Mastering The Fundamentals: Preflop Tournament Strategy

What stack size do YOU struggle with the most when playing tournament poker? 🤔

is this only for the final table though?

Watched

So honestly lol how many of u guys have these preflop ranges actually memorized by heart I’ve been losing on cash games a lot and I’ve won a couple of tournaments just of aggression and some strategies but I got tired of the inconsistent wins and going to memorize all these by heart so far I only have the first slide memorized lol

Hi John, I started playing online poker less than 5 months ago and have been watching your videos since, last night finished 1st (for the first time) in a tournament of 2000 people after late registering and nursing a short sack throughout (something which has normally been a weakness of mine). I cannot tell you how grateful I am and how great your videos are!!!!!

Youre hard selling your GTO app. Trash

How am I supposed to be hyper aware of my opponent’s strategy and how often they shove if I just met bro and I’ll never see him again

I only play live tournaments hence I can't sit there with charts without getting laughed out of the room, nor do I have a photographic memory. Any memory tips for those of us with the memory of a donkey. (I assume that's why they always refer to me as the donkey at the table)

There is literally no difference between A3s and A2s. So how can that be a fold on utg with 25bb? Ace with street and flush draw and a 3 calls but the same story does fold with 2… 0 logic

Struggling with pre flop ranges and action. Suggestions?

These charts are only relevant when opponents play according to the same charts. Which almost never happen online.

THX!

speaking of stack depth are those regarding our stack size or effective stacksize?

how can I apply this to microstakes? 2-10$ BI Mtts? it feels very wild to shove/call with those ranges...

Great content, support from Italy 🇮🇹

Hey John I'm playing in a $15 tournament on ignition nine-handed, I was under the gun with pocket queens and under the gun plus 2 raises the pot 3x and it folded around to the button who four bet huge not all in, I called and had half about half my stack left, under the gun plus 2 then went all in and the button called, I decided it has to for sure be Kings, Aces or AK and I folded. It ended up being Kings and nines and I would have for sure lost. Do you think this is a good spot to do this in or should I be calling it off in spots like this sometimes. Alis should i have just folded to the 4 bet or should i be re shoving sometimes?

I should use the 2/2,25bb raise size when i am 25bb deep, or also before, when i am 100bb deep?

Hi Jonathan, a simple question, does this ranges are for a 5max? or you mean BTN as the CO ranges aswell, or how does this extrapolate for a full ring MTT?

Lots of good stuff, lets see if i could apply some of it tonight for my tourney game 😎👍

You're a winning player Jonathan, has your win rate actually improved after adapting to GTO ?..
Seems it introduces more variance to me.. and i just dont run good.. ever.
Can't see me ripping 25bb from BB vs BUT open very often
Edit (with A2o)

Thought this guy was going to touch on some strategy… Not read charts back to me like an accountant.

for the 'facing a raise' part of video, we assume villian's stack size is what?

So talking exploits - when the miss lots of the Ax Bluffs with their 3bets, their range gets way more valueheavy -> we call way less wide?

can u teach us actual online tournament so that we can see how u play your cards

So I've always thought about this - If you are supposed to shove from the SB with only pocket 2's 3's, 4's and mid offsuit aces, aren't you just playing those hands face up if the opponent suspects you're playing GTO strategy, and shouldn't you call that shove with just about any pocket pair if you're in the BB and you know your opponent is playing GTO? Like this is good 'in theory' but it seems super exploitable.

where can I get the pdfs for charts?

I am missing 10BB push/fold chart facing a 2BB open. I imagine the ranges are going to be much tighter especially in late positions. Actually if anyone have these can you paste a link?

This is really well put together and explained, thanks so much for making it available. I learned a lot. Even just the idea of making a gto table more implementable by picking specific hands to always follow a strat w/ is so much easier.

I understand that this video is about playing GTO, so you shouldn't use microstakes?

lets say in a tournement with 15bb I have pockets 8s UTG and I open with a min raise and then i get 3 bet by the button. I have a hard time calling or even pushing all-in cause more then half is range is an over pair and in best case its a flip (ace/king, Ace Quenne)... I feel like its a bad spot either way if I call the 3 bets

These charts are so interesting. I know it must be right, that's the entire point, but it's wild to me to jam 25 bb over a 2 bb open from UTG with multiple people to act behind me with QJs. I can't imagine I'll ever actually do it, given that I'm just playing weekly $250 tournaments and stuff, not real big stakes against legit players.

Excellent video, Thanks.

Who are the top 5 tournament players in the world right now in your opinion? Who are the top 5 cash game players? Who are the top 5 players in the world today including cash n tourneys? Some of my top players include Chidwick, Nick P, Fedor (although he’s not playing as much anymore the run he went on will probably never be replicated), Patrick Antonious, and JasonKoon, Foxxen, and of course Ivey n DNegs.. curious to see other people opinions

there have been multiple tournaments I've almost one coming back from 1 or 2bb, just from luck... once even folding all the way to the big blind and tripling up, then doubling... all luck shoving 89s K4s have helped me win, shoving Ads JJ, QQ have helped me lose

i appreciate the videos. thanks very much

How often are antes being applied in tournaments?
Is it standard, quite typical, or more a rare thing?

One of the first topics of this video, Jonathan claims most people shove far too wide once they get down to around 15 bigs or less in their stack. I think more study needs to go into GTO shallow stack depth strategies. If you try to make standard opens preflop from EP or MP with almost no chips, if you are at a table which isn’t incredibly soft, the medium-bigger stacks really widen their ranges and go out of their way to come into pots against shallow effective stacks like that as a form of “collusion” to make it statistically the least likely for the effective stack to realize their equity against that many opponents. If you are that shallow and use a standard open size when you have the option in good position preflop, it’s going to look incredibly strong to the few remaining players yet to act and they likely won’t give you any action unless they have a premium, in which case you will just have to open/fold without a premium because they will make you play for your stack OOP with a premium at that point. Seems to me like the highest EV play with a stack depth of 15 bigs or less would be to shove pre with any suited ace, any pocket pair, any suited king, and a smattering of suited connectors that will be live against paint cards and still have the best odds at cracking over pairs. It will narrow it to heads up most of the time if you do get called, which will give you the most equity possible, while you will be taking the blinds and antes the rest of the time, which is still a big deal as that will at least allow you to hover around the same stack depth without getting blinded/ante’d off until maybe someone finally decides to call your shove in the wrong spot and then you get the double up.

Medium stack

Good info.

Just started watching the video, but as far as the chat question goes, I struggle the most with those “in-between” stack depths (30-50BB) where you have enough chips to still be able to play 1-2 post flop pots, but all it takes is for you to lose 1-2 of those post flop hands and you will then be shallow enough to where it’s time to find a hand to push and pray with preflop. I tend to feel the pressure most when faced with decisions with that specific stack depth, as I understand the consequences of losing a pot or 2 playing post flop at said stack depth, and it leads me to narrow my preflop ranges too much, as well as me making too many hero moves (big bluffs or hero calls) on turns and rivers in those spots to try catapult myself up into a top 10-20 remaining stack. If I get ahold of that many tournament chips anywhere near the money bubble, it’s about 90%+ I’m at least semi-final tabling.