Opinion: Easy Money vs. Getting Better

Alright, here's a question for you guys... I've been playing online poker for about a year now, starting with the typical "I'll throw ten bucks on and see what happens" dedication to the point where I've built a bankroll that can support decent limit play at the $3/$6 level.

My dilema is that I'm spread out over two poker sites. One is a site where the players seem to be pretty weak, and I've made good money there in a relatively short amount of time, with very little skill involved - lots of donators. The other site I'm on seems to have better players - I make money there, but not nearly as much.

So, my buddy and I have been arguing about where I should play. One arguement is to play more on the harder site to get better. The other is to go with the easy money, despite the fact that playing there isn't really increasing my skill.

So, what do you guys think?

Comments

  • Are you playing for money or are you playing for the competition?

    /g2
  • I would probably keep the money on both. What you seem to be doing now is okay. You didn't mention if you are making withdrawals from any of these sites on a regular basis or not for spendable income.

    Ultimately, you want to be able to increase your skill to (hopefully) make more money at higher levels. A good way to play against better players with a minimal hit to your bankroll is to play in tournaments.

    One idea could be this. Use your "easy" site to play your cash games and transfer a portion of that to your other site and try some of their tournaments...just a thought.
  • Well....long term, for the money, but I enjoy the competition. Clear as mud? :) I guess I'm coming at this as something I enjoy where I can make some cake... I'm trying to be successful as a poker player, in the long run...so I guess the question really is do you need to be the "best" poker player, skill-wise, to be successful, or can making good money as a less-than-best poker player equal success as well.
  • Keep $ on both and continue to milk the cow until its sour.
  • NathanW wrote: »
    Well....long term, for the money, but I enjoy the competition. Clear as mud? :) I guess I'm coming at this as something I enjoy where I can make some cake... I'm trying to be successful as a poker player, in the long run...so I guess the question really is do you need to be the "best" poker player, skill-wise, to be successful, or can making good money as a less-than-best poker player equal success as well.
    If you want to be successful as a poker player, than yes, you do need to learn to be able to beat all kinds of poker players, not just the donators.

    /g2
  • I'd keep money on both and make some money and get better. Don't forget the donators will go on a streak that will make you pull your hair out when they start hitting their inside straight draws, hit 2 pair with their 9 2 when you raise your Aces' etc. Make money have fun get better and don't get voted off the poker site....
  • than yes, you do need to learn to be able to beat all kinds of poker players, not just the donators.

    True, but keep in mind the bulk of your wins is going to be coming from the bad players. There's more to learning to be a "good" poker player than just playing. Stuff like BR management, tilt management, and game selection are also important IMO.
    A good way to play against better players with a minimal hit to your bankroll is to play in tournaments.

    I kind of disagree here. While learning different games can certainly be a benefit to your game, you must understand that the games ARE different. IMO, learning proper tournament strategy generally is not going to do much (aside from getting you to think about different game situations, and HOW tournament strategy differs from cash game strategy) to improve your cash game (and vice versa). To use a bad analogy, a basketball player playing hockey in the off-season may be worthwhile to keep him in shape, but it's probably not going to improve his jump shot much.
  • I actually do both right now.
    I use the weaker players on one site to fund my Poker Education on another. :)
  • The easy dollar and the hard dollar both spend the same.

    The easy dollar is easier so therefore, milk it.
  • Thanks, folks, for all the input. I've decided to keep money on both. The "hard" site does tend to have soft runs, it just seems right now that the dealer hates me there - must have forgotten to tip. hehe..

    Will try back on that one in a while and hope for some decent outcomes. In the meantime, I think I'll try to make some bucks...maybe it's easy money, but it does the confidence good, which can't be bad...

    Cheers!! :)
  • Until you have at least 50,000 hands on both sites, you can't really judge between 'hard' and 'variance'. Perception is easily distorted by $$$.
  • I think your making a mistake by treating "easy money" and "getting better" as being mutually exclusive. At low stakes, its more important to first learn how to profit off bad players because your edge as a decent novice / beginner is going to be very small or non-existent playing against other decent players. I would strongly suggest playing on the site with the worse players...youll improve by beating up on them.
  • Perception is easily distorted by $$$.

    Very well put. POTD.
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