Moving up, sit n'go

I've been running well in the $1.75 2 table turbo sit n' go tournaments. I've won a few, and have had some good finishes. Currently I'm running an 80% ROI in them, although the sample size is not large enough to be conclusive.

I've decided to mix in some tournaments from the next level up. The next level to play will be the low stakes $6.50 2 table turbo sng. I find I enjoy the turbo format. They don't take more than an hour to play. Also I believe I play better in the late short stack stages than the early deep stack stages. So the turbo gets to that phase faster and spends more of the tournament in that mode. I find the $1.75 opponents don't play well in the late push/fold mode stages. Generally they become weak tight hoping to fold to a higher finish, avoiding putting their stack, or a large chunk of their stack at risk.

This query demonstrates how playing to win has helped my results in the $1.75. This is for the times I made the late stages.

Finish  Percentage of the Total
======  =======================
1-2     60%
3-4     20%
5-6     20%

So by being willing to bubble out in fifth or sixth, I was able to get more high first and second finishes. In the past it was more of a cluster in 3-4, with few bubble finishes and only occasional 1-2 finishes, and rare wins. That was the incorrect approach. The payout in these is weighted to the top and you need to play to finish in the top two, and not be afraid to bust just outside the fourth place money bubble.

The $6.50 has some advantages over the $1.75. In the $1.75 the registration fee is 1/6 of the buyin. In the $6.50 the registration fee is only 1/12 of the buyin.

Suppose you determine how often you need to finish first or second to cover the cost of playing. In the $1.75 the average between first and second is $9.45. So you need to finish in the top two 18.5% of the time.

In the $6.50 the average of the top two is $37.80. You only need to finish in the top two 17.2% of the time. So the break even point is lower because of the lower registration fee relative to the buyin.

In terms of ROI, I ran at 80% in the $1.75. That's $1.40 average profit for each one I played in. At the $6.50 level, I would only need 21.5% ROI to make $1.40 per tournament. So by playing higher you can make more per tournament with a much lower ROI.

Of course if my ROI at the $6.50 level is zero or negative then I'll have to stay at the $1.75 level. I hope I can get established at the low stakes level. I like the sound of that, low stakes player. The term small stakes player is also a positive one which I hope I can attain. But if not then the $1.75 is enjoyable and profitable so it's not too bad.

In addition to the $6.50, I'm also interested in trying the larger $4.40/180 player tournaments. The thing about the 180s is they take around four hours to finish. It is an unresolved challenge at this time figuring out how to come up with enough time to play in one.