MTTs are my bread and butter [UPDATED - see page 3]

[PocketLady]

As anyone who knows me in real life will be aware, poker has not been going too well for me recently.  I am not losing thousands, but as poker is currently my main source of income, I need to be making some kind of profit from it, and over the last few months I can just about manage to break even.  This means that slowly I am leaking money as although I'm not losing all that much, I'm not winning enough to be able to pay my living expenses.  It is slowly dripping away.

Since I first started playing I have always been a tournament player.  I like the added strategic elements that tournament poker brings in comparison to cash games.  Over the summer I moved back to my home town of Northampton.  Previous to that I had been living in Oxford and playing mainly in London as that was the nearest place to find a game of poker.  When I moved back to Northampton I began playing regularly at my local casino which is a Gala.  All they run at Gala is MTTs and STTs, no cash games.  The structure has a tendency to be a bit of a crapshoot, although it is slowly improving thanks to the persistence of the Card Room Supervisor.  To begin with, I was playing up there about 4 times a week, and averaging about one final table a week.  I was probably either winning or chopping the tournament about once every 2 or 3 weeks!  Then slowly, this began to subside, and I have not had a decent cash in a live tournament since just before GUKPT Plymouth, which must be  around 3 or 4 months ago.

Now, some people will probably disagree with what I am about to say, but I put a lot of my inital winning at the casino down to the fact that I am a girl.  To date, I am pretty much the only female regular at Gala Sol Central.  A few months ago I was probably the only girl you would see in there full stop.  I like to believe that it is possible to use being a girl in poker to my advantage.  Some guys (not all) tend to stereotype female poker players they have never played against before into one of two categories.  They will either be a total rock, which means they can be pushed off hands and will only get their money in when they have the nuts, OR they will be a complete and utter calling station.  I was seen as being a total rock I think, which enabled me to make moves, and get people to lay down big hands.  People would not call my raises and therefore they never got the chance to outdraw me.  I wasn't having a particuarly good run of cards, just like I'm not having a particularly bad run of cards now either.  Although I was winning more coinflip situations.  To begin with I was this girl who'd just started coming and was winning everything.  Gradually there became whispers of my Poker 6 cash and even if they didn't think I was a rock anymore, they respected my game and I was still winning.  Then all of a sudden, it stopped, just like that.

Now Gala Sol Central is a bit of a funny place.  Although there are some good players , the general standard of play there is very low compared to other card rooms.  It also seems to exist outside of the normal poker circuit, and you won't find pretty much anyone in there who plays the UK circuit on a regular basis. 

Before, when I was winning there, I was hardly playing any STTs because I was quite often going deep in the comp.  Now however, I find myself playing 3-4 STTs some nights if I bust early.  The STTs are normally 10 seaters and the split is 70%/30% for 1st and 2nd.  I tend to do better on the higher buyins because it is less of a crapshoot as we are given more chips to start and a longer clock.  Since September I have been cashing in an average of just a bit more than 1 in 4, and the vast majority of the time I am winning or doing a deal heads up.  One of the guys in the cardroom made a printout off the computer with a league list of who is winning the most tournaments and STTs. On the tournament list I am about 12th or something.  But on the STT list I am top.  So I am winning in these.  Someone said to be "Well if you are winning in the STTs then why bother playing in the main comp?", and the answer to that is because I love tournaments, and I'm trying to figure out what's going wrong.  It could be a combination of so many things:

- The other players have got to know my game too well
- I'm not taking it as seriously as I used to
- The structures increase the luck element too much
- The standard of play is so low that my game has suffered too
- I am playing too much

So I am winning in the STTs.  But not in the tournaments.  I don't play just at Gala, but I think on an average week I must spend about £200 just on MTTs.  This is the difference between me being a winning player, or a break even player like I am at the moment.  But MTTs are what I love and what I really want to be doing.  I know its virtually impossible to make a living from playing just MTTs, and that's not what I'm after.  I try and sit in a cash game once or twice a week, and normally walk out with a profit of some kind.  Although I mostly play at Gala, I have been having no luck anywhere else either.  I went to Stanleys at Luton on New Years day to play the £100 deeper stack thing.  I played my arse off all night, and still nothing.  I go to other places like Coventry and sometimes into London to play, but still nothing happens.  Occassionally I will get a result in a tournament online, but that's it.  I'm not saying I'm the worlds greatest player or anything, because I'm most definitely not, but I'd like to think I am a fairly good player.  It's like I keep coming so close.  A few of you will know about the Betfred Women's Tour.  I cashed in two of these events and was 4th in the league.  The top 2 got a seat in the grand final.  All I had to do to get in the top 2 was make the final table in the last leg.  There were over 100 runners, and I came 15th! 

