Hi 2+2,

If you don't really care about how I came here, scroll to the bottom of this post and you'll get to my question..

I was introduced to the game about 18 months ago when some friends took me along to a local casino free-roll, and I've been hooked ever since. The adrenaline I felt after bluffing my first pot, even at a free-roll, was immense, and I knew I wanted more.

As I was pretty busy about to graduate from Uni and was up and down the country going to various Graduate interviews, I didn't have as much time as I would have liked, but I'd bought a wide selected of poker books and started to study basic strategy and play when I could.

Fast forward several months and without much success on the job-front, or the poker-front, me and my girlfriend decided to go travelling to the US. Apart from a brief stint in Vegas, I didn't play/study any Poker for 4 months.

I've since returned from my travelling and settled into my first "career" job and I've started to dust off the poker books and get back into it.

One of the most common questions that I've seen beginning Poker players ask is "How can I improve?", and depending where they ask this question, they could be hit with a lot of varying answers, however the most common answer always seems to be "involve yourself within a poker community".

My friends who initially took me to the casino free-roll don't have the same passion for the game that I do, and rather than bore my girlfriend with my "bad beats" and "suckouts" that I've been served, I thought I'd join up to the legendary 2+2! I'm looking forward to becoming part of this ever-growing community, and to make some friends along the way.

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NLHE MTT - How Do You Handle Variance?

During my studying around Poker strategy, I learnt the basics on Hand Equity and Pot Odds. I feel confident enough that I can comfortably play ABC poker, in that I know when a certain situation has +EV or a -EV.. and ultimately that's what its all about, the long-haul.

It seems to me, that for a cash player, variance is so much easier to handle. In the event that you suffer a bad-beat, you'll roll your eyes, curse the gods for your luck but then quickly move onto your next spot, because you know that although you got "unlucky" on that hand, your decision still remains a +EV decision, and in the long-run, it'll pay off.

But how can we say the same for MTT players?

I play in a couple of £1k gtd MTT's a week at my local casino for around £20 a pop and although I've had relative success, (6 entries, 3 final tables, 2 ships), I've usually ran very well.. especially as I would still consider myself somewhat of a fish, mainly down to my lack of playing-time experience.

However this week, I ran straight into a wall!

Call me crazy, but when I get to my table I like to settle into my seat for a bit and maybe have a cup of tea whilst I check out the competition and see who I'm up against. Don't get me wrong, if I'm dealt KK in my first hand, I'm going to town, but I at least like to kick my shoes off first. So you'll imagine my surprise when my first MTT of the week, I was dealt QQ and AA, in the first 2 hands. Screw the cup of tea I thought, I'm going to order a cocktail in the break if I keep running like this!



Over the next 40 minutes I had some pretty standard holdings, I managed to hold an above avg stack.. until the next time I got AA, for the 2nd time in ~30 hands in the CO.

I give it a standard 3x raise and as everyone starts to fold in a cascading effect, I start to wonder if everyone can visibly see my heart pounding.. just as I was about to wish I'd limped in, one guy hits me with a re-raise. I take my Hollywood moment and then proceed with the 4-bet, to which he makes no hesitation in jamming, and I felt a sudden case of tourettes come on as I shout "CALL" and flip my Aces with sheer finesse.

The guy flips over QQ, to my delight of course, as I know that this gives me roughly an 82% equity.

The Flop comes, 893, reducing my opponents equity to 10%....

Turn comes at 10, still leaving my opponent at 13% but now having bought himself a gut-shot draw

And finally the River, that slimy River, slaps down a J, paying off my opponent with a made straight.

I later found out after Googling (and slapping my wrist for not already knowing) that the probability of a runner-runner straight are around 1.5%.

Going back to my previous comment on Cash Players, they can just brush this off as a major bad beat and buy back in again, under the knowledge that there was nothing they would have done differently. You get it in with the best, but end up losing.. but regardless, its still an +EV decision.

But this ended my tournament. Yes, a mere £20 buy-in was lost against this bad beat, but what if this wasn't £20.. what is this was a WSOP $10k buy-in?

How as MTT players, do you handle this kind of variance?

chase glory, hate money

Solid 1st post OP.
Not like all these "wtf I got a beat and lost my MTT".

Handling it achingly. esp in the beginning - very painfully, but then you're getting used to it and maybe even enjoying it occasionally.

Smoke weed everyday.

EXPECT NOTHING. EVER

get ****in drunk

Most MTT players handle the variance by playing mass volume. I'd say most professional players are detached from money as well so the beats come and go and they try to only focus on the positive swings of variance to maintain sanity.

I like this, definitely made the short-list for fore-head tattoo's.

I agree, I guess its the nature of the game, and what makes NLHE so exciting.

Excellent statement. Of the many Q&A's that I've read with Pro's, a lot of them seem to appreciate the success that Poker has brought them, but at the same time they know that they must detach themselves from the money on an emotional level. I recently read a Q&A with Vanessa Rousso where she talks about her lavish home in Vegas and her supercar collection, but she openly admits that as these have came as a by-product of her Poker success, she can't grow emotionally attached.

Got to be prepared to just reg more tourneys, that's the nature of them! Playing stuff you're bankrolled for helps.

im guessing this is a too rare to die for gimmick account

this though

Once you play enough you'll become numb to even the worst of beats.

Other things that help:
1. Don't think of your bankroll or potential MTT winnings as money. It's only money when it's in your bank account. Before that it's just a # of buyins.
2. Don't get too high when you win or too low when you lose. Try to be as neutral an zen about it as possible.
3. Assume you always win because of luck and you always lose because of bad play.

In live tournaments I never visibly tilt or care much

Online is 10 times worse, def when you are having a big downswing and nothing seems to go your way, for weeks and months

Basically I stopped caring about the money and try to play my best every day. But it's a long process, definitely when you are just getting into mtts.

Volume, volume, volume. I get over losing by playing more.

Take a bar as soon as u hit the money and check it in the morning expecting a mincash

I'm going to play lots of tournaments in my life so it feels silly to get upset at 0.0001% of my results.

Not sure what you mean by this?


Very true. I guess the mistake I made there was comparing a £20 buy-in, which is about right for my current bankroll, to a $10k buy-in, which is an insane amount of money to me. If I had a much larger bankroll, the $10k would undoubtedly be much less of a risk that it would be now.

Thanks for the input all, ultimately it seems that it comes down to bankroll management, to effectively play through the down-swings and separating yourself emotionally from the game, and the money.

This, try to play as much as you can to reduce the variance.

just laugh about it. it is funny when you think about it. all that money coulda bought some hella cool stuff!

How does one cope with a 10,000 game break-even stretch?

Switch the tea for a beer or some hard liquor and u will do fine op

Study more!

It hurts to bust a deep run to a bad beat but sometimes you give a bad beat to win the tournament. Bad beats hurt in isolation but they are literally nothing if you can keep your eye on the bigger picture.