Why I Am Not Playing MTTs exclusively

I've been asked the question of why I am playing ring games since I built my freeroll winnings through MTTs. I'll try to answer that questions and give my overall thoughts in this post.

One of my blog followers (Jason) said "I read your free roll challenge and kept up with it Tony. But I have to ask why you are playing ring games when you made your money playing mtt."

Well this really has a multifaceted answer to it.

First of all, there are no freeroll SNG or ring games on Full Tilt so the only way I could build a freeroll bankroll was by playing the MTTs.

Second, while most my reporting during Project Freeroll was oriented to my real dollar winnings (and therefore the freeroll MTTs), I built my play chips that I used to enter the $40 500K daily tournament almost exclusively through play chip SNGs and play chip ring games. Playing play chip SNGs and play chip ring games was an integral part of my overall strategy.

Next, I will be playing MTTs. I think part of being an overall well-rounded poker player is being able to play all varieties of poker. I'll be concentrating on NLHE holdem but I'll also be trying to work in others varieties (Omaha, Stud, Razz, etc.) as time goes by.

Next, MTTs take a major time commitment. While it might be possible to cash a freeroll MTT in 2-3 hours, a buy-in MTT takes more of a time commitment. The current week is an exception since I'm on vacation all week, but most week days I only have 2 - 3 hours a day to play without disrupting my schedule. It is much easier to play SNGs or ring games in a limited time frame.

Next, the key to making money in buy-in MTTs is to go deep in them. Over the course of Project Freeroll I cashed around 30% of the freerolls I played. But, the vast majority of those cashes were in the first 2 or 3 pay out levels. If my exact finishes were applied to buy-in MTTs, I probably would have been right around break even (as opposed to being up $310). I need to work on my bubble and post-bubble play to be a winning buy-in MTT player.

Next, I really believe that one of the keys to being profitable in the long term is take advantage of bonuses and special promotions by the poker rooms. This generally means earning frequent players points. You can earn frequent player points much more quickly play ring games than you can any other way. Right now I am really working on trying to earn some of the bonuses and rewards on Full Tilt. The Biggest Bonus ever is basically a free $100 if I can play break even poker over the course of 30 days. With the experiments I've been conducting I think I can earn 50 FTP almost every day of the month with some effort. 50 points per day times 30 days would mean 1,500 points and I need 1,667 to clear this $100 bonus. If I earn the bonus while playing even marginally profitable poker, then it will be a major bankroll boost.

One final point, I'm a bit burned out on MTTs with the quantity of them I played over the last year. I will get back to playing MTTs soon, but I'm enjoying the break from them and enjoying the variety of play right now.

Believe it or not, prior to Project Freeroll, I really used to consider myself a SNG specialist. Now, I want to be an all around good poker player and that means playing more than MTTs.

Thanks for the question Jason.

Keep the questions coming and I'll do my best to answer them as honestly and fully as I can.