[vrecksler]

Thanks to Merlin I signed up on the Instant Bankroll at Party Poker and just finished my 500 raked hands so all the money is now mine. Sweet.


Now I was wondering where the best money was at? For my raked hands I would play the $0.50/$1.00 Limit tables and while I started with $75, I was only up to $100 at the end. So in 500 raked hands I made a mere $25.

My younger brother also did the Instant Bankroll and finished with roughly the same amount as I did after completing the raked hands. But immediately after the raked hands were done he started playing SNG's and his bankroll is now a whopping $500.

Now my brother is twice the poker player I am, but I tried the $5+$1 SNG and have finished in the money 4 out of 5 times. So this seems to work for me as they only take about 90 hands (roughly an hour) to complete, but I would like to know what everyone else feels is the best way to make money.

Should I be sticking to cash games or SNG's? If it is SNG's, which buy-in would be the best? Each one offers the winner 5X the buy-in at Party Poker, but I would like to play the largest buy-in that still has weaker players. I would think the games tighten up as the buy-in goes up but so far my brother has not noticed much of a difference between the $5 and the $30.

Any thoughts?

[Eldog]

I bounce back and forth between the cash game and SNG's. I tend to lean more towards the SNG's because the up and down fluctuation of your bank roll in the cash game causes me more mental stress especially when you take a super bad beat its not just tourney chips you lost its real money, but thats just me. As far as level of compitition in the SNG's anything from 5 - 30 dollars are about the same level player.... The 50 and 100 dollar (100 is the highest ive played) player to me seems alittle more skilled but you get knuckleheads at every level.

[KYBill]

I like the SNG's but once you win a 50 or 100 its kinds hard to just play 5's or 10's.

[Lumpy]

If you have enough bankroll the 10+1 is better than the 5+1 simply from a rake perspective. 10% vs 20%. 10 is comparable to the 5 in skill level.

"Instant Bankroll" info, link?

[VARoadstter]

In the long run, you can make a lot more money at the NL cash games. You may not like ring games as much as tournaments so do what you like. If you like to make the most money, though, you can make money a lot faster playing NL cash games.

[hachkc]

Personally, I prefer cash games but it depends on your playing style, skill set and game selection. With SNG your winnings are pretty much fixed but so are your losses; pretty much all or nothing for winnings.

My cons for SNGs are
- require more of a time committment
- little choice in who you play against
- pretty much all or nothing for the payout depending on your SNG size
- you can't leave when you want to
- your internet connection goes down and doesn't comeback right away.
- games other than hold'em are harder to find (I'm an Omaha/8 fan)

My pros for SNGs are:
- opportunity to earn more $/hour than cash games. A ST-SNG will pay between 1.5x - 5x your buyin (1st-3rd) and take between 60 - 120 minutes to play. Harder to get this $/hr at a cash game as consistently.
- more popular than cash games and tend to draw more "fish".

[vrecksler]

Thanks for all the responses, I think I am going to try mixing in NL cash games with mainly ST SNG's for now. I find I do not have the patience for cash games, at least not all the time, and the swings are much more stressful since I am betting my real money and not tournament chips. It sure is fun when you take down a $20 pot (low limit) but when you lose $10 its not as enjoyable.

Originally Posted by Lumpy

If you have enough bankroll the 10+1 is better than the 5+1 simply from a rake perspective. 10% vs 20%. 10 is comparable to the 5 in skill level.

"Instant Bankroll" info, link?

Go Here and you will find Merlin's link to the goods; use his link so he can get the referral.

[hachkc]

Originally Posted by vrecksler

I think I am going to try mixing in NL cash games with mainly ST SNG's for now. I find I do not have the patience for cash games, at least not all the time, and the swings are much more stressful since I am betting my real money and not tournament chips. It sure is fun when you take down a $20 pot (low limit) but when you lose $10 its not as enjoyable.

That's the problem with NL games; the variances can be painful. You can try limit but that's more of a grind (long time profit potential but no big hits like NL) and doesn't offer the same "fix" that a big pot in NL offers. You might want to try some Pot Limit (PL) games but I'm not sure how many sites offer PL Hold'em and what the participation is like; PL seems to be more popular with the Omaha and Omaha/8 crowd, IMHO.

Also, start multi-tabling if you're not; it helps with the "patience" issue.

[yeltzen]

Let's make sure not to mention limit cash games... cause the people who play those are f*cking losers.

[vrecksler]

Originally Posted by yeltzen

Let's make sure not to mention limit cash games... cause the people who play those are f*cking losers.

Ironically, I played all 500 raked hands on the limit cash tables. It was actually not that bad once I made a few adjustments; if anyone has a draw on the flop they will stick around to see the turn since it is so ridiculously cheap. In fact it is not uncommon for people to call continuously with nothing, they just want to see all the cards before folding to a $1 bet into a $12 pot on the river.


I did not mind the limit cash tables too much because the monster hands pay off nicely but what I absolutley hate is that I cannot protect my hand on the flop in limit. Top pair means nothing on the flop if you have paired a card smaller than a J because people with overcards will stick around. And so many people play suited connectors like they are a big pair; re-raising and capping pre-flop and then building a huge pot even if they miss the flop.

I totally prefer NL but playing the limit was also a good experience and it definitely makes me more aware of the importance of adjusting the values of your bets for different purposes.