Quote Originally Posted by bef99hwk
I am a college student and consider myself a decent poker player. Usually when I put my money in, I am ahead. I have played at Party, Ultimate, Paradise, and now at Pokerstars and I am tired of rookies/fish not folding to reraises with their bottom pair when it's obvious of top pair/kicker, getting called all-ins by k-4 suited and i have a-k (they get runner runner flush). I am not saying I am a pro by all means but I think I do fairly well and I just want better competition. Should I start investing more into poker and play at the higher limits? I play at the .10/.25 and deposit in 50 but I am sure I could put in 150 or so and maybe play at the .25/.50....question being, will i find less fish? People love them but they always get lucky and win and give it back to someone else. Should i just invest more so I quit getting so unlucky?
You arent understanding this game. Poker is a game of chance. If you get your money in with the best of it you will lose quite alot of the time. BUT you will win ALOT more often than that.
If you are a beating the stakes you are playing at then it wont be a long time before you have the bankroll to move up in stakes and take on better players.
If you arent beating the stakes you play at then realise this one thing.
ITS YOUR FAULT.
Dont try and blame long term losing on fish sucking out. That just isnt how it works. If you ever want to be playing higher stakes you need to realise that if you are a losing player it is because you have some glaring holes in your game that you need to fix.
It could be that the fish get lucky with K4 and hit 2 pair when you have AK but do you pay them off afterwards??

Follow my plan: Make your poker bankroll $50 (or $100 if you can afford it) and go to pokerstars. Play the $2 (or $5) buyin game there until you ARE winning. Play which ever game you have at least 20 buyins for. Read the bankroll management thread thats been linked to above and Read and post hands on FTR.
And I promise you this. If you ever get to the low-medium stakes games where everyones a rock you will start to wish people were calling allins with K4.

Goodluck and get going