Stuck at small stakes? (cross-posted at Dr. Al's suggestion)

[Bob T.]

UB, stars, and true.

[Ponks]

How are those games there? I've been thinking about moving up myself, but I definitely think I need to log some more hands at 5/10. I wasnt sure whether to just jump right into the 15/30 game or play the 10/20 at party. I hate not having so many 10 person tables because I play 8 at once. Maybe I could try 4 10/20 and 4 5/10 at party, I dunno. How are the 10/20 at other sites compared to the 5/10 at party I guess is what I'm asking.

Thanks
Ponks

[ike]

Higher limit players = bigger egos
I've watched alot of 15/30s and 30/60s, especially shorthanded, turn into pissing contests where multiple bets go in on every street and king high takes it down. people playing 5/10 more rarely have this kind of ego thing going.

[ike]

UB 10/20 is much tighter and much more aggressive than party 5/10 and opponents are generally more competent.

[BobbyD]

Hi Milo - been there, done that. I posted the same thing a couple of months ago. I had beat Party 2/4 to the tune of a couple thousand BB's (I just got Poker Tracker so unknown win rate) but every time I stepped up to 3/6 I would get just spanked.

But I forced myself to stick it out and gave up 2/4 entirely and am now beating 3/6 solidly. It IS a different game but there is no doubt you can adjust. If you can beat 2/4 you can beat 3/6. I predict you'll have a nice session - win big - and the rest will be history.

A word of advice - you'll need to become more aggressive - you MUST attempt to steal blinds and follow through - very profitable on 3/6 (just don't be stupid about it).

[colgin]

Great post as usual Bob. At each level I have had the same issue you discuss with the greater $ swings and taking time to start just thinking in terms of Big Bets. I had this for a long time at $3/6 but now am primarily a $3/6 player and don't worry about several hundred dollar swings. However, I still have the same issue at $5/10 where I just dabble.

Also, the games do get a little tougher. At $2/4 you can still make a few too many mistakes and still be a decent winner. At the tighter and more aggressive $3/6 and up tables your mistakes really start cutting into your earn. At UB I play very well because I have a good read on the players and have a good earn rate. At Party I have a particular leak that I am in the process of trying to plug. My earn at Party has been less than at UB but since I started fixing my game there I have seen my rate start to climb. I don't play nearly as many hands as many posters here since I only have about an hour a day to play so I hope to see some rapid increase in my BB/100 rate over the next month or so.

Winning players at lower levels should not get discouraged too quickly. For most of us it does take some time to adjust to different game conditions.

All the best,

Colgin

[MAxx]

I am absolutely amazed that anyone could play 8 tables at once. Occasionally, I am playing 3 tables at once b/c I am trying to decide which game is jucier. I find it much harder to make good decisions w/3 games going b/c I do not have a chance to get player reads while flipping from table to table. Hearing that someone could be successful at 8 tables at a time just blows my mind. Are you using one computer? Any secrets?

[Blarg]

Choose 3/6 or 5/10 for a while and just play the one.

Make sure your bankroll is high enough. You shouldn't be sweating what happens in 4k or expecting to make lasting decisions on that basis. Even if your bankroll is huge, if you're sweating 4k hand, maybe you need to stay at $2/4 a bit longer or dump more into your account so even 4k of losing hands doesn't seem like a big deal to you.

[Bob T.]

There are slight style differences between the sites that take a little getting used to. UB has more aggressive play, True is a lot more passive. The only difference that a player playing 8 tables needs to be concerned with is that at UB, the game is usually played abut 20% faster than at the other sites. I frequently play 3 tables, but at UB, three is a real test of my concentration, and I think I have a dropoff if I play that many. But since you get more hands in per table, it all balances out.

[Ponks]

No real secrets. I play all 8 on my laptop 1400x1000 resolution. All I do is make the task bar along the button bigger so windows doesnt condense the tables into Party Poker (5). That way when one is blinking I can just click. I've gotten pretty used to 8 by now, just start slowly. I can even talk on aim and surf around 2+2 a little.

Ponks