Operation Low Stakes Baller
Hi,
I'm a midstakes full ring professional poker player. I have a few problems which I will now list:
- fancy play syndrome: i find myself mixing it up and making speculative plays way too much when i play 2/4 and 3/6, and like 90% of them don't work.
- losing focus: i find that my "a" game is an ever fluctuating thing that i can not control no matter how hard i try. Sadly, 2/4+ games are tough enough now that if im playing my b minus game all the time i basically am destined to break even or even possibly lose.
- tilt: i have a tilt problem. Not a huge one, but i definitely still tilt. I don't even get like super pissed whenever things don't go my way, but i definitely believe that it at least subtly affects my game. I think immediate 4 digit monetary swings are enough to trigger this response for me.
- lack of stamina: for some reason i cant play longer than like 1k hands anymore. Its fucking ridiculous. In december and january i played over 120k hands each month, since then i seriously struggle to put in more than 50-60k.
- I'm probably not a huge winner. I think its highly likely that my winrate at 1/2 is close to twice as high as at 2/4 and higher. Lets break this down some.
Let's assume for a moment that my winrate at 2/4 full ring on stars is 2ptbb/100. Thats probably about what it is lifetime, even though i've def got better at poker since my first 2/4 hand. Ok fuck it, lets say 2.5.
My lifetime winrate at 1/2 full ring on stars is just over 3ptbb/100 (300+ k hands). Once again, ive definitely gotten much better since i played my first hand of 1/2. I would wager that i could be 4-5ptbb at least lifetime at it now, 12 tabling.
Rake paid at 2/4 is similar to 1/2, so the rakeback difference is minor at best. Secondly, its much easier to multitable 1/2 since there are tons of games going and they are always good. Often times 2/4 isn't very good and you have to mix and match and things get a little sketchy. So what im getting at is that its safe to say that if i played solely 1/2 my mt-ratio would be over 12, whereas my mt ratio at 2/4 would be something like 8 to 10, we'll say 9.
So, 9 tabling 2/4 for 2.5ptbb/100, or 12+ tabling 1/2 for 3.5+ ptbb/100, both with similar rakeback payouts. A quick calculation indicates that i'd make about 160/hour at 2/4 and 151/hour at 1/2. A 9 dollar difference. Is 2/4 worth it, making 9 more dollars an hour for a massive increase in variance and stress. I think not.
So here's what im going to do about it:
Starting tomorrow, and tentatively ending on November 30, I'm going to play ONLY 1/2 full ring, with my goals being as follows:
1. Learn how to grind again. By 'grind' i mean playing long sessions, consistently, without tilt. Hopefully playing 1/2 exclusively with a $50k roll will help facilitate this.
2. See how much money can be made in one month at 1/2. I'm going to make a serious run at playing 100-150k hands, in an attempt to make around 15-20k dollars.
3. This will lead to my reevaluation as to whether its even worth it to move up.
I'll keep you all posted in here, and get one of those nifty banners.
NOTE: EVERYONE IN CONTACT WITH ME ON AIM BITCH ME OUT IF I SHOW YOU A HH THAT ISN'T 1/2 FULL RING.
