"Interesting" Stakes

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12-18-2005, 02:02 PM
JCooper

"Interesting" Stakes

I've been playing online poker more than a year. I've played the same $100 buy-in for at least the last six months, currently have around $400 after cashing out a little profit (just to prove I could).

I spend most of my time playing $5 SNG NL of any size. I've also had rather stunning success in HORSE tourney's on FTP, but this is a bit of an enigma and I'm not really interested in any of those limit games on their own.

Here's a problem pattern:

I get a up a little bit, go down a bit, and get tired of the slow grind at the $5 SNG and start playing way outside my BR. I may win for awhile, then I lose. I made $300 in the last 4 days playing $100NL short-handed for example. Haven't started losing yet. I discovered late at night there are drunk people who will give you their entire stack, its fun.

I do think I play a little better at this level because the money means a little bit, but I'm not scared. At low stakes where the money means absolutely nothing I often find it hard to take someone seriously when they are sticking it to me for value. Also at $100 NL there are some more thinking people and I think this opens up the game a bit and makes it more interesting and more of a learning experience.

So now I'm thinking about doing something really stupid, like staking myself to play at this level on a regular basis. The money is not a problem, if I staked myself $2000 and lost it I wouldn't miss any payments or even any vacations, although I might lose my mind.

A couple problems with this obviously: I don't have the hand history to show I can play $100 NL. I don't know that I won't get just as bored at this grind and want to move up again before I'm ready. I really don't want to become that guy who is always playing a couple levels outside of his reach and is bleeding money - if I let a pattern like this escalate I could easily begin losing money that really hurts me (there must be lots of people doing so, or no one could make money at bigger stakes).

I do not want to multi-table. I want to get really good at poker and I think the cheap SNG are not helping me, and multi-tabling 25NL would not help me much either. So any ideas how to make 25NL "interesting" enough? Should I just try to earn my $2000 stake grinding it out at 25NL (duh, yes). How do I determine the right "level" to get started at?
12-18-2005, 03:06 PM
Pelion

If you are playing for fun and the money wont hurt if you lose it then why not.

If you are playing for money and you think you are good enough to carry on and you can afford it then why not.

The problem with most people who ask this question IMO is that poker requires discipline to play properly. It requires discipline to fold hands for a small bet that you KNOW were winning before that last spade came.
It requires discipline to not get bored and start playing crappy hands preflop.
If you are getting bored working your way up then how do you know you have enough discipline to win consistently at the higher levels. I suspect that you probably dont and that you stand a good chance of eventually losing the money you put in to play higher stakes. If you are playing for fun and that doesnt bother you then go ahead. If you are trying to get seriously good then you need to work on the discipline too and that probably means not moving up just because you get bored.

If you really are getting bored then consider playing more tables, switching games (try limit/ no limit/ stud etc) and if those bore you too then you should probably consider quitting poker. There is no point playing if its boring.
12-18-2005, 03:08 PM
Telepath

If you do have the money to spare then by all means plunge in at the $100NL or $200NL tables. Just try to actually think about the hands ;)

T.
12-18-2005, 04:40 PM
Irisheyes

I dont think plunging into 100nl is a good idea at all. If you really were good enough (and I'm not saying your not, I don't know) then you would really know in your onm mind that you were ready. You would have the confidence already and staking $2000 wouldn't be an 'adventure' or risk, rather simply a way to make money as it is for people who are playing 100nl successfully already.

I think the real question is have you got 3 weeks to spare because if you are ready for 100nl its not unreallistic at all to expect to be able to work $400 up to $2000 while playing within bankroll rules all the way.
12-18-2005, 04:46 PM
JCooper

Thanks iRICHeyes, I think thats the best way to look at it for me. Certainly I have the time to spare, even if it takes 3 months I only do this for fun anyway.

I think I'm trying to find a short-cut to the real discipline that I need to acquire and there is not likely to be any real such thing.
12-19-2005, 12:27 PM
Rondavu

Quote:

Originally Posted by JCooper

I think I'm trying to find a short-cut to the real discipline that I need to acquire and there is not likely to be any real such thing.

Short cuts are easy for those who can afford to take them. The problem I see is that you may not be as ready as you think you are for 100NL. If you're not better than the average 100NL player, then you'll lose eventually. This is exactly the reason I feel there would be a downside if I ever cash huge in say the $500K Pokerstars weekly, because I feel like if I won even something like $10K, I would be tempted to play 1000NL. This would be bad because my skills aren't developed enough to beat these players.
12-19-2005, 03:54 PM
r8ed

I recently came across this issue - what level to play? I am bankrolled for 50NL and I could play 100NL with 12 buyins. But, then I looked at my PT stats. My BB/100 is only 6 at 25NL. I think in order to play at a higher level, I need to be KILLING the level I'm at. I was killing it for a while, but I've dropped down some for several reasons (variance is probably a major one). So, I'm staying at 25NL until I get over 10 BB/100.

My point is - your bankroll should not dictate what level you play at. Your performance at a certain level should indicate what level you should play at.
12-19-2005, 04:24 PM
Rondavu

Quote:

Originally Posted by r8ed

My point is - your bankroll should not dictate what level you play at. Your performance at a certain level should indicate what level you should play at.

Yahtzee
12-19-2005, 06:16 PM
zenbitz

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rondavu

Quote:

Originally Posted by r8ed

My point is - your bankroll should not dictate what level you play at. Your performance at a certain level should indicate what level you should play at.

Yahtzee

HEY UR URL SI BUSTD! WHERZ CANIPLAY YATZHEE ONLINE FOR $$$??
12-20-2005, 03:58 PM
joshuadzl

I can't say whether you're capable to play at that level or not. What I can say though is I had the same boredom problem you had and also did not want to move to multitabling. I found though that once I did, it wasn't overwhelming and I thought it improved my game. I was able to get into more hands (rarely two at once) and participate in more hands to learn from. More hands you play, the more you learn from IMO. However, if you play too many tables and get overwhelmed, you'll probably just piss away your bankroll.