Hi, I have a few questions that I can't answer myself, and for that reason I'm asking y'all with the hope of getting answers to them. Thanks in advance!

I'm a cash player who also occasionally plays tournaments with some success. I already beat nl5 zoom and now I'm doing the same with nl10z after a long pause, but I want to switch to tournaments temporarily for many reasons. One of them is that I'm a lucky guy who believes that he will soon win a large amount of money from tournaments. Another reason is that I don't like to grind poker anymore and also i dont like the game as a main source of income, and it's not good for my mental health. Therefore, my goal is to rob a one or few tournaments and invest the money in an entrepreneurial activity. I also like being sober. The problem is that I don't know how to proceed in this case.

I intend to participate in the Spring Championship with 1 week left to clear the leaks in my game. As a cash player, I've had a hard time adjusting to tournament play, but I've been making some progress lately.
I still have more to learn.
But I don't want to play poker for another week (2 total), but work on my game. However, I don't know if I will be able to make significant progress without practicing and applying what I learn. I realize that the time is not long and I want to use it optimally, but if possible without playing poker. I'm also open to advice on alternative methods of learning without practice.

Thank you for your time and attention!

Wow, I didn't realise it was so easy to just jump into tourneys, grab a few big scores quickly and retire from the grind. Just how lucky do you intend to be?

But seriously, tournaments and cash games are different beasts and require different skill sets. If someone said to you they were tired of the tourney grind and intended to study cash for a week so they could jump into nosebleed stakes for a week and win enough to start a business, what would you say to them?

So the plan is too make easy money playing MTT's? Sounds like a plan destined to fail. Good luck just the same.


Cheers!!!

Thank you!

Maybe I'm a bit overconfident, but the fact that most low and mid stakes players are weak + a few recent final tables in 1000+ man tournaments made me want to try something adventurous. I know I have leaks and I no longer believe that I will be able to clear them in such a short time, no matter how hard I study. However, the truth is that I want to retire from poker with more money ASAP and cash games will not be useful for that purpose. I'm confused...

Seriously though a few final tables or even when your first 10 Tourneys are top 20 finishes there's no easy money in poker. I thought I was well on my way. Back then it was also a lot easier then it is now as there was just oceans and oceans of terrible players.....there's now less. I went on too have a rather meh to ok MTT winnings. I did a lot better playing micro/low stakes cash as a made good extra money each year(for stakes played) and paid for my MTT habit/dreams. Considering I was only playing micro/low stakes cash.

I meant the good luck btw way wasn't being sarcastic. I just know from 15+ years experience being a winning player at poker and cashing it out to spend isn't easy even at micro/low stakes. Being good enough at poker is the easy part though. It's dealing the variance(much higher in MTT's), being mental tough and bankroll/life management that's the hardest part. Most people simply don't have enough of them skills, talents or abilities to succeed when times get tough. It's basically not much different then running business. Most people can't do that either and fail at it.

EDIT: I'm personally thinking going back to playing more MTT's after playing the odd couple the last 2 weeks. Got the itch again and cash is starting to feel meh/grind again.


Cheers!!!

You say there is no easy money in poker but I know someone who won over 1 million from a tournament but he is recreational, mediocre player at best. And there are many more such cases.

Why do I have to grind cash games every day, paying high rake and feel the negative effects of it on my social life and mental health? I just don't have the passion and desire to grind poker every day anymore and want to retire but with a large amount of money. This can happen with one big hit in tournament. The variation is huge but I believe in my hard work, discipline and will, and I know I can do it despite that. Good luck to you!

Cheers!

High rake.....stop playing at GG poker problem solved. I don't even think about rake at Pokerstars. Lots of guys think that way. It's basically no different then trying to hit the lottery some get lucky and hit the big win(majority don't and never do). Yeah it's easy right up until you realize you haven't had a decent cash in months or over a year. It won't seem very easy then.

Why grind cash all day? I never did as I never enjoyed or liked cash much either and never saw a point in grinding hours and hours. If one is gonna do that may as well get a real job. But playing a little to make my MTT's basically free.....hell yeah that's only smart business.


Cheers!!!

BSG you really are overestimating how easy it is to win a big score at an MTT. Suppose you are playing a tournament with 1024 entrants. This is oversimplified but to win such a tournament you must double up 10 times. Suppose you are actually the greatest poker player of all time and you can get all in with an 80-20 edge every time (equivalent roughly to you having AA vs villain with KK). Under those assumptions you would have a 10.7% chance of winning the tournament.

