What percentage of live tournament players actually make money?

[jsh169]

I think the main thing that needs to be stated here, there may be a fairly high percentage, but I would say only the top 3% make a profit that travel coast to coast. The cost of flying, hotels, food, etc is way more then you would think.

 

[Arjonius]

at the highest level the gold standard is a 20% cash rate.

What basis do you have for this?

 

[Karozi615]

What basis do you have for this?

I watch all the EPT streams/sunday million streams/ etc. and this is the number that is always thrown out there. Apparently a 20% ITM rate is optimal, at least for the circuit pros. If your cashing more than 20% your probably not going deep in tourneys. There are probably many winning MTT players with a 10-15% cash rate but they likely have huge cashes and limited volume.
I know for an absolute fact that Jason Mercier stressed the 20% number in an interview after he busted out of one of the high roller events

also in this interview Allen Bari brings up the exact number of 20% when discussing MTT cash rates

I think a cash rate anywhere between 15-20% is optimal depending on the progression of the prize pool