I enjoy tournaments and am trying to figure out the best structure to play.

I have dropped down to $5+1 STT SNG's to better protect my bankroll (sitting around $70) right now.......been playing in this range for a while now. I play conservative and typically cruise to the top 4, but the aggressive Blind Structures will leave me short stacked unless I am getting really good cards.

With a conservative style, would I be better off playing MTT's like the $2+0's they have on PP? Or the $1-$2 MTT's on Royal? Are the blind increases less aggressive in the MTT tourny's?

I am grappling with the crap shoot the STT's become in the later stages vs having more opponents and potentially a better blind structure to suit my play.

Anybody have any thoughts on this?

Move to Pokerstars if you're really just an SNG player.

PS or UB.

I think UB is better because they are 10-seat and PS is 9. The structure is much better than party, the vig is only 10% instead of 20%, this will have a big impact on your profitablility.

You can use Beavis68 for a referal if you like.

If you are conservative, then SnG are a good choice, but you need to learn to open up your game as you play short-handed. You will not be able to win if you do not get more aggressive. You need to learn to pick your spots well, and it can actually be better to pick on big stacks than short stacks sometimes. Big stacks need to protect, but short stacks have to gamble.

A convervative strategy is not a winning strategy in MTTs - it is a "last longer" strategy. The escalating blinds means you have to be more active to keep up.

I built my bankroll on UB SnGs after playing and winning on Party for a long time, but getting sick of the gambling required at the end of the tournaments. Party games are particularly brutal when you get a back of weak players that are not aggressive. It isnt uncommon to have 6 people with 1200 in chips and 75/150 blinds.

UB gives 1500 starting chips, 5/10 starting blinds, 10min levels, and no antes (PS adds antes later in the game). Timed levels allow you to play a lot of hands when it gets short handed and keep the action a little slower.

Good luck.

Beav,

When I say I am conservative, I mean I play it tight enough to make it through most of the field. I can and do open it up when I need to, but my main beef is that party turns it into a crap shoot no matter where you are. I will take a look at the 2 sites you mentioned. I was already getting ready to check out poker stars. Don't know much about UB, but I will poke around.

Thanks.

Beav.............what are the starting paramaters for ps? How many chips? When does the ante kick in?

That structure seems to reward a good player much better than the PP structure.

I think you will find me over at Poker Starz real soon.

It just seems to me that the structure at PP rewards the "Catch an Ace and win a Race" philosophy.

PP structure just means you have to play looser than you'd like and different than what you consider "good" poker. The structure hasn't changed so maybe you should change your style and try to get more chips in earlier stages before the blinds get big and start effecting decisions.

If you're conservative/tight why not multitable a low limit ring game instead? That would be much more profitable than SNG's imo.

Q-10...

I dont really enjoy the ring games. I enjoy the concept of tournament play....fixed buy in....playing for a set jackpot....that appeals to me.


My point on the PP structure is that it seems to me that over time, if allowed to play the cards, a more educated player should do better than the avg fish out there. The PP structure does not allow you to play it out over time and drives the game towards a coin flip in the end. I can easily shift gears and play more aggressive when table conditions are right, but playing aggressive in the early stages of a table is a high risk/low reward proposition as far as I am concerned. I would much rather play strong hands early on and loosen up as tourney progresses....

I did not mean to imply that one style is better than another, just that I would prefer a less aggressive blind structure.