Party mini steps

[McFly]

How many of you have tried these out and have you had success with them? I'm thinking of taking $220 and either giving step 2 a go 10 times or step 3 a go four times. I don't know which would give me a better chance to have as many step 5 opportunities as possible.
I've watched a few tables and the play isn't very good at either step. Now once you get to step 5 it looks to be very tight until 100/200 level.
What do you guys think?

[LVHerbie]

I think it all depends on time because theorically you should start at the lowest level that you have the patience to set through... if you a winning player (over the long run) starting at step 2 10 times should give you more then 4 step 3 entries... again it is up to you to decide if it is worth the extra time to play all those extra tourneys...

[McFly]

I've got the patience to play, not sure about the suckouts and bad beats that I usually take on Party. :-)
You are probably right though - 10 times at step 2 SHOULD yield me more step 5 chances if I play a solid tight game that has done well for me in the past.

[McFly]

No other thoughts about these step sng's?

Here's my analysis...please tell me your opinions....

Regular $50 SNG vs Buying into step 3 of mini step for $50 (SNG structure the same)

Party has a 50-30-20 payout in their regular sngs
1st would be $250
2nd would be $150
3rd would be $100

Step payouts are:
1st or 2nd would go to step 4
3rd or 4th would repeat step 3
5th or 6th would go to step 2
7th or 8th would go to step 1
9th is $4

So lets compare best case scenario in steps...finishing 1st or 2nd twice in a row. You still haven't won any $ but you get a chance for at step 5 where 1st is $2000, 2nd is $1000, 3rd is $500, 4th is $300 and 5th is $200. Rest is no $.
If you finish 1st or 2nd in regular sng 2 sng's in a row you would win between $300-$500. Winning a 3rd one would win $250.
(keeping it simple, i'm not going to include buy-ins in these numbers as they even out on both sides anyway)
So $2000 win vs between $550-$750 for regular sng
2nd would be $1000 vs between $450-$600 for reg sng
3rd would be $500 vs between $400-$550 for reg sng
4th would be $300 vs between $300-$500 for reg sng
5th would be $200 vs between $300-$500 for reg sng
No money vs between $300-$500 for reg sng

In essence, if you don't finish in the top 3 on step 5, you don't win as much money as you would have won just playing 3 regular sng's in a row. But if you do finish in the top 3 and especially 1 or 2, you would net considerably more.
Obviously the steps also provide some insurance for finishing outside the top 2 on step 3 and step 4 that the regular sng's don't give. You get to retry step 3/step 4 or back up to lower steps. I'm not sure how to equate that to monetary value.
Thoughts?