Online tournaments

Does anyone else think online tournaments above 18 people are a waste of time. I have came within 10 people of the money the last 7 times. It just seems like a push fest towards the end.

No, I don't think they are a waste of time. It's just about getting a big chip stack early so you can tighten up when you get near the final table and only play with premium hands and hopefully crack the short stacks.

Agreed, play a good solid game early so that when the pressure comes on at the end you can sit back and wait for the good hands . Then you can hopefully take a few out that are shoving with little or nothing. Of course even then you going to run into hitches and hit the odd bad beat , but im sure you would rather have KK when someone shoves with K 8

You need to remember that being a successful tournament player means not cashing most of the time. The times that you do make the final table and win big more than make up for the times you get knocked out. Being patient and being in it for the long term is key in being a solid tournament player.

If you want more immediate results, play cash games.

For me, bigger are tournament, more money you can earn ... But, the inconvenient is that you have to be prudent my moment ...

For me, I prefer to play a 200 players 1$ more than playing 20 SnG 10 players for the same result ...
For 1$ tourney with 200 people, it is a prizepool of 200$ distributed like :
70$ for 1st
55$ for 2nd
30$ for 3rd
20$ for 4th
10$ for 5th
[...]

If you play well and you come into 5 first places, then you can win 10$ or more !
It is also a good way to beat some competitors that are playing well, etc.

What I don't like is the rebuy tourneys ... => When I get out a player, I don't want him to come back ...

Just the inconvenient for tourneys with a lot of players is that it is longer to play (it is rarely less than 3/4 hours) but it obliged you to control stress, etc. It is like a chalenge
And if you loose after 3 hours of poker, it is so stressing ! But based on the buy in amount, you easilly can try back another one once the pression has get down

OK, I have to recognize that I like tourney a lot and I'm not really neutral

These tournaments last long time so you have to adjust your strategy accordingly.As for the re bays you have to consider your total amount you are willing to spent. How many re bays, or none, you are willing to invest and of course have a lot of patience till the first brake.

I never cease to be amazed by players that re-buy over and over again with little thought paid to the fact that they would have to finish VERY high in the tournament just to break even for their money spent. This really cracks me up on freerolls, where I have seen players rebuy four and five times in a field where their chances of winning that money back are miniscule. I would MUCH rather take my $5 and enter a tournament with a helluva lot less than 7500 players in it and take my chances there.

It depends on what there is to be won, and basically the rebuy period is normally til 1. break.

If you read

You see that their strategy fits, they want to get thier hands on the biggest stack possible in the rebuy period. because they want deep into the tournament, the rebuys in most freerolls is "petty cash" for many players so 5 - 10 * rebuys at 0.5$ do not matter if end price is worth it.

A big stack is also the right to "Bully" other players

Even if it is a Push fest learn when to push and when to fold. Its a math game more or less.

No, but it is undeniably difficult to be a long-term winner, and it takes time and determination to do it.

The potential rewards are large, and some of the better tournament players here at CC have cashed out many thousands of dollars. That success is hard won.

The most important qualities you need to develop are patience and discipline. Also, study and develop your game. The "Harrington on Holdem" books are a good starting point, and there are also many useful articles and tips available on the internet (not least, right here on this site).

Come back in a year and tell us how you are getting on.

I don't think a lot of people are going to agree with me on this, but I think that the only way the small tourneys are any good is if they are qualifiers where high percentage of people are payed out lower amounts. With smaller tournaments there are less chips on the table and one bad hand can destroy you at anytime. With my luck at least in the bigger tourneys I can have a stack that can withstand a straight being flushed out.

That would be the same as saying "The WSOP is a waste of money/time if more than 10 people are playing!" Yes sometimes large fields suck, because you are playing for long periods of time, but the payouts are higher and it is well worth it.

I've been playing a lot of cash games and tournaments- I'm up $84 from mtts and down $24 from cash games, so guess which I prefer!

Cash games seem to be good to earn points/ clear bonuses, but the chance to make $100s from under $5 buyin is the way to play as far as I can tell..

Stick with the tournaments- as long as you're getting near the prizes and getting unlucky then it should just be a matter of time before a big win...