Question for you all,

Do you think that certain times of day are more profitable at the SNG (or any other format) Poker tables?

This comes up regularly as a topic around the web - would be great to hear some opinions from members here!

Cheers, Mark

What a fantastic question! I think a lot of it depends on where the online players are from -- is there an analysis of online player populations broken down by time zones?

I think about 3pm Eastern time(GMT-5) to 11pm Eastern is pretty solid because you get a solid crossover from multiple time zones for example, 5pm Eastern Time is:

• 6 pm in Most parts of South America
• 9 PM in the UK
• 10pm in most parts of Europe
• Noon on the West Coast in the US

I'd be interested in other opinions, but I think that is probably the busiest time period of the day, with the most selection of games. Sometimes the really late(early morning games can be especially good because bad players are trying to get even or don't want to quit)

Jason

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I'm Not Lucky, I Have Good Karma !

Many factors play into this one for me.... including:

- Avoiding those times when the 'SNG Grinders' ('pros' playing 12+ tables) are around, they win over time so your expectation is lower with 3+ pros

- Europeans (myself included!): Remember that the state of the world economies means that the $10 SNGs are effectively $5 for a UK player and $7 for a Euro-zone player compared with a couple of years ago... basically the utility of the money means that a beginner from the US might start at the $5's while the exact same skilled / bankrolled EU player would start at the $10's.... long winded way of asking the question of whether it is +ev to play at EU peak times rather than US??

- A 3rd factor specific to SNG Bubble situations... is it better to play against opponents who are more predictable (after all a 'bad call' at the bubble effectively spews your $equity to those not in the hand!) ??

Cheers, Mark

PS: Like the Magritte avatar Morpheus - one of my favourite artists!

That is a interesting topic, I never thought how the time of the day I played could have a reflection in my winnings.

If anybody uses the Tourney Manager program to track their SNG results it has a handy filter which does break down results by the hour, 3 hour periods and 6 hour periods. That being said, although I play at various times in the day, I haven't really seen a reliable pattern, although my sample size is probably way too small.

FWIW Since December 2006 the months where I have played over 400 SNGs have looked like this:

Dec 2006
00:00-05:59 : played 161, ROI 12.1
06:00-11:59 : played 116, ROI 11.6
12:00-17:59 : played 65, ROI 10.1
18:00-23:59 : played 215, ROI 5.7

Jan 2007
00:00-05:59 : played 183, ROI 13.4
06:00-11:59 : played 98, ROI 16.6
12:00-17:59 : played 73, ROI -31.8
18:00-23:59 : played 57, ROI -3.8

May 2007
00:00-05:59 : played 136, ROI -17.5
06:00-11:59 : played 66, ROI 12.0
12:00-17:59 : played 142, ROI -12.3
18:00-23:59 : played 171, ROI 9.5

Nov 2007
00:00-05:59 : played 261, ROI 10.8
06:00-11:59 : played 31, ROI 72.1
12:00-17:59 : played 60, ROI 13.2
18:00-23:59 : played 149, ROI -10.8

March 2008
00:00-05:59 : played 116, ROI 5.4
06:00-11:59 : played 25, ROI 7
12:00-17:59 : played 123, ROI 30.0
18:00-23:59 : played 252, ROI 21.1

So as you can see its pretty much a mix and obviously doesn't take into account other factors such as changes in stakes (eg last month was basically spent playing 6.50s, Jan 2007 was in the 16s after the US "ban" kicked in) or how much I was multi-tabling.

I guess for a real sample you would probably need 1k+ games at each time of day, same stake, same no. of tables, for a solid 6-12 months.

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Still Trying to Learn the Science & Discover the Art

Excellent Stats! And only the mornings positive all the way through... sure, these are too small to get concrete conclusions from - in fact if anything the real point they demonstrate is that the variance in SNG play is huge even for a long-term winning player....

Cheers for sharing!

Mark

I run good against Aussies

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Still Trying to Learn the Science & Discover the Art

I think the best time to play sit n gos is any time in the late evening. There is alot of bad players that are playing drunk and are getting tired from their day job and are falling asleep at their computer. It is the only time I play sit n gos. I have found out the competition is not as strong like during the day when most people that make a living at it is when they play. The competition is much weaker at night.

I have Tournye Manager and have the same situation that Blue Fool ( with a bigger sample size) .There is no pattern at all , although I play regulars stts and they only fill up about 7 hours at day ( prime time european) .

Having said that , I think the only thing u have to do is adapt to regulars at the table or ocassional player .
Better time ( more traffic) , better players ( more regs) , more understanding of bubble and early play .
Away from this time table , more loose players , less multitablers , more players calling with KJo in bubble .