yea i like to spazz i actually smoke pot myself

nicely done OP. guys can we from now on just link this to any new thread about this topic.

GREAT post. I was just thinking this same thing myself: which is more valuable. For me, it's cash games. I find SNG's utterly boring, as I like the action of having cash in the pot on every hand I play. Plus, in larger SNG's, two hours of fine play can be squelched by one bad beat, and then you're out of the $$ with all that time wasted. Or, to play for two hours just to eek out double your buy in is not worth it. In cash games, you can make that same $$ in one hand. For me, hands down, cash games are the way to go.

EDIT: would love to see a quick poll of which everyone prefers.

I play both, but I agree that the cash game is much tougher and will make you a better player in the long run. SNG, although sometimes methodological is a stable bankroll builder though!

lol..so which is it SnG's or Cash...we need facts not opinions...

So it seems that most people, with decent experience in both, feel that Micro Stakes SNG's are, once you have picked up a general solid strategy and perfected it a bit, likely to build one's BR faster then cash games.

I'm in a spot where I would prefer to play cash games, but I'm only BR'd for 10NL and to be honest my experience probably dictates I shouldn't be playing much higher even if I was rolled for it. I do have some experience and success in SNG's and I actually do find I am usually more easily able to shake off a bad beat or cooler in a SNG then a cash game. As far as comfert I may also feel more so when in SNG's although I don't feel that uncomfertable at the cash tables.

I'd love for my game and my bank roll to improve and climb up together, at the same time, but maybe that's not entirely realistic. Although I have a lot of time for the game, it would be BETTER for me right now if I could make a certain amount of money in a certain amount of months.

If I am trying to build up a decent sized roll (vague I know, and not an objective concept,) within a somewhat tight period of time, and I do have some success in SNG's would people recommend, just for now, playing solely SNG's and then switching back to cash games once I have built up more of a roll and am feeling in a better spot financially?

I have been focusing exclusively on Cash for a little while ( about 2 months) but I could switch back to SNG's. I'm probably a bit rusty, but I should be able to make the shift from cash back to SNG thinking within a few games, I expect.

Maybe I need to give more info, but basically I'm saying if my primary concern at the moment is with building a roll up from the micro stakes, would people suggest focusing on SNG's to do that, and then switching back to cash later? Kind of like what the OP was talking about a page or two back.

In my opinion, it's a fact that opinions are better than facts.

The thing here is that to earn good money playing cash games, you gotta be playing nl100/50.
The power of sng is in the fact, it *prepares* you for MTT. Where the big cash is.

It's two different worlds really.
Cash games are more stable... like hustling every day.
MTTs are like shooting at the stars... once in a lifetime kind of thing.


If you prefer steady income and games with less nerves. Go cash game.
If you like making 'em crazy runs to take down that million $ first place prize, play MTT, and practise in sng.

I'll change my question a bit then. If, hypotheticly, you were trying to build your bankroll as much as you could over a 3-5 month period of time, and you were starting with a roll that requires you to play micro stakes, would you choose SNG or Cash Game. This is assuming an ability to play the basics of each well, and to be able to handle the variance in each with the same level of apathy.

In other words if you already had the basics down, and your goal was just to make money and not to improve your game, at least for a little while, would you chose cash games or SNG's.

And I really do mean what would you do (as a micro stakes player with the basics of SNG strategy down as well as decent understanding of the fundementals of cash game play)

sng and its not close

Alright, well that's pretty decisive.

Seems to be the common opinion aswell, but out of curiosity I'll ask...

Does anybody have an equally strong opinion in favor of cash games?

I agree with a lot of what I read, cash games will make you a good player, but for someone starting out I would suggest sitngo only because it has a minimal risk with a set buy in, if someones new to the poker scene and gambling u can lose ur money real quick playing a cash game if your not smart, atleast with sit n go you got a set buy in, and should gain the patience you need to grow as a poker player and as stated it will help a lot with ur mtt strategy.

Thank You

Also you can't tilt as easy

Lol it's not really opinion, because without trying to come across as arrogant I have built a roll from both sng and cash. But I can tell u that without a doubt if ur soul reason for playing is to build a small 2/3 figure roll into 4/5 figures then the easiest and quickest way to do it is from sng

Ok. Fair! I was just wondering if anybody had the opposite experience or would argue in favor of cash games.

It seems that they would not though, and that pretty much everybody with experience in both agrees with you. So maybe you right, maybe it isn't much of an opinion.

And I don't think you come across as arrogant, your just telling it like it is, nothing wrong with that.

