PLEASE Help...Question regarding my "quality" of play

[InAPipeDream]

My bankroll is approximately $300. I've been playing for about 5 months now, and believe I am a decent player. I do extremely well in tournaments (especially sit and go...I make the money 2 out of 3 tourneys), but completely suck in ring games. I play the lower tables though. I play .05/.10 up to .50/$1 ring game tables. I believe players 'chase' cards on those tables though, so I decided to do what I never wanted to do...I sat in on a $3/$6 table. I kicked ass, and won about $500 in an hour and a half, truly a feat from a $300 bankroll player. I got in another for about 20 minutes a few hours ago and took another $150. I know this is what some of you make every day, but I'm seriously walking on cloud nine right now.

I then went to Vegas with my wife 2 weekends ago (got to see the WSOP live too, very nice), and I decided to try my luck in my first face to face tournament (small, just a $40 buy-in). Out of 2 tourneys, I came in 7th out of 80 players for $300 in one, and came in 2nd the nest time, winning $780.

Bottom line is, do you guys think I should stick to my SnG tourneys and higher limit ring games? I have a feeling that I'm losing the smaller limit tables because people 'chase' cards too often (I usually lose to the river on some gut shot crap). I just don't want ot make a bad decision and start losing everything I've just won on a lucky "rush" for a day. I believe I read people okay as well, at least from what my small buy-in tourney tells me. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

Please help, this is actually bothering me.

[edge]

You lucked out at the 3/6 table. You're not a good enough player to beat it regularly. You'll probably disregard this advice and go bust at 3/6 though, so I don't know if I should bother. If you're really looking for advice, you should be playing a $25 buy-in game with your bankroll.

[InAPipeDream]

Thanks, that helps. I'm usually in the $5 and $10 SnG tournaments, and like I said, finish in the money (top 3 usually) 2 out of 3 times. I guess this next question might be a stupid question, but I'll ask anyway...do the $25 tourneys contain better players, or just less crappy players? Either way, I might as well give it a try.

[man]

[ QUOTE ]
Thanks, that helps. I'm usually in the $5 and $10 SnG tournaments, and like I said, finish in the money (top 3 usually) 2 out of 3 times. I guess this next question might be a stupid question, but I'll ask anyway...do the $25 tourneys contain better players, or just less crappy players? Either way, I might as well give it a try.

[/ QUOTE ]
it sounds like you're looking for better players to play against, so that you don't keep on getting sucked out. what I'd like you to do is to write "getting sucked out on is +EV" on a piece of paper, and every time you get sucked out by a 5 outer on the river, calmly put the paper in your palm, and strike your forehead with it until the frustration of the beat leaves you.

the truth is that even though you seem to get sucked out by these players, and thusly can't seem to win money, you're really making a higher BB/100 profit than you would be against more skilled players. it's just that the variance is extremely high. with enough players in a certain pot, even AA can be only a 30% favorite. even though you'll win more than anyone else, you'll lose enough times for it to hurt.

as for the higher limits, your BB/100 will be smaller, and the variance probably smaller as well (is this even true? I'm guessing it is because people generally suck out less, but correct me if not), but your bankroll just can't handle the swings you'll be going through. build yourself up slowly.

[InAPipeDream]

Exactly...I make a decent salary, but I'm not about to go lose a few hundred bucks on a bad night of online poker. I can't handle those swings until my bankroll is higher. Since I can't stand people chasing cards, I think I'll stick to my SnG games for a while until I build up my bankroll.

[Xelent]

I would like to see your SnG numbers. I don't like hearing that you cash 2 of 3 times. What's your sample size and for what stakes?

[InAPipeDream]

The SnG tourneys I sit in are small (9-27 players), and I also just play the smaller $5 and $10 ones. Possibly not even a true test, but thoses the numbers.

[InAPipeDream]

Funny thing to add: played 5 SnG tourneys today for $5 and $10 (3 for $5 and 2 for $10), and I made money on them all...1st in 3 of them.

[Wayfare]

[ QUOTE ]
My bankroll is approximately $300. I've been playing for about 5 months now, and believe I am a decent player. I do extremely well in tournaments (especially sit and go...I make the money 2 out of 3 tourneys), but completely suck in ring games. I play the lower tables though. I play .05/.10 up to .50/$1 ring game tables. I believe players 'chase' cards on those tables though, so I decided to do what I never wanted to do...I sat in on a $3/$6 table. I kicked ass, and won about $500 in an hour and a half, truly a feat from a $300 bankroll player. I got in another for about 20 minutes a few hours ago and took another $150. I know this is what some of you make every day, but I'm seriously walking on cloud nine right now.

I then went to Vegas with my wife 2 weekends ago (got to see the WSOP live too, very nice), and I decided to try my luck in my first face to face tournament (small, just a $40 buy-in). Out of 2 tourneys, I came in 7th out of 80 players for $300 in one, and came in 2nd the nest time, winning $780.

Bottom line is, do you guys think I should stick to my SnG tourneys and higher limit ring games? I have a feeling that I'm losing the smaller limit tables because people 'chase' cards too often (I usually lose to the river on some gut shot crap). I just don't want ot make a bad decision and start losing everything I've just won on a lucky "rush" for a day. I believe I read people okay as well, at least from what my small buy-in tourney tells me. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

Please help, this is actually bothering me.

[/ QUOTE ]

How have you won so much at poker and only have a bankroll of $300?

[webmonarch]

Well, in my opinion, the NL games on average across the sies I play tend to start getting more difficult (less fishy) near the .50/1 range. Less insane plays, more re-raising and more work to do well, especially if you were a LAG in the lower levels, like I was. If you were the prototypical TAG lower, moving up will be less trouble.

In SnG's, I think the quality of play is not that much different, esp. if you tend to make the final table/money often. The top players will make it there no matter what.

Just my experiences, your mileage may vary.

[mother_brain]

Go to the SnG forum and read the FAQ. You will see that there are exactly zero people in the world that can money 66% of the time over a substantial amount of SNGs.

[InAPipeDream]

Guess I could have been clearer...I keep a bankroll of about $300 in my account. My winnings are generally 'cashed out' every week.

[Snag]

Stop cashing out your winnings.

You're going to have a bad day, and you're going to lose that 300 and feel like the world has ended.

If you're serious about poker, you need to keep a sizable portion of your winnings in your bankroll, especially with the variance of the no limit game.

You want to be increasing the size of your roll, so you can continue to move up in stakes, and continue to increase your skill as a card player.

You should start learning the game. Someday you will get your ass owned by the regular 3/6 players if you keep taking shots with a small BR like that.