Double or Nothing SnG's

[nb1961]

I thought I’d try something different for a while as I was having very little success play multi table tournaments. There has been some talk on here on a Pokerstars thread, and I think Logan mentioned them when we were chatting in a game, about double or nothing sit and go’s so I thought I’d give tem a try.

Now I’ve always steered clear of them because thinking about them logically you have to win around 60% of games just to break even. Anyway I tried a 10 seat game on Pokerstars and I was all over the place and went out the game in 10th, great start. I think the problem with the Stars game was the 10 minute blind levels on a very passive table the game just went on and on with 4 or 5 limpers per hand and all sorts of crap catching. So I started to get frustrated and pushed some marginal hands and bust out.

I then tried a 6 seat SnG on iPoker, these are turbo games and move along much quicker, also they are packed with very poor players. I had $10 on CDPoker which I couldn’t withdraw because it’s tied up with some stupid bonus that I never knew about so I thought what the hell I’ll have a bit of fun with it and see what I can do.So in 7 days playing $1 +.20 buy ins I have played 22 games I have a win rate of about 72% and I’m in profit by $7.00. Not a fortune, but I’m enjoying playing again, I’m a lot happier with the way I’m playing and I’ve been adapting to others play better. If I can keep the win rate up around 70% I’ll move over to Titan where I have a better bank roll and move up the stakes a bit and start to see if it’s possible to make money playing these double or nothing games or if they are just a bit of harmless fun to play when nothing else is working.

(Based on a post from my blog if you need something to put you to sleep it's here
http://neil1961.blogspot.com/ )

[Logan]

Nice Blog neil, always interesting to read how everyone is doing (hope the tests come negative).

Yep, i remember chatting in a game about that.

About Stars, i clear the $50 bonus in poker stars playing only $1 buy-in 10 seat 2ble ups, i play 4 or 5 tables at the same time, but like you mention the blinds go really slow for this type of game, so was longs and tedious games because you dont fight to win only to survive.

At the end i think finish even, but with my $50 bonus so was ok, after that, cashout from Stars because dont play any private game there and the Mtt's are always massive, so don't like it much to play in regular basis. So, for me, 10 seat 2ble ups are fine to clear bonus but not for increase your BR, at least not in those levels, where every one pay any raise and play every hand.

After that, i deposit in William Hill (Ipoker like Titan), they give me the $20 instant bonus for using E-wallet, and also a $100 bonus to clear. i see they have a 6 seat 2ble up but with 3 or 4min blinds, was a faster game and also just need to kick out 3 more players, like neil mention they have a really bad players, so after first 2 or 3 hands easy are 1 out.

i found really easy to get to the money in those ones, but with the time the problem is that because blinds are fast, and players are not that good, i notice start to hurt my game, because need to play different, and also screw my tolerance, because when come back to a private mtt my patience in normal or long blinds was cero.

So stop playing those for a couple of days, and start to play normal sit in there with 10 players and 3 pays, $2 buy-in, 7 min blinds. Not too long, not too fast, my game was back, and now when i am playing a private mtt in other site try to play one or 2 of this in there, and so far my BR is growing.

Still play the 6 sits 2ble up, but not in regular basis like before, and not multitabling, now only play them when have a short brake and don't have time to play a regular, or when don't have the mind to play a mtt and need a fast packed poker game, so is only about 3 or 4 games a week, more for the points to clear the bonus and for fun that for anything else.

So good luck with those neil, hope you can enjoy them in long term, because was not a long term type of game for me.

[nb1961]

The merge network, Carbon and hundreds of other small sites , have just added double up SnG's with their last update. I've played a few of these, they are 10 seaters, and they are a fairly easy win. The best bit is they are the cheapest rake I have seen in DON games. The rake is only 8% instead of 10% to 20% on other sites. I know it doesn't sound much but with the low ROI you get on these games every little helps.

[witchywitchy]

Hope the SNG's pickup on Merge with the addition of the double ups. Gives more places to play them and they are such easy money

[andy334]

Hi nb,

Great post - and one I was almost certain to post myself in the coming weeks. Having struggled really badly with the tourneys recently I have turned more of my attention to the SnGs.

On the whole I have found the PS SnGs a lot easier than the tourneys. Why? - Not certain - perhaps I spend too much time watching others in tourneys rather then playing my game??? Not certain really but I do find SnGs a lot easier - probably because I can watch others play and gauge their reactions more.

What ever the reason - if you can hold a decent game together (even when getting the Jokerstars Shaft) then you could find SnGs a nice way of funding your bigger tourney games - I have.

If you like a quicker game as opposed to the 6 hours of boredom brought on by some of the SnGs then try the Turbo Pokerstars SnGs - these tend to move along a lot more quickly than usual which is a great help if you prefer a quick response game like myself.

[Whatsthepassword?]

I might give these a crack. Like Andy, I get really bored during the longer PokerStars tournaments and switch off after a while. The turbo option sounds just up my street.

[PLAYFUL1]

Yes I like the double-up sngs....Been doing quite well on them especially on pokerstars and cake butt tourneys on cake on the other hand is a very different story

[dipstick2]

hey nb i have played about 6 of these at carbon and won half of them .they are not to bad to play,but you have to have patience with them.gl to you and see you sunday pal

[Mortiscia]

i like that games too,
but seems that sometimes (often) some players play togethers...
reals players or bots from poker sites ?

[illphillllllll]

i play the double or nothing sngs regularly on the cake network. they are very easy to beat on a regular basis, if you can't finish top 5 out of 10 most of the time you should definetely be looking for leaks in your game. its a great way to build your bankroll up but your not going to get rich doing it.