We Break Down Chris Moorman’s Approach To Online Poker Tournaments
Chris Moorman (moorman1) is currently ranked 8th in the World and 1st in the UK according to pocketfives.com and has been amongst the top 10 for 5 years - now breaking into the world of live poker events, with buy-ins and prize pools which would represent truly life-changing money for most of us! His unique, hyper-aggressive style has earned him 4 triple crowns and international recognition - this article has a look at his approach to playing MTTs online.
Winning a triple crown is a feat in itself. It involves placing 1st in 3 poker tournaments with a $10,000 or more prize pool. Dozens of triple crowns have now been awarded to some big names. However, Chris Moorman was the first to achieve this accolade 4 times and did it in style by winning not 3, but 4 tournaments in a week. Unfortunately for Chris, they don’t have a 'quadruple crown'.
Chris Moorman Strategy - Hyper-Aggression
Moorman’s style is absolutely unique. Much like Tom Dwan changed the way the average player looks at aggression in cash games; Moorman has helped switch the old paradigm on tournament strategy. His number 1 golden rule of MTT strategy is ‘Never be scared to put all your chips in’ and anyone who’s railed moorman1 has seen this thought process in action. Whilst moorman1 plays a wide range of hands at early stages, he switches on his hyper-aggression in the later stages where he is ‘hell-bent on getting into the top 3 places’. A lot of the time you might see moorman1 get caught all in with a weak hand but this is all part of the strategy. Is he is being hyper aggressive so often he is going to get caught out every now and then.
Chris Moorman Strategy - Playing Hands with Potential in the Early Stages
Chris has admitted in a few interviews that in early stages of multi table poker tournaments he likes to play hands with plenty of potential pre-flop. These are hands that can let him flop a monster and stack an opponent. He would prefer to play a hand like suited connectors rather than an ace rag on the button early on. That’s part of the beauty of moorman1’s games you literally never know what he is holding.
Chris Moorman Strategy - Playing for the Top Three
Moorman1 admits that he is only focusing on the top three positions when he plays multi table tournaments. Too many players drag their heels to try and reach the final table. Moorman1 has a fearless attitude with his goal to accumulate chips to finish in those top three positions. This attitude does well for him and he will get into situations where other players will not due to being scared.
Live Games
Whether it’s because Chris Moorman hasn’t put in the volume or that his live game strategy isn’t working, is unclear. What is clear is that his performance offline does not reflect his success online. Even Chris’ dad has had more success in the live arena. In 2009 Chris bought him into a GUKPT event as a birthday present and was then surprised to watch him take 1st for a cool £88K. Chris Moorman’s biggest live success however, was in January 2009 when he won $19,000 in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. Compare this to his $204,000 online win in the FTOPS XIII ’09 and several other 6 figure cashes.
Chris did not start at the high buy-in games, he built a bankroll and moved through the levels - players looking to do the same today can get a built in advantage by seeking out the softest fields - avoiding the sites where a lot of 'pro grinders' play, and playing at recreational sites instead. I strongly recommend you check out the tables at ACR Poker. This is now the 2nd US biggest site online, and has a distinctly recreational feel. What I like best is that the tournament fields are smaller (think 300 players instead of 3000 each time).
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