SnG's. 9 or 10 seats? Does it make any significant difference?

[Tygran]

One thing I've noticed is that alot of poker sites such as pokerstars and full tilt run 9 man SnGs while others such as Party or bodog run 10 man tables.

I was wondering this the other day, but does 9 vs 10 make much of a statistical difference in the long run? Has anyone ever done an analysis of this?

Personally I would think 10 mans would be preferred largely because for the same buy in the payout is higher. Based on my experience (which is heavily slanted in favor of 10 man tables over 9 man and thus isn't a large enough sample size to be conclusive) I find that my percentage of money finishes is virtually the same however my Return on Investment is lower for 9 mans. This also makes sense to me because I find I am very rarely being put out early and at low to mid buy in levels an extra person is more likely to be a poor player than a good one.

Thoughts? Anyone have any links to where someone may have explored this idea?

 

[ChuckTs]

It's nothing you should be so concerned about.

The prize pool does increase by a small amount, as do the # of players. So yes, a slightly higher ROI is possible, but in order to do so you have to wade through more players. It's just a toss-up and I think the biggest difference it makes is that you should be playing slightly tighter in the early stages of a 10-seater than you would at a 9-seater.

 

[Tygran]

Thanks for the response.

I wouldn't say so much that I'm "concerned" about it per say as I am just morbidly curious if anyone has crunched numbers or has data specifically looking at this question. I don't think I would pick one site or another over this issue, but I was curious more about very long term (like year+) results over this rather than shorter term.

 

[sweetz]

Never really thought about it that much actually. Doesn't seem like there would be a significant difference in it to me. Though i do prefer nine seater just because the screen seems more cleaner and less crowded to me lol. Makes me play better i guess.

 

[KingNothing4]

in 10 its also 1 more man and hand to beat is how i see it, if both pay out the same amount of places, then it seems it'd be easier to win the 9 man, but that also depends on the type of players, cuz if u have a bunch of wild hand players in the 10 and they get knocked out right away then thatd be better haha

 

[pigpen02]

The difference is that the 9 man pays out 33.3% and the 10 man pays out 30%. If you are better, the 10 man will give a higher ROI.