Anyone saying he should go solo...
Probably never have studied statistics...
Or are just some degen gambler...
Go read up on Poisson distribution...
You be suprised how huge variance is...
He could mine for week++ with no blocks...
At this difficulty level...
Actually going solo...
Could break his operation...
Unless he is degen gambler...
3% for reduced variance is nothing here...
If he mines 8.5=10 Gh/s his average for hitting a block is around 1.5 days. Going a full week or more without hitting a block would be statistically insane. If I had half speed I would go solo instantly.
As Vladamir said, the hardest part is not sitting there watching it every minute and worrying that it's not getting anything.