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Party Mini Steps - Strategy Help

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  1. jaceyn jaceyn is offline

    Fayetteville, GA
    United States

    Posts: 91
    Joined: May 06

    Aug 10th, 2006 (8/10/2006 3:52pm)

    Posted in one of the party Steps threads a couple days ago and appreciated all the feedback.

    I played in a $6 ministep today, was wondering if anyone had any strategy to share. I took second place, as soon as the sixth place player went out, chips started flying like it was a satellite and we all won seats. 2-5 get to replay step 1 which is fine, but I wanted to win. Unfortunately I had no hands, and when I got headsup I had about 3400 or so. Lost some blinds, doubled up, but he drew out on me and I lost.

    Basically I wanted to ask if this is common on the steps, and does anyone have strategy advice to share. Should I maybe buy in at mini step 2, since I don't have to win, just finish top 2? Seems like I could waste some time at step 1 trying to win when I could buy in for $27 (I think) more and have a better shot at advancing?

    Thoughts? Thanks in advance.
  2. TheMayor TheMayor is offline

    Boston, MA
    United States

    Posts: 4,699
    Joined: Jul 06

    Aug 10th, 2006 (8/10/2006 3:57pm) in reply to jaceyn

    I bought into step 2 because Step 1 seemed too easy to bust out of, and seemed like it would take way longer to move up. Step 2 offers two seats to step 3, and three back into step 2, if i remember correctly. It's simple to stay at step 2 and try a few times without busting out 8th or lower, until you move up. Step 3 and 4 are much of the same...5th or better is garunteed to at least not move down. I have only joined the steps once, but made it from 2 to 5 on the first try and never even moved down a step, just played step two twice and step four twice i think.

    The strategy i used was just to approach every step increase as it's own seperate bubble basically. So if it was 1-2 move up, 3-5 stay the same, 6-7 move down one...I would be careful not to bust out in 8th so i was garunteed to at least move down 1 at worst, then from there be careful not to bust 6th, etc...It's not really strategy but it helps you be careful not to wind up all in with TPTK when you are in 6th, or something like that.

    All in all the play is pretty bad at steps 2-4, and at step five the table is just *ROCKS* who fold everything until there are 9 players left at 300/600 blinds and it becomes a luckbox somewhat. Even still, for a 22$ investment i'd say an above average SNG player can make it to step five probably 1/2 the time or so, at least. So even a crapshoot for a 2k first place is worth that. I think if a good SNG player were to do nothing but buy in at step 2 in the mini's, their ROI would probably be through the rough... Only problem is that it takes a long time for the higher steps to fill, so that is a problem for multitabling and what not.
  3. therawls therawls is offline

    Dallas, TX
    United States

    Posts: 2
    Joined: Aug 06

    Aug 10th, 2006 (8/10/2006 4:14pm) in reply to TheMayor

    Sorry, but could I get a quick rundown on how the steps work? What is the highest step? When do you get paid and how much? Pros/Cons? would really appreciate any help with this
  4. TheMayor TheMayor is offline

    Boston, MA
    United States

    Posts: 4,699
    Joined: Jul 06

    Aug 10th, 2006 (8/10/2006 4:18pm) in reply to therawls

    You can read about them on partypoker.com but basically they are like SNG sattelites. They go from step 1 to step 5, and you can buy in at any level. In each level, instead of prize money you win either a freeroll into a step up, a freeroll into a step down, you stay the same, or you bust out of the steps all together.

    The payouts all come at step 5, the final step. I don't know about the other higher steps, but in the mini steps at step 5, the payouts are something like 2,000$ for first 1,000$ for second 500$ for third 300$ for fourth and 200$ for fifth.

    These steps are kinda like low variance SNGs, but a lot of people criticize them for being rake traps. You don't pay the rake out of your pocket, but more and more rake comes out of the prize pool in each level of the steps. PP makes a killing on them, but so can a short-bankrolled SNG player.

    I think if i had to do it all over again, I would probably deposit 100$ on party and buy into the step 2 mini-step four times.
  5. McStraddle McStraddle is offline

    Las Vegas, NV
    United States

    Posts: 929
    Joined: Feb 06

    Aug 10th, 2006 (8/10/2006 4:22pm) in reply to TheMayor

    I think i could help you out a bit. I used to played the steps(mini) about a year ago constantly and I used that as a main source money flow from poker and did pretty well for myself.

    - If you have a starting bankroll that will allow you to buy into at least step two i would go ahead and do that. When i first started out i would just play as many step twos as i could until i exhausted myself in that area then i went on and played step three's and so one until i had enough step 5s to play and win some money.

    -as for strategy , im not sure what you feel comfortable with but the first level dont fool around and then once blinds are say enough to play for get aggressive since people seem to wait for the reloop.

    -step 5 , aggression is key as this will win you the most money, sure u might bust out of a few but u will win many more this way.

    - Last word of advice , the steps suck big time, they are very boring until step 5. If you are strapped for cash i guess these are a decent way to slowly start your way up. But i really dont recommend the steps for anything else. After playing party poker for a about two years i found poker stars and fell in love with there tournament structure, although cash games i would still stick to party poker since money is very abundant there

    McStraddle
  6. jaceyn jaceyn is offline

    Fayetteville, GA
    United States

    Posts: 91
    Joined: May 06

    Aug 10th, 2006 (8/10/2006 4:29pm) in reply to McStraddle

    Thanks for the replies. I've done very well on the $11s, that's what I strictly play on party. I don't do as well in MTTs, which is why I'm so interested in the steps.

    I do play very tight early, very aggressive late, and I have had some nice strings of cashes.

    It was probably a mistake to buy into the mini step 1, but lets see if I can make that investment pay off. Next time I'll just go straight into the mini step 2.

    Do they still do steps for the WSOP/WPT seats at all? They used to didnt they, or am I thinking of something else?
    Thread Starter
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