From Screen to Felt: 6 Adjustments for Live MTT Success

Summer tournament season is in full swing, with marquee events all up and down the Las Vegas Strip drawing thousands of players. For many, it’s a shot at glory and a chance at life-changing money.

You’re an online midstakes reg, grinding out a steady $10 per game in your $55s. Not too shabby. It’s honest work.

But this is the big leagues.

It’s rare for even proficient online players to succeed equally in both online and live arenas. Most tend to fare better in one or the other. Sure, there are outliers, and yes, poker is still poker no matter where you play, but the jump from clicking buttons to riffling chips comes with some real adjustments.

Especially for the online grinders showing up to their first WSOP, many of whom may not remember (or have ever known) what it’s like to touch grass…

I mean, chips.

In today’s article, I’m going to walk you through six basic adjustments you’ll need to make if you want to succeed in big-field live poker tournaments.

“There are Many Fish in the Sea” – Famous quote regarding Live Tournament Player Pools

There’s a lot of back-and-forth about whether game-theory optimal (GTO) or exploitative poker is the better approach in live MTTs. The truth is, it depends heavily on the event in question. Take the $25K Heads-Up event, for example, which Artur Martirosyan just won last week. That tournament plays more like a tough online heads-up match than a typical live tournament. If you’re in it for the money, it’s probably not your best bet.

Understanding the kind of field you’re registering for has a huge impact on the strategic approach you should take. The tougher the field, the more closely you’ll want to stick to equilibrium strategies, carefully picking your spots to deviate without prior history. In the online world, you will play a 1k very differently from a 3.30.

But we’re not talking about nosebleeds here.

We’re talking the $800 Deepstack, baby.

These “low” price point events (though they’re 10 times the ABI of your average online midstakes grinder) pull huge crowds with the promise of a big payout and a shot at some jewelry. You’ll find working folks, successful business owners, gamblers on vacation, and yeah, a few pros and poker-savvy regulars. But mostly? It’s people looking for a good time. Everyone’s a dreamer.

Mostly, they don’t know what RFI means. They don’t know how to build 3-bet ranges from the Small Blind, why you’d ever split sizings, what the thresholds are for calling, jamming, or folding to a 3-bet. Minimum defense frequency (MDF) might as well be a band name, and nobody’s calculating it.

They don’t know the juice in the tournament either, and they don’t care. They do know the word range and that 6x 5x offsuit is in it when playing the Big Blind. Everybody knows that.

When the money is nearing or when they make a deep run, they probably don’t know what risk premiums are and how much tighter they should defend their Big Blind.

This shared lack of technical knowledge gives studied players a solid theoretical edge. But here’s the twist: one of the biggest differences between online and live play actually ends up helping the live recreational players, because many inexperienced online regs fail to adjust properly.

Nail these adjustments, and not only will you play more profitably, but you’ll also play in ways that are more thoughtful, more dynamic, and, dare I say, more fun.

Ready? Vamos!

Adjustments Every Online Player Needs to Succeed in Live MTTs

Live MTTs are Multi-Way Poker

Big, soft-field MTTs play a lot like live low-stakes cash games in the early levels. Until around Level 8 or 9, when stacks drop to around 25–40 big blinds, you’ll regularly see hands, whether single-raised or 3-bet, go three, four, even five ways.

After that point, the game starts to resemble something more familiar to an online player.

Compared to online pools, live ranges tend to be wider and far less defined. At the same time, players may show up with stronger hands than they “should,” simply because they’re not squeezing or 3-betting often enough. When that happens, 3-bet ranges can become much stronger than expected.

These produce dynamic shifts in your preflop and postflop game.

Here are 6 major adjustments you can use when you sit to play a live MTT.

Preflop Adjustments

1. Play tighter early

You want to play tighter early, favoring hands that play well multiway, dumping your 8h 7h mixes but opening Kh 7h full frequency. Prioritize strong suited Ax, strong offsuit broadways, and suited broadways that can dominate your opponents’ flatting ranges and still hold up against tighter aggression. These hands give you the ability to win big pots in a variety of scenarios, while also helping you avoid unnecessary coolers.