Anyway I've just looked up and realised how much I've written, so I will stop now before I bore you all to death.  If anyone has any suggestions they would be greatly appreciated, but for some reason I think I partly just needed to write all of this down to make some sense of it all.

As someone recently wrote in my Xmas card, I'd rather be lucky than good.

[TightEnd]

You are a good player..Poker 6 if I remember right

but, respectfully, you are playing regularly at completely the wrong venue (given their range of tournaments and strucutres) to benefit from any skill you may have compared to a random.

[Dingdell]

I think I can only pass on a comment that seems to be widely accepted - tournaments are for show and cash is for dough.  I would love cash at the Sol in Northampton - I would be over like a shot - as i think the play there is quite soft - and I also think a lot of the tourney players there would take time to adjust to cash games. But as for tourneys at Sol - they are not for serious skilled players who want to make a living from poker.

However if MTT's work for you - and it's your way of making a living - then keep playing them. You may enjoy tourneys but making a living out of poker isn't always enjoyable - a lot of the time peope find it a grind - and play the tourneys for light relief.

In any casino there is going to be variance - it's the same in Luton - you can't expect to cash everytime however good you are.

Good luck with it!

Tracey

[Chili]

On the other hand it might also just be called tournament 'variance.'  Before last summer, I seemed to be in a very similar position to yourself and it lasted 10 months!!  It happens I'm afraid, you just have to push through it and I agree It is possibly time to source out a better venue and play cash in between comps..Gl

[Royal Flush]

Sounds like your sample size is tiny.

If you are just playing a few times a week then how many tournaments have you played? Can you be sure you deffo have an edge?

Play online, its a bit harder but you can put in a lot more table hours.

[Dingdell]

On the other hand it might also just be called tournament 'variance.'  Before last summer, I seemed to be in a very similar position to yourself and it lasted 10 months!!  It happens I'm afraid, you just have to push through it and I agree It is possibly time to source out a better venue and play cash in between comps..Gl

Chilli - what do/did you do when it lasts that long?

[PocketLady]

Rumour has it that cash games may be making an appearance at Sol over the coming months...which would be brilliant.  Yeah I definitely understand that it is very difficult to make a regular income at tournament poker, but I just feel that if I could start cashing in maybe one tournament a month, my bankroll would be a whole lot healthier, but I'm not sure where it's going wrong.  Gala isn't the best place to play, and I have started to try mixing up the places I go a little more, in fact it was my New Year's resolution!  I'm just trying to work out if it is because I have changed as a player since I started going there, or if it is just because the tournament structures can make them a bit of a crapshoot.  At the moment anything I win is coming from cash games and STTs, I'd just like MTTs to not be a big red minus.

Royal Flush - I hate playing online and it doesn't work for me at all unfortunetly.  I play poker live for maybe 7 hours a day, 5 days a week altogether, but this is a mixture of STTs, MTTs, and cash.  At the moment I am profiting in cash games and STTs, its just the MTTs that are putting a bit of a drain on.  The card room guys at Gala worked out that in the last six months I have paid about £1000 in juice, its probably a bit more now, which means i have staked over £10,000 in there on STTs and MTTs.   I know the variance shows more in live play because you see so few hands compared to online, but I'd rather see what I can do to help it rather than just putting it down to variance alone.  I am definitely very much in profit for the year just gone, but it has been gradually dwindling for the last few months, which is what I need to fix.

