Hello 200nl!

Posted by icemonkey9 on Aug 19, 2009 in 200nl | 4 comments

As you can tell from the title, I've finally gotten a bankroll together to take a shot at the 200nl ($1-$2 blinds) games.  It's a tremendous accomplishment to make it this far as so many players flame out or are simply unable to make it this far. So from that perspective, I'm very proud that I've "hung in there" and made it to the point to competently take a shot at the mid-stakes (or upper small stakes depending on your definition).

A lot of players or donkeys (for lack of a better term) buy-in under-rolled for a higher level than they are normally used to play.  Other players make a big score in an MTT through pure luckbox efforts (it happens, lots) and take their new found money to the cash game tables ... only to lose it to the likes of people ready and willing to eat up the fish.

At 200nl there are definitely a group players playing for a living and occasionally the 400nl guys will step down to make some money.  That's a pretty big concept to put my hands around, but it really became a lot easier to grasp once I started scouting the games and saw that many of the 200nl regulars were people I was already familiar with.  Quite a few had taken "step downs" to 100nl from time to time so seeing some of them at 200nl was a bit of a relief.  If I could handle them at 100nl, I can handle them at 200nl so long as I don't change my game.

And in that last sentence I reveal my greatest fear - over adaptation to my new surroundings. Too often, myself included, a player will move up in stakes and out-level himself