I'm making a run at a Mid-States Poker Tour event here in WI. This OP is part question, but also TR for my tourney experience.
I think I know the answer to my question (which I'll pose at the end on this OP). Read if interested, don't if not.
The MSPT has a few weeks of sattys and qualifiers, in the following structures:
$65 Satty, top 20% earn seats to the qualifiers
$250 Qualifiers, top 20% earn ME seats
$1100 Main event, 200k gtd event. Two daily flights (Fri-Sat) and a final day (Sun).
I'll add the ME structure in post # 2.
I entered a $65 satty and crushed the 148 entrant field. I was one of the main chip leaders at the end with 3-4x the avg stack. Players were atrocious.
Starting stacks $10k, starting blinds 100/100, and the event ended with 28 ppl moving on.
I entered the $250 qualifier last night, and did really well at first, chipping up to a very healthy chip stack of ~40k. Then I had a couple cooler hands and went card dead. I got moved around quite a lot, which really hindered my ability to get reads from fellow players, and get settled in, and with a smaller chipstack, I wasn't able to make many plays... etc...
I ended the qualifier with only 30k ~10bb (and avg stacks of around 55k), and I was at a table where the avg stack was closer to 200k. There were obviously a few people in the tourney who did a ton of knock outs, and had monster stacks. In reality, I was very nervous as we approached the bubble. I was keeping close track of the remaining stacks. Out of 151 entrants, only the top 30 advanced.
When down to 4 tables, I realized I was likely good considering there were 10 stacks shorter than me, and only 5 spots to the bubble. My strat morphed to playing uber sphincter tight, and it worked. It wasn't my normal style, but it was impossible to make a plays against people with stacks that could literally could lose 3/4 of their stacks and still blind their way into the top 20%. My goal wasn't to finish the qualifier with a monster stack, just finish in the top 30.
For instance, there were numerous hands I would have normally shoved with, such as AQ suited in the BB, but I folded it to a small raise by a monster stack. There was no reason to get too worried, as we were closely monitoring a few guys at an adjacent table (1 guy had 1bb) who were circling the drain. My 10bbs was not in danger. If this were the ME, and chip totals mattered, I'd have played much differently. The one shorter stack at my table didn't understand this, and kept limping into pots, and when he was down to 3bb, he shoves with KK (into a table full of guys with 70-80bbs), and gets 7 callers (all but me). Of course, he's eliminated.
Here was my stack shortly after starting the qualifier. Up to ~17k within a few hands
Now, here's my dilemma. I have never had the opportunity to make a run at one of these tournaments. So this is a lot of fun for me. So far, this has been a good investment of my initial $65. Previous years winners have received 6 figure paydays. Last year, I believe, paid ~40 places in the ME (with a field of around 400). This year is anticipated to reach 500 ME entries, and payout close to 50 spots (~ 10%). Once in the money, we're talking about payouts in the 2-3k range to start (possibly much more the deeper I run). The field will be very tough, and I think I have the skill to hang with some of the big-dawgs (even though I'll squarely admit that many will outclass me). However, as we know, even the best players can bust out or run bad. It will take a lot of luck to reach the money.
I'm pretty sure I'm going to play my seat, but here's the catch. My ME entry is transferable, and I've already received offers from people to purchase it (for over $1,000). You'd think, easy fold. Go for the gold! Right? Well, I have to get past 90% of a tough field to reach the money and then only get around 2k to start. But I could take a guaranteed 1k profit right now, with none of the fingernail biting and variance...?
I'll post more of the event structure and pics of the main event (if/when) I play next weekend.
I think I know the answer to my question (which I'll pose at the end on this OP). Read if interested, don't if not.
The MSPT has a few weeks of sattys and qualifiers, in the following structures:
$65 Satty, top 20% earn seats to the qualifiers
$250 Qualifiers, top 20% earn ME seats
$1100 Main event, 200k gtd event. Two daily flights (Fri-Sat) and a final day (Sun).
I'll add the ME structure in post # 2.
I entered a $65 satty and crushed the 148 entrant field. I was one of the main chip leaders at the end with 3-4x the avg stack. Players were atrocious.
Starting stacks $10k, starting blinds 100/100, and the event ended with 28 ppl moving on.
I entered the $250 qualifier last night, and did really well at first, chipping up to a very healthy chip stack of ~40k. Then I had a couple cooler hands and went card dead. I got moved around quite a lot, which really hindered my ability to get reads from fellow players, and get settled in, and with a smaller chipstack, I wasn't able to make many plays... etc...
I ended the qualifier with only 30k ~10bb (and avg stacks of around 55k), and I was at a table where the avg stack was closer to 200k. There were obviously a few people in the tourney who did a ton of knock outs, and had monster stacks. In reality, I was very nervous as we approached the bubble. I was keeping close track of the remaining stacks. Out of 151 entrants, only the top 30 advanced.
When down to 4 tables, I realized I was likely good considering there were 10 stacks shorter than me, and only 5 spots to the bubble. My strat morphed to playing uber sphincter tight, and it worked. It wasn't my normal style, but it was impossible to make a plays against people with stacks that could literally could lose 3/4 of their stacks and still blind their way into the top 20%. My goal wasn't to finish the qualifier with a monster stack, just finish in the top 30.
For instance, there were numerous hands I would have normally shoved with, such as AQ suited in the BB, but I folded it to a small raise by a monster stack. There was no reason to get too worried, as we were closely monitoring a few guys at an adjacent table (1 guy had 1bb) who were circling the drain. My 10bbs was not in danger. If this were the ME, and chip totals mattered, I'd have played much differently. The one shorter stack at my table didn't understand this, and kept limping into pots, and when he was down to 3bb, he shoves with KK (into a table full of guys with 70-80bbs), and gets 7 callers (all but me). Of course, he's eliminated.
Here was my stack shortly after starting the qualifier. Up to ~17k within a few hands
Now, here's my dilemma. I have never had the opportunity to make a run at one of these tournaments. So this is a lot of fun for me. So far, this has been a good investment of my initial $65. Previous years winners have received 6 figure paydays. Last year, I believe, paid ~40 places in the ME (with a field of around 400). This year is anticipated to reach 500 ME entries, and payout close to 50 spots (~ 10%). Once in the money, we're talking about payouts in the 2-3k range to start (possibly much more the deeper I run). The field will be very tough, and I think I have the skill to hang with some of the big-dawgs (even though I'll squarely admit that many will outclass me). However, as we know, even the best players can bust out or run bad. It will take a lot of luck to reach the money.
I'm pretty sure I'm going to play my seat, but here's the catch. My ME entry is transferable, and I've already received offers from people to purchase it (for over $1,000). You'd think, easy fold. Go for the gold! Right? Well, I have to get past 90% of a tough field to reach the money and then only get around 2k to start. But I could take a guaranteed 1k profit right now, with none of the fingernail biting and variance...?
I'll post more of the event structure and pics of the main event (if/when) I play next weekend.
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