are the steps worth trying (NC)
 

i was watching lvl 1 mini step on party .. it looks like they play looooooose..
are the steps easyer and do any twoplustwoers play them ?

Re: are the steps worth trying (NC)
 

i play them occasionly usually play 20+2 stts but i would say the steps are probably a lower standard then the stts as even fish make it up the ladder sometimes, the only prob with steps is they can be a waste of time, that time you could have used making some real profit. I would say they are worth it econmically if you play them in your spare time, not time you have set aside to play cash or stt games.

Re: are the steps worth trying (NC)
 

I think most people agree that they are a rake trap at worst and a fish trap at best. But if you're just looking to have fun and not for profit, go for it.

Re: are the steps worth trying (NC)
 

rake trap or not - they are pretty soft

Re: are the steps worth trying (NC)
 

lvl 1 mini looked really soft. but when i watched lvl 2 i saw tight wads make it to BB300 7ppl..

anyway i gotta get a new email somewhere

Re: are the steps worth trying (NC)
 

Remember, Step 1 is really $10+2, not $11+1.

Re: are the steps worth trying (NC)
 

I don't see these step tournament things in my party window. How do they work? Were are they?

Re: are the steps worth trying (NC)
 

Can someone explain why they are considered a rake trap?

Re: are the steps worth trying (NC)
 

basically because you bounce around from step to step, and each time they take rake. So when you go and get a "repeat step 2" entry or whatever, that entry gets rake taken and party doesnt actually pay any real prizes out.

Re: are the steps worth trying (NC)
 

I'm afraid I still don't understand. Does this mean that, if I were to win a freeroll into a tourament one step down, there would be a hidden rake fee to use that freeroll?

Re: are the steps worth trying (NC)
 

Ok, say step 2 is a 50+5. You enter in it. 50 goes to the prizepool, 5 goes to party. Say you finish in a place that lets you do step 2 again. You have a "freeroll" worth 55$. that 55$ is drawn from the prizepool everyone contributed to. You enter the step 2 with your freeroll, and party takes out 5$ to its coffers. Each time you bounce around party takes rake and is 5$ richer, without paying out any real $$$.


So if you enter a 50+5 step, and bounce around 3 times, party makes 15$ but doesn't pay out any money. And the way the steps are structured people bounce around a lot.

Re: are the steps worth trying (NC)
 

Okay, that makes sense now. Thanks for the explanation.

But despite PP's greediness (can't say I blame them), would Steps be a good idea if you looked at them as practice? Given that there's so much bouncing around, I can afford to make more risky and experimental moves if busting out is going to lead to a freeroll anyway, right? Of course, I would have to take into account that, since the payout structure is radically different, EV+ plays would probaby be different than at the regular SNGs. So perhaps they're not such a good idea for practice; they may be a completely differernt species.

Re: are the steps worth trying (NC)
 

The idea of the steps being a "rake trap" is really a bit of a misnomer. In reality if one guy started playing a step 1 ad another guy decided to just play regular SNGs until he either busted or made $1000+x and bought into a step 5 both are in essence contributing a portion of their winnings back to party as rake, all players do that unless they cash out everytime they win.

The real problem I see with the steps is that the lowest ones are a waste of time for anyone who thinks they have a reasonable shot of making any money. Even if you buy-in at lvl 3, some of your prize pool is "wasted" on freerolls to lower level steps, which are usually -timeEV for a decent player. If however you are a low limit player just looking for something fun to do, I think they are fine as long as you understand they are essentialy a trap to get lowerlevel players to feed the top level sharks (but only in the same way something like a WSOP satellite is).