Thawing the Mammoth

[DukeOfDeath]

Intro:

• Haven't exactly logged enough hours to have the massive chip stack of some here. I've been playing more with play chips recently and having some good nights on the PLO table the past week. I'm hovering right under 500K, so technically I can almost play the Mammoth.

Questions:

• How much is a recommended bankroll to start playing in the Mammoth?
• What is the best way to get to said amount?

This kind of brings back up the BR questions pocketducks started. But according to MY own rules 500K would have to be less than or equal to 2% of my entire stack. There's no way I can wait and build up 25 mill before playing. And as to the best way to get to 25 mill (or less than that, which will hopefully be the answer to the first question), should I just play the steepest stakes I can afford and grind it out at the tables? Or should I just play as many mini- mammies as I can because it is the 2nd highest buy in amount and has a "guarantee structure"?

Response from ye elders will be greatly appreciated

[chuckster66]

for me duke minis are the way I go,Its just become my best chance at building the chip stack,even if you come in 3rd or 2nd you gonna do pretty well,you can go to the high stakes rings,and try to grind it out but its a massive risk.from reading some of your post you dont sound like that kinda player,I would also say you dont need 25 mill before it becomes logical to play,LOL its been a long time since I had 25 mill, good luck sir

[DukeOfDeath]

Originally Posted by chuckster66

for me duke minis are the way I go,Its just become my best chance at building the chip stack,even if you come in 3rd or 2nd you gonna do pretty well,you can go to the high stakes rings,and try to grind it out but its a massive risk.from reading some of your post you dont sound like that kinda player,I would also say you dont need 25 mill before it becomes logical to play,LOL its been a long time since I had 25 mill, good luck sir

First, thanks for the quick response. Second,my definition of grinding is usually not a high risk thing (just a long and sometimes break even process). Third, a follow up question:

• If not 25 million (thank goodness), then how much? (obviously exactly 500k way too risky, probably 1 mill too... where's the line?)

[reaper1569]

well duke its gd funn though gm..i would say build up then try it butt it u lose...it not end ov world.. i ve only played it 3 times and all want winn....its great chip booster.. if u feel lucky n on gd run try budd..i did it worked 4 me.. hope this helps a little.. pluss u a dam gd player u gitt

[telboy]

hi duke,ive got a bankroll of about 12 mil,play the mammoth most weeks because you always get a good game there win or lose,it pays the 1st three places so you need to be on your game to win some chips,i try to play minis to keep up my bankroll one win there pays for the mammoth.ive always been a tourney player hate the rings,and bankroll has not realy changed much over the last year.only advice i can give is play some minis got some more chips under your belt and give it a go,gl m8

[teebs]

Well the mammoth is the best tourny in town... the level of play is good there and the best players join. I usually have around 9-10 mill, and go up and down.
I dont play the mini mammoths much cos personally i think its quite bingoey. So i build my stack on the rings, stick to my game and make sure the annoying players dont suck me in to their style of play.
You say you have 500k....I'd wait until you have 1.5 mill to join the mammoth, but thats just my opinion.
Anyways good luck building your stack, and hope to see u soon in the mammoth.

[OP66fozzy]

My rule of thumb on cash tables is NEVER more than 10% of your bankroll, preferably 5% ( sometimes there is something just too tempting to stick to the 5% rule ).

Free chips, if I was trying to build my bankroll, I would stick to a similar rule. However, if you are determined to play the Mammoth, then you have to ask yourself a couple of questions about your bankroll.

How much is the minimum you want to have to play the tables you like/want ?

How much is it going to hurt you to lose 500k ( because that is your stake ) ?

If you are happy with a minimum bankroll of 1mill, letting you play the tables you want, then I would suggest you don't play the Mammoth until you have 1.5mill.

Only you know the answers, but they are free chips, you know you are a decent player, so I wouldn't worry too much about the normal bankroll management rules ( certainly a 2% cap seems a bit extreme for free chips and I respect your restraint if you are applying that on cash tables ).

