General questions for first post.

[scott2130]

I have been playing for 2-3 months now and think I am making progress. I started with $300, played NL, limit, and torneys until I was down to $25. Got more serious and now play just limit .5/1 partypoker. Bank roll up to $360 now. I have had some variance and continue to read books, analyze plays, and now read 2+2 forum stuff. (Loved Ed Miller post about not folding automatically. Put me down for a beer.)

I feel I am improving but other then the bank roll how do I know? How do I know if I am "Crushing a table"? When do I know if I should move up to 1/2 or higher? Is it worth getting the tracking software and why?

[young nut]

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I have been playing for 2-3 months now and think I am making progress. I started with $300, played NL, limit, and torneys until I was down to $25. Got more serious and now play just limit .5/1 partypoker. Bank roll up to $360 now. I have had some variance and continue to read books, analyze plays, and now read 2+2 forum stuff. (Loved Ed Miller post about not folding automatically. Put me down for a beer.)

I feel I am improving but other then the bank roll how do I know? How do I know if I am "Crushing a table"? When do I know if I should move up to 1/2 or higher? Is it worth getting the tracking software and why? My overall goal is to make say $500 -$1000 per month to pay off debt. Is this reachable?

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As far as moving up limits, I think this all has to do with how comfortable and confident you feel with your play. If you feel that you are making the right play near 100% of the time, give 1/2 a shot. But make sure your bankroll won't get killed by a bad hit of variance.

I have yet to buy pokertracker, but I will be getting in the next few months. I am waiting to hit my next goal, and I am going to purchase PT as my award. I can't wait to get my hands on it though, it seems to be a great tool at analyzing your strengths and weaknesses.

500-1000 a month isn't too unreasonable, but it is pretty hard at 1/2. I would hold off on having that high of monthly profit expectation until you have gained much more experience and have moved up to around 3/6 limit.

*and as a final note, you said you feel like you are improving, but how do you know. I find a great way to check progress is to post hands that you feel like you played right and see what everyone else has to say.

welcome to the forum, and GL.

[tiltaholic]

Hi and welcome.
Many of the answers to your questions have been discussed many times in many prior threads, so see what you can come up with using the search function. Try "should I move up" for one of your questions.

Some other thoughts in response to your questions-

In my experience, it is not whether you are crushing a table, but whether you are consistently crushing (beating) a game/limit/level. To know this, you need to keep records of some sort and play a lot of hands. Thousands, tens of thousands, more than that. Many people will say that the best way to keep records is pokertracker. I agree. Other options include pokercharts (pokercharts.com). With good recordkeeping, you will know when you're a consistent winner because you'll have the records to prove it over, say 10K hands or 20K hands or more. Then, at least you know you are potentially a winning player. I would say you can think about moving up. Having an adequate bankroll is also vital, the usual standard is 200-300 big bets of the new level. So, to move from .5/1 to 1/2, you will need 300 big bets of $2, or $600. Of course, different people ave different opinions on moving up early or late (around the 300bb number).

Pokertracker has many other advantages other than simply keeping records of wins&losses:
-you can keep records on your opponents and their tendencies (search for "notes on notes" by bisonbison)
-you can review your hands and study them and the various facets or your game (and leaks). this is key. cannot be overstated....a HUGE tool to help learn the game. download the trial version and check it out - it's free for the first 1000 hands.

thats just a start and i'm sure others will say similar things and add others...best of luck

-t

and also: post hands. give and receive feedback.