More Stressful: Ring Games or Tournaments?

3rdEye · #1 12-31-2004, 12:38 AM

For some reason, I find that ring games create more tension for me than tournaments. I'm not sure why, but I think it's because every decision in a ring game can be immediately quantified in terms of real money, whereas tournament decisions seem more "theoretical."

Anyone care to comment?

tek · #2 12-31-2004, 01:09 AM

I don't think either one should be more stressful. In a tournament you have paid $X entry fee. That money is gone--you either cash or bust out. But the same thing could be said for a limit game. You decide (I hope) how much you will buy in for that session. If you dump it, oh well... If you kick azz, great...

3rdEye · #3 12-31-2004, 01:16 AM

[ QUOTE ]
I don't think either one should be more stressful. In a tournament you have paid $X entry fee. That money is gone--you either cash or bust out. But the same thing could be said for a limit game. You decide (I hope) how much you will buy in for that session. If you dump it, oh well... If you kick azz, great...

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree, but I think that, once I enter a tournament, I say, "Hell, the money's already gone..."

Despite that, I think I'm a better ring game player than a tournament player.

daryn · #4 12-31-2004, 01:21 AM

i am untiltable in cash games.

tourneys drive me bonkers.

i think it's because a bad beat in a tourney can send you packing, and you can't buy in again.

TStoneMBD · #5 12-31-2004, 01:28 AM

For me personally, I think that ringgames are far more stressful than tournaments. My reasoning being; in ring games I expect to walk away with profit, and when I have a losing session I notice the missing $100 bills in my wallet. If I'm sitting in a 20/40 game, I say to myself, "ok, my winrate is xBB/100, so if I play 8 hours than tonight my wallet should look like: wallet+8x40" and I end up leaving with less than I started with. When I enter a tournament for say $120, I know that more likely than not I'm going to lose it as my variance will be higher. Although, if I get eliminated right outside the bubble then I get really angry, and I get even more angry x100 if I make the final table and don't finish first. Maybe I'm greedy but not coming in first feels like a total loss, unless I came in second when the prize money is relatively significant then it feels pretty good. I think in general though I find that tournaments are more fun than cash games, but I play in cash games where the stakes are far greater than that of my tournament counterparts, which is probably why I feel they are more stressful. I guess that if I played on an equal stake level I may be more stressed out with tournaments. Now that I think about it, when I first started playing live tournaments I didn't have a final table finish for quite a few tournaments, so I was incredibly stressed out about my skill level as far as tournaments are concerned. I then went on to win a few tournaments and my lifetime EV from playing in tournaments is far greater than my fair share, and therefore when I bust out of a tournament I'm not as concerned as I once was as I'm up lifetime. I think that maybe confidence level is a very significant part of the equation when estimating stress level. That and playing with money you're worried about. What was the question again? Originally my thread was supposed to be an intelligent response, but somehow it ended up being an incredibly lengthy rambling of jargonic banter. If you read the entire post then sorry for wasting your time.

3rdEye · #6 12-31-2004, 01:42 AM

[ QUOTE ]
i am untiltable in cash games.

tourneys drive me bonkers.

i think it's because a bad beat in a tourney can send you packing, and you can't buy in again.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd agree, in so far that the *magnitude* of the tilt I feel when I get a horrible beat in a tourney is greater than that which I feel when I lose a big pot in a ring game, but I wasn't talking about tilt so much as I was talking about the overall stress level associated with playing a ring game vs. a tournament.

daryn · #7 12-31-2004, 01:42 AM

bad beats in cash games don't stress me out

3rdEye · #8 12-31-2004, 01:52 AM

[ QUOTE ]
bad beats in cash games don't stress me out

[/ QUOTE ]

They don't stress me out much, either, although they used to drive me nuts when I was first starting out.

kalooki45 · #9 12-31-2004, 08:02 AM

thats probably WHY you're better at ring--you're giving long serious thought to every play [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
(because of fear of mistakes)

tek · #10 12-31-2004, 10:55 AM

ROFLMAO!