Playing more than one SnG at a time

[reecelights]

When I first started playing about 8 months ago, I tried playing two tables at once and found it too hard to make decisions quickly. After starting my first two months down about $350, I am now a slightly above break-even SnG player (2.9% ROI, $0.55/hr) who keeps improving. I also find myself getting a little distracted by other things only playing one tourney at a time: I check stats, carry onn a conversation with my girfriend, or generally zone out and miss a lot of the play.

1. Should I be playing more than one game at a time? While this may not increase my ROI significantly, it may theoretically double or triple my hourly rate.

2. How many tables do you recommend playing at once? If I play more than one, should I space them out timewise so I'm not heads up at the same time?

3. I manually track stats (in Excel) like # of hands played, hands won, flop%, and showdown%. I also use PokerTracker. Is it necessary to track these stats or should I not bother keeping my stat bar on Party tracking only one game at a time?

4. I've also started trying to move up from the 10/1 level to the 20/2 level when I have 10x the buy-in in my bankroll. I always used to cash out when I doubled my BR, but I think I'm going to try reinvesting it at a higher level for a while. Would this be a better idea than playing multiple Sngs at once?

Any other hard learning lessons anyone has from starting to play more than one game at a time would be helpful.


Thanks,
Chuck

[Michael Davis]

I sometimes play 12 at once. My ROI is way lower than the experts on this forum, but I suspect I make more money than some. I play very simply and not optimally, folding just about everything in the first three rounds before I start pilfering blinds by pushing my stack.

There is no way I could use pokertracker or keep notes while doing this. I am barely able to recognize who is and isn't a maniac, and I really don't care.

If you decide to start playing more than one, you just have to realize that for every table you add, the less information on each game you have. This may or may not increase your hourly rate, but it is certain to decrease your ROI.

-Michael

[Lori]

At 2.9% ROI the addition of a second table will almost certainly take you into the negative.

Lori

[reecelights]

My lifetime ROI is about 2.9%, but I started my first month of 7 (including the current month) at -60%. My ROI has been 7.9% since then (again, still improving my game), with a low of -8% and a high of 55%.

I finsih ITM 33% of the time. Where do you recommend my ROI is before considering this move?

[Lori]

Probably around 10%

You'd need to be on over 5% on each of the two to make it profitable at that level.

At 7.9% it might be worth a go, but be sure to keep very seperate records, your ROI can take a nasty bump if you end up in two heads ups at once and lose both because you can't cope.

You will improve faster playing one at a time, playing two is unlikely to get you much more money and will take a lot away from your thought processes.

My honest advice would be to play two at once just occasionally to ease yourself into feeling comfortable with it but stick to one for the most part.

Lori

[eastbay]

[ QUOTE ]

I finsih ITM 33% of the time.

[/ QUOTE ]

Major red flag. You need to work on your survival skills to start becoming a profitable player.

eastbay