I was hoping I could get some advice. I've only been playing about four months and would consider my play probably average. After reading Storms post about the "newbie circle of death" I would have to say thats where I am.

I started on the $10nl tables at pacific, and went up and down. After coming up $500 I switched to the $50, got punished and moved back down.

Took a small break. Used my winnings to buy a couple of books and have spent a lot of time on this site. I really don't see much of a need to post questions, because most of them are answered here someplace, but as other players are moving up levels, I find myself in the unenviable postion of considering moving down. I am up exactly $9

I have had some rough hands, which is normal, and I've been trying to play more aggressively, so I guess variance is something I should get used to.

I guess my question is, if it is really one long session, would I be better to just add to my bankroll and continue to play at the level where I have suffered some bad beats, hoping the odds catch up? Or would it be better to move back down.

I think the key point before one could answer is why am i losing. This post already looks too long to me but a couple of examples are;

going all in pf on a shorthand table (6players) with kk and losing to A9o

three hands later (after I bought back in for the full amount) raising preflop with AA getting PUT all in by another player with JJ and watching him catch a Jack

holding pocket twos, calling a raise 3x the bb flop is aa2. I went all in, thinking that so many cards coming would hurt me and the AQ called and caught the q on the river.

dealt AKs raised 4x the bb from utg. 1 caller. flop is two of my suit, no overcards and the board wasnt paired. I bet the pot and am put all in. I called because the guy was aggro and I thought he didnt have a pocket pair. no hearts come (the guy had called me with 8To and beat me with a pair of eights. (checked it on the odds calculator and i was only like a 54%favorite, so this was probably a mistake, but I did have 15 outs)

If it sounds like I'm whining, I'm not. But I really want to use this site's advice about bankroll mangagment and right now I am not really bankrolled to play the level where I would like. ($25nl tables) My concern is that if I move down and things turn around, I'll still be behind because the winnings at a lower level will not compensate for my losses at a higher level.

I'm sorry for the length of the post. Would appreciate any advice you could give.