I will keep the first post simple, but am happy to give more information.

So I am a winning 9 man player trying to make the transition to 18 mans.
I have only a small sample size so far (75 games)
But would like to discuss a number of things that I am noticing/wondering in order to potentially fix some leaks.

Q1: Am I right in assuming that the "final table" of an 18 man is the same as a 9 man?, (the only adjustments being payout structure and potentially blind level).

Q2: I know this instantly sounds dumb, but calling correctly (mathematically) is always right? (or are there situations where this changes - especially now in a longer game - the 18 mans)

Q3: Does anyone think that microstake players will notice timing tells all that much? (I feel like because a great many of my decisions are robotic, especially when multi-tabling that because I insta-shove when it is correct {mathematically} people give me less credit in spots and thus are calling wider...) - could be paranoia...

I am new to 18 mans so I picked the lowest stake to start,
Q4A: Should I expect higher varience for this reason? (should I get even more volume than usual in?)
Q4B: The stake I am playing is the $1.50+$0.25 T 18 mans on stars. This is very high rake, over the 75 games I lost $0.07 per game on average. Would a higher stake with less rake change this fact? I normally find that when moving up ROI decreases by ~10% to start with...(personal experience)

Q5: I notice that for the majority of this structure the antes are <10%BB should I adjust my ICM calculations? Or is this edge too tiny? (can an edge be too tiny?) - I may have just answered that myself.

Thank you all in advance for your time.

The majority of the players in those $1.75 18-mans will have no clue what ICM is. You'll notice ALOT of them calling down shoves REALLY light... and ALOT of players flatting for 1/4-1/3 of their stacks... in other words.. really bad play (obv).
Not many super micro regs. on those tables (pretty sure you'll find that 90-95% of them are losing players).

Q1: I'm not sure what you are really asking here.
Q2: Calling mathematically is the way to go (ICM) but you will sometimes want to call wider due to certain situations. You might call wider than ICM to get a chiplead or to regain fold equity, both of which ICM underestimates the value of.
Q3: Most microstakes players have no idea what timing tells are. Nevertheless, use every tool to your advantage if possible.
Q4A: You won't have higher variance playing lower stake games. The variance will be quite similar to the higher stakes.
Q4B: Avoid any game with more than a 10% rake like it's the fucking plague. Unfortunately on pokerstars the smallest 18-man game available with a reasonable rake is $6+.50.
Q5: ICM will take antes into account. Anyway you should indeed shove the widest at 100-200/25, both because it's the highest ante, and because 200-400 is coming which will halve everyone's stack. If you have less than 12BB at 100-200/25, you need to be keenly aware of this and consider shoving slightly more than normal, and normal is quite wide.

Also: Abuse the final table bubble. 10-12 left in an 18-man is party time and you can often shove quite wide.

Have fun out there! Hope that helps!

Q1: The effective shoving ranges do change at times because there's an qual distribution of prizes (40/30/20/10 as opposed to 50/30/20). In a 9-man SNG, 2nd really sucks, whereas in a 18-man, each place is worth the same. Therefore with 4 left in an 18-man, the bubble is still in effect, whereas with 3 left in a 9-man, playing with your eyes on a win only is usually the way to go.

Regarding your A7s/KTo hypotheticals, each situation is different depending on the stacks, and I recommend using this tool for your hypotheticals:
Nash ICM Push/Fold Calculator

Use structure 4,3,2,1 for the 18-mans, and the default structure (5,3,2) for 9-mans, enter the stacks in, and you'll get your answer.

Hope that's helpful!

hello; i remember playing with u on stars; u seemed pretty decent to me;
i wanted to tell u i ve played quite a lot of 18 man and did pretty well; and there s no big difference between 6 and 16 i think u should try to mix em both; and also at nite it gets harder as almost anything else; or maybe it s just my opinion that in the evenings the games arent that soft as during daytime; anyway just use sharkscope ,make note of the regulars; a few of them are pretty decent; u ll do fine
i also wanted to ask u something
u re saying u re using icm for your shoving ranges etc.. as far as i know stars doesnt allow any porgram that suggests players an action(like shove or fold) in real time; is that correct ? so then what are u doing exactly>? as u dont have time to input in the icm nash calculator while u re playing; do u just have some kind of tables u worked on yourself that suggest u the range for a position and a stacksize ?

i think u re making a mistake if u play under 6; u re above that level; just play the 6$ if u re afraid of 16 for a while and when your roll gets bigger u can mix both stakes; and yeah , evenings- gmt time are harder; i also use tournament selector feature of sharkscope to find soft games- the only sngs of 38 and 25 i ve played(18 man) ; and indeed they were pretty soft; i didnt use sharkscope for 16 and 6 tough; but i m a high volume player with a safe bankroll for 16 $ 18 man ; if u play less tables u can use shakrscope for 16 and 6 also; but really, there s nothing to be afraid of; i recommend u to try the 11$ 18 man on tilt also; i havent played much of those but the small sample i played i won pretty huge for 11 $ buy in; those guys are bad; i dont know from 40 games i made the final table in.. 35 or something; i found those really softer than 6 on stars even; u should give em a shot; gl mate

 

Originally Posted by cantshaikme

Stay away from the 18 mans too many sharks these days. You'll be busto

care to elaborate? Which stakes/sites are you referring to?

 

Originally Posted by luckierno7

i think u re making a mistake if u play under 6; u re above that level;

i recommend u to try the 11$ 18 man on tilt also;

gl mate

I think so too as far as rake is concerned at the least, I have a bankroll for wither the $6 or $16 though I would likely prefer the $6 and get a higher volume in. I make most of my money through rakeback anyway.

I can't play on FT.

Thanks for the Good luck. Really I just need overpairs to hold haha.