As an aside, whilst the quality of play on the Mammoth is as good as it has ever been ( unfortunately I rarely get to play it these days because of other committments ), I personally feel it has lost some of its prestige since the blind structure/chip stack were changed. At its inception, you had a deeper stack and slower blinds, thus producing a tournament that was less reliant on hitting a hand(s). Now it is just the same as the four daily tournaments but with a bigger buy in, and for me that is a shame.

[reaper1569]

great words fozzy budd.. best thing i could say is do not change ur play..but bware it will b tuff gm..wi great players

[ultimodragon]

Im kinda with Fozzy on this one,i dont put in the hours on freeside like i used to,so not looking to build a huge balance,but feel a Million is a nice minimum to have,to play when you want and where you want..so yeah wouldnt play with less than a mill and a half in bank

[CherryPie]

Originally Posted by DukeOfDeath

• How much is a recommended bankroll to start playing in the Mammoth?
• What is the best way to get to said amount?

1. As it is play chips & all for fun, would say go for it as u want, but having no chips for buy-ins & being stuck on bingo tables isnt much fun either...
So would say same as above - wait til at about 1.5 mil so you havent lost half your chips in one buy-in but dont worry about BR management too much if u want to give it a go.

2. Play good poker. u know where ur strengths r, i made all my chips on the rings & would say thats where the chips r to be made

[future2112]

Hi Duke, you've asked a very good question here and i think the answer is really down to whether or not you're prepared to start from scratch. 1000 chips.
If i was you.. and this going by what ive seen from your play... i'd go for it and play the mammoth as soon as i had 500k.
The mammoth is a great tourny to play and im sure if you didnt make a place you're more than capable of building up another 500k in a short space of time.
thats only my opinion but one based on seeing how well you play poker, Duke.
good luck with the route you chose but chose the route that most suits you!
fut.

[rad6]

I myself think for a quick rise to fame, the rings are the way to go. I started playing the 15-30k about a year ago. Don't play often and you have to have a lot of patience but build my roll up from about 10 mill to 60 mill in a short time. Playing the mini's will take a lot longer and your odds are not as high. Plus just like the rush of winning there.

Good luck!

[jimggoldwing]

Duke... here's a thought... use the Mini's... play 'em during the week... if you WIN ($500,000, first place), use that as your reward as a "voucher" and then have a go at the weekly Mammoth. If you win a 2nd or 3rd place, perhaps keep playing to see if you could amass a total of 500,000 in winnings, and again, it's your reward --- play the Mammoth!

If you don't have a strategy of somehow "paying" for the Mammoth, my fear would be that you will find yourself "chipless" and then having to grind it out on the low-level rings.

As for using the "get-rich-quick" strategy, sure, you can give the 15k-30k tables a go... myself, I haven't been to them in quite some time... I did have some very "enriching" sessions... you can earn loads in a very short period of time... but... goes without saying... you can lose loads in a very short period of time... the quality of play there can be abysmal at times.

Cheers!

[chuckster66]

1,5 to 3 million is always Idea for me if you go out early,ya stil got something to play with. right now I have anywhere from 8 to 10 million at one time so im pretty comfortable playin the mammoth.

[DukeOfDeath]

Thanks all for both the advice and the encouraging words. I'd like to answer a few points raised.

Originally Posted by OP66fozzy

As an aside, whilst the quality of play on the Mammoth is as good as it has ever been ( unfortunately I rarely get to play it these days because of other committments ), I personally feel it has lost some of its prestige since the blind structure/chip stack were changed. At its inception, you had a deeper stack and slower blinds, thus producing a tournament that was less reliant on hitting a hand(s). Now it is just the same as the four daily tournaments but with a bigger buy in, and for me that is a shame.

Good solid advice, Fozzy. And I think the echo of 1.5 million is a good one, but the point you made of the tourney format. I agree with you that it would be better skill tournament if the structure was deep stacked and slow blinds. I'm assuming this would be a possible change if more people agreed. It may be worth starting a poll (assuming this isn't an issue already brought up in the past).

