Ideal Preparation for Online Mtt

Requiem4adream

Here's my view on ideal preparation to do well in online mtt. It is aimed at those who either play or wish to play online mtt at a serious level (and assumes multi-tabling). This article will have very little, if anything, to do with poker advice.

1. Clarity: This is the Ground Zero for being successful. Clarity of thought, clarity of mind. Once you have a clear and alert head, it's half the battle. Conversely if your head isn't clear, it's a natural consequence that your thought processes wont be clear and your decisions on the table will suffer.

Do not play if your mind is troubled or uneasy. Don't play following an argument with the wife/girlfriend/mother/father/brother.

Do not play drunk or hungover, drink muddles the mind.

Be Clear on what you are trying to do in every session. How long you are prepared to play for, how many games you wish to play, how much money you are prepared to outlay etc.

2. Mens Sana in Corpore Sano: Maintaining some level of physical fitness is good advice on any level; in terms of poker it can only serve you well if you are physically and mentally fit. Mtt sessions can be long and tiring, mental stamina is easier to achieve from a base of physical well-being.

3. The Fundamentals are the easiest to overlook: A lot of players sit down , boot up the pc, log onto a poker site and start playing. This in itself is fine but it's not ideal and fundamentally is forsaking an edge. Ensuring a high quality set-up will serve you well over time.

A high quality set-up has little to do with the speed of your pc or size of your monitor. Those things are nice additions but not pre-requisites:

a) A comfortable chair. This is key. Playing 10 hour sessions 4-days-a-week over a year is 2,000 hours in a year. Playing those hours in comfort will keep your back and neck happy.

b) A clutter-free work environment. A clean room, a clean desk. Clutter = stress, not good in the long run.

c) Ensure your extra-curricular aids are handy at all times. i-pod/tv/sound system/psp, whatever helps break the monotony of a long session, ensure they are close at hand.

d) Have clothes close at hand, if you're cold put on a top, if you're warm take it off. This is advice of uber-simplicity but sometimes the simple things are the ones overlooked. The goal is to ensure a fluidity whereby you can keep body and mind content over a long period without resorting to sitting out. We want to miss as few hands as possible over a long session, some are inevitable, but organising yourself will help achieve this objective.

4. If in doubt, leave it out. The scenario: it's 545pm, you register for a $100nl at 6pm, you might have to go out at 830pm or you might wander into the S.E. if your mate gives you a shout. Don't play the tournament. If there's any element of doubt in your mind as to your availability to see a session through to the conclusion, don't play. It's hard to have clarity of mind if you're in any sort of doubt.

The same applies to an even greater extent to tiredness. If you are in anyway tired at the start of a session, do not start the session. Tiredness results in mistakes, mistakes in life usually have a cost and to the poker player the cost is money.

5. Look after yourself: If you're hungry or thirsty sit out. If you need the toilet sit out. If you're feeling sweaty or uncomfortable after 7 hours, sit out have a quick shower and come back. Sitting out of tournaments, missing a level or 2 is far from ideal but in the long run looking after yourself will yield positive dividends and probably outweigh the negatives to sitting out.

I'll be the 1st to admit i've always struggled to practise what i preach. However when i do get my preparation right my results have always seemed better. This may be part coincidence and part euphemistic thinking (rose-tinted-glasses) but i genuinely feel it's an added edge to your game if your preparation is solid. Top class preparation for anything in life is no guarantee of success but it gives you a much better platform upon which to achieve it.

HoLLLLLaments

ola r4ad

Lets say you make your living playing tournys. They are your bread and butter. Sunday would be the biggest day of the week for you. You usually play all the majors an are profitable in them. Missing 4,5,6,7+ of these weekly tournaments with the biggest prizepools would be a loss of EV for you. You have been out the night before and are not feeling your best. You are not tired but a little groggy. Since most of the sunday majors are fillled with pools of retards with no clue about optimal mtt strategy you know that you will still be profitable in these lucrative donkfests. You decide to play them even though your a little sickly.

Thoughts?

derek2222_ie

Thanks Dan

All things that are simple enough but which most of us neglect to do.

I often register for a MTT and then after a couple of hours I am too tired to concentrate on it. I would have been better off to not register in the first place

Ollieboy

was just in the middle of doing something similiar....lol

redzerdrog

nice post!

4. if in doubt, leave it out. is one of my biggest problems entering a game and then someone rings for a game of golf or something like that and i just donk chips by deciding i want a monster stack or bust.

