Negotiating large fields
Marcus Bateman
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Marcus Bateman /
19 January 2009 /
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Focus on those around you, forget how many others there are and try and push on for that monster win in the big field tournaments
I have recently been coaching a friend of mine who wanted to improve his multi table tournament game. He had been playing lots of small buy in, large field events, but was complaining that he never seemed to be able to conquer such large fields
Although it is clearly true that the more players who enter a tournament the harder it is to win, you still usually have to only negotiate 90% of the field to get paid, and any payments for getting deep will still be in line with the number of entrants (you will get more money for worse finishes than in a smaller buy in tourney).
What quickly became obvious with my friend when I watched him play was that he was constantly referring back to the lobby, looking at average stack sizes and slowly driving himself insane if he was not keeping up with the whole of the field. In large field tournaments this is completely wrong. Although you should be taking an odd glance at how the whole field is doing, what you really just need to focus on is your table and the stacks in relationship to the blinds.
In very large field tournaments huge numbers of players throw away chips to other players early, which in turn skews the average stack, which can make you look like you're falling behind the field, when I reality you are playing a much more sound strategy than the players gambling hard early.
Whatever size tournament you win, you have to do it one step at a time and one hand at a time, and you can only ever tangle with the specific people at your table. Worrying about some unknown player who has twenty times your chips at another table will just make you start playing badly as you desperately try and accumulate chips at an unsustainable rate (not only that, but that same player who got all those chips at an unsustainable rate will nearly always lose them just as fast long before the end of the tournament).
By just focusing on the players around you and how your stack compares to current blinds, you can put yourself in the position where you are playing the optimal strategy for each set of circumstances.
Apart from the money bubble, most events outside of your table should mean relatively little to you when battling through a big MTT, as the only thing that you have any control over is your specific table. Focus on those around you, forget how many others there are and try and push on for that monster win in the big field tournaments.
More Marcus Bateman
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