General Tournament Goals?

I've been playing mainly tournaments. One to fix the leaks in my game. Secondly because I have a goal that I want to achieve, at least here in online land. Not just to consistantly finish in the money. But to finish consistantly in the top ten percent.

I was wondering what RB's family thought of this as a goal. Of course I'm shooting to make first, but I'm also trying to consistantly be a good threat at my level.

Thanks guys and gals!

I have set too a goal: the one of finishing in TOP 10, no matter how many players that tourney has.

But to be honest, even if I finish in the Money, isn't that bad after all..


With the bankroll I hope I will build from freerolls , I'm gonna start playing tourney with a higher buy-in...

Good luck everyone with their goals !

In my opinion, the key to being successful in anything is to set short-term goals. By setting short-term goals you will be able to accomplish it much easier. By accomplishing these short-term goals, not only will you be consistent, but you will also build up your confidence, which is a key aspect when doing anything. Say my ultimate goal is to become a swimmer like Michael Phelps (just an example), my first goal would be to become the best in my own swimming club, then my town, then my state, and finally, I must become the best in my country. In poker, it is the same. You don't have to cash-in everytime you play a tournament to become successful. When you focus on something that is far away from you, you tend to be blinded at what's right in front of your eyes. In poker, that is, when playing in a tournament, set your mind on winning every hand you play, every pot in enter, and not on "cashing-in".

-Dan

"set your mind on winning every hand you play, every pot you enter"

You don't mean that literally, do you? Sounds like a good way to lose chips to me.

[babykahuna]

You must set goals for yourself in a MTT. Knowing that will help you keep focus on your style of play. The higher the goal the more you have a chance of losing. I want to get into the top 3. I will play a more Aggressive game. It would be in a tournament that would be a small percent of my BR. About 2% so I can cover the Variance. So like with 1K I can play $20 entries pretty easy. But if Im playing a 10K event which I will in October at Ceasers I will just try to make it into the money. I will then play very tight.
Having a goal is very important before you sit down to every game.

you cant win every pot you enter. even when have AA or KK sometimes you a forced to fold them.

Your goal in my mind when you are in a tournament should be "how can I lose the least in this hand?". I have heard that when you save money in poker, you actually gain money. Just like in Limit Hold'em when you do certain moves so that you can lose the least not gain the most.

So my goal is almost always to try and to lose the least in a tournament like small raise when i open and 1/2 to 2/3 pot bets when i make a continuation bet.

hope this helps

Boy, some great insight! Maybe I need to change how I play these tourneys. I have two problems: One, I play too aggressive in early play. Two, I'm too easily pulled into all-in late in the game when I'm getting impatient. I guess focusing on each hand would be of help.

Tiger Woods was talking about golf but it applies to MTT - I can't win a tournament on Thursday, but I can certainly loss it on Thursday.

Originally Posted by ?

"set your mind on winning every hand you play, every pot you enter"

So you enter the pot from the BB... now do you bluff your whole stack to someone trapping you with AA?