Requiem4adream

HoLLLLLaments wrote: »

ola r4ad

Lets say you make your living playing tournys. They are your bread and butter. Sunday would be the biggest day of the week for you. You usually play all the majors an are profitable in them. Missing 4,5,6,7+ of these weekly tournaments with the biggest prizepools would be a loss of EV for you. You have been out the night before and are not feeling your best. You are not tired but a little groggy. Since most of the sunday majors are fillled with pools of retards with no clue about optimal mtt strategy you know that you will still be profitable in these lucrative donkfests. You decide to play them even though your a little sickly.

Thoughts?

Hey - my intention was to leave it as a stand-alone article.

But i have been out on many saturday nights in the past and it does reflect negatively on my sundays results. Generally speaking i duck the Warm-up and early evening games nowadays if i have been out the previous night, make sure i'm well slept and have the energy for the million onwards. As for your question, generally drink a little less on saturday nights. I'm not sure of the relative ev's to each scenario, understanding of ev is not my strong point.

HoLLLLLaments

I didnt mean exclusvely the sunday majors or sat night drinking. I meant in general, Ill word it a bit broader: if you are not capable of achieving 100% of your attainable profit do you feel you shoudnt play even though you might be achieving 50% of your attainable profit?

Requiem4adream

To use a football analogy to answer your question - if Fernando Torres is coming back from injury and is only 75% fit and has only trained once all week, a 75% fit Torres is probably better than a 100% fit Dirk Kuyt, so if i was the manager i would pick Torres. It's far from the ideal, (which would be to train all week and be 100% match fit). The ideal scenario is what i'm trying to promote in this article, of course it's not always attainable and a lot of the time as poker players we will only be 75% match fit starting a session. It still might be +ev but the ideal preparation is ++ev or without talking in those terms, simply better.

Hope that's ok, i didnt really want to debate hypotheticals, it's intended more as an article than a disucssion.

Van Dice

Requiem4adream wrote: »

a 5% fit Torres is definitely better than a 100% fit Dirk Kuyt

fyp!

good post

KevIRL

Thanks Dan.

Very interesting and useful. Its all common sense, but that doesnt mean its always done. Will print that out and stick it beside my PC!

The Al Lad

Nice on Dan, a little birdy tells me you are planning to do something similiar on online timing tells

Ollieboy

just to follow up on this.

What time zone would be the most ideal to live in for a professional MTT player?

I would think Austrialia or Western Asia etc.

Ollieboy

The Al Lad wrote: »

Nice on Dan, a little birdy tells me you are planning to do something similiar on online timing tells

yep, its called betting patterns with good note taking.

The Al Lad

Ollieboy wrote: »

yep, its called betting patterns with good note taking.

Is that all you recommend to get good results ??? In terms of online tells

HoLLLLLaments

Requiem4adream wrote: »

To use a football analogy to answer your question - if Fernando Torres is coming back from injury and is only 75% fit and has only trained once all week, a 75% fit Torres is probably better than a 100% fit Dirk Kuyt, so if i was the manager i would pick Torres. It's far from the ideal, (which would be to train all week and be 100% match fit). The ideal scenario is what i'm trying to promote in this article, of course it's not always attainable and a lot of the time as poker players we will only be 75% match fit starting a session. It still might be +ev but the ideal preparation is ++ev or without talking in those terms, simply better.

Hope that's ok, i didnt really want to debate hypotheticals, it's intended more as an article than a disucssion.

i wasnt being critical, part of your op just reminded me of a post i just made in the hu thread, not being on your A game but still playing because its profitable, and i was interested if MTTs and MTT players in realtion to the concept but alas i wasnt aware that there was no debate allowed in this thread. Also i am anticapating your timing tells post. Perhaps you could allow some discussion in that one. that winking smiley is to represent that i am not being critical and i am jostling you in a jovial fashion just in case you are offended

Requiem4adream

Ollieboy wrote: »

just to follow up on this.

What time zone would be the most ideal to live in for a professional MTT player?

I would think Austrialia or Western Asia etc.

The online mtt schedule (on stars, FTP etc) is set-up to suit the American market primarily. Most of the best games start from 3pm Eastern Time, right up until 11pm Eastern Time, the key cachement area in terms of volume and quality is from 7pm - 10pm ET. This is imo designed to suit americans getting off work. The point you make is an extremely good one though , as this time period is more or less a regular 9-5 or 10am-6pm session for Aussies, and is by far the most "normalised" working hours.

