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(4 votes) 
To me MTTs are tough because lots of variance and I have an 8-month old son and a busy schedule so sitting down for long hours at a time to play tournaments can be hard. Cash lets me get in, grind, and be done. Money is good too.
Just curious if you guys think MTTs are more fun, less difficult, or why you like to focus on them and not cash games?
TPE Management
March 17, 2010
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I find them more fun and the rush of late stage tourneys is addictive. I get bored playing cash.
TPE Management
April 6, 2010
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I wish i had a better answer other than “it's what I enjoy”. I've tried playing cash, and just do not get the same level of enjoyment out of it.
Its the competition for me, nothing better than battling through a large field and makiing a FT and hopefully taking it down. Either that or I'm a sucker for punishment.
The “big score” is the draw for me. As well as the competition and changes in the game as it progresses.
i do play cash sometimes, but just like RFB and KB said its what we enjoy and def a rush once u go deep. I like the challenge of it also nothing like saying u were the best in that tourney. plus in cash ur $$ can come and go very quick. but in ur case not having the time, maybe cash is best for u. gl at the tables
June 11, 2010
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For me I will sit at a cash table if I don't have a lot of time or I am looking to work on a specific aspect of my game (not specifically tourney related). But for me I think the alure of a tournament is the phenomena reward vs. investment and knowing that on a given day you outlasted and played better than hundred if not thousands (and even tens of thousands) of other players to establish you were the best 🙂 It makes my ego all warm and fuzzy 
July 3, 2010
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I don't play cash anymore because the midstakes game have gotten infinitely harder and a few expenses over the past couple years have reduced what I can throw into poker at the moment.
I don't want to play anything less than 100 nl but I also want to be properly rolled for it which for me would be 60+ buy-ins.
Plus the allure of satelliting into a major and hitting a 5 figure score is quite awesome and I like playing tournaments the more I keep going.
October 6, 2010
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i like playing tournaments because i feel i am more disciplined in them.
in cash games, i was a bit of a spewtard – if half of my stack was in the middle because of the double barrel that got called, i would pretty much desperation shove just about every time. in tourneys i feel i am a lot more disciplined because i cant just reload.
Good posts guys! I think I would play more tourneys if time allowed, but hey what can ya do. Anyways I think short stacked cash games are a good bridge for tourney people learning cash with stack sizes more like what you're used to playing with. But you rarely get the rush from cash that you do from a deep tourney run, I guarantee it…but at least not the agony of a bubble suckout against you either! 🙂
From what I've seen I think community and friendship is a factor…say you have a group of friends all taking your shot in the Sundays, and whoever busts can cheer on those getting deep, etc. Not the same thing in cash where you go back after a session and say “hey guys I won four buyins!” Just not the same thing! I'm guessing a lot of you guys have a lot of poker friends who also play tourneys, giving you a community of support, etc?
October 6, 2010
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gobsmacked1 said:
Good posts guys! I think I would play more tourneys if time allowed, but hey what can ya do. Anyways I think short stacked cash games are a good bridge for tourney people learning cash with stack sizes more like what you're used to playing with. But you rarely get the rush from cash that you do from a deep tourney run, I guarantee it…but at least not the agony of a bubble suckout against you either! 🙂
From what I've seen I think community and friendship is a factor…say you have a group of friends all taking your shot in the Sundays, and whoever busts can cheer on those getting deep, etc. Not the same thing in cash where you go back after a session and say “hey guys I won four buyins!” Just not the same thing! I'm guessing a lot of you guys have a lot of poker friends who also play tourneys, giving you a community of support, etc?
fair point – unless you are brian townsend, you dont really bink a big cash game score 😀
FkCoolers said:
I don't play cash anymore because the midstakes game have gotten infinitely harder and a few expenses over the past couple years have reduced what I can throw into poker at the moment.
I don't want to play anything less than 100 nl but I also want to be properly rolled for it which for me would be 60+ buy-ins.
Plus the allure of satelliting into a major and hitting a 5 figure score is quite awesome and I like playing tournaments the more I keep going.
This is a really good point…games from 100NL – 400NL have really gotten exponentially worse in terms of how tough they are in the past year I would say.
Have tourneys gotten noticably a lot tougher in the same period of time or not as much?
