Concerns about moving from Bodog to Full Tilt

hi guys...this is my first post although i've been lurking around on the forums for quite some time now.

before i made my first deposit, i read pretty much every sticky on FTR, read HoH1&2, and signed up with real poker training with nsxt2.

my first deposit was $20 into bodog. for the last3 weeks or so i've played 8 or so hours a day (gah...its kinda sad now i look back on it) grinding my way in the $2 SnGs, $4 SnGs, and now the $5 SnGs. my ultimate goal is to master the single table SnGs so i can use them to fund MTTs....want to someday win one of the big tournaments.

first week i played almost $2 SnGs exclusively. my bankroll went up and down at first but ended at around $25 by the end of the first week. i win, and then lose, then win, and then lose. Mid-second week.....everything that i had been reading FINALLY HIT ME. it was almost like a lightbulb on top of my head.....i was enlightened.

as dumb as it sounds this was what i realized while reading a post made by aokrongly. you play according to the blinds.. I KNOW, such a simple concept i just didn't understand how important it was.

my general strat for single table SnGs now is the following now:
while the blinds are low, i play extremely tight. when i have a hand, i bet aggressively and try to extract chips out of people. during the beginning of the tournaments before level 4, i don't show the table any of my hands...and i usually will try to take down the pot before the river. my goal is to hit around 2500 chips by the time half the table is knocked out.

when the blinds start to hit around 50/100 i will start to show my winning hands trying to burn into the table's mind the image that i'm a tight-passive player who will only play if he has a hand. most of the pots that i go into here, i play extremely aggressive and try to take it down before the river...if they still play back at me even after the turn, i know they probably have a hand and will usually fold. when the blinds hit 100/200, i start stealing when i'm MP against weak-tight players and people who are afraid to bubble.

the bubble is where i make a majority of my chips. i use my previous tight image to confuse alot of the shorter stacks. the blinds are higher, people are scared of not making the money...and they become easy to read. i'll usually move from a 2500 stack to just below the big stack (usually a donkey) at around 3500-4000 chips. by this time we're usually down to 4 players. also, i tend to steal more when the blinds first go up to a new level...and tighten down again after about halfway into the blind level. this way when the blinds go up to the next level, i can use my tightened image to steal bigger pots.

with 4 left (1 will bubble) i continue to hammer away at the low stacks and any big stacks/similar size stacks if they're weak. during this time, i will usually begin small talk with the big stack at the table or if i'm the big stack...the person who is the biggest threat to me. i will go a few rounds not stealing from that person and show them my hands if i raise against them. by the time the bubble ends two things are usually happen...1) i'm a huge stack and the other two are so low that they're about to get blinded off 2) i'm 2nd or 3rd in chips with a big stack at my table. if its #2, i will tighten up for a few rounds to see if the short 3rd in chips guy will go maniac. if he doesn't, i take his chips. then we go heads up etc etc....rambling already....you know the rest

so....long story short. the 2nd week i began beating the $2 SnGs consistently and moved to the $4 SnGs. i played $4 SnGs the last few days during the 2nd week and beat them consistently as well.

i don't have any of the tracking programs so i don't know what my ROI is...however this is what i mean by consistently: i make it ITM 4 out of 6 SnGs. when i make it ITM, i win 1st roughly 4 out of 5 times.

so this thursday i made the plunge into $5 SnGs. this will be the end of the 3rd week since i made my first deposit. similar to the $2/4 SnGs, i still win consistently in the $5 SnGs. last night my bankroll stood at $300. i had an amazing day yesterday and came in 1st on four $5 SnGs in a row. before the $5 Sngs, first place had always only payed out $6 on the $2 SnGs and $12 on the $4 SnGs...so it was nice to see my bankroll spike up from the $25 on $5 SnGs.

because of my good day, i decided to use some of the bodog poker points that i had saved up and enter a 100pt tournament builder MTT. tourney had about 350ish people enter. top 20 gets the $25 tournament money. i ended at 35th and didn't win. however, i enjoyed every second of it. i feel i got alot of experience out of the tournament and for the first time since i started playing....felt that there may be a glimmer of hope that i could one day one of these big tournaments.

so...about an hour after that tournament and after review some hand histories to see what went wrong...i entered a $2 MTT. there were a total of 167 that entered the tournament. long story short, i ended up 3rd place and cashed $40. i could have easily made 2nd and gotten $60...however the blinds were getting high and i was trying to win 1st ($100) and not 2nd. thats a whole story in itself so i wont get into that.

so....today i'm sitting on $350. i am REALLY sorry this post got so drawn out...but i guess i've been really suppressed by never posting anything.

my goal as changed...i want to give full tilt a try for 2 reasons...1) $600 sign-up bonus looks awesome 2) they have more tournaments than bodog and bigger tournaments. i'm going to stay on bodog until i hit $600...but i will probably cash out then and move to full tilt.

however, i spent some time looking at the full tilt tournament structure earlier and i'm a little worried. bodog's blinds start at 10/20 and move up in levels every 10 minutes. full tilt blinds start at 15/30 and move up every 5 minutes. enough though both sites start you with the same amount of chips, how will this affect my gameplay. it almost seem like the full tilt tournaments are all turbos

woooooo....sorry for the long winded post, lol

Good first post - welcome to FTR. It sounds like you've really done your homework, and your strategy is largely solid.

One thing that did stand out, though:

i tend to steal more when the blinds first go up to a new level...and tighten down again after about halfway into the blind level. this way when the blinds go up to the next level, i can use my tightened image to steal bigger pots.

You play what, 10-15 hands per level? So if you play loose then tight within the same level, there aren't nearly enough hands taking place for this to be effective/realistic. But most importantly - at the $5 level almost no-one will notice your "image" - so don't assume that when they play back they are responding to your image.

Occasionally, you'll suckout in a massive pot, or push 5 times in a row - then people might sit up and form an impression (which will then stick, whether you change style or not). Otherwise, image just doesn't matter at this level unless you have unusually aware opponents or circumstances determine an extreme pattern of play.

thanks for the encouragement and advice biondino!

i haven't been counting the number of hands i play per level...but generally i see about 17% before level 4...and by the end of the tournament i usually see an overall of 34%.

I dont know bodogs blind structure, but full tilts normal speeds go up every 6 minutes, but have more blind levels. Thers goes:
15/30
20/40
30/60
40/80
50/100
60/120

Wheres like PS goes like this every 10 minutes.
10/20
15/30
25/50
50/100
75/150

Its pretty close to evening out. Ive been playing FTs turbos tho which go up every 3 minutes.

DON'T GO ON FULL TILT

You will NEVER cash that bonus by playing low level SNGs. You will be unlikely to cash $40 of it before it expires. Remember most bonuses (unlike bodogs i believe) have to be cleared by earning points for paying rake and tournament fees. If you really want to play SNGs then go to stars.

1.) They have more sngs and lots of small buyin Mtts for you to practise on.

2.) They have a nice bonus which is totally clearable via SNGs.

i looked at it again gingerwizard...and you may have a good point there. as stupid as it sounds...i don't know how to deposit onto stars. that was the main reason why i began playing on bodog because they accepted my checking card. how are you guys placing the deposit?