i told u it was easy ♦ . my biggest success on these were 80$ in a matrix sng but its the best way to have some money for sure cause its really impossible not to win some money with that structure
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Have you considered how much you lose in edge playing the Super Turbo matrix ?
No, but first thoughts would be (just on general principles):
1. We definitely lose edge in the super turbos, since it is a push and fold game from the off. One of the advantages we have as winning players is knowing when to switch to push and fold mode and we lose this if everyone is push/folding from the start.
2. I think those who make a success of the STs would say they are profitable because of the sheer volume you can play in a given amount of time compared with standard or turbos. However, I'm quickly discovering that waiting for matrix tournaments to fill up is rather like watching paint dry, so I don't think the 'volume game' is likely to be relevant. (At the time of writing, none of the ST matrix tournaments in the lobby - from $5 to $100 - has more than 2 people signed up...).
3. So my guess is that we can't make up for the lost edge with the extra $9 in the prize pool, but it would be hard to prove and perhaps it's worth signing up for more than one type when things are particularly slow.
p.s. Thanks, though, for the suggestion and applause. 
I'm going to attempt a summary of my findings so far. It's rather difficult, so bear with me.
1. I have played 18* 1800 FTP SnGs for a total haul of 4*$26 tickets. At the 'base' exchange rate of 1 FTP = $ 0.0048, I would have expected at least $155.52 worth of tickets so that represents a notional 'loss' of $51.52 (ROI -33.13%).
2. I have played 3*$26 Matrix tournaments for a total profit of $47.28. This is ROI of 65.67%. It's important to note that this is profit on top of the actual crystallisation of the $26 tickets. The total $ in my account following playing these 3 tournaments = $125.28.
3. Since I have used three of the four tickets I won playing the 1800 FTP tournaments, we can say that I have used 3/4 of $155.52 (the notional valueof those points), which is $116.64.
4. I have therefore made a profit of $8.64 on top of the actual crystallisation of the FTP. This is equivalent to 7% ROI.
5. In conclusion, we can say that I have turned 32,400 FTP into $125.28 + 1 $26 ticket (Total = $151.28). This makes crystallised value of each FTP = $0.00467.
Given that the aim of this challenge is to turn FTP and medals into $, I'm not at all unhappy with that statistic as an initial reflection of the worth of the endeavour. (It's quite common in business to make a discount for receiving cash up front.)
Again, we need to consider what we could get for our FTP from the store as a comparison. 65,000 FTP buys you an iPod Touch. At $0.0048/FTP, that's around $312. A well-known online retailer will sell you one for $269.84, so you are definitely paying over the odds when you buy things with FTP.
Even if you turned 65,000 FTP into cash $ at my rate of $0.00467/FTP, you would have $303, leaving you with a healthy profit of $33.16 if you purchased the iPod from the online retailer.
Well I think that's enough for now. The next and hopefully final step of the challenge is to work out what rakeback % equivalent the FTP and IM medals actually equate to (in their crystallised, and uncrystallised forms). I really need to get out more... Anyway, here's a quick progress summary:
Challenge summary:
FTP: 12,743 (equiv $56.07 @ $.0044$/FTP)
IM Medals: c600 (equiv. 4.29 $26 tokens or $111.43)
$26 Tickets: 3 (equiv. $78)
Value of Uncrystalised Rakeback Total (VURT): $245.50
Value of Crystallised Rakeback (VCR): $125.28
total of Crystallised and Uncrystallised Rakeback: $370.78
I was looking into this again today with FT being around the corner for me.
I am going to do a hit and run on Full Tilt Poker just to get my roll up to $1100 playing the $6.50s
and then go for Party Poker. Anyhow I am planning on using my points accrued during this stint to
try this out and by looking at the options for step one there are quite a few ways to go.
Not just the fact that the step one tickets are pretty cheap but there are 6 max and heads up shoot outs
and super turbos... So as you were wondering about them being time consuming... what if you just
bought a shitload of step ones and played super turbo step ones with ALL your step one tickets untill they
were step 2s. Like 10 table them and use up ALL step one tickets and only have step 2 remaining....
Then do the same with the step 2s untill you use them all up and have nothingbut step 3 left...
Then use all those step 3s for the super turbo matrix....
Would this not just get the job done in bulk and make up for the loss of buying straight in to the steo 3 with points?
I am a Full Tilt Satty junkie so I may just try this retarded plan unless you can see through it somehow then lemme
know please.
**EDIT: Ok forget I wrote this out. Its just a text version of a cat chasing it's own tail.
Thanks for dropping by, 8979687. The bulk step 1 idea sounds promising.
In terms of an update on the challenge (and because I won't be able to spend as much time blogging going forward)...
What I have decided to do is to play the $24+2 45 or 90 man MTTs on FT on Sundays. (After playing a few more matrix tournaments I decided that having to give up 4 tables worth of screen space is just too much in terms of lost earnings.)
This will be my sole foray into 'Poker as Fun'. Any winnings I will make from these tournaments (bought into with tournament tickets purchased with FTP or with IM medals) will go into a separate notional account for treats. Since my rakeback is intended to form my base "salary" for my going pro endeavour I will deduct the rakeback lost from entering these tournaments from any winnings.
Well, I played one 90 man knockout tournament yesterday in which, rather appropriately, I got knocked out. I managed to knock out two other people on the way, though, for a total haul of $8 (2 * $4) which will just about cover the rakeback lost (i.e. net rake reduced by $26 therefore lost rake back = $7.02) and give a 'profit' of $0.98!
