Stay at home Dad Grinding NL Cash Games + MTTs Daily/Nightly

I wrote a couple times this year about my recent goal of playing a little bit of low stakes No Limit Poker every day (particularly in the mornings), as I gain experience and build up my bankroll. I will briefly outline a few developments:

- I continue to play 0.10-0.25 game (I started the year at the 0.50 game but dropped during the summer so I could get more practice without worrying so much about the money)
- June and July were my first profitable months (about $100 and $75 respectively, not much but better than losing). However I fell well short of monthly goal of 3500 hands (about 1300 and 1400 respectively)
- August I didn't play much due to being busy with family and broke even
- Aug/Sept I started to late buy MTT's at night and I've min cashed in 6 out of 11, but no final tables yet. I'm about break even in MTT's at the moment.

My friend RichCheckMaker (a much more experienced NL player) gave some great pointers on bet-sizing / 3-betting and also suggested I drop stakes. HUD data sorted by stakes after a couple months gives a clear comparison of how I played before this advice and how my game significantly improved after.

Why I think MTT's are so valuable
I decided that cash games were not going to be enough, and that I also just enjoy MTT's a lot more. But I feel its necessary to play both. So I've been trying to play about 1 hour / 100 hands in morning (2 tables) and at night I play 2 - 3 MTT's. I've tried buying in from the start and also late buying. I firmly believe late buying is the way to go. I've been playing one specific nightly $10 buy-in $1500 guaranteed. Sometimes I paid one round of blinds and ended up in the money before the blinds came back around. You might see 70 players left and top 40 paid, and buy-in with M=2 or 3. If I see 2x or less players vs places paid I think its pretty good odds to make the money by playing really tight. Then open up after that to try to claw my way into final table. Hasn't happened yet but I've made plenty of final tables or top 3 finishes in MTT's when I have half the knowledge and discipline I have now. It only takes like 3 winning showdowns to get to final table.

I like to keep the other tables open (usually 5 or 6) and watch players dropping like flies because they can't handle pressure of being on the bubble. Players in solid positions playing hands they don't need to play. The advantage of MTT's is that it brings out the worst in players. I'd say at least 75% of opponents don't even think they have a shot at winning unless they get incredibly lucky (like winning the lottery). The other advantage is in an MTT there is equity in other opponents playing. In a cash game if AX shoves and some pocket pair calls and someone loses their stack, it doesn't affect your return. But in a MTT you gain equity by folding and letting other players knock each other out. And you get the biggest possible bang for your buck.