July 3, 2010
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I think the high stakes mtt's have gotten much tougher. I feel like most mtt's $50 and below are still filled with many fish.
June 22, 2010
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I play MTTs because it is challenging, a lot more comes into play with the meta game. Plus it is a great way to practice poker without loosing a lot. If you make it to a final table the payout can be great compared to the initial buyin. I do enjoy cash games but I play those quick and dirty to build my bankroll for MTTs. What I loose in MTT buyins I grind back in cash.
"Your either in Sheen's Korner or your with the trolls."
I like to mix in a combination of both cash and tourneys. Cash in most cases is a lot more consistent for me and I think thats why i gravitate towards it, but I agree there is nothing like final tabling a tourney!!
October 6, 2010
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i find i can multitable a lot more tourneys because it is much more about preflop play. and a lot of the time it is full ring, wheras full ring cash has to be the nittiest thing ever.
i also think my preflop fundamentals are a lot better than my postflop, so it is probably why i am doing better in tourneys atm.
June 25, 2010
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Well tourneys are way more exciting. I just started a prop bet with a friend on wether or not I could make $1k at .25/.50 6-max this week. 2,500 hands in and I can say cash is a huge grind, where you are constantly forced to light 4-bet and extract super thin value to be profitable against other regs. The fish are still fishy, there are just not enough of them for you to be able to relax and put it on auto-pilot if you want to beat the rake(which is a lot).
bennymacca said:
i find i can multitable a lot more tourneys because it is much more about preflop play. and a lot of the time it is full ring, wheras full ring cash has to be the nittiest thing ever.
i also think my preflop fundamentals are a lot better than my postflop, so it is probably why i am doing better in tourneys atm.
Well if this is true it makes sense, especially since postflop play is a huge part of the game when you're 100bb+ deep but in tourneys so often your stack doesn't allow for much postflop play.
jshilling09 said:
Well tourneys are way more exciting. I just started a prop bet with a friend on wether or not I could make $1k at .25/.50 6-max this week. 2,500 hands in and I can say cash is a huge grind, where you are constantly forced to light 4-bet and extract super thin value to be profitable against other regs. The fish are still fishy, there are just not enough of them for you to be able to relax and put it on auto-pilot if you want to beat the rake(which is a lot).
Yes, rake sucks but obviously more at lower stakes. I don't think you necessarily have to light 4bet a ton or get crazy with preflop antics to win vs regs especially at 50NL, but postflop play is huge and finding thin value like you mentioned. Saying cash is a grind is funny though because to me as a tourney player aren't most of your sessions losing sessions? I am not used to having that happen, I am used to winning money in like 60-65% of my sessions or whatever, where in tourneys aren't most of your days losing ones? To me that would make it more of a grind if you're trying to grind out a living like I do.
October 6, 2010
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usually if you are a 6-12 tabler (i personally play 6-8), you will be pretty deep in at least one of the tourneys at any one time (except for right at the start), so this seems to hold my interest even if it is a losing session.
contrast this to cash – if i win a buyin on 1 table but lose 2 buyins elsewhere, i am still thinking i am down 1 buyin.
cash is an immediate reward/penalty, but that lure of grinding the short stack and storming home for a big score is enough to keep me focused even if am having a bad day.
June 25, 2010
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Yeah I don't think something being a grind has anything to do with wether you win or lose more often. Most of my tourney sessions are losing sessions (80-90% I would guess) but it's not a grind. The game is constantly changing as the blinds increase and the bubble come into play. Cash is the same thing all the time. Oh and i saw i wrote the bet was for this week, but it's actually for the month. I think i have it in the bag though, so I will give you my updated thoghts on cash games after i win this bet 2 weeks into the month
July 3, 2010
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jshilling09 said:
Yeah I don't think something being a grind has anything to do with wether you win or lose more often. Most of my tourney sessions are losing sessions (80-90% I would guess) but it's not a grind. The game is constantly changing as the blinds increase and the bubble come into play. Cash is the same thing all the time. Oh and i saw i wrote the bet was for this week, but it's actually for the month. I think i have it in the bag though, so I will give you my updated thoghts on cash games after i win this bet 2 weeks into the month
The prop doesn't include rakeback, right? 20 buy-ins profit in a month is a lot. If I were your friend I'd have made really strict rules to this bet like …
You need to play a minimum of X hands per day (and I'd set it kind of high so if you reach $1,000 you can't just turn on auto-fold for 100 hands) and if you reach $1,000 at some point midmonth you cannot stop playing as downswings are inevitable. If he didn't think that through enough then good for you, I say!
