As I mentioned in my first entry, I'm having issues with trying to get to the 3/6 game.

When I first switched to NL, my plan was to start at the .5/1 until I was up 20BIs (including bonus/rakeback). Then take half the money (5BI) to the next level. If I lost it, move back down until I got it back and try again. It took 4 months and about 20,000 hands to get there and the profit was about a 50/50 split between poker and bonus (I was still whoring a bit). I moved to the 1/2 game, but when I started to play bodog, they don't spread 1/2 6max so I started playing 2/3 instead. I ran hot and the games were soft and I had my 20BI in about 2.5 months and 10,000 hands. This time it was almost all poker profit and I was stunned.

I just couldn't get myself to pull the trigger to 3/6 at that time. I felt like I'd run white hot since I'd moved up. Feb and Mar had been my biggest months ever (>2500 each). I had a mindset that the heater was bound to come crashing down and I sure didn't want it to be $600 at a time. After only 10,000 hands the money at 2/3 was still a bit intimitdating at times and I was afraid of playing scared money if I went higher.

I didn't set a new goal to move up and now I've been playing the same game for 8 months and over 60k hands. I'm up over 60BIs before rakeback and winning at almost 6 PTBB/100. I still feel like I've run pretty well and I still have some leaks, but I'm now very certain I can beat this site/stakes long term and am consistently one of the better players at the table.

Time to move up, right? I've stuck my toe into the 600s a few times. Played about 1000 hands and am down about 2 BIs. I think I'm probably able to win at this game, but it seems like a pretty big jump in the quality of play. Games are much more aggressive with many more solid regulars. There are still some LOL Bodog players, but not nearly as many as the 2/3 game. My main issues:

1) Quality of play makes me wonder if I can win at half the rate that I can beat the other game

2) Sheer dollars of a potential downswing start to bring out the nit in me. The thought of losing like $2k in a night is just AAAHHHH. I'm up many times that this year, but $2k is still $2k and it would sting

3) I'm playing 21/15 at the 2/3 game and there are many times where I can limp the SB for a dollar and get like 10:1 inflating that a bit. In the more aggressive 3/6 game there are more raises in front and more 3 betting from the blinds taking away easy steal opps and limper isolation raises. So far I've played 19/13 at the 3/6 and I just don't know how effectively you can play if you're that tight.

My options:

1) suck it up, be a man, take $3k up and see what happens

2) Spend the rest of 2007 trying to get more lag and try a 30/20 style at the 300s and then give 3/6 a shot

3) spend some rakeback money on a coach to tighten some leaks, loosen me up, and get me over the hump

4) just chill at the 300s, say LOL Bodog multiple times a night, maybe add another table (I play 2 now) and play relatively stress free

I have a good job and don't depend on poker for anything. I play for fun and some FU money. I fund my Vegas trips, I bought a nicer car than I probably would have, once in a while I'll do something frivilous and call it "POKER MONEY", but honestly I could do all that stuff anyway. But more money is still more money and there's an allure to beating higher games just as a sense of accomplishment, a feeling that I AM GOOD AT THIS, that all the time I spend thinking about poker is getting me better. I don't know how long I can get that just raking in money against bodog donks at the 300s forever.

This ended up longer than I expected, so I'll cut it off. Any thoughts and advice would be appreciated if anybody has stayed awake long enough to get to the end.

Some background on me and my poker history for my first blog entry.

I played some poker when I was a kid, but nothing serious. I knew what hand beat what and all, but it was super low stakes and nobody had any idea what they were doing. My freshman year at Illinois, we started playing a lot. And by "a lot" I mean many hours a day every single day of the week. We took over the dorm "study room" and it became the poker room. Still low stakes, mostly 5 card draw dealer call crazy games. I still never took any time to learn how to play well, but since nobody else did either, I did OK.

I started playing online January 1, 2004. I put $250 into a party account and started playing 2/4 limit (lol). I lost $150 in my first 122 hands so I quit. I got Lee Jones's book and read it for the next few days. January 6th I was back in the game playing 1/2 with my remaining $100. The Jones strategy was perfect for a novice at low stakes Party back then and I started winning. By the end of January I had won my $150 back and was back at 2/4 (Jones doesn't teach bankroll mgmt). I pretty much played exclusively 2/4 limit at party for the next year and a half. I cleared bonuses when party had them and made a bit of money. That's when I decided to branch out and bonus whore.

The next year I did nothing but chase bonuses. Whatever site was offering the best bonus, I was playing. I started playing 6 max so I could get more hands in and clear bonuses faster. I still pretty much sucked at poker, but I started making money. In the next 13 months from 9/05 through 9/06, I made very very little playing poker, but cleared enough in bonus that my profits were way up. I was a break even player and spending all my free time researching the next great bonus, downloading software, creating accounts, etc. Basically everything but becoming a better player.

UIGEA passed in Sept of 2006 and my bonus whoring days were over. Just not enough sites taking US action to make it worth it. Time to learn how to play poker. I signed up for CR and started seriously learning to play NL holdem. At the time, I had about 30k hands of NL experience mostly low stakes at euro sites that didn't have many limit games going.

I mostly watched Taylor's videos and really learned a lot. I started playing Stars 100NL. Beat it for 20BI and decided to take a 5BI shot at 200. I still had a little bonus whore in me, so a bit into the 200s I moved to Bodog with rakeback and their bottomless bonus. Bodog doesn't spread a 6max 200NL game, so I started playing 300NL. 8 months later I'm still playing Bodog 300NL. The bottomless bonus is done, and I really don't care. My success at this limit has blown away my expectations to the point where sometimes I think I must be on a 60,000 hand heater.

That's pretty much where I'm at now. I've got a very healthy roll, and a regular game that I know I can make good money at. I have a real job that I enjoy, so poker is a hobby for me. I probably average about 5 nights a week for about 3 hours a night. I play two tables at a time on my laptop in the living room while watching TV with my wife after our 6 year old daughter has gone to bed. While part of me would like to play more, I think that the limits placed on my playing time have helped keep the game fresh for me.

Well, that's enough for now. More to follow where I discuss my issues with moving up to the 600s. I'm sure you'll all be pounding F5 waiting...