Switching to heads-up SNG’s has been a good move, but I’ve been a bit of a coward. Games at the weekend have been nice and easy, but the few I’ve tried on weekday evenings didn’t go too well. Not that I played many – usually it would go something like;
Sit down & wait.
Guy joins the table – shit, he has an avatar! He must be a reg…
He raises the button! Oh no, I’m in trouble.
We play a bunch of hands, I panic, money goes all in and then I go out.
I log out of poker and watch tv instead. Stop loss of one game!
Very pathetic. So I came up with a plan – weekday evening time here in the UK is working day time in the States, so all the Americans playing at that time would be more likely to be a reg. Solution – play Party Poker where our girth challenged ex-colonial friends can’t play! Our evening time would mean European casual players plus the Russians who should be getting on to be fairly drunk (yes, you know who you are!). Perfect plan!
Except it turns out the rake on Party Poker for micro SNGs is horrendous! Not only that, but they ‘hide’ how much of the buy-in is rake – you only get to see it as you register on a table (and even then it isn’t very obvious). I played a few games, won and lost the same number and was down a load just from rake. What a waste of time.
So I switched back to Pokerstars and thought ‘what the hell’ – if I play against regs then even if I lose it’s good for my game. Learn to play ffs.
And just to make it more interesting I switched up to $20 games. It turned out ok too – played 6 and won 4 of them, so was up $34. I then decided I might just cope with a 4man SNG, and crushed it 
Total winnings for the night $97 (just an hour’s play too!).Two more straight wins and I’ll be bankrolled for $30 games
Ok, now I’m not scared of the regs. Well, not the regs on Thursday nights anyway…
Update: Hmm, just checked what kind of bankroll management people are recommending out there, and I’m being cautious (bit of a surprise!). This is from an old (2007) 2p2 thread;
You can’t stand or would prefer not to have to move down levels.
You like to have a very padded roll to feel comfortable playing.
Losing a decent portion of your BR tilts you.
You are still learning how to own HUSNGs and you aren’t quite comfortable playing them yet.
|
BR:$30 – $99 Play $2s
BR:$100 – $199 Play $5s
BR:$200 – $399 Play $10s
BR:$400 – $599 Play $20s
BR:$600 – $999 Play $30s
BR:$1000 – $2499 Play $50s
BR:$2500+ Play $100s
|
You are fine with having to move down.
You want to move up the ranks semi-quickly. |
BR:$20 – $49 Play $2s
BR:$50 – $99 Play $5s
BR:$100 – $199 Play $10s
BR:$200 – $299 Play $20s
BR:$300 – $499 Play $30s
BR:$500 – $999 Play $50s
BR:$1000+ Play $100s |
You are comfortable playing and adjusting to any stakes and player.
You are or have good reason to believe you are a solid winner. (Think 63%+ winrate here)
You have very minimal tilt issues.
You want to take on a bit more risk and build a roll quickly.
You are ok with having to redeposit if you bust early on. |
BR:$10 – $24 Play $2s
BR:$25 – $49 Play $5s
BR:$50 – $99 Play $10s
BR:$100 – $149 Play $20s
BR:$150 – $249 Play $30s
BR:$250 – $499 Play $50s
BR:$500+ Play $100s |
I reckon I fit into the middle option – 3rd one looks kinda scary, I’d be playing $50’s now and only one win away from $100s! That looks like a route to busto to me. If my weekend session has a solid winrate though, I might be tempted 
(somebody stop me!)
