Good MTT odds?

[maple47]

I have played a few MTTs now and really like ths structure and the flow of the game. The odds of making it ITM is not too bad if your are a decent player, although there is always the risk of making a bad read or being out-drawn.

Anyway. I noticed that there is at least some variance in the buy-in vs. prize pools. To take a simple example, some sites have $5/1 buying, where others have $5/0.5. Essentially, that is 20% "rake" vs. 10% "rake".

With all the different types of MTT games, like the "guaranteed $xx", the qualifiers, etc., it can be a bit tricky to say which tournaments give better odds (disregarding implied odds like fishiness).

What I am looking for are cheap buy-in tournaments that can give me reasonably good odds on my buy-in so I can slowly build up a larger bankroll for playing poker. Anyone have some advice for which tournaments I should be looking for? Perhaps MTTs are not even the best. I have not even tried SNG's yet.

Basicly I'm looking for a good ratio on:
(prize pool / #players) : buy-in

I'm aware that the ratio will often be 1:1, but perhaps some tournaments are better? For example, I played in a re-buy MTT yesterday, with ~460 players. There were 176 x$5 re-buys added to the starting prize pool of $5000 for a total prize pool of $5880. The buy-in was $5/0.5, so even if the re-buys that were used by other players was added to the player count, the prize/re-buy odds would be decent:
$5880 / (460 + 176) : $5.5 => $9,2 : $5.5 => ~ 2:1

(I didn't use re-buys and placed #18 by the way! => $60. Yay!!)
(Catching pocket AA twice in a row helps!)

Anyway. Advice?

/maple

[Aquinas]

Some of pacifics gaurenteed tourneys don't fill up...Ie maybe 450 or 500 players each paying 15+1.5 when the gaurenteed prize is 10000. Lately these seem to be filling up though...R+A tourneys also seem to have a big prize pool compared to the money u invest.

[ilikeaces86]

bodog poker and empire poker have great low buy in mtt's with guranteed prize pools. Empire poker has a ton of them running during the day. My suggestion is try those 2 out.

[drmcboy]

Don't play a rebuy unless you're willing to at least:

rebuy right at start (assuming the site allows this) &
add on

Because of the gamboolish nature of the rebuy hour, you're really at a disadvantage unless you're willing to double rebuy at least one more time, but you'll figure that out on your own. The problem is that other people buy in planning on spending 5x+ the buy in, so they are going to put you to decisions for all of your chips often, especially if they see you folding early.

I'd recommend a mix of MTT & SnGs first. The ROI on MTTs is better, but it's a tough way to build a BR. Plus you need experience playing short handed and HU to get the big cash at the end of the MTT, and the easiest way to get that is playing SNGs.

[nickthefool]

I think SnGs are a great way to build a bankroll if you don't have a lot to start with - they don't take too long to get the hang of and once you have got hte hang of them you should be able to make a fairly steady profit.

[digitaldoc]

I agree with ilikeaces. Look at Bodog, most of their GRNTY tourneys have anywhere from $1000 to $2000 overlay. Typically around 500 players and a good mix of player types. Beware of Bodog's time-out hand clock. If you by chance don't play in time in puts you straight into the sitting out feature and you could autofold a good hand.

Stars also has some low buy in MTT's. I'm talking $1-$3 dollar range that attrack over 1500 people. They are good practice for focus as they tend to take 4+ hours to complete. Stars also has 2 & 3 table SnG's that offer good payouts near the top. They also give you great practice at varying your playing styles as the tables go from full to short handed and back to full as the tables are condensed.

As far as BR building, I wouldn't suggest MTT''s. Variance can be and will be high. If you like the tourney structure, start with SnG's. Win enough from SnG's to add to your BR and cover one MTT. Then play the MTT. When I started out, I would two table $10 or $20 SnG's and add in an MTT to keep it fun. I would end up playing about 6 SnG's a night and one MTT.