Not wanting to move up... comfort zone?
 

Hi all-

Over about two and a half years I've moved my game up from the nano limits to $1/2 limit and $15-$25 tourneys and I'm profitable.

I'm no gigabet, but it's a rewarding, enjoyable and educative hobby, and at the micro/small stakes level online, I like to think I'm pretty decent (last 20k at 1/2 is +2.3bb/100).

Trouble is, I've got the online bankroll to play up to 3/6 limit (over $2.5k - the rest i spent [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] ), but I don't seem able to step up.

I see the games there. I know I should play them. I watch 2/4 and 3/6 and don't see anything scary, but I still go back to my familiar 1/2 game.

I've never had this trouble before. I've felt uncomfortable sure, but not this aversion. The risk actually unnerves me!

Is it because for the first time, It'll feel like sereious money? Do i suspect I'll be over matched? What the best way to deal with an irrational fear like this?

I want to move up to make more money, to improve my skills, and to test myself- in that order. any ideas on why I'm finding it hard to do so- and how to get past it?

Re: Not wanting to move up... comfort zone?
 

you should be fine, just play your standard game. If you have beaten the 1/2 enough to make the kind of money you say, u be fine.

Re: Not wanting to move up... comfort zone?
 

If you don't really want to move up, you don't have to.

Re: Not wanting to move up... comfort zone?
 

move up little by little until you find a level that you can't crush. Then dont play that level. Lets say u are crushing 2/4 but not 3/6, stay at 2/4 or mabye try to multitable it. You should always play in a game u can beat. If you are crushing 2/4 online then u can beat 3/6 and prob 5/10 live

Re: Not wanting to move up... comfort zone?
 

Try starting off with £1/£2 games (interpoker has some decent ones). £1/£2 is a little less then $2/$4 ($1.75/$3.5), but the pots will seem much smaller because the number is smaller lol. Seriously, sounds stupid but it worked for me.

Re: Not wanting to move up... comfort zone?
 

Nothing to get too worried about, since you're comfortably making money. Set yourself a BB threshold somewhere higher than where you're at now that you must step up once you succeed. Say, 1000 BB. That way you don't have to worry about stepping up to 2/4 until you have $4000, or 3/6 until you have $6000.

Read the 3-part series in recent Card Player magazines about Ted Forrest. Here's an incredibly talented player who tends to blow through bankrolls by playing too high. Good motivation not to feel pressured to move up.

Re: Not wanting to move up... comfort zone?
 

britspin,

delve into short-handed games. they are more profitable, more aggressive and more entertaining.

good luck.

Re: Not wanting to move up... comfort zone?
 

I went through the same thing to a lesser extent playing SNGs. I started playing them 6 months ago and I've moved up twice. Each time I started at a new level I would be real nervous/excited for about the 1st dozen tournaments. It was like somewhere in the back of my mind I had this feeling that the skill jump was going to be huge and I was going to suddenly have a streak of like 20 OOMs. Finally, I realized I was being silly. The skill difference wasn't that big and my bankroll was adequate, so the worst thing that could happen was that I could start the new level on a real cold streak. If that happened I could always move back down for a little while and try again, but it never happened.

Of course, nothing says you have to move up, but from your post it sounds like you want the challenge. Just remember you can always move back down for awhile if things start out badly.

Re: Not wanting to move up... comfort zone?
 

Since you are playing primarily for your own pleasure, you should feel free to play at whatever limit you find pleasing. If moving up makes you uncomfortable enough that you feel it would blunt your plrasure, then don't do it.

And if you feel like you'd like to try the up move, you are not committed to stay there if it doesn't work out for you.

Good luck. Stay loose...

bill

Re: Not wanting to move up... comfort zone?
 

Thanks for the responses guys. I like the idea of trying shorthanded. It seems that's wehere the god action is on a lot of the sites I play anyway- so I'll go and study that before deciding to step up...