Advice needed for a youngin

A little background...I'm a 19 year old college soph who plays poker in my spare time. I could give you the "I'm a student of the game spiel" but I've heard it a million times.

I am by no means an amazing player but I am definetly improving. Herein lies my problem. I started the semester with a set bankroll for poker that I have been maintaining. I started with $1000 and have been run down to the felt and back up to $3000 and back to about even now. My big scores have come from two MTT wins, and another few high finishes. I then seem to lose it back in cash games where my style isn't translating over well enough. Is it possible for me to maintain a bankroll playing solely MTTs and maybe SNGs if I had to. I sometimes lack the patience for SNGs(even though I can play MTTs) and don't really look forward to grinding them out 4 tabling. Any advice would be appreciated.

I'll continue to read the forums as you guys give amazing advice. I'll keep trying to contribute what I can.

Thanks all and g/l at the tables

[Exitonly]

if you can limit yourself to $10 and smaller freezeouts, with maybe occasional stabs at higher buyins... Yes you can.

[SixgunSam]

You can make a lot of money in tournaments, but it is streaky because the real payout is in first or second. This may be on the conservative side, but with a 1k bankroll, I wouldn't play anything higher than a $10 tournament (non-rebuy). Keep plugging away at the lower buy-ins until you can get a big win. A first in one of those can be anywhere to 1.5 - 2k at Stars. Once you get your bankroll over 2k, you can step up and play some $20 and $30 buy-ins or $5 rebuys. Keep working your way up and stepping up when your bankroll can handle it.

I play tournaments 90% of the time and it accounts for the majority of my poker income. It is very streaky. In my best month, I won four tournaments and took one second. In my worst month, I only had 4 cashes and this is from someone who plays 10-20 tournaments a week. GL with it!

[PunterSThompson]

I think it's important to learn to play all forms of poker well. If your style isn't successful at cash games, you should look at why, rather than just avoid them. In terms of bankroll variance, if you play solely mtts that's something you're going to have to live with! And finally, if you find you dont have the patience for sngs, play 8 at once - you wont be bored.

Regards, Stuart

[bawcerelli]

you should stick to single table tourneys for a while. the MTT's have huge variance.

[illini43]

With a 1K bankroll you can comfortably play the 22 SNGs...

SNGs are generally thought of as the type of game with least variance, if that is what you are looking for. Go look around in the STT forum...you might get some ideas there.