Name: The super high roller circuit.
Age: At least 13 years old.
Appearance: Tournaments filled with nerveless pros and wealthy amateurs, where the buy-ins are bigger than most people’s lifetime winnings.
I’ve heard of high rollers. Ah yes, but we’re talking about super high rollers.
What’s the difference? Money, and lots of it. In 2012 ‘The Big One for One Drop’ tournament had a buy-in of $1M, the Super High Roller Bowl launched in 2015 with a $500K buy-in event, and since 2016 the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series has been putting on huge buy-in tournaments around the world.
Nice work if you can get it! You might think so, but being a regular in these events requires an enormous outlay. Daniel Negreanu recently posted that, to play all these events in a year, you’d need to cash over $12M to turn a profit.
Did many players do that last year? Sure, by Negreanu’s reckoning… three.
Wow, I guess these events must be running out of players. On the contrary — last month the Triton Jeju $100K Main Event attracted a record-breaking 205 entries.
Hang on, so is there a problem here or not? Yes and no. Negreanu says most of the regulars are swapping and selling so much action that the results are “mostly a mirage.”
Okay then, sounds like fun. Can I borrow $12M? Hold your horses, Negreanu also says the best way to make a living as a tournament pro is to give the super high rollers a miss and instead focus on low (under $1,500) to mid-stakes ($2K-$10K) tournaments.
But those are going to have much larger fields. True, but those fields will contain more weaker players, the tourneys will often have slower structures (and therefore less variance), and the cheaper prices allow pros to have more of their own action — and therefore keep more of their winnings.
The super high rollers don’t keep their winnings? Not if they’ve sold most of their action. Negreanu claims that some sell up to 90% of themselves, so even if they win a million dollars, after taxes and expenses, "a full-time job as a waiter doesn’t sound all that terrible."
Maybe I should be a waiter instead? Before you take my order, remember: Negreanu’s not the only one with an opinion. Seth Davies, for example, claims that "of everyone grinding all the biggest stakes, most have big pieces" of themselves.
Those super high roller events attract such good players, I bet they’re tough as nails and have great structures. You’d think so, but they usually have quite fast structures to cater to the wealthy whales. Preflop hand selection and understanding ICM are the most important aspects, apparently.
So I guess Daniel Negreanu won’t be cropping up in the $100K at the WSOP this summer? Don’t be so sure.
What’s his reasoning? “I respect the gamble.”
Do say: “I’m selling action for the Triton $100K Main Event next month...”
Don’t say: “...I’ve got 99.95% still available.”
Featured image courtesy of Triton Poker
