Planet Mark's Blog. Thoughts, News And Strategy For Poker Tournaments Of All Size

Sit N Go Volume For US Players – Get Your Grind On!

Every poker site and its dog will have the news that the Merge Network have re-opened to new US players today… So I wanted to try and say something different. One thing this means is that those players from the US who are prepared to mix and match their buy-in levels and games can now potentially mass-table the SNGs again… and if you get the bubble math part right this could be very profitable indeed.

Let me share some stats from a 2+2 player from a couple of months ago:

jd4wg91 23,836 $0.38 $6 8% $8,985 - N/A Merge 7/24/2011 9/15/2011

For those not familiar with these I’ll explain: Between the 24th July and 15th September, a US player under the name of jd4wg91 managed to play 23,836 SNGs on the Merge Network with an average buy-in of $6. He made an average profit of 38c a game, which was equivalent to 8% ROI – that’s just short of $9k profits (before bonuses and loyalty scheme payments). Now, reading the various threads about this (it came up a good few times, guess the guy was rightfully proud of his achievement!) the key aspects were hyper-turbos, double or nothings and standard SNGs all at the same time, with 6-max / 9-max both played at a range of buy-ins – the guy was prepared to mix it up and play whatever games were available… and he reaped the rewards. Where I wanted to go with this is to remind those players who miss Stars / Tilt etc that high volume is still very much possible. This is just on the Merge Network, if you have a strong preference for one game (double-ups?) then why not mix Carbon Poker with Cake Poker for more potential liquidity?

Mixing Structures / Buy-Ins Is Not Easy – Some Thoughts

Couple of quick thoughts on mixing the buy-ins and structures. This will involve a little more concentration than just one game – even calling ranges differ between the buy-ins (as you move up more people are aware of ICM for example and more people will be able to adjust to what they perceive as your pushing ranges). You will need to study the math and have your starting hands+ push-fold basics on auto-pilot to do this effectively, which will involve some prep and study. You will also need to pass on a lot more slightly profitable situations (folding suited connectors when a call might have been marginally more profitable to keep the decision making easy for example)… otherwise the mix of multiple  post-flop decisions + needing to focus on the game structure and buy-in level will leave you quickly exhausted! See my Sit and Go Strategy section for more articles on effective multi-tabling and the effect of adding more games on your ROI.

Not Everyone Needs To Multi-Table – Plenty Of Scope For The Slow Build Up Too!

Not every player wants to go down the route of multi-table grinding… if you are from the US and feel like establishing yourself a bankroll in this way then it is more than possible now that Carbon Poker have re-opened their doors for US players! Players enjoying a few games at a time can enjoy the smooth and colorful software and mainly recreational opponents as they build. I have a special deal for SNG Planet readers at Carbon Poker, a 200% matched welcome bonus + free HUD / Poker Calculator… a great way to get going! Just use my bonus / coupon code CARBONPK when you register – the games are soft and the software excellent, now that Carbon have re-opened there can only be more SNG tournaments available as the built up demand for a good US site finds its way to the tables! Click this link to check out Carbon Poker for yourself now! (Carbon are no longer allowing US players). Check out my US Poker Sites page for the latest sites, news and tournaments

GL at the tables, Mark

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