Hello all!

I have been around poker in live and online setting for like 10 years now, so I do also understand that the question I'm posting is a difficult one to answer, however maybe someone has some take on this that would make me look in a new direction and in a way that I have not perhaps done before.

I have been playing different kinds of poker, mostly Holdem, little PLO and have come to a conclusion that although at times considering it, I will never be a pro, given that being a full-time player is more routine than I can handle. I also feel that I'm quite bad at concentrating on online poker compared to live game, so I have more or less given up on online form.

However being a rather competitive person, I still keep playing live MTT-s as something I direct my competitivness towards. I also enjoy traveling a lot, so I tend to look what's on in the Hendonmob calendar and tend to play MTT-s in a €200-500 range, usually on the European circuit and sometimes farther away. They typically have a few starting days and end up with a 3rd day being the FT.

There is obviously a big random factor of a table draw, however I keep getting the recurring experience of doing quite well in Day 1 and often being in the upper half of the chipstacks by the end of the day. At the same time I would definitely characterize myself as a TAG player and will definitely not fight for every pot, but choose my spots and rather than chase it, let the game come to me (with that said, I'm well capable of calling the river with A-high and barreling with semibluffs or for value with 2nd pair and putting an admittedly rare light 3bet preflop against a player who is opening too much). Usually players do not defend that much against barreling and do not put you in many tough spots nor go for thin value. Obviously you also get 3bet preflop so much less.

Now it's common sense that the field gets tougher in Day2. However I would say that my performance in Day2 on average gets exponentially worse than what the field gets tougher. I will not get so many folds, there is some more 3betting, more (likely) floating in position and more often than not my stack is starting to dwindle.

I know this is kind of a stupid posting seemingly looking for a single silver bullet that I'm well aware not to be there, however I'm sure that other players have been in the situation I feel I'm at and could contribute in directions I should look for.

As I said, I do not really have pro ambitions, however playing the game for competition obviously also includes performing well and getting the results. Feeling good after Day1 and then getting massacred during Day2 does not really bode well for that objective. How should I adjust my game and perhaps also the mindset for all the Day 2-s of the world?

Hi,
I am not legit to give you advanced insight here, but maybe just going back to the basics can help you take a step back and make your personal analysis and conclusion later:
- As you said, Day 2 is tougher. Less easy spots, more difficult spots against better players
- Stacks are shallower! This is a very big difference between a standard Day 1 and Day 2. So maybe you need to look into optimising your game with short-to-medium stacks? Maybe also not getting desperate when you go down to 15-20BB?
- Playing live mtts as a recreational player, your sample size must be extremely small when considering the applicable variance. Maybe you're just playing fine but have had those situations coming to you.
- Play the player. If the strategies of your oppoents in Day 2 seem different than in Day 1, just adjust to them. Do not just continue playing your standard game. Your arsenal should be large enough.
- Manage your concentration: you're mentioning that you have trouble concentrating in online poker. Maybe that's an issue in those Day2 as well, without you really noticing? Poker tournaments are long! Sleeping well, eating well, staying focused and motivated in order to maintain our A-game can be more complicated than we think! And our brain doesn't necessarily realise that we're not at 100%

I think you probably know all those things. But sometimes, just saying them out loud again helps ;-)
And it's just the only things I can personnally help you with ;-)

Shouldnt be much altering to your game from a Day 1 any other day unless your coming close the money bubble. Your gonna have a new table maybe, at which time you take into account the stack sizes, and feel out the players tendecies. Pay close attention to who's blinds youll be raising into and adjust what range of hands you wanna go for steals with based on there call or 3b freq. Live I've been trying to push myself to mix up my play more than online. I never open limp online, but mixing in some limp/call limp/raise hands at a super aggro 3betting table when you can apply live reads post flop i think has some merit. My favorite thing to do is generally just make hands, especially with the right image you can do the whole size up your man thing and value town the **** outta people who you can tell just dont believe you. You can do all sorts of fun betsizing things. Good luck bro.