ITM Percentages

One of the things that I have been meaning to keep track of during the past couple weeks is the ITM% or the "In the money" percentage. Playing mostly $20 10-person SNG's, I have found that, not only do you have to have a ITM% above 30%, but you should be taking 1st or 2nd in at least half of those tournaments that you cash in in order to be a profitable player. This is somewhat ridiculous, but, in the past week, I have logged my ITM% for all my SNG's. The results are as follows:

• I have played in 54 10-person SNG's, almost exclusively $20+2 buy-ins.
• In these 54 SNG's, my ITM% is 43%
• I have finished 1st 16 times (30%)
• I have finished 2nd 7 times (13%)
• I have finished 3rd 10 times (19%)

In total, assuming that all of the SNG's were $20+2, my total profit would be $1,232! Needless to say, I am in a nice little groove right now. One thing that this data tells me is that my heads-up game is pretty good, as, when I get heads up, I take first more than twice as much as I finish second. I would, however, like to improve on not just being satisfied with finishing in the money but working hard on winning every SNG I play. Cashing is nice, but if you are finishing 3rd every time, you are only doubling your money and paying for the buy-in of the next tournament. Anyways, I would encourage any and all aspiring poker players to keep track of their ITM% to learn more about their progress as a tournament player.

My Poker History

When I turned 18 more than six months ago, I was ecstatic to be able to go to many of the local casinos, many of which ran daily tournaments. In fact, my birthday consisted of a tournament stop at Midway Casino, a tournament stop at Cascade Casino, and a late-night 4 hour 3/6 session back at Midway.

After curing my itch to play in the tournaments (with a very successful record) and finding live game to be somewhat boring and uneventful, I have come to the realization that I am going to have to build my bankroll playing online poker. This is where I feel I can make the most money consistently, and that is what I have focused on for the past 3 months. My poker buddy Nate transferred be $80 that he owed me to my Ultimate Bet account, and, since then, I am up nearly $2,000. With the exception of a 2nd place finish in a $3o Multi-Table Tournament, which profitted $700, I have stayed consistent in playing $20 10-person SNG's. My tournament game is as good as it has ever been, and my strategy has reaped very profittable outcomes.

I will get at some more specific aspects in later blogs, but I just wanted to give a background of myself and my short poker career thus far.

About Me

Hey everyone,

My name is Joel, and I am an 18-year old college student from Bellingham, Washington, which is about 100 miles North of Seattle.

About three years ago, I became interested in poker, especially No Limit Texas Hold 'em. As soon as I turned 18, I found out that I had developed a talent, and that I could make some money while doing something that I like. With the help of some of my close friends, I have taken my game to the next level. I currently am unemployed, and have earned close to $8,000 since September playing poker. I hope that this blog will be a chance for me to become a more open, successful player, and I hope that you all enjoy.