Joined: May '12
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 38 (M)
Posts: 2064
So you've read all the books, trawled the forums, absorbed all the information about poker strategy that you can... After struggling to fully commit for a long while, you've also started applying correct bankroll management.... time to start raking in the millions then?
Not exactly.
A lot is said about "table selection" - usually relating to cash game or sit and go tournaments... but what I have come to realise recently, is the HUGE importance of tournament selection - I'm talking Scheduled Multi-Table Tournaments here btw...
You could be a great player, with a big edge over the majority of a field, but if you're playing the "Red" tournaments exclusively (the big guarantees on Stars) you're placing a lot of your fate in the hands of luck. It could take literally tens of thousands of tournaments before you edge pays off... obviously it COULD take just one tournament... But the fact is that you should always give yourself the best chance to succeed.
Tournaments with between 100 and 500 entrants are perfect for people with sound knowledge and tactical awareness... A 10% edge on a field is FAR more beneficial in tournies like these than in multi-thousand entry tournies.
To anyone frustrated at not making good money often enough, give these lower entry tournies a try - You'll like what you see immediately
Good point. I find that when playing cash or SNG, you get a sense of where you are at, in terms of skill, much quicker than in MTTs. So if you are unsure about what you should play in order to be profitable, its better to opt for smaller fields. But even in a field as small as 100 it could take a lot of time, before you can be confident that you'll be profitable in the long run, and that you are doing the right tings. You could play MTTs for a long time with profit, without noticing a decline in the quality of your play, only to realize you've developed bad habits you were unaware of, and are hard to get rid off...
Joined: May '12
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 38 (M)
Posts: 2064
Very true marqis...
Which is exactly why it's so important to never rest on you laurels - never think you know everything and don't need to learn. A good poker player is ALWAYS learning... always adjusting.
A good metaphor I've heard before is that it's like a dance... You could be a brilliant dancer, but if you can't adapt to your dancing partner, you'll both look bad. There are almost endless factors involved to be profitable at poker... and no matter how hard you try, it will be all but impossible to be able to spot all at one time.
Which is why tournament selection (as well as bankroll management) is so important.
Put yourself in a place where your correct plays are more likely to be rewarded and you will be rewarded more often.
Joined: Oct '14
Location: Germany
Age: 41 (M)
Posts: 429
Thats really a very good opening post here and I cannot agree more, but you dont have to play low buy in multi table tournaments. You can instead play qualifiers for step tickets with a low buy in and a smaller field.
Joined: May '13
Location: Mauritius
Age: 32 (M)
Posts: 2688
Yes i agree you should play tournament that is doable, what i mean is that you have a chance to win rather than let the chance decide it also the guarantee right they hard as the field is huge and you need some serious luck but if you play well who knows you might win it , anyway with more hard work you get more luck as you will learn to spot tricky spot and avoid them or find good spot to push to get lot of chips, cheers mate have fun at the table!
