$55's vs. $109's at party

[lacky]

i started at the 11's and have worked my way up to the 55's using a 100x the buyin bank ( i know, REALLY conservative). I have the bankroll to move up to the $109's but for some reason that jump intimedates me more than the others. Any advise on how the games compare from others that have made the jump is greatly appreciated. tx

[jerome baker]

[Prickly Pete]

I assume you're beating the 50s. I'd say if you're at least earning an ROI of 20% after a few hundred or so tourneys at the 50s, that going for the 100s is worth a shot. It is definitely tougher in my opinion, though some here have disagreed with that. It is somewhat more aggressive and you may need to adjust your game for that. My ROI was not as good as it was for the 50s, but my net profit per game was better.

[berya]

I played about only 40 or 50 50's and about 400 100's
IMHO the 50's are much much easier than 100's. And the 200's are much tougher than 100's.

[lacky]

Ok, after hours of tedium I have some results compiled for Party $50+5's. note: i always play 3 at a time, 4 at a time now that they allow 4.

total games 437
# 1st 68
# 2nd 53
# 3rd 55
total profit $6601
ROI 1.28

One interesting thing I noticed was my ROI was actually worse at the $33’s, at 1.19 for 1150 games. Either I’m running exceptionally good or the extra chips or style of play at the $55’s is helping.

[Prickly Pete]

Lacky, it sounds like we're very similar. MY 50s ROI was also 28% for about 500 tourneys. And my 30s ROI was only slightly better. I think that's based on my being a weaker player when I started at the 30s and the 1000-chip start for the 50s.

At any rate, after a 500-tourney trial at the 100s, I'm now at the 200s and so far so good. Please note however, that the 100s and especially 200s are way more aggressive and require adjustments to your game (at least I required adjustments).

If you can handle the swings to your bankroll (and they can be severe), I'd say you should take a shot at moving up.

[lacky]

What do u consider a safe bankroll to handle the swings? I’ve always used 100x the buyin, $10900 for the $109’s, but reading here it looks like that’s probable more than needed to be safe. I have that though, so I’m probably being a bit cowardly ( my wife thinks so, lol ). Also, how much did your ROI drop at the $109’s and at the $215’s? This forum is so cool because in real life I’m the only person I know doing this, nobody to ask questions!

Thanks, Steve

[Prickly Pete]

I used the following bankrolls at each stage:

30s - 500
50s - 800
100s - 2000
200s - 4000

I've played about 1000, 500, 500 & 600 at the respective levels and busted my bankroll once (at the 50s). Fortunately, that time I had money in Neteller that I hadn't cashed out yet. I know my bankroll (15-18 entries) is on the lower side of what some others recommend (20-30 entries), so you may want higher amounts.

As for the ROIs:

100s 19%
200s 27%

Even though the 200s figure is through almost 600 SNGs, I believe it is unrealistically high. I know I've run well to some degree and would be thrilled with a long-term ROI of half that.

[Bozeman]

In order to see whether the level of play at $55 has changed much since I was playing there (I found 109 considerably more difficult), I tried a $55 SNG the other day, and was dealt AA on the first and second hands.

Conclusion, the 55's are still much easier: I reraised an early position raiser on the second one and he pushed allin with A9.

My feeling is that 109 is the first level at which 50% ROI is impossible (or at least VERY VERY difficult).

I have only played a few 215's, but they seem to be not harder but different than the 109's.

Craig