Ready to move to $1/$2?

[DrBob]

I would really appreciate a sanity check on my game quality. I just crossed the $600 mark, but I'm not sure I've been there long enough to move up to $1/$2 immediately. I've been playing for money since May, starting with a very small bankroll. Each time I got 300 BB for the next level I moved up. So I started $0.50/$1.00 with $300 and got to the $600 level in just over 5100 hands.

Please note that I'm not particularly worried about being good enough to move up. My BB/100 is 6.08. A nonparametric analysis (that is, using the actual distribution of my results) indicates that there's only about a 10% chance that my "true" BB/100 is less that 2.8, and only 5% that it's less than 2.0.

My worry is rather that I may still have more to learn at this level before moving up. Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated. My biggest losses seem to be associated with HU encounters where I go too far, and/or get too aggressive, but there are probably plenty of leaks I'm unaware of.

My basic stats are 18.3% VPIP, 7.8% PFR, 2.29 postflop aggression, WSD 37%. A full dump of my stats at $0.50/$1.00 is below, if that can help someone identify leaks in my game.

site_abbrev PP
game_level $0.50/$1
num_sessions 106
won_amt 311.5
hands_played 5126
hours_played 101.7667
bb_100_sum 6.0769
vpip_sum 18.3379
pfr_sum 7.8229
wsd_sum 51.2295
vpip_sb 33.7391
sf_all 25.3414
sf_no_blind 16.7515
fold_sb_steal 75
fold_bb_steal 66.6667
fold_bb_steal_hu 0
sb_defended 2
sb_def_fold 50
sb_def_won_no_sd 0
sb_def_wsd 50
sb_def_won_wsd 0
bb_defended 3
bb_def_fold 33.3333
bb_def_won_no_sd 33.3333
bb_def_wsd 33.3333
bb_def_won_wsd 100
steal_att 23.9669
sa_no_flop 13.7931
sa_fold 17.2414
sa_won_no_sd 41.3793
sa_wsd 41.3793
sa_won_wsd 50
won_wsf 30.331
amt_won 311.5
wr_100 6.0769
wr_bb 6.0769
wsd 37.5674
won_wsd 51.2295
pfr 7.8229
lcpf 0.078
fa_raise 14.2145
fa_bet 48.6284
fa_call 7.2319
fa_check 20.4489
fa_cr 1.2469
fa_fold 5.2369
fa_no_flop 2.9925
p_actions 5242
p_raise 7.8405
p_call 12.1709
p_check 7.2301
p_fold 72.7585
p_af 0.6442
f_actions 1794
f_raise 10.3122
f_bet 21.3489
f_call 13.0435
f_check 32.553
f_fold 22.6867
f_af 2.4274
t_actions 1072
t_raise 7.3694
t_bet 32.556
t_call 16.791
t_check 28.9179
t_fold 14.3657
t_af 2.3778
r_actions 801
r_raise 6.9913
r_bet 29.3383
r_call 18.6017
r_check 31.96
r_fold 13.1086
r_af 1.953
tot_actions 8909
tot_raise 8.2052
tot_bet 10.8542
tot_call 13.4807
tot_check 17.1624
tot_fold 50.2862
tot_af 1.4138
pfr_won_no_sd 18.7032
pfr_fold_no_sd 27.6808
pfr_wsd 53.616
pfr_won_wsd 53.0233
fbet_won_no_sd 21.7228
fbet_fold_no_sd 18.9139
fbet_wsd 59.3633
fbet_won_wsd 53.9432
tbet_won_no_sd 20.4938
tbet_fold_no_sd 6.6667
tbet_wsd 72.8395
tbet_won_wsd 52.8814
rbet_won_no_sd 16.4179
rbet_fold_no_sd 0.3731
rbet_wsd 83.209
rbet_won_wsd 68.6099
pfc_won_no_sd 10.5751
pfc_fold_no_sd 55.102
pfc_wsd 34.3228
pfc_won_wsd 48.6486
fcall_won_no_sd 1.3605
fcall_fold_no_sd 38.7755
fcall_wsd 59.8639
fcall_won_wsd 45.4545
tcall_won_no_sd 1.4388
tcall_fold_no_sd 30.9353
tcall_wsd 67.6259
tcall_won_wsd 52.1277
rcall_won_no_sd 0
rcall_fold_no_sd 0
rcall_wsd 100
rcall_won_wsd 27.619
fold_to_rb 49.5192
wf_no_fold 12.6024
wf_pf 74.405
wf_flop 7.9399
wf_turn 3.0043
wf_river 2.0484
cr_times 66
cr_pct_act 1.7998
cr_flop 48.4848
cr_turn 31.8182
cr_river 19.697

