anyone knows which tables are best?

[melinda1978]

i think since i started playing on line, i have played the wrong tables, seems like i run into bad players whocall with any two cards and get lucky, is it the fact that three to five dollars games dont have serious players. and does it make a diff. in tables, should i try bigger more exp. tourneys

[rong]

lol... I shouldn't laugh really, but it's kind of funny that I was saying practically the same thing when I originally joined this site.

The secret to answering this question is to play more and read more.

Read more, especially ICM related topics, and analyse your games (or put them on here for Tai et al) and this will make you a better SnG player.

Then play more, as once you have a good SnG strategy & make correct +ev decisions, you just need a big enough sample size to see how often you win.

Once you get here, ie you are relatively good at SnGs & have played at least a good few hundred in order to monitor your stats, then you will begin to love the idiots who make stupid decisions, as they are the number 1 reason you'r ROI is as high as it is.

As I'm sure you've heard before, it doesn't matter how good you are, as long as you're better than most of the other guys at your table.

[RockyMoose]

I prefer to bet at a STT with donkey calling stations who play bad. That makes it easy for me: I get to be the nit I am and wait for my big hand.

Don't move up to higher levels until you have beaten the $5 games. ABC poker is enough to make a profit. Be disciplined. Post some hands here and you'll get some great feedback.

[rong]

Yeah also what he said.
Remember, the higher the stakes, the better the player.
A good rule, keep playing at the level your bank roll supports (plenty of articles about br management and a great article by gingerwizard explaing the theory behind it) and by the time you have beat that level frequently and consistantly enough for your br to support the next level, then it may be time to move up.

[taipan168]

I suggest you read all the stickied threads in the FAQs, particularly the "Dos and Don'ts of Low Buyin SNGs".

[Poker Orifice]

For sure it can be frustrating... no doubt about it.
Personally I run better on the $10's than I do on the $5's. Sometimes on the $5's you get like 3/4 of the table being complete donkazzes which can lead to lots of garbage. I coach my g/f fairly often (she plays on the $5's mostly) and have seen some pretty unbelievably bad play in them, lol (not too funny at the time though). Last night in every game she played there was at least one player who would play 8hands every orbit. This one in particular had played over 1200 sngs on Fulltilt. How they could still be that bad is beyond me. Sick part.. they placed 1st in that one and the other table they were also playing on (Q7o midlevels was a for sure limp/call to any raise, lol).
I too would recommend reading thru the Sticky Section.. there's some great stuff in there.

Collin Moshman's book is well worth grabbing too.
GL on the tables!

[bjsaust]

I prefer to play against bad players than good ones. I'm weird like that.

[BooG690]

I prefer to play against bad players than good ones. I'm weird like that.

Weirdo.

[DarkHorse83]

If these players are so bad they should be exploitable. I dont agree there are no serious players at $5 level. I think there are plenty of serious players at the start of their poker journey.

I'd be interested to hear from a winning player at say $100 level as to their view on whether they could be a winning player at $5

[GatorJH]

I prefer to play against bad players than good ones. I'm weird like that.

but you are a freak of nature so we expect that from you.

[Poker Orifice]

I prefer to play against bad players than good ones. I'm weird like that.

Personally I can't stand it when 80% of the table is terrible players. For SNG & MTT play it can make it horrendous.
I do far, far better on a table that has a few good/decent players and a couple avg. and a few weak.. than one that is full of weak players.
I guess I'm weird because I hear many players say they'd prefer a table of weak players. My stats. don't lie to me though, I know where I get better results.
To OP... if you think you might do better at a slightly higher buyin, why not give it a shot. The play does get better as you move up.
As far as the $5's go... I think it depends upon what time of day as well. Like the one person above said, "There are often a bunch of good players on the $5's - good players early in their poker playing career". If playing the $5's, I'd avoid the weekends and (including Fri.. night).

[rong]

Are you kidding?! At the $5-$10 SnG level, Friday night is without a doubt my most profitable time by far, especially between 11pm & 1am BST.

Mostly drunk brits throwing away money.

I find if I play before 10pm, using Sharkscope HUD, I can find 5-7 positive ROI players per table. Between 10pm & 2am it's appprox 3.

[Rage2100]

Are you kidding?! At the $5-$10 SnG level, Friday night is without a doubt my most profitable time by far, especially between 11pm & 1am BST.

Mostly drunk brits throwing away money.

I wouldn't know about this. I'm still usually in the pub.

[rong]

pregnant girlfriend + buying a house = no time or money for pub

But oh how I miss those wonderful drunken days!

[melinda1978]

i still dont know waht roi actually is, can someone explain, thanks

[tuuk2]

ROI = Return on Investment. If you played 10 tourneys at $10 and won $50, your ROI = 50% (winnings/buy-ins = ROI). At the low stakes, 20% is considered a pretty good ROI and it goes down from there as you move up in stakes.

[DarkHorse83]

I prefer to play against bad players than good ones. I'm weird like that.

Personally I can't stand it when 80% of the table is terrible players. For SNG & MTT play it can make it horrendous.
I do far, far better on a table that has a few good/decent players and a couple avg. and a few weak.. than one that is full of weak players.
I guess I'm weird because I hear many players say they'd prefer a table of weak players. My stats. don't lie to me though, I know where I get better results.
To OP... if you think you might do better at a slightly higher buyin, why not give it a shot. The play does get better as you move up.
As far as the $5's go... I think it depends upon what time of day as well. Like the one person above said, "There are often a bunch of good players on the $5's - good players early in their poker playing career". If playing the $5's, I'd avoid the weekends and (including Fri.. night).

I said this and I am a fish so do I get a prize?

[DarkHorse83]

ROI = Return on Investment. If you played 10 tourneys at $10 and won $50, your ROI = 50% (winnings/buy-ins = ROI). At the low stakes, 20% is considered a pretty good ROI and it goes down from there as you move up in stakes.

Found this somewhere, bit more ABC:

To figure out your ROI, you will only need to know a few numbers. You need to know how much money you have won and how much money you have had to invest. For our examples below we will be using a single table sit n go with a $20.50 buy in and first place earning $100, 2nd place earning $60, and third place earning $40. If you were to invest $20.50 to play in this game and you won the first place prize, what would your ROI be?

To figure out your ROI, you would use this equation: $ Won-$ Buy In / $ Buy In X 100 = ROI

To utilize our equation, let's plug in our numbers: $100-$20.50 / $20.50 X 100 = 388% ROI

To give you an idea of the difference, this is what 3rd place's ROI be: $40-$20.50/$20.50 X 100 = 95%

First place's ROI would tell you that you almost won 4 times what you invested while 3rd place barely doubles their original buy in. While these numbers look great, this is only one game and is very inaccurate. For example, what if you played 125 games and only won 3 of them while losing the other 122; what would your ROI be then?

To figure this out, we are using the same example as above. You will want to figure out how much you would have won and the total amount you have bought in for. Provided below are the answers:

125 games X $20.50 = $2562.50 Invested

Winning 3 games at $100 per win = $300

Let's plug those numbers in and see what our ROI is: $300-$2562.50/$2562.50 X 100 = -88% ROI