So, in order, to make a solid profit at SNG's within a certain period of time, how many do you suggest playing at once? How many would you suggest playing in a day? If the answer is, as many as I can, what would you say the minimum is?

In particular I'm wondering if, to make a solid profit from only playing SNG's, one would have to play on Stars or FTP, just because a lot of the smaller sites don't have anywhere near the SNG selection that Stars and FTP have. And it seems like most of the smaller sites don't have enough SNG's to be playing 10+, or whatever, at once, unless playing on 3 or 4 of those sites all at once.

So does it pretty much have to be Stars or FTP if trying to grind out SNG's?

And what do people suggest as the most optimal micro stakes SNG's to play?

Turbos? 45 mans? 90 mans? 180 mans?

What's the goal here? To learn to play NL or build a bank roll? If you don't mind Re-depositing while learning... "Pay your tuition " I'd guess Cash Games would teach you quick. But if like me you want to learn as cheaply as possible and never make a re-deposit, then Sit&Gos are the answer. My Goal was to make a 1 time deposit and NOT LOOSE IT. I just scraped by. After the Play Money games I went to the .01/.02 cash games and got my butt handed to me. So off to the S&Gs where I got good at 9 and 6 Player Games got to a point where I was winning and my bank roll was "Stagnate"
Trying to grow it faster I went back to the micro's to once again get crushed, almost out of 1st money I went to the $1 DoN and won it back to Even then found out I can Win the 45 Player S&Gs pretty regularly now. My BR is Up over 1st Money I'm learning to MTT now and Cash is still a ways away for me. I don't like the Swings... or in my case the total elimination of my BR.
I told my self if I loose the 1st Money I'm never going to play again...... I'm still playing and learning and getting better.
Since this thread is aimed at Noobs..... Multi tabling with out a clue is a recipe for massive loss. If you can afford the cost of schooling go for it If BR Growth is your sole goal. If you don't want to go broke off the bat S&Gs offer some safety, while offering the opportunity of profit small as it may be.
Personality will dictate what route you take, less risk adverse will like Cash, those more conservative will like S&Gs.
You can't win if you don't know what your doing, so Multi Tabling questions are putting the cart before the horse. Learn to win in what ever form makes you comfortable then move around take a shot here and there at the cash games, I go bak to the DoNs and 45 man S&Gs to win back what I loose Learning at the Cash Tables.
I'm the Biggest Fish at Cash Tables but at S&Gs I'm starting to do very very well!
$1.20 PS 45 player S&G pays like $14 for 1st place...... it's not hard at all to beat those if I can Most people can..... but I have found the larger the field the harder it is to Make the Money. But when you do you make out mad.
So what I'm doing now is win at the S&G's in various formats and playing those winnings at the cash games... or "Giving it away" I should say.
I would like to get good at both..... but for now Small and Large S&Gs fit me very well.
Sin

Thanks

Great thread, Thanks for writing. Confirms my beliefs about a recent switch from STTs to uNL

I read that you should do SnG only at PokerStars or FTP. What about PartyPoker? They offer a lot of options too. Plus I think the most "noobs" play there too. Well actually I think the "worst" overall players are at PokerStars, since they make even more advertisements on tv.

Is half a buy in per hour really sustainable at higher limits?

this thread was written a year ago and games have definitally changed since then. depending how high you go, your winrate will steadily decrease, but up to nl100 i cant imagine why u cant make 50-100% of a buyin per hour if you are playing a decent number of tables and are a good winner.

Playing the weekly HUSNGs this really stood out for me

I am on a break right now, but when I come back I'll give SNG's a try. As much as I said to myself dont worry about the cash in cash games it does get to me psychologically, and this attributes to scared money/bad play.

Although this might be a grass is greener phase I'm gonna give it a shot. One question, how does rakeback work on SNGS?

any significant changes to the original content of this post since it was written?

I read this a bit over a month ago and tried my hand 4 tabling SNGs and quickly found that they bore the S out of me. Additionally, I don't know that I'm a huge fan of being required to sit in my seat for X amount of time while I grind out a game. A factor of cash that appeals to me is I can quickly launch 9 tables and grind out 45-60 minute sessions if that's all my schedule allows for at the time; just having a hard time coming up with 3-4 hour blocks of time (where as I'll still put in 3-4 45-70 minute sessions in a day if I can).

I don't think that any significant changes or advice will steer me towards SNGs due mainly to the fact that I really can't stand playing them. Given the fact that I want to be a high stakes cash player it seems to make more sense to keep grinding cash, even if it's starting at the 2NL-5NL stakes.

Anyone interested in trying to talk me out of microcash towards microSNGs? I'm more than willing to discuss it