Before I go and spew off another couple K in tournaments later this month, I wanted to watch a few tournament videos to see if I can pick up anything.  I asked around the cash game forums for training site recommendations for MTT videos and I got none.  So I posted in the MTT forums and got told to stop being a moron (the poker forums can be a cruel place for the completely clueless) and use something called a "search" function.  Actually, I had done this, but the key words "MTT" and "video" come up so often that I didn't see what I needed right away.  Anyway, eventually, I came across a thread that talks about the various training sites.

Tournament poker players are the mole people of the poker world.  The most successful cash game players in the world are considered the best poker players in the world.  The most successful tournament players in the world (except for Phil Ivey) are generally heralded as donks and luck boxes. The other day, there was a high stakes cash game that revolved around Daniel Negreanu (aka Kid Poker).  If any of the other names novice poker viewers would be familiar with (Phil Hellmuth, Gus Hansen, John Juanda, Mike Matusow, etc) come to play cash games, the online high stakes cash game players will come a flocking.  Cruel, I know.  As they say...  You're pro or you're noob.  That's life.

So having been a surface dweller all my life (as bad as I am), I did not realize a whole subculture of tournament poker existed.  There are multiple tournament forums where they discuss strategy and socialize.  Well, I knew they existed, but never really thought about them, because they're mole people!!! and I'm a surface dweller!  They even have their own video training sites, most of which I've never heard of before.  Ironically, most cash game players want to win tournaments because that's where the huge scores are.  Not only are there six to seven figure payouts for first place, if you win a "major" one, you can get enough endorsements to be comfortable for years, if not the rest of your life.

Even tho tournament players as a whole have a bad rep as poker players, there is definitely a skill set involved to become successful.  In fact, that skill set is rather complicated and altho cash game players like to consider themselves superior, there are a lot of nuances of tournament strategy that cash gamers miss.  The other day, some guy won the two major Sunday tournaments on FT for nearly a quarter million dollars.  That can't be just luck.  So with FTOPS a week away, I present to you the two best tournament poker training sites:
* www.pokersavvy.com/plus
* www.pokerpwnage.com
Honorable mentions to:
* www.pokerxfactor.com
* www.themavenvt.com (whenever it gets up and running)
Of course, the general video training sites like CardRunners, Leggo, Bluefire, and Deuces Cracked have some good MTT videos as well.

There's donk money out there for the taking!  You just need to train and go get it!