Originally Posted by future2112

Hi Duke, you've asked a very good question here and i think the answer is really down to whether or not you're prepared to start from scratch. 1000 chips.
If i was you.. and this going by what ive seen from your play... i'd go for it and play the mammoth as soon as i had 500k.
The mammoth is a great tourny to play and im sure if you didnt make a place you're more than capable of building up another 500k in a short space of time.
thats only my opinion but one based on seeing how well you play poker, Duke.
good luck with the route you chose but chose the route that most suits you!
fut.

Yeah scratch is a rough place. It takes forever to go from 0 to 500K and SIGNIFICANTLY less time and effort to build another 500K from a million. For this reason I definitely agree with most that 1.5 million is the best starting point (and mini mammoths the best way to get there)

Originally Posted by jimggoldwing

Duke... here's a thought... use the Mini's... play 'em during the week... if you WIN ($500,000, first place), use that as your reward as a "voucher" and then have a go at the weekly Mammoth. If you win a 2nd or 3rd place, perhaps keep playing to see if you could amass a total of 500,000 in winnings, and again, it's your reward --- play the Mammoth!

I think Terrence said the same thing, but this is very well put and a good way to look at it. I think that may be just my approach.

Thanks all. Hope to see you at the Mammoth "soon"

[scgirl]

I made the mistake of tryin' playin' the mammoth...not because of the people playin' or the style of play...but thinkin' I had enough chips...I didn't give much thought of what would happened if I didn't place...all I had on my my mind was winnin' for a grand-slam. Needless to say I didn't accomplish that...and then my bank roll took a huge hit! Then it really it home...what in the world was I thinkin'....You asked some very good questions Duke...and got some great advice...Think I'll use the advice given for myself, before I give it another try....

[jazzsinger1]

Duke the best option here is to play the minis and build on it.You have the option of i think three minis in a day to win top prize of 500k chips.The investment 60k for 3 minis(may be tough to do all 3 given the time zone you are in ).but if you can get to crack even 3 good performances in the mini in the week,you have enough to play the manmoth.I will tend to agree with teebs that the minis have become more bingo oriented but then again if you look at the blinds structure vis a vis to chips on the table,one tends to call non premium hands all in.But surely your best shot in terms of chip accumalation rather than trying to play the rings which is so bingo infested that its really not worth it.
the minis are a 20k investement and even if you play 5 in the week its a 100k investment and lets assume you even get top 3 across the tourneys you played,you have a fair amount of chips stacked up.Let me assure you that the bingo play is much lower here in the minis compared to the rings..so i fancy your chances here in the minis.I say all this for a simple reason the weekly manmoth is simply the best tourney on the site and you will see quality players and quality play.so its worth playing it for the sheer pleasure of way this tourney is played,so if you raked in a million chips,i would play the weekly manmoth for 500k without doubt.its truly worth it.

[DukeOfDeath]

Are there 3 a day or 4? I think they are at both 12s and 6s at my time (CST). Unfortunately 6 am is a bit early, 12 pm I'm at work, 6 pm I'm lucky to be home from work, and midnight is bedtime. But there's weekends and a rare exception. I guess this is to say, don't expect me at the mammoth anytime soon.

[jazzsinger1]

yes the timings may be bit of a problem,it is for me as far as the BC and NY and manmoth are concerned,the only two in my moments of awakeness is the hets and wombats..and at times can play one/two minis in a day if time permits from work..nevertheless its not about the time it starts but what it ends as one needs to be prepared to be awake for 2 hours into the tourney minimum if you find yourself on the final table..so i guess we work around it or it works around you...good luck m8..see you at the tables..

[DukeOfDeath]

Gotta love Sundays! No work means I can play more poker, and I just won my first mini. I'll need one or two more wins before you see me at the Maxi Mammoth, but a nice start at least. Want to thank the ladies of the Final Five for not hating on the only guy there and giving me an all around great (and friendly/entertaining) game. Amazing heads up MrsReaps! Looking forward to more poker like this