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www.On what limit should I play Sit’n Go’s? Which buy-in should I choose when I start to play SNG’s? These are two questions that are raised both by newcomers to online poker tournaments and advanced players who want to switch from cash games to sit and go tournaments.
The three most important criteria for you when selecting the optimal buy-in if you want to achieve long-term profits in Sit and Go’s are
• your bankroll – the money you have available to play online poker
• your skill – your own poker skills in relation to the opponents at the tables
• your personal well-being in the corresponding limit
When determining the optimal buy-in, you have to consider the three factors bankroll, skill and well-being individually and then set the buy-in to the lowest resulting limit.
Examples: If your bankroll and your skill are high enough to play $50 SNG’s, but you only feel comfortable on limits up to $20, then you should only grind the Sit and Go’s on buy-ins up to $20. And if your skill and attitude are good enough for $30 STTs, but even an aggressive bankroll management allows you to play only $10 SNG’s, then you have to opt for the $10 tournaments.
Let’s have a look at the three factors bankroll, skill and well-being, which determine optimum buy-in, in more detail.
Your Bankroll
Your poker bankroll is the money that you have available to play online poker. In general, this corresponds to the amount that you have on your poker account. Whether you’ve just deposited this amount or have earned it over the course of several years does not matter. It is important that it is money on which you are not dependent. Although you certainly do not belong to the category of losing players, keep in mind that more than 80% of poker players lose their bankroll at the poker tables. Therefore, stick to the bankroll management suggestions as a precaution.
The variations in results at tournaments may even be very large for professionals. Therefore you must protect your bankroll by using only a small amount of it for a single tournament. Depending on the choice of your strategy from aggressive to conservative, you can work with a bankroll management of 30 to 150 buy-ins.
Example: Let’s assume that you chose a 50 buy-in bankroll management. If your bankroll is $1,000, then you may only play Sit and Go’s with a maximum buy-in of $20 per game.
Your Skill
The skill describes how strong your play is in Texas Hold’em tournaments. The higher the limit you want to play, the better your skill must be. This is obvious: the greater the buy-in, the more money is there to be earned, and the stronger the opponents will be. If you have already played a few thousand Sit and Go’s at different limits, then you will surely have noticed that $1 “donkaments” significantly differ from $ 50 tournaments. The players at higher limits no longer play 50% of all the hole cards, try to avoid coin-flips and can also fold strong cards such as pocket kings on a dangerous flop.
Sure you have heard this saying: There is no point to being the tenth best poker player in the world if the other nine are sitting at the same table. It is therefore important that you assess your skills in relation to the opponents you play against. This means in particular that you compare your skills to the opponents playing on your limit and that you are expecting to beat this limit the long term. Remember, at each table with 10 players, on average only two or three of them are winning player. So be realistic and select a limit where you can judge objectively whether you beat the limit. If you do not keep track of your winnings – which is what most winning player do – then check at least your stats on Sharkscope to see how well you’ve played in the past. And then try to determine on which buy-in you would be superior to the large majority of opponents.
Your Personal Well-Being
Personal well-being is important in online poker and helps you to determine on which limit you should play Sit & Go’s or Double or Nothing tournaments. It is not a good idea to play at high buy-ins where you do not feel comfortable. This will have the risk that you are too afraid of losing money and that you will not play optimally, but too cautiously. This trend can be observed at many players who have just moved up one level. They sit on “scared money” and play too timid, passive and tight. The result is that they no longer make the mathematically correct decisions. They prefer to fold themselves to third place instead of abusing the bubble with aggressive all-in pushes, which would increase their long-term profits. Avoid this mistake! Even after a huge tournament win or after clearing a poker bonus, play poker on a level on which you feel comfortable.
Summary Best Buy-In for Sit’n Go Tournaments
Analyze for yourself up to which limits your bankroll, your skill and your well-being are sufficient and take the lowest of the three values. This gives you the recommended buy-in for SNG tournaments that you should play. Again an example: according to bankroll management, you can play tournaments up to a buy-in of $30. You estimate that you can achieve a positive ROI on buy-ins up to $50. Since you’ve played already $100 tournaments, you are sure to play your “A-game” on buy-ins up to $100. The lowest of the three values is $30; you should therefore only play Sit & Go’s with buy-ins of no more than $30.
Rake (Fees)
A few words about the rake. On the micro-limits, these fees are often disproportionately high. For $10 SNG and higher, the rake is usually 10% or less of the buy-in, e.g. $1 for a $10 SNG. At the lower buy-ins, the rake in percent is often significantly higher. For example, the rake on the $6 SNG’s at Party Poker is also $1. $5 of the buy-in goes to the prize pool and $1 goes to the poker room. The rake amounts to 20%, which in our opinion is clearly too high and which makes it extremely difficult to beat the 6$ SNG’s on Party Poker.
Tip: Choose a limit where the rake amounts not more than 10%. If you want to play $6 Sit & Go’s, then chose Full Tilt Poker instead of Party Poker. The rake there is even less than 10% (only $0.50). Use the referral code SNGPOKER when signing up at Full Tilt Poker in order to get the maximum bonus of $600.
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