Still waiting for the MTT brain to click into place. Getting grouchy while I play them, punting it off too much and part the reason of my negativity, running pretty bad in tournaments. My attitude in them absolutely stinks though at the moment, I'm not engaged, I'm not even trying to unlock them at this point. I need to reread 'The Mental Game' again I think, I'm acting like a seven year old child arms folded at Sunday Lunch, stubbornly refusing to eat his greens. The plan is to set up a good old fashioned grind-a-thon in them today, Sunday is MTT day and if I can man up (or person up to be PC) and have the right attitude I'll be playing a big schedule today here and elsewhere. And maybe if I get my head straight and stop being an idiot about them I might just run a little better. I am determined to find my focus in them.
In cash I am running obscenely above expectation. Basically flopping lots of sets. I was around £2k up in my Saturday night session last night and I decided to move down the levels from the 400nl and 300nl to the 100nl purely because I didn't think I was playing particularly well, just smashing the deck. The £200 or so I won there felt I more rewarding because I was playing much closer to where I can play rather than just being a fish on a heater.
Good luck Sunday grinding all, happy roller day.
March 2015
Points so Far: 18626 Total Profit/loss so far: +£8834.52 (have pre bought in for £350 worth of the VLV satty tree, these figures reflect these unplayed events). DYMs: - £18 Cash: + £9503.59 MTT: - £258.57 HU SnG: - £392.50
Total VLV spend to date: £1372.20 - (£1107 in cash returns) = £265.20
Wobble time. I was due a turn of fortune, came in full force over the last couple of days. Despite a third in the Mini Sunday the MTT day was pretty much a washout. Didn't play badly, just found myself in some ridiculous spots and James Bond filmesc run outs. Shrug shoulders, it happens. Rinse and repeat for day 1 of going for the VLV SnG promo. I don't think I played great but it was certainly a day of running -ev. To make matters worse there seems to be stiff competition this week. I played nearly every game with JMcCririck (I'm pretty sure it's not that one). They of course ran dreamy by the looks of things but these always look different from one side of the fence than the other. I loved the little mind games thrown my way as well. How many hours they are gonna play, their mega cool and as the kids say 'sick' set up, yadda yadda yadda, heard everything before. Most of it is probably true, it doesn't really matter to me though. He/she are probably a favourite to win it tbh, I don't think I won Day 1. But I have options, I may have to make a run at the £100+ hypers versus the regs who have that as their strongest game while it is clearly my weakest. Decision time tomorrow, time to grab a few hours of sleep then up and at 'em for round 2.
March 2015
Points so Far: 25401 Total Profit/loss so far: +£7813.35 (have pre bought in for £350 worth of the VLV satty tree, these figures reflect these unplayed events). DYMs: - £534.50 Cash: + £9384.67 MTT: - £709.32 HU SnG: - £327.50
Only just caught up with your Diary Tommy and have to say I am hugely impressed by your figures. The cash winnings are awesome - also being a master at cash must be nice as you're rightly recognised as one of the very best MTTs players on the site!
It is also a little comforting to see that someone as good as you can also run badly at the MTTs. Whilst nowhere near your league I have been having a bad old time at them for ages now. It's been a long time since I ran deep in any of the bigger ones and I am struggling to keep the 'profit' graph from turning into the outline of a mountain! I know that mine is not all down to 'run bad' and I have not been playing well for a number of reasons, but not having confidence that any hand will hold up does make the game tougher.
I nearly ran well the other day when I had AQ v QQ AIP then managed to flop the ace! Yippee some run good for me! It didn't even last for the next two cards as the case Q came down on the river! Ho Hum.
I hope that some good MTT form returns (for both of us) and good luck with the VLV qualification. I have no doubt you'll get there.
