How to adjust in multi day MTTs?
What do you need to know to play online MTTs with lots of Day 1s like the 888poker Millions SuperStorm? They are actually a bit like satellites.
The ‘phase’ or ‘multi day’ tournament was something of a niche thing in online poker until a couple of years ago, but now it is becoming quite popular. From an operator perspective it means you can get more people in your event (and more re-entries) so you can offer big guarantees, from a player perspective it means that recreational players like myself can compete for big prize pools but still go to bed at a reasonable time.
This sounds silly but I have long argued that time, rather than cost, is one of the big barriers for recreational players, so I applaud any online format that respects our schedules.
888poker are in the middle of a massive multi day 1 event, the $320 buy-in Millions SuperStorm with a $1 million guarantee. Day 1s are running now until October 11 when Day 2 takes place. There are satellites running every day for this event and you can re-enter as many times as you want. At the time of writing over 800 players have made it to the second day.
'Emotional' bubbles
Is there a unique strategy to multi day MTTs? There actually is and believe it or not, we actually wrote about it in Poker Satellite Strategy. Phase MTTs are not satellites but so many recreational players treat them as if they are we felt we had to mention them in the book. Some players treat their Day 1 as a ‘qualifier’ to Day 2, which is wrong but it is worth knowing because it can impact your strategy.
Strategically they should be treated like a regular MTT because the aim of the game is to build the biggest stack possible to give you a shot at the final table. However, at the end of Day 1 you will often see players tightening up so they can play on Day 2. You should not feel the same ICM pressure as you would in a satellite, but some people can be exploited and pushed around as if it is one.
There will be a pseudo bubble taking place in the final few levels of Day 1 that can be exploited. So an adjustment that can be made here is being more aggressive, especially against the players with a respectable stack for the official Day 2. While this is a relatively new poker format this is not a new phenomenon. The World Series of Poker Main Event, for example, often sees the field tighten up at the end of the Day 1 flights because it is a badge of honour for many to making it to Day 2, even though that does not guarantee any money. These are essentially pseudo bubbles, or emotional bubbles.
Conversely, some players will play the latter stages more aggressively than normal because they don’t want the hassle of coming back to a short stack. This can either be for emotional reasons, or sound financial ones if there’s a time and monetary cost to playing the next day. It might be much more worth their while trying another Day 1 to get a bigger stack for Day 2.
You’ll see more Day 2 ‘no shows’ in these tournaments than in any other format, as players who get through the Phase 1 with a short stack decide it’s not worth their while to show up for the next day.
So the correct strategy in multi day tournaments is to treat them like regular MTTs, but be aware that towards the end of them many of the players will be treating them like a super satellite, so you can adjust accordingly by identifying the players wanting only to survive and exploiting them, while other players will be gambling it up not wanting to come back short.
Play in the SuperStorm Main Event
After running their biggest promotion to date right at the start of the year, 888poker is now upping the ante again with another edition of their Millions Superstorm, unleashing a storm of prizes never seen before.
This time, the centre of it all is the $8M GTD Superstorm Series running from September 10 until October 11, including a $1,000,000 GTD Millions Superstorm Main Event, with multiple Day 1 flights available since August 23 until the big finale of the highlight event is played out in October.
That means multiple Day 1 flights are still available these coming weeks, certainly giving everyone enough time and chances to be a part of the $1M Main Event that comes with a regular buy-in of $320. Meanwhile, there's four weeks of massive tournament action slated from today onwards, with a total of 420 events scheduled, amongst them four $100,000 GTD Sunday Specials each coming with a buy-in of $215.
And of course, there's a wide range of possibilities available to qualify for a fraction of the cost...
Forum: The Millions Superstorm returns to 888poker
How do you adjust in multi day MTTs? Let us know in the comments:
