Imho , it is.
Luck is such a huge factor in it, especially tourneys because you will have to eventually play numerous hands, all in preflop, that are coin flips and that
no real strategy is involved once the flop, turn and river are dealt.
...I disagree with this. You don't have to play numerous hands in an MTT. Just because you see other players doing it or trying to play a LAG style doesn't mean you have to. Though, I do believe that LAG > TAG in MTTs, it's just a matter of preference.
The all-in preflop is a tool in MTT's that can be used correctly or incorrectly. And as blinds get deeper/stacks get shallower, the more important using the all-in correctly is required. There are too many variables to go into the AIPF in detail.
Coin flips and winning them are a huge part of MTT's and you aren't going to win an MTT without winning a few flips. I don't care what anyone says, you need to win flips (and 60/40s) to build your stack, make it deep it, get to the FT, and win. Now, does this mean you need to take unnecessary flips for your stack? No. Does this mean you'll win every flip and never bust out? No. You're going to bust out plenty of times getting your money in flip situations, whether you have the best hand or worst hand and it's part of the game.
I can't tell you how many times I've had my big hands cracked getting it all in PF as coin flip, 60/40, or better and it doesn't matter. If I'm able to get my money in as a favorite, no matter how slight my edge is and I get my opponent to commit most or all of their chips, that's what I'm looking for. As soon as I double up, get that bigger stack, get deeper, win a few more flips and make it to top 3, then all those previous bust outs prior to this point don't matter because the profit I'm making will outweigh the losses. Your profits made in MTTs come from the top 3, not by min cashing or anything like that. And you very, very rarely are going to ever finish in the top 3 if you don't take these flips to double your stack (which also gives you max value on your hand).
This is from experience, too. I rarely made FTs or even deep runs in MTTs prior to me taking more flips in the mid-late stages of an MTT. I would, at best, min cash and usually bust out soon after. I had 1 MTT win in 2K games.
Now, I've switched up how I play, take a lot more flips in the late-mid stages, and I see completely different results. It was this video that changed how I played MTTs. Something just clicked.
In my signature, you can see that I have 87 MTT cashes since my last win and 44% of those cashes are final tables w/ 14 2nd and 3rd finishes. This isn't meant to be a brag or anything like that, I'm just saying that flips in MTTs are necessary if you wan to make top 3 and get the eventual win and I wouldn't have gotten these results without winning some flips at key spots in MTTs. I wasn't a winning player back then because I wan't approaching MTTs correctly. And even though, I still have tons more room for improvement, I'm doing much, much better than I ever have.
As for there is no skill post flop, are you talking post flop in AIPF situations or no? If it's AIPF, then yes, you are correct. Once the hands are face-up, then it all depends on the run of the cards, but that doesn't mean there wasn't any strategy involved preflop. Again, it's about gaining max value on your hand and the correct way to go about doing that might be an AIPF.
all you do is sit there and hope luck is on your side. Furthermore, its a game where players continually put all their money in preflop when they only have 2 cards which only represents 28% of their total hand. This truly is the definition of crapshoot poker.
...Not sure what type of MTTs you play. Maybe it's a freeroll, maybe it's the early stages of an MTT. Maybe she's born with it, maybe is Maybelline.
Yes, I agree a lot of players like to play super loose in MTTs and take weird lines. I'll admit, I do that same thing sometimes and maybe make weird plays at the wrong time.
The thing is, who cares about how other players play. They can play as crazy and wild as they want and how I play or decided to play to go against these players is on me. If my table wants to jam every hand and bust each other out, I have no problem folding every hand, waiting for a big hand, getting my money in, and hoping for the best.
Yes, luck might be on their side, but you can always the take the more skilled approach to playing against them.
And their are numerous examples of big name poker players, who became famous and wealthy, by putting their whole stack in a pot as a 90% or more underdog, and getting lucky to win. A perfect example is Moneymaker in the WSOP main event he won. He was involved in a hand with a guy that went all in on the flop , and the guy had pocket aces. I think moneymaker had pocket 6s and moneymaker went all in...and even said " I KNOW IM IN TROUBLE" .....moneymaker got all his money in, and turned a 6 to beat the pocket aces.
...No one is ever going to 100% get their money in as a favorite in coin-flip situations. There's another saying in MTT's that goes 'if you don't get your money in behind at some point in an MTT, you're playing too tight.'
Also, these players have a lot of experience with each other that we don't know about or see. The idea of calling/pushing all in isn't dependent on specific hands vs specific hands, but against your hand vs your opponent's range. If your can beat your opponents range most of the time, get it in. Will you sometimes get unlucky and run into a better hand? Yes, but you still have some equity and, again, it's about beating a range, not a specific hand.
In the Moneymaker hand, we don't know the history of the 2 players nor how the hand played out preflop. If Chris was committed preflop, then he might've had to make the call. If he thought there was a chance his opponent might have AKs or AQs and he was flipping, it was a good call. We don't know the effective stack sizes, the history, or how the hand played out. Different decisions for different situations.
Lets face it, NL hold em is really a crapshoot game when compared to other forms of poker that are limit/ pot limit . I was actually dissapointed when TV was able to transform the poker landscape and make NL hold em the big game of choice in the casinos and home games.
...It's because it's exciting and people want to see exciting things. Also, nlhe is probably the easiest game for non-players to learn and understand.
