1/2 vs. 2/4

[MasterShakes]

I just made the move from 1/2 to 2/4. I made a recent return to the limit game after a summer of playing NL. I played about 3 weeks, during which I played a little over 17,000 hands between .50/1 and 1/2. My win rate at .50/1 was over 3 BB/100 and a little over 4 BB/100 at 1/2. I felt, for the first time, very satisfied with my play. I know I must still have leaks, but everything seems to be going really well right now, and I feel like I'm thinking a lot more clearly about the game.

Tonight was my first night at 2/4. I played a quick 700 hands, winning $138. The "chip shock" in moving up this time was much greater than moving to 1/2. The most noticeable difference between 1/2 and 2/4 is that while 2/4 may be slightly looser than 1/2 solely in terms of number of hands played, the 2/4 players WILL actually punish you when they are way ahead. They are VERY aggressive for the most part.

I know that I had a good night tonight, but I can already tell that the swings at this level are going to be brutal, compared to the previous two levels. The play is also most definitely better overall at this level than at 1/2. The game is clearly very beatable, but for those thinking of making the move from 1/2 to 2/4, do not take the move lightly.

I would suggest setting up poker tracker to auto-rate players, using BisonBison's previously posted guidelines. Also, even before you move up, make time to auto-import as many observed hands as you can from 2/4 tables. It will pay off enormously to know some general player tendencies and skill levels, as compared to enter into multitabling with no reads at all, as I made the mistake of doing tonight.

Anybody who has already made the same move up have any more thoughts on 2/4, as compared to 1/2?