AMT's blog

I really think that aspiring MTT grinders should let this sink in for a moment. I’ll have more to say about the topic in future posts, but for now, I’ll acknowledge that MTTs are fun and awesome. After all, you get to play at all stack depths, against all player types, and you get the adrenaline rush of deep runs and final tables when you happen to get some luck running your way. But there’s another side to it.

In the end, if you are determined to select just one type/structure of game to grind, for big field MTTs, the negatives outweigh the positives. Variance in MTTs is unequivocally worse than in any other form of poker. The meat of it is, your big downswings come across as a series of 10, 20, 30, 50, 100k equity losses at a time. You will make tons of final tables and go out 9th and 8th over, and over, and over, and watch thousands slip out of your grasp because you just couldn’t win that last coinflip. You will watch grinders that are pretty clearly playing worse than you are, that are ranked and have made hundreds of thousands more than you, more because they’ve had a rush of positive variance at the most opportune times. You will have to put in a lot of long, losing sessions, every single month. This is what you have to look forward to in the MTT grind.

The fact is, the vast majority of people that exist in the world are not able to deal with this. Every single person would have the biological makeup and natural given right to be upset when this type of thing happens, but when it happens the way that it does, in the extreme nature which it does, it’s just going to be too much for most people to handle. To shake off and come back to the tables the next day playing a 6-12 hour session of your “A” and “B” game at worst. After all, people play this game to make money, right? It’s almost psychologically counter intuitive when it comes to thinking about the time and effort that you spend losing at your job. I’ve battled this with my 3rd multiple-final table session over a 2 week period where I have yet to make anything happen.

This is why it’s really, really important, in my opinion, to maintain some other interests within poker if you aspire to put in time at MTTs. Whether it be SNGs of some variant, or certain cash games, I think that there are a couple of extreme benefits that should not go unrecognized:

a) Playing the one game will help you to play the other one well-

The strategic benefits of studying and practicing more than one poker structure/game have been emerging time and again. Tons of good players play PLO and NL, LHE and NLH, or NL specialists that master all structures and facets of the game, be it tournaments, cash games, short handed, full ring, etc… Playing one is just going to make you think harder and play better all around, and also expose you to tons more information about the games.

b) Balance is healthy

Leaving one game for short periods leaves you less prone to burnout. Juggling 2 or more games really forces you to keep balance in your study and play habits for all of the games of interest. You’ll keep putting in volume and studying and keep an interest in one game or another, leaving you on that continuous cycle toward poker excellence.

c) Networking

Forums are amazing. Videos help. But the fact is, I owe everything to my thinking and playing of poker well to others in conjunction with my own hard work. I’ve made tons of friends in passing and contacts in the poker community, and I have to say, I’ve probably learned something from every single one of them at some point or another. Some more than others, but it just seems that every single new perspective on anything poker related is so valuable, even if it turns out to be completely misguided or just plain dead wrong. Knowing how or why others think the way that they do, again, even if you disagree with it, just sheds light on every angle to every facet of this game….and who knows? You might actually figure out that you were wrong about something. I know that I have, and I know that I wouldn’t have met half the people that I did if I didn’t step outside of my tournament world for a minute or three every now and again.

I guess my parting words are, if you want to dig into MTTs, keep it within a balanced regiment of whatever other game(s) of interest lie in your poker realm. If you love the game, you’ll put in the time…but hopefully without quite as much of the mental (and yes, even very physical) anguish that an 80 hr/week MTTer puts themselves through. Good luck on the grind!

Also, in case you felt that this post was not worth your time reading, here’s a fun hand that I played against a reg in one of the $163 freezeouts I FT’d this week (double grt. week on FTP ftmfw):

Full Tilt Poker $120,000 Guarantee No Limit Hold’em Tournament – t1200/t2400 Blinds + t300 – 8 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

SB: t99765 M = 16.63
BB: t55286 M = 9.21
UTG: t102909 M = 17.15
UTG+1: t43270 M = 7.21
MP1: t62243 M = 10.37
MP2: t87550 M = 14.59
CO: t50788 M = 8.46
Hero (BTN): t121323 M = 20.22

Pre Flop: (t6000) Hero is BTN with 8 K
5 folds, Hero raises to t5835, SB requests TIME, SB calls t4635, 1 fold

Flop: (t16470) 4 6 J (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets t7860, SB requests TIME, SB calls t7860

Turn: (t32190) 4 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero requests TIME, Hero bets t17125, SB calls t17125

River: (t66440) 9 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero requests TIME, Hero bets t90203 all in, SB requests TIME, SB folds

Final Pot: t66440
Hero wins t66440