Dropping Back Down

[usi34]

Not sure if this goes here but I'll give it a shot, if this is the wrong forum please direct me to the right one and i'll be glad to go there, but i feel some psychology is involved.
Here's some background. Im a 19(turning 20 tomorrow) sophomore in college. About 5 1/2 months ago I started bonuswhoring. I worked my way around building my bankroll. Recently my girlfriend went out of town and I had a lot more time to play. I turned my $3500 bankroll into about 18,000 in a little over a month. I always play NL, usually .50/1. I took a shot playing 2/4NL and it paid off. I got to 12,000 and started playing 3/6NL. I continued doing well.

Every once in awhile i would sit down at the 5/10NL table. By the time I got to 18,000 I found my self 3 tabling these 5/10NL tables. I won at first but recently have dropped about 3 buy-ins. So now I have a little over 15,000.

I just dont' know where to go from here. Losing this 3,000 hurt. Although I am financially secure, it just made me feel really bad losing this money. I'm still a huge winner and have a nice bankroll for someone my age.

Do I drop back down to 3/6NL or 2/4NL until I get around 20,000?
Do I take a few weeks off?
Do I keep playing 5/10NL?
or do I quit complaining like a bitch because I've lost a little bit of my bankroll?

Any advice would be appreciated.

[Pepsquad]

[ QUOTE ]
Not sure if this goes here but I'll give it a shot, if this is the wrong forum please direct me to the right one and i'll be glad to go there, but i feel some psychology is involved.
Here's some background. Im a 19(turning 20 tomorrow) sophomore in college. About 5 1/2 months ago I started bonuswhoring. I worked my way around building my bankroll. Recently my girlfriend went out of town and I had a lot more time to play. I turned my $3500 bankroll into about 18,000 in a little over a month. I always play NL, usually .50/1. I took a shot playing 2/4NL and it paid off. I got to 12,000 and started playing 3/6NL. I continued doing well.

Every once in awhile i would sit down at the 5/10NL table. By the time I got to 18,000 I found my self 3 tabling these 5/10NL tables. I won at first but recently have dropped about 3 buy-ins. So now I have a little over 15,000.

I just dont' know where to go from here. Losing this 3,000 hurt. Although I am financially secure, it just made me feel really bad losing this money. I'm still a huge winner and have a nice bankroll for someone my age.

Do I drop back down to 3/6NL or 2/4NL until I get around 20,000?
Do I take a few weeks off?
Do I keep playing 5/10NL?
or do I quit complaining like a bitch because I've lost a little bit of my bankroll?

Any advice would be appreciated.

[/ QUOTE ]

I won money so I move up. And then I won money so I moved up. And then I won money and...

About the only thing that is certain from reading your post is that you are a winning .50/1 NL player. It sounds like you progressed so quickly through other limits to $5/$10 that it's impossible to tell which limit you should be at. Personally, I'd (at least temporarily) drop back to $2/4 and play at least 20-30K hands before trying to make another jump.

Also, congrats on your recent success! I'm happy for you.

I think you've pretty much answered your own question. I remember having a situation similar to yours when I was approximately the same age. However, I was card counting and playing blackjack. I took a bank loan for $2,000 dollars (parents cosigned thinking I was buying a computer) and played $10 blackjack. I did well enough to pay the loan off and accumulate a $23,000 bankroll after a few months. Unfortunately, I moved up really fast and was playing $100 tables when I went cold then tilted. I lost $5,000 in one night and then started acting as though the sky had falled. I wanted to win that money back ASAP because my mindset was such that I had just lost $5,000! Of course, I did lose but I was still far ahead of the game.

You need to keep this in perspective. Also, the losing streak was inevitable. It appears you're likely on a rush (you didn't identify how long it took you to accumulate this bankroll, btw). Remember, all good things must come to an end. Even if you're a winning player you will have to learn to accept these set backs.

Apparently you're mature enough to know better to reflect and ask for advice. I commend you on that. My suggestion is to take a break from the game if you feel upset. Also, you might learn something about yourself by not playing for a while (like if you have addictive urges to play too much). Also, some retrospective reflection on how you got to where you are could be helpful.

If you persist in playing my advice is to drop down in limits and try to repeat your previous success. The importance of a sufficient bankroll cannot be stressed enough. I personally have 1400 big bets and I play limit holdem at .5/1 and 1/2! Another thing, I would set a stop-loss if you still lose at the lower limits. Then it might be time for a very long vacation from the game. Don't blow all the money you've accumulated! At your age you can really put that money to good use for your future (investments in mutual funds, stocks, bonds, college education, etc). Think twice about trying to maintain a professional or semi-professional poker playing routine. If you can't duplicate your success over a long period of time that's perfectly fine. Just don't lose that bankroll!

BTW, I've just turned 31 and I had several big runs in my teens and twenties. Inevitably, I lacked mental discipline and kept moving up and up in limits till 'variance' or 'tilt' seriously damaged my bankroll. Only in recent years have I become a consistent performer by staying at reasonable limits and being disciplined.

Good luck and do something constructive with that money!

JeffreyREBT "Wherein I don't promise to make you rich without trying, or even trying very hard; I do promise to say things that will make you FEEL rich."