Poker Blackjack

HOW I LEARNED POKER: PART II

Having descried in the previous essay much of my early learning and progression into winning play, I begin here with my transition out of the small limit games into the middle limits. This marked the clear beginning of a new phase in my poker education.

Moving Up

Another key element in my growth as a player resulted simply from moving up to the $10-$20 level. I had played $10-$20 several times in Los Angeles a few years earlier, and though I had netted only a small loss, I dropped back down to the small limits, uncomfortable with the swings I’d experienced. Subsequently, I made a stubborn commitment to move up only as my bankroll passed certain thresholds which I knew would allow for comfortable play at each new limit. Moreover, these were high thresholds, calculated with relation to hourly rates that were probably lower than what I could actually expect to achieve at each limit. I did not want to worry about losing my bankroll, and I insisted on building my bankroll solely through poker.

If I had won my way into each new limit, I knew I would feel more confident at that limit. While this was true, I was probably ready to make the move up $10-$20 well before I finally did. I would now suggest that newer players who have the financial resources to do so without winning their entire bankrolls, should experiment with moving up as soon as they are reasonably confident that their skills are sufficiently developed to win at the next level. Remember, you can always move back down. It is quite common for players fully capable of winning at higher limits to have to hop up and down a bit between limits for a while before fully setting at the next higher limit. Assuming you want to maximize your earnings, the advantage to moving up when you when you have the skills and resources to do so, simply means you can earn more, allowing you to move up yet again that much sooner, and so on.

In my case, it took potent confidence boosters to nudge me into stepping up to $10-$20 before I had set for myself. First, a player who had played at higher limits than I, and whose ability I had greatly admired, stunned me when he said in conversation, “I’d say there are about ten people in San Diego County who can play, and you’re one of them.” Before you have accumulated a great deal of experience, the short-term luck factor in poker can blur your vision in judging your ability relative to others. This single comment opened my eyes to the possibility that I had been underestimating my readiness to move up. The second nudge came about a month later as I played in a $6 – $12 game. A young traveling pro from Dallas was in the game that day waiting for the $10-$20 game to start.

He asked if I played $10-$20. When I said I didn’t, he offered to take forty percent of my action at $10-$20 so that I would effectively still be playing $6-$12. About an hour later, he again brought it up, saying, “I definitely want forty percent of your action.” That this player, who appeared quite good, was eager to “invest ” in my poker guide ability was enough to make me rethink the timing of my move up. Shortly thereafter I began playing $10-$20 regularly, did well, and from that day on have continued gradually to work my way up the limits.

Poker on a New Level

Once I did make the move up, I could tell that I was confronting a new, challenging level in my poker education. I played mostly in a small cardroom in a $10-$20 holdem game which was the biggest game they spread. (This game later evolved into $15-$30 , then $20- $40 ). Here, for the first time, I was faced with some professional, and similarly skilled, non-professional players on a daily basis. A core of players, tougher than any I had previously encountered, frequented the game, some of whom I still play with in bigger games today. That game also featured some maniacs, and semi-maniacs who, despite their style of play.

"The Best Player I' ve Ever Seen " / The Hit and Run Follies / An Illusory Winner /
On Randomness, Rushes, Hot Seats, and Bad Luck Dealers / Bad Beat? Think Again

Why Learn to Beat Tougher Games? / Practicing Game Preservation
Short-Handed Play: Don’t Miss out / How I Learned Poker: Part I
How I Learned Poker : Part II