[pzhon]

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Did you start from scratch (freerolls) or make a small deposit ($100 or $200) and build from there, or did you deposit a few K right away?

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I started with $5 from a royal flush jackpot at a play money table on UB. I probably would have made a deposit if I hadn't gotten lucky like that in my first couple of weeks of playing. I ground my way up starting with $0.01-$0.02 limit -> NL $2 -> $5 SNGs -> $10 SNGs. After 6 weeks I was up to about $600, and moved it to Party while looking for bonuses on other sites. On the first day at Party, I tried two MTTs, for $5 and $10, and made the final table of each, which took me over $1k.

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Lately I've been trying to build a BR from scratch on FTP and I'm sitting at around $100 right now, but grinding the $1 SnG's has become hell for me, and I'm wondering if it'd be easier just to deposit money and play at higher SnG's and ring games such as NL50 and NL100.

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It sounds like you have been listening to some overly conservative bankroll advice.

You don't need 100 buy-ins to play low stakes SNGs. This is because

[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] Your balance is not your bankroll. Your bankroll is supposed to be all of the money you can afford to lose playing poker. Losing your bankroll is supposed to be a disaster. You sound like you are considering depositing, which means you can afford to lose more than your balance. This is typical for those with balances under $1000. It is very different for a pro trying to play and pay the rent out of a $100k bankroll.

[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] Low stakes games are much softer than high stakes games. Much higher win rates are possible when your opponents don't really care. A higher win rate means your bankroll requirements are lower. A pro is playing in higher stakes, tougher games, and has a win rate which is smaller in proportion to the level. If your win rate is good for low stakes, you don't need as many buy-ins as a pro.

So, take shots at higher levels if you hate the thought of trying to grind your way up at something like $0.50/hour. If you lose your balance, deposit more.