International
I started this challenge on Thursday, August 7th. Please click here for details on the Bodog Poker's SNG $5k Challenge.Before I get into the numbers, I’ll discuss my approach during the middle stages of SNG play with 5-8 players left.
Up to this point in the tournament, I’ve been playing pretty straight forward and observing other players. My table image is TAG (tight aggressive). By the time we’re down to 5-8 players, I should have a pretty good idea who’s playing tight and who’s playing a wider range of hands. That information is valuable going forward.
I try to exploit weak/tight players and only play primo hands vs. calling stations and LAG’s (loose aggressive) - picking up chips when the blinds get to 75/150+ is imperative.
My starting hand range opens up as the action folds around to me. But, I keep in mind who is left to act and I’m careful not to raise enough chips to get me committed pre-flop without a hand I’m willing to get all-in with. If I’m short-stacked (10 big blinds or less) I just open shove any hand I’m would normally make a standard raise with. I will also open push any two cards (ATC) depending on my stack size if there are only a few players left to act and who won’t call without a premium hand. I’ll get more into playing the bubble and short-handed play in upcoming reports.
Now, on to the numbers after two weeks.
I’ve played a total of 153 SNGs thru 14 days averaging 14.4 SNGs a day over the last two weeks. But, I’ve only played 9 SNGs total over the last two weekends. This is really cutting into my profit. It’s probably the best time to play but, I chose to spend time away from the virtual felt (i.e. SNG hell).
This will have to change.
I played more $35’s this week, 46 compared to 24 the previous week whereas I played less $17’s, 38 compared to 45. This helped my net profit. My ROI% is 24.1 in the $35’s and a pathetic 9% in the $17’s for an average ROI% of 18.4% overall.
My SNG total profits are $721 after two weeks. $590 of that came from playing the $35’s.
SNG Challenge Summary after Day 14:
# Tourneys / 153
Total Entries / $3,910.80
Total Prizes / $4,632.00
Total SNG Profits / $721.20
ROI / 18.4%
ITM / 62.1%
Hourly Rate / $7.01
Avg. Finish / 4.80
A few things need to happen for me to improve on these numbers. I need to bump my ITM% higher. It’s currently at 62.1% which isn’t bad but, I don’t think it should be lower than 70%. I need to turn more of my 4-5th place finishes into top 3 finishes and turn more 2-3rd place finishes into 1st place finishes. I have more 3rd place finishes than any other. While that’s definitely better than having more 5-6th place finishes, it needs to improve.
Lastly, the single biggest thing slowing me down is the availability of $35’s. Currently, Bodog has only one $35 Beginner SNG open for registration at a time. I have to wait until that first one is full to register for another and each one takes about 15-20 minutes to fill during peak playing hours, sometimes longer. That’s really the only reason I still play the $17’s. They fill up faster and there are two open and available for registration at a time.
I submitted a request to Bodog to allow more than one $35 to be available for registration but, they turned me down. Bodog has made $343 in rake just from my buy-ins during this challenge. That could easily double or even triple if more $35’s were available for registration.
I still have six weeks to go and just need to focus on finishing higher and playing as many as possible.
Wish me luck.
Time to get ready for the WSOP
There are a lot of ways to get to the WSOP without refinancing your house - but then with the economy today, who could take cash out on a refi? Better to plan taking cash out when you win a WSOP package. Start with these great opportunities: 
German
French
Spanish
Italian
Hungarian
Croatian
Dutch
Brazilian
Romanian