Tourney Buy-ins

[JaNnN 0]

Hi all,I've got a problem and I'm hoping some of you guys can help me with this.For the last few months/half year I've finally grasped the concept of playing winning online-poker.Since than I've been building my bankroll quite a bit in cashgames and in tournaments. Since this is just a hobby for fun there is no need to withdraw money so there's been a steady climb.I've got no problem buying in for a 1-2 nl game and pushing my stack when I feel I've got the best hand. When my opponent does have the worst hand and sucks out on me on the turn or the river I shrug it off and rebuy for an other 200.No problem and just typical cashgame play right?It's a whole different thing with tourneys. My roi over the last 2 months is around 180% whitch I'm pretty pleased with. The thing is I only play 3 and 5 dollar rebuys, 10 dollar freezeouts and the occasional 20 dollar 1 table S&G. I make the money over 50% of the time and take 'semi' large cash almost once a week so I'm doing something right...right?Then why am I to chickenshit to buy in any MTT larger than 20 dollars. In the last few months I've won 6 satalites trough 8 dollar double shootouts (and I only spend around a 100 bucks for all 6 of them) into the SundayMillion and I unregistered in all 6 of them. With the small tourneys that I play I'm still busy trying to finish the tourneydollars that Pokerstars refunds. I cashed a few hundred trough cashmanbrian tho.Has anyone else ever had this kind of barrier in tourney buy ins where you see the buyin as cash in stead of a method for means. My br is deep enough to even play 50 or 100 dollar tourneys comfortable but I dare not to play these kind of tourneys.Does anyone have advise on this matter?Jan

[Dogpatch 2]

Umm, time to take a shot? Not really a shot since you're rolled for it.Sorry I don't have more useful advice.

[CBass1724 1]

Sack up dude. The play is not that much better in the bigger buy in tournaments. It is still poker.

[JaNnN 0]

You know that's the problem,Mabey my confidence in tourneypoker isn't big enough in comparison cashgames.But I still think if I'm in the same tourneys as the highroller players I'll be the biggest donk at the table.Is there realy so little difference in the level of play between the microtourneys and the somewhat bigger ones?

[holdemdreamer 0]

i think because you say u play for recreational purposes you dont seem the need to go higher. And from what ur saying ur obviously doing something right if ur beating the cash games and regularly cashing in many tourneys. ( i personally love the $3 and $5 rebuys) i sometimes do this in heads up tourneys ill play 6 or $11 turbo head up and it seems im winning 75% od them but i never seem to go up to 20's-50's even if i have 1,000 in my account. although with the heads up along with the higher buy-in mtt's ur thinking of playing, the players will for the most part be playing better than before, I believe along with prolly most readers, u should in fact take a shot at some higher buy in mtt's if ur bankroll permits it. like i said it seems u are a winning player, and u have the roll, so go for it good luck and let us know how it works out for you

[psujohn 0]

Just to play devil's advocate ....if you play for fun and you're having fun and success at the levels you play why do you feel like you should move higher?

[Royal_Tour 0]

180% ROI and you DONT want to play the sunday mill??my god man, I'm not much of a MTT player, but even I know i'm better than the majority of the players and would love to play it every week.next time make sure your brag posts make sense

[MyPlayIsRAB 0]

are you gibler321's secodn account? he does the exact same thing and we cant figure out why

[Nickoli 0]

Jan,Hate to play devil's advocate... Why do your sharkscope.com FTP stats not at all reflect what you just wrote?Could be that sharkscope is off...Just curious.

[Royal_Tour 0]

Jan,Hate to play devil's advocate... Why do your sharkscope.com FTP stats not at all reflect what you just wrote?Could be that sharkscope is off...Just curious.

try a poker database that has MTT results

[Nickoli 0]

try a poker database that has MTT results

That would explain it... I see what you mean when I look at the pool sharkscope selects it games from on FTP. You know of a good MTT database?

[Royal_Tour 0]

That would explain it... I see what you mean when I look at the pool sharkscope selects it games from on FTP. You know of a good MTT database?

ya i knew. i cant friggin remember the site name now. and its driving me mad. i have horrible middle term memory.

[qyayqi 11]

http://www.officialpokerrankings.com/

[Royal_Tour 0]

http://www.officialpokerrankings.com/

tyhats it!i feel better now

[Royal_Tour 0]

Hmm, ok well i searched all sites wit hboth names, and the OP has a really crap record.pwned?/ i dunno. u be the judgehe says its been the past 2 months.. probably all at FCP's new site. which i dont think there is a way of viewing the stats for

[Nickoli 0]

Well, That could be.Pwned or not... if OP has been playing better over the last two months then that is great, but his previous history could explain why there is a psychological fear of moving up levels...</psychoanalysisament>

[TB17 0]

Hi Jann,I had a BIG problem as well like yours. My ROI was never as high as yours, and it still isn't, however I know what you are saying.People who say "Just take a shot" when it comes to online tournaments, they are DUMB. It's one thing to take a shot at 2-4 or 5-10, if you dont get there, you can learn. It's so much different from taking a shot at a higher tournament. Also it's one thing to "take a shot" when you feel you are ready, and another thing to take a shot just because you have the roll. The latters are non-profitable.From personal experience taking shots at tournaments make you scared, and it's so much different from a cash game, where you can leave at any time. If you don't play your A game in a cash game, you can easily find out and leave. If you are worried about the bubble or the big money in a tournament, most of the times you don't end up playing your A game in a tourney, and you end up playing scared and it's not profitable the vast majority of the time.What I'm trying to say is don't take a shot because you have the roll, and nobody here should be pressuring you. Take the shot when you feel you are ready, or get a backer that can take the loss without a problem. There are enough people willing to back upcoming players. If you play any part of a tourney scared, you've already lost. Take it from somoene who has taken "shots" before, and has only begun to get it back.