I can assure you; you will never play a tournament where you will only have 80-20 edges. A top level pro player would never be able to do so. An average player would have a 1/1024 chance of winning the tournament. Even if you are significantly better than that, your chance of winning that big score is likely about 1% or less.

Obviously that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t play or that you won’t be able to play profitably over the long term. It does mean that the person you knew who won a tournament got lucky. If you win a tournament you would be lucky. Hell, a top level pro who wins the WSOP ME got lucky. The top level players just don’t need to get quite as lucky as the lesser players do, but anyone who wins a tournament got lucky. You may win one, but as a retirement plan, it’s not really all that great. After all you could say the same thing about a Powerball ticket - “I might get lucky and win big so I can retire”. The only real difference is that MTTs are +EV long term if you are a good enough player.

stremba70 nailed and said it better then I could.

I could also go to write a novel on my 13 year MTT experiences specially when it comes to online. You need a lot of luck and a lot of depends on the timing of when you get good hands. Doesn't make it any easier that most sites make most MTT/SnG's turbo or fast. Adding tons more luck into the equation needed to win. Freaking garbage bingo. Give me a 10 min or deep stake MTT any day of the week twice on Sunday. I also don't mind 6 player MTT's with 8 mins blinds and above. Anything below that is just MTT bingo in my opinion.


Cheers!!!

I understand what you wrote and appreciate your opinion. However, for someone like me who wants to retire from poker with more money as soon as possible, cash games are not the answer. I plan to play until I reach my goal and then stop. I hope you understand me too.

Well welcome too the MTT grind. In some ways it's worse then the cash grind. RE-read your op. Looking forward to playing a few upcoming SCOOP events myself. The MTT dream never dies.


Cheers!!!

Absolutely I understand you. I’m just very skeptical that you will reach your goal. That was the point of what I posted. It is very unlikely that ANYONE will win a large amount of money by winning a MTT. No matter how good you are, you have to get very lucky to win one. Play enough of them and yes, you likely will win one. But how much will you pay in buy ins before you do so?

It just isn’t as easy as you seem to think it is, but good luck.

Thank you!

You've gotten some excellent advice here, most notably from Stremba70. I'll add a different perspective to the discussion.

Go for it. The worst that can happen is you'll fail. No big deal if you're young enough to move on. At least you won't live out your life wondering "what if...?"

When I got out of college 50 years ago, I was into horse betting. I spent a couple of years making a living at the track, but eventually hit a rough patch and had to get a real job. I have NEVER regretted my decision to try.

The other question I have is what happens if you catch lightning in a bottle and win those millions on your first try? Do you have the discipline to walk away?

Just asking.

In February I stopped eating for 14 days, so I probably have the discipline.

I no longer have passion and love for the game, I only play it for the winnings. I am also aware of the negative impact it has on my health and life and I would not for the world continue to play if I hit the jackpot on it.

I imagine trying to win enuf $ playing 10nl zoom to retire wood b exhausting.

I fully support yer idea to shoot yer wad at tournamints as you are a lucky person and that ackshually counts 4 alot contrary too what everyone in this thread is saying

Go find Jeff Boski's video on youtube about becoming a MTT pro.
It is a very realistic summary with no sugar coating. Very valuable......

I'm aware that playing poker professionally is a horrible, degrading job, whether it's cash or tournaments. I'm trying to do the impossible at the SCOOP and disappear. Whatever happens i will retire but at least i will know i tried.

Just win one more cash game pot and then retire from poker. BAM, retired from poker with more money as soon as possible. Goal achieved.

Wow you seem to have a pretty bad opinion of poker playing and poker players in general that's really too bad and a shame. While I can understand one having that opinion if all one does is watch high stakes poker for length of time I can assure you there are plenty of decent, good and friendly people who play poker for a living and extra money. You just don't see those people much at the nosebleed levels.

Poker can be a great, fun and enjoyable hobby that can be made very inexpensive or that one can actually make some money off each year. The vast majority of people have hobbies they know going in they'll never have a chance to make a bit of extra money doing or potentially make a living doing.

So yeah most of use aren't what you see on TV. Don't judge the majority of us by the less then 7% you see on TV and playing nosebleeds. Most of us are actually likely pretty decent good people. Anyways good luck with SCOOP. I haven't done so well this time only played a couple events. I'm over on GG playing a few lower stake WF events this weekend. Couldn't resist.


Cheers!!!

counterpoint:

aint wat a perfessional gambooler does

You put two separate quotes together from two different posts without considering the context in order to discredit me. I wonder what kind of person would do that... Don't you have something else to do instead of trolling in my thread?