Hello All,

I am a recreation poker player on PokerStars playing Mid/Low Stake Games ($7.5 ~ $44). My goal is to win a tournament. That's something on my bucket list, and I have played tournaments on PokerStars for the last three weeks.

My ITM so far is approximately 23%. Of the ~100 tournaments I have played, I think I was at a final table once or twice.

When I play, I usually play for 7 to 8 hours (two tables at a time; I like taking notes; I don't use HUD; when I play there are a lot of Russians and Brazilians). I know how to choose a battlefield, so I don't usually play when there are a lot of Canadians.

How can I get better in my games so that I can achieve my goal? Are there study materials out there?

Thanks in advance everyone. and good luck to you all!

Play more tournaments.

From your ITM rate, you should be a winning player. If you're not making the final table very often, you're probably accumulating chips too slowly to have the best possible chance of going super-deep. But there's no reason to tear apart what sounds like a workable overall strategy.

If you're competing in 5,000-player tournaments, and you're a bit better than the average player, you still may need to compete in 3,000 or more tournaments before the slim chance of winning one finally comes good for you.

Alternatively, you could switch to 180-seat sit-n-gos and have a fine chance of winning one at least once every 100 tries.

Give yourself some rest, too. In the deep stages of the tournament, you need a fresh brain to find the best possible lines against tougher competition. Finishing 73rd and then booting up another tournament is not the best way of improving your odds.

23% itm seems really high and suggests you are too tight.

Greg's point may seem a little counter-intuitive, but he is correct. Another clue might be looking at bad beats and how often you get it in bad. I thought the fact that I was getting it in good and taking bad beats, but almost never getting it in bad and putting a beat on a guy, was a sign of strength in my game, and a sign of bad luck. But when I told a very good player I know that I was never putting bad beats on guys, his response was, "you need to get it in bad more often." And as my game matured (lol) I realized that I was far too tight and I wasn't making the kinds of aggressive plays or taking the kind of chances you have to take win tournaments. (PS I am no master, I am sometimes LAG, usually TAG, with an old-school approach and a few moves. But I have won about 100 MTT's from $1.10 up to $33 on pokerstars in the last 10 years, plus a few hundreds of single table and mtt SNG's.)

here's a few tips:

• Play smaller-field events. The vast majority of my wins have come in events with fewer than 500 runners. At least half of them (maybe more) have come in events with under 150 runners. It's so hard to navigate these huge fields. In whats actually 13 years of online poker I have only won one "donkament," with 5000+ runners,and maybe five or six times against fields over 1000. Smaller fields are easier to beat.
• Learn the "other" games. About 40 of my wins have been in some form of Omaha and at least 15 more in 8-game or some form of stud. Also a couple of 5-card draw. This is not because I'm a master of these games; I'm not. A quick glance at my cash game results proves it, I've lost thou$and$ playing plo. But many runners in these games have no clue. They will call off stacks with a straight draw when there is a pair and a flush draw on the board. Many of my early wins were on Tilt and AP PLO8, where there were only about 5 guys who could play, and you would get 50 or 60 buy-ins worth of dead money in every tournament. Seriously. Also, IMO the difference between tournament skills and cash game skills is bigger in PLO than in NLHE, which means you can abuse some very good cash game players and make them tilt, which is always fun.
• Play some hypers to learn agression, and how to loosen up. The hypers are also good practice for the 20 minute level tournaments at your local casino. You will learn to play short-stack poker and push-fold poker in a hurry, and these are essential skills for winning tournaments.
• Try "Slow" tourneys. These can favor patience and nitty play. They can also be excruciating. The $33 event I won (which is the largest buy-in I've won online,) was a "Slow Deep-stack," with about 500 runners, 10,000 starting stack, 15 minute levels. It took 14 hours, with 5 minute breaks an hour. I was so tired by the end that I can't describe it and it took a couple of days to recover.
• Try the "Zoom" tournaments. I play them so tight. Yesterday I made the final 3 tables in one of the Zooms against 1000 runners, my VPIP was only 11%. Usually it's in the 20% - 25% range. I generally only play only A10o +/kqss+ /77 +, (except for all the hands when I play something else lol,) and if you stay focused you can play well over 200 hands an hour. They may fit your tight play.

Good luck out there.

Thank you sir. I very appreciate your help and opinion. I will try to adjust my strategy based on your input. I will keep you updated!

It was counter intuitive at first glance, but I guess it makes sense. My ITM is way too high which I was proud of at first, but I guess my game needs to change as there are players lower ITM making better profits.

"you're probably accumulating chips too slowly to have the best possible chance of going super-deep"

this is absolutely right.

This is the best point in the thread. Your cash-rate indicates that your starting hand selection is adequate, so the key for you may be more aggression pre flop and during the hand.

Here's an exercise you can try: never calling. Enter a low-buy-in event with a smaller field. A 180 SNG might suit. Then play the event without ever calling. Your only choices are raise or fold. See how that goes. Just remember that it is an exercise, not a strategy. Although if it works for you...

After all, there is no one winning strategy. Lags and Tags and Nits and Maniacs, there are big winners in all of these categories.

Get a HUD, buy PT4.
I´ll recommend changing your goal, from winnning a single tournament to become a consisent winning player. Lots of donks have won 1 or few tournaments but they are bleeding money in the long run. Play hands, mark hands, review your play afterwards, post hands here, suscribe to RIO videos. Talk póker with people better than you. Focus on game selecting well, elect games with weaker competition as nowadays most sites are regs infested and online póker has become tougher and tougher. If you want to get better longer term, join an stable or hire a coach. They are expensive but definetily worth it.

+1 (almost)

HUD isn't essential but is ofc valuable
But a coach is the #1 best way to improve and simply a great investment for you right now. I don't think betgo coaches any longer, so I'd go to the coaching tab on 2+2 and choose an msmtt coach from there. Gl gl

winning an Mtt is kinda something that's not really in your control, even less in your control on pokerstars due to the masssive field sizes.

I'd first on all recommend playing smaller field mtts on different sites whilst doing some investigation into your game / finding some leaks to plug ect.

Generally trying to bring some control back to what your trying to achieve , which is to improve and make more money.

Hope this helps.