Just wanted to run this scenario by you guys and get some feedback, as I haven't seen much written on my 'issue' here.

Recently, through some good, soild play and probably some luck too, I have been on a month-long streak that has swelled my BR to a total of 84 buy ins at my current level. Previously I had maintained the standard 20 buy in level. When I hit 20 buy ins, I would move up. So here's the issue..I don't want to move up a level right now. I know the players at my current level well, I am experiencing good success, and I do not need the money for day to day expenses...Don't get me wrong, I want nothing more than to increase my BR, and I know that moving up will (in the long run at least), cause the BR to increase faster.

So if I were to move up, I would have 42 buy ins at the next level, which I feel is more than enough, but I cannot make myself do it. I believe that some of this issue stems from the fact that when I was a new online player back in '03, I made the all too common mistake of moving up too fast and going broke.

This is not intended as a way to highlight my recent run, which has been the best in my so-called career (more of a hobby if you ask me, an obsession if you ask the wife, lol). I want to see if any of you all, whose opinions I respect and whose knowledge I read and lean on, have had the same issue. I seem to rememeber a ways back, where Ice discussed something vaguely similar.

Interested to hear your thoughts y'all, hope the run lasts...in the words of Crash Davis, "Don't F%^k with the streak".

What site and what limits?

I pretty much play at Empire and from the other post, I'd guess the gameplay is MUCH different at other sites.

Personally, I saw a huge jump in quality of opponents from $50NL to $100NL.

TR

I play mostly at Paradise but also play on GC from time to time. Do you think the level of comp at $100NL is much better than at the $50NL? I have seen the same fishy play at all levels up to $200NL.

I have seen an improvement from 50 to 100. For example, at 50 or below you can basically wait for monsters and go allin and get called 50% of the time. That's not gonna work at the $100.

Still fishy play at $100 though.

I have over 200 buy ins in my roll for the stakes I play most of the time. You dont have to move up if you dont want to.

However, if the jump that you are denying yourself is from $50NL to $100NL and you win rate is pretty good, I would make the jump. The play isnt much better at all until you hit $400NL.

Mentally seperate 10 buy ins from your roll and play $100NL. If you lose it, move back down. You cant win "real" money until you at least get to where youre playing 2-3 tables of $200NL. Once you get there, you could easily make $40-$60/hr which is real money in my book and if you wanted to stay there long term, I dont think anyone would blame you.

I have probably moved up slower than anyone else I know so I know how you feel.

Also, on Paradise they have a lot of European players(you can see their location)... IMO these guys like to gamble and bluff often. This is one thing that I loved about Paradise, you don't need to be tricky or even particularily good to make money on the NL table there.

Take it from a guy who started at the $25 there and eventually played the $200 games with a nice win rate. Paradise only runs tables up to $200 NL (there is one $500 table that is rarely ever going, and if it is, don't put your money there! Yikes!) which I think gets people with more BR than brains playing at those levels and creates a very profitable situation for you to be in.

Take your time and move up. But I can tell you at Paradise you won't notice *much* of a difference moving up levels. There will be 1 or 2 more good players at your $200 table compared to the $50 but still a good ratio of fish:shark. I like Icemans advice to take a few buyins and simply give the games a shot. If you are losing, take your data and figure out whats costing you money, move back to the $50's work on it while making a profit and then attack the $100's again. GL!

Thanks Ice. I thought I rememebred you having a similar issue a while back. I really do think I am still a bit gunshy from my earliest forays into higher limit tables when I knew next to nothing about advanced NLHE strategies, especially pertaining to Ring games and the online environment. I might try what you said about separating off 10 buy ins as sort of a test run. I know I am costing myself money by staying at my current level, but the transition period is something that is making me feel a bit uncomfortable, and as well all know, any form of discomfort (in my case at least), leads to sub-optimial decision making and -EV.

Ice: do you really think the play isn't noticeably better until you hit $400NL? I tend to agree with this. I do play $100NL regularly at GC and have tripled my initial deposit. Those passive/crazy Europeans are fun to play against. I just don't think I am ready for the larger swings yet - just having too much fun grinding/growing a respectable bankroll.

On a positive note, I have separated out a good bit of this months profits for a trip to the Taj in AC this weekend. The wife was gracious enough to allow a weekend trip in honor of the 30th BDay. I will be leaning heavily on concepts learned here, and hope for a successful outing. Secondarily, I hope not to piss away to much of my poker winnings in the craps pit, like our friend TJ. Full trip report will be up Monday in the B&M section. If any BTP-ers happen to be in town, I'll be in the Poker room most of the weekend, with about 10 other paroled buddies of mine. If anyone is around and wants to meet up, I'll be happy to buy the drinks.

Thanks for the advice Tok - do you still play at Paradise? Not too many BTP'ers play there, for whatever reason. I have heard talk on other forums that Paradise has better players than most sites, but my win rate there is better than at any other site - guess I must be more comfortable there - plus I like the interface better than any other I've seen.

To illustrate what I perceive to be the quality of the games, I regularly see $50NL tables with a flop % of about 20%, same games at GC are like 45-50% - not to say that all tight players are good, but at low limits, I think there is at least some correlation.

Again, thanks guys...

Well it's hard to say if Paradise has *better* play on average than other sites... I've never played on GC, Bodog, or Party and that's where all the craziness happens. I play on UB, PS, FTP and Paradise and there are still plenty of fish IMO.

The beauty of my game, as with any LAG game, is that you change the texture of the table to your advantage. I don't think it matters where you play in this acpect as long as it's not full of maniacs and calling stations.

What happens is that you as a player know when to change gears and this sets up the table right where you want it. It will start tight, like 20% seeing flops, so you play fast and steal a lot. Players know you don't have it all the time and they will start changing their game to counteract yours. This naturally puts them outside of their comfort zone and directly relates to them making more mistakes. You'll end up getting more calls and a few reraises etc and the table will start playing loose. Soon players will be willing to go the distance with top pair etc because they have serious doubt you have anything. All you need to do is tighten up and hope to get a monster here or there and you'll take someones stack. When you tighten back up you can live off your stolen money and still steal a pot here or there. The main difference is that people will be playing you differently and will pay you off with less than they normally would. If the play gets too tight again, change to loose again and get the table "tilted".

I like how Palman put it a while back: (paraphrased) "A LAG player is just trying to break even on his steals/bluffs because when you have it you're going to stack someone".

I think on average the $100 NL is softer than the $50 at GC six max I can't say for full ring games. At the $50NL you rarely get a LAG and mostly Tight Passive or Loose Passive opponents in the $100 game you will find bad LAG's that like to call too big of bet preflop with too little, and overplay their hand post flop as well. I find less nutpeddlers and more crazy players. My watch these guys at the $50's list is far deeper than at the $100 which right now is at zero opponents to take special precaution against. Believe it or not I strongly feel the $100 far softer at least at US EST nights, and both games are tougher in US EST weekday afternoons.

You should take a step and work on playing the $100 game some, it won't take long for you to be comfortable with the raise sizes, and you have lots of roll for taking a "shot". Go and beat some swedes.