How to? Convincing yourself it's not a lot of money as you move up

[People_Mover]

I remember in 2003, the first time I deposited 100.00. I lost it and I was sad, so I redeposited and lost again. I found twoplustwo, read some books, well a lot of books and redeposited another 100.00, telling myself it would be the last 100.00 I ever deposited. I grinded low stakes, bonus whored and won a 5.00 rebuy for 1800.00 to build a roll and continued to study the game. As I moved up stakes from .10/.25NL to .25/.50 to .50/1, a losing session would become less painful and "part of the game" I'd withdraw a few times to purchase some nice things that poker bought. In 2006, I had my first $1000.00 losing day and I was sad again and it brought memories back of the first 100.00 losing day I had. Still grinded though and moved up to 1/2NL and 2/4NL and took some random shots at 3/6 and 5/10NL nowadays.

The question though: Back then 25.00 was a lot of money to put on the table at one time. Then 100.00 was a lot of money to bring to one table. Then 200.00 seemed like a lot. I've been playing (smallish) winning poker at 2/4 for a few months now and 1/2NL is sort of a jokish money and 400.00 is money that I kind of care about. When I take a shot at 5/10, 1000.00 is a LOT of money (even though I'm rolled for it). How do you get into the right mindset that X amount of $$$ is not a lot anymore even if X $$$ isnt 1/20th of your bankroll?

I struggle with moving up past 2/4NL because 600.00 is a lot of money or 1000.00 is a lot of money even though of course there's risk/reward factor for moving up that maybe I'm struggling with. Any comments are appreciated.

[Henry17]

I'd say don't move up. I think you'd be playing with scared money which is not how you should be playing.

[napkins]

Accept the fact that you're playing for a lot of money. Don't lie to yourself, or try and convince yourself that it isn't that much. Instead, concentrate on the fact that poker is about decisions, and the corresponding money won/lost is a by-product of those decisions over the long run.

So, even if you lose a lot (but not a lot in proportion to your bankroll) you should be okay with the fact that you took a calculated risk that didn't happen to work out this time; but over the long run is a good decision if you're aiming to move up in stakes and become more profitable.

[JKratzer]

no quick fix, it's something you get used to.

[Jamougha]

Open shove every hand for the first orbit.

[sternroolz]

I was gonna respond to this, but realized you are not playing live. Live....I know its a lot of money(to me). I had a really hard time wanting to move from $9-18 LHE to $20-40 LHE. I mean, the amount I am willing to put in play any given night exceeds my biweekly take home play. So I moved up slow and played a lot of hours of $10-20 and $15-30 in between. Once I got to the $20-40, I sold 1/3 of my action to a friend for a while and that helped lessen the sting(and earned him $2200). Now that I've logged some hours....it still kinda bothers me. But not at the table. I'm able to view my chips as just that and really don't think of the money involved until I leave the table.

But I have no idea how I would handle things if I was playing online. It's not so easy to say to yourself that you are just playing with chips.

[guitarizt]

Play nl1000 hu for a while. Seriously though you can still think it's a lot of money and still play good. When I take stupid shots at higher stakes I don't think I play too much differently than if I were actually rolled for those stakes.

[WhoIam]

You just get used to it. It's always kind of nerve wracking for a while when you move up. You find yourself thinking things like "OMG, I just bluffed my monthly rent" but eventually it becomes the norm until you move up again. A lot of people think 4-tabling $50NL is a lot of money. You also don't have to move up all at once, it can be a gradual thing.

[Rek]

I have similar thoughts whenever I move up. What helps me is after moving up I continue to also play tables at the previous level as well. After a little while the previous level just seems too low and I eventually let it go. The level I have increased to then becomes the norm and just doesn't seem a big deal any more. I will only move back down again if my bankroll tells me to.

What happens is that at any level you tend to have an idea of variance at that level. You move up and that variance is magnified in terms of actual $$$ and it can play on your mind initially. Willing to move back down and then up again is key until you are really comfortable.

[djshawk]

This is pretty much where I'm at right now but at much smaller stakes. At the start of the month I had over $2k in my account and was away from home so was limited to playing 1 table because of my laptop's resolution. I started playing 100nl and I think because it was just 1 table I never felt like I could lose a great deal. I ran pretty well and despite some nasty beats was up about 4bi over 1500 hands so real happy. Since I've got back home I've been playing 2-3 tables most of the time, started running bad/playing bad and am down to below $2k.

I'd taken small shots at 100nl before but it felt like there was way too much money on the table. Now when I play there it feels fine but I'm sure I'm still playing scared.

My take on it is that when you are nearing moving up your bankroll is probably sat around 40 bi so loosing a couple of buyins doesn't feel like a big deal. As soon as you move up, your bankroll effectively halves, you are playing for twice as much, there are a whole load of new regulars etc. It's all new. Now you take a couple of beats and are down 3bi, not a big deal at your old level but it feels so much more because the $ amount is twice the size and your bankroll is half the size. I know that's not actually true but mentally that's how it feels.

I'm gonna go back to 50nl for a while and will probably take another shot at the 100 when I've got $2.5k. If of course I get that far because at the moment my confidence is shot and it makes you wonder if you are just a losing player all along!