Question for all_aces???

[Canada Kelly]

I read a post of yours from a while back about how you moved up through the limits, and now you play $25-50 short.

I am curious as to the time frame you moved out of 1-2, 2-4, 3-6, etc. How many hours of playing or how many BB/hour or such.

I am just curious, maybe by trying your system of 20BB of the next level then move up.

Thanks
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[all_aces]

Greetings fellow Canadian...

Here's the story, with no embellishments or exaggerations, and it's long. I'd played a lot of poker in casinos, underground clubs, and home games, usually 10-20 but I'd always be willing to play up to 20-40, with mixed results. I was reluctant to give my VISA# out online, so I bought into PokerRoom by 900Pay. This just charges your deposit to your phone bill, and all you have to give them is your phone number. However, you can only deposit $18 USD at a time, up to like maybe 4 or 6 times a month.

I've changed my opinion of online security, and have lowered my credit card limit in case something does go wrong, so I may open a NetTeller or PayPal account in the near future.

At any rate, I deposited 2 X $18 USD about 6 months ago for a total stake of $36. I then played only shorthanded (5-max) tables. Once I had $80 I moved to 2-4, at $120 to 3-6, at $200 to 5-10, at $400 to 10-20, and then I waited until $1000 to play 25-50.

It took me about 3 weeks to accomplish this much. I was running good and playing well (pretty tight). I was also in this time reading 3 different books--HPFAP by Malmuth/Sklansky, Theory of Poker by Sklansky, and the utterly useless Hellmuth book. The first 2 helped me tremendously. Before reading these books I wouldn't have thought to call a river bet against an aggressive opponent heads-up with ace high. I wouldn't recommend making it an auto-call now, but in certain situations it is the right thing to do. I was playing a lot, like 6 to 10 hours a day online. I have a 'normal' job too, so my days were pretty full.

I then enjoyed tremendous success at the 25-50 short games. I built my stack up to 12k after about 2 weeks of 25-50. Cashed out 5k. I then repeated this exact thing (build to 12k, cash out 5k) 9 more times. Generally it took me a week to make the 5k, sometimes longer, sometimes shorter.

The last time I cashed out and left myself with 7k was about 6 weeks ago. I broke even for an entire month (what a waste of time...) and then lost my 7k to some pretty rough beats. What can I say. They happen. Also, the 'regular' players there lately are much better than the 'regulars' were 3 or 4 months ago. So, I had no real edge over the players, and I got cold cards (trips loses to str8, str8 to flush, flush to boat etc....), so I naturally lost my 7k. 7k isn't as much as you think it might be when you're playing 25-50 short.

So, I was in the weird position of having about 50k USD in a new US bank account, but no money at all at PokerRoom to play with. And no real desire to throw my hat into the ring and try again. Not there. There's usually only one 25-50 game going, and it usually has the same 3 or 4 solid players in it. The players who used to 'drift' in and out of it don't seem to be drifting much anymore--they either busted out or moved way down in limits.

Long and the short of it is I got good at the right time, made a run at it at the right time (and the right place), and I'm richer for having done so. I'm thinking I'll try to improve my tournament play now. There's a fixed objective, and more strategy based on the chips you have. For example, things you would do with a big stack you wouldn't dream of doing with a shortstack, and vise-versa. Your stack actually influences your decisions, which I enjoy. And after having played thousands and thousands of 5-max games, I'll stand a chance if I make it to any final tables.

PokerRoom's not the place for this. I'm thinking Party or Stars, probably Stars. I'll still play short games as well, because I think I can beat a lot of them. But right now I'm taking a break for a month from poker.

My girlfriend and I are going skiing in the rockies. My treat.

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Hope that answered some of your questions, sorry for the epic length, and thanks for your interest.

Regards,
all_aces