Wobble time. I was due a turn of fortune, came in full force over the last couple of days. Despite a third in the Mini Sunday the MTT day was pretty much a washout. Didn't play badly, just found myself in some ridiculous spots and James Bond filmesc run outs. Shrug shoulders, it happens. Rinse and repeat for day 1 of going for the VLV SnG promo. I don't think I played great but it was certainly a day of running -ev. To make matters worse there seems to be stiff competition this week. I played nearly every game with JMcCririck (I'm pretty sure it's not that one). Posted by TommyD
Hi T,
Thanks for replies. Re bold, do you ever stand when you realise that "today is not gonna be my day" for whatever reason? Also, kinda related, have you ever heard of "biorythms"? Just wondering.
Will get to the two posts above soon but just gonna post this first.
Quitting my run at the SnG promo. Yeah no heart, pathetically early to throwing the towel etc etc. Please feel free to point and laugh. But here's the reason.
So I got a run on JMac this morning being up first, and as I'm grinding I'm thinking about the week ahead. Now I can grind, look way back in my diary and you'll see 50 odd hour sessions for fun. Then I'm thinking about what I am not gonna be able to do this week. Hardly have a smoke, barely eat, miss my shows - those were all fine, not even missed any of those things and I can take that. Gonna have to skip Hospital Radio (twice) and football training/second last match of the season. Sigh, well I guess sacrifices have to be made, don't like it though.
And then we got to the heart strings. Have the Hound cooped up for a week without getting a long walk a day. Hardly say a word to the GF. At this point I was wavering but thinking I still might have a crack at it. Then the moment came. Tell my 83 year old neighbour I can't set up their first ever WiFi and Tablet like a promised. We're due for that hot date tomorrow for a few hours/
I just thought to myself 'WTF are you doing?'
So feel free to tell me I have no heart etc etc, I enjoy life too much to grind above all. I'm much more of an idiot for saying I was going for it in the first place.
Best of luck to all the winners, I'll probably just bink the satellite anyway
Only just caught up with your Diary Tommy and have to say I am hugely impressed by your figures. The cash winnings are awesome - also being a master at cash must be nice as you're rightly recognised as one of the very best MTTs players on the site! It is also a little comforting to see that someone as good as you can also run badly at the MTTs. Whilst nowhere near your league I have been having a bad old time at them for ages now. It's been a long time since I ran deep in any of the bigger ones and I am struggling to keep the 'profit' graph from turning into the outline of a mountain! I know that mine is not all down to 'run bad' and I have not been playing well for a number of reasons, but not having confidence that any hand will hold up does make the game tougher. I nearly ran well the other day when I had AQ v QQ AIP then managed to flop the ace! Yippee some run good for me! It didn't even last for the next two cards as the case Q came down on the river! Ho Hum. I hope that some good MTT form returns (for both of us) and good luck with the VLV qualification. I have no doubt you'll get there. Posted by Enut
Hey Enut
Thank you very much for the kind words.
The key really is just hard work, focus and volume. Confidence is an issue I struggle with (not just in poker) and there is no way I have found to fake it. All you can really do in poker situations is 'let it go.' Try to find a detachment between you and the odds, don't expect to win or expect to lose. Just take a breath and draw away from it all.
The harsh fact of this game is you can run poorly for a long time. Control what you can control. Sigh away tilt, improve your own game. And always, just have fun with it.
In Response to Re: Many Rivers To Cross. A Diary. : Hi T, Thanks for replies. Re bold, do you ever stand when you realise that "today is not gonna be my day" for whatever reason? Also, kinda related, have you ever heard of "biorythms"? Just wondering. Posted by Glenelg
Hey Pad
I don't stand if I think 'today is not my day.' I do stand if I think a bad day is effecting my mentally, or at least I take an hour or so of a break, watch a show or some Youtube vids or maybe just go for a walk with the Hound.
