One way to improve your game...

[bernie]

This has been said before, but i think it's been awhile.

Say you're playing live 4-8. You have a roll of about 3-4k. Not enough to really move up, but...

Take about $3-500 and take a shot at 10-20. You'll likely lose right off the bat. The amount of money alone you'll likely play tighter than you should. That's ok. You don't have to lose your whole buy in. I wouldn't go that far. You may even win. But after playing a higher limit like this, it tends to make lots of things very clear that may have been clouded in lower limits.

Also, psychologically, it can help you play better, monetary-wise, when you go back to your normal limit. It may make your main limit seem alot easier to play. It did for me when i did this.

When i first did this way back, i immediately felt like i learned alot in doing it. I got shelled when i did it. But it was money well spent, imo. I think it works better live than online, but that may just be my bias/preference. I've noticed every limit i try above my normal limit, makes the previous limit that much easier. By a great margin.

Part of it is you may realize just how little your opponents think compared to the next higher limits. So you may not overthink yourself in giving players at said limit credit for actual sound play.

Anyways, just an idea to ponder.

b

[StellarWind]

.

[colgin]

Bernie,

Good post! I think the dear departed Vehn had said something like this a while ago in a post talking about breaking out of the low limit trap, or something to that effect. If I recall he suggested that rather than continuing to just mutlitable at low limits we take shots at higher games and really focus on one table of that higher game. Say you give yourself $300 at $5/10. If you get on a roll great; if not, go build up another $300 mini-roll at $3/6 or whatever and try again (and again).

A while back I tried this with $5/10. I wasn't intimidated by the play but did not get on any kind of roll and was not willing to tackle the limit fully heads on. So I dropped back and said that after my next $500 in winnins I would take another shot. After I made that $500 I decided that I would feel that much more comfortable taking a shot at the higher game if I had still $500 more. But after I made my next $500 I had the same feeling. This has gone on for a while and I realized I am long overdue for that next shot.

So, thanks for reminding me of this idea. I now plan to take another shot at the online $5/10 game. I will report back, of course.

Thanks.

Colgin

[slogger]

I'm glad someone said this. Of course, we've all heard before that "it's OK" to take a shot every now and then, but for some of us (me), I don't want to take a shot for the sake of taking a shot. Sure, playing in a bigger game is an attractive thought to me, but when I'm killing my regular game, I don't like to think about the idea of flushing 50 big bets down the toilet in a game where I'm not sure if I'll have an edge.

But I think what you say definitely has some merit. After a very strong month of 3/6 online, I spent about a week playing the occasional 5/10 game or two. Some at 6max, some at full tables. I lost a little in the 6max and won a little in the full rings, but more than anything, I felt more confident at 3/6 than ever before. And in the month and a half since, I've been destroying 3/6 and doing so while 4-tabling (my most extensive multi-tabling experience yet). I do plan on making the jump to to 5/10 more permanantly (hopefully) early next year as my bankroll is already more than healthy enough to give it a good month-long shot. But I think the idea that occasionally "playing up" will sharpen your game at the lower levels will inspire me to take more regular shots at the 5/10 between now and then.

Thanks for the encouragement.

Cheers!

[slogger]

Guess we're on the same train of thought. And there I was hoping that at 5/10, at least I wouldn't have to sit between you and bdk!

Silly me! [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[colgin]

[ QUOTE ]
Guess we're on the same train of thought. And there I was hoping that at 5/10, at least I wouldn't have to sit between you and bdk!


[/ QUOTE ]

[img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[shummie]

That's it! I'm playing the 6/12 HE game at the St. Louis Ameristar tomorrow. I've been killing 3/6 for a while now. Not playing too often, but winning consistently and feeling really good about myself. I'll let y'all know how it turns out.

- Jason

[Fat Nicky]

I don't have much to add to this great post, but since I have begun to dabble in 5/10 (even though my results have not been good), I have seen better results and have felt more confident playing 3/6.

[mikeyKay]

great post. just to add to it, taking a shot at a bigger limit also adds a ton of excitement and really makes you want to play your A game. if you are getting bored of multi-tabling like a robot, take a shot at the big boys.

-mike

[spamuell]

Thanks for the idea, I just thought that I'd add to people reading this, don't get carried away. Consider you could take a shot and lose your whole roll that has taken you however long to build, and it would take as long to build again (maybe even longer if you bonus-whored and can't do that again).

It will be much quicker to reach the higher limits by playing sensibly at a limit where you're unlikely to go broke than by taking shots and hoping to get lucky but probably losing and having to start building again.

Maybe for some of you who have more disposable income this is for you, but it's not for me.