[bernie]

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Hi Nicky,

I can tell from your first post that you have the right mentality to do well in poker. You need not worry about your "non-gambler" nature, as in my experience, players with that attitude are able to separate risking a largish amount of money at poker, from the mentality that takes control when you play a -EV game.

That said, from what I know of you from your post, I think it would be a mistake to jump into a 20/40 or 30/60 game anytime soon, because you are not prepared to play well in the game, and you will take a loss in your first session at those levels very hard, which can easily happen no matter how well you play or poorly they play.

Instead what I highly recommend is this: you need to expand your poker horizons and become more comfortable playing in a way besides "tight passive" which you hinted is the way you play currently, and I am certain is true. The games you play in now are good enough that you will certainly win playing this style of poker, but you won't win as much as you could, and you won't win with this style in most 30/60 games (not to mention the higher stakes will cause you to play even more tight and more passive - a bad thing). Have you thought to yourself why it is you won't play less than 8 handed? Does it feel too much like gambling when you enter the pot with more marginal hands preflop? To this I would say you need to realize that gambling with a 75% edge or gambling with a 51% edge does not change the fact that you are gambling when you play poker. If you understand poker theory and your fundamental beliefs are strong and correct, you will play correctly in both a 75% edge and 51% edge situation. If you don't believe this then you need to read more on poker theory until you do (I'm sorry to be a bit condescending but without knowing your poker background and education I want to cover all bases).

The best way you can prepare for the increased aggression you will face in a 30/60 game is to play in shorter handed games at limits you are comfortable with, and to practice playing in a more loose and aggressive style to simulate conditions where your edge is not as large. Think of playing this way in your current 5/10 game as a cheaper education than you would get in the 30/60 game, even if you reduce your edge in the game temporarily by doing so. You MUST be comfortable in these situations if you want to progress in the long run. Everyone has poker goals, if you want to play 30/60 and beyond you have to get outside of your comfort zone to reach new levels of understanding and profitability. You have $20k worth of tools to aid these goals, and you need to start thinking that even if that number is reduced in some way as you expand your horizons, the long term benefit of improvement and ability to play in larger games will overcome any short term loss.

-DeathDonkey

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What a kick ass post.

Jumping from 5-10 to 20-40 is a helluva jump. It can be a tough adjustment just doubling the limit, much less doing it by 4x.

If it were only 1/2 a limit, or double, I might say take a buy in and take a shot. See what you think. But that big of jump could shellshock you. Especially if you take a nice hit right off the bat. It would be much more than you'd lose in a single session of 5-10.

There will be an adjustment period. Just gettin used to the monetary aspect of it alone. Eventually you'll get over it. The bigger the jump, the longer it will likely take.

b