I've been doing pretty well in cash games and would like to translate some of that success into tournaments as well... I consider myself to be a pretty good player and from reading books and posts on the forum along with my experience I feel that its possible for me to do well in tournaments online. However I was wondering at what level buy in do the tournaments become a legitimate test of skill rather than an all in crap shoot or having the risk of being busted by someone getting lucky on a poor call. And im not talking about having someone finish off an open ended straight draw or four flush on the river but real horrible bad beats. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I think that's a difficult question to answer outright, but I definitely think the level of skill increases as the buy-ins do. That said, it's not universally true, especially these days where people can win a small buy-in tournament and get an entry into a larger buy-in. So you see a mix of skill, but I definitely think the level of skill starts to increase at the the lowest levels on up. You find certain levels of skill in the freerolls, then $1 and $3 buy-ins and then all the way up to $20 I have still seen complete crazy all-in every hand type plays. After that I have seen it less and less....

However I was wondering at what level buy in do the tournaments become a legitimate test of skill rather than an all in crap shoot or having the risk of being busted by someone getting lucky on a poor call.


About $25,000.