I was in the chip lead of a LIVE tournament (€50 freeze-out, no limit Hold’em) with 16 players left. Two tables. I was dealt aces on the button and raised it up 3BB. My opponent, somewhat middle-stacked went all in behind me and I called him down. He had KQ suited and made his flush on the turn. I had the ace for his flush, but the river didn’t do me justice.

That was bad. But the hand after, I got aces again.

I raised it up again in late position (I was no longer chip leader, but was still above average) and one of the players that covered me re-raised me the to about 12BB. I insta-shoved hoping he’d just lay it down giving me a decent pot. He called though. He had pocket sevens and told me “I thought you were steaming”. I was steaming, but that’s something else, right. Anyway; dude spikes a seven right on the flop…

I was so sick I almost threw up, especially when the sevens guy started declaring how awesome that was and how bad I played my aces knowing he would call me thinking I was steaming. No sh*t sherlock, as if I minded a call by someone 4-to-1 behind.

Donkball ended up winning the thing. Pretty bad freaking beat.

FLOP [Pot $5990]
[ ]

TURN [Pot $5990]
[]

RIVER [Pot $5990]
[]

SUMMARY [Pot $5990]
Total pot $6 020.00 Rake $0.00
Hero wins $6 020.00

Nuff said.

(source)

You have a better chance playing roulette online. Honestly.

In Multi-Table Tournaments there are a larger group of players but you are playing only against those on your table. So it is essentially like playing a very long SnG. As the game progresses and players get knocked out, tables merge and players move until only the Final Table remains. These MTTs typically pay somewhere around the top 10% of the field with the winner taking the biggest payout (usally about 20% or so). The number of players can range from a handful of players spread over two tables to a few hundred or even a few thousand. You can pay very little to enter these (or nothing in a freeroll) and potentially turn a huge profit if you beat the odds and make the final table. The law of averages says you are unlikely to make the final table often and just making it into the money means you probably won’t even turn a profit.

There are tournament pros out there, both live and online, and many have found fame and fortune through their tournament successes. Players who have done well exceptionally well in live tournaments like Chris Moneymaker, Chris Ferguson or more recently Annette Obrestad (Annette_15) have become minor celebrities and big heroes on the poker circuit.