100
Finally! The 100 Sit’n Go challenge is over. That only took, like, forever to complete. Can’t even find the starting date, but I do believe it was somewhere inside of 2008, or beginning of 2009. That’s how long it took me. In comparison, it took ElkY about an hour to clear 62 games in one go. I do think my profit was relatively better, though :-D
So…the numbers: Most of them are on the screen shot above. The ITM percentage quickly stabilized at around 40, ending one up, which is good. Managed to bubble one in eight games, which is probably good as well.
The ROI is…acceptable, I suppose. I don’t really have anything to compare it to.
But I think I could have taken more by upping the aggression when the money hit. Especially in those situations when I was already the short stack. Waiting for the other two to knock each other out is not really winning poker.
There’s a wart sticking out, called 7th place. Bad beats and variance aside, I think this is about two things: Pushing it too hard and getting bored.
Some games I would open up very loose, constantly minraising and calling small bets from position, no matter what. Of course, I would then proceed to lose a chunk of my stack in the process, prompting me to play ever looser to catch up. Now and then it would work, but mostly I’d find myself out rather quickly.
Other times, I sat down without really wanting to play, but just because I had no better things to do. Which is a surefire way to a quick exit, so in that respect, I guess I got what I came for, but in a very unprofitable way.
There was also a period during the challenge, where I just couldn’t bother. And that’s no way to play winning poker.
I’m glad I managed to avoid a lot of 8th and 9th spots, though. At the outset, I said to myself that taking ninth and having to publish the result afterwards, would not be cool. And it wasn’t. (BTW, I did manage to finish the 100th game in 8th place, ahem…)
Overall, I am pretty okay with it. I think, my overall SnG strategy has shown to be solid, as long as I stick to it. These things are of course table-dependent, but there is a basic strategy that will get you a long way towards the money.
Lessons learned:
- More aggression, when in the money as a short stack
- More patience at the starting levels
- Stick to the game plan (mostly)
- Do not play unless you are motivated
Next challenge, you ask? Hmm, I dunno. Maybe do what danish poker prodigy “Bajawa” just did. Turned a few thousand into a million buck, in 17 days, then took a holiday in China. Okay, so I won’t go to China, but somewhere else. Maybe Fiji, I hear they have excellent bottled water.
/j.
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Nice job. Attractive presentation, good analysis.
Joxum -
Looking at your top 3 finishes, it looks like you may be making a few easy-to-fix mistakes once you get in the money. Have you read Colin Moshman’s book: Sit ‘n Go Strategy. It’s a trememdously useful book that can easily increase your ROI at the $5 SNGs to 5% (or more).
I’m a terrible SNG player but Moshman’s book helped me crush the $5 and $10 games. Of course, I went on tilt shortly thereafter and donked off most of my winnings. But Moshman’s book is still highly recommmended!
You could also try Secrets of Sit ‘n’ Gos written by Phil Shaw. I think the author crushed (crushes?) the online SNGs for quite a while. Moshman’s book is better for a beginning player but Shaw’s book is somewhat worthwhile if you’re willing give it a chance.
Joxum -
Just realized that your ROI was 12%. I thought I was reading 0.71%. 12% is pretty damned good. I still think Moshman’s book could help you turn some of those thirds into seconds and seconds into firsts but it’s hard to say over such a small sample size.
K.
Klopzi,
Thanks for the tip! I’m actually reading Colling Moshmans “Heads Up NLHE” at the moment, and I’ve also got the latest e-book from Flynn/Metha/Miller on the (virtual) book shelf.
I think I may want to read Moshmans SNG book soon, though. I kind of like his style, and it’s refreshingly non-mathematical, just coming off Sklansky/Millers NLHE book.
/j.
Heh, Thanks again – I’m still going to get into some SNG litterature though. But you’re right, it’s a relatively small sample. I stopped at 100 because the numbers actually stabilized fairly quickly – after a small crisis – where they are now. And because it was a real pain to get that far in the first place. I think the next challenge of that sort will have to involve larger buy-ins, or something.
/j.
@Dave Memphis MOJO
Thanks, I think I may take the same challenge again in, say a year, and see where I stand.
/j.