Problems

[xPostal]

Ok, I don't have a lot of money in my account, and I usually play .25/.50 on PokerStars. When I get to about 50$ I go up to .50/1, granted I know that I don't have enough to really back it. Now my cards go sour, so I stay for awhile and lose, and then go back to .25/.50. I lose their too mostly, so I figure I go back to .50/1, play super tight and win pots their, so I go and I get awsome hands preflop but I get jack on the board. So I keep losing and go play .25/.50 again. Eventually I loose the $50 or so, any suggestions on what to do to stop this. Flop % usually around 25 on 6 man tables.

[illunious]

[ QUOTE ]
When I get to about 50$ I go up to .50/1, granted I know that I don't have enough to really back it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Make that "When I get to about 100$".

[Greg J]

You are essentially playing without a safety net. I struggled for months at the nanolimits playing the .05/.1 game slowly building a a BR. Proper BR management is part of being a good poker player.

This might be a helpful link for you. (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=inet&Number=1060198&fp art=&PHPSESSID=) Good luck.

[busguy]

[ QUOTE ]
. .. and then go back to .25/.50. I lose their too mostly

[/ QUOTE ]

Why would you think of moving up if you cannot consistantly beat the level that you are currently at ?

It's not Blackjack. You don't move up "hoping" for a good day.

You move up when you are beating your current level and have the bankroll for the next level.

Read some Poker books. Learn how to play the game properly and build up your bankroll. After that you should be on your way.

/images/graemlins/smile.gif busguy

[Greg J]

I should note that the advise in that link won't help you if you are not a winning player. You are quite possibly not a winner yet.

[xPostal]

busguy- I am winning at .25/.50 when I go up
Greg- Thanks for the link, I'm decent, but I get antsy when I get bad cards so my skill deteriorates(sp?)

[LeftBack]

You're not really dealing honestly with the concept of variance. 300BB is the standard bankroll recommendation, and you can sometimes get by with less, but 50BB is ridiculous.

The best way you can prove that you're ready to move up is play 10K hands at +3BB/100 and double your stake.

Spend more time in the archives. Get a more realistic concept of variance and winrate.

[busguy]

[ QUOTE ]
busguy- I am winning at .25/.50 when I go up

[/ QUOTE ]

Ah . . . I don't think you are. I'm not talking about making $50 in a day, a week, a month or whatever.

300 BB is a decent bankroll. You don't even have that for .25/.50. You can't say you are even close to a winning player until you build (winning) your bankroll up (at .25/.5) to the $300 needed to move up to .5/$1. If you can then build your bankroll (at .5/$1) to the $600 needed to move up to $1/2, you can say that you are winning.

Again, Poker isn't a sprint, but rather a marathon that never ends.

my 2 cents.

/images/graemlins/smile.gif busguy

[pointcount]

I was lucky enough to have a friend who understood the game much better than I did, and forced me to build my roll playing 25/50 up to $200 before I went on the bonus whoring circuit (you should seriously look into this!).

[J LU]

[ QUOTE ]
busguy- I am winning at .25/.50 when I go up
Greg- Thanks for the link, I'm decent, but I get antsy when I get bad cards so my skill deteriorates(sp?)

[/ QUOTE ]

I too used to get alittle antsy to play. Easy to justify if you feel that you out play others post flop. My suggestion is this, next time you get to the $50 BR that you would usually move to .5/1, stay at the lower level for one more additional session and conduct a little experiment with yourself. Follow the SSH pre-flop starting standards to a tee. Don't deviate the whole session. But play VERY AGGRESSIVE when you enter a pot. Don't play stupid by calling or raising when the flop misses you or you know you've been beat, but bet, raise whenever you can. Don't worry about maximizing the pots, but more protecting and isolating other players. You will be absolutly amaized how often your hands will out kick the crappy hands that you are probably playing. My guess is that you will find that a tight pre-flop stratagy works better than what your doing now and then you can refine your post flop play, using more selective aggression, and be at the 1/2 or 2/4 levels fairly quickly. Worked for me anyways.

Good luck.