RoundTower

Australia was crap for me, I don't think I ever played the Sunday tourneys as they started way too early. I think west coast US is ideal.

LuckyLloyd

This post has been deleted.

HoLLLLLaments

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Vancouver or anywhere in British Columbia would be the very, very best. Ideal timezone; lovely part of the world; no tax on gambling income.

that place is one of my favourite spots in the whole world. Victoria island is so damn nice

LuckyLloyd

This post has been deleted.

luckylucky

RoundTower wrote: »

Australia was crap for me, I don't think I ever played the Sunday tourneys as they started way too early. I think west coast US is ideal.

I'm kinda surprised at you saying this. Your main online game as far as I can tell is Omaha not mtts anyway. I suppose if your answer is purely to do with mtts then yeah in OZ those big mtts might be getting too early in the morning. But for cash games surely in Australia you can play during the day time when the Europeans are coming home from work and in the afternoon when the Americans come home from work, basically playing at sociable hours and having a higher % of fish as during daytime here the average player is better than evening time.

I would have thought New Zealand would be better again for a full-time player. You could put in a normal working day from 10 to 5 or something and then socialise in the evening like normal working people do(if I remember right ).

Mr.Plough

good post requeim.

maybe yourself, ollieboy and others could put together an online mtt strategy post?

Ste05

Mr.Plough wrote: »

maybe yourself, ollieboy and others could put together an online mtt strategy post?

This would be good.

KevIRL

Mr.Plough wrote: »

good post requeim.

maybe yourself, ollieboy and others could put together an online mtt strategy post?

Would love to read such a guide.

+1

Requiem4adream

I'm working on a Timing Tell piece just want to make sure i can articulate it properly before i submit it here! Sometimes i find it a little tricky to get those thoughts in my brain onto paper/screen in the way i mean them

After that i'll put some work into a strategy post.

doke

Outstanding post.

Agree strongly on physical fitness. I think it's something most people overlook. Obviously we all know great poker players who are total physical wrecks, but I think everyone's game would benefit from being physically fitter.

I remember reading Viktor Korchnoi's autobiography. Talking about how he managed to buck the trend of top class chess players declining from the age of 35 or 40, he explained that as he got older he took physical fitness more seriously and started running as part of his preparation for big chess matches.

Besides the physiological benefits, there are clear psychological benefits to exercise and generally being fit.

As I said on another post, last week my insomnia resurfaced. It's something I'm prone to in times of stress or excitement, and meant that apart from 20 minutes when I dozed off in the car on the way down to Drogheda on Friday (luckily, my wife was driving at the time, rather than me), I didn't sleep a wink between Wednesday and Sunday. I also came down with a cold on Thursday.

However, despite the lack of sleep, when I sat down to play each day, I felt fine. I was confident that I was physically fit enough to be able to play my best, and had the stamina to keep going for however long. At the final table, I knew I wasn't the best player there, but knowing I was the fittest physically because of my running background was worth something (as was knowing I could handle myself in a high stress competitive sporting situation).

cooker3

Nice post

Theresalwaysone

Fcuk That ****. Dirk Kuyt is class.

cooker3

Theresalwaysone wrote: »

Fcuk That ****. Dirk Kuyt is class.

Lolololololol

bottom feeder

Dan nice post sir, what I liked about it - its put down in the simplistic form and makes a good read IMO, I am guilty of almost not doing all of the above when I am preparing or in my case NOT preparing for online tourneys.
Well done mate and keep the posts coming !

5starpool

luckylucky wrote: »

I'm kinda surprised at you saying this. Your main online game as far as I can tell is Omaha not mtts anyway. I suppose if your answer is purely to do with mtts then yeah in OZ those big mtts might be getting too early in the morning. But for cash games surely in Australia you can play during the day time when the Europeans are coming home from work and in the afternoon when the Americans come home from work, basically playing at sociable hours and having a higher % of fish as during daytime here the average player is better than evening time.

I would have thought New Zealand would be better again for a full-time player. You could put in a normal working day from 10 to 5 or something and then socialise in the evening like normal working people do(if I remember right ).

Whatever about all of the above, I'd imagine that because most poker players who are not married with kids or in a serious relationship would be less into the whole 9-5 daytime routine when they don't have to do a 'day job' in the first place. I know if I were a full time player then I would play evening s and nights far more than morning or early day times - local to whereever I was living of course, and from that point of vewi, I think PST zone would be good as others have mentioned, but Chicago zone (central)might be slightly better for my body clock if I had to choose.