Seeking Advice

[Cassidy]

Hi there,

I've found the advice on this forum insightful and very informative and have tried to incorporate some of that advice into my game.

I play almost exclusively the $10+$1 SnG Single-Table Tourneys. I've only been logging my games since Jan 2005. 153 games ITM 58 (38%), 1st=17 (11%), 2nd=23 (15%), 3rd=18 (11%). Not a prolific record admittedly but enough to be a ahead of the game. I'm able to make it to the final 4 or 5 around 90% of the time.

Occasionally I'll make a move at the wrong time and run into a monster hand or sometimes my opponent will hit his flop and I'll take a hit. On the whole though I am reasonably confident that my bubble play is OK. I steal when the opportunities present themselves and sometimes that is enough to see me through to the final 3 or at the very least maintain my stack at a reasonable level until I get a good enough hand, or catch a good enough flop, that's going to be my make-or-break hand.

Maybe I need a larger sample of data. 153 games probably isn't large enough to draw meaningful conclusions from. After all just 10 more ITM finishes would have seen me reach 45% ITM.

Although I cannot recall every game I can readily accept that my own mistakes have turned 10 potential ITM finishes into 10 OOTM finishes.

It seems to be that the fewer mistakes one makes the better ones chances of achieving long term success at the game. For me to improve I certainly feel the need to limit my mistakes as much as I can.

I would like to ask the long term 45%+ ITM players if they have any techniques or advice on what they have found has helped limit the mistakes in their game.

Regards,

Cassidy.

[Hood]

To gauge how successfully you are doing, ITM isn't particularly useful. You want to look at ROI:

ROI = profit / wagered
= (17 * 50) + (23 * 30) + (18 * 20) - (153 * 11) / (153 * 11)
= 217 / 1683
= 12.9% ROI

This is a very solid ROI, although sustainable ROI in the 10+1s can be around the 40% mark, so there's a long way to go. Also, your sample size is too small to really understand if you are a profitable player, and if so, by how much.