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Alex Fitzgerald's Top 7 Tips For Beating MTTs

Hey guys. Alexander Fitzgerald here. I’m the guy who screams at you in free webinars.
Anyways, want to learn the top seven tips for beating MTTs? Let’s get into it...

1. Pay Attention!
Show up early for the tournament. Grab your coffee. Be patient. Look presentable. Pros
always underdress. If you dress decently and avoid poker lingo, they’ll hopefully think
you’re a local nit.

Watch the IDs go to the dealer. Where is everybody from?

If you’re online, what stats do you have?

Learn what kind of table you have. Are there a number of limpers? Is everybody
opening really tight ranges? Are a few loose cannons opening consistently? Are there a
couple loose openers and a number of callers? What are we seeing?

Pay attention. Look for showdowns. See what people open with. If they make preflop
raises with crumby hands, notice that.

2. Raise Limpers

When you are in position, raise limpers judiciously. Go to 4X + 2X for each limper and
BB. So if there’s one limper, make it 4X, plus 2X for the BB, and 2X for the limper, so a
total of 8X.

Using this formula will get people to keep folding 3-6 big blinds to you, which is
excellent. Kings makes five big blinds on average. You’re getting that with no variance.

That will happen, or the dumbest player at the table will limp/call with his wide range of
hands, and then you’ll be playing a 25X+ stack with the worst player at the table.
Anyone can make that edge work.

Just pay attention to the first limper. Sometimes they will limp AA.

3. Three-bet Wide Openers

If some guy is opening all his broadways, his suited aces, 8-7s+ and his small pairs, then
three-bet him.

He’ll usually fold or call you OOP. Either way he’s screwed.

Even that tighter range does not flop a pair or a draw 43% of the time. A half-pot
continuation bet only needs to work 33% of the time.
If you see the guy open suited-gappers and weaker suited connectors, his life just gets
worse.

But the real motherload is if you see him open any ace.
Now he’s bricking half the time.

By the way, if you three-bet, continuation bet, and run into a pair... he’ll likely just call.
Enjoy your free cards.

4. Squeeze More Players

If you have one guy opening constantly, and a few players who are gunning to call him
and take him down, steal their chips!

If you have a good hand, don’t settle with cold calling. Three-bet to 6X the initial open
if there’s one raiser and a caller. Add 2.5X for each additional caller.

So if someone makes it 300 to go at 50/100 and another person calls, you should make it
closer to 1800.

It seems like a lot, but the guys who call this huge bet out of position are not exactly
NASA astronauts. You’ll have another huge pot in position versus one of the weakest
players at the table.

And if everyone folds, lovely. You just made 6X in one go. That’s not easy to come by.
You don’t have to go exactly to this number, but squeeze bigger to get one call or to get
everyone to fold. Don’t make a three-bet you think looks big but recreational players
think is chump change, like 1200 here. Then you get called in three spots, and lose with
your QQ when it runs into a goofy two pair on the 9-7-6-3-2 board.

5. Attack The Big Blind

If no one’s spewing their chips through limping or raising with weak hands, raise big
enough preflop to get to the big blind constantly.

Screw 2.5X. Make it 4X.

For some reason, everybody thinks you can call the big blind with any two cards.

I don’t know how this became a thing: You call with J-2s for 3.5X out of position and
fold when you miss the board. Considering you’ll miss the majority of the time, this
seems like a bad idea. Also, if you hit, and you just call, you’re giving the position
player two free cards.

Even tight players seem to have this weakness. Isolate them.

6. Look Out For Shortstacks!

If you ever watch an MTT training video from an absolute stud of the game, you’ll
notice he’s ALWAYS looking at the shortstacks behind him. Don’t miss these!

If you are pot committed to a couple different players jamming if you squeeze, then
settle for a cold call instead of a threebet.

If there’s 3+ short stacks to your left (20 big blinds or less) be very careful about
opening.

Don’t ever be caught unaware! Remember rule number one! Pay attention!

7. Never Take A Hand Off

"The faintest ink is more powerful than the strongest memory." – Chinese proverb

Watch every hand.

Get to the tournament early. Pay attention. Start accumulating chips the second you see
one of the weaknesses described above. Do not wait till you’re shortstacked with
everyone else.

You want to use these tactics above generally when everyone has 50 to 100 big blinds.

Why?

Because then they have a big f***ing problem if you get out to a chip lead in the middle
stages.

If they have 30-40X while you have 60-70X they are in trouble.

You can lose 7X and nothing really changes your tournament.

But if you double barrel, check-raise, or three-bet them on those stack depths... they’re
playing for their tournament every hand. They have to move all-in if they think you’re
full of it! Most guys don’t have it in them to do that on a bluff.

If you want to win the tournament you can’t take a hand off. Be humble and realize
when you can’t win, but execute firmly when the advantage is in your favor.

WATCH. SHOWDOWNS. If you see a guy opening into a wide range, start attacking
him. Someone is going to take his chips by level five. It damn well better be you.

If your memory is garbage or your focus is waning, then make yourself write a note on
your cell phone after every hand. Everybody else will just think you’re texting.

Good luck to all of you.

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