Fundamental concept and the "no-limit drill"

On a few occasions I have posted information about my use of a training tool which I feel does more to improve tournament poker skills than any other technique. I call it the "no-limit drill", and if you don't know of it, an explaination follows in the paragraph below. Mike Caro's current article on pokerpages mentions a concept which I just realized explains why the drill is such a powerfull tool. The concept is this (paraphrase): All hands play best against zero opponents, that is, winning the blinds and antes gives you a higher expectation than playing almost any hand to a showdown against an opponent... no matter how big a favorite you are.


THE DRILL:


(I usually do this with a friend or two to inspire conversation and further learning) Buy into a small buy-in (