Biorythms? The only bell that rings is a really basic computer sorta game I had on my first computer so many years ago now. The computer was the classic Acorn Electron. Biorythms was a game where you would enter some personal details like date of birth etc and the program would take all of this information and create a spinning spiro-graph like pattern on a loop on the screen in pretty colours. Forgotten about that program and while I have a feeling that's not what you are talking about, thank you for reminding me of the pretty colours.
This poker update is brought to you by the words d'oh, meh and sigh.
Crashed and burned a bit lately. in the VLV sat I went out 12th. Didn't play too badly, not amazing. Bust out in a spot where I was a good favourite to win, just couldn't get it going.
Taken a cash downswing. Was briefly over £10k for the month and then everything seemed to fall out of my mind.
I haven't really got anything other than that to update you guys on. Feeling pretty low on confidence at the moment, in desperate need to regroup and go again. Looking for that spark of inspiration.
March 2015
Points so Far: 33198 Total Profit/loss so far: +£6720.86 DYMs: - £520.40 Cash: + £8602.90 MTT: - £855.64 HU SnG: - £524
Total VLV spend to date: £1870.20 - (£1107 in cash returns) = £763.20 (and now no closer to VLV than when I started).
Seeing as I have just finished the grind for the evening but presently the wind is rather determined to blow several items from the garden into my office door, I doubt I'll be able to crash out soon so I might as well put an update up
Sunday was frankly abysmal. Just didn't play well in most MTTs across all sites, was very disappointing. The only one I played half decent in was the Roller, went from that a little short of the money top two v an over pair on the flop. Pretty standard hand, pretty standard run out to pair the bad cards (for me at least). Came up just short yet again for the £1k VLV seat, that's starting to get to me.
Tonight with renewed vigour I once again took the first steps (again) towards VLV. Managed to sat into both the Saturday 3.2k semi and the Sunday 10k semi. So a couple more tickets to take to the coconut shy. Got to the final two tables of the main but I am just not playing these stages of the MTT well at the moment. Going spot dead yes but playing the few I get badly. Getting to a point where I am considering doing 'an Annette' and just putting a post it over my cards and just play position and feel. Might not be the worst idea for me in the world to be completely serious. It takes all level one thinking out of the game and we can just play on levels two and three. For those that don't know, I have a few theories on poker. One is that it's a spinning triangle. In a snap shot, level one is bottom left, and it's just a player looking at the strength of their hand. Level two is bottom right, it's a player thinking about what are the sorts of hands and ranges his opponents have. And Level three is on top, and it's thinking about what kinds of hands does my opponent think that I have. Problem is the triangle only spins one way. Two is a better technical player than one, Three is better than two but three doesn't work against one, one's actually ahead of three because three is going a level too far considering factors that simply do not matter to one.
Ok, maybe I am rambling. Next time will try to use rock, papers, scissors instead.
I can't deny it's been a good cash month and in that at least I have played ok while running exceptionally, beyond over expectation well. the DYM and HU SnG losses on the month are a little meh, pushed too many tables at the DYMs and the HU SnG is just a real weakness of mine, especially any with some sort of speed. I might want to try and sort that game out at some point but for now I don't want to mess around too much under the bonnet in cash I confuse the parts that are actually working. The MTT losses, meh, not happy with how I played this month at them but I've had a couple of good MTT months so far and UKOPS is around the corner, fingers crossed I can find my game for a few of those events.
Not gonna play any cash tomorrow until the bells of April hit, I quite fancy having a £10k at cash poker month, been over a year since I had one and it's always nice to put it in the books.
Happy grinding all.
March 2015
Points so Far: 34496 Total Profit/loss so far: +£7899.90 DYMs: - £502.40 Cash: + £10,209.22 MTT: - £1282.92 HU SnG: - £524
Total VLV spend to date: £2231.20 - (£1347 in cash returns) = £884.20
There is an interesting debate aboit the Blinds structure in the VLV Finals, here
As you can see, some very good players have opposing views. What is your view?
