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Poker Video: MTT/SNG by AMT (Micro/Small Stakes)

How many episodes do we expect this series to be?

Yes more mtt content! keep em coming AMT!

Time Link to 00:09:34

I think it's a pretty big mistake to only bet 85 there. (also turnbet is too small as played). Especially in tournaments people are not folding many hands based on our betsize and making him peel less hands (like QJ with bdfd or w/e) is a good thing early in a tournament even.
(the hands that call regardless have very few outs or will call any betsize (straightdraw) )

And a spot like this can be explained pretty quickly because imo it's a clear b/f b/f b/f spot. I bet any turn, and the only rivers I'm checking back are the times the turn or river is an ace or an eight.

Just bet flop more like 115 or so. then proceed by betting 2/3 on turn and a little over halfpot on the river. By startign out with such a small betsize we miss out on quite a bit on later streets.Even 135 is muchhh better than 85 imo.

Like the rest of the vid is nice and hope to see more.

How many episodes do we expect this series to be?

4 or 5, probably

Hi Apollo,

Thanks for the comments. I cannot agree that it's a 'big mistake' to bet 85 there. As I mentioned in the video, I think a slightly bigger bet would've been better, but in the early game betting anything reasonable I feel that it'd be incredibly difficult to quantify a 'large mistake' unless I massively underbet the pot or pot/overpotted it or something. The board is incredibly dry and it is going to be rare, especially on a paint run-out to get three streets of value here in any reasonably big pot. That may certainly be an argument for betting more on the flop, but once this turn hits, I feel like betting anything more than 200 would likely be a mistake, especially with the intention of barreling a lot of rivers. When I go for 3 streets here I'm not trying to bloat the pot, I'm trying to get calls from his marginal made hands that are much more likely to call smaller bets on later streets rather than when I jack it up. If something like a 7 turned I'd definitely bet more than on this particular type of card vs. random opponents, given the positive effects it has for us on getting bets in vs. their value range/keeping it as wide as possible.

Anyways, while I largely stand by the comments I made in the video as they pertain to this hand, I agree with your message here, that slightly bigger is better. It's important to focus on and incredibly easy to undermine while playing a lot of tables at varying levels/structures. Thanks for posting.

Yes!! More MTT content! Keep em coming DC MTT/SNG Coaches. The lack of this type of content is the only reason i might change sites!

So please please more MTT/SNG content!

Really enjoyed the MTT video. There was a little lack of content but that was not your fault. I like you paused and looked through other hands as well and not just your on. It's nice to explain all given situations and not just the ones involving you. Keep 'em coming AMT!

ATM i love how you present things. great video

Time Link to 00:28:55

ATM on the min raise:
I like it, i have been trying to work this into my game more and more. What i wanna ask is kinda a multi-part question:
1.) do you think this works better in $22-11 tournies?
2.) would you still make that size open in say a $1-5 tourny?
3.) can you get away with this in say a highstakes tourny? say a major sundayament? (idk if there are any turbo sundays) or say a nightly guarantee where we would expect a large % of regs and thinking players.
4.) In these different buyin levels and against different types of players do you ever adjust to a 2.2X or 2.5X? What are your reasons to do this?

This is something i think works wonders late in tournies with small stacks and around the bubble and i have found times when i have done this in spots like this, but i dont truly understand all the reasons for why to do it. Also i play much smaller buyin games so i think the dynamic may be different.

I know i already said this but great vid! love the format! Keep them coming im am so excited for more MTT content!!! You guys are great! and it is nice to see vids like this. yah 1k scoop vids are sexy, but its so beyond what the general DCer plays. so im so happy to see vids in my "level" lol. thanks man!


Oh and another thought was that when you can minraise and get away with it that it gives you a great ability to have a great price to open a little lighter then "usual" and when you min a big hand and get someone to reshove and show up with say KK it gives great image to your minraises. which is a great image to cultivate later in turbos where we will be looking to steal big pots with blinds and antes later! I have been playing a lot of turbos in the past 3 months and i think that is a place where ones edge can very much exploit bad weak players.

Thanks guys!

Rumsey,

1.) do you think this works better in $22-11 tournies?

Better than....? I guess it doesn't matter too much what you meant specifically, as I think it can work at all buy in levels (or at least, the vast majority of the games).

2.) would you still make that size open in say a $1-5 tourny?

Depends, but if it helps, I will say that I wouldn't really ever completely rule it out of my arsenal based solely on the buy in.

3.) can you get away with this in say a highstakes tourny? say a major sundayament? (idk if there are any turbo sundays) or say a nightly guarantee where we would expect a large % of regs and thinking players.

Sure, I'd say I do it in all of the above (in combination with other raise sizes depending on the tournament and the situation at hand).

4.) In these different buyin levels and against different types of players do you ever adjust to a 2.2X or 2.5X? What are your reasons to do this?

