Change of plans

Did not play for 2 days and still I did made a profit. The guys from RTR did pay-out the syndicate members. This pushed my BR above the targeted $125.

This means that I now have a BR big enough to play at least one set of the $1.75 one and one set of the $3.40 one. So according to my BR management I should step up a level, which I will.

It feels strange I can tell you. While the $1.75 one were a minefield it felt like home. But I hope that it just like moving, while mostly it feels strange, you normally make a step upwards in the real estate level and quickly the new residence feels like home.

I did bank some money, so the BR at the $3.40 starts at $130. Meaning that a loss of less then 5 bucks will mean that I can stay at the same level.

Wish me luck,
Dremeber

Set 7: Acceptable

Set 7 is finished. The good news is that it did bring my BR above $100. A little bit faster then expected.
Set 7 was good for a profit of $21.05, 2 wins, 9 cashed and 19 FT.
I donked away 2 SNGs in which I got eliminated within the first 2 hands. Twice with AK, trying to steal the pot. I still cannot explain why I did this.

The overall profit now stands on $74.45. Good for a ROI of 24%.

If everything goes according to plan I can leave the $1.75 behind me after set 7. I did hesitate to step up to the next level but to honest I don't see any reason not to step up. My BR supports it and I always can step down.
I do expect a drop in ROI but I don't expect a negative one. This expectation is based on the stats I have at the $3.40 level. Played already 218 games at this level, they were good for a profit of $81, representing a ROI of 11%.

Cheers,
Dremeber

Set 6: the zone?

Set 6 did end with a bummer, 2 2 outers against and 5 non cashes but for the rest it was a great set.

16 FTs, that's 2 less then the set before. But a mighty 5 victories, add to this 1 second place, 2 third places and 1 fourth place and the result is a profit of $31.85. Good for a ROI of 72,8%. With other words, not bad.

Very glad with the 5 wins, which makes a big difference in profit.
The FT ITM conversion was 56,25%. Could be better but we cannot complain about everything.

With the pauout night at RTR this week, I hope that after set 7 I can move up a level.
BR at the moment is around $84.

The combined profit at the moment is a little bit above $50. A ROI of around 18%.

If set 7 is half as good as set 6, I'm a satisfied man.

Cheers,
Dremeber

Set 5: Not complaining

Set 5 has been finished. While I did made a profit, it could have been better/bigger. I bubbled in 4 SNGs. If I did made it ITM in 50% of these the profit would have bigger. One I bubbled out with AQ vs A3, another time when my AK didn't get any help and lost against 99, more unfortunate was the preflop push with 77 when I did run into JJ. But I could live with this push. It was in late position.

I did reach 18 FTs of the 25. Not bad at all. My conversion rate FT into an ITM place is 38%. This should increase in the future.
The 7 ITMs were good for an overall profit is: $10.25. A ROI of 23%, which is good enough.

I only won 1. Not good enough. On the other hand 4 second places. I don't have the feeling that my heads up play is not good enough. I just picked some wrong time to push or call.
The fact that I didn't end on a fourth place is also a good sing. I hope it does mean that my bubble play is getting more aggressive.

The overall profit over 125 SNGs has increased to $21.55, with a still to low ROI of 9,8%.
The average ending position in this set was 7,24, which is excellent for me.

I also finally did came to the conclusion that the quantity of games played in the SNGs is important for and your profit and to wipe out variance.

Cheers,
Dremeber

Stats first 100 SNGs

My stats of the first 100 SNGs I played:

Profit: $7.8
Final Tables: 57
ITM places: 27
FT ITM conversion: 47,36%
Wins: 7 (7%)
Second: 8 (8%)
Third: 5 (5%)
Fourth: 7 (7%)
Average finishing position: 8,3
Winning streak: 3 (2 times)
Loosing streak: 7 (2 times)

To be honnest not stats to be proud of. So, let's try to improve them!

Cheers,
Dremeber

Set 4: Incredibly bad

Didn't see that coming for sure not after the excellent set 3. But set 4 delivered a loss of $14.10.
The strangest thing is that I reach in 17 occasions the FT. So I can only blame it on variance, not?

In did cash in 6 of them but not victory. Not even 1. 3 of my cashes were 4th places and that's almost the same as not ending up ITM. My average finishing position was 7,64. Almost the same as in set 3.
In 3 occasions I was the bubble boy, add to this 4 six places.