Please especially note that the structure has been advertised "as is" since day one, & to change it now would cause some grumbling. Leaving it "as is" will cause some grumbling, too.
Amazing cash returns there, Tommy. I have a question for you. There is an interesting debate aboit the Blinds structure in the VLV Finals, here As you can see, some very good players have opposing views. What is your view? Please especially note that the structure has been advertised "as is" since day one, & to change it now would cause some grumbling. Leaving it "as is" will cause some grumbling, too. Posted by Tikay10
Thank you very much Sir
First, the emboldened part, it wouldn't be online poker without that catch 22
I did see that thread, I avoided it at the time for two key reasons. Firstly from a selfish perspective I went out something like 11th or 12th, I was a bit sore from exiting and the manner of the exit. I felt the person who knocked me out played a hand, in my opinion, completely abominably. they end up with a package, I have to start again. Hated myself a little for not being able to shrug that one off in my usual fashion which I have done countless times before with a smile on my face and a song in my heart. I wanted the win too much and I didn't like how that obsession changed me. I obviously didn't say a word in chat and before I let myself down any further or in public I shut myself off entirely from poker and the site that evening. Ha, that paragraph got a bit more further into reveal personal feelings than I intended, it goes that way sometimes in a diary.
The second key reason I avoided it is so many posts on structures are self advocating. We live in an adversarial democracy. We settle legal disputes by paying for our champions to fight our corner. Politics is pick a team in a Punch and Judy contest. As such so many posts on threads similar to that are 'I want it the way I like it, the way which would be best for me.' You can't fault such posts, it's the environment everyone has grown up in over the past few centuries.
Down to brass tacks, my thoughts on the issue. I will try to give an opinion of what would be the fairest structure for the whole rather than the one which would suit be, I hope there will not be any bias. To be fair to all in a satellite with no antes (personal note, I literally don't care if there are antes or are not antes in a MTT, it's all about adjusting to if they are or are not there) I think if needs to be faster early and slower later. Someone asked me about this on Lambo's Twitch chatroom and I said in a pithy manner 'make it a 10k starting but start the blinds at 50/100.' tbh I don't think I was too far off the mark, I might even go more extreme, forget about the change to the starting and just start at 50/100 from a 5k starting, so everyone starts on 50bb. I can't find the later structure now but I would slow down the blind increases massively to account on starting shallow.
Satellites are completely different from a normal MTT. There is no reason to play a hand unless there is something worth winning. The early levels in that structure are for the most part, from people with even a rudimentary understanding of satellite poker, are who can wait for QQ+ or flop sets best. And that's completely the optimal way to play a sat that deep with no antes. Obviously there will always be a few who just want to play hands but for the most part everyone folds. And everyone folds until we get to a 20bbish stack, and nearly everyone is still in. Now because no one has played a hand for 90 minutes or so, everyone is bunched around 20bb apart from a select few who were the beneficiaries of a cooler/maniac play in the early going. This is when it becomes a crapshoot because now it's who flips best and suddenly you have to go from hibernation to full throttle because the blind increases are effectively (compared to the average amount of BBs in a stack) much bigger than in the early levels, just when stacks are shallower.
In short, give people something to fight for early, a bigger percentage of their stack in the middle in the form of the blinds. Make people play. This benefits both the better aggressive tournament players and the recreational players because the more times you have to put those chips in the middle, the more variance will play a part so if it's a rec's hot night and they play well (which many do), they are on the plane to Vegas. The only people this hurts are the much more conservative No Limit Texas Fold'em Regs, some of which will no doubt rubbish my opinion. Which is cool. But I think less so called 'play' early but more 'play' later is the most level playing field and fairest way to run a no ante satty.
I should probably also note 'You pay you money, you take your chances.' I knew the satty structures before I started and I completely accepted them. The above post is not a complaint on the structure, just an opinion on it. I will still be plugging away at them and I do not think at this stage they should be changed if they have been advertised.