Yep. There are a lot of reasons for doing this. For one thing, with short/medium/awkward stack size situations, the smallest raises do the best job of laying yourself the best odds on steals, additionally giving the least incentive for people to shove over you (due to less money in the pot compared to bigger opens). It also works for manipulating pot:stack ratios post flop.
I doubt there's a great way to quantify the difference between a 2x and a 2.1x raise as far as the profitability differences go in most given situations, but I do think there is some psychological aspect to seeing a minimum raise, even if the persons standard open is barely bigger (but is still >minimum). That combined with a desire to maximize game flow manipulation with vs. various opponents/stack sizes/hands, usually gives me good reason to alternate between these raise sizes.
When we have slightly bigger stacks to work with, I'm more likely to 2.5-3x open, but in a lot of these shorter stacked situations that we're talking about I find myself alternating between very small raise sizes. Some good regs pretty much only minraise regardless of the stacks and opponents, which I do think is sort of a mistake but some of them can still make it work to their advantage. As long as you're comfortable with it, I say go for it, and the fact is at the end of the day you'll find that the most noticeable impacts lie in poor players defending too wide (some good players too but you'll identify these guys I imagine) and playing pots OOP vs. better players than themselves. Can't be a bad thing for us!

This is something i think works wonders late in tournies with small stacks and around the bubble and i have found times when i have done this in spots like this, but i dont truly understand all the reasons for why to do it. Also i play much smaller buyin games so i think the dynamic may be different.

Definitely can be different but I'd focus on the tourney structures and players at the table and how they're playing against the min raise just as much as any difference in the actual amount of the buy in. Agree it definitely works wonders in a lot of spots, and will admit some of the reasons are sort of vague/undefined, but there are lots of good clear cut reasons for mixing it in to your game if not making it your standard. Fact is though if someone isn't comfortable minraising, I wouldn't blame them, and since it's pretty tough to argue that there's some big diff. in profitability between a tad over 2x and min., I think it's perfectly fine to rule it out if that's the case for anyone thinking about this strategy.

I know i already said this but great vid! love the format! Keep them coming im am so excited for more MTT content!!! You guys are great! and it is nice to see vids like this. yah 1k scoop vids are sexy, but its so beyond what the general DCer plays. so im so happy to see vids in my "level" lol. thanks man!

You got it bro.

Oh and another thought was that when you can minraise and get away with it that it gives you a great ability to have a great price to open a little lighter then "usual" and when you min a big hand and get someone to reshove and show up with say KK it gives great image to your minraises. which is a great image to cultivate later in turbos where we will be looking to steal big pots with blinds and antes later! I have been playing a lot of turbos in the past 3 months and i think that is a place where ones edge can very much exploit bad weak players

See, you answered part of your own question before I even knew you did Some good observations there, but I will say as long as you're not making things obvious you can do this against good players as well, just as long as you're trying to understand how they're adjusting to it and playing against you. Could be different for different tables/different regs, but if you make it a standard open for parts of the tournament it's also a reasonable way to think about balancing vs observant, thinking opponents (whereas we don't need to worry about balancing vs. randoms usually). Good luck and thanks for the comments!

Some good regs pretty much only minraise regardless of the stacks and opponents, which I do think is sort of a mistake but some of them can still make it work to their advantage.

See, you answered part of your own question before I even knew you did Some good observations there, but I will say as long as you're not making things obvious you can do this against good players as well, just as long as you're trying to understand how they're adjusting to it and playing against you. Could be different for different tables/different regs, but if you make it a standard open for parts of the tournament it's also a reasonable way to think about balancing vs observant, thinking opponents (whereas we don't need to worry about balancing vs. randoms usually). Good luck and thanks for the comments!

Part 1- yah i was skyping a mid stakes reg who says he starts to minraise at about 100BB deep bc most people are so terrible post flop and as long as you read the board texture well that the min raise can out yourself in some tough spots but if you know/ think about what you are doing it is so much better. People will generally defend wide and OOP. so now we play a hand IP and able to generally make an assesment on if we wanna cbet, delay cbet, yadda yadda yadda. He also said it works well to kinda tilt regs when they see you min opeing into there blind it can make the go crazy bluff c/ring and bluff donk raising just thinking we are superwide and just bad in general. i think im going to open this up more. It may be even more powerful to use a lot in rush tournies bc of quick fold. i think ill base what kinda postflop position im going to have to help define that bc if i am risking playing OOP against an unknown im generally going to want more FE.

Part 2- yah i was trying to get at the fact we get do it wider after establishing an image. Plus i have noticed it does some weird things to villains. it either gets them to min bet ( which they will generally do with incorrect hands like say j8 off) or just open huge. Either or is fine for me, bc it makes it easy to exploit. big opens mean i can jam and take more down pre, or if they give me odds i get to defend my BB wider and still use the fact i think ill play better postflop. i spent most of today thinking about sizing. thanks ATM! I swear when i can afford you luke, vanessa, and bones im hiring you! so pray i ship a miniftops or something!!! thanks as always!

I loled at "large mistake" too but otherwise agree with the flop bet seems a little light for this tourney. Thanks for the series and I agree with all the posters who encourage you to make more MTT content. I miss Vanessa but you also have a great voice for this! It really makes it easier to pay attention to videos when the voice is mellifluous. A rebuy or high stakes satellite video would be great since it's so hard to find solid strategy advice on those types of structures.

Hi SuperJenium,

Though we have a long list of MTT content to produce (and hence, can't really quote dates of release or anything to that effect), I will most definitely make note of your requests for future content. Thanks for the comments, and really glad you enjoyed the vid (and my voice, even if you were kidding ).

Time Link to 00:06:27

How big of a bet would u call on this river?