I only play freerolls. The variance is so high that it's often a waste of time no matter how well you play. Especially online. In real life, yes, play MTTs. Online magic means you're facing terrible odds.
At least I only lose time if I play a freeroll and do not cash. If I paid for it, it's losing time AND money.
In cash, if you get anal probed by lady luck, you come right back at them. In a tourney, you just wasted 3 hours of your life only for the big stack to call your shove with A4 and flop that 4 to beat your AK shove. And you're done.
At least I only lose time if I play a freeroll and do not cash. If I paid for it, it's losing time AND money.
In cash, if you get anal probed by lady luck, you come right back at them. In a tourney, you just wasted 3 hours of your life only for the big stack to call your shove with A4 and flop that 4 to beat your AK shove. And you're done.
Doesn't seem to matter from what I've seen. I play the Sunday Storm for $11 buy-in but it still takes many hours just to basically get your buy-in back. So much comes down to luck and variability. Losing it all with the 15th flip (you have AA the other guy has 22) after 7 hours of play just to get your buy-in back is not my idea of fun.Clean said:
I do see your point though. If I wanted to play high-stakes buy-ins (e.g., $215+) it would probably be more cost-effective from an hourly win-rate perspective. But then it wouldn't be a hobby any more.
playing tournament
for me playing tournaments have two achievements, first of all, if I win and reach the final table it would make me so happy just because I hit the jackpot and on the other hand in a tournament, you can compete with many players with different strategies and attitude towards poker so competing and defeating them make mo more exuberant
for me playing tournaments have two achievements, first of all, if I win and reach the final table it would make me so happy just because I hit the jackpot and on the other hand in a tournament, you can compete with many players with different strategies and attitude towards poker so competing and defeating them make mo more exuberant
I play tournaments because I enjoy playing the game, and it's a relatively cheap way to get to play a lot of hands. Especially freerolls (if you can make it through the initial shove-fest). I don't really play them to make money (although I have made a decent amount over time), just a way to gain more experience on the felt.
Rowdy Greg said:
I can't speak for Poker Stars because I'm not able to play on that site.
However on ACR the MTTs are broken down like this - might be useful and translatable to PS events.
Regular MTT = standard buyin at whichever level you prefer with 12 minute blinds and 15 levels of late registration. Its a grind - but totally worth it when hitting final table and earning a top 3 spot.
Turbo MTT = slightly lower buyin (if regular MTT is 2 bucks - turbo might be 1.50)
The turbos have reasonable levels and overall lengths. Usually they are 8 minute blinds and between 10-18 late registration levels. These events can often wrap up in 3-4 hours from start to final table.
Hyper MTT = often at a discount - because the luck factor is a larger 'factor' in these events. Usually these events have 3 to 5 minute blinds and can range from 20-30 levels of late registration. At the end of these events about 80% of the field is milking a sub 10bb stack which means - everyone is shoving nearly every dealt hand, hence why luck is much more of a factor in these events than in others.
Special MTTs = often have a regular buyin amount but the prize pool is considerably larger. The structure is normally standard with relation to the blinds 12-15 minute blinds, but the starting stacks are normally deep stack, and the late registration periods are extreme like 5 hours.
As an example the upcoming MOSS kick off event on ACR is a 15 dollar buyin that is a 125,000 gtd event. The blinds are 10 minutes long and late registration lasts for FIVE HOURS. The normal 15 dollar buyin events on ACR are 15-25kgtd but the late registration periods for these are only 2-3 hours.
Hope this helps a little on your search for the MTT that will suit your play-ability.
Also - gotta multi-table friend. I regularly play six events at the same time and on weekends when I'm able to put in a full day, I play between 20-30 events throughout the day.
Just one top 3 finish pays for all the loses and adds additional capital to the bankroll.
GL
I totally hear your complaint about tournaments, I often make the same complaint.
And I'm a full-time tournament grinder, I play 100% tournaments and 0% cash games.
Why did I make this choice? Very simple... reward-to-risk ratio. Tournaments are low risk for high potential reward, and that fits my personality perfectly. Cash games are high risk for low reward. That goes directly against my philosophy of poker.