I can't even count the number of months where I grinded cash and started off great only to finish break even or whatever.
20 buyins isn't ridiculous at all if you're a proven winner at that level or a level above it…also if on Full Tilt you could play Rush making it soooo easy to get in enough hands to win 20 buyins.
July 3, 2010
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It's not ridiculous but it's not a standard month, either. And you can easily run below expectation in any given month so it's a good little prop to make.
Rush will definitely get you the hand requirement but full ring is a nit fest and you'll get your share of coolers. 6 Max rush is ok but I'd rather 8 table and have stats.
FkCoolers said:
It's not ridiculous but it's not a standard month, either. And you can easily run below expectation in any given month so it's a good little prop to make.
Rush will definitely get you the hand requirement but full ring is a nit fest and you'll get your share of coolers. 6 Max rush is ok but I'd rather 8 table and have stats.
You can have stats in 6max rush. 8-tabled 6max rush last month 🙂
July 3, 2010
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I must be doing it wrong – I thought Rush tables were capped at 4 tables max.
Can you PM me about this, please? I'm an HEM donk and cash games are giving me a tough time in general.
FkCoolers said:
I must be doing it wrong – I thought Rush tables were capped at 4 tables max.
Can you PM me about this, please? I'm an HEM donk and cash games are giving me a tough time in general.
You can have 4 per limit…I 4 tabled 100NL and 200NL, or 50NL and 100NL, for instance.
RonFezBuddy said:
I find them more fun and the rush of late stage tourneys is addictive. I get bored playing cash.
When I read this thread title I thought the same thought. I only play cash in a live setting with known friends/villans.
June 25, 2010
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I feel like 4-tabling rush would make my head explode, plus having some meta-game going with the guy on my right is always a blast. 🙂
July 3, 2010
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jshilling09 said:
I feel like 4-tabling rush would make my head explode, plus having some meta-game going with the guy on my right is always a blast. 🙂
Yeah but you make like $1000 in rakeback per day haha…
gobsmacked1 said:
FkCoolers said:
I must be doing it wrong – I thought Rush tables were capped at 4 tables max.
Can you PM me about this, please? I'm an HEM donk and cash games are giving me a tough time in general.
You can have 4 per limit…I 4 tabled 100NL and 200NL, or 50NL and 100NL, for instance.
When I put in a decent stretch of rush I found it incredible annoying, everyone was a nit and I was always up against sets with my big PP and QQ seemed like it always ran into AA and KK.
Not sure how you do it profitable.
McGobbler said:
gobsmacked1 said:
FkCoolers said:
I must be doing it wrong – I thought Rush tables were capped at 4 tables max.
Can you PM me about this, please? I'm an HEM donk and cash games are giving me a tough time in general.
You can have 4 per limit…I 4 tabled 100NL and 200NL, or 50NL and 100NL, for instance.
When I put in a decent stretch of rush I found it incredible annoying, everyone was a nit and I was always up against sets with my big PP and QQ seemed like it always ran into AA and KK.
Not sure how you do it profitable.
Well full ring rush can be incredibly annoying, you just have to play really tight and pick a few good spots to squeeze and 3bet light and just get a ton of money in preflop with your big hands and be careful postflop when people take lines that look like sets, they usually have them!
6max Rush is also high variance but it is more aggressive. Can be tough be can definitely be profitable. I'm up about 15k in 3months at just rush games, though I've run a bit over expectation.
so Why are you in this forum. What are you doing in a tournament training site if cash games are so profitable for you?
I've got two young kids and I can sympathise about the time constraints. I rarely play the 'massive' MTTs and generally multi table 2-10 table turbos. These suit once the kids have gone to bed and usually give me 1-5 hrs of play. My addicition with these relate to the escalating levels, dynamic flow of hand-ranges with stack sizes and position, the ability to ramp up aggro when the antes kick in and the adrenaline rush of HU play for a relatively 'big carrot'! I'm also a stats nut, so i like acquiring data on my opponents and retrospectively analysing trends etc…(although you can do this for cash games).
