In this article we ephasize the difference in the approach of a regular and an amateur tournament poker player. The main goal is to show some of the…
In this article we ephasize the difference in the approach of a regular and an amateur tournament poker player. The main goal is to show some of the…
In this article we ephasize the difference in the approach of a regular and an amateur tournament poker player. The main goal is to show some of the amateur players what they need to work to become a winning player.
An amateur player is someone who plays about 1-3 times a week, usually at night after work or on weekends. He has a “real job” and maybe a family or is in college, so he can only play part time.
But make no mistake, this player is serious about the game and spends time on poker forums, watching coaching videos, etc.
Since we are talking about tournament poker, the amateur in this article plays mostly big tournaments. He can be a winning player, he can be breakeven or maybe a slight loser in his career.
A regular is someone for whom poker is the major part of his income.
As you can see, the pros are not these mythical beasts that keep cashing in and making the final table at every tournament.
Media attention can sometimes give off a false reality as it only highlights their victories and never mentions how many defeats it took to get there.
The reality is:
Even top pros win tournaments less than 1% of the time, for some it’s as low as 0.60%.
That means they only win 1 out of every 100 times. Of course, variance doesn’t always come on schedule and deviations of 200-300 tournaments without a win can happen.
Reaching the Final Table for the best is about 3%.
The best only cash out about 13% of the time. That means they lose money 87% of the time! In fact, amateurs cash out more often than regs.
The difference is that when professionals cash out, the amounts are higher, which is evident in the ROI, which is higher by 58%.
Also Regs finish in the top 3 almost 3 times more often than amateurs.
If you’ve ever gotten frustrated playing poker tournaments, don’t worry, remember that even the best players in the world don’t win that often.
The only way to balance negative variance is to have enough volume where your skill can prevail.