Big-field tournaments have the best stories and the worst hourly rate for most of the people playing them. That is not a criticism of the format, it is a statement about fit.
A deep run takes six to ten hours, most of which is folding, and it ends without money four times in five even for winning players. Some people are built for that. Many are not, and there is no shame in finding out which you are.
You cannot sit through the folding
Long stretches of tournament play involve doing nothing. If your hands played per hour climbs steadily through a session, that is boredom rather than a read, and in a tournament it costs a stack rather than a pot.
Cash games let you leave when you are bored. Tournaments do not, which is the core difficulty.
Short stacks make you uncomfortable
Most of a tournament is spent between 10 and 30 big blinds. That is the working range, not an emergency, and if you find it stressful you will spend the majority of every tournament stressed.
Players who are only comfortable at 100 big blinds are cash players who entered a tournament, and the results follow.
You play the same near the bubble as before it
If ICM does not change your ranges, you are leaving a large amount of money in the middle at exactly the moment it is most concentrated. Medium stacks should fold more near a pay jump; big stacks should attack far more. Playing bubbles the way you play level three is expensive.
Late decisions are your worst decisions
Deep runs end late. If you know your judgement drops after four hours, a format whose money is concentrated in hours six through ten is a poor match for you.
This is measurable rather than a matter of opinion: look at where your worst-remembered decisions happened in the session.
Your bankroll is not built for it
Tournament variance is far larger than cash variance and the money arrives in rare, lumpy chunks. A hundred buy-ins is a starting point rather than a comfortable one, and playing tournaments on a cash-game roll produces pressure that changes how you play.
Our guide to bankroll requirements covers why the numbers differ so much by format.
You judge sessions by whether you cashed
Cashing in one event in five is normal. If four blank tournaments in a row feels like evidence about your ability, the emotional accounting of the format will grind you down long before the maths does.
You cannot schedule the time
Registering for a six-hour tournament with four hours available is a common and expensive mistake. It produces rushed decisions in the late stages, which is precisely where the money is.
If your schedule is unpredictable, that is a real argument for cash or for shorter formats rather than a discipline problem.
You do not enjoy them
The last one is not a skill issue and it matters as much as the rest. Tournaments demand hours of patience for occasional payoffs. If that structure does not appeal to you, you will not put in the volume that makes the format work, and low volume with high variance is the worst combination available.
What to play instead
None of this means avoiding tournaments. It means matching format to temperament.
Cash games suit players who want to start and stop freely, who prefer deeper stacks, and who want results that stabilise faster. Sit and gos and short-field tournaments keep the tournament structure while cutting the session to an hour or two and the variance considerably. Turbo formats compress everything further, at the cost of the deep-stacked play some people enjoy most.
The honest version of this decision is to try each for a month and notice which one you are still looking forward to.
What this looks like in our clubs
Tournaments run daily in the apps we operate in, and the pattern we see is consistent: players who mix formats last longer than players who grind one exclusively.
The other thing worth knowing before you commit to a schedule is that field sizes differ enormously between clubs on the same app, because your opponents come from your union rather than from the whole platform. A tournament schedule that looks thin from one club is busy from another.
Ask your agent what actually runs in your format and at your hours before you decide the format is wrong for you.
Frequently asked questions
How often should a winning player cash in tournaments?
Roughly one event in five is normal, with most of the profit concentrated in rare deep runs. Long stretches without a cash are expected rather than a sign of a problem.
Are sit and gos easier than large tournaments?
Not easier, but shorter and much less swingy. The field is smaller, the session ends in an hour or two, and the results stabilise faster, which suits players who struggle with long variance.
Do I need a different bankroll for tournaments?
Yes, and much larger. A hundred buy-ins is a starting point rather than a safe number, against roughly 40 for low-stakes cash.
Should I play tournaments if I only have two hours?
Play sit and gos or short-field events instead. Registering for a six-hour tournament with two hours available guarantees rushed decisions in the stage that matters most.
Can I be good at cash and bad at tournaments?
Easily, and it is common. They share hand values and almost nothing else: stack depths, the value of survival and the correct amount of patience all differ.
Where to start
Look at your last month honestly. If most of your tournament sessions ended early because you got bored or ran out of time, the format is not the problem and neither are you. The match is wrong.
To find out which schedules actually run in your club and at your hours, message @rpunion, or compare the formats across the apps we run clubs in.
18+. Play within your means.