A new direction

So after my big score last week, I've moved up to the 6.50 45 turbos. Things haven't been going very well. I'm stuck 180 in 96 games. I don't think the competition isn't beatable, I've been running very bad. So I've been doing some thinking about what direction I would like to take next.

My answer is to focus solely on regualr MTT's. Targets are 11 dollar freezeouts and below and 3 dollar rebuys and below. I'm sure variance in these will be huge, but I really want to transition solely to these. I guess if things go terrible I can always come back to the 3.25/45s and 2.20/180s. But right now I really feel confident and have the bankroll to make this step.

I believe the turbo sngs were a great learning tool for me. I've learned so much about pushing and calling ranges when the stacks are short. I believe this tool is a must for any MTT player. However MTTs present a whole new challenge. In turbo sngs you are often faced with decisions with under 10BBs in your stack. In MTTs the stacks are often deeper and decisions are much different. With short stacks decisons are often mostly math based. With deeper stacks this is less true. Math still plays a part, but other factors come into play.

In order to help me with this learning process, I will be putting in alot of study times. Most of this will take place on the 3 days a week I work. The other 4 days will mostly be devoted to playing. On the to do list for studying is: reviewing each tourney hand history, re-reading Harrington on Hold'em volumns 1-3, and watching videos on Tournament Poker Edge. Also I will be asking some of you for your input in certain spots.

My ultimate goal has really always to become a great player, and feel this is the next logical step. Trying to become a great tournament player has both positives and negatives vs focusing on becoming a great cash player. I feel tournaments will always have some 'dead money' because weak players see the huge first place prize and dream of taking it down. However, in order to make some nice scores in tournaments, you must be lucky in some spots. I've heard it described like the lottery. Being a great tourney player doesn't guarentee that you'll ever win a big tournament, it basically gives you more 'tickets' then most players.

We will see what the future has in store for me. I would love to be able to afford to play in some of the bigger live tournaments around here. Hopefully one step at a time, I can get closer to this goal. The possibilities with tournaments are limitless. We shall see what happens....

MNPuck