Know your table limits

Excerpt from an e-mail..

If you're playing to learn, nothing will challenge your poker skills like being at a table with Howard Lederer and Phil Gordon. If you're playing poker for entertainment and making money isn't your goal, by all means choose your tables according to where you'll have the most fun. But if your only goal is to make money, forget about everything except picking the weakest game at a limit you can afford, even if it's the $1-$2 game when you're itching to play $2-$4. In ring game poker, it is better to play smaller at the table you're likely to beat than it is to play bigger at a tougher table. You also need to take your time about moving up a level. I have seen many $1-$2 players sustain steady win rates at those stakes for a month, then disappear for weeks after taking a shot at the $2-$4 game.

Knowing where to play is as important as knowing how to play. If you pay close attention to your game selection, you'll grow the kind of bankroll that will allow you to have more games to choose from.

Totally agree. If it is money you are looking for, then check the ego at the door and find the easiest game going and sit there. I don't care if you are use to playing $10/$20, if you see a bunch of idiots throwing there money away at a $3/$6 game, you are obligated to get in there and take it all from them.

If your buddies who play 10/20 give you a bad time, then so be it, you just made a couple hundred bucks the easy way. I would rather work as easy as I can for my money.

I set up my home game with really good players to keep me sharp. I go to the casino to find the easiest table to play and will sit there.