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.