavi checks
*** FLOP *** [8h Jd Ac]
bumpya checks
cdavi checks
moneymasheen bets 300
maw68 calls 300
bumpya calls 300
cdavi has 15 seconds left to act
cdavi raises to 1,500
moneymasheen folds
maw68 calls 1,200
bumpya folds
*** TURN *** [8h Jd Ac] [Ad]
cdavi bets 6,220, and is all in
maw68 folds
Uncalled bet of 6,220 returned to cdavi
cdavi mucks
cdavi wins the pot (5,025)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 5,025 | Rake 0
Board: [8h Jd Ac Ad]
Seat 1: Zsijn folded before the Flop
Seat 2: Counting Bodies folded before the Flop
Seat 3: sedore623 folded before the Flop
Seat 4: moneymasheen folded on the Flop
Seat 5: maw68 (button) folded on the Turn
Seat 6: bumpya (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 7: cdavi (big blind) collected (5,025), mucked
Seat 8: big_sexy1140 folded before the Flop
Seat 9: Northernlimit folded before the Flop

I shoulda bet lighter on the river, 1/2 his stack, but I was sure he'd fold no matter what.

[Jifsrt8]

mtts i think what does it is winning them flips

like when u have ak vs 10-10

qq vs ak

etc.
if u mangae to win one of those hands u have good chance of making it

[DevilFish73]

Sick sick hand Chris...

[WhySoCereus]

Rather than bluffing, think of it as timed and thought-out aggression. What exactly was your thought process on that hand? That looks exactly like the kind of hand where I wouldn't be bluffing.

As long as you have some thought behind your move it's fine. It can be anything from "I havent played a hand in ages, and all of these players in my $26 MTT are competent enough to recognize that, give me respect, and fold their raggy aces and gut-shot draws" or "yeah well **** them I want it more."

I tend to use the latter a bit deeper in MTTs, 1. because it's fun and keeps me sane when I play tourneys with 1k+ players and consistently get 27th-10th, and 2. it works.

[cardsfan04]

Rather than bluffing, think of it as timed and thought-out aggression. What exactly was your thought process on that hand? That looks exactly like the kind of hand where I wouldn't be bluffing.

As long as you have some thought behind your move it's fine. It can be anything from "I havent played a hand in ages, and all of these players in my $26 MTT are competent enough to recognize that, give me respect, and fold their raggy aces and gut-shot draws" or "yeah well **** them I want it more."

I tend to use the latter a bit deeper in MTTs, 1. because it's fun and keeps me sane when I play tourneys with 1k+ players and consistently get 27th-10th, and 2. it works.

Soheb, when'd you get good?

I don't guess bluff much, and this feels like a guess bluff. Chipping up is the key to MTT's, much more so than winning races. Everybody wins races at the same rate (yes, really), but some people do better. The player who chips up well and flips for 1/2 their stack will do better than the player who doesn't chip up and flips for their entire stack.

Basically, I look to push people who fold tighter than they should, and play back against people who are raising wider than they should.

[DevilFish73]

E.J. I will keep this quote for you for future reference..lol

Originally Posted by cardsfan04
Everybody wins races at the same rate (yes, really)

[cdavi]

Here's what I was thinking:

Pre flop - hey look a puppy (check)
Flop - hey look, I flopped nothing again (check). Min bet, wow that's weak, someone's raising. Flat, wow that's super weak, he's got a jack or inside draw or open ended and is REALLY afraid of first limper having an ace. Another call, wow, he's got nothing, little pp, bottome pair, weak jack, inside draw...weak. So here I have 3 weak limpers on an ace high board and a weak min bet and 2 weak callers. They don't have anything except maybe a2. I'm in BB so I'm xx (if they think that deeply). Lets take a stab with a raise enough to take them off of this and move onto next hand. Fold, Call (wow), Fold.
Turn - K, this player has the 2nd or 3rd nutz or is super weak and or passive...no way he has the second or third nutz, he would have shoved me there on the flop IMO. Turn Ace, I like it a lot. He doesn't have an ace, he has kj, qj, j10, or some sort of straight draw. What can I do to get him off of that hand. Well duh, bet it! I don't like my shove there, but I don't like a small bet either. I like a 2900 - 3200 bet instead. Against good players, that looks real, where as a shove looks like a weak hand, j8 (for two pre now second pair with no kicker). A bet like I just said looks more like maybe a house, or ax. Thankfully, the shove worked.

The problem I have with MTT's, everyone says chip up, chip up. Ok, great, so I play tight, make good raises from position and end up getting reraised or get check raised on the flop, or get check called down by the nutz. So I go from trying to chip up and chip up to short. So I tighten and I don't get cards for hours (which is normal and fine) but then I look for opportunities like this because I think "how do players like the ones on here that crush these always have chips when I'm trying to hang on all the time". Well they prolly find situations like this one, everyone is WEAK, so take it, they don't want the pot, just take it. So I do. Sometimes I'm wrong or find the donkey that can't fold 78 in this situation, but sometimes I win a nice pot and can go back to my tight image.

If you have ever played with me, I'm tight aggressive normally, but I do have the ability to play LAG. Some say I'm normally too tight, others say aggressive at the wrong spots. I'm trying to find that winning combo that'll put me over the edge from a break even player all the time who has some nice runs (Jan I won over 3k in primarily 45 mans) to a winning player who puts himself in a spot to win the MTT I've always wanted to!

I like this discussion so don't stop...go nuts on my thought process, give me alternatives, give me anything that may help, it is very much appreciated.