Ring, MTTs, and STTs

[Mike McDonkey]

Hello all,

I've been lurking on these forums for quite a while and this is my very first post. I'm not exactly a true beginner, but this is a beginner type questions so I'm placing it here. I have been playing NLH online for about three years but only began seriously pursuing the game last Nov. Like many players, I got on a run and turned a $150 deposit to $550 in a couple of weeks. I decided at the turn of the new year to really apply myself to the game and employ proper TAG play and bankroll management and see if I couldn't grow this hobby into a money making endeavor. I wasn't and at this point am not looking to make a living from poker, but rather, wish to attempt to make it a means of supplimental income.

Since January, I've grown my bankroll to about $1500. The primary source of growth has come from $5-$10 MTTs on UB. I tend to do best at the early morning (east coast US) tounreys as these tend to attract a field of less than 100 players. I have also taken a run at SNGs and have seen a slight profit - albeit over roughly 150 games. My true inexperience is in ring games. I have logged about 6000 hands and am down about $50.

I realize this isn't much in terms of experience to be able to tell whether I'm good in any of these three areas. My questions is, is it better to put my studying and effort towards on specialty (ring, MTTs, or STTs) or continue to work at all three? I have a day job with normal office hours. I tend to get in 2-3 hours of play Tues - Fri with longer sessions on the weekends. With this schedule, I normally reserve the week nights for ring and SNG play and go after MTTs on the weekends. I try and leave one day off for review. Just curious to hear how other people approach their play.

[SellingtheDrama]

That's pretty much how I did things when I played seriously online. I chose SNGs because I like tournament style play, without committing a large number of hours in a row. I'd also mix in tournaments occasionally, doing pretty good.

Assuming that you have a decent ROI in your SNGs, why not stick to them? They are a good solid moneymaker up through the upper parts of medium stakes play, and by that point you'll have the bankroll and experience to more effectively dabble elsewhere.

[foal]

Just be aware that if you play too many types of games while you're learning your improvement in each given game will be slower. If that's ok with you then there's really nothing wrong with your approach. I think the smartest thing is to play the games you enjoy the most. My approach is to just focus on cash games for now and I intend to start working on MTTs only when I start to feel really satisfied with my cash game progress (could be a year or more).