Beginner's Guide to Self-Analyzing SNG Hands

[dopplex]

Great post!

I'm just starting Real Money play myself - except I'm starting on 1.10 SNGs as I only really had $50 to spare for my initial bankroll (Now nearly $70, and have only finished OTM once in my first 8 SNGs)... 1.10 may be playing slightly too low a level for me, but I don't think I can afford runs of OTMs at 5.50 yet.

Definitely going to refer back here later on - I know there are holes in my play that simply aren't being exposed by the level I'm on, and they'll need to be fixed as I move up.

[Flight_Risk]

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I was stuck with -ROI at the $33s for what seemed like forever.

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Like 3 weeks? Seriously I am impressed though. It's one thing to say "I have a 22% ROI over my last 213 SNGs from last Thursday until noon yesterday." and another to say "My BR went from A to B to C" and moving up so rapidly w/o losing your shirt.

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3 weeks doesn't seem like a terribly long time when you put it that way. However, when I say I'm playing/studying poker full-time, I mean 12-16 hours per day from five to seven days per week. Over the last 10 weeks I've played over three thousand SNGs.

The key to not losing your shirt is bankroll management. Always have at least 30 buyins for the level you are it. If you are new to poker, or not that strong a poker player, bump it up to 50 buyins. Myself, I find that I need 100 buyins to feel comfortable.

Picture this scenario... you have a BR of $440 and start playing the $22s. You finish OTM over 12 consecutive SNGs (which over the course of the last 3000 SNGs has happened many times for me), and suddenly over half your BR dissapeared. You start playing much tighter, and you start folding strong drawing hands to cbets. You're timid on the bubble, because you need to make it in the money. And of course we all know that being timid on the bubble is the surest way to bust out.

Now take the same scenario, and apply it to a $2.2k bankroll. Losing 12 SNGs in a row, you are barely below $2k. You don't wig out when you see your balance, even though it is depressing to lose that many in a row.

I think my background has prepared me well for becoming a full-time student of poker. I'm in my early 30s, other than a mortgage I'm debt free, and I don't depend on poker income. Few people can quit working and play poker for three months straight without ever dipping into their BR.

Also, since my networth is much higher than say a typical college student twelve years younger than me, I don't stress out about the money much. I could easily afford to BR myself for the $215s if I thought I was good enough to play them. I feel that my BR is a barometer of my skill, and while it fluctuates with variance, it is an indicator of where I'm at.

Since I already know I'm profitable at the $11s, it would be very difficult for me to go broke since if my bankroll dropped below $1k I'd go back to the $11s.

What I lack in poker skill, I try to make up for with discipline.

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Good Shot.

Flight_Risk

[Bazuul]

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I wish that discipline was an innate characteristic of my personality.

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Discipline is a learned skill, developed through practice and experience. I spent over 4yrs in the US Army (101st Airborne) around the same time that most of my highschool friends were partying in college. I attribute a lot of my discipline to the conditioning I received in the Army.

Someone sent me a PM regarding my original post, I'm going to quote myself from my reply to him...


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Regarding discipline, a few things that have helped me out:
1) I always say "congrats" or "nh" when someone sucks out on you. Always. I try to be happy for them. It helps keep a lot of the frustration out, and keeps me from sinking into results oriented thinking.

2) I congratulate myself when I get someone to push all their chips in on the flop when I'm a clear favorite and then they end up sucking out. I'm very happy when this happens, it means my read was accurate and my play was profitable.

3) I berate myself when I end up sucking out on someone else. I mean, pushing in with a short stack and getting lucky is fine, but if I have a big stack and end up putting a lot of chips in a pot where I was a dog (and moreso, had the information available to know that I was a dog), then even if I get lucky on the river I know that I played it poorly.

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Remember, there is a difference between profitable play and profitable results. Don't let the results cloud your thinking or influence future play.

[curtains]

I may be the only person who thinks this, but I think one should have more than 100x the buyin unless they are an extremely good player with very good emotional control...a rare combination. For the lower buyins its probably okay because the money is much easier to replace

[Bazuul]

Thanks curtains. I agree with you, further up this thread I mention that I need 100+ buyins to feel comfortable playing a given level.

My plan is to move up to $109s when my BR hits $11k. Do you think this is sufficient? When you were learning and moving up the levels, how many buyins did you need to move up?

Is 100+ buyins enough for the $215s, should I ever get there?

[curtains]

Its not enough to just feel comfortable, its important that the money you used to buyin to the tournament is almost a complete joke to you, as are the prizes. I would never start the 215s on 100+ buyins, but Im a huge tightass. Of course its ok to jump in and if you have a bad run go back down to the 109s. However Id generally prefer to build up an enormous bankroll and not have to worry constantly about a bad run and moving down and so on.

[ilya]

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I may be the only person who thinks this, but I think one should have more than 100x the buyin unless they are an extremely good player with very good emotional control...a rare combination. For the lower buyins its probably okay because the money is much easier to replace

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I agree with you actually, at least for people who make their living from poker. But then I'm probably the most risk-averse regular here.

[FieryJustice]

100+ buyins at the higher levels is a must. Fwiw, I wouldnt even considering playing 215s with less than 150 buyins.

[GtrHtr]

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Discipline is a learned skill, developed through practice and experience. I spent over 4yrs in the US Army (101st Airborne) around the same time that most of my highschool friends were partying in college. I attribute a lot of my discipline to the conditioning I received in the Army.


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Its funny how many people (posters or otherwise) scoff at the idea of serving in the Army or another service for a few years.

I can't even begin to list the things beyond discipline it has taught me and how much it effects me in day to day decision making, let alone dealing with stressful situations etc.

Back on topic, very good post Baz.

[pergesu]

Cool idea and post, I think a lot of players can learn from this.

My biggest leak is probably discipline, as I'm sure it is for a lot of young players. I don't play as much as I'd like, I cash out too much to party, and I don't study my play enough. So recently I've created a poker regimen of sorts..

Every day:
Play 5 sets of 6 tables
2 hours studying archives
1 set of 1 or 2 tables

MWF: 1 hr review pushes with SNGPT

I can play more sets every day if I want, but not before I do the studying and 1/2 tabling. This lets me get in a reasonable number of games, learn lots of the outstanding info in the archives, and really focus on my play on just a couple tables.

Nice post..you're bigger now [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]