Fear of a bigger game

[Mr. Curious]

I think that it is natural to have fear when you are playing in a game with a limit that is higher than you are used to. After all, the sheer amount of each bet is typically a lot more than you have been playing with and some of the pots can be as much as you were buying in for at the lower limit game.

And it is ok to have that fear.

Just remember to acknowledge and accept it.
Let it play out in your head.
Understand why it is that you are afraid of that game.

If you are afraid of going broke, then you are not ready to play at that limit.

If you are taking a shot and can afford to lose a buy-in, then maybe you just need to stop thinking about the amount of money and instead focus on the bets made or saved.

If you are afraid of the players, then maybe it would be worth it to play super tight and just absorb the action of the game. You don't have to blow your buy-in trying to play like them.

And remember not to let the fear be the reason that you leave the game, let the game itself dictate if you should leave.
Just like at any other limit.

[bigwavedave]

Thanks for this insite, I have been avioding going up in limit even though I have built my bankroll up high enough to do so. This post helped me think about this issue from a different angle...thanks.

[pyedog]

Yeah, I'm in the same boat being too afraid or lacking in motivation to move up in stakes online. I'm still plugging away at 1-2 limit clearing bonuses.

I finally got the balls to try 10-20 limit live though (after playing and winning a decent amount at 5-10 about 12 times before that) because the 5-10 line was so long. 10-20 went really well in my first session and I won 45 BBs. But I also got dealt aces 4 times in 7 hours and they all held up, as well as rivering a 4 out full house in a huge pot, so I know that I was running well.

The thing is, that despite my win, when I think back on my session I realize a couple of spots where I missed value. Once being too scared to raise a somewhat passive player when I had two pair, and another time slowplaying for no reason on a board when I flopped trips in an unraised multiway pot (with draws on board!). I also felt that there were about 5 other good regulars in the game along with a couple weak spots, so my advantage felt small. Even the regulars were too loose with cold calls, but still they were pretty good. I also know that I would be a little bothered by losing $600 in a night, which is very reasonable at those stakes.

Now I need to decide what stakes to play on my next live casino visit (which I do every two weeks or so). I think I will return back to 5-10 until I feel fully comfortable that I can beat that game regularly.

The bizarre thing to me is that two nights after doing great at 10-20 live I was back to multitabling 0.5-1 online clearing a bonus on Paradise. I guess I just like the near certainty of the win versus trying to beat tough players at 2-4 or whatever. But it does seem like I have extreme risk aversion for online play (with a big bankroll and quite a bit of experience) and maybe too low risk aversion for playing live (taking a shot at 10-20 after only 20 total casino visits and with a smaller bankroll). I also have no ability to read player's tells whatsoever, which I guess isn't a huge deal in these stakes limit games anyways.

[gildwulf]

Excellent post. When I move up in cash games I make sure of a couple things...

1) start with one table
2) absolutely no looking at cashier during play
3) think as much as possible of the money as units of betting...i.e. try and abstract the money if I can. This works well depending on how much you jump up (i.e. from 3/6 to 5/10 this might be easier than from 10/20 to 30/60).

If multitabling helps you avoid tilt then a better method that helps with fear is adding tables at higher limits very slowly. I.e. if you are 4-tabling $50 SNGs start with 3 tables of $50 SNG and 1 table of $100. When you are comfortable with that move to 2 $50 and 2 $100. Keep going until you feel more and more comfortable with the units of betting.

Zach

[Pog0]

if you regularly 8 table 1/2, mix it up. do 6 1/2 and 2 2/4, then 4 and 4, then just go all out 2/4. That can work.

I took a different approach. After several months and 60k+ hands of winning at 1/2, 8-tabling, I took about 4 days off, then when I came back I opened up 8 tables of 2/4 and just went from there. I suppose running well for the initial period after moving up helped.

Running poorly when you initially move up can be devestating to your psyche. Just assure yourself that you're sitting at profitable tables and suck it up.

The psychological issues are a legitimate concern. One problem, say you have 6 tables of 1/2 and 2 of 2/4, you'll find yourself paying more attention at 2/4, and sometimes even trying extra hard to win pots there and you'll resign yourself to FPS and actually be playing worse by focusing more... it's that autopilot instant reaction style of play that's been working at 1/2. Try not to deviate from that, at least not until you become accustomed to the $ units at the higher level. You'll get used to the money. I was nervous stepping into my first 1/2 game and now I play 5/10 like it's nothing.

[smoore]

As an additional point, the more time you spend in scary situations, the less scary they become.

The easiest example I can think of is getting an intermediate skiier/snowboarder to step up his/her game. The first time they follow you into a bumpy, steep run you can see the fear on thier face. They survive (although it's never pretty) and at the bottom you see relief. After a few times in this situation the fear is no longer on thier face (they realize they aren't going to die), even though it's still not pretty. Once they reach this point they are actually starting to ride the run instead of letting the run ride them.