Advantages of SNG?

[Mons]

I'm a .5/1 Party player and I have a bankroll of about $150 up from $100. I've been playing poker for about a year but I've only been on PartyPoker for about a week.

I haven't even considered SNGs but I've noticed alot of people on here play them. What are the advantages of SNG and do the low buy-in one's pay well enough to justify entering? Thanks!

[Milky]

I personally prefer SnGs over ring play for quite a few reasons:

1) Everyone starts with the same stack, and you can only lose a set amount of your bankroll per tourney (your buyin)

2) In ring play there is more risk of bad beats and suckouts (IMO)

3) Lots of loose players in PP SnGs so by the time I get into a hand there are usually 2-3 people gone from the table from going all-in too early. You can pretty much sit back for the first 3 blind levels and take notes on your opponents while they bust each other out.

4) Personally I think my SnG play is better than my ring play so that's another reason I play primarily SnGs. I just think they're easier to make money from (at least with my current skillsets)

I'd suggest trying a few $10+1 SnGs on PartyPoker and see how you like them. I'd avoid the $5+1 SnGs because of the additional 20% rake. There are some great strategy guides on this board that can help you out as well.

[byronkincaid]

[ QUOTE ]
What are the advantages of SNG [ QUOTE ]


One big advantage.......There're more fun /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Aceten1]

While I mostly play NLHE SNGs and MTTs now, there's a downside to tournaments, which is variance. You're obviously playing a winning game at this point and perhaps are used to ending with a profit in a large percentage of your sessions. Sadly, that won't happen in SNGs, especially in the beginning. If you poke around some here, it's easy to see that you'll likely lose your entry fee in 60-65% of the SNGs you play. Of course, just a few "in the money" finishes will make up for that, but that's why most SNG players keep 15-20 entry fees in their account.

I'm still very much a beginner at all this, having played NLHE only since December, but I found it easier to play the cash side-games and then take the profit from that to pay for 2,3 or 4 SNGs. I'd lose that, then go back to the cash games, make some more $$$ and repeat. To date, I've played in over 200 tournaments, which have a net loss of just under $400. However, my total bankroll is actually higher than when I began and that's because the cash games paid for the tournaments. July was the first month I showed a profit from tournaments alone, so I feel I'm at least heading in the right direction.

Another downside to tournaments is the continually-rising blinds. There frequently will be times when you just have to push and pray; something that never has to happen in a cash game. The corollary to that is, once you get used to tournament play and develop a viable strategy, you become devastating in a cash game. Everything's in your favor at that point: you know what it takes to win (or at least not lose a lot) and time is on your side. Sure, you have to pay the blinds, but they aren't going up every 10 minutes or so.

One other thought: play tourneys with at least 10 minute intervals between blind raises and, at least in the beginning, those where you start with a minimum of 1000 chips. It's a real shock when you first play a "turbo" tournament where the blinds change every 5 hands or so and you only have 800 chips. Luck is a big factor in those (IMHO) and depending on luck is the last thing you want to do, believe me.