Why not play more, and higher levels?
by PokerAnon ~ December 2nd, 2008. Filed under: Micro level poker, Philosophy and approach.
* Modified June 15th, 2010 *
Sometimes I tend to get fairly personal in my writing here, at least in a poker sense. This is one of the reasons that I keep this blog anonymous. There are other reasons for the anonymity; I like to keep my poker persona separate from my non-virtual life, I don’t want players whom I might play against learning how I think too well, general internet security paranoia, ect.
So here’s an attempt to dig around again in my personal bag of stuff and try to look some more at:
- why I don’t play more poker, and
- when I do, why do I so often play different games/levels, and
- why do I play so often at levels that I’m beyond either in terms of bankroll or ability or both?
To set the current scenario, theoretically I’m rolled to play $10 – $16 buy-in tournaments and could be taking more shots at $50 no-limit hold’em poker cash/ring games (0.25/0.50 blinds). I probably average 45 mins 4 weekdays a week, and 1 to 3 hours a day on the weekends, so 6-10 hours total per week.
To start, could I play more hours? Yes, I have flexibility most evenings so that if I wanted to I could remove myself in the late evening especially and go at it for 1-2 hours. One of the problems is that the rest of the household is gearing more and more toward later and later dinners which I don’t like. This means the evening gets sliced into a disruptive pre-dinner period, dinner, and a shortened after-dinner period. I’m fighting an uphill battle trying to get more post-dinner time unless I make dinner. And keep in mind that the tables are fishier earlier in the evenings than later when the activity starts to die down.
That being stated, I don’t think I played that many more hours when I was grinding $10NL to earn my PokerStars first deposit bonus but I was quite a bit more serious and focused in my grind. No distractions, only one table, tracking my FPPs on a calendar after each session, playing the same levels at the same site every session except for occasional tournaments or tables with friends.
I think that the last two questions, the when I do and why do I questions are related.
- Maybe I’m afraid that I’m not on my A game so I’m afraid to play levels where more of my roll is at stake.
- Maybe I’m too lazy and don’t want to concentrate that hard.
- Maybe I’m afraid of losing so I like to play weaker players
- Maybe my emotional bankroll is not high enough for the levels that I am monetarily rolled for.
- Maybe grinding is just not appealing
- And maybe I want variety
I’m less concerned when I’m playing for a special reason, like a tournament or cash table with people that I know. Interestingly in these situations not only am I less concerned about losing cash or buy ins, but the level of play is even higher than a regular $10 tournament or $25 table would be because a number of these people play much higher levels; we’re talking people who regularly play $20-50 tournaments or multi-table $100 or $200 tables. Only one person that I know of in these people is making a living playing poker, but others are making enough that they consider it to be a second income and it pays for vacations or other treats. I’ve fared sufficiently well in these outings.
So, I’m capable of holding my own but I also suspect that I play better in these situations ’cause I’m more focussed on what I’m doing. Which brings back the issue of being on or off my A game.
What about comfort? Where/when am I comfortable, and when not?
I’m more comfortable at $25NL than anywhere else. I understand the players better for the most part, though sometimes the awfulness of their play is disturbing. That being said, I don’t enjoy playing there so much, except for the recent work at playing short stacked. However, it’s still the best place for me to be playing if I want to increase my bankroll.
I’m rarely comfortable playing any tournament other than a turbo unless it’s the weekend just because it takes too long for me. Full Tilt has more of a tournament focus than Stars (or maybe it’s just that Tilt’s cash game micro structure sucks; no cheap tables and horrendous rake at the $10NL tables) so that’s where I play most of my tournaments. That being said, I should be playing more $6 turbo SnGs rather than killing time playing the $1 and $2 ones.
The whole aspect of risk/reward comes into play. When I was building a play money bankroll it meant a lot to me ’cause I had worked so hard to build it up. Now I use that bankroll to run experiments. When I first deposited I determined that I was willing to re-deposit in order to help me to finish the Stars deposit bonus so I wasn’t playing with scared money. But now maybe it is scared money. I don’t need to win, but I just don’t want to lose so I play cheaply.
Or maybe it’s variety. I did get into playing the superturbos when they appeared. They were short, different, and easy money for a time. I’ve played some of the matrix games but I’m not overly interested in cash, just the action, so the cheapest ones have done fine for me for that. When you play four tables you don’t get to agonize over how bad an opponent’s play was so it’s not as painful as playing a regular SnG.
December 7th, 2008 at 5:32 am
Nothing wrong with playing the weaker players in my opinion. It’s not about being scared. That’s where your profit comes from over the long run. I hear Barry Greenstein talk about this a lot and it’s also evident in some of the players who play int he high stakes games; You can be a great player, but it doesn’t mean you’ll be a winning player. Winning has a lot to do with your game selection and things like that. The importance of making good decisions about where to play and who to play against is often underestimated.
December 7th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
Yep, no disagreement from me about your winnings coming from playing weaker players. Gottta beat the rake somehow.
It comes down to weighing the tradeoffs; frustration of playing weak players or of winning small amounts versus lower winning rates but more challenging opponents. For some people it would be a matter of where you earn more per hour, but for me as a casual player, it’s finding the sweet spot that gives me the most overall satisfaction. And that sweet spot is going to keep moving the longer that I play.