Hi,

I am not sure how much the GTO strategy is applicable to large field MTTs. If I am being unbalanced in certain spots, I don't think my opponent will be able to utilize it, because we play only so few against each other in large MTTs.

I am trying to understand how playing a GTO strategy is necessarily better in certain spots.

I think the answer comes from the difference between cash GTO and MTT GTO. Tourneys are a finite number of hands with dwindling BB's while cash is an infinite run of the EV decision process. Very interesting.


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So, to be exploitable, when you are under ICM pressure is required and therefore GTO and the particular hand depends on the read you have on the opponent and what you need to stay relevant to winning the tournament. Stealing blinds is a great place to start analysis.


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Lets say you have a specific range that you steal blinds with in a cash game. In a tournament, you would start out with that range. As the tournament progresses your steal range starts to widen as the blinds get higher. Where in the cash game your range would not change unless you read an incorrect defense range to your left. At which point you would adjust to achieve equilibrium. If your opponent in the tourney is well aware of MTT strategy, he would defend wider as you steal wider. However, most players go the other way and tighten up the defense as the blinds get higher. This is how you exploit MTT players, by better understanding the nature of MTT than they do.


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Well, the definition of GTO includes that varying from it means a loss (in the long run) and sticking to it will result in profit. Except two players both follow GTO it will be an infinite breakeven.
So I think a real GTO solution always has to include ICM calculations.

Yes, the GTO is totally applicable in large field MTTs, but it is different from Cash Game GTO.

What I find difficult in MTTs, you often only see 30, 40 hands of a villain before switching tables. That means you cant really find spots to exploit your opponent. I tend to outplay their weaknesses and sometimes get into a trap beacuse my "read" isnt really a read because of the lack of sample size. A 35 VPIP player can easily have only 10 VPIP over 40 hands, leading to misreads.

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The difference to 100 bb is the stack size and non infinite roll.

There is some more GTO/math stuff for the preflop stack size strategies and related hand ranges. The smaller stack sizes don't use the bluff ranges of the bigger stacks (opening is pretty similar). I think the 3b and 4b bluffs are better as merged and as hands that can call a raise back.

The postflop is even more important an area, that greatly differs from cash poker. I will think about the cost relative to my stack size. I avoid marginal stuffs heavily postflop, even somewhat with a full stack.

I don't know if this answers your question, but I think it is smart to sometimes make slightly -EV plays in some large MTTs if it means becoming a big stack because that is how you win tournaments.