Tournament Analysis Matters

One local player doesn't care much about the details of a tournament. He insists that if you have an edge, that is, if you are one of the best players in that tournament,  that's all that matters if you want to make a profit.  Having an edge is certainly important, but it's far from the only thing that matters.  So what matters?.  As always, the answer to almost any poker question is, "it depends."


Here are some of the things that I consider important:

Don't play while impaired (you are tired, drunk, high, or had a fight with your spouse an hour ago.)

Play within your bankroll--If your bankroll is $100 and you're playing a $10 tournament you're making a big mistake.

Limit your distractions.--When you're not in a hand, will you be reading your text messages or watching the other players?  If your phone is just too tempting, put it in your car during the next break.

Opportunity cost--Is this the best use of your time or could you be doing something more important? If you're missing your kid's band concert for the third straight time you're probably in the wrong place.

Be prepared for live tournament conditions--The room might be too hot or too cold, especially if you're sitting next to a door.  Some casinos are infamous for having a cold poker room.  If you have to deal with that for 6 hours it's a big distraction.  I always have both a light sweater or jacket and a heavier one in my bag.  I'm ready for anything.

Tournament analysis--This matters a great deal to me.


For now I'm playing only online and on only one site (Juicy Stakes Poker.)  It's a low-traffic site without a lot of tournaments that work well for the way I play, so I'm very serious about what poker players call "tournament selection."

I have a list of tournaments typed up under the title, Best Available Tournaments.  As I scout or play more tournaments, I make some decisions.  As mentioned in earlier posts, my first project for this year was to play on a site where I had $34 parked and, using only that money, grind that bankroll up to at least $500.  I'm currently at $180.

Starting with just $34, I needed to keep the buy-ins as low as possible.  I also wanted to play the tournaments that best matched my playing style.  There was no room for mistakes.

When I first made my tournament list, I could find only three tournaments worth playing.  As I played more, studied more tournaments and had more money to work with I was able to expand that list.  I learned a lot, including some things I had not considered. I'll give some examples.

I started by playing only $1 tournaments, most of which had very few players, sometimes less than 20. With so few players, it was hard to find. tournaments that had a big enough prize pool to be of much help to my bankroll, so I started looking for those.  As I played and analyzed more tournaments, I found more options.  I also found some things that I didn't expect.:

The worthwhile tournaments, both in the early morning and late at night, are bunched fairly close together.  That means that I can plan my sleep to be awake during one or both of those blocks of tiome.  It also allows me to do some multitabling, which is something that  I didn't expect on a low traffic site.

Here are those tournament times::

0429
0529
0759
2019
2214
2314
2329

Any two tournaments an hour or less apart are good targets for playing two tables, especially the last two on the above list.  So far I have only played two tables when the tournaments at 2214 and 2314 overlapped, because they are my two favorite tournaments, but I will soon try other combinations as well.

My list does more than show the tournament times. I've also broken it down to show things that I like or don't like about each tournament, as well as other information.  To give me an even better visual, I used bold black to note the best aspects of that tournament and bold red to not the worst.  When I sit down for a poker session I can easily understand what my options for are for that day.

I like tournaments with late registration, because more players = a bigger prize pool.  I also like low buy-in and tables with at least nine players.  I like lots of time to play before the blinds go up.

I don't like bounty tournaments because I would like all of the money in the main prize pool, so that first place will be a larger cash

You will see as you look at that list that there is only one tournament that doesn't have any red, which means that it fits very well with the things that I look for.  The rest are a mixture of good and bad.

Below is the list that I'll see when I play later today (it's 0256 as I type this).  As always, your comments are welcome,

Juicy Stakes Poker-- Best Available Tournaments as of 4/6/2017

Tournaments Available on 4/8

0429

0759

2019

2214

2314

0429 (every day) $1.10/8 minute blind levels/6-max/re-entry/60 minutes late registration/2,000 starting chips

0529 (Mo/Sat) $20 GTD 6-max/re-entry/$1.10/8 minute blind levels/60 minutes late registration/2,000 starting chips.

0759 (every day) $50 guaranteed bounty/$3.30/re-entry/6-max/2,000 starting chips/8 minutes per blind level/80 minutes late registration.

NOTE: When I scouted this tournament it finished with a total of only 13 players, short tables all the way of course.

2019 (every day) $100 GTD Bounty/$2.20 with $1 to prize pool and $1 to bounty/60 minutes late registration/2,000 starting chips/8 minute blind levels.

2214 (Su/Tu/We/Th/Fr/Sa) JS/$100 GTD JUST ONE DOLLAR/$1.10/30 minutes late registration/2,000 starting chips/15 minute blind levels.

NOTE: The field size of this tournament is remarkably consistent. The last 3 that I have played, all on weekdays, had 64, 64 and 73  (on Friday night) players. I have not noted Saturday numbers but I assume that the fields will be a bit bigger.

2314 (Sa) $200 GTD/$3.30/2,000 starting chips/15 minute blind levels/30 minutes late registration.

2314 (Tu/Fr) $100 GTD BIG BOUNTY/$2.20 with $1 to prize pool and $1 to bounty/30 minutes late registration/2,000 starting chips/15 minute blind levels.

Note: This tournament usually has at least 100 players on Friday.

2329 (every day)/$50 GTD Big Bounty/$3.30 with $1 to prize pool and $2 to bounties/60 minutes late registration/8 minute blind levels/2,000 starting chips.

NOTE: I played this one for the first time on Thursday 3/16. Tournament started with one short table but filled up after a few hands. There were 18 players (3 cashing spots) so tables were short during most of the tournament.