When to move to higher limits and higher buy-in tourneys?

[roundcat]

Being new to poker, I've been playing tournaments with reasonable buy-ins ($25-$30 live, $1, $5, or $10 max online) and microlimit ring games since I don't want to lose too much while I'm still developing my game play.

Although I feel comfortable sticking to lower-cost games, there's a local tournament I'd like to play in tomorrow, but there's an $80 buy-in. The reason I'd like to play is because it's a ladies only tournament, which I think would be interesting, but I'm not sure I'm comfortable with the possibility of parting with $80 and not being sure how well I'll do. Can't imagine there would be more than 20 or so people involved, so that could be a factor.

What would you do? And more generally, when is it advisable to move to higher limit games and tournaments with higher buy-ins? I'd think comfort level would be a factor, as well as whether you're winning with reasonable consistency.

 

[poettic1]

i actually don't consider this a bank roll question. it seems your wanting to play in a tourney that your roll doesn't justify but your game does. if you play and loose does it kill your roll? if not you have to know how many ppl place and for how much. if it is only 20 ppl you have to ask how many of them just have the money. because it's important to know what percentage of the feild you can make you bitch(laugh its funny). what it comes down to is if you have the bank roll20-40 times the buy-in depending on the person you ask, if not then you should take this one step further can you get top 3? if either answer is yes i say go and have fun, live tourneys are alot of fun plus its 800 dollars for first.


i really look at this as a question you should ask yourself as you are the only one who knows the answer.

eitherway good luck

 

[roundcat]

Thanks, poettic1. I don't have a set bankroll for poker, so if I play and lose it doesn't exactly kill my roll, but it does mean that money I've spent on this increases by a little more than 50%.

Last time I played at this casino (the only time I've played there, actually), I did well and missed being in the money by only one, so I suppose that's a bit of a draw to go back and give it another shot. I know some of today's participants are dealers there, though, which tells me they've got a lot more time invested than I do.

Anyway, I still have a few hours to decide. Could also go for a lower buy-in game at a closer casino, but the people there aren't quite as nice and the table top has kind of an icky feel to it.... all factors in winning, I'm sure.

 

[chicubs1616]

I know that you have said that you do not have a bankroll for poker. However, here is the generally suggested levels for tournaments if you have a bankroll.

If you are playing multi-table tournaments, you should not spend more than 3% of your bankroll on one tournament. Now this is used by the players who play poker seriously for money and not occasional enjoyment/ to make a little money on the side.

It's up to you how much you spend and without an actual bankroll, it is hard to determine what "level" of buy-in you should play.

 

[tenbob]

On a point Ken Warren says in his book that one of the main cat of players that you want to play against is dealers.

Just because you deal a hand dosnt mean you know how to play a hand.

Id say if it isnt a major amount of money to you, go for it, and if you lose so be it, but judging from your posts i dont think that will be the case. There is no harm in treating it as a night out. GL

 

[roundcat]

Interesting that you should say that about dealers, tenbob. I spoke with one today who said he was new as a dealer and had only started playing poker about a year ago. He became a dealer after seeing that they were making more dealing cards than he was making playing them. I said he must learn a lot just observing all the hands, and he said it doesn't help a bit!

I did knock out one of the dealers tonight -- I went to the tourney and had a really enjoyable time. There was a lot of camraderie and supportiveness among the ladies, any there were several very good players there. One or two of them I was scared of, but it turned out they were scared of me too and paid me some very high compliments by saying they couldn't get a read on me, didn't like playing against me, and were glad when I went out. :laugh:

Although I made the final table, I ended up going out 8 of 24... after four and a half hours of play! Thank goodness they have food there or I think we all would have perished. That was something that was very interesting about playing with women only -- it took forever and a day to get anyone out! The concensus at the table was that women play less aggressively than men, which is something I'd wondered about before going in.

I might have gotten further if I hadn't made three mistakes, two of them big ones:

- I didn't pay close attention when calling a raise, and accidentally reraised it with a so-so hand.
- I tried some aggressive bluffing with a weak player who ended up feeling so invested in the pot she ended up calling me all the way to the river and winning a big pot (including about half my chip stack) with a pair of fives.
- I have a terrible short-term memory (I often have to look at my cards two or three times to remember what I have), and on my last play I thought I had an ace-high straight after the flop, and I called an all-in bet. Turned out that even if I had had the straight I still wouldn't have been beaten by my opponent's quad queens (two of which did not show up until the turn and the river), so that took a bit of the sting away....

Sorry for the long post, but I'm kind of jazzed up after this tournament, despite the fact that I didn't come away with anything except the rose they gave each person as they went out. The $80 investment was well worth it.

 

[jerintate]

Every time I go to the casino to play in a live game, I look at it like I am paying an entrance fee to an amusement park. If I lose then I can consider the money well spent for entertainment, and if I win, well of course it was worth it.