Taking a shot!
Hey Guys,
With the influx of poker games and new players it is entirely too easy to get a game nowadays. The problem is choosing which game to play in.
I believe in playing in your bankroll, choosing the right game and keeping acurate records and I strongly believe in money management.
So my question is this... How many of us have taken a shot? Jumped in a bigger game, took a shot at a major tournament or anything like that. We bankrolled our team MVP this year for the WSOP, a chance that could have paid us all off quite handsomely.
Lets get down to it.... I'm figity today at work cause I missed a game last night my buddy told me about. $1,500 NL cash game, and from the way he described it I would have been putting a downpayment on a house today. Close to $45,000 grand crossed the table. I'm normally a 5-10 or 10-20 limit player so this game is much bigger than I am used to.
Should I have played if I got the chance? I have also been invited to a banking/investors game where I hear big winner can cash out $10,000 in one evening. I rate myself much better than most of the players in the game so I should have a positive expectation. I have avoided this game thus far but am really tempted to jump in hoping to make a big score.
This sounds like a gamblers mentality but in the words of Dan Harrington "I'll risk every dollar I have if I'm going in with the best of it" (paraphrased...)
Anybody got any good thoughts or stories to share on this?
With the influx of poker games and new players it is entirely too easy to get a game nowadays. The problem is choosing which game to play in.
I believe in playing in your bankroll, choosing the right game and keeping acurate records and I strongly believe in money management.
So my question is this... How many of us have taken a shot? Jumped in a bigger game, took a shot at a major tournament or anything like that. We bankrolled our team MVP this year for the WSOP, a chance that could have paid us all off quite handsomely.
Lets get down to it.... I'm figity today at work cause I missed a game last night my buddy told me about. $1,500 NL cash game, and from the way he described it I would have been putting a downpayment on a house today. Close to $45,000 grand crossed the table. I'm normally a 5-10 or 10-20 limit player so this game is much bigger than I am used to.
Should I have played if I got the chance? I have also been invited to a banking/investors game where I hear big winner can cash out $10,000 in one evening. I rate myself much better than most of the players in the game so I should have a positive expectation. I have avoided this game thus far but am really tempted to jump in hoping to make a big score.
This sounds like a gamblers mentality but in the words of Dan Harrington "I'll risk every dollar I have if I'm going in with the best of it" (paraphrased...)
Anybody got any good thoughts or stories to share on this?
Comments
It mainly depends on two things:
1. How good you are at NL.
2. What losing $1,500 would mean to you emotionally and financially.
In fact, it mainly depends only on #2 there.
No-limit cash games at higher stakes than you're used to can be as much about monetary pressure as the actual underlying poker game. Someone with sound technical skills and excellent knowledge of poker will still have a very tough time in a NL cash game if he is playing with money and everyone else is playing with chips.
My main suggestion to taking one-time shots at higher limits: stay in your comfort zone in terms of game format.
You play a lot of limit holdem and not so much NL? Try moving up within limit holdem. Killing mid-limit shorthanded PLO games? Move to Europe. Have an easy time multi-tabling micro-limit NL? You might take a shot at single-tabling a higher NL game.
I can't emphasize enough how different Limit holdem and NL holdem cash games are. In my mind, limit holdem is much closer in playing style to other limit games than it is to NL holdem.
ScottyZ
I am a no-limit player as well, but my bread and butter is limit mainly because building a bankroll requires more stability, and limit seems to offer a much lower standard deviation factor than NL.
But the mentality is the same when risking more $$$. I very much like your comment of "playing with money vs. chips" This is a very good statement.
My underlying question is this I guess.... Does it take 5-7 years in poker to become a big money winner. I keep seeing guys with $1mm bankrolls and my math states they would have to be killing games literally every time and moving up limits every second month to do this. Thats a pretty faced paced career in poker.
How does a relatively new player make that big move into the big money. As players we have to recognize good games and good spots to put our money in.... right?
Yes but I think we also have to realize when the variance factor can potentially bust us if we're playing over our heads BR-wise.
To quote Rounders "Time to time, everyone goes bust." But I think this is only true if said player is playing beyond their means (ie. Mike McD playing with his entire roll in a game).
I've jumped up to a few tight passive $15-$30 games. I did well considering the game was easy to take advantage of. But thats as brave as I have been. (Excluding some $500+ tournaments I've played)
I'm sure some of us have to have exciting stories. Nothing like Mike Mcd sitting with the Mad Russian but there is bound to be some exciting stories out there.
http://www.josharieh.com/poker-articles.php?subaction=showfull&id=1120110088&archive=&start_from=&ucat=4&
I have my eye on a NL game down at Turning Stone... SOON BABY...SOON!!
I tried searching for that one a while ago and couldnt find it. I'd love to read it tho if anyone could give me an idea of where to find it.