[skeemer1]

thats what i was thinking as well. Also, one big difference i notice is how often players will limp the button at 50/100 thru 100/200, and bet the flop when it is checked to them. I am not sure if this is a profitable strategy, letting 2 players see a flop with no information on their hands, but it seems to be working for the most part as they take down about 90% of the time.

I am not sure i understand what you meant by "the antes make things a lot easier" as they are typically insignificant, but i do agree that i find myself pushing too much 5 and 4 handed.

Here is a basic comparison i did between them:
Party: 2000 chips/player; 20K chips in play
Stars: 1500 chips/player; 13.5K chips in play

<u>Level</u>... <u>Blinds(PP:PS)</u> ... <u>BB/Player(PP:PS)</u> ... <u>BB in play(PP:PS)</u>
1..........20/40:10/20............50:75................500:675
2..........30/60:15/30............33.3:50..............333:450
3.........50/100:25/50............20:30................200:270
4.........100/200:50/100..........10:15................100:135
5.........200/400:75/150..........5:10.................50:90
6.......300/600:100/200.........3.33:7.5.............33.3:67.5
7.....400/800 25:100/200 25...2.5:7.5..............25:67.5
8...600/1200 50:200/400 25....1.67:3.75...........16.7:33.75
9....1000/2000 75:300/600 50...1:2.5...............10:22.5
10..1500/3000 75:400/800 50.....&lt;1:1.9.............6.7:17.1

Party sngs typically end in levels 6 or 7, while stars sngs typically end in levels 8 or 9.

So since stars usually has about twice as many big blinds in play during the mid to late stages of the tournament, blind stealing should be done less frequently. The big adjustment in going from party to stars seems to be getting used to playing the 75/150 level and two levels of 100/200, as these are very often the make-or-break points.

Also, ROI will also drop from the fact that the payouts are smaller due to 9 handed tables. I first believed that this would be partly offset by having one less player, hence increasing %ITM, but it seems that this isn't the case, most likely because the additional player is more than likely a fish that is just adding to the prize pool.