here is some interesting things for you all.
http://www.nsdpoker.com/2011/01/mtt-pros/Noah SD cracked some pretty impressive maths on MTT variance. If you scroll down to the chart at the bottom, you'll see that a player with an ROI of 20% will expect to lose over a sample of 5000 (YES, FIVE THOUSAND) tournaments, admitedly this is online = bigger fields, = tougher players (in general) so variance will ofc be higher.
using Jason as a good live example, his lifetime tourney sample is prolly somewhere in the 1000-1500 mark....doesn't mean that your not a winner as you most likely are because you can spell poker, but just to give you a sample of variance to compare to, Andy not cashing in 10 £300's doesn't even make him close to a loser in them, he prolly still has an ROI of over 100%.
Now Ali Mallu - I disagree he is terrible at poker, I've played lots with him and seen him take a solid wage out of the naps £20re's and the small buyin tourneys for years, so fair play imo can't knock results - he does do some very wierd things admittedly, but still capable of causing all sorts of problems.
he starting playing in 2002 on Hendon mob, and has $811k in cashes, over 9 years, leaving an average yearly cash of $90k. his average buyin p year in ranked events, I would estimate at.... ifhe['s playing full gukpt schedule and ukipt and all sides, somewhere in the $6k p month region. giving him an av profit in ranked tourneys of around $20k, giving him a ROI of around 20-25% obviously his return in the smaller 20r's and the like will prolly be higher.
Interpret as you will, but worth thinking about....