Moving between limits - question for top players

[KowCiller]

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Conversely, if I previously dropped 5 buyins at 5/10 I would want to kill myself, now, I reload and don't even blink. I just feel like my brain is becoming warped to the amount of money I'm seeing exchanged back and forth.

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In Barry Greenstein's book, he mentions the lack of a respect for money as being a key component of a successful high stakes poker player.

KoW

[tom]

can you actually get 75 hands per hour?

[lapoker17]

For me it's honestly the game, not the money. I have a pretty outrageous gambling past, so I definitely get off on the action...but just last weekend, I went to play at a casino with a friend who has no idea what he's doing. We played 3/5 200 cap, and I gotta tell you, I was pretty into it. After about 15 minutes the insignificance of the dollar amounts was replaced by an urgent need to get everyone elses' chips. They were just yellows, but I needed them. I love action as much as anything in the world, but I might just love beating people, just killing them, even more - for pennies, or whatever.

[whitelime]

I just did some math. Avg. 93.5 hands/hr through PT. 4 Tabling, you need to beat it for 5.31BB/100 to avg $400/hr. Surely a momo isn't going to win that much, but I don't think you have to be one of the top players in the game to have a winrate like that.

[okayplayer]

Yeah, I was actually going to post a question very similar to this a little while back, when I would see people posting hands from varied limits or see them sitting in the bigger UB games. I personally, have never "taken a shot" at a big game, because I have some sick, twisted part of me that knows I will immediately have a bad run. And if I were to drop 6 or 7 buy ins at a bigger level, it would take that much more to re-coup the losses and, well since this is my living, I don't want to jeopardize my income. I do agree that it is hard to drop down in limits; though I will do this if I am trying something new (ie, HU/3 handed).

I guess one thing I was wondering though, is for everyone who has taken that shot or moves b/n limits, are you properly rolled for the game or are you truly taking a shot? Or are you buying in short, because I guess it would be a less risky play if you bought in short, but then you'd be one of "those people". Because I have a gambler in me that tries to get me to take a shot at the bigger games too, but logic wins out.

[bluechip270]

I am facing the same situation as you right now. I started playing the NL 20-40 game at Commerce when my regular game is the NL 10-20 game. It is very very difficult for me to go back to the 10-20 game b/c there is just soo much more action in the higher game. HOwever, I have realized that as a winning player, you must be able to go back to the 10-20. SO this is what I do now. I will only play the NL20-40 game if there are two big fishes at the table. Otherwise I will just stick with the original game. Also, if things arent going well for me or my confidence is down for any given reason, I will for sure play in the 10-20. Also, another factor that I look into is how long my session will be. ALthough I never have a set limit, if I do know I can only put in 5hrs, I will just stick with the 10-20....only if I have time to sit down and really play will I decide to play the 20-40. After playing the bigger game, going back is hard, but it makes you that much better. I played with some of the best players, and I THINK YOU HAVE AN ADVANTAGE IN NL WHEN THE MONEY DOESNT MEAN MUCH TO YOU....YOU CAN PLAY AGAINST THE PLAYERS MORE AND NOT THE CARDS.

Sorry for the rambling but I hope it helps

[captZEEbo1]

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I guess one thing I was wondering though, is for everyone who has taken that shot or moves b/n limits, are you properly rolled for the game or are you truly taking a shot? Or are you buying in short, because I guess it would be a less risky play if you bought in short, but then you'd be one of "those people".

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Well I have the roll, and I buy in full and fill up everytime it goes below 99 bb's (unless I cover table).

[mythrilfox]

This is something I've been going through a lot recently. I originally started playing on Empire and built up a nice roll there, but then took a break and got kinda bored and moved to UB.

I had a completely separate roll at UB and started much lower than I'd been used to playing, but at the time I was kinda screwing around and didn't mind. After running ridiculously well I moved all the way up to 5/10 pretty quickly and played there for awhile. But I was so accustomed to moving up so fast that I didn't stop there and started mixing 10/25 in a bit as well, even though (as I've come to realize first-hand), you have to be MUCH higher rolled for the 10/25 games than the 5/10 games, relatively speaking. I've read other posters say that but never really took it heart. I don't even know yet if I'm a winning player there yet, but whether or not that's true, the variance is too much to handle, both economically and mentally. (that is because players are much more aggressive and much more has to go to showdown)

The good run I was on was drying up as well, so I kept trying to force money to come when it wouldn't, making plays in futile situations, and so on. Eventually I took 10/25 out of my repertoire altogether, and kept playing at 5/10, even though 10/25 had dried up my bankroll to the point where I was no longer properly rolled for the 5/10 game. After a few bad beats and some extremely nasty tilt, I tried to cash back in one day and noticed I didn't even have enough for one cash-in. That was a seriously terrifying and humbling experience.

I took a week off and just thought about things and decided I need to play much more conservatively with my bankroll, so now I've almost been relegated to playing 1/2 and 2/4. It's been tough so far to take it seriously, but it's certainly helped put things in perspective. I'm going to move up much slower this time, and make sure I know I can handle the swings psychologically before I do. That's the one aspect of my game that needs the most work, and I wasn't even aware of that fact until I started running bad and my will was truly tested.

[Ulysses]

Try to ignore results and focus on how much different games are really worth at different times. There are many times when there are 5/10 games far more profitable than any of the 25/50 or 50/100 games going. That doesn't change the fact that one lucky hand in one of the bigger games will result in a win bigger than you are likely to see in the whole 5/10 session. It sounds like you are playing largely for the rush of the big swings.

[mikech]

diablo, you have said a few times that you think the party2k is the most profitable nl game online. if this is the case, why do you play the 10-25 and 25-50 ub games? i understand that you don't play cards as your source of income, so do you play the games on ub primarily as recreation, or a "challenge"?