Good time for a break? and a bit about me

[Cooker]

First a history of my poker career. I started playing about a year and 3 months ago learning from Play Poker Like the Pros by Phil Hellmuth (I know it stinks). I was up and down (usually down) and ended up blowing through about $300 dollars at the low limit tables (a bit more than that when you consider bonuses and such but that much of my money). I finally found Sklansky's book and started turning things around after a couple of months. (I am a fairly poor Graduate Student in physics with a wife and 2 kids by the way). Last February, I finally broke totally even in poker and cashed out feeling quite good about myself (and never having to come clean to my wife). I dipped back in with $50 after a few weeks off, and turned that into a few thousand dollars. I paid back all my poker book purchases to the family account (and the original $50 to get back in), paid for a weekend family trip, paid for my parking, and fees for the summer and fall out of my poker money and am right now at about $1000 bucks in my BR. I have played mostly .5/1 LHE with a fair amount of $25 and $50 NL HE, $25 and $50 PLO, $25 and $50 PLO8, 1/2 LHE, 2/4 LHE, .5/1 LO8, 1/2 stud, and vairous SnGs and MTTs ranging from $5 to $25 buy-ins (I have even played micro limit triple draw and crazy pineapple little). Thats me in a nutshell.

I am coming off a brutal losing streak at limit holdem (my success at PLO and PLO8 still have me pretty nicely in the green over the past month, but it is frustrating), so I think now is a good time to take some time off from poker and reflect on my future as a player (I do think I will reread SSH to see if I have developed any bad habits too during the break). Here is my basic dilemma as I see it. I want to move up, because I have been a consistent winner for well over 10,000 hands at the low limits and I believe I can make more money playing at higher limits. I feel like $1000 is plenty of bankroll to play more regularly at limits more like 2/4 and 3/6 if I will move down when I hit a losing streak or the $50-$100 buy in big bet games (maybe the $100 is a bit high, but I should take some shots from time to time). So what is the problem? $1000 is a lot of money to my family right now. If I did go bust (although I have taken out more than $2000 already in profits) I would feel like I should have just taken the money. However, by not moving up, I feel like I am not growing as a poker player and losing the chance to make significant money which could ease our money situation even more. I will probably quit being such a nit and move up, because I figure to have a nice paying job when I get my Ph. D. (I am working on a concurrent master's in finance and figure to get a job as a quantative analyst in the near future, so $1000 shouldn't be too big a deal).

I am posting this here, because I figure others might be or have already gone through similar situations. Any advice or comments would be appreciated.

[Pov]

I think your analysis is spot on. $1000 should be enough for you to start taking shots at $2/$4 if you're ready to drop back down to $1/$2 if you happen to hit a losing streak. Moving up after your significant success is a very good goal and you should pursue it.

However, if you are going to pursue it - do it whole-heartedly. Do not play weak with your money because you think you should withdraw it for you family. If you need it for your family then take it out. Never play with what you aren't willing to lose - it's just too easy to play weak and as you move up in limits this will become more and more of a detriment. The games will get more aggressive and you'll have to be willing to play aggressively and push your edges.

[RED_RAIN]

I agree entirely with this post.

Only thing I would add is, 2/4 is a lot harder than .5/1 or 1/2 but it also is one of the best games and probably bigger $ than 3/6 (even though you learn more at 3/6). I'd take a shot at 2/4 and build a heavily bankroll and move up when you have 300 BBs for 3/6.

[gergery]

Your posts and comments on PLO8 and O8 are very good. You can beat higher $ limit games. I'm surprised you are playing that low frankly.

I went on a horrible run 9 months ago and lost 60% of my bankroll. I was down to my last $30 before needing to reload. I dropped from $10-20 to .5-1 and built back up. So you can play and win with very small $ amounts.

Just keep and use what you are comfortable with. and recognize that you have the knowledge to be a signficant winner at poker.

-g

I am glad to hear you are doing so well!

It was an awsome idea to put your first winnings into paying back the family account and investing in school fees.

It sounds like you could take a shot at 2/4 if (and only if) you are willing to loose the money. Remember that even for the best players poker is a high yeild/high risk investment. There will be swings up and down even if you are doing everything right. The important thing is to stay calm.

If you decide to take a shot and you hit a bad run for whatever reason, remember that you can drop back down to 1/2 before you go bust.