Phsychology of going down to smaller stakes?

[Pot Luck]

I am just a couple months new to online holdem. I read how many of you started at the smallest limits and built up bank rolls and skills then moved up to the next level and so on. For whatever reason I started at 3/6 and have been winning small relatively consistently. I thought about going up to 5/10 to win MORE(Amount), but was convinced by reading that maybe since skill level increased at higher limits I might not be ready. I also read alot about people in slumps being encouraged to go down in stakes to get rejuvenated.... as if applying the theory in reverse meant skill level DECREASED as you went down in stakes and would start winning again etc....

So, to the point. I decided to drop down to 1/2 thinking I may be able to dominate less skilled players, but I got SPANKED. This table seemd tighter, smarter, better skilled than what I have seen at 3/6.

A bad night? A bad theory? Any recommendations? Stay at 3/6 until I have how much bankroll to try 5/10? Try 5/10 and I will find out soon enough how I match up skill wise?

[DarkKnight]

You will frequently get spanked at whatever level you are
playing at. It's just a fact of life.

1/2 is (usually) easier than 2/4 is (usually) easier
than 3/6 etc.

[ElSapo]

Also, dropping down in limits, and believing you are better than other players, can lead to some interesting situations.

You -may- play better, more agressively, and without fear.

You -may- play looser, with contempt for other players, and pay off like a slot machine.

That said, one session, one night, doesn't prove anything. I've seen loose loose loose 3/6 tables and tight 1/2s... Depends on the players.

[LetsRock]

I've yet to be forced to "retreat" to lower limits, but I often play 1/2 as it is the only game available within my BR on a given night.

I don't consider playing in lower level games damaging to my ego, but I sure hate it. It takes a lot longer to build the BR and you do have to sit through an awful lot of fishy play. It's very frustrating when my main goal at this time is to build my BR to be big enough to start playing at more "advanced" levels to either win more and/or challenge my game a bit.

I'm not so full of myself that I expect to be better than every player at the lower levels, but I find them to be more like lottery games than the poker they're "teaching us in all the books.

[ElSapo]

I don't consider playing in lower level games damaging to my ego, but I sure hate it. It takes a lot longer to build the BR and you do have to sit through an awful lot of fishy play.

I dunno, it's that fishy play that helped me build my bankroll...

[LetsRock]

Well... yeah, but to me, it's just not fun to get good hands sucked out by crap that should never have even seen the flop. I know, I know, I know you want them to keep doing that but that doesn't mean it's fun.

And I know that his happens at bigger levels as well, but it doesn't tend to be 7 or 8 of them at a time.

[JDErickson]

Hello people from the micro forum. I'd like to add my 2 cents here.

1/2 is a level where alot of up and coming 2+2ers ply their trade as they build bankroll and sharpen skills. I have seen some 1/2 tables on Party that are incredibly tight agressive. Last night I joined a table with 3 ea 2=2ers and 2 other good players. You may be running into these tables.

That being said there are lots of fishy tables also. Just be picky about where you are playing.

Jim

[Hallett]

[ QUOTE ]
Well... yeah, but to me, it's just not fun to get good hands sucked out by crap that should never have even seen the flop. I know, I know, I know you want them to keep doing that but that doesn't mean it's fun.

And I know that his happens at bigger levels as well, but it doesn't tend to be 7 or 8 of them at a time.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think you have touched on what gets me: If there is one guy at the table playing trash, he will lose, and it is a direct benefit to us. If however there are 5 people playing trash, anything goes. You also need time on your side. One of the basic tenants of probability is that things over time revert to the mean. That is great if the 6 or 7 guys playing trash on a table stay with me for an extended run, for example two weeks, every night. On a one off, your variance will be higher, and you may be caught. The other day for instance, I lost a full house, Aces over Queens, to a guy holding Q-2 suited. Flop had a Q and an A, turn was Q, only card that could help him was a Q, which of course fell on the river. No way he should be there, and I will likely not see him again to take advantage of the gaps in his play.