I've learned loads in the last few days. I have been listening to Jonathan's little audiobook on MTTs: Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker. Some of my peers told me it's more for the beginners, and they don't see Jonathan as one of the top-tier crushers, but it certainly has an interesting recap of fundamentals in, definitely a good pickup when you are on the go.
Besides that, I worked a lot with Wizard and Holdem Resource Calculator ranges and have been getting coaching and many chats with my friends who are good at MTTs, god bless you guys.
The difference
The MTT world is fascinating, the player profile seems a lot different. There are so many variables - your stack size, other people's stack sizes, and the stack-to-pot ratios that stem from that, and that's before ICM considerations. Chip isn't a chip. It seems to me the MTT crushers will be masters at adapting to all the ever-changing conditions and nuances, that come especially around under 28-ish big blinds. Cash game study and smashing is way more static, you are pretty much going as deep in the game tree as you can, trying to understand all the implications for specific spots, there is much more depth in thinking "down the line" when you run sims because you don't have to think about 8 different stack sizes, position in the tournament and payout structures.
Some of the cash game habits stop working lower. For example, cbet frequencies are much higher at low SPRs in MTTs as "nut advantage" really fades away when you have 1.5x Stack to pot ratio and the opponent has much lower implied odds. One very odd thing for a cash game player is the sizing that doesn't set up jams - it's very common that e.g. solver has 80% PSB left but elects to bet tiny. Bets where you leave your opponent barely a minraise are also a common occurrence.
The World Championship will be a lot about variance not just because of the structure, but also in terms of table draw. There are expected to be a lot of qualifiers, many who started in freerolls, recreational punters, as well as obviously top winners and pros. Getting even one MTT crusher to my left will make a big difference.
Because of how many other things people focus on, the MTT regs tell me even the $220s online have a lot of winning regulars who would never much have a need to understand complex solver strategy on later streets. I can give you one example of how that looks like (in ChipEV) that had a similar hand I played that you can see in my video (Q2dd. That was a mix. That I should for sure fold vs average unknown)
CO minraises 17bb effective, bets the flop. And now look at the turn
- Wizard will pick 6.3 into 11.5bb, leaving less than a min-raise behind with 59.5% of its range. The reason for this is very much so because the Big Blind's biggest holding is Jx as it will jam some Queens on the flop along with draws. Solver is a honeybadger, it doesn't care if it leaves less than min-raise, it puts pressure on BB's range, and what is under pressure the most is Jx, which has a vomit-inducing mixed spot against this exact size.
- If you also notice something very strange, it bets half of all it's A5-A7 off at that size, simply because it unblocks BBs draws that can still call check and lose, and because e.g. KTo K9s don't like to get check jammed on. So it needs some other bluffing candidates.
I would be super unlucky if I met a destroyer at the WPT WC who thinks this way, you just do not have to think this way to do well in MTTs, not outside of high rollers. Because it's not needed, nor effective spending of your time to study this way, not really - a niche situation like adding non-obvious bluffs in specific turn barrel spots like this A6 is arguably useful in cash games even at NL100+, but if you play MTTs you have much MUCH lower hanging fruit in terms of gaining long term EV through studying it seems to me. And that juicy fruit can be picked up from the pre-flop and flop trees, through understanding how stack sizes change the dynamics, through understanding ICM and flop sizing and ranges.
Studying MTTs and listening to crushers is just so much simpler, and more straightforward, as it's not about going into the convoluted dark caves of deciphering the deep multistreet solver tree under the same conditions over and over, it's more about adapting to the changing conditions of the game you play. it's fascinating how no-nonsense e.g. BenCB's MTT coaching is. Good basic fundamentals and adapting to the changed stack size and ICM conditions in a smart and fast way are enough to be a crusher at a pretty high level from what I have seen so far.
So I don't forget, these are the raffle winners who have 1% each:
barkomp
bigdog63
BSCpl
DarkLuxor
ghaleon
JALA65
mizu58
Mrosu22
pablopmartins
Paskakala
Riddler1988
Samurai
stranovsky
WhiteEagle
YXKCOBRA
P.S. if you are a cash game player who is used to running sims and you want to dabble into tournaments I really recommend videos like these:
https://www.pokerstrategy.com/news/content/How-to-play-3-bet-pots-in-tournaments_129363/
And the approach Barry Carter has taken
https://www.pokerstrategy.com/news/content/Self-Study:-Why-do-we-not-check-raise-with-the-nut-flush-draw-_129523/
Easy, straightforward, with clear aggregate reports, sims and evidence visualised - this really is top tier content when you switch from a different format.
