Stepping up

[sentialsteve]

Anyone else 'suffer' from this? I regularly play $10 games and do quite well, have now increased my original starting fund by 2000%. So obviously this 'level' is getting a bit comfortable or, dare I say it, easy for me. Yet when i take it up a level to $20 games I really notice the difference in play and although i get a few wins , its not enough and my fund starts going down! Then I go back to the $10's to build my money back up again. I suppose the answer is to play more $20's and get better but I hate losing my previous winnings! Anyone else get this?

[sl0ggs]

I have had this to a degree also. I think the key is not treating it as a 'step up'... surely that is just putting too much pressure on yourself?

Just enter the bigger buy-in games, but play your usual game... the pro's must be able to ignore the buy-in (mostly paid for by their sponsors anway!) and ignore the prize fund to a degree... Obviously they won't be completely ignorant to it, because that helps them understand the level of player they should be up against, but they must just get their head down and play their own game once they are up and running...?

[Terminator]

I have found that on some step-ups the level of play can change quite a lot, but I agree that to a certain extent, it is psychological too. If you can't play your normal game when you step up a level, then you need to step back down again, as you will only struggle to keep your bankroll.

[Top Pair Ace Kicker]

To echo the others I think a lot of it might be psychological.

You must not automatically think that just because people are playing in a game with a bigger buy in than normal that they are "better" than you.

I regularly play the 10 and 20 denomination STTs, but last week decided, after not making the money in 3 stts in a row that as I was still playing with money I had already won, to have a crack at a $100 STT. I got 2nd by playing exactly the same way as I do in any other game I play. Havent played any since mind you...

Try to be confident when you sit down. Think that you will do well, and that no-one is either better than you, or is going to bully you around.

[sentialsteve]

Yeah, think thats the problem really, the bullying! Its definitely a more aggresive level, every bet you make seems to get massively raised etc. Guess I'll just have to grit my teeth and mix it up with the big boys!

[Top Pair Ace Kicker]

I thought of this thread the other day when I won a 5 seater $10 STT. I thought why not do what others have said before and go on a step up mission. So I invested my winnings from the $10 game and sat straight down at a 5 seater $20 game. I won that too, so thought "OK. Lets go for the $50 game.."

Won that too

So thought "OK lets go for the $100 game...."

Then I looked at my watch and saw that as it was 3.20AM and the alarm was going to go off in 4 hours that perhaps I should just get to bed instead.

Just goes to show though, that it is perfectly possible to step up and win. I certainly didnt notice any particular difference in playing styles between the games.

Then again I may have either been A)Lucky, or B)Half asleep.

[hyperman]

I started off playing the micro STT's and worked my way up until i was winning regularly at the $5 level - always 9 seaters
I then moved up to play $10 ones, and found I struggled, so I have moved back down, and I have found that I am now struggling to even hold my own at the lower level. Have goen through an horrific few months and now only play a couple of times a week, rather than virtually every night, and the result of my first one determines whether I play on, find something different or pack i for the night.
Have been applying patience to my MTT game and finding that whilst I am going pretty deep i often either limp in, or fall just short of making the money.

Bloody great game this innit!!!

[luckyhogan]

I have not been playing holdem for long and I never thought there would be a difference in play by the buyin price. I have been sitting in on games that have the most people in them. I have won a couple of $50 games, a few $30 ones and lots of the lower games and I have not seen any bullying or any difference.

[sentialsteve]

Have played 3 $20 games recently (5 man), finished 2nd, 1st and 4th, so not too bad, will keep dipping into them more frequently but will still play the $10 games as my 'bread and butter'.