Hello All,
I need advice. I am trying to decide whether I am not playing at the correct limit. Over the past several months(5+) I have been playing a combination of 3-6, 5-10, 6-12 & 8-16 limit games in live card rooms. The majority of sessions I play are at the 3-6 limit. A little about my style of play, I am a tight but very agressive player and take the flop < 25-30% of the time and stick to hands in groups 1-5. Typical flop rates for the table at the local 3-6 game are >50-60%, even against raises. Over several months I have noticed that at the 3-6 stake my variance is incredibly high, sometimes having to go 2-3 sessions before showing a profit. Although when I do profit at 3-6 it tends to be double to triple my buy in. At the higher limits I consistently have a lower variance and show profits more frequently. Also, it seems I am able to know much better where I stand in the hand. Does this make sense? It seems that with the number of people seeing the flop at the 3-6 tables the randomness of their hand holdings begins to dominate the game rather then the quality of their hand. At the 5-10 stakes, and above, the average flop rate for the tables I have been at is significantly lower and seems to give a player like me an edge that I otherwise do not have at the 3-6 limit. In a recent 6-12 session in vegas (with half kill to 10-20) a tight player who plays mostly 10-20 & 15-30 mentioned I should seriously consider trying the 15-30 stake since my style of play is typical for those stakes. This advice, as I have had from others before, seems to go far away from the conventional wisdom that you need to consistently beat the lower limit before moving up. I have been at this game seriously for only about 5 months and have invested a ton of time studying it. Yet I have no idea where I should be playing at. Additional questions I have for all you in closing are:

1. How many winning sessions should a person book before considering a higher limit?

2. What is the expected variance in BB at the "wild" low limits? At times I have gone through $100 playing only truely premium hands and never seeing the river! This usually occurs because 5-7 people call my raise and have to fold after the turn cuz i know I am beat.

3. Could I be playing incorrectly at the 3-6 limit? Sometimes I walk away feeling ill that I just lost $200 because guys who beat me played with starting hands that everyone would agree belongs in the muck pre-flop let alone calling a raise with.

All help and advice will be greatly appreciated.

NEWBIE FAQ (PLEASE READ!)

Scroll down a little to the part that has links for "bankroll requirements" and limits for bankrolls. That might be a good place to start, I'm sure others will have additional advice in regards to the style of play in relation to the limits.

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