Considering playing SNGs for real money

[buster669]

hello, i am new at this site but i am happy to be here. I am planning to do sng-s on full tilt poker.. i played around 30 000 hands cash game at microstakes, and tried sng-s for playchips just to see what cards do i get...but the more i play, i am figuring out that there are too many bad beats to play at full tilt..please post, if u have the same views about this. i am disappointed, because i d like to play but it is very questionable right now to move on and waste my money...

[taipan168]

Hi and welcome to FTR, it's good to have you here. I definitely do not believe that there are more bad beats at Full Tilt or any other site. In fact I do not believe that there are more bad beats at any poker site. 30,000 hands is a very small number of hands to judge a sample.

My suggestion is to dive in to SNGs at a level that your bankroll can support, and post hands/tourneys on this forum to ensure you are making the best decisions.

BTW, I moved your post from the Tactics Digest sticky into a new post - you should have started a new thread instead.

[Kijjo]

welcome to FTR buster.
while I believe what taipan said about bad beats, I'll testify to an unending string of bad beats at cash games. For some reason, I don't take anywhere near as many in tourneys. I don't believe it's because of the poker sites, it must be my playing style, but it truly is remarkable. I've tried to fix it over and over, but at the cash tables, it's like pounding my face into the wall ... over ... and ... over ... and ... over ... and ...
so umm... I play sngs and tourneys, cause my face is sore!

[drmcboy]

welcome to FTR buster.
while I believe what taipan said about bad beats, I'll testify to an unending string of bad beats at cash games. For some reason, I don't take anywhere near as many in tourneys.

the whole post is leaky, this is a big hole in the boat

[sven00100]

hello, i am new at this site but i am happy to be here. I am planning to do sng-s on full tilt poker.. i played around 30 000 hands cash game at microstakes, and tried sng-s for playchips just to see what cards do i get...but the more i play, i am figuring out that there are too many bad beats to play at full tilt..please post, if u have the same views about this. i am disappointed, because i d like to play but it is very questionable right now to move on and waste my money...

First off welcome,
Statistically speaking, due to the variance in poker, you would need an insanely large sample size to propose having received too many bad beats. I am currently between 10-16 tabling SNGs at Full tilt. There is obvious variance, and you just have to ignore it. Overall, hands hold as often as they should, hands get busted as often as they should.

Honestly I have mistakenly said this to myself before as well. However, I think this goes into the category of tilt.. When you start to question how you are playing because of the results of a hand. You need to get to the point mentally where, when you have had your aces busted the last 7 times, getting them all in pre, that it doesn't make you blink when you get them the next time, and you have no problem going all in. Assuming after draws etc. i'll just grossly approximate that AA is a 5:1 favorite over the average hand; you are likely, if you play many hands, to see multiple losses in a row.

That being said, I think blaming the site is dangerous for your poker game.
They would have nothing to gain by doing this, and there is no actual compiled statistical data showing that a site does this. Blaming the site will only give you a reason to doubt your play, as you will justify making a statistically bad decision, on your assumption that the site is doing something illegitimate.

If you find yourself thinking this, my suggestion is to do the same thing as if you were on tilt. If you go to play chips, go to play chips, play hands and regain that mental confidence. If you take a break, take a break, but if you have this in the back of your mind, it will affect your decision making. I would suggest ( not trying to contradict you here taipan :P ) that if you feel this way, don't dive in yet, until you are confident this is not so. As I have mentioned, YOU need to be confident this isn't happening so that it doesn't affect your game.

Okay I'm done rambling
Regards
Sven00100

[Kijjo]

the whole post is leaky, this is a big hole in the boat

You're right, absolutely. In fact DR, you didn't go far enough, when it comes to cash games, I don't have a leak in the boat, I'm swimming... errrr well maybe less swimming as treading water. It's all because it's in my mind. It's not because the cards hate me. It's not because the site is rigged. It's not because I'm unluckier than Mike the Mouth, it's because it's in my head.
Doesn't matter how many times I come back fresh, I don't win long term at cash tables.
So after I beat my head against the wall a while, I return to tourneys/SNGs as always.
I'm only a little serious and mostly kidding.
I'll just live in tourneys, that's fine.