A Month Off...

[xGoreDudex]

I'm a couple of weeks into taking a month of poker, mainly because im on vaction in another country. I've brought a few books down with me to study hard with in the evenings. I have brought TOP and SSHE, I've been re-reading and studying SSHE in sections instead of one big read, and been able to identify that I was playing pretty weak tight for the most part.

So anyway, a few more weeks of studying is ahead and hopefully be able to get to work on applying these concepts. Anyway, I'm just curious about a few things.

How many thousand of hands does it typically take a winning player to reach $2/4-$3/6 and do well. I had been playing $1/2 for about 30k hands and had a win-rate of 1.5/100 which is pretty useless for that sample size.

I know there is probably no, once you hit x many hands you should be here, just more curious as to what some of you pooh-bahs were able to accomplish and what things you were able to do to play a solid Small Stakes game.

Thanks.

G.

[car ramrod]

if you have the bankroll and feel ready, take a shot, move down if you get shook up. Try it again later. You will never really know until you try.

There is plenty of info about this, try searching for some of the threads.

[jaxUp]

yeah, a search would do you a lot of good here...personally I played about 50k hands before I moved up to 2/4. However, I jumped right from .5/1 to 2/4 (which i don't recommend). I probably could have moved up sooner, but I lacked the confidence.

I then played 50k hands of 2/4 before going into 3/6 6max with almost no previous 6max experience (another move I don't recommend).

But really, what it comes down to is BR and comfort level. If you think you might be ready, take a shot and move down if you lose. If the 2/4 game looks particularly good one day, sit for a session and see how it goes. There's no rule that says you have to exclusively play one limit.

[bozlax]

FWIW, I played waaaaaay more hands of .5/1 than I should have, and I feel it actually slowed my move to 1/2. I got too used to playing loosies and wound up losing a lot of bets with top pair, etc, hands...I call it IATMUYBS (I Am The Monster Under Your Bed Syndrome). (I am now finding, playing 1/2 6max, that IATMUYBS is my friend, but 'Stars 1/2 6max is softer than Tia Carrera's fanny so I'm not putting a whole lot of stock in that.)

I finally discovered that playing .5/1 one day and 1/2 the next for a couple of weeks (and not moving between limits on any given day, regardless of what might be happening to my BR) helped me a lot in learning to identify table texture and change gears. Then came the 15BB Challenges, which further improved my ability to identify table texture and change gears, by teaching me to do so without changing limit/table.

[deception5]

I usually like to get 10k hands at a level and then reevaluate. It's not enough to be sure I'm a winner but if I'm at 3BB/100 or higher over that many hands there's a pretty good chance. I like to challenge myself so sitting at a limit for another 10k hands when I'm beating it for 3BB/100 doesn't sound very fun (unless I'm playing high enough that it's a ton of money [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]).

It does depend on the limit and game type though as different winrates are achievable against better/worse players. You should also have a sense of how you are faring in a game. Do you tilt often? Do you feel like you are consistantly the best player at the table? Are you always calling down with the second best hand? Usually when the answer to these questions is yes for me I'll stay put for a while longer (or even move down) regardless of winrate, sample sizes, etc.

At my current limit, my first 7k were breakeven after a 120BB crash and now I'm finally up to around .8BB/100 overall. But I'm staying there unless the game proves to me that I'm a significant loser. I'm learning a ton and as long as I'm not a losing player there's no reason not to challenge myself.

[Nomad84]

My current move-up plan is pretty straightforward, but not set in stone. I decided on it because I feel that I play pretty well, but I am not being aggressive enough with my move-ups. Bonuses have added a ton to my roll, but I've still been hesitant to move up. I made the decision a few weeks back to be more aggressive. First, a bit of history so you know where I'm coming from.

I started at .5/1 and played it for something like 9300 hands or so. I moved to the 1/2 game and after a rocky, marginally profitable first 2k hands, I made the necessary adjustments. I also ran pretty hot and had beaten 1/2 for a very good rate after a total of around 6k hands. I had enough of a roll from that and from bonuses to be financially comfortable at the 2/4, so I moved up. A combination of bad luck and bad play left me at -50BB after 5k hands. At first I was just uncomfortable with the higher stakes, then I the bad results got into my head to some extent. I was doing to much at that time, including working full time an hour from home. I ended up not playing much more for the rest of the summer. When I started playing again this semester, I decided to start at the .5/1 again to get back into the groove of things and build my confidence. After that, I jumped back to 2/4 and decided on my move-up plan.

Basically, I took $1200 of my roll and set it aside for the 2/4 game. I played 2/4 until I reached a total of $1800 excluding bonuses. An insane rush of cards (including a 108BB day) had me there in no time. The plan was to take that $1800 to 3/6, but only take a 50BB shot. If I lost the 50BB before I reached a level of comfort, I'd drop back to 2/4 and win it back. If I had 2 failed shots, I'd start winning back more than the 50BB loss each time I dropped down. Currently, after dropping to a low of around -45 BB, I'm back to -15BB and building. Hopefully I can stick around. When I can, I will make the same move at 300BB for 5/10. After 5/10 I may reconsider, but I will probably try to keep this move-up strategy as long as I feel that I have a distinct edge at whatever limit I am playing at the time. I am curious just how far I can go.

This move-up strategy insures that I am adequately bankrolled for whatever limit I play (I have additional bankroll from bonuses too, so I'm actually overrolled by quite a bit) and it prevents me from hanging around the low limits too long and missing out on profit at the higher limits. It also is easier on me psychologically to have a predetermined move-down point. I find that it keeps me from second-guessing my play excessively and it keeps me playing better at the new limit. Basically it's one less thing to worry about. I don't have to be concerned about what to do if I go on a -100BB streak all of a sudden because I know it can't happen, at least not at that limit. It may not be the best strategy for everyone, and many people may feel that 50BB isn't a big enough shot, but I figure 50 is quick enough to rebuild that I can give it another shot relatively soon if it comes down to it.

Just my ideas on the matter...

[edit]I wanted to add that if I happen to go on another rediculous rush and blow through a level in less than 5k hands, I may stick around until at least 5k just to get a better feel for that level before moving on. I guess I won't know for sure until it happens though.[/edit]