376 $6 turbo's played, 5% ROI?

[teknique]

376 games, 4.96% ROI, 42.02% ITM, 31 1st place finishes, 66 2nd place finishes, 61 3rd place finishes, 48 4th place finishes...

42% ITM sounds like it should be about right, but my ROI seems very low, although it has slipped a fair bit over the last 100 or so SNG's which I attributed to variance. I was hoping after 400 or so to be moving up to the next level of turbo SNG's stars offers ($16) but with an ROI so low I don't feel confident enough to do so. Do my stats indicate weak bubble play is the major leak in my game?

[ciaran]

At a bare minimum, you should have 1sts equal to 1/9 games played, and you're well below that. 376 games isn't all that much to go on, though.

I think as a starting point, you should look at whether you're routinely getting ITM short stacked. That would indicate that you aren't being aggressive enough on the bubble. Also, given that you're only winning HU 1/3 of the time, you should see if you're normally getting HU with a big chip deficit. One very common failing HU (and to a lesser extent ITM) is not being aggressive enough. At the end of the typical SNG HU you should be playing like a complete nutjob, especially against normal players.

Try posting some specific hands/situations.

[Ecchu]

I agree that your HU stats look a bit weak. Your ITM is a great stack, but again what is your average going into the money? I play a lot of the $6.50 turbos on stars and once in the money you really have to gamble it up and play like a maniac. You really can't let yourself get blinded out.

I am also struggling lately with HU play at the end of these turbos... I tend to be on the hyper maniac side and prefer to push the action, but I still feel like this is a small edge and I'm looking for maybe a bit of a different approach. Maybe Ciaran has some better ideas.

[ciaran]

[jmbreslin]

I had a very similar problem: mediocre ROI and not a high enough percentage of wins. I discovered that I was playing too weak, not just on the bubble but prior to that. I had fallen into the pattern of playing to cash, which resulted in a good ITM% but I often found myself shortstacked after the bubble broke and entering HU play with 3-1 and 4-1 chip deficits.

My advice is to work on your mid-late stage aggression. Start focusing on stealing earlier and turn it up even more on the bubble. You will bust out more often but it will be offset by the increased percentage of wins. I saw some very positive results myself before I got bored and gave up NLHE SnGs altogether.

One other thing: the variance is higher in turbos so a slightly lower ROI is to be expected

[leofric]

I've been experimenting with some $10 turbo sngs on Partypoker but not enough to have any meaningful stats yet. However one thing I have noticed is the bubble bursts at a much higher level of blinds than in normal SnGs.

I'm assuming this also affects the results since it probably negates some of the skill and turns it into a shove/fold fest (well yes actually that is also part of the skill!)

[teknique]

So I re-read a couple of chapters of Moshman's book this morning (mainly the section on stack dependant strategies, the ones laid out for 4 different stack sizes on the bubble and also a "playing the short stack" series of hands that were in an appendix I had missed previously), scribbled "Brutally aggressive!" on a sticky note and stuck it to my monitor, and then sat down to play some SNG's.

40 SNG's played, 60.64% ROI, 9 first place finishes. I am thinking 60% isn't sustainable, but I feel I played a heck of a lot better, thank you for your input Ciaran.

The very last one of the 40 I started off short stacked at the 100/200 level, and tripled my stack without showing any cards or getting any "good" cards. I pushed from the small blind on the very passive significant chip leader with 93o, he thought for a while and then folded, typing in chat "I had AJ, next time i call you with a hand like that"

I am definately am a "wimp" poker player, after dabbling in MTT's I've put them on hold until I get PTF I/II for christmas, so playing uber aggressively feels slightly strange to me.. I think I am prone to being too wrecklessly aggressive when I try to bully a table, and so I guess I need to find the line between controlled aggression and wrecklessness, but I feel like I have definately taken a step in the right direction.

[ciaran]

[teknique]

What do the numbers mean in the cells on the table?

[ciaran]