2. 3-bet a tighter, more linear range

From later positions, you may want to 3-bet a tighter, more linear range—one that can dominate your opponents’ wider continues. At the same time, consider developing an overcalling range with hands that have strong implied odds. Some hands that theory recommends 3-betting, expecting folds, should actually be flatted instead, because in real life, those folds often don’t happen.

For example, theory might tell you to 3-bet Jx 9x suited in late position. But if your opponent is continuing with Qx Jx, Kx Jx, and Ax 9x offsuit—and they are—you’re in trouble.

3. Introduce a limping strategy

You may also want to introduce a limping strategy that allows you to keep hands in your range that want to play but also don’t want to bloat a pot out of position to three players. For example, you can limp Ax 3x suited, knowing they will over-limp worse suited combos, but call your raise with Ax 7x offsuit.

Similarly, you can limp small pocket pairs—like 22 through 77—that are often behind against multiple ranges on middling or high boards.

These are low-risk investments with big upside.

The key to all of these preflop adjustments is simple: people aren’t folding. That’s the essence of multiway poker. And when no one’s folding, you need a stronger range—one that holds up well against multiple opponents across a variety of board textures.

In ICM situations, you might open combos that block your opponents’ value 3-bets, hands like Ax 7x offsuit or Kx 6x suited. But in multiway, chipEV-driven pots, you want hands that aren’t easily dominated by the combined ranges you’re up against, whether you’re limping, calling a raise, or entering a 3-bet pot.

Let’s check out our postflop adjustments.

Postflop Adjustments

1. Be aware of your bet sizing and frequencies when multiway

When multiple ranges see a flop, equities become more spread out. The more players in the pot, the smaller each player’s share, and that has a direct effect on your betting frequency and sizing. In multiway pots, you want to bet less often and for a smaller size. This accomplishes two things: it allows you to obtain a fair market price for your value hands (without owning yourself), and it protects you from overspending on bluffs.

As players start to fold and the field narrows on the turn and river, introducing larger bet sizes becomes more reasonable because your equity increases.

2. Be mindful of your range construction in multiway pots

Your range construction should also adapt in multiway pots. For example, heads-up on a board like Kh 8s 5d, you could comfortably continuation bet JJ for value. But when you’re facing two other ranges—both with position on you—checking becomes the better option.

Paradoxically, your betting range becomes a bit more polar, even as your sizing gets smaller.

3. Bluffs become a lot less valuable

Since you are facing multiple ranges, bluffing flops is less effective. You should expect a fair amount of calling, an effect of equity distribution. With more hands out there, it’s easier for somebody to have a piece. So when you bluff, your bluffs should be equity-driven. For example, strong draws (strong flushes and straights) or overs with backdoor flush draws on dry boards.

Once flops check through, you can increase your bluffing frequency along with delayed, thinner value. Once the flop and turn check-through, you might feel tempted towards a little more empty-handed aggression. Even I fall for it sometimes.

The key to all of these adjustments is understanding that multiway pots mean each player holds less equity. Less equity translates to betting less often, and for smaller sizes when you do bet. As the field narrows and the hand shifts toward range-versus-range dynamics, this begins to change. A clear example is heads-up play, where betting frequency and sizing can increase as your relative equity improves.

Summary

Multi-way poker is dynamic enough even with players using “proper” GTO ranges. Mix in the fact that live players’ ranges are a lot messier in practice, and you have a serious puzzle to solve. This article serves as a guideline, helping the online learned navigate the complexities of live MTT poker with common sense. In live poker, keeping it simple can go a long way.

Good luck this summer.

If you’d like to learn more about how to play high-leverage situations in poker tournaments, read: This Greedy Value Bet Strategy Will Help You Win More Tournaments.