Paradise Poker SNG

[beset7]

I hadn't played at Paradise for a long time and I went today to check out their SNGs. What a strange structure. The blinds double every ten hands. Which makes for a very nice first four levels or so (I haven't finished any lower then 4th in the 10 I played today) but once it gets down to four or five handed the blinds start doubling every five minutes and the play gets very hyper-aggressive. Anybody had much luck with these or does the blackjack-like ending make it a waste a time in the long run?

[MrMon]

I've got an ROI of 30%+ in the $20+$2 and am starting the $30+$3, so obviously you can beat them consistantly. I prefer the Paradise structure over the Party one. You can make a mistake early at Paradise and recover. (I've come back to win from as low as 40 with 8 remaining, and many times under 250.) That doesn't happen at Party. Also, no multitabling in the SnG's as far as I can tell. But I like it.

[TheRonin]

I started playing there about a month ago and am having a great deal of success playing the 20+ S&G's. Personally I would attribute this to the fact that many players a aware of the fact of the blind structure, thus they really try to push early, but usually w/ poor hands. There are usually 3 players busted out before I even get involved in a pot.

There are occasions when the blinds get so high I end up bubbling in 4th or 5th. Big stacks often get locked up in a hand w/ 4 left with the man in 4th on life line when they could have easily folded their A 7 and cruise to an easy 2nd at least.

I disagree w/ a previous poster though. I think it is absolutley crucial to get off to a good start and not get down early. Because of the blind structure people are unwilling to lay down hands such as AJ or A10. So if you go down early and are unable to catch a big hand you could be in some troube. IMO

[beset7]

As far as going down early, I've had better luck building my stack back up at Poker Stars, but it seems like if you do happen to take a big hit during Level I or II you can still steal a few pots and sit back while the maniacs knock each other out and trade chips back and forth. I ended up second in one yesterday after I had put myself on post and fold for the first four levels and then came in playing aggressive and scaring everyone. There are some serious maniacs playing those things. Interesting. I'm going to stick with it for a while so I can get a better data sample.

[MrMon]

That was my point, it's not ideal to go down, but it's possible to recover, something the short stack at Party makes practically impossible. (UB also has an interesting structure, with an even slower blind rise.)

One thing I've noticed on Paradise is that if someone gets a huge stack early through hyperagressive all-in play, they rarely finish in the money. I've got 600 or so tourneys to go through to confirm this, but I'm guessing it's pretty common for those guys to burn out by the end. Something to keep in mind, don't panic if you fall behind early, just play your game, you should do fine. Paradise SnGs tend to reward solid play over the long run, not crazy play at the beginning.

[TheRonin]

I emailed Paradise support in reference to being unable to particiapate in multiple S&G's. Just thought i would share their response.

Hello Mr. xxxx,

Thank you for your email. We do plan to offer sit and go multi table tournaments in the future and our Development team is currently working on adding them to the games that we offer. Stay tuned because we also have a number of other additions that we hope to add in the coming months as well.