Why Can't I Beat A Sng On Stars?

[qnshustler 0]

I've been doing fairly well playing sng's on Bodog for a couple of weeks now, but hate it because NOBODY plays there (lol) so you literally can wait 30 minutes or more sometimes for a stupid $5 or $10 st sng to start (anyone who's played them on bodog knows that I am NOT joking). So I put $40 on stars the other day to start grinding $5 sng's there since they start about every 10 seconds, and I swear to god I have lost just about all of it with the most frustrating luck one can imagine. I think I cashed 3rd in about 3 of them and the rest I'm lucky to be out on the bubble, with the $40 down to about $3 now, and thats even after i switched to $3 sng's after I hit the $20 mark. My strategy is no different than in the bodog sng's, very TAG early, carefully choosing spots, etc. but stars is handing me the worst possible beats in every single one. I've even confirmed it by going through the HH's in every tournament and I literally can't find one sng where I'm knocked out making a stupid bluff or retarded call or some other mistake...It's literally either I get it in really good and get smacked with a bad beat or I get it in with a good hand in a good spot and run into a sick cooler, EVERY TIME. Sorry for the bitch rant but I really am in disbelief of the way I've been losing these sng's. Is this a stars thing or what?!

[westhead12 0]

a 7-buy in downswing is nothing to be worried about. it happens, expect it to happen, it SHOULD and will happen every now and then. Just make sure your frustration is not causing you to change your play. Stars is not out to get you, my only suggestion would be to increase the size of your roll, maybe say only play $5 if you have over $100, so that the losses are recoverable and dont hurt as much. I play with over 50 buy ins so that the bad beats dont hurt or get you off your game

[jmbreslin 0]

Bankroll management. $40 is way too low to be playing $5 SnGs. Variance can be huge in STTs - just ask anyone who has gone 15 in a row without cashing - so you need a roll large enough to survive the variance. A good general rule is the buyin should never be more than 5% of your total roll. That means you need a roll of $100 to be playing $5 SnGs. With $40 you should be starting with the $1.20's and working your way up from there.

[Chet Chetterson 0]

a 7-buy in downswing is nothing to be worried about. it happens, expect it to happen, it SHOULD and will happen every now and then. Just make sure your frustration is not causing you to change your play. Stars is not out to get you, my only suggestion would be to increase the size of your roll, maybe say only play $5 if you have over $100, so that the losses are recoverable and dont hurt as much. I play with over 50 buy ins so that the bad beats dont hurt or get you off your game

This pretty much is correct. Once you get into the late game your variance is going to run high. I would definitely suggest going down to $1 or $3.40

[qnshustler 0]

I guess you're all right. I might be spoiled from the run I've had on bodog, where I've been cashing in sng's over 40% of the time for a few weeks. Starting with a bigger roll might help but I didn't think it would make much difference for me as I knew I can deposit more I just didn't feel like depositing that much and was overly-confident that it would be easy to grind with $40. Thankfully I can honestly say I don't let bad luck get me off my game. I might scream and punch the wall now and then after the 17th straight suckout, but when the cards are dealt I am VERY good at keeping my head cool and focused on playing the hand correctly. Thanks for the calming advice tho.. anyone good at spackling drywall?

[melaskins 0]

You can't let yourself be convinced that it is all donkey play at lower buy-ins. You might consider playing $1 45 person SNG's till you get your feet back under you. You also can't let yourself start trying to donkey play at the lower levels because you think you need to beat the donks at their own game.I play at UB and know what you mean about having to wait for a tourney. Not 30 minutes but always 5-10 minutes. I also play at FT and get on in a few minutes. I took money that I had made on UB and opened an account on FT. I left a little bit of money on UB and now I find my self being more interested in working my UB account back up than I do getting on a table quicker at FT.

[cdipierr 0]

I need to get back to playing SnGs on Stars as they are by far my most profitable thing (I like to dabble elsewhere though). The thing I'd point out is that just because your final hand is getting it in good doesn't mean that you're playing well. If for instance, you're constantly getting to 500 chips 6 handed and losing races, yes it sucks to lose the race, but you need to not get into that spot to start with.But yea, variance is killer.

[tbrick412 0]

I need to get back to playing SnGs on Stars as they are by far my most profitable thing (I like to dabble elsewhere though). The thing I'd point out is that just because your final hand is getting it in good doesn't mean that you're playing well. If for instance, you're constantly getting to 500 chips 6 handed and losing races, yes it sucks to lose the race, but you need to not get into that spot to start with.But yea, variance is killer.

This is correct. Also a 7buyin downswing is nothing there is some UGLY swongs in my sharkscope, and everytime i go through a downswing i question my play, and to some extent i think it affects my play. It sucks but its all part of grinding SNGs, so keep at it.

[Kid DynOmite 0]

also depends how many tables you play:9 tabling i'd have 12 bi downswings25 tabling i'd have 22bi downswingsyou wont see how good you really are until you've played about 1k sngs at least. Preferably 5k. Just keep track of any leaks you may have. For example (chips always short on the bubble? maybe you're too tight; constantly busting in 5th or 6th... maybe too loose... just dont take it too far and get pissed when sb v bb the bb wakes up with kk, qq, AA, Ak, AQ when you're 5 handed.)There's plenty of value in lower level sngs, but if you wanna beat anything $16 or above, I would recommend getting sng powertools and making sure you have no major leaks, because if you do then you wont win. There are a lotta regs making a living at the 16s and they're sick. no value in them unless you work super hard on your game.

[qnshustler 0]

also depends how many tables you play:9 tabling i'd have 12 bi downswings25 tabling i'd have 22bi downswingsyou wont see how good you really are until you've played about 1k sngs at least. Preferably 5k. Just keep track of any leaks you may have. For example (chips always short on the bubble? maybe you're too tight; constantly busting in 5th or 6th... maybe too loose... just dont take it too far and get pissed when sb v bb the bb wakes up with kk, qq, AA, Ak, AQ when you're 5 handed.)There's plenty of value in lower level sngs, but if you wanna beat anything $16 or above, I would recommend getting sng powertools and making sure you have no major leaks, because if you do then you wont win. There are a lotta regs making a living at the 16s and they're sick. no value in them unless you work super hard on your game.

Thanks I d/led powertools to check out the sample. All seems very complicated, lol. I mean I thought I understood EV concepts but not to the degree it gets broken down there. Looks like I have my work cut out for me.

[Yahkin 0]

The only advice I can give in regards to beating the $5 SNG's on FTP is to not sit down in one that I'm playing.