Stars Sunday 200 Question

[mikeyworm]

After lurking for a while I have finally decided to enter the fray. Today I won an $11+R crapshoot to get a seat in Sunday's tournamnent. My online bankroll is small (~$600 not including T$) and while I certainly would like to give the big one a shot I was wondering how tough the commpetition and whether my EV is positive at all. I am predominantly a tournament player with a couple of final table finishes online and 2 B&M wins in 50+ people tournaments. For those of you that play frequently, what is the level of competition...similar to final tables of 11+R tournament where I have fared wellor much more difficult? Thanks for your help.

[Rick Diesel]

I don't think the Stars $215 is that tough. According to my records, I have played in it 17 times with 5 ITM finishes. My highest finish was 18th. I show a decent profit from it overall, but my bread and butter is the smaller ($11-$55) tournies.

I am guessing that, based on your bankroll, you play mostly $5 - $22 tournies. If this is correct, my suggestion would be to unregister from this tournament, and take a shot at a $55 tournament first. The play in the $55 is a bit better than that in the smaller buy-in, and will give you an opportunity to try a larger tournament, while spending much less money. If you cash in the $55, then you will have a better estimate as to whether you are ready for the $215. If you don't cash, then you found out your answer, and still have $160 from your satellite win to add to your bankroll.

Either way you go, good luck.

Rick Diesel

[Tosh]

Use the T$ to play smaller tournaments at this time.

[cferejohn]

I think the advice is good from a bankroll point of view. You can use those sattellite dollars just like real dollars for tournaments.

That said, given that you are a thinking player with some experience, I would expect your EV in this to be positive, but since the $200 represents 1/4 of your bankroll, I have to imagine that you should pass at this time with respect to variance.

If you do decide to play, just note that there will be some very bad players - as bad as any you have seen at the smaller games, but there will also be quite a number of very good players, and that these will get more and more populous as the bad players go down.

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

If I win one satellite, I unregister and give it another try. If I win a 2nd one, I'll play.

I usually play the SNG satellites, but lately, I've been playing the Saturday morning $36 + 3 multi for the Limit tourney which rarely even fills 2-tables and have found it much to my liking and with a better payout than the 1 or 2 table SNG sats.