I have been playing PLO for many years but finally decided to take another serious crack to see if I am a winning player. Starting once in January, then a few times in Feb, then most days from early March until now I have been playing one to two tables at .05/.10 at least two hours a day. My personal finance strategy is to buy in for $50, play the .05/.10 tables, then cash out fully every time I am up based on play time. Sometimes I cash out at $51, sometimes at $80. Then I buy back into the site for $50 again.

I have now bought in for $50 38 times. I have lost the entire $50 3 times. One time was when I lost the 1st $50 and went on tilt with the 2nd $50 at the .10/.20 table. I have won / cashed out 35 times out of 38. I am up nearly $600 overall winnings. I realize this could be variance, however, believe $600 up after this time proves I can win. Do you believe I can move up to .10/.20 tables?

how many hands have you played over this period? I don't know which site you are on but I'm finding the $0.10 / $0.25 tables much tougher than the $0.05 / $0.10 tables. I regularly see lots of players with 400bb or more consistently as well.

I play at Global Poker. No rake, which sucks, but supports US players in my area. I have a query in to see how to find out how many hands I have played.

I say go for it. What is the worst that can happen?

I figure throw in $100 to $200 and see. If I lose all $200 its back to .05/.10...

Don't do it!

You won 60 buy ins, which sounds great. Now win another 60.

Thing is : when money is of no consequence you play better. Fine tune your game where you are until your confidence is firm.

You need to experience running bad and losing 10 buy ins where it doesn't matter (either psychologically or financially).

Welp. I did do it and it is a different game at those levels. At least to me phsychologically because of the money wagered. That said, I put in $100 last night, played some - lost $50 because of bad beats - made $40 back. Played for 20 min this morning and won all of it back plus another $27. You would think at the higher level people play better but players still call me or raise when I had winning hands. That said, I cashed out $127 this morning so up $27. Went all in on a player who had well over $100 winnings at the $20 table and he lost to trip aces - he had two pair. I also had the winning nut straight at the turn - went all in - a guy calls me with trips and hits the full house on the river. I mean - who calls for pot ($20) on the turn at a $20 table when the straight is staring you down...I may just go back down to .05/.10 again for now. Total winnings now $692.

You are correct. moved back down again and zero pressure at .05/.10 its like a breeze now.

Tried 3 tabling this evening and came out ahead. A lot to look at when you are involved in 3 hands at once but doable.

I want to say, you are likely a very strong player from what you say, but as a PLO noob I have quickly learned one thing since starting this game: it is really hard to disentangle running hot or running poor from your skill at this game.

There is really no point to look at our results over a few thousands of hands. There is just too much variance. And it is a dangerous mistake to do so when we are winning just as much as it is when we are losing. Possibly, it's more dangerous when we win because that boosts our confidence wrongly and worsening our game, whereas if we are having bad results we will be lead to question our game.

Check this out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isoFDpstg1k

Thanks, interesting video. At this point I am up over 70 buy-ins at a $10 table. I have bought in over 40 times for a $50 bankroll to the poker site and have only lost the complete $50 three times. Otherwise have won over $50 and pulled the entire winnings out at least 37 times. To me that is a great ratio, hard to believe winning at this rate is pure variance over that course of play.

Variance on my side today. Now up over $900 (approx 90 buy-ins at $10 table).

see if u had stuck to the $20 tables like I told you u would be up over $1200

perhaps....

@OP

It sounds like when you move up, you might be a little intimidated? Based on your post, it seems a lot of it could be that your mental game? Maybe you're playing tighter or making calls that you know are bad but calling the river to see what your opponent had, just to prove that you were right on your read?

The higher stakes are for sure intimidating, however, I try to play the exact same style/hands I did before. Whereas before I may see a 75 cent/dollar raise after the flop on .05/.10 table, seems $3 plus raises are common on the .10/.20 table. Then I think do these players have something better than I used to play on the lower stakes and the answer is no. That said, I want to hit at least $1,000 profit at the lower stakes before I attempt higher stakes again.

Update - as I mentioned in the top post - my personal finance strategy is to buy in for $50, play the .05/.10 tables, then cash out fully every time I am up based on play time. In 3 months I have lost the $50 3 times out of over 40 $50 buy-ins. Well - 3 days ago I almost lost my 4th $50. I was catching nothing and down to $3.50. Thought about just putting in another $50 or just go on tilt with $3.50 but screw it - let's see if I can battle back. 3 days of a pitched battle and I came back to $48, then lost down to $15. Went up some and just see-sawed back and forth. Finally this morning I was playing against a regular I see everyday on the tables. I had ace and 9 of spades in my hand. Ace of hearts and two spades hit the flop. He bets 30 cents and I just call. Turn and a spade hits - no pairs on board. He bets pot and I raise to max. He then re-raises me to max so I am all in. River hits and my nut flush is good and I win $18. He shows a 7 and 8 of spades. I'm shocked - he must have put me on two pair aces for high pair or maybe trip aces with my betting patterns when the board hit for the flush. Anyhow, just cashed out for $56 after 3 hard days for $6 profit and buying back in with another $50 bankroll. Total winnings now $909.

Random question, if you don't mind sharing.

What site are you playing that you can cash-out and re-deposit so quickly? I'm thinking Pokerstars since it's the only one I tried where the withdrawal happened in less than 24 hours.

So, double checking, thanks for the response and keep crushing mate.

Global Poker. There is no rakeback there, however, one reason I cash out near 50 is when you buy in at 50 you get another $1...so I get $51 each buy in. In order to cash out its a minimum of $50 cash out (so you have to have $50) and you also have had to play through $50. So for example 10 bets at $5 or any combination gets you to $50. Also it takes about 3 days for the redemption to get to your bank account. I buy back in as soon as the redemption approval email comes.

Don't see that much difference between these two stakes so would consider moving up

But best to do whatever you are comfortable with ofc.

I want to be up $1,200. Then put $200 into playing at .10/.20. If I lose that then go back to .05/.10 knowing I have won at least $1,000.

Do not rely on results especially in such a small sample to judge your ability. It is an extremely bad way of approaching poker learning and "career". Almost everyone who does this are fish or bad regs.

If you want to get good at poker, commit to training material and tools.

Also playing at the right hours makes a lot of difference. In the weekends general lot easier to play than during the week

+ you might want to start doing more tableselection like only playing at tables when there is good action

I agree with training material but do not agree on small sample size. I have played for hours a day multi-tabling. Now up 90 buy-ins at $10 tables. At $300 to $600 up I would say that could be due to variance. At over $900 up at those stakes I am not on a lucky run.

I have been playing at all times every day. Weekends are better but that would severely limit me because of weekend activities. Global Poker does not have a great number of open tables so I take what I can get and can go up against most players and still win overall if there is at least one fish at the table (not being me:O) I'm pretty cautious most plays and do not ever play trash unless just calling from small blind to big blind for a nickel and hoping to catch as the risk is small for a nickel.