The good news is that in 80% of the cases that I pushed my chips to the middle of the table I was ahead. The bad news is that I did loose these pushes in 80% of the cases. Bummer. Nothing more I can tell about this. Also got my aces cracked twice in this set.

BR now is at $43.95. Set 5 will have to point me again in the right direction.

Cheers,
Dremeber

The way to go?

At the moment I was playing without a real goal. Like everybody the idea is to make some money but this is hard at the 18 seater of $1.75. I know I need to move up a level, but I had no idea when I should move up the level.

I did start playing the $1.75 stakes because my BR simply didn't allow me to play at a higher level. I do understand that the key in these games is simply patience. Even playing ABC poker can cause you to end up in a real mind field. It is not uncommon at these level that players do call a raise and re-raise of 500 chips with 57sm hitting the flop and crushing your mighty high pocket pairs.

Normal BR plans say that you should need around 20 to 30 buy-ins of the next level before moving up. Because I'm playing sets of 25 games I will alter this a little bit and create my own BR management.

First let's do some calculations:
2 sets of the 18 seaters at $1.75 costs $87.50
1 set of $1.75 and 1 set of $3.40 costs $128.75
2 sets of $3.40 costs $170.00

Every finishing a set I will look at my BR. If the BR is below $128.75 I will play at the $1.75 stake, if the BR is above $125 I will play at the $3.40 level. If after this set the BR is again below $125 I will drop back a level.
I know that a lot of people will disagree with this approach and if you do, feel free to post your ideas via a comment.

At the moment the BR is standing at $56. I expect to collect around $30 from the RTR syndicate. Lifting my BR around $90.
I hope that 1 can lift my BR above $125 after I finished 3 more sets. So this will be my short term goal.

And now a chapter with which many of you will disagree. At the moment I still have around $100 left on MB and around $30 on PKR. Besides trying to lift my BR at Stars, I should also try to lift my reserve BR. When I did reach the $3.40 stakes I will bank after each set of 25 games. I will bank half the profit, if made, of the set to MB.
There are several reasons behind this. One is described above, I do want to bank once in a while, and the other is that I don't know if I'm ready to move up another stake. I don’t know if my level is good enough. I know that the only way to find it out is to play at the level but cause I don't feel the urge to do so.

Feel free to spread your ideas about this post.

Cheers,
Dremeber

Set 3: That's more like it

While set 1 and 2 were coolers, set 3 was the complete opposite. It was good for a profit of $29.2, turning my figures from red into green.
On the overall I'm now having a profit of $25.40.

I did cash 10 times out of 25 and reached 15 FTs. I did win 3 of these, besides that I also had 3 second places.
In 3 SNG's I was out in place 17 or 18, which never should happen. All three of them I did get eliminated with high pair pre flop.
My average ending position was 7,48.

I tried to incorperate the advice in the comments, tightened my early game, loosing up when I did reach 10 BB or with only 5 players at the table.

Due to this great set, the BR is getting healthier. A little bit above $60. The mistake I do need to avoid is to move up to quickly in buy-in level. I should not do this without having a BR which supports at least 2 sets at the level, which are 50 buy-ins. Which is around $170. So a long way to go.

So, let's see how set 4 will evolve.

Some stats at the moment (probably all meaningless):
- set 1: -$0.55
- Set 2: -$3.25
- Set 3: $ 29.20
Overal profit: $25.40

Games played: 75
ITM: 28%
FTs: 53%
Average pr0fit per game: $0.34
Average ending position: 8.52

Cheers,
Dremeber

Set 2, did I lost it?

Mmmh, very surprised about this result. Again a loss.
Played again a set of 25 18 seaters ($1.75) and I did record a loss of $3.25. Only 12 FTs, that's 1 less as set 1. One miserable win. And 4 other paid places.

Tried to tighten my game in the early stages. But this brings some problems later on in the SNG when staying card dead, resulting in push fold games. And if then lady luck does not want to support you it becomes really hard. AA crackes by QQ, KK by 99, 999 by a river flush and so on. But this can't explain it all. So I have to lift my game to a next level.

Let's hope that set 3 will be better. The start was promising with 2 cashes out of 4 games, but the next 4 were crap again.

Cheers,
Dremeber