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I've been beating the $5.50s pretty badly and consistently for weeks now and thought it was time for me to advance. Well I just played 6 $11 1-tables in a row and have yet to break 5th place. Seems like the people are a hell of a lot better. More than I had expected from such a small jump in price. Is it true or am I just experiencing the ass end of variance?

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How many 5.50's did you play to know you were beating the $5.50's pretty badly? Remember that 1000 SNGs is considered on the low end of a sample size to let you know your true ROI. If your single tabling, 1000 SNGs takes A LOT of time to grind out. Right now this is what I'm doing (although at the $11's on Party)

Amount of Tables / ROI
1 / 20%
2 / 20%
3 / 20%
4 / 18%
5 / 18%
6 / 16%
7 / 16%
8 / 15%

I play 100 SNGs at each table level and must have my ROI at the level indicated to move up, if I don't meet my ROI requirement, I don't add a table until I reach it over 100 SNG's. If I take a beating and lose money over the 100 SNG's, I move back down a step.

When I meet my 8 tabling goal, I will drop back down to 4 tabling but play one 22 and 3 11's at a time. I must meet the above chart minus 2% on the ROI to add another 22, until I get to 8 tabling the 22's.

I came up with this system after having my bankroll brutalized at Stars because I was an idiot with no clear cut goals, taking shots at limits way above my ability. It's been working well so far, and I find that my desire to move up is good incentive to keep me focused on playing well, and I should never be playing above my bankroll with this system in place. Basically its checks and balances on my desire to gamble by moving up in stakes.