The 2/4 to 3/6 Jump

[Festus22]

Please indulge me as I know this topic has been discussed at length but I'd like an opinion from an EV perspective.

I just crossed the +400 BB milestone in 2/4 earnings. My win rate is 2.51 BB/100 and I have around 16K hands of 2/4 in PokerTracker (I've played more but lost a bunch of data when my old PC crashed). I'm pretty comfortable playing 4 tables now so on an hourly basis, it comes out to around $20/Hr.

Sooooo...do I make the jump to 3/6 because that's the next logical step? Play just one 3/6 table and maybe two 2/4's and really focus on the 3/6? Is it really worth it?

To maintain my hourly rate, I'd have to make about 2.5 BB/100 3-tabling or 1.66 BB/100 4 tabling. And that's just to break even. So in reality, I would need to make 2 BB/100 4-tabling to make it worthwhile.

My gut as well as a lot of posts here tells me 3/6 is more than 20% harder than 2/4 so the jump may not be +EV. Also, I don't think my 2.5 BB/100 rate at 2/4 is good enough to consider the move. My guess is that most of you successful 3/6 players beat the 2/4 game for higher than this.

So what does everyone think?

PS: I've also been playing a ton of 6-max games recently and although I'm just breaking even, it is helping my aggression a ton. Is this a good training ground prior to a 3/6 move?

[Phil Van Sexton]

I'm sure everyone is going to post that 16k is not enough hands to compute a true win rate, so don't think about this in such exact numbers. You have enough hands to be very sure that you are a winning 2/4 player, but not enough for an exact win rate.

3/6 may be a bit tougher, but the rake % is lower. I don't see any reason to stay at 2/4 if you have the bankroll for 3/6. I like your plan to start with only 1 table of 3/6 at first.

As for playing shortheaded to increase your aggression, I'm not sure what to make of that. Just play the same way you've been playing at 2/4 and adjust as you go. Some 3/6 tables will be aggressive, some won't....just like any level.

Good luck.

[JinX11]

Assuming you're playing PP...

I haven't noticed anything terribly different from 2/4 to 3/6, personally, though my win rate at 3/6 is about .5BB less than 2/4. I think table selection becomes a little more important and a little more difficult: whereas in 2/4 it's typical to find 7-8 tables with avg. pot size >= 9 BB, you may only find 3-4 such tables in 3/6. So, I routinely play some 2/4 tables, some 3/6 tables (and maybe a 5/10 or 10/20 table if I can find a table where the avg. pot size ~10BB).

Ultimately, the only way you're gonna find out if you should move up is to go play there. It sounds like you're giving your game a good bit of thought, so that's a good start. Now, go play some hands. Best of luck! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[JinX11]

Also, bdk plays 3/6 - you need to stay out of his way. Especially if the board pairs.

[smoore]

I'm learning limit poker on party after being a successful NL tournament player on pokerstars. Started at 1/2 to figure out multi tabling and blew through 2/4 (only about 1k hands there) when I figured out that the rake and small blind at 3/6 are significantly less. I'm bankrolled adequately for 5/10 but the play there is harder for me than 3/6, so I'm at my level for awhile.

All that said... you're beating 2/4 for $20/hr... that pays your bills I assume. I would say that when you feel like you're playing well you should try multi 3/6, if you feel like you may be playing your B game, drop back down. Nothing says you have to play the same limit every day or session. Personally, I wouldn't want to mix limits in the same session although I can't put my finger on WHY I feel that way.

[Chaos_ult]

My instinct tells me that you aren't ready to make the jump yet, and here's why:

You had to make a post asking if you should move up or not.

What it really all boils down to at this point (considering the caliber of posts that I have seen) is confidence. Do you feel comfortable at playing 3/6?

Take my advice with a grain of salt

Happy holidays,

Matt

[Sundevils21]

imo there is no difference at all between 2-4 and 3-6(much less 20%). My bb/100 actually was higher at 3-6. Then again I didn't play very many hands at 2-4, that was a quick jump in limits.

[Stupendous_Man]

For those that didn't stay at 2/4 long, how many tables did (and are) you playing? I've been 4 tabling 2/4 and have gone back and forth on whether I should get a 2nd monitor to move up to 6 tables (and possibly 8 at a future date) OR just move up limits to 3/6. Obviously, moving up limits now and getting a 2nd monitor later is another option. But, am curious how many people decided to increase # of tables before increasing limits.

[smoore]

I found four tables to be a little too hectic for me so I'm playing two. My decision to ditch 2/4 came from the rake and small blind savings. I don't play much in my SB, so the 1/3 Bblind is beneficial for me.

[colgin]

Festus,

Based on the quality of your posts as well as the results you have posted I am quite certain you will be a winning player at $3/6. Whether your overall earn will be immediately higher I cannot say. Since I don't know your personal situation I do not know how important it is for you to maximize this earn immediately (i.e., can you afford to make less per hour now if there is a benefit to come later, or do you really need to sustain a certain hourly earn). What I can say is that as a general matter I think players should take shots at the nextlevel whenever they have reason to believe they will succeed there AND they have a sufficient bankroll to weather any bad short-term swings. I thin you have both so it is worth at least taking a shot at $3/6. Making the move will also help to improve your game and keep developing as a player. In the long run you will have higher hourly earn as you become more and more successful at higher limits. You may want to transition to this move by playing a combination of limits rather than jumping completely to $3/6. That is up to you. Also, don't feel like you can't drop down if you don't feel comfortable for any reason or just if you are running bad off the start. It may take several shots before that is your default game but I am confiednt it will be soon.

Best of luck.

Colgin