I didn't find 1/2 full ring to be that hard - I wasn't crushing it, but I was consistently squeezing out just over 1BB/100, and if I'd played more at Party I'm sure I would have done better.

I chose to play Absolute, where I discovered that the players are NOT that much better, they're just tighter. You can beat them, you just have to adjust your game. And yes, plug your leaks.

LAGs can be your friends. Just sit to their left. And get PT to keep track of your own stats, replay hands, etc. You don't need PAHUD (you should be able to quickly tell who's loose and who's aggressive at your table) but it might help.

And finally, if playing for higher stakes is on your mind at all, move back down until your bankroll big enough that the money doesn't matter. I recently made the jump from 1/2 to 2/4, but I waited until I had a 500 BB BR to even start taking shots, because I knew that if my cushion wasn't big I'd feel really bad about losing $100 at a single table. (Now, winning $150 at a single table, like I did last night...I like that better. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img])