For the most part, I would say I'm a bankroll nit. I definitely agree that you need at least a 100 BI bankroll to play MTT's regularly, and with bigger fields you really should have more.

With that said, many posters here seem to agree that taking the occasional shot is not a bad thing, especially for a winning player. Do you guys think this is a good idea? Right now my bankroll is ~3.3k and my primary game is 12/180s. I've been lucky enough to have a great summer and I've been crushing 12/180s for a ~70% ROI through 800 games. At this point I've started to mix in the occasional 36/180 whenever they actually fill up. Is there anything wrong with this? I'm a 6-tabler and typically I'll just have one table of a higher buyin. Based on my success I would assume I'm still profitable at 36/180s, but my sample is still pretty small, and I've heard the horror stories of winning 180 players going on 200 BI downswings so I'm a little hesitant.

I've also started taking the occasional shot at a higher buyin MTT, playing an occasional $50 buyin or something, which I don't think is a big deal since it's not my regular game and still not a super big hit to my roll or anything.


This post ended up being a lot wordier than I intended but basically I'm just asking if many of you successful small/mid stakes MTT grinders take the chance and play a higher buyin every once in a while, and how exactly you decide which tournaments to play/not play.

Yes.

this is exactly what I do... I have been crushing the 90 man KOs on FTP and the 26 MTTs. I plan on taking shots at a couple FTOPs events and such.

Super fine to take shots like this. Ive only been able to move up by taking shots and having them work out. I was grinding STTs for too long. Taking a shot at $10 MTTs, just looking at the possible ROI seemed worth it to me. And I know BR management etc... says I should never have, but, for me, its $10. IRL, $10 dont matter too much. If youre not crippling yourself, I think its great motivation. If nothing comes of it, stay at the level youre at for a while longer, and afford yourself a few more shots. Makes it more fun for me! Taking shots and winning MTTs >>>>>>>>>>> grinding STTs for enjoying the game. Thats me though.

you seem to be a winning player so YES

In the past, I always played over my head and busted out my short rolls. Now, I am trying to not play anything above $6 until I have the appropriate roll. However, I am planning on playing cheap sats as my way of 'taking shots' at bigger games as opposed to buying in for $26 or whatever they cost.

screenname?
there's only 1 player i've seen who i'd say 'crushes' the 90 mans.

I don't think there is anything wrong with taking shots if you can handle it mentally.

Personaly...this approach doesn't work for me because I tend to attend too much to the higher stakes game and my smaller bi games suffer. One approach I found sucessful if I felt like taking a shot is just playing one table in a large field MTT. This will obviously help with hand reading and following the game flow. If your only going to do it once in a while this might help your chances of making a big score...and it'll give you a little edge over the regs 4-16 tabling.

Best of luck

Yeah, I take shots. When I played $5/$10 MTTs regularly I took shots at the $26 ones (and came third in the first I played, so I guess I run good). Now I take shots at higher, but only after a big winning day so I'm not too bothered when I bust. I say go for it.

I'm in the minority on this but I think taking shots is ******ed unless you have a really good reason to (i.e. you won a seat in a must-play satellite and even then I sell action). Poker is all about making decisions that have the highest expectation if they were applied over and over again; I feel that applies just as much to bankroll management as it does to in-game decisions.

Generally I agree, and I'm a bankroll nit who hangs onto 150-200 BIs for MTTs. However, since some people recommend 100 BI, maybe my "taking a shot" is different from somebody else's definition of taking a shot. Hmmm.

An occasional $36/180 or nightly $55 is hardly "taking a shot" IMO. All you are really doing by playing a few of these is increasing your ABI, which you should try to do if you are a winning player. If you play 98 $12/180s and 1 $36/180 and 1 $55 your ABI is still $12.67. You should do some experiementing with this and slowly increase your ABI up to $15 or so if you feel comfortable.

Maybe mix in some $27/45-mans since they can be soft.

edit:
Also you might try the occasional late night $77 turbo 6max or $109 turbo would be fine too (these are soft). I think 3.3k is enough. If you fall down below 2500 just grind the $12/180s again.

you should def be playing every 36 one eighty that runs. That being said get ready for the sick downswong that is coming!

i think taking a few shots is essential for a poker player. it gives you a lot more confidence in your regular games and if your able to make a score it will significantly increase your bankroll so next time you want to play one of the higher staked games it wont even be considered a shot since you are bankrolled for it.

I have to disagree with Billy here...I think that taking shots is a good idea for the vast majority of young poker players for the same reason I think it's a good idea to stir up working capital and start a business, even though you're going to end up broke/in debt/bankrupt a whole lot of the times that you do.

Because when the **** else are you going to do it if not while you're young?

its your avg buy in that counts, not just the actually buy in for a given mtt.

play 100 12 180s in a day and throw in a few 36's. it wont change the avg buy in very much at all.

I agree with Billy if someone is playing professionally, and I'm all for shot taking if you aren't. And playing a $55 with a 3.3k roll isn't much of a shot, seems fine to me.

tl:dr

when you guys take shots do your count all you BRs on different pokersites together?
for example you have 3k on stars and 2k on ftp, you think its okay to take a shot at a tourney u have 50 BIs for.

do you play $60 Buy in MTTs now on stars or $100 ?

edit: sorry for my really bad english

im all for taking shots. life changing money > w.e it is ur trying to win now

Depends how available your funds are for the other site, if you arent from US, I dont think it matters where your funds are, FTP or PS. You can transfer easily

I guess it depends on what your goals in poker/life are. Personally I never cared about changing my life by hitting the jackpot like Chris Moneymaker, or starting some business that allowed me to retire by 30. I just wanted to escape from being a broke student accumulating a ton of debt. Being bankrupt sucks. I never want to go back to having to sometimes tell my friends I can't do this or that because I don't have any money. I'd take having 100K to my name over being a millionaire 1/10 times and being flat broke 9/10 times, and it's not even close.

The vast majority of young poker players will have real jobs sooner or later and I don't see taking shots as having any value to such a person.

this, if you play 2 games a 12 180 and a 36 180 the average buyin is still 24 meaning gogo

Well if you play the main event and 99 BandiChime MTTs then your average buy-in is $100 but that doesn't mean you're using good BR management. If the logic of something breaks down when you take it to an extreme that usually means it wasn't great logic to begin with. I feel like the average buy-in thing is just an excuse to make a few -EV decisions but as long as most of your decisions are +EV then you'll be a winner.

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Also agree with Billy about the taking shots aspect - I've always figured that even tho i'm not super baller or anything, essentially I am not like 90% of my peers in school simply because I dont have any debt.