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11-30-2004, 01:02 AM
I started playing limit seriously in October, at the .5-1 level at Party. I decided that once I was reasonably satisfied that I was a winning player, I'd move up. And if I was a losing player, I'd move up too. Because at lower limits no one respects your raises, and your AA gets cracked by 72o on the river, a victim of the schooling effect (I'm kidding, I'm kidding).
From what I read on the forums, 1-2 was full of rocks, since loose players are drawn to the 6-max games. So, I resolved to jump from .5-1 to 2-4 once I had the recommended 300 BB.
I found that play at .5-1 was, as you all know, horrible (in a good way). Reading SSHE served me well, and I did well at that level. I finally signed up for a rakeback deal at Empire, which I should have done a long time ago. I also ordered a 22" monitor, and started 4 tabling, which I continued to do through 2-4 and currently 3-6. A dual monitor setup is pretty sweet for poker, I recommend it to all that don't have it. I'm thinking about replacing my old 17" monitor with another 22" (or an LCD), and cranking it up to 6 tables, but for now 4 tables is good.
I ended my stay at .5-1 with 5.13 BB/100 average over 14,035 hands. I was somewhat concerned that my game wasn't totally solid for 2-4, since I had seen others post much higher winrates at .5-1, but I had also seen people argue that winrates over 4 BB/100 were unsustainable. I was thinking about posting one of those "Should I move up?" posts full of pokertracker stats, but reading bisonbison's bitching about them convinced me not to. Plus I've got the impression that people get too serious about moving up in limits, when it's not always that big a deal. I moved up to 2-4 with somewhere around 400 BB, well above my goal of having 300 BB.
At first 2-4 seemed much tighter that .5-1, but I found that with good table selection things were much better. The tables rarely approached the looseness of .5-1, and there was more aggression, but it wasn't the constant fight for the blinds that it first appeared.
Right off the bat I hit a very bad run. At its worst point, it was a -111 BB downswing. Some of it was probably bad play, and adjusting to the higher level, but most of it was getting drawn out on repeatedly. It took me a bit over 5,000 hands to get back into the black, and at that point I was only up about 50 bucks for all of my trouble. Finally I began winning at a steady clip. I finished my stay at 2-4 yesterday, with 15,518 hands at 2.85 BB/100. I know this isn't that high of a winrate compared to what some can get at 2/4, but I hit that long downswing, plus my sample size is small.
I just started playing 3-6 yesterday. After 1,000 hands, my impression is that it's much tighter and more aggressive than 2-4. I'd say that the gap between .5-1 and 2-4 is much smaller than the gap between 2-4 and 3-6. 3-6 is more aggressive, people are less willing to cold call raises, and are more willing to fold their blinds to a raise. Hands that I used to get paid off with all the time don't get paid off as much anymore. The blind structure and the increased preflop raising have dropped my VPIP considerably.
Of course, it's not that bad. So far, things are going well. I found a guy raising/capping Q5s preflop at one of the first 3-6 tables I sat down at. Again, I'm finding that game selection is crucial. I'm going to stay at 3-6 for a long while, and I'll start actually posting hands in Small Stakes. I really didn't do that enough, I don't think I posted any 2-4 hands (I posted a few .5-1).
I'm interested in hearing other people's experiences moving up, or any comments you have for me.
From what I read on the forums, 1-2 was full of rocks, since loose players are drawn to the 6-max games. So, I resolved to jump from .5-1 to 2-4 once I had the recommended 300 BB.
I found that play at .5-1 was, as you all know, horrible (in a good way). Reading SSHE served me well, and I did well at that level. I finally signed up for a rakeback deal at Empire, which I should have done a long time ago. I also ordered a 22" monitor, and started 4 tabling, which I continued to do through 2-4 and currently 3-6. A dual monitor setup is pretty sweet for poker, I recommend it to all that don't have it. I'm thinking about replacing my old 17" monitor with another 22" (or an LCD), and cranking it up to 6 tables, but for now 4 tables is good.
I ended my stay at .5-1 with 5.13 BB/100 average over 14,035 hands. I was somewhat concerned that my game wasn't totally solid for 2-4, since I had seen others post much higher winrates at .5-1, but I had also seen people argue that winrates over 4 BB/100 were unsustainable. I was thinking about posting one of those "Should I move up?" posts full of pokertracker stats, but reading bisonbison's bitching about them convinced me not to. Plus I've got the impression that people get too serious about moving up in limits, when it's not always that big a deal. I moved up to 2-4 with somewhere around 400 BB, well above my goal of having 300 BB.
At first 2-4 seemed much tighter that .5-1, but I found that with good table selection things were much better. The tables rarely approached the looseness of .5-1, and there was more aggression, but it wasn't the constant fight for the blinds that it first appeared.
Right off the bat I hit a very bad run. At its worst point, it was a -111 BB downswing. Some of it was probably bad play, and adjusting to the higher level, but most of it was getting drawn out on repeatedly. It took me a bit over 5,000 hands to get back into the black, and at that point I was only up about 50 bucks for all of my trouble. Finally I began winning at a steady clip. I finished my stay at 2-4 yesterday, with 15,518 hands at 2.85 BB/100. I know this isn't that high of a winrate compared to what some can get at 2/4, but I hit that long downswing, plus my sample size is small.
I just started playing 3-6 yesterday. After 1,000 hands, my impression is that it's much tighter and more aggressive than 2-4. I'd say that the gap between .5-1 and 2-4 is much smaller than the gap between 2-4 and 3-6. 3-6 is more aggressive, people are less willing to cold call raises, and are more willing to fold their blinds to a raise. Hands that I used to get paid off with all the time don't get paid off as much anymore. The blind structure and the increased preflop raising have dropped my VPIP considerably.
Of course, it's not that bad. So far, things are going well. I found a guy raising/capping Q5s preflop at one of the first 3-6 tables I sat down at. Again, I'm finding that game selection is crucial. I'm going to stay at 3-6 for a long while, and I'll start actually posting hands in Small Stakes. I really didn't do that enough, I don't think I posted any 2-4 hands (I posted a few .5-1).
I'm interested in hearing other people's experiences moving up, or any comments you have for me.