Beginner questions on SNG's

Well I gave up on playing Cash games, I just couldn't get the hang of the cash format. But SNG's are showing me some promise. I feel more confident in them, and feel it better suits my skills. Of course I've only played in 80 games so who knows if I'll be quite so happy with my performance after 1000.

With that being said I do have some questions.

a) bankroll Management, am I doing it ok? I started off with $40 in my account but rather than playing the minimum $1+0.20 I went to the $2+0.25 level. I did this simply because I felt the rake level % was ridiculous at the $1 level. Am I correct or should I move back to the $1+0.20 levels till my balance grows?

b) I know 80 games is not a huge sample size but any thoughts on how I am playing the bubble at the moment? I have finished 1st 11 times, 2nd 12 times, 3rd 13 times and 4th 5 times. When we do reach the bubble I tend to tighten up, I still steal blinds when I can and I do play my premium hands but I do try to avoid playing with stacks of a similar or greater size than mine unless I'm sure I have the best hand.

The end result of this play is that I make the money, but often with the short-stack leaving me with a lot of work to catch up to 1st place. Should I be more aggressive on the bubble meaning that while I do bust out more, I have a better shot at finishing 1st? What do people find to be their optimum bubble play?

I am linking your thread here where we have a lot of experienced sng players posting. You might want to join in there every month. (However your strategy and HA questions should go in separate threads in those forums).

Good luck!

takethepain said:

Well I gave up on playing Cash games, I just couldn't get the hang of the cash format. But SNG's are showing me some promise. I feel more confident in them, and feel it better suits my skills. Of course I've only played in 80 games so who knows if I'll be quite so happy with my performance after 1000.

With that being said I do have some questions.

a) Bankroll Management, am I doing it ok? I started off with $40 in my account but rather than playing the minimum $1+0.20 I went to the $2+0.25 level. I did this simply because I felt the rake level % was ridiculous at the $1 level. Am I correct or should I move back to the $1+0.20 levels till my balance grows?

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I definitely think that's fine, the rake is pretty bad at those. That's about the only place I'd make an exception though, otherwise I advocate 40-50bi's minimum for casual players.

takethepain said:

b) I know 80 games is not a huge sample size but any thoughts on how I am playing the bubble at the moment? I have finished 1st 11 times, 2nd 12 times, 3rd 13 times and 4th 5 times. When we do reach the bubble I tend to tighten up, I still steal blinds when I can and I do play my premium hands but I do try to avoid playing with stacks of a similar or greater size than mine unless I'm sure I have the best hand.

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The strategy you described is fairly solid. As for your finish distribution, it's hard to draw any conclusions from only 80 games, but you do want more 1st place finishes than 2nd and 3rd, obv. Stack sizes and their arrangement at the table is one of the biggest factors in bubble play and how it affects ICM, so pay close attention to that, which it seems like you've started to do already.

takethepain said:

The end result of this play is that I make the money, but often with the short-stack leaving me with a lot of work to catch up to 1st place. Should I be more aggressive on the bubble meaning that while I do bust out more, I have a better shot at finishing 1st? What do people find to be their optimum bubble play?

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There's lots of ICM tax on the bubble-- basically you need much more equity to be making calls on the bubble than you would when you're 9-handed-- so this affects us because 1) we want to take our risks before the bubble and 2) if our opponents know this and start playing tighter as a result, we can abuse this fact with a big stack and make tons of +$EV plays.

To A) I think it's fine because you're 1000% right about the absurd rake. It's a little thin, but it's so much harder to be profitable paying 20% rake than 12.5%. Ideally you can reload a bit from some other source if'n you hit a bad streak.

I will hold off on answering B, as I don't play many STT and almost certainly will give too loose/aggressive advice However, you might think about looking at your play when 5-7 handed. That part of the tournament has a big impact on how you function on the bubble. Frequently people are playing too tight in those spots (when blinds hit ~50/100)

a, you are totally right about the rake. But you have only 20 buyins. If you can maintain your winrate you might do okay.

just keep on doing what your doing IMO.

Seem to be playing well on the bubble with those stats.

Also just add the profits to your BR untill you have 50 buy ins for the next level before moving up.