Does Anyone here only play tourny's?

[PokerCat69]

I'm just curious if there is anyone here who only plays tournys, and if so how many per day/week do you play?

Seems like you could go a long time without a payday.

[Pepsquad]

Speaking only for myself, MTT's are the most enjoyable poker I play - but there's no way I would play them and nothing else. Just too swingy and you could go a very LONG period without getting your paycheck. To me, MTT's are the International Funds and Small Cap stocks of my poker portfolio. Huge upside - huge risk. The risk mainly being playing 4 hours of otherwise profitable poker for a whopping 3% profit. I think most winners live off of a steady diet of STT's and ring games though.

Pep.

[Jax_Grinder]

I don't play any ring games online. I just don't get the right kind of info like I do live.

MTTs and SnG (1 and 3 tbls) are the meat and potatoes for me. The SnGs bridge the gaps between significant MTT wins.

[James Lang]

I only play MTT's. I started with a bankroll of $100 to play 5+.50's. Then I built my bank to about $800 and started playing $20+2's. I peaked in January by winning 2 20+2's in back to back weekends (only 150 each on pokerroom). That built my bankroll up to $1800. I've been stuck around this number for the past 5 months. This is what my past three days were like.
5/28/05 - 6 tournaments, +413
6/1/05 - 8 tournaments, -231
6/2/05 - 9 tournaments, -140
6/3/05 - 7 tournaments, -114

[CieloAzor]

For the most part, yes, I play only tourneys. I'm trying to improve at ring game play sporadically, but the results have been mixed at best. The variance in multis isn't as bad when you play at a smaller site. I can beat fields of 50-100 pretty routinely. I just started playing a little on Stars last month. I have some trouble with the shorter stack and the looser play, but I finally got a final table tonight in a 1200+ field.(I say finally, but I've probably only played 15 tourneys on Stars.)

[PokerCat69]

I'm 100% a SNG player, but I wanted to expand into tournaments.

I know tournaments can take hours, is it the "norm" to multitable tournaments or are they better played 1-tabling?

[A_PLUS]

[ QUOTE ]
Speaking only for myself, MTT's are the most enjoyable poker I play - but there's no way I would play them and nothing else. Just too swingy and you could go a very LONG period without getting your paycheck. To me, MTT's are the International Funds and Small Cap stocks of my poker portfolio. Huge upside - huge risk. The risk mainly being playing 4 hours of otherwise profitable poker for a whopping 3% profit. I think most winners live off of a steady diet of STT's and ring games though.

Pep.

[/ QUOTE ]

Great post, very good way to look at things.

A_PLUS (CFA)

[Jax_Grinder]

[ QUOTE ]
I just started playing a little on Stars last month. I have some trouble with the shorter stack and the looser play

[/ QUOTE ]

Shorter stacks and looser play? Where have you been playing? 1500 to start, 2500 for the big ones and play far more TAG than on Party.

[Jax_Grinder]

I think multitabling big MTTs is a mistake. I don't play more than 2 at a time as a rule (usually one PS and one PP). You miss way to many cues in betting patterns (which is the only real information you're gonna get online when you want to make that bluff reraise).

Of course, between trolling 2+2, reading espn.com, and surfing porn, I probably miss my share of valuable information.

[bestcellar]

I personally have a very good track record at MTT's...and now that's all I play. I look at it as low-risk high-reward. I only play generally $50 and below buy-ins. Mostly I'll just tread water...but about once every 3 months I'll hit a big score for a couple grand. Since I have a day job, that's all I really need to supplement my bankroll. My cash game unfortunately kinda sucks at this point. I'm not sure why...I'm just frustrated and not playing a very good limit or nl cash game...and I might be in between on a lot of things.

[A_PLUS]

MTTs can be a great way to make money, but to play them exclusively, you need a very large bankroll (relatively speaking). An earlier poster mentioned playing small buy in events on pokerroom. As far as MTT strategies go, that strategy has the lowest variance. They are the only MTTs (that I have played) where you can play straight from TJs book and actually make money (you still need to steal aggressively later). The problem is, that if you want to advance, there isnt a logical next step with similar attributes. With other games, you can develop to a middle level with some hard work.

If you are making 10/hr playing 10$ SNGs, with some practice you can make 20$/h playing 20$.

If you can beat a 1/2 ring game for 5BB/Hr, you can develop into a 5BB/hr player at the next level.

With MTTs there isnt a smooth transiton. Even if you were a winning 100$ buy in player. You could easily go through 5 grand finding out.

[CieloAzor]

I started out on Bugsy's Club. T10000 to start, 25/50 blinds. The players there are mostly thinking players, but a little bit too tight. When I'm in the zone, I can control the whole 2nd half of the tournament. When I started playing at Stars, I was surprised by the fishiness of most tournament players, even at decent buy-in levels. I've had to tighten up a lot to adjust.

[Jacob_Gilliam]

The problem for me is that while HE ring games are very profitable, they bore the hell out of me. They're too monotonous. So now I only play SnG's and MTT. If i'm playing in a ring game, i'm playing stud, not Hold em'.

[greenroom1]

Interesting post. I am new to MTTs, but I don't think there is any greater feeling than doing well in these types of tourneys. I play SNGs mostly at the 30-50 level and have a decent ROE at this limit. Is there a way to gauge my perforance for MTTs in a similar manner, or is there just too much variance in performance given the size of these tourneys. I am using my SNGs and cash games to finance my MTTs. It seems as though you may wait a fair amount of time before getting paid.

[TonyS0pran0]

I only play MTT's and a few SNG's. I have never even played a ring game once. Fortuantely I won a big one on party when I first started playing and had no clue. After that I just kept reading and playing lower limit tourneys. I think I was fortuante enough to get off to such a big start that I can afford the swings. Unlike most others though I play poker for fun and tournaments are what I like. Knowing what I know now I would of never started off just playing MTT's. I just got luckboxed a huge win right away and never looked back. Did I mention I am a luckbox? /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Sluss]

I used to play a steady combo of SNGs MTTs and ring games. At the begining of last month I won two MTTs (1600 and 2200) on back to back weekends that mixed with a couple of high money finishes in a few 100s and I had a nice bankroll.

I had noticed that my 4/8 Stud game had dried up when I used to play. Didn't bother me I just added another MTT to my schedule. Of course a slow month of no final tables (and a wife /images/graemlins/frown.gif) has eaten up a much bigger portion of my bankroll than I thought.

I'm not so sure I could hold up an only MTT schedule. Of course one win in the next week and I might sing a different tune. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

In the meantime it's time to go back into a MTT + SNG schedule.