MTTs

[raisin man]

Don't know if there has been a thread like this already. Woulda looked but to be frank, I just couldn't be arsed :booty .

I've been playing in MTTs mostly today (getting some practice for the UK student thing at the weekend). So my question is...

...as an specialist MTT player, how often do you expect to get in the money?
...how often to the final table?
...how often to come first?

I ask because I've been thinking of focusing on MTTs instead of cash games for a while now. In the ones I've played, I have cashed about 40% of the time and been on the final table about 10%. Neer won though, but I put that down to the high variance and luck involved in the low buy in ($5 / $10) MTTs due to the huge number of players.

Any input from you MTT specialists would be welcome.

[mrmuzeman]

In the ones I've played, I have cashed about 40% of the time

Im not an MTT expert one single little bit but I would *think* that you must have been running pretty good so far as thats seems a very high level of cashing. When you consider that only 10% (roughly) make the money and youve made the money 4 times as much as this. Be prepared in MTTs that you can go into double figures of tournies without cashing one single time (presuming your talking 100 or more entrant type tournies). Also you could literally go well over a hundred not winning a single one if youre playing big fields. MTTs are very very luck orientated and I think you could be a very good tourny player, yet not get anything in the way of results for a long time. Youd have to play 1000 or something to get an idea of any sort of idea where your at probably.

Not that im an MTT genius or anything even like this but I have played in 19 MTTs with fields or around 100+ in 2006 and I have cashed 1 time (and it was only double my buy in) and I can assure you im no tourny mug, I simply just have no been getting any breaks whatsoever. Last year I cashed in 7/34 of around 100+ entrant MTTs, got lucky and made equivalent of around $12,000 of a mere $225 worth of entry fees. Its why I dont play them much, cos the money is just too irregular and I hate spending so much time on them only to bubble etc. Of course in balance with this is the beefcake payouts

You cant really answer your questions very well either cos it literally does depend on how good a player you are and also what sort of player. A solid tightish aggressive player will make the money more than a loose player will but the loose player will win a lot more tournies for example.

[Jezza]

Yo guys,

Gotta agree with mrmuzeman on this one. I am no MTT expert either, infact I would say they are a definate weak point of mine but I can try to give you some pointers raisin'. It is IMPOSSIBLE to put an exact % figure on how often you should cash etc - this is subject to too many variables - the most notable being the % of players paid changes from tourney to tourney!. The same obv goes for making final table etc. As muse states, the luck factor in MTTs is very high, rising blinds turns these games into an aggression/card catching contest later on and wipes out a lot of skill in playing boards. Even the best players therefore go for long periods losing money or of course - winning everything in sight! It is only in the very long run they can count on things swinging their way. This is not to say MTTs are without skill or that you cannot make a great living from them, they are both skillfull and can definately provide a nice source of income but just remember how volatile they are. To be honest I would loosen up at the start of an MTT when the blinds are low and play a few hands. This is because the bad players are still in at the start and you want to be in hands against them to get their chips - if you dont someone else will! Playing like this you will make the money less often but when you do you will finish higher up. IMO this provides a greater long run rate of retun than playing to cash everytime.

Take for example the stars 1000 dollar MTT me and muse watched last sunday. Thre were over 1000 entrants for this - a prize pool well over 1mill! Yet finishing 10th got you only 12,000 - THIS IS NOTHING COMPARED TO HOW DIFFICULT IT IS TO FINISH 10th. Finishing first however netted you almost 300,000 - all the money in this tourney was in the top 3 payout spots. A lot of tourneys are like this nowadays, you must forget playing to cash or playing to final table them - you must play looser and more aggressively and try to get in the top 3 spots.

Jez

[raisin man]

Was gonna go to bed after cashing over $150 in an hour or so on low limit tables (that got me back around even after dropping all that money last night when a bit not sober).

Then decided to enter a freeroll on VC. I'd been collecting lots of promo points for a while and decided to use them to enter a $1500 freeroll.

355 started. 19 players left, I'm sitting fairly short staked in 12th place. Its a damn crap shoot. Even the tall stacks are jumping all in with no excuse.

Hold on, just got my all-in hand...

...AQ against 4 callers, all shorter stacks than me. Couple of low pocket pairs and AT. I hit a Q and blew them away.

...Damn. Just got pocket 3s. Put in min raise hoping to buy the blinds. 2 callers. Hit a 3 on flop. I reraised someone all in. 2 people came the whole way. I hit quads on turn. 1st position now.

Crazy how the game can change in back to back hands.

1st prize is around $400. I'll let you know how it goes.

.....OK, I'm on break. Comfortably in 1st place with 200000 chips (average is 78000). Only 2 people within 100000 chips of me. 7 players left. Still crap shooty. Someone seems to be all in every hand. Don't want to call and double up a short stack. We'll see what happens.


EDITED: edited lots to update hands and game progress!

[Jezza]

whats yoru screen name on there m8 i will come rail

Jez

[Jezza]

ahh i have found you, but i think your chat is off


GL

Jez

[raisin man]

PNWED to the max!!!!!!!!!!!!!Just won $405 in a freeroll!!!!!!!!!!!!


Just want to say thank you to Jezza for your support. Couldn't have done it without you.

To think I was gonna go to bed 4 hours ago. What the hell was I thinking.

[Jezza]

wp mate and very well done


I said so didnt I

Jez

[raisin man]

Originally Posted by raisin man

Never won though

Thats just changed, and to think I didn't even have to pay for that one!

[GaNgStA kEeKs]

Very nice going Raisin Man.

Shame i never caught it earlier otherwise i would've cheered you on too but it doesn't look like my help is required

Be sure to grab ascreen shot and post in bragging rights too

[Burt Saddo]

your stats are pretty close to what I set myself RM. I am looking to be in the cash in 50% of the tourneys I enter and make the final table about 10% of the time. Winning the buggers is another matter though. I'm waiting for that BIG one which I believe everybody has in them.

[raisin man]

Originally Posted by Kiko

Be sure to grab ascreen shot and post in bragging rights too

Damn, totally forgat about the screen shot. But thats okay since Jezza saw it and can verify my pwning abilities.

Looking forward to my 300 person live game tomorrow a lot more now.

[moDtheGod]

Don't forget to come and say hello. You can buy me a drink too if you like :D

[raisin man]

Damn,

failed miserably in my cash game last night. Lost £3 !!! LoL.

Then lost lots playing drunk on Mermaid. Now I'm hung over and have to play in my tourney. FFS, why did I drink yesterday. Seriously worried now about my chances today. I'll let yous know.

...Off for a bath and a G&T before the poker starts, that'll sort me out.

[mrmuzeman]

Good luck in that Raisin, if current form continues youll pwn it no probs

My MTT run continues btw, me and Jez entered one for a laugh. Came 15th with top 10 paid, my pocket tens all in against A9. 9 on flop, A on river gaaaaaaaaaaay