Monday, December 29, 2008

SitnGo bankroll management

Had a mate of mine ask me about SitnGo bankroll management the other day.

The conversation was something like:

Q: How many buys ins do you need in your bankroll?
A: At small stakes probably 60 for STTs, 100 to be fairly safe if you're a winning player

Q: What stakes SitnGos do you play?
A: $5 - $15

Q: Okay, so 100 times 15 is?
A: $1,500

Q: And your bankroll is?
A: $15,000

Q: Ummm ... why are you playing so small stakes then?
A: Well, I only really play SitnGos for fun, as I don't think i'm that good at them - they're not my game of choice so there's no point blowing a lot on them. That being said, if I was losing on them, I wouldn't play them at all. My ROI is around 16% (and then rakeback on top of that) from about 200 games, and the majority of those are double ups which i've researched a little on how to play them.

Q: What should I be playing?
A: Well, start with your bankroll and calculate what that allows you to play. Then research your game of choice, be it Cash games, STTs or MTTs. Everyone has their own style and a game which suits them best, although i'm sure anyone could be a winner across all three if they put in the time and effort and have the skill. Obviously you need to know what you are doing before jumping in, and make sure you track your results to make sure you are profitable.



For me obviously cash games are my game of choice, and I will only play on soft tables. I'm also a bankroll nit as most people will notice, as i'm still mainly playing only up to $3/6. Maybe when a shot at $4/8 actually goes my way i'll move up a bit more permanently.

I've actually got in about an hour and a half of play in the last day since my nasty little downswing followed by moderate recovery. I'm pleased to say that I hit a mini heater, and returned a positve 15BBs at $3/6 on cake, followed by a good 45BBs on Pacific, which I decided to check out when I couldn't find enough tables running on Bodog and managed to find a super soft table there.

I'm thinking of taking up the Ladbrokes PSO offer in the new year to kick start the bonus chase for 2009, but I figure i'll still be mainly kickin around on Bodog, Cake, Interpoker for their reloads/rakeback.

Current bankroll: $15,650

4 comments:

The blindman said...

I think the Ladbrokes offer on Boogster is better than PSO from memory.

I agree that your bankroll management is too nitty :)

My view is that you should play the highest level at which you are profitable (or at least the level at which your expected hourly rate is highest), up to a maximum of maybe 1/20th of bankroll or even higher if you are very confident. It is a safe strategy as long as you always have a smaller game to switch to (and generally speaking there is always a smaller game online).

My own excuse for being sometimes conservative with buyins is simply uncertainty about whether I am actually a winning player.

parttimebonuschaser said...

I'd like to see a more positive result at $4/8 before I move up a bit more permanently. (Although 500 hands is a very small sample).

Maybe i've just got unlucky so far when taking shots, but will see. Although I can't see why a fishy table at 4/8 would be any different from a fishy table at 1/2.

But, I'm in no rush, so i'll just build up my bankroll on bodog again to take another shot. Should only take another few weeks.

The blindman said...

The justification I would put is that you are not certain that you are a long term winning player at 4/8 or 5/10. Hence you want to get some wins under your belt before sticking there too much, which is completely sensible irrespective of the size of your BR.

I completely agree that on the face of it you ought to be crushing these tables, and have probably just been unlucky so far.

parttimebonuschaser said...

Thats exactly my thinking - just you can explain it much more succinctly