The time has come to move up to $10NL.
I reached my bankroll goal of $250 tonight (started with $2.00 won in a freeroll), my next session will be at $10NL. I moved up to $10NL once before, at $200. I had two good sessions and then a bad run commenced. After moving back down and continuing my bad run, things finally turned around when my bankroll was all the way down to $149. Since then I’ve been steady and feel more prepared for at run up the ladder at $10NL. Of course I’m a bit anxious, considering things didn’t go so well last time, but the one thing I was surprised by was how much more aggressive players were at $10NL. I just assumed everyone would be as passive as they were at $5NL. I’ve been much more aggressive during my run up to $250 and I know that will help me now. Until next time, I fold.
The golf season is likely done, but hold 'em has barely begun.
November 10th, 2008 at 11:42 am
One thing to guard against when moving up limits - and this is very common at all limits by most players - is to think because the game plays more aggro that everyone is playing back at you. This leads to rebluffing and bad call downs. When you get 3 bet or your flop bet gets raised, its still mostly a made hand and not a bluff. However, different players have different views of what hands should raise when. I have said in the past that there are 2 players at NL cash that raise the flop w/ top pair. In general, it is bad players and good players. The bad player is doing it because they think their hand is best in a vaccuum and think you will call with worse hands. The good player thinks their hand fares good against your range and that you will call with worse (they are merging their hand range too). The standard player will call for pot control and to induce bluffs but will rarely raise. So pay attention to every raise/check-raise and try to get a feel for how someone approacheds these situations. And don’t be supprised to get flat called by QQ+ and AK where their flop raise is actually a really strong hand that was afraid to repop it preflop. Just don’t think everyone is just bluffing you just because the game is more aggro. If you do, then you will adjust incorrectly and end up building big pots with mediocre hands only to be shown the nuts very often. Another thing I have said in the past is that many of these players do not bluff often enough, which has 2 implications: 1) you are not making a big mistake by folding to their raises more and 2) It means when they just call, you can still keep bombing the pot for value. Good luck!!