I Won A Step 4 Ticket on Poker Stars

It has been a rough couple of weeks in poker. I went on a bad run and my bankroll is down to $275. That is a big loss of 50%. I just couldn't win. I did play about 12 $22 Buy In SNG's - losing all of them. I also lost most of the $11 SNG's I played.

So I took a week off.

Still losing - but this time around I didn't play any of my normal SNG. I played satellites to the Sunday Million and some big field tournaments. Mostly I broke even.

I did manage to convert my FPP's into a Step 4 tournment ticket. I had about 2000 FPP's and flip flopped back and fourth until I finally won a step 3 tournament - on my last 500 FPP's.

All weekend I tried to play the cash satellites to the Sunday Million. My plan wasn't to actually play the Sunday Million - but to trade the ticket in for cash. My bankroll needs a stimulus shot.

But in the end, I got my Sunday Million ticket but cannot cash it in. The step 4 ticket can not be traded in for cash or Tournament dollars. It is only good for playing a step 4 tournament or any $215 level tournament.

So - looks like I will be playing the Sunday Million soon!

I must say the Step tournaments is a very easy way to convert FPP's into $215 buy in tickets. I was able to do it with 2000 FPP's - which equals 4 tries.

There are other tournaments besides the Sunday Million I can play. I may look into that as the Sunday Million is sort of a crap shoot. But, assuming I can start winning again in my SNG grind - I will be able to play the Sunday Million at least once a month - perhaps more.

I did play 3 or 4 Sunday Million satellites that I came close to winning. The $8.80 double shootout turbo - 6 max. If you make it to the final table - top 5 places is ITM. Only the 6th place on the final table gets nothing.

I made it ITM at least twice. Both times I made it to 4th or better and made $20. I think once I made it to heads up (same pay - $20). I almost won that one - but lost to a coin flip - which is common with heads up matches where the blinds are so high.

I think I started the weekend out with $297 and ended up at a loss with $275. But I did play a lot of poker - so overall I am okay with that. Plus though I lost about $25 I also won a $215 step 4 tournament ticket. So really I am ahead all considered.

I want to get back to my SNG grind this week. I did not make Silver VIP at poker stars due to taking time off. Preserving my bankroll is more important than making Silver VIP.

But now I must decide whether to play the $11 SNG or step down to the $5.50 SNG. At $11 I have about 25 Buy-Ins. 25 Buy-Ins is the recommended bankroll for SnG's. But I have experienced losing streaks of 21/24 tournaments. Lose 7 win 1. Repeat. Repeat. Bam - not hard to be down almost 20 Buy-Ins. I can do that and still have a small positive ROI. Of course that positive ROI is based on not having that Lose 7 Win 1 pattern over a hundred tournaments.

The first 100 tournaments I played I had 7 in the row losses 2-3 times. I had a couple 7 in the row wins too - which balanced it out.

Lately though - it has been loss after loss with a win in between just to mix it up. I still have not lost more than 7 tournaments in a row.....yet.

So with $5.50 I will have 50 Buy-Ins. That seems to be a much preferred bankroll for my luck lately.

So I will probably step down to the $5.50 SnG until my luck changes.