[no not baxter 0]

are you gibler321's secodn account? he does the exact same thing and we cant figure out why

not rly

[Royal_Tour 0]

Hi Jann,I had a BIG problem as well like yours. My ROI was never as high as yours, and it still isn't, however I know what you are saying.People who say "Just take a shot" when it comes to online tournaments, they are DUMB. It's one thing to take a shot at 2-4 or 5-10, if you dont get there, you can learn. It's so much different from taking a shot at a higher tournament. Also it's one thing to "take a shot" when you feel you are ready, and another thing to take a shot just because you have the roll. The latters are non-profitable.From personal experience taking shots at tournaments make you scared, and it's so much different from a cash game, where you can leave at any time. If you don't play your A game in a cash game, you can easily find out and leave. If you are worried about the bubble or the big money in a tournament, most of the times you don't end up playing your A game in a tourney, and you end up playing scared and it's not profitable the vast majority of the time.What I'm trying to say is don't take a shot because you have the roll, and nobody here should be pressuring you. Take the shot when you feel you are ready, or get a backer that can take the loss without a problem. There are enough people willing to back upcoming players. If you play any part of a tourney scared, you've already lost. Take it from somoene who has taken "shots" before, and has only begun to get it back.

Hi Teddy,YSAPthe end/

[James D 0]

Hmm, ok well i searched all sites wit hboth names, and the OP has a really crap record.pwned?/ i dunno. u be the judgehe says its been the past 2 months.. probably all at FCP's new site. which i dont think there is a way of viewing the stats for

Have there been any big tourneys at FCP recently? Just askin, I've never played in the poker room here.

[Teffy 0]

it appears that you are lacking something crucial.........oh ya:

[pocktdeuces 0]

Hi Jann,I had a BIG problem as well like yours. My ROI was never as high as yours, and it still isn't, however I know what you are saying.People who say "Just take a shot" when it comes to online tournaments, they are DUMB. It's one thing to take a shot at 2-4 or 5-10, if you dont get there, you can learn. It's so much different from taking a shot at a higher tournament. Also it's one thing to "take a shot" when you feel you are ready, and another thing to take a shot just because you have the roll. The latters are non-profitable.From personal experience taking shots at tournaments make you scared, and it's so much different from a cash game, where you can leave at any time. If you don't play your A game in a cash game, you can easily find out and leave. If you are worried about the bubble or the big money in a tournament, most of the times you don't end up playing your A game in a tourney, and you end up playing scared and it's not profitable the vast majority of the time.What I'm trying to say is don't take a shot because you have the roll, and nobody here should be pressuring you. Take the shot when you feel you are ready, or get a backer that can take the loss without a problem. There are enough people willing to back upcoming players. If you play any part of a tourney scared, you've already lost. Take it from somoene who has taken "shots" before, and has only begun to get it back.

Great post Teddy. I recently had two relatively large scores, and basically doubled my roll, and then doubled it again with the second score. I am now rolled for tourneys up to the nightly 100k on stars, but i just dont feel that comfortable playing there yet. A lot of people I have talked to have been telling me to move up, play higher limits, and i will have the same results there. I am just not so sure about this. I am relatively new to mtt's, and am somewhat unsure of how the play will differ at higher levels. I have decided to ease my way into the bigger buyins, mostly through playing satellites into tourneys like the sunday million and such. I like what you said about a backer too, because it would allow for someone to get used to the play at higher levels, hopefully without much risk to either themselves or the backer. My roi % is around the same as the OP's, and it feels great to have gotten it that high. But I still really feel like i need to move up very slowly, so that i am comfortable with the level i am playing at, and dont feel scared of the money at any time.

[TB17 0]

Hi Teddy,YSAPthe end/

omg HU for stacks.

[Highlow16 0]

I have an idea. Open 4 tournaments, 3 that are 4.40-10 buck range, and one thats $50 bucks. Scramble them on the screen so you dont know which is which and dont look at the lobbys. I dont know if this will work but hey, you never know.Ive never had a problem playing higher tournaments, my game isnt bothered by it. Cash games I have felt the squeeze alot more, the pressure alot more when im taking a shot. I dont know why but i guess its diff for everyone

[thehidden 0]

You know that's the problem,Mabey my confidence in tourneypoker isn't big enough in comparison cashgames.But I still think if I'm in the same tourneys as the highroller players I'll be the biggest donk at the table.Is there realy so little difference in the level of play between the microtourneys and the somewhat bigger ones?

I just wanted to reply to this before reading the rest...so my advice might be said already.The confidence issue...if you are happy with your play, be happy and confident as a POKER player, not just a cash game specialist or a ABC low limit tourny player, but as an over all poker player, it might help level the playing field in your mind and allow you to have the confidence to play proper in a big tourny. I used to do this at PP and turned 50 bucks into an almost final table during their old 200K guaranteed (finished 15th)in my limited experience in large buy in toruny's the play is a bit different, but you just have to be more aware, and pay attention more, it's no longer just ABC poker.These are just my opinions i could be wronggl and TID!!