Make Large Profits Playing 180 Player Sit and Gos

Make Profits Playing 180 Player SNGs

180 player SNG tournaments are becoming extremely popular online and are the game of choice for many poker professionals who grind their living in multi table tournaments. Many bankroll challenges in the Internet poker forum threads are made up of ROI charts showing a consistent profit in these games when multi-tabled and played over a large volume. Ever the curious poker player, I decided to take some time to learn about the game and why it has become so popular. This is what I found.

At first glance these Sit and go poker tournaments are more like a multi table tournament than a sit and go. In fact the only reason they are called sit and go is because they start when all seats are filled. 180 players in the tournament is not too large and not too small and because you already know the payouts before you start you can learn the exact style required to regularly profit from them.

One player called “Underdog” showed his 1,800 game records and showed a healthy 67% return. This equated to a $5,000+ overall profit and he cashed 324 times (18%) and won 20 times (1.1%). He claimed to be a solid none professional player. This certainly looks encouraging and his buy-ins was only at the $4.40 level. Eureka! I have found a game to beat consistently and make good profits with small buy-ins. But when I investigated further I noticed that within a one month period another successful player had a downswing (despite being a massive winner in these games) or over 700 games! He obviously had the skill to carry on robotically and play optimally believing in his ability to get those wins and avoid the inevitable bad beats he was suffering. Unfortunately the old metagame concepts that I write so extensively about were again rearing their head.

Swings are a part of everyone’s poker games. Tom “Durrrr” Dwan has lost over $2 million in the last two days, but he believes he will get it all back with interest providing he keeps playing. If the best players like Durrrr are tolerating swings it will happen to us too. Part of pokers skill is taking these runs on the chin and objectively assessing whether it is variance or lack of ability. If you have not got this ability you will find it hard to make poker pay over the long term.

Playing a high amount of these SNG tournaments with 180 players is a great way to learn MTT strategy. I play almost exclusively these types of tournaments and am learning something new every time. Think of the advantage you hold getting this large amount of practise. Having limited but reasonably sized fields ensures that the time you spend playing poker can be more controlled in terms of time and potential prizes. This gives you a better idea of what is required from your play. After 500 games you will not be perfect but you will have experienced plenty of spots where a mistake was made but will not be repeated. That means a big improvement in your game right away!

When analysing your stats for this type of SNG make a note of how many times you finish in each of the cash positions. Payments are made normally for 18th place and higher. If you notice you are finishing lots of times in positions 14 – 20 then you are probably not being aggressive enough on the bubble where the other players are thinking “I must cash, I must cash”. There are blinds and antes to steal here and if you adjust your play and improve these 14th place finishes to 8th or higher this means a more efficient profit chart in the future.

Considering these tournaments have been lauded as a grinder’s paradise for such a long time I think that some of the Internet players will be getting burned out and a new breed can step in and profit. Let that new breed contain this author and my readers who spot the opportunity to profit and grab it with both hands! Keep your eyes open for more opportunities for profits at bwin poker blog.

By Malcolm Clarke

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Tags: 180 man sng, online poker, online poker strategy, poker tips, sng poker, sng strategy