I do play live cash games at the cas, and i've found that tournament play/strategy/mental conditioning has made these bricks and mortar games highly profitable…. almost to the point where these games are somewhat 'stress-free'!
When playing tourney's you are 'one the knife's edge' as a lapse in concentration, or 'brain fart', can send you home… so in my opinion they force you to develop a thick 'teflon-coated' skin that you can wear with pride in more casual live cashies!
TheDonk1970 said:
so Why are you in this forum. What are you doing in a tournament training site if cash games are so profitable for you?
Trying to improve my 20-40bb play.
June 1, 2012
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I dont tilt as hard if I get 1 outtered in a mtt Ive been grinding for 6 hrs with a 55$ bi,
but If Ive been grinding a cash table for 6 hrs and am up say bi was 100bb, and am at 400ish bb deep, and walk into another 400ish bb deep stack and get 1 outtered I wanna smash my PC 🙂
This is why I am transitioning into mtts :p
It's all in how I approach the game and should really just build up mental muscle so beats dont affect me that much, but F we are all human.
If I had no emotions man Id be boring as Fck.
Now it would be really really cool to finally learn how to put all emotions aside completely win or loose when playing poker, but again SUPER DIFFICULT!
i actually currently play both, up to $10/$20 NL and $2/$5/$10 PLO, as well as MTTs.
i like cash games and live ones are ridiculously soft usually. MTTs have gotten harder but still hard to beat big pay days for playing $55 buy ins (sometimes even less). i'm sure i'm up more lifetime playing MTTs online but still enjoy both
August 10, 2012
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when was the last time you sat with $1000 – $1500 on monday and on friday had $250k…..minimum risk for maximum reward……
I look up to pro MTT grinders more than I do high stake pro cash game players, not exactly sure why.
February 1, 2013
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I play both cash & MTT's live and online. I prefer rush online for cash though. But why I love MTT's much much more is because I think the ever changing strategies throught the journey of the tourney is what holds the allure and attraction. I hate it sooooo much when I know I've not changed gears when I should have through a tourney. So there is an element of pure learning required. But changing gears is not a concept that really occurs in cash games.
Winners FIND a WAY
April 16, 2013
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I've been playing a lot more cash than tourneys recently due to it being the summer and I want to have evenings free and not be constrained to sitting inside on the very few sunny days we have. I live in Ireland though and this weather will disappear soon and I can get back on the tournament grind. Its silly really but I just can't focus when its really nice outside.
Playing cash games helps a lot for postflop play in tournaments and switching my game every few months stops me from feeling burnt out or bored of whatever game I've been grinding
July 12, 2013
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I tried cash game and yea it bores me to tears. Sometimes I get bored in Mtt’s but all I have to do is look at the payout table to get me excited about a high score again. Id rather take my $11k and try and bink a very deep run in the Sunday majors. That’s just about a whole years worth of Sunday Millions to try and get it. If you even get 1 score in the top 3 or 4 its worth it.
That’s why we play MTT’S sir 🙂
Grow some Balls and get it in
May 31, 2012
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bigheaddave said:
when was the last time you sat with $1000 – $1500 on monday and on friday had $250k…..minimum risk for maximum reward……
That never happened to me! How about you?
Usually in MTTs it happens like this: $1000-1500 on monday and $500 on friday
I've been playing poker since 2003 and I've tried to switch to cashgames twice a year lol. In the longrun I make about the same $/h in MTTs as I do in cashgames, it's just that cash feels like a job. You sit there for hours, nothing is happening and you grind out every single dollar. In MTTs there is at least the excitement of the bubble, the FT, ICM etc. .. even though I'm much more restricted with my time when playing tournaments as opposed to cash.
The biggest benefit of MTTs is probably the fact that you can hit a big score if it is YOUR day. That stuff can never happen in cashgames. Sure, you can win a couple of BIs and feel like god. But compare that with a win in an anniversary sunday million. Or you satellite your way into the WSOP ME and make it to the November 9. Stuff like that can set you up for life
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