Move to $1/2 level ?

[Obliky]

I also just recently moved to 1/2.. i have to say that the players are much better. They still play too many hands, however they are much more aggro.
I got c/r on the flop more in one 1/2 session than i have in 1,000s of hands at 0.5/1.

However, it is immediately obvious to me that they are beatable...just more tricky.

I have been thinking alot recently about what makes one game more difficult than another. I believe a large part of the difficulty of a particular game is the aggressiveness of your average opponent. At 1/2 the players are more aggressive than 0.5/1, therefore you get into situations that you arent used to getting into or out of more often.

[bottomset]

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its a better game if you can beat both

but if you can't beat 1/2, you won't beat 2/4

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If I beat .01/.02 one day, I'm probably ready though right? It definitely is a good point though. Sometimes people think that if they can get to a level where people will "respect" their raises or other plays they can finally win.

How different is the play at that level on Party? Are players much better, tighter, looser, aggressive? Are there about the same number of players to the flop or more hands HU? Sorry for all the questions, but I just like to get a feel for a higher level before I try it.

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the players aren't much better, a little more aggro

but if you are a losing 1/2 player, you aren't magically going to be a winner at 2/4

[kiemo]

Looking at my graph above you see I had a rough start as well at 1/2 and then kicked butt for almost 10k hands. And have since hit a horrid cold run, which has maginfied probably alot of bad playing.

I personally think 1/2 is much much harder to win at then .5/1 becuase you arent getting 4-5 people calling down with second pair all the time. These bloated pots at .5/1 are so frequent its easy to make alot of small mistakes and just make up for them when you hit the big one. At 1/2 I personally I find myself either winning small pots or losing big pots (especially with AJ, its like those cards just have suck me out written on them), but I probably nut peddle a little too much (which you can easily do at .5/1), and again I really think I have run really bad for the last 2 months.

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Hi all,Players reraised me with 24o and rivered out my flopped sets, top pairs lost to runner, runner two bottom pairs, etc.

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if this is happening an inordinately large amount of times then it is variance. You should love to play against players like this. Just make sure you are protecting your hands adequately so as not to offer them correct odds to chase these crappy draws.

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That's great advice of course. Shame when you cap preflop with AA and then raise after an innocuous flop, a guy sticks in there, catches a 5 on the turn and a 3 on the river to give him, YES, a straight, with A4o.

Catch a handful of those and you're in a 100BB+ downswing right there. Of course, long term you want to play these total idiots, but short term if can really screw up your game and your bankroll when you're on the beating end of it, even when you have a 300BB+ roll to play with.

I was over 150BB down very quickly on my move to 1/2. I've pulled it back to about 100B down over 8k hands but the suck outs because they can't fold their Ax and they keep on hitting their 3 outer come the river. Hell, I had someone hit their 1 outer the other day against me on the river. Caller in early position with 88, I had K8 in the BB, Flop was Kxx, raised from BB, called... hit my two pair on the river, of course he made trips. I really wish I didn't have quite so many of these stories at 1/2. Barely had any before, and I'm not (believe it or not) one to complain. Hell, I'm not complaining - I really do want to play these guys, just I'd rather they stopped sucking out on me!

So yeah, I'm just bitter at the moment. My poor bankroll [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

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I think $1 $2 full can be tough if you are not running well. Most pots are 2 or 3 handed and you often have to make a decent hand to get the dough. Also if you get cold-decked and suffer a load of beats it is hard to fight back. The classical situation where you only get action if you are about to suckout, whilst your flop bet with aces full meets with 4 folds. I have grown ever frustrated with $1 $2 full because of this.

[/ QUOTE ]Yes, this.

I'm hoping it turns around because I'm not really enjoying myself at $1/2 at the moment and I really don't want to be at this level just because it's where the bonuses can be cleared. I want to be winning, and winning well!

[kiemo]

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I'm hoping it turns around because I'm not really enjoying myself at $1/2 at the moment and I really don't want to be at this level just because it's where the bonuses can be
cleared. I want to be winning, and winning well!

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See my graph - I think we are soulmates! Know that I share in your misery.

[Guthrie]

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After 30K at 1/2 I'm down 250BB. I win the small pots and lose the big ones.

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It seems very stretchy to consider this to be substantially due to variance.

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Hence my concern.

[adsman]

Before I moved back up to 1/2 full I searched around to get as much good advice as I could. Tiltaholic posted a fantastic thread on moving up to 1/2, (which you never followed up on!! lol), and I found a lot of other good advice as well.
Subsequently, when I made the move I kicked butt. The advice that helped me the most, without doubt, I mean nothing else even came close, was seat selection.

Specifically, you want the TAG's on your left so you can constantly steal their blinds and the button, and you want the loose callers on your right so you know you are going to get the odds to play your hand even if it is raised behind you.
I open 4 tables and datamine them for half an hour. I identufy the good ones and put myself on the waiting list. If a seat comes up that doesn't conform to the above criteria, (ie TAG on your right etc), I reject the seat and go back on the waiting list. This sounds like you could be waiting hours for a table. After putting myself on the waiting list the most I have ever had to wait using this method is ten minutes.

On the lower limits table and seat selection are not very important. You're almost always going to get a good game. Not so when you move up. Pick your tables carefully. Pick your seat with even more care.

[tiltaholic]

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Tiltaholic posted a fantastic thread on moving up to 1/2, (which you never followed up on!! lol

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i'm lazy...and basically the punchline is - "become a better player than the opposition". which would be a long post...

[TomBrooks]

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Players reraised me with 24o and rivered out my flopped sets, top pairs lost to runner, runner two bottom pairs, etc.

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I suspect those things are not the problem.

[Pedigree]

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Before I moved back up to 1/2 full I searched around to get as much good advice as I could. Tiltaholic posted a fantastic thread on moving up to 1/2, (which you never followed up on!! lol), and I found a lot of other good advice as well.
Subsequently, when I made the move I kicked butt. The advice that helped me the most, without doubt, I mean nothing else even came close, was seat selection.

Specifically, you want the TAG's on your left so you can constantly steal their blinds and the button, and you want the loose callers on your right so you know you are going to get the odds to play your hand even if it is raised behind you.
I open 4 tables and datamine them for half an hour. I identufy the good ones and put myself on the waiting list. If a seat comes up that doesn't conform to the above criteria, (ie TAG on your right etc), I reject the seat and go back on the waiting list. This sounds like you could be waiting hours for a table. After putting myself on the waiting list the most I have ever had to wait using this method is ten minutes.

On the lower limits table and seat selection are not very important. You're almost always going to get a good game. Not so when you move up. Pick your tables carefully. Pick your seat with even more care.

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Is there anything wrong with just looking at Party Poker and sorting the tables by average pot size and getting on the waiting list for the 3 highest?