Making the Leap in Poker

Last weekend, I was at a holiday party and, as expected, was forced to make conversation with a bevy of strangers. Most people don’t know anything about poker, but one guy I met was actually a “serious casual” player; he doesn’t live off his winnings, but still wants to make a little money playing rather than just playing for entertainment.

He presented me with an issue he has been having, one that most of us have experienced. He recently moved up in stakes and has been having trouble with the psychological effects of the jump. He has been feeling intimidated and thinks it has been affecting his play. He, thinking I’m a poker expert, asked me for advice.

The first thing I asked him was if he was sure he was properly bankrolled for the new stakes. A “proper” bankroll is open to interpretation and everyone has their own comfort level, but generally speaking, 25 to 30 buy-ins for No Limit or 300 to 400 big bets for Limit should work out just fine. When in doubt, always err on the side of having too large of a bankroll. Too small of a bankroll and a couple of downswings could easily wipe you out. My new poker conversation partner assured me that this wasn’t a problem.

He reiterated that even though he knew his bankroll was sizeable enough, he just couldn’t shake the feeling that all of his opponents were better than him – they knew something he didn’t know. He tended to overcompensate – either too loose or too tight – and was getting killed as a result. I told him not to assume anything about the other players; just play your style. You may win and you may lose, but if you stay in your comfort zone, it will be easier to learn about your opponents. Then, when you have a read on how they play, you can start making adjustments.

And you know what? If you have some failures at first, then you have some failures. There is no shame in moving back down. Unless you’re a famous player, nobody cares if you have to take it down a notch.

Better yet, don’t worry about moving up all at once. Obviously, single-tablers will have no choice, but people like the guy at the party who are “serious casual” players are almost always multi-tablers, which presents more than one option. I told him if it makes him feel more comfortable, he could gradually break into the higher stakes by keeping the majority of his play at the lower stakes tables at first.

Investigate the tables at the higher stakes, pick one that looks juicy, and take a seat. When you feel good about things, add another table at your new stakes and continue from there until you have moved up completely. All the while, though, feel free to hop back down if you see some attractive tables at the lower stakes or you simply need to rein it in a little. The point of the endeavor is to make money, and if you can make money at a particular table, who cares what the blinds are?

Even though this guy said that his bankroll is sufficient for the higher stakes, I still sensed that the money intimidated him more than the players did. Thus, if he can, he should try to mentally convert the dollar amounts to big blinds or big bets. It will allow him to keep his emotions more level, as it will take some of the sting out of losing and some of the exhilaration out of winning.

Think about the genius of a brick and mortar casino. You don’t use cash at the tables; you use chips. There are multiple reasons why chips are used, but one of them is because people tend to forget they are playing with real money when they are just moving plastic chips around. You didn’t lose a hundred bucks at a blackjack table; you just lost 20 chips. Additionally, counting with big blinds instead of dollar amounts makes it easier for some to evaluate their winning or losing pace, as for many, a win rate of one big blind per hundred hands is more descriptive than, say, four dollars per hundred hands.

No matter what strategy you use when making the jump to the next level, the most important thing is to be just as comfortable at your new stakes as you were with your old stakes. You can’t afford to make decisions based on the fear of losing money; you need to make decisions based on the poker being played.

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Poker terminology:

RIVER - The last card dealt in a hand of stud or Hold'em.
LIMIT POKER - A poker game wherein the amount to be bet is fixed, or at most variable within a prescribed minimum and maximum. Ant.: NO-LIMIT POKER.
RAINBOW - In flop games, a flop in which no two cards are of the same suit. "The flop was A 9 7 rainbow."
AMERICAN AIRLINES - In Hold'em, a pair of Aces in the hole. Better known (at least in rec.gambling) as POCKET ROCKETS.
HIGH-LOW SPLIT - Forms of poker in which the pot is split between the best hand and best lowball hand.
WORLD SERIES OF POKER - A series of several different poker games with relatively large buy-ins, culminating in a $10,000 buy-in no-limit Hold'em tournament, the winner of which is crowned the World Poker Champion. Sponsored by Binion's Horseshoe Club in Las Vegas.

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