How to become a winning MTT player in four months (part 4)**

Over the last three instalments Keir ‘Kezay69’ Mackay’s efforts to become a winning MTT player have hit a few snags. With his $200 bankroll dwindling, and private MTT coaching not getting results, could it finally be time to pull the plug?

Week 1 – here we go (again)

The last 12 weeks have been brutal. All I had to show for 100 hours worth of MTTs was a bruised ego and a pissed off girlfriend and time was running out. Pressure was mounting… I played 10 events in week one, cashed in two and banked a measly $34. My initial $200 stake was running on fumes and I had to ask SharkStaking for more money. The minor plus side was that my two cashes came in $11 events but fear was creeping into my game. I sent Magnus some hand histories and awaited a shit-storm of criticism. In one $4 MTT , I bet two streets of value with pocket Aces on a 4♣-K♥-6♦-8♥ board, only to check back a river 6♠. ‘You should bet bigger on the turn and shove the river,’ Magnus screamed. ‘People in low-stakes MTT s don’t fold top pair!’
Lesson learned: Only losers dwell on past results. You’re not a loser, are you?

Week two – so near (again)

I’ve had difficulty cashing in the larger buy-in tournaments since I started my MTT quest, but like last week’s $11 ‘success’, I got off to a good start with a deep run in an $8 event. After five hours I found myself among the chip leaders with 30 people left. I had got lucky with Kings busting Aces and Queens busting Kings and was confident about where the night was heading. Despite being knocked back to 5BB when my A-K lost out to Q-10, I managed to work my way back into contention, squeezing wherever possible. Two limpers in front, squeeze. Min-raise and one caller, squeeze. I was squeezing like a teenage boy with too much time on his hands, but in the end it all blew up in my face. With 15 people left I shoved with A-8 to three limpers, only for one to trap with Queens. The board didn’t help and that was that. Another five hours for a final table bubble. At least I had my biggest cash so far: $108. This was getting ridiculous. ‘Did you bust just before the final table again?’ my girlfriend asked me as I crawled into bed close to tears. ‘Why don’t you just play better?’ Women.
Lesson learned: Don’t stick to one tactic, it won’t work forever

Week three… boom!

To cheer myself up I analysed week two’s $8 heartache on www.officialpokerrankings.com and noticed I had a much higher in-themoney percentage than the 14 players who finished ahead of me. The building blocks were there, I just didn’t know how to use them. I played five events in week three, cashed in two, bubbled in two and went deep in the other. Magnus sweated me in the late stages of a $2 and $8 event via TeamViewer and I found myself chip leader in both with roughly 100 players to go. ‘This is it’, I thought. ‘Time to deliver’. 50 players left. Still chip leader. 30. 20. In the $8 event my stack hit two million. Seconds later I busted out of the $2 with three tables left when my bottom set got busted, but I didn’t care.

The $8 had a $2,700 first prize and I wanted every last cent. Unlike previous final table tragedies I wasn’t clinging on for dear life. I had a stack and I was wielding it like a club. Bang, three million chips. Biff, final table. When I’d finally stopped fist-pumping Magnus told me to focus on my opening raises. Whereas before I would raise 3x in the early levels and 2.5x in the mid to late stages, now min-raising was the name of the game, changing to 3x if blind vs. blind. My c-betting also needed swift reform.

Magnus pleaded with me to rein in my spew monkey tendencies and stop betting 90% of flops. ‘Think about why you are c-betting,’ he said. ‘If there are two cards to a flush on the flop, or straight potential, it’s likely to hit a calling range hard. Check and wait for a better spot.’ I soon snatched the chip lead with the best overbet of my career and we were three-handed before sunrise. The uber-aggressive grga188 on my right was raising every pot and I felt I was losing my chance. But Magnus was confident. ‘You’ll trap him,’ he told me and with the blinds 25,000/50,000/a6,250 his prophecy was fulfilled. After I flat-called two streets with K-8o on a 7-K-4-K board, grga188 bluff shoved the river with J-7 and hit the rail. Easy game.

I went into heads-up with kikko680 roughly even in chips. My hands were shaking but I’d already guaranteed my biggest ever cash. Magnus was as excited as I was and watched me snatch the chip lead with Queens early on. But 40 hands into our battle the dream crashed. kikko680’s Kings saw off my Tens and that was that. I’d come so close to a first win that it left a hollow feeling in my gut (that and I hadn’t eaten for 12 hours). But the pain subsided. I had done it. I had made the final table and then some. Sure I got Aces and Kings five times and flopped four sets, but who cares? I was $2k richer. I felt vindicated. I had evolved. It was time to take a week off…
Lesson learned: Hard work pays off. That and having a coach telling you exactly what to do.