Taking a Shot

lil feller · #1 09-20-2005, 01:24 AM

Hi Guys.

I'm mostly a B&M player, most 20/40 and 30/60. I play online too, party 15/30 mostly and over a small sample have done fairly well. I've spent the last year focusing some on my game, but a lot on my game selection/rejection and in honestly evaluating how I stand in a game. Given that i'm good at that, here's the question.

I'm going to be taking a minor road trip to a place that, on occasion, spreads what I hear is a good 50/100 game. I want to play (i've played 40/80 like 3 times, the money doesn't bug me), but i'm curious about suggestions for a stop limit should things go poorely.

How many bets should I quit at? As it stands right now I could lose 40 big bets and still be at a 300 30/60 BB roll. Do I have the funds to take this shot, or should I stick with what I know?

Thanks,

lf

James282 · #2 09-20-2005, 01:25 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Hi Guys.

I'm mostly a B&M player, most 20/40 and 30/60. I play online too, party 15/30 mostly and over a small sample have done fairly well. I've spent the last year focusing some on my game, but a lot on my game selection/rejection and in honestly evaluating how I stand in a game. Given that i'm good at that, here's the question.

I'm going to be taking a minor road trip to a place that, on occasion, spreads what I hear is a good 50/100 game. I want to play (i've played 40/80 like 3 times, the money doesn't bug me), but i'm curious about suggestions for a stop limit should things go poorely.

How many bets should I quit at? As it stands right now I could lose 40 big bets and still be at a 300 30/60 BB roll. Do I have the funds to take this shot, or should I stick with what I know?

Thanks,

lf

[/ QUOTE ]

Take the shot. If you're beating the lower limits by any decent margin you'll beat the higher limit too.
-James

lil feller · #3 09-20-2005, 01:27 AM

What qualifies as beating the game? 1bb/hour, 2?

lf

James282 · #4 09-20-2005, 01:34 AM

[ QUOTE ]
What qualifies as beating the game? 1bb/hour, 2?

lf

[/ QUOTE ]

If you're playing live, you won't be able to accurately distinguish how much you make per hour according to your true rate unless you have put in ungodly amounts of time. If you are a reasonable, realistic and self-critical person, but often feel like you are the best player at the table at these limits, then 40 80 will likely be a cinch.
-James

DcifrThs · #5 09-20-2005, 01:39 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Hi Guys.

I'm mostly a B&M player, most 20/40 and 30/60. I play online too, party 15/30 mostly and over a small sample have done fairly well. I've spent the last year focusing some on my game, but a lot on my game selection/rejection and in honestly evaluating how I stand in a game. Given that i'm good at that, here's the question.

I'm going to be taking a minor road trip to a place that, on occasion, spreads what I hear is a good 50/100 game. I want to play (i've played 40/80 like 3 times, the money doesn't bug me), but i'm curious about suggestions for a stop limit should things go poorely.

How many bets should I quit at? As it stands right now I could lose 40 big bets and still be at a 300 30/60 BB roll. Do I have the funds to take this shot, or should I stick with what I know?

Thanks,

lf

[/ QUOTE ]

many of us wouldn't be where we are w/o taking shots.

go for it.

Barron

lil feller · #6 09-20-2005, 01:40 AM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
What qualifies as beating the game? 1bb/hour, 2?

lf

[/ QUOTE ]

If you're playing live, you won't be able to accurately distinguish how much you make per hour according to your true rate unless you have put in ungodly amounts of time. If you are a reasonable, realistic and self-critical person, but often feel like you are the best player at the table at these limits, then 40 80 will likely be a cinch.
-James

[/ QUOTE ]

I've played a lot of hours, not sure about ungodly. At any rate, very helpful insight, thanks. Should I decide to go for it, i'll post how it turns out.

lf

lil feller · #7 09-21-2005, 02:48 AM

I hate to do this, but does anybody else out there have an opinion? If I go for it, how many BB should I set as a stop loss? Should I have a win stop?

thanks,

lf

JAA · #8 09-21-2005, 02:54 AM

I would definitely do it. Taking shots is a great way to accelerate your progression through the limits. Of course, sometimes you will lose and go back to your old limit with a renewed sense of humility. But more frequently (assuming you can beat the limit) you will go on a good run and never look back.

As far as stop losses and stop wins, I'm not a big believer in them. If you lose so much that it will psychologically affect your play you should probably take a few days off and move back down to your old limit. Once you rebuild a bit you can try again. IMO, if you start out winning you should stay at that limit and see what happens (unless you are objective and honest enough to recognize that you don't quite have the game beat yet)..

This mindset has helped me move up a lot faster than the traditional "500-600 BB plus 4 months living expenses" bankroll would have. And, most of the time, I regretted not "taking a shot" at the new limit earlier than I had.

- Jags

Tommy Angelo · #9 09-21-2005, 03:35 AM

lil feller,

You might consider eliminating the phrase “taking a shot” from your speech, writing, and thoughts. You are not “taking a shot” when you play a limit higher than you’ve played before. What you are doing is you are playing a limit higher than you have played before. That’s it. Just like you have done in the past, just like millions have done multiple times. It’s not something to second guess before you even do it. It’s just something to do or not, like any selection, like folding, or changing seats.

I also think it might be a good idea if instead of thinking of yourself as a $15-30 to $30-60 player, and then thinking of $50-100 as something removed, think instead of all three games as being the range that you will tend to select from when you play these days, it’s just that so far, you have not actually sat in all the games of your range yet. But you know you will play all the games of your range eventually, and when you do play $50-100, it will simply be part of the gradual process of change that you will always be going through. You don’t need to take a shot. You just need to take a seat.

golferbrent · #10 09-21-2005, 03:41 AM

as usual another great post. I think you rather succinctly summed up the decision!

To the OP:

In my opinion you should absolutely have a go at 50/100. You will never know if you can handle it if you don't. Also, I am a big believer in giving things a try for the experience of it. You may find that you will play even better because you are even more focused since it is new territory! GL