Should I move up to 2/4?

[whlinn]

I'm at a crossroads with special circumstances and wanted to hear what the more experienced players think. I currently play on two sites. In six weeks, I've multiplied my money by 12.

The thing is my wife is currently unemployed and the extra 200-500 dollars a week is helping us a lot. And I am having to pull out much of my winnings every week. I currently have a bankroll of about 1600 with the two sites. However, I'm a teacher and am starting back and will only play about 1/2 to 1/3 of what I had been playing. Do I move up to 2/4 or stay conservative and keep playing at 1/2? If I do move up to 2/4, how is the game different. I mainly play on pstars and do some propping on the other site.

[MrWookie47]

You have a 400 BB roll for 2/4, so the only reason not to move up is if you don't trust your poker fundamentals. I see you don't post here much, so that's not an outlandish idea. About how many hands have you logged? Also, consider switching to a party skin for a much softer 2/4 game and rakeback. Actually, you should probably spend some time playing the 1/2 6 max game. It's much softer than full (at both Stars and Party), and it'll help you improve your full ring fundamentals.

Shameless (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=micro&Number=2536762&fpart =1&PHPSESSID=) self- (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=micro&Number=2965811&fpart =1&PHPSESSID=) promotion (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=micro&Number=2913856&fpart =1&PHPSESSID=) and another good link. (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=headsup&Number=2901410&fpa rt=1&PHPSESSID=)

[bozlax]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm at a crossroads with special circumstances and wanted to hear what the more experienced players think. I currently play on two sites. In six weeks, I've multiplied my money by 12.

The thing is my wife is currently unemployed and the extra 200-500 dollars a week is helping us a lot. And I am having to pull out much of my winnings every week. I currently have a bankroll of about 1600 with the two sites. However, I'm a teacher and am starting back and will only play about 1/2 to 1/3 of what I had been playing. Do I move up to 2/4 or stay conservative and keep playing at 1/2? If I do move up to 2/4, how is the game different. I mainly play on pstars and do some propping on the other site.

[/ QUOTE ]

Three thoughts:

1. Everybody thinks they have some special reason why they should move up. You're only trying to convince yourself to do it because you think you can win more money (see 2, below), and you don't think you have sufficient justification without "special circumstances." The answer is always the same, the same one given to people on this board 10 times a week: move up when you've got the bankroll and you feel comfortable with the game.

2. If you've been doubling your money every week for 6 weeks you're running HOT, HOT, HOT. Ouch. Take heed of the variance posts that usually go along with stat/move-up posts. It happens.

3. If you're counting on money from 1/2 and 2/4 Internet poker to support a wife (and kids?) then you need to seriously reevaluate your financial situation. This way ruin lies, and I'm not going to elaborate because you know it's true.

[whlinn]

I didn't mean to say that I was moving up "to make more money." I meant that i have the standard 300 BB rule met and should I move up. I obviously play a lot of short handed on the propping site. Between the two sites I have about 55,000 hands. I don't depend on the money to support my wife and kids but it does help to pay for the digital cable.

[MrWookie47]

Alright. Sounds good. Move up. But moving from Stars to Empire and getting rakeback is definitely a better plan than staying at stars.

[bozlax]

[ QUOTE ]
Alright. Sounds good. Move up. But moving from Stars to Empire and getting rakeback is definitely a better plan than staying at stars.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yep, agreed. But do me a favor...write on a piece of paper, and tape it to the side of your computer, "When I hit a downswing I'll have the digital cable turned off." I just had a friend (that I consider to be very sensible) tell me about deciding that he could fund his "poker luxuries" from his "monthly nut" money during a downswing because he was, "sure that the downswing wouldn't last long enough to matter." Oops. He's back on track, but suffice to say that the cable is off, the cell phones are gone, and his BMW suddenly turned into a ten-year-old Corolla. (Of course, his downswing coincided with some "special circumstances." /images/graemlins/grin.gif)

Oh, and Eurobet does rakeback, too.

[whlinn]

Thanks for the advice guys. I didn't mean to sound trite. This is the first time my wife got laid off and didn't find anything immediately so we have been quite lucky that between the unemployment and the poker profit things haven't really changed much. She has an interview Friday so hopefully she'll get that and I can use my poker winnings to buy more important things like a DVD recorder or another computer. After thinking about it, I think I'm going to stay conservative and stay at 1/2 for a while longer.

[MrWookie47]

It's ultimately your decision, but I've got to ask why you'd choose to play at a lower limit. You probably know what you're doing when it comes to poker, so the highest EV course of action is moving up.

[GrunchCan]

[ QUOTE ]
After thinking about it, I think I'm going to stay conservative and stay at 1/2 for a while longer.

[/ QUOTE ]

Why?

[whlinn]

I just worry that 1/2 is going so good now that a downswing at 2/4 could be nasty. Maybe I'm wrong or just scared. Maybe I should try it for a night or two and see how it goes.

I received a CD in the mail from Empire. Are you saying that is a softer site that PStars? Are they compatible with Pokertracker?

[MrWookie47]

Quite a bit softer than stars, and every bit as PT compatable. Also, don't sign up with their CD. Use an affiliate to get rakeback. Look at www.rakerebatereview.com. (http://www.rakerebatereview.com.) Lastly, if you're going to have a downswing, it'll happen regardless of limit. Just move up. You might start out running hot and love it.

[detruncate]

You would obviously benefit from some research. Read the bankroll building thread if you haven't already. There's a lot of free money available (signup bonuses, IGM bonuses, reloads = many free hundreds) to ease your transition or help address your special circumstances + allow your roll to keep growing. Don't forget to sign up for rakeback programs where possible.

As the money becomes more important to your daily lives, you obviously have to be much more conservative with your roll than if you were playing recreation ally -- you need extra available in case you hit a downswing and you are of necessity much less inclined to move down and rebuild since you need to keep generating income.

Ideally you'd like to be able to withdraw a couple months worth of expenses if necessary without it having any significant effect on being able to play your regular game, even when you're not running well. This is, of course, for necessary expenses and assumes no savings. It's much easier to just turn off the cable or cut down on voluntary expenditures if you run into serious difficulties. It sounds like you have some flexibility and that this whole situation might be temporary, but you need to plan carefully if you're going to continue to rely on poker income for anything other than occasional fun stuff.

It's a lack of planning and discipline more than anything else that causes people to run into problems. If your needs are as modest as they seem and you're a winning player, you should be able keep in front of things without any serious difficulty, even playing the micros. Just remember that there are extra skill sets involved and it becomes increasingly stressful as your earn becomes more important to the quality of your daily lives + increases as a % of your expected monthly earn. Cable bill = meh. Much more than that and you get to face the prospect of grading + prep + poker every evening, whether you like it or not.

The decision about whether to move up is something only you can answer. Don't be afraid if you think you're ready and can afford to go a while without any poker money. Continuing to play your regular game isn't terrible either. Do what you're comfortable with.

Hope the job hunting goes well. Best of luck to you and yours.