Comments
Still waiting for the MTT brain to click into place. Getting grouchy while I play them, punting it off too much and part the reason of my negativity, running pretty bad in tournaments. My attitude in them absolutely stinks though at the moment, I'm not engaged, I'm not even trying to unlock them at this point. I need to reread 'The Mental Game' again I think, I'm acting like a seven year old child arms folded at Sunday Lunch, stubbornly refusing to eat his greens. The plan is to set up a good old fashioned grind-a-thon in them today, Sunday is MTT day and if I can man up (or person up to be PC) and have the right attitude I'll be playing a big schedule today here and elsewhere. And maybe if I get my head straight and stop being an idiot about them I might just run a little better. I am determined to find my focus in them.
In cash I am running obscenely above expectation. Basically flopping lots of sets. I was around £2k up in my Saturday night session last night and I decided to move down the levels from the 400nl and 300nl to the 100nl purely because I didn't think I was playing particularly well, just smashing the deck. The £200 or so I won there felt I more rewarding because I was playing much closer to where I can play rather than just being a fish on a heater.
Good luck Sunday grinding all, happy roller day.
March 2015
Points so Far: 18626
Total Profit/loss so far: +£8834.52 (have pre bought in for £350 worth of the VLV satty tree, these figures reflect these unplayed events).
DYMs: - £18
Cash: + £9503.59
MTT: - £258.57
HU SnG: - £392.50
Total VLV spend to date: £1372.20 - (£1107 in cash returns) = £265.20
Stunning numbers Tommy, absolutely stunning.
March 2015
Points so Far: 25401
Total Profit/loss so far: +£7813.35 (have pre bought in for £350 worth of the VLV satty tree, these figures reflect these unplayed events).
DYMs: - £534.50
Cash: + £9384.67
MTT: - £709.32
HU SnG: - £327.50
It is also a little comforting to see that someone as good as you can also run badly at the MTTs. Whilst nowhere near your league I have been having a bad old time at them for ages now. It's been a long time since I ran deep in any of the bigger ones and I am struggling to keep the 'profit' graph from turning into the outline of a mountain! I know that mine is not all down to 'run bad' and I have not been playing well for a number of reasons, but not having confidence that any hand will hold up does make the game tougher.
I nearly ran well the other day when I had AQ v QQ AIP then managed to flop the ace! Yippee some run good for me! It didn't even last for the next two cards as the case Q came down on the river! Ho Hum.
I hope that some good MTT form returns (for both of us) and good luck with the VLV qualification. I have no doubt you'll get there.
Quitting my run at the SnG promo. Yeah no heart, pathetically early to throwing the towel etc etc. Please feel free to point and laugh. But here's the reason.
So I got a run on JMac this morning being up first, and as I'm grinding I'm thinking about the week ahead. Now I can grind, look way back in my diary and you'll see 50 odd hour sessions for fun. Then I'm thinking about what I am not gonna be able to do this week. Hardly have a smoke, barely eat, miss my shows - those were all fine, not even missed any of those things and I can take that. Gonna have to skip Hospital Radio (twice) and football training/second last match of the season. Sigh, well I guess sacrifices have to be made, don't like it though.
And then we got to the heart strings. Have the Hound cooped up for a week without getting a long walk a day. Hardly say a word to the GF. At this point I was wavering but thinking I still might have a crack at it. Then the moment came. Tell my 83 year old neighbour I can't set up their first ever WiFi and Tablet like a promised. We're due for that hot date tomorrow for a few hours/
I just thought to myself 'WTF are you doing?'
So feel free to tell me I have no heart etc etc, I enjoy life too much to grind above all. I'm much more of an idiot for saying I was going for it in the first place.
Best of luck to all the winners, I'll probably just bink the satellite anyway
Good luck with the SATS.
#LEGEND
Thank you very much for the kind words.
