Are single table SnG's a lottery

[Manchester20]

Are single table SnG's a lottery when you have 1500 chips to start & 8 or 10 min blinds?

[Ironside]

nope

blind structure could have a big effect on these events

obviously the worse the structure the more varence there is in the events

but some people make a living playing these comps

[thetank]

Some do ok at the ones with only 5 minute levels too.

Swings may be big, edge per tournament may be small, but a lottery they ain't.

[Dale]

NO SKILL IN ALL IN !!!!!!!!!

[TightPaulFolds]

Not really, no. Some other factors affect it: the buy-in, and the table size. $100 buy in can be more of a lottery than $20, because you are playing against much much better players, you'll be lucky to find many fish, which means that the field won't be thinning out within 30 mins, because:
A: people have committed more cash and are scared to lose it
B: better players are not calling all in with A7o, so it is normal at $100 to find after 45 mins still 75 percent of the field present. A lot of the time within 45 mins you have an average stack, with quite big blinds, and this quickly makes the game a lottery.

In a 6 seater you obviously play a lot more hands than a 10 seater and have to get rid of less people to hit the money, so is much less of a lottery than 10 seater.

I moved to Virgin for a while, their sit n go structure is just a joke, 5 mins or something. Works great for virgin, works well for fish (they suffer less in a lottery), but they can stuff it. Party poker quite bad structure also, poker room were ok, I've gone back to the site I started on and it's just sweeeet, if you can sit on your hands for a while. 6 handed yesterday, I checked my emails then went back to play a hand to find myself heads up and in the money.

[TheChipPrince]

Which site would you recommend for STT's then Paul??

[TightPaulFolds]

blondepoker is good. If I lose my money there, you'll probably find me way up a really tall mountain...

[boldie]

don't forget stars. The stars 9 table STT's non turbo's are lovely..can take a long time though

[Ironside]

don't forget stars. The stars 9 table STT's non turbo's are lovely..can take a long time though

turbos are very playable

[Acidmouse]

I find the 10 seaters a bit of a crapshoot.

I stick to the 6 seaters, but this means you have to win a good % of them. Not too difficult at the stakes i play at.

[boldie]

don't forget stars. The stars 9 table STT's non turbo's are lovely..can take a long time though

turbos are very playable

yeah they are but a bit more erm..variance I believe is the popular phrase

[bhoywonder]

don't forget stars. The stars 9 table STT's non turbo's are lovely..can take a long time though

totally agree

best on the net if u have the time,and surprisingly good players a majority of the time

they can actually fold,now n again surprisingly

[Longy]

Sng's are not a lottery at all, the edges are often quite small but long term (2000+ sng's) the better players win and the bad players lose. As for structure as said before stars non turbos are very well structured as are ultimate bets. Yet even the party speeds take about 30 mins start to finish are playable and there are quite a few making a living playing them.

[TightPaulFolds]

Where I'm playing I can attribute 95 % of non-cash finishes to my own error, 85 % of non-firsts to my own error. The number one, supreme, overriding error, is getting involved when you don't have to. The player attrition rate is huge in sub-$50 games. Once you have doubled up in the first 45 mins you need to take active steps not to cash, yet often you see these stacks bleeding away or crashing out. Do **** all.

[ZZZZZZZROPE]

i disagree with the dtd sng's being recomended, 4 left everyone usually has under 10xx bb infact is prob more like <9xbb