♦
If and when I achieve a significant cash in one of these tournaments, I will let you know. If anyone has any tips for MTTs that they can distil into a couple of sentences, now's your chance!
Thanks for reading
:f_confused:Tim64 
Originally posted by Tim64
If and when I achieve a significant cash in one of these tournaments, I will let you know. If anyone has any tips for MTTs that they can distil into a couple of sentences, now's your chance!
No fear ♦
know your cEV push fold ranges!
Help! I don't even know what these are... could you point me in the right direction?
Thanks
cEV is chip EV. as such we should not adjust to payouts until we are on or close to the final table of an MTT ( depends where the bubble is). optimal strategy does not involve adjustments until that stage. until then it works out better to stick to optimal cEV push fold strat when u hit a certain M value.
i'l go find the pdfs and link you to em now :), gimme a few mins.
[GUIDE] Essential reading for new players
last link in the 1st post.
conall88,
Many thanks indeed for the links -- I really appreciate that. I will take a look when I get a moment.
After all that time investigating different tournaments, I went and sold out like a dirty hooker today.
I just cashed in a year's worth of points and medals for a $1,000 bonus from the Black Card store which I will grind over the next month and a half.
Hey ho, Xmas is round the corner and the kiddie needs new shoes. Whadda ya gonna do?
Tim64
Originally posted by Tim64
Hey ho, Xmas is round the corner and the kiddie needs new shoes. Whadda ya gonna do?
Tim64
Pray that the next FT answers thread is not full of better BC bonus info and have no compensation?
Attention all maths geeks...
As I am playing tournaments once again I thought it would be worthwhile resurrecting this blog. But first I need some help...
For a long time I've been trying to work out how much rakeback I actually get.
Here is a worked example, and I'm hoping the clever people among you can point out any errors.
Assumptions
1. 10 FTP earned for every $1 earned playing tournaments
2. Blackcard member meaning all FTP earned are doubled
3. We use our FTP to buy $1000 bonuses from the black card store, which we then release by... playing tournaments. These bonuses cost 240,000 FTP.
4. Ironman and happy hour are not considered.
Stage 1
1. We pay 6000 $22+2 tourneys over the course of a few months.
2. Doing so we generate $12,000 in rake.
3. We also earn 120,000 FTP (10 for every dollar of rake).
4. These points are doubled (via Blackcard) to 240,000 FTP
5. We receive (weekly) 27% of the $12,000 raked, i.e. $3,240.
Stage 2
1. Buy bonus of $1000 with 240,000 FTP
2. clear bonus at the rate of $0.04 per FTP
3. therefore entire bonus cleared after earning additional 25000 FTP.
4. To earn 25,000 FTP requires $2,500 in rake, i.e. 1,250 $22+2s tourneys.
5. Normally we would also receive 27% of this $2500 of rake, i.e. $675.
6. However (as I understand it) our Net Earned Rake is reduced by $1,000 bonus so that our new NER is $1500 and we receive 27% of that instead (i.e. $405.)
7. Our $2500 of rake has earned us an additional 25,000 FTP which has been multiplied (via BC *2 multiplier) to 50,000 FTP.
So, tt the end of Stage 2, we have generated $14,500 ($12,000 + $2500) of rake and received:
$3,240 + $1,000 +$405 = $4,645.
This is equivalent to 32% rakeback. If we include that we have earned 21% of the necessary FTP for another $1000 bonus (50k FTP/240k) we can probably include an additional $208 (21% of $1000), bringing the total rakeback to 33.4%.
Questions:
1. Did I miss anything or get anything wrong?
2. Is it reasonable to include the $208 mentioned at the end, or is this misleading? (we have earned that portion of the bonus, but not cleared it and not taking into account the reduction of our NER when we clear it, in the next cycle).
Thanks in advance
Tim
I chose a perfect time for that wall of text above, didn't I?
Anyhow, ftp converted all my medalz and academy creditz to ftp'z and now I has 340k of them. My plan was to continue until 440k and buy $2k bonus. But you have to grind that out and there is a time limit and it would suck if I missed out on part of it since FTP will likely just be one of a few sites I play on long term, so grinding out bonuses is a pain in the arse. Can't even buy any tankards or hats cos the shop is still empty...
Other options?
--Steps (i.e. spend points on midlevel tourneys - $75/$216s) but I'm not sure how often they run. And this is reliant on the higher steps tourneys running too.
--MTTs - which ones are good value (not small stakes)?
--Anything else?
Thanks for any suggestions
well i ve used my 240k ftps to buy 75$ tickets and played the hyper turbos matrix 6max and the hyper steps 6max. Turned these points to 1.5k$ in one day but indeed it took some time for the games to fill
Wouldn't you be able to reach SNE if you played exclusively on Stars? Or at least 4-5x SuperNova?
I'm aware you'd lose some % of ROI, rakeback alone should compensate for that. Or am I missing something?
Originally posted by bjela
Wouldn't you be able to reach SNE if you played exclusively on Stars? Or at least 4-5x SuperNova?I'm aware you'd lose some % of ROI, rakeback alone should compensate for that. Or am I missing something?
No you aren't missing anything. It's just such a merciless grind that I can't bring myself to contemplate it. If it were the only way I could get by then I'd do it, but a decent hourly is possible without sne and I'd rather have the flexibility to play profitable games with lower variance.