A move from 1/2 to 5/10NL, A little out of my comfort zone.

[TDA1]

After building up my bankroll in 1/2NL over the last year I decided to take a stab at 5/10. I felt that I had been playing well at 1/2NL and averaged $1,200 the last 8 sessions that I played. I felt that it was time for a change. My move was not an ego thing...it was mainly to get a feel for the type of players at that level and to see how I would fair.
The first thing that I noticed was that the players were very in tune with each other. That you just don't see very often at 1/2. Another thing that I noticed was that there was alot more posturing that I was used to. At the lower stakes tables there may be one or two people who you stand out but in this game was full of characters. It was pretty obvious that several of them play together frequently. FYI...this was at Borgata.
I was a little suprised at the large preflop bets but was told by one of the regulars that this was very unusual. I thought that 4-6 times the big blind would be a decent sized raise. Not gonna do it at this table I thought to myself after a guy bets out 150 and 4 players call. The crappy thing at the beginning was that I was getting cards that I just couldn't fold preflop. Being a rookie...I tried a $60 raise with AKs and got 6 callers. I laughed to myself and thought "well...that weren't enought [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] " Of course the flop comes low connecting cards and someone flops a straight. I got out cheap. I continued a run of good cards without connecting and watched my stack shrink. By good cards I mean AKos, AQ suited 2x, 66. The 66 hand was the only one to connect on the flop but I folded preflop due to a $175 preflop raise with only on other person in the hand.
Eventually I ended up getting settled and won a few nice pots walking away with almost $3,500.
Since the borgata doesn't allow people to come back and observe the "high limit" players I had no idea what to expect from a betting standpoint. I think jumping in with both feet was a better education than just sitting on the sidelines watching.
I'm not sure if I will continue to play 5/10 frequently but I was pleased to find that I was able to identify weakness in players at the table and quickly notice who to avoid. Overall it was pretty fun.

[lefty rosen]

If it was a weekend game you will be suprised how fishy even 5/10NL is. It seems at live games if someone earns X they want to earn Y and aren't afraid to gamble X to try and win Y. Online is another story..... [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[Luke]

[ QUOTE ]
If it was a weekend game you will be suprised how fishy even 5/10NL is. It seems at live games if someone earns X they want to earn Y and aren't afraid to gamble X to try and win Y. Online is another story.....

[/ QUOTE ]

Human behavior is similar online I think. It's just that online, the weaker players get exploited much quicker than live.

[SirArthur]

Do I understand this correctly, at your last 8 sessions of NL200 you won $9,600?

This is all live I presume? How long did you play for during this eight session on average.

[TDA1]

Yes actually it was actually $10,320 minus a few buyins for tournaments. My sessions would last anywhere from 8 -16hrs. I keep a spreadsheet of my sessions and my hrly rate low was $85.71 and the high was 171.13.
Yes it was all live. I have totally given up on online poker since I have $3,100 in limbo with neteller. I am not putting another dime online.

[SirArthur]

Cool, sweet run there only being able to play one table at a time.
Why didn't you play something between NL200 & NL1000, like 2/5 or something?
I'm considering a move to Vegas (my sister lives there) with online poker being under seige right now as I play for my living.

[TDA1]

Actually I did try 2/5 and did about the same. The players were not much different than 1/2. I actually found that they were too tight and I found very little action.
My thought process was...I just wanna try. I wasn't about to blow my bankroll on a session. There was a cool article written by Ben Roberts about moving up to higher limits. It made sense and I'm glad I tried.
That would be awesome if you moved there. I wish you the best of luck. Where do you live now? The only places I have been where they say NL200 and NL1000 are the midwest casinos like St Louis and Detroit. Not that I am a world traveler or anything [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
I am heading there again this weekend and will play 1/2 or 2/5 for a while and get up to $500 or so then move to the 5/10 for another go.

[JLimbs]

I moved up through the limits at Borgata, started at 1-2 NL and now play in the 5-10NL game regularly when I am there. For what its worth, I spent about a year solid playing 2-5 NL "paying my dues" before I was really ready for 5-10NL. I have learned that each game has a completely different dynamic and requires a different set of skills. 2-5 is a great limit work out the kinks in your game and build your roll. That one 2-5 table you sat at might have sucked, but generally speaking those games are super soft. If you get seated at a bad table just ask for a table change, on a friday/saturday night Borgata usually has like eight different 2-5 NL games running.

The jump from 1-2 to 5-10 is HUGE, and its probably a better idea to spend time at 2-5 before you try 5-10. The swings won't be as brutal and the games (generally speaking) are softer.

[TDA1]

JLimbs...Your probably right and I didn't give 2/5 much of a chance. I did well at the table and will take your advise. I may occasionally jump back up but I will try and get 6 months or so of 2/5 under my belt. 1/2 is just not doing it for me and I was starting to feel like my game was becoming stale. Don't get me wrong..winning money is fun...but I want to get better.
Thanks for the advise.