This is Part 2 of the Chip Management three part series.
Let's start with a scenario. Assume you are currently comfortable playing 25k tournaments. You enter a 25k tournament and win. You receive 112,500 chips. That's a 350% ROI. Good investment.
Now, what do you do with your winnings? 112,500 - 25,000 = 87,500. Subtract the 'host fee' of 1,000 and you now know that you made 86,500 pure profit. You need to maximize these chips so that your total keeps growing. The best way to do this is to understand what games you are best at. Are you a tournament player?
What is your Tournament Skill Level? Or do you primarily play table games and take your opponents chips that way.
If you are a relatively skilled tournament player, you can try a formula similar to these:
Play two 25k and one 5k tournament (aiming to place at least 2nd in one 25k, and place in the 5k).
Play 50,000 of your winnings in five 10k tournaments.
Play 50,000 of your winnings in two 10k tournaments, and one 25k tournament.
Play 50,000 of your winnings in one 25k, one 10k, and three 5k tournaments.
You get the point. Make use of 50k - 55k to make more chips, while still keeping the rest (31k - 36k) in your account. If you are as good as you think, your total will keep rising.
The Cheaper the Tournament, the Less Experienced the Competition
This is generally true. However, don't underestimate players with less chips than you. They may have had more chips previously and lost them, they may be playing on a new account, or they may just get lucky.
If you are in a losing streak, use a cheaper tournament as a confidence booster. Work yourself to the final 3, and the pressure will ease dramatically.
The More Expensive the Tournament, the Tougher the Competition
Some players go into a tournament that costs them half of their chips. Don't be like them. Try to stay below 10% of the value of your total chip count. Even less than this percentage is better. Look at it like this; if you don't place in ten tournaments, all of your chips will be depleted.
Remember that you are probably less likely to place in an 'expensive' tournament, because you will be playing against more experienced players, and players who play that level of tournament on a regular basis.
In fact, 3% or less is the best amount. It sounds very small, but you will find that this amount will be close to the buy-in that you are most comfortable with.
Staying above your Rank
Zynga recently changed their ranking to a word format eg)Fish, Shark, Pro...
Ignore these rankings. They only tell you how often the player has been playing since they(zynga) made the change.
The ranking to watch is when your cursor hovers over the player's picture, and it shows their details. Look for "Highest Chip Level".
Do your best to stay above this amount. Even if it means entering in 'cheap tournaments' to do it. The advantages? Not much. But you will have piece of mind, knowing people see that you have the chips you are supposed to have, it gives you an absolute number that you try not to go under during regular gameplay, and can serve as a milestone as you try to reach the next level.
When starting a tournament, hover over your opponents pictures. Look at their 'Highest Chip Level' compared to their 'Total Chips'. This may also help you a little when determining how to play them.
Stay tuned for the most exciting part of the series...
Chip Management Part 3: Game Table Chip Extraction. Coming soon.
Legend (I know you know, but some people might not)
ROI = Return on Investment
Tourneys = Tournaments
K = Amount of chips x 1000
Buy-in = the amount you have to pay to enter a tournament
Place = Finishing 1st, 2nd, or 3rd
Chip Management Part 2: Varying Tournament Costs to Your Advantage