In a tournament, your risk is capped, you can only lose the buy-in. But your reward is potentially massive, depending upon the tournament payout tables, you can often earn 100 times your buy-in with a win. The wsop Main Event has a 10,000 dollar buy-in and the winner typically earns somewhere around 5-10 million dollars, which is 500x to 1000x the buy-in... its A LOT of buy-ins!!
In a cash game, your risk is infinite. If you lose your stack, you can rebuy and lose another... and again and again. There's no cap on your risk. However, your reward is capped to the stack of your opponent. Yes, if your opponents re-buy, you can win infinitely, but for all practical purposes, cash games are high risk for low reward compared to tournament payouts.
There's really nothing more frustrating to a tournament pro than to grind for 10 hours in a tournament but come up just short of the final table and make almost nothing in terms of an hourly rate... but welcome to the life of a tourney pro. 🙂 It's certainly not for everyone, but for me, its the only game in town. I'm retired, I have all day to play, every day, and that's what I do, I grind tournaments. I'm not a top-flight pro by any means, I play micros because I'm not playing poker for money, I play poker because I love to play the best thinking game there is.I know that makes me a bit of an oddball in the poker world, but it also gives me a unique perspective compared to others who are all about making money.
I'm doing a Zero-To-Hero Challenge on two sites currently, and I'm at 650 on one of them and just broke thru to 60 on the other site so both challenges are going great and I expect if I use proper bankroll management, I probably won't ever go broke on either site. I won't withdraw because I don't do bitcoin and we "free" Americans are definitely not free at all when it comes to transferring funds off poker sites. But I don't care about that, I intend to grind my bankrolls to infinity and beyond... gotta have a dream. 🙂 Best wishes at the tables no matter which games you enjoy!
And I'm a full-time tournament grinder, I play 100% tournaments and 0% cash games.
Why did I make this choice? Very simple... reward-to-risk ratio. Tournaments are low risk for high potential reward, and that fits my personality perfectly. Cash games are high risk for low reward. That goes directly against my philosophy of poker.
In a tournament, your risk is capped, you can only lose the buy-in. But your reward is potentially massive, depending upon the tournament payout tables, you can often earn 100 times your buy-in with a win. The wsop Main Event has a 10,000 dollar buy-in and the winner typically earns somewhere around 5-10 million dollars, which is 500x to 1000x the buy-in... its A LOT of buy-ins!!
In a cash game, your risk is infinite. If you lose your stack, you can rebuy and lose another... and again and again. There's no cap on your risk. However, your reward is capped to the stack of your opponent. Yes, if your opponents re-buy, you can win infinitely, but for all practical purposes, cash games are high risk for low reward compared to tournament payouts.
There's really nothing more frustrating to a tournament pro than to grind for 10 hours in a tournament but come up just short of the final table and make almost nothing in terms of an hourly rate... but welcome to the life of a tourney pro. 🙂 It's certainly not for everyone, but for me, its the only game in town. I'm retired, I have all day to play, every day, and that's what I do, I grind tournaments. I'm not a top-flight pro by any means, I play micros because I'm not playing poker for money, I play poker because I love to play the best thinking game there is.I know that makes me a bit of an oddball in the poker world, but it also gives me a unique perspective compared to others who are all about making money.
I'm doing a Zero-To-Hero Challenge on two sites currently, and I'm at 650 on one of them and just broke thru to 60 on the other site so both challenges are going great and I expect if I use proper bankroll management, I probably won't ever go broke on either site. I won't withdraw because I don't do bitcoin and we "free" Americans are definitely not free at all when it comes to transferring funds off poker sites. But I don't care about that, I intend to grind my bankrolls to infinity and beyond... gotta have a dream. 🙂 Best wishes at the tables no matter which games you enjoy!
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I play poker tournaments, both live and online, because I enjoy competing in the sports I love. In the past it was small bore rifle and sporting clays shooting, and now for just over two years it has been sitting at the table, be it real or virtual. In the past I shot for trophies and merchandise prizes, and in poker the money is the trophy you receive for playing successfully. 🙂
