I use to consider myself a winning player tournaments if I won >10% of my games. I currently have about a 25% win rate. However I feel that ROI is a better indicator of success. Of course one expects to win more then we put in. Any thoughts or suggestions?
Absolutely, ROI is the much, MUCH more important metric IMO.
This is a massive over-simplification, and not in any way realistic, but it illustrates the point pretty well.
Say you play single table SnGs where there's a 50/30/20 payout split.
If you somehow cashed in 55% of your games, but
all your cashes were third places, you'd still be down money. Even though 55% ITM sounds crazy good.
On the other hand, if you only cashed in 25% of your games but they were all first places, you'd be up.
I think a focus on "cashing rate" or ITM percentage can lead to some bad habits too. It might make you play too passive around the bubble for example, trying to just squeak over for a mincash when taking more risks that might bust you outside the money but might also set up up for a deep run and a much bigger cash would be the +EV play.