Advice Please

[BaThR0oM]

Well...I've been playing NL25 for 30k hands and I was doing pretty well...winning a little here and there. Tonight, I decided to play some NL50 and see how I would do...Unfortunately it didn't turn out that great and I kinda went on tilt after losing twice with a boat to a bigger boat. I'm wondering if I should keep playing NL50 or go back to NL25? Here's a graph of my stats with PT.
Graph (http://img299.imageshack.us/my.php?image=22graph6kg.jpg)
Would it be more stable if I played limit games instead? Sometimes the downswings in these NL games are toO much for me.
Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you guys.

[Pov]

I hate to tell you this, but swings are smaller in no limit. In any event it looks like you're a solid winner - if you can avoid the tilt and your bankroll is still big enough to play the 50 game - stick with it. Just work on not compounding your errors when things go badly.

[SheridanCat]

If you need help with tilt, consider these books:

John Feeney's: Inside The Poker Mind
Larry Philip's: Zen and the Art of Poker

The first is a more analytical look at what goes on in the minds of players; it's also a 2+2 book. The second is a more "spiritual" book that helped me.

Something that also helps is that I play online exactly as I play in a live card room. I know some people get very emotional while playing online poker, and I think this can contribute to tilt. I never curse or yell at the screen and I never toss my mouse. In live play it's important to keep emotions under control, so I carry that to my online game as well. If someone doesn't know I'm playing poker, they'd probably think I'm just surfing the web or doing something in Excel.

Keep playing the level you're comfortable with. If you feel you're able to play the $50 game and have the bankroll for it, continue. But if you feel yourself slipping into tilt, stop.

Good luck,

T

[BaThR0oM]

Thank you guys for responding with the advice. I currently have around over $2k scattered around online for poker. I think that's enough for NL50. However, I'm gonna check out those books suggested by SheridanCat first before I start playing in NL50 again. Sometimes, I just feel like I'm afraid to play poker cuz of the bad beats. I have been going to the psychology forum from time to time to see how people deal with their downswings and badbeats. It's one thing when you read about it and another when it actually happens to you. Hopefully, the books will help. Thanks again guys.

[SheridanCat]

[ QUOTE ]
Sometimes, I just feel like I'm afraid to play poker cuz of the bad beats.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ah, bad beats. Consider this and see if it helps at all.

Think about what a bad beat is. Usually we think that a bad beat is someone making a longshot draw to beat our very good made hands. We ask ourselves (or them) what they could possibly have been thinking calling the flop with only two outs heads-up, for instance.

In poker, we gain when we have the best of it and we bet/raise for value. We push the equity edges and, win or lose, we gain in the long run. Conversely, when our opponents make mistakes - like calling when they have the worst of it - we also gain.

So, when that guy is calling your bets with few outs (say you have a made straight and he's pulling at a backdoor flush), he is taking the worst of it and you are gaining. You want that to happen because you have the equity edge. Yes, sometimes you'll get to the river and find you've been outdrawn, but often you've been outdrawn by an opponent who is playing incorrectly and when your opponents play incorrectly, you will win. In the long run.

Because of this, I don't believe in bad beats. They just don't exist and I don't let outlandish draws bother me. Because I will win that situation the vast majority of the time. And, since there are no truly unique situations, I will have the opportunity to be in that position many, many more times in my playing lifetime.

I don't know if that helps you at all, but it does help me.

Regards,

T