[Jaran]

Hey DrBob,
Your stats look fine to move up. If you multitable, you might try mixing in one 1/2 table with your normal .5/1 tables for a while until you get used to it. 1/2 is a much different game than .5/1. Not unbeatable, but different.

-Jaran

[DrBob]

Thanks Jaran, I appreciate the look. I know this isn't the most exciting stuff to wade through.

Bob

[Jaran]

What else am I gonna do, play poker? /images/graemlins/wink.gif

-Jaran

[Shillx]

Ahhh my eyes!!! Nice stats. I'm going blind!!!

Give it a shot dude.

Brad

[VBM]

o for pete's sake...

dude, you're fine. the worst that'll happen is you can only beat 1/2 at like a 3BB/100 clip. boo-hoo, cry me a river!

u'll kill 1/2...

[bennyk]

Most people advocate having 10k hands at one level before moving up. This is to prevent damage to your bankroll since you've been running very well at 6...umm...08 BB/100 and there's obviously no guarantee that will continue.

With that said, if you have the BR and feel comfortable, go ahead and move, so long as you're prepared to drop down if the [censored] hits.
bk

[Cardzy]

My god those stats are hard to read. You look fine. You will do fine at $1/$2. It's a tighter game overall (at party anyhow) and table selection is more important. You will learn how to adapt to the different kinds of players much better than you have in the past at this level as well.

As much as I hated $1/$2, I loved it just as much because of the learning experience. Just moved up to $2/$4 yesterday myself.

You will do fine. If you got the bankroll, move up.

[DrBob]

Thanks again, all of you who've given me feedback, the time is appreciated.

Regards,
Bob

[JordanIB]

I'm soon approaching the same predicament.

I'm not crushing .5/1, but am beating it for 3.54 BB/100 for over 15,000 hands (that's $500+ profit). I'm still very tentative about moving up. Part of it is due to the .5/1 being so juicy that it's hard to give them up. Part of it is that in my last 5,000 I've been running REALLY well (g/f going home for Christmas must be very +EV /images/graemlins/smile.gif). I'll probably stick it out at .5/1 for another 5-10K before deciding whether to move up or not.

The bankroll isn't the issue really. I could have started out my "serious" poker career with 300BB at 1/2 if I felt comfortable doing it, but I just didn't yet. And still don't.

Good luck if you're heading up Bob. Hopefully I'll see you there in a few weeks.

[phillydilly]

Hey DrBob,
I had the same situation a week or two ago.
Made the jump to 1/2 and promptly lost 100BB.
I dropped back down to .5/1 ran it back to 300BB and jumped to 1/2 again.
Now, with a much more humble attitude, I'm doing fine.

Couple things that have helped in my second go round...

Reads, player reads are 10 times more important, if he has a money bag or an eagle next to his name, put some thought into what he has.

Heads up/short handed. Everyone describes 1/2 as weak tight, this will give you some situations where you can take a shot at the pot. If the villian has low aggression and low went to showdown, dont be afraid to take a shot

multitabling. I 4 tabled at .5/1 and immediately 4 tabled 1/2. DONT DO IT! i think 4 tabling really killed me in my first shot at 1/2. Cutting it to two tables when i tried again let me pick up the subtle differences.

All that said, 1/2 is very beatable ( i think ), but make sure you give yourself some time to adjust.

good luck

philly dilly