The key really is just hard work, focus and volume. Confidence is an issue I struggle with (not just in poker) and there is no way I have found to fake it. All you can really do in poker situations is 'let it go.' Try to find a detachment between you and the odds, don't expect to win or expect to lose. Just take a breath and draw away from it all.
The harsh fact of this game is you can run poorly for a long time. Control what you can control. Sigh away tilt, improve your own game. And always, just have fun with it.
I don't stand if I think 'today is not my day.' I do stand if I think a bad day is effecting my mentally, or at least I take an hour or so of a break, watch a show or some Youtube vids or maybe just go for a walk with the Hound.
Biorythms? The only bell that rings is a really basic computer sorta game I had on my first computer so many years ago now. The computer was the classic Acorn Electron. Biorythms was a game where you would enter some personal details like date of birth etc and the program would take all of this information and create a spinning spiro-graph like pattern on a loop on the screen in pretty colours. Forgotten about that program and while I have a feeling that's not what you are talking about, thank you for reminding me of the pretty colours.
Crashed and burned a bit lately. in the VLV sat I went out 12th. Didn't play too badly, not amazing. Bust out in a spot where I was a good favourite to win, just couldn't get it going.
Taken a cash downswing. Was briefly over £10k for the month and then everything seemed to fall out of my mind.
I haven't really got anything other than that to update you guys on. Feeling pretty low on confidence at the moment, in desperate need to regroup and go again. Looking for that spark of inspiration.
March 2015
Points so Far: 33198
Total Profit/loss so far: +£6720.86
DYMs: - £520.40
Cash: + £8602.90
MTT: - £855.64
HU SnG: - £524
Total VLV spend to date: £1870.20 - (£1107 in cash returns) = £763.20 (and now no closer to VLV than when I started).
Sunday was frankly abysmal. Just didn't play well in most MTTs across all sites, was very disappointing. The only one I played half decent in was the Roller, went from that a little short of the money top two v an over pair on the flop. Pretty standard hand, pretty standard run out to pair the bad cards (for me at least). Came up just short yet again for the £1k VLV seat, that's starting to get to me.
Tonight with renewed vigour I once again took the first steps (again) towards VLV. Managed to sat into both the Saturday 3.2k semi and the Sunday 10k semi. So a couple more tickets to take to the coconut shy. Got to the final two tables of the main but I am just not playing these stages of the MTT well at the moment. Going spot dead yes but playing the few I get badly. Getting to a point where I am considering doing 'an Annette' and just putting a post it over my cards and just play position and feel. Might not be the worst idea for me in the world to be completely serious. It takes all level one thinking out of the game and we can just play on levels two and three. For those that don't know, I have a few theories on poker. One is that it's a spinning triangle. In a snap shot, level one is bottom left, and it's just a player looking at the strength of their hand. Level two is bottom right, it's a player thinking about what are the sorts of hands and ranges his opponents have. And Level three is on top, and it's thinking about what kinds of hands does my opponent think that I have. Problem is the triangle only spins one way. Two is a better technical player than one, Three is better than two but three doesn't work against one, one's actually ahead of three because three is going a level too far considering factors that simply do not matter to one.
Ok, maybe I am rambling. Next time will try to use rock, papers, scissors instead.
I can't deny it's been a good cash month and in that at least I have played ok while running exceptionally, beyond over expectation well. the DYM and HU SnG losses on the month are a little meh, pushed too many tables at the DYMs and the HU SnG is just a real weakness of mine, especially any with some sort of speed. I might want to try and sort that game out at some point but for now I don't want to mess around too much under the bonnet in cash I confuse the parts that are actually working. The MTT losses, meh, not happy with how I played this month at them but I've had a couple of good MTT months so far and UKOPS is around the corner, fingers crossed I can find my game for a few of those events.
Not gonna play any cash tomorrow until the bells of April hit, I quite fancy having a £10k at cash poker month, been over a year since I had one and it's always nice to put it in the books.
Happy grinding all.
