Re: Turning "professional" playing SnG NL Hold'em on the Net


jmm1951@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
I started playing 5 1/2 months ago with the idea of seeing if I could
make some money at this thing. I spent some money on books, computer
programs etc. and invested $100 in Neteller to use at various poker
sites.

I deliberately did not keep strict records of winning and losing,
because I wanted to be free to practice and enjoy the game without
getting anxious about money. However I more or less broke even and did
not need to add extra money, though I would often play in a higher game
and win a bit, then play in more lower games, fool around, experiment,
and lose what I had gained.

Today I finally decided this was it. I now needed to see if I could
play profitably and made out a spreadsheet to keep a record of what I
was doing.

I decided that playing a sample of 15 $20 single-table tournaments on
Party should give me some idea of how I might get on. If I lost all the
money, then I could forget about trying to play for profit.

This required $330 in entry fees. Having a bit more than that in my
account, I decided to play a few $6 games to warm up for the big event,
so I played 6 $6 games and did not get anywhere even close to the
money, except one in which I finished 4th.

Not very promising, but at the appointed hour I sat down to play the
$20 SnG games resolved to concentrate properly and not do stupid shit.
One of the problems in the $6 games is that people tend to go all-in if
they flop a full house or a straight, making you think they are
bluffing. (Memo to self--they never bluff all-in).

Anyhow here are the results of the first 6 games--not a statistically
significant sample at all, I know.

2nd
2nd
3rd
2nd
4th
1st.

Starting bankroll $333, current bankroll $521.

The thing that has really pleased me about my play is that I am not
depending on getting megahands, and that even when I am down, I am
getting back in the game. In three of these games I have been almost
wiped out early on, and then recovered to get in the money.

The string of 2nd place finishes makes it look like I cannot play
heads-up, but actually in the first game one of my tenants came to the
door and I had to put it on autofold for quite a while when I was well
ahead. In another game my KK lost to 88 when the stacks were almost
even.

Like I say, this short run does not prove anything about the
possibility of making money playing SnG NLHE, but at least I have the
satisfaction of knowing that I can compete at this level without
looking like a complete fool.

And my tips on how to play SnG's ? Just read and memorize every hand
in all 3 volumes of Harrington and ignore everything else. Fold pocket

Well, looks like it is time to put this thread to bed, but before I do,
here are the results of the sequence of $20 SnGs on Party Poker that I
started yesterday.

Games played 19
Starting bankroll $333
Finishing bankroll $655

Finishing positions as follows:

2,2,3,2,4,1,4,3,6,3,2,6,3,4,5,3,1,2,3.

All of which proves absolutely nothing except that one can get lucky
and maybe win some money. I now have enough to get a bicycle.

Looking at the numbers, one striking thing is that there is no finish
lower than 6th, and I would think that if you can avoid getting knocked
out early, you must have a good chance of making the money enough to
show a profit.

After all, given random placings, you would expect to average one first
place, one second place, and one third place for every 10 games played.
To make a small profit, you need to add one additional third place for
every 10 games played. Given the fact that there are a few very bad
players in each game, this should not be too hard for anyone to achieve
if they practice the game a bit (a lot, I should say).

Well now the experiment is over and I am sick of poker, so I think I
will go and play one or two $5 multitables for relaxation.

.

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