The MTT value proposition

I've known for a long time how hard it is to make a profit playing sit and gos. With the big increases PokerStars has made over time to the entry fees, it's nearly impossible. I haven't had a ton of experience with MTTs, but I'm getting the distinct impression that the MTT value proposition is as thin as the sit and go one. The only logical conclusion to be drawn is that you have to be a little bit crazy to play either sit and gos or MTTs. What can I say? I'm a little bit crazy :-)

The ugly truth of MTTs is that while it's not very hard to min cash in them, min cashes just won't cut it, profit-wise. I've played 3 MTT HORSEs, min cashed in two of them, and am slightly in the red for my troubles. The only way to make MTTs pay is to do better than min cash a significant percentage of the time you make the money.

Last night, I might have done better than min cashing the last tournament I played had I not made a really stupid mistake. On my final hand of the night, I played a Stud Hi/Lo low hand as it were a Razz low; in other words, I forgot all about the 8 or better requirement. I threw away my last $1,330 on a hand where I was drawing dead to an 8 low. Ouch!

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

  4500       500           6        24    60        0
  4500       500           6        46     3        0
  4500       500           6        82    14     7380

delta: $-7,620
MTT HORSE balance: $-600
balance: $9,365,490