March 2015
Points so Far: 34496
Total Profit/loss so far: +£7899.90
DYMs: - £502.40
Cash: + £10,209.22
MTT: - £1282.92
HU SnG: - £524
Total VLV spend to date: £2231.20 - (£1347 in cash returns) = £884.20
Amazing cash returns there, Tommy.
I have a question for you.
There is an interesting debate aboit the Blinds structure in the VLV Finals, here
As you can see, some very good players have opposing views. What is your view?
Please especially note that the structure has been advertised "as is" since day one, & to change it now would cause some grumbling. Leaving it "as is" will cause some grumbling, too.
First, the emboldened part, it wouldn't be online poker without that catch 22
I did see that thread, I avoided it at the time for two key reasons. Firstly from a selfish perspective I went out something like 11th or 12th, I was a bit sore from exiting and the manner of the exit. I felt the person who knocked me out played a hand, in my opinion, completely abominably. they end up with a package, I have to start again. Hated myself a little for not being able to shrug that one off in my usual fashion which I have done countless times before with a smile on my face and a song in my heart. I wanted the win too much and I didn't like how that obsession changed me. I obviously didn't say a word in chat and before I let myself down any further or in public I shut myself off entirely from poker and the site that evening. Ha, that paragraph got a bit more further into reveal personal feelings than I intended, it goes that way sometimes in a diary.
The second key reason I avoided it is so many posts on structures are self advocating. We live in an adversarial democracy. We settle legal disputes by paying for our champions to fight our corner. Politics is pick a team in a Punch and Judy contest. As such so many posts on threads similar to that are 'I want it the way I like it, the way which would be best for me.' You can't fault such posts, it's the environment everyone has grown up in over the past few centuries.
Down to brass tacks, my thoughts on the issue. I will try to give an opinion of what would be the fairest structure for the whole rather than the one which would suit be, I hope there will not be any bias. To be fair to all in a satellite with no antes (personal note, I literally don't care if there are antes or are not antes in a MTT, it's all about adjusting to if they are or are not there) I think if needs to be faster early and slower later. Someone asked me about this on Lambo's Twitch chatroom and I said in a pithy manner 'make it a 10k starting but start the blinds at 50/100.' tbh I don't think I was too far off the mark, I might even go more extreme, forget about the change to the starting and just start at 50/100 from a 5k starting, so everyone starts on 50bb. I can't find the later structure now but I would slow down the blind increases massively to account on starting shallow.
Satellites are completely different from a normal MTT. There is no reason to play a hand unless there is something worth winning. The early levels in that structure are for the most part, from people with even a rudimentary understanding of satellite poker, are who can wait for QQ+ or flop sets best. And that's completely the optimal way to play a sat that deep with no antes. Obviously there will always be a few who just want to play hands but for the most part everyone folds. And everyone folds until we get to a 20bbish stack, and nearly everyone is still in. Now because no one has played a hand for 90 minutes or so, everyone is bunched around 20bb apart from a select few who were the beneficiaries of a cooler/maniac play in the early going. This is when it becomes a crapshoot because now it's who flips best and suddenly you have to go from hibernation to full throttle because the blind increases are effectively (compared to the average amount of BBs in a stack) much bigger than in the early levels, just when stacks are shallower.
In short, give people something to fight for early, a bigger percentage of their stack in the middle in the form of the blinds. Make people play. This benefits both the better aggressive tournament players and the recreational players because the more times you have to put those chips in the middle, the more variance will play a part so if it's a rec's hot night and they play well (which many do), they are on the plane to Vegas. The only people this hurts are the much more conservative No Limit Texas Fold'em Regs, some of which will no doubt rubbish my opinion. Which is cool. But I think less so called 'play' early but more 'play' later is the most level playing field and fairest way to run a no ante satty.
Never played them mate, while I am a satellite callgirl I am not an overlay chaser. Seem like great fun though