how the F do you play every single donkament in existence then get big scores outta them?

in terms of donkamenting gawdmode: you >>> Clayton >>>whoever won Sunday Mill this week >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>..everyone else

say cheese and die ftw imo, i loved those books

surprisingly donkaments are actually a skill game

maybe it's outdated, but my understanding of donkaments is that at FT, blinds are generally so big vs stack sizes that it's a short-donker-ment basically :/ (and throughout most mid levels typically 20-30bb stacks)

k, it'll be on the que after I finish my current series

you'd prob also like "Elfen Lied" (13 episodes, pretty violent)

still takes like a million years in live donkaments to even out though

in online tournaments thats definitely the case, but it's definitely a skill game in the same sense that SNGs are a skill game, there are players out there who make decisions way better than anyone else and their results show after tons of volume, however the MTT environment is very conducive to players whose results are far better/worse than their skill level indicates because the structures are all so crap-shooty.

someone with a 10k bankroll might win a couple tournaments for $50k and accordingly play the highstakes stuff with a breakeven/losing ROI, so apply the variance simulators and it could take a really long time before that player realizes that their own skillset isn't a good investment.

you can see how throwing all of these things together makes for a sh*tload of breakeven poker players infesting the MTT economy, and the resulting riches that come to people who are really good and put in a ton of volume. all of these breakeven players see themselves as people who could potentially have that six-figure score, and these same players will be quick to blame the voodoo forces of high-variance when they get into massive makeup.

----

now take this entire discussion and throw it to the live arena, where the blind levels are really slow and the effective stacksizes are really deep for most of the tournament. the breakeven players in this format are significantly less skilled at NLHE theory & shortstack play, are way more likely to be degen, and are way more likely to have deep-seeded incorrect assumptions about poker in general. this analogy runs all the way to the top, where a lot of the "Boss Live MTT grinder pros" in reality have the exact same fundamental NLHE skillset as your average 2/4 successful full ring nit grinder. There are exceptions to this rule, obviously, but I'm just noting that someone with KOC's NLHE skillset is going to have an absurd chipEV winrate against any lineup.

the problem in all of this for most normal people (ie MSNLers) is utility. the best structures and the best ROI's come with the biggest buyins. nobody makes tournaments with really slow structures and deep stacks on the internet (we're talking comparable to live 10ks) besides the biggest-buyin FTOPS and WCOOP events, so to maximize your value you have to have a lot of cash on hand.

so most MSNLers probably dont have a big enough bankroll to handle the swings of 10k tournaments, and most MSNLers probably arent going to want to sell action while spending hundreds/thousands of dollars on travel costs. I tried this for the first 3 months of 2010, and while it was fun I would definitely not recommend it unless you have the bankroll to play 25/50, because I had to sell action while paying full price for my travel accommodations.

regarding my level of MTT godmoding, I dont think I'm anything special, I think I just adjust to live opponents a little better and know how to shortstack a little better and I'm a little more patient. a lot of MSNLers dont know how to shortstack @ all or are too prone to spewing in live MTTs because emptying the clip in level 2 is the cool thing to do.

the last random thing about online MTTs and why they suck is how the variance applies to real-life earnings. if you're a cashgame grinder, you can guarantee a certain % of the time you're going to have a monthly nut that you can depend on to withdraw for living costs and investments. online MTTs you can go months at a time without making ANYTHING (being in red/makeup) and then getting a $50k score to pull ahead $10k in the black or something. Try having that level of swinginess/depravity while having bills to pay, it's pretty goddam hard. A lot of the people doing that these days benefited from running really good at the start or are in backing deals where the backer gives the horse something like $3000 a month regardless of results so the horse has dinner on the table, and that's if you're one of the best horses in the stable. Some horses are just SOL, and a select few of those horses resort to stealing from their backer!

/MTT essay

too much tourney talk ITT. jk, good stuff clay

simple solution, win your buy in+ accomodations in the soft cash games at the tourney before the ME

ya sorry for such a long essay, i just wanted to respond to Reefy's post and then just sorta kept writing.

the main point to get out of it is that big live tournaments play like a cashgame for a very long time (whereas online tournaments are generally shortstacker-esque), and anyone who is very good at NLHE will destroy them in their current state.

if you want to become a live MTT boss, the best route is a la luckychewy/KOC and just become a boss of NL cash to the point that 10k buyins aint no thing.

or you could just score 7 figs from the get go

yeah but he's LUCKY

no im just kidding its a clusterfck

however I will win one of these things in the next year imo

I lost a 1/4 of my traveling bankroll on the first night of my australian/NZ trip over the summer when I get it in with the nizzles three with bottom set and then got 4 outed for ~5k pot.

Didn't play/couldn't play again lol



Also - any cash gamers at EPT snowfest.. Cashy? I see thefan and mattidm signed up

I was thinking about going but trying to combine poker and skiing into one vacation seems kind of dumb although I guess it would be pretty cool to be able to book the whole week and know you have something to do if you bust on day 1.

how good is 50% from the freethrow line 1-handed? average or a little above? it seems easy but in reality it can be hard to stay balanced. fwiw can't hold it with your left hand then let go at the last second.

with enough practice you could hustle the **** out of some friends in the coming months

ahh, the benefits of being a hustla' with a broken arm

Over how many?

30

I'd guess average.

MSNL/HSNL 20k sq. ft. 2 pool mansion in Acapulco starting in T-48 hours...

www.mexicomansion.com

lol wow. who's in it?

the whales vagina crew

Good post Clayton.

Me, Teejay, Tommyhawkers, MrTEA, bikiniwax, seer, lior, 5-6 of the SD/LA crew

want to bet on ND, who wants a sweat for the first game?

how long are you guys staying there? 2k/day?