Do the pros play cash or MTTs?

EchoEllis

EchoEllis

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Do players that consistently cash play more cash or MTT - I really don't enjoy cash and play only MTT (unsuccessfully) but do any pros do that? do they make more on cash or tournys?
 
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Campbell

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Good question. I get the impression that the easiest money is in MTT's by far, but due to variance it may not be the best format if you want a regular reliable source of income.
Im sure there are plenty of pros who do use MTTs primariliy, but far more are probably in ring games and SnGs.
Hopefully a pro will come in a give us an answer :)
 
fletchdad

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I am as far from a pro as one can get, but I will chime in.

"Pro" is a flexible term. There are pros who we never hear of, and then there are the "stars". Most big visible pros play both. Some are better at one or the other. I know a couple of good winning players who hate tourneys, and a couple who hate cash play. (Well, the MTT guys also like cash more than the cash guys like MTTs)

There is no easy money, no matter what you play. IMO cash will make you a stronger player overall, since postflop will always be important, as compared to blind levels getting to the point where it all in pre or fold in tourneys and ICM. But understanding the dynamics and differences of each game is paramount to being good in either or both.
 
MediaBLITZ

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Good question. I get the impression that the easiest money is in MTT's by far, but due to variance it may not be the best format if you want a regular reliable source of income.
Im sure there are plenty of pros who do use MTTs primariliy, but far more are probably in ring games and SnGs.
Hopefully a pro will come in a give us an answer :)

Well there is no easy money, but consistency would be in cash games. Big money is in tournament, but consistency is very tough.
 
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Campbell

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Well there is no easy money, but consistency would be in cash games. Big money is in tournament, but consistency is very tough.
Sorry I didn't mean to imply that winning in MTTs was easy, just that in MTTs there is probably a lot more dead money from recreational players that are just in it for the chance of a big payout for a small buy in and aren't using HUDs etc and aren't too fussed whether they bust out early.
Of course they are in ring games as well but I imagine the proportional of reg to rec is a lot greater. Just guessing based on what I have seen in low buy in MTTs and might not stand up to the larger stake MTTs.
 
MediaBLITZ

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Sorry I didn't mean to imply that winning in MTTs was easy, just that in MTTs there is probably a lot more dead money from recreational players that are just in it for the chance of a big payout for a small buy in and aren't using HUDs etc and aren't too fussed whether they bust out early.

True, but you still have to break the top 10-15% to cash and those guys are usually long gone by then. BTW, didn't honestly think you were saying it was easy money :)

Of course they are in ring games as well but I imagine the proportional of reg to rec is a lot greater. Just guessing based on what I have seen in low buy in MTTs and might not stand up to the larger stake MTTs.

I think you are right there also - remember the context of the question is re: professionals so low buy in tourneys are probably not relevant and the fields will probably be much larger than what we are used to. I mean big for me is like $120 with 100 runners - pros just wouldn't waste their time and would rather go to a cash game.
 
RegHC23

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I think the pros are good at everything that they play, but I am sure the majority sticks to what is making them the most money. It can be cash games and it could be MTT. I am not a pro, but I do really well on the sit and go double ups. They are really good to me and I have been crushing it for a ROI of 50%. Now I only play the 3 and 6 dollar double ups, but over time those numbers add up especially if you are playing 10 to 20 a day.
 
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Campbell

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I think the pros are good at everything that they play, but I am sure the majority sticks to what is making them the most money. It can be cash games and it could be MTT. I am not a pro, but I do really well on the sit and go double ups. They are really good to me and I have been crushing it for a ROI of 50%. Now I only play the 3 and 6 dollar double ups, but over time those numbers add up especially if you are playing 10 to 20 a day.
First off congrats. I use to love playing double or nothings but I havent really heard many people say they do especially well and there doesn't seem to be a great deal of advice out there on strategy. Not that I have seen anyway, so an ROI of 50% seems incredible even if they are only at the $3-$6 level.
I like anything that has low variance as it keeps me sane and when I did play I would say despite lack of knowledge of the game I did break even if not better, but nothing to write home about. Now I have a great RB deal they might be something I revisit. If anyone knows of a video strategy site that has a series on DoNs I would love to know. Im a member of DTB but Im pretty sure there isnt much on there.
 
A2345Razz

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Is this a joke?

Cash is 100X more lucrative, and its pretty much impossible to be a live MTT player for a living. Do some people make it work for stretches, sure. I a lot of it simply the top side of variance, certainly.

You can grind MTTs online if you have P* access though.....damn, I miss those 45 mans....sigh.

Cash is where it is at if you like money; it isn't even close.
 
XXPXXP

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depends on what pro good at!
cash and tournament are different style of poker!

there are cash pro, mtt pro, sng pro....even HU pro....
 
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I agree that as far as playing live, cash games are obviously the way to go. Cash games have a way higher ceiling. This is both true in live poker, as well as OLP. I will say that playing OLP mtt's can be very lucrative. I used to play a lot of charity poker mtt's and at a lot of casinos here in my home state of MI. I will for illustrative purposes not be modest, and say that I crushed liveamnets; but because of the high amount of rake and travel expenses + food and drinks I barely made much money. I generally used mtt's with an ABI of $100 to generate enough money to offset all of those expenses. For me, the cash games were where I could make the bulk of my winnings. It is different for players who play live professionally, but even then the % of players making decent money playing live mtt's is very small. I will most definatelt concur with the sentiment here that cash games both live and online are the way to go. Having said that, I think OLP mtt's can be very juicy as well. It just all depends on a myriad of different things that I will not get into because I am starting to get kind of tired.
 
A2345Razz

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Not to be nitpicky, but one of the other problems is it is very hard (without huge volume) to really know where you are as an MTTer.

Again, I am speaking for those of us who don't have pokerstars access right now, so it is like, how in the world are you going to play the thousands of MTTs necessary to get a handle on your true ROI...especially in a dynamic environment where the games are constantly changing/getting harder.

Is that bink from 2010 really indicative of how you would fair in today's games, probably not.

I love MTTs and find them super fun and definitely more of an outlet for my competitive side, but without access to THE tournament site (Pokerstars), im just not sure what we can do other than play, have fun and try to keep our games sharp till legalized OLP spreads throughout much of the country.
 
hackmeplz

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90%+ of pros who actually make a living from poker play cash or sngs. Pretty much none of them are live mtt pros. The heavy majority of top pros play cash full-time and mix in mtts just because they're so soft comparatively and because of the consistent cash income they can stand the variance. Most mtt "pros" are backed and although it may look like they're making a ton of money, after expenses and make-up and backer cuts most of them are barely getting by.
 
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