11 games in as new SNG/MTT micro player--at the right level?

Rattlin' Bones

Hello again, guys.

Well, I made my first deposit three days ago, and have had a couple of wins. But with my limited bankroll, I'm wondering if I need to go down a level, take a break to study, or eliminate MTTs and just focus on SNGs. Here are my results so far:

2/16/08 - $25 Deposit @ PKR.com

2/16/08:

1st place (out of 10) - $5 won - $1 + .1 entry fee
6/10 - $0 - $1 + .1
1/50 - $30 - $2 + .2

2/17/08:

4/10 - $0 - $1 + .1
low/50 - $0 - $2 + .2
19/50 - $0 - $2 + .2
9/10 - $0 - $1 + .1

2/18/08

8/10 - $0 - $1 + .1
1/10 - $5 - $1 + .1
2/10 - $3 - $1 + .1
8/12 - $0 - $2 + .2

ITM: 36%


When I win, I feel like my game is average, but I still get lucky and make a couple of bad plays. When I lose, I only feel that I played well about half of the time.

With my limited bankroll, I'm wondering if it's best to go down to a .50 SNG at another site ($1 + .1 is PKR.com's lowest). I do have a free $10 waiting for me at Victor Chandler.

On the other hand, I'm aware that SNGs are high variance, and the fast blinds can be murder if you don't get good cards. Maybe I I just need to cut out the expensive (but high return) MTTs and focus on my SNGs with the exception of the occasional indulgence. While I think I played well in the 50-person I won, I don't want to get a bloated head and think that I can do that very often.

Or, I could limit it to one SNG every day or every other day and devote a week or two to Harrington on Hold 'em volumes one and two, which I ordered yesterday.

What do you think?

cadillac

$25 is enough bankroll for $1.10 SNG's. I would stick to the single table version. You shouldn't go broke playing those.

Grind it up and good luck.

What is the next level of buyin for these on PKR?

Redington

Yah what caddy said - Those are nice rake levels too, hard to find micro SnG's without outrageous rakes. ie party poker 2+1SNG.

If your looking for advice on hands I would get sitngo wizard, (google it) take a look at the equity push suggestions based on the ICM.

good luck,

InsaneGuy

I'd stick to single table SNG when starting out... multitable can get overwhelming sometimes and I don't think you should be focusing on late game right now.

SnG are good, unexpensive practice and blinds aren't too bad. You can easily find 15 minutes one and be able to see alot of hands and unless you get really unlucky you'll see a good share of premium hands... thing is, don't fall into the trap of "oh god I need to make a mooooveee" and push with a marginal hand when you could have waited a couple more and win instead of being out of the sng.

Oh and everyone makes a bad call sometimes and win... as much as you'll lose with aces to 72o ... it sucks but at low limits it'll happend very often. (ie : lots of people call with A rag ... too many and they are very easy to bust out if you can get some read on them)

Rattlin' Bones

cadillac wrote: »

What is the next level of buyin for these on PKR?

Next level is $3.00 + .3, with $5.00 + .5 following that. There are also 2, 4, and 5-table MTTs for $2.00 + .2, but I'm not thinking that I should play these regularly. At least not until I master SNGs.

There are also "Phase Tournaments", and a buy-in for Phase 1 is $3.60 + .4. Basically, they're 10-person STTs in which the winners receive tickets to higher phases, up until Phase 5 which is a 6-person STT wherein the buy-in is worth $160 and the prize pool is $1,600 and pays out to the top four.

The rule of thumb is that I shouldn't regularly risk more than 5% of my bankroll on a buy-in, correct? So, I could perhaps start playing $3 SNGs once I feel I have a really good grasp of SNG strategy and have $75?

Redington wrote: »

Those are nice rake levels too, hard to find micro SnG's without outrageous rakes. ie party poker 2+1SNG.

My gosh, are you serious? That rake is obscene. What's the payout structure? Guess I'll be staying away from Party Poker.

If your looking for advice on hands I would get sitngo wizard, (google it) take a look at the equity push suggestions based on the ICM.

Yeah, I downloaded the trial at your recommendation, thanks! Unfortunately, I'm not that skilled at putting opponents on hands yet (and it seems really tough at these low stakes). So, I'm not sure how useful it is to me at this point. But, I be sure to review the hands I see warnings for after I finish. Most of them I usually have a defense for, though. (Once, it recommended that I fold 55 in the SB rather than completing the blind. Considering implied odds, isn't that typically boneheaded?)

InsaneGuy wrote: »

SnG are good, unexpensive practice and blinds aren't too bad. You can easily find 15 minutes one and be able to see alot of hands and unless you get really unlucky you'll see a good share of premium hands...

I find PKR.com's SNG blind structures to be awfully intimidating. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find them right now. But they're eight-minute levels, and I think there are a few that they skip that some other sites have. If this is true, I'm wondering if I should try another site with slightly slower levels.

InsaneGuy

Stars is the SnG king... that's for sure if you want sheer numbers you can't go wrong and unless you play turbos, blinds are 15 minutes (turbos are 5)

Rattlin' Bones

Checked out Stars, but I'm disappointed to find that they only have $1 and $5 SNGs, and nothing in between. Their blind structure is certainly superior (slower, that is, at ten minutes per level), but the rake is an extra ten cents. Doesn't look like moving to Stars would be advantageous to me, for now.

Redington

Rattlin' Bones wrote: »

Yeah, I downloaded the trial at your recommendation, thanks! Unfortunately, I'm not that skilled at putting opponents on hands yet (and it seems really tough at these low stakes). So, I'm not sure how useful it is to me at this point. But, I be sure to review the hands I see warnings for after I finish. Most of them I usually have a defense for, though. (Once, it recommended that I fold 55 in the SB rather than completing the blind. Considering implied odds, isn't that typically boneheaded?)

They are generic in some forms, but the reason it probably recommended that is that your stack size was awkward giving the BB tendencies. Ie if he raises 75% of the time you either have to push or fold and given the amount of chips you have compared to the money from the tournament it gives your best equity based decisions.

More important is to be looking at Button, SB and BB play later in the tourney. Where you should be pushing or folding.

Rattlin' Bones

Do you guys think I'd see a lot less variance if I moved up from the lowest SNG stakes--$1.00 + .10--to $3.00 + .30? I've got some people telling me that the quality of play at the lowest levels can make advancing very difficult when you hit bad runs. (Though frankly, in my limited sample size, I've been doing acceptably. If you ignore an MTT in which I took a risky toss on purpose, I'm ITM 40% of the time.)

The rule of thumb says I shouldn't be playing $3.00 + .30 until my bankroll's up over $60, though--probably closer to $75. (I'm down around $50 right now. Which is a great return on my original investment, but I doubt I'll have a lot of paydays like when I won that 50-person MTT. Especially if I'm going to focus on sharpening my SNG game.)

InsaneGuy

At 1$ lvl you'll see alot of stupid plays... it's very very close to play money it's like people don't really care for raises and will call pretty much anything so even if you play the best poker of your life there's a very big chance you'll get sucked out on.

On stars you could try the turbo 6 players sng they go for 3.25 if I remember right.

It's turbo but the 6 max makes it easier on blinds... 2 place paid.

schabs

On stars I don't even think there are SNG's lower than $1.00+.10. Theres $3.00+.40 turbos usually running.