[Chili]

On the other hand it might also just be called tournament 'variance.'  Before last summer, I seemed to be in a very similar position to yourself and it lasted 10 months!!  It happens I'm afraid, you just have to push through it and I agree It is possibly time to source out a better venue and play cash in between comps..Gl

Chilli - what do/did you do when it lasts that long?

Kicked stuff a fair few times!!  Seriously, I had to take it each comp at a time, resist the urge to feel that everyone and everything is against you and above all didn't doubt my ability to play the game.  Maybe I did make bad decisions that I wouldn't ordinarily make but lack of confidence is a killer in poker, you have to believe that things will turn around eventually.

It did turn around but also with help to my bankroll in the meantime of playing cash once or twice a week to keep things ticking over.  If you rely on poker as your main/only source of income, then without a doubt it is not gonna be plain sailing.  At the end of the day we are all gambling (a word I refused to use for a very long time, but have since grown up).

[MANTIS01]

If you play tournament poker this WILL happen

As sure as eggs is eggs you will have good spells and bad spells and often there is little you can do about it. First and foremost you must be philosophical about tournament poker. Did you play well and loose? If so, then you must congratulate yourself for your stirling play and ensure that the loosing streak doesn't adversely affect your approach to the game.

My advice...

1. "It's like I keep coming so close"....It's like you keep playing so well you cut through most of the field. This is something that should actually give you a lot of confidence and encouragement for the future. To be disappointed with yourself for doing well is unproductive and it WILL affect your game. To play and win tournaments you need to sit down with confidence and aggression, so if you start retreating from risky situations because you're getting close to cashing you will be manufacturing a downward spiral for yourself and will playing with the wrong attitude.

2. "they didn't think I was a rock anymore"....Awareness of your image is essential and guess what?...you are aware of your image. After Brunson wrote Super System he had to adjust his playing style to re-gain his edge and so will you. But that will make you a more rounded and versatile player so embrace the challenge.

3. STT's are good for tournament practise and can often be a source of regular income but I wouldn't rely on these myself. Why? Because the variance is such when playing tournament poker that you NEED bigger cashes in MTT's in order to sustain yourself through these bleak periods. In addition, we play tournament poker to WIN big tournaments and nothing is ever going to beat that. It is the ultimate destination on your poker journey. Even just using a % of your current STT profit to tackle sats for bigger events is the way to go. You are better with big stacks so avoiding big stack events is not a good move for you. One big cash will blow this current negativity away in a heartbeat.

4. I believe that dispite the many many advantages experience can also bring a lot of clutter to your game. You tend to think too much and can loose the raw, instinctive and fearless approach that made you a success in the first place. Next time you play, just play with freedom. No pressure. It is when you pressure yourself to manufacture the result you desperately want that you actually loose the edge that will get you there at all. Worry and negatively will NEVER help you win a tournament.

5. Don't play cash. Too many reasons to mention here, but the best way to achieve tournament success is to avoid a dirty cash mentality infecting your pure-as-the-driven-snow tournament mind. ( But of course if it is pure profit you are looking for cash is the only way to go )

Good Luck

[byronkincaid]

. Don't play cash

terrible advice. the early levels of major comps have 100+ BBs. The best way to learn to play them is to play cash imo.

[Chili]

Excellent review on tournament mentality there Mantis - apart from the "Don't play cash" part.  If poker is your only income (as it is mine & the OP) then "pure profit" is the only way to exist and to ever play poker again. 

I actually don't enjoy cash anywhere near as much as I adore tournaments but it has took me a long time (and I am a stubborn mule mostly) to realize that needs must and bills HAVE to be paid.  You just have become more of a multi tasker to adjust and flick between the two mentalities of cash play and tournament play...

[RED-DOG]

Excellent advice from Mantis.

[byronkincaid]

says the man who spends half his life playing cash at DTD?

[Longy]

Excellent advice from Mantis.

Yeah I agree (for once lol), though complete disimissing learning cash is a bit too much  for my liking and you can retain skills in both.

[RED-DOG]

says the man who spends half his life playing cash at dtd?

Actually I agree with Chili that cash games are a usefull way to help put bread on the table. Having said that, I think you have to be really aware of the differences between cash and tournament play so as not to let one taint the other.

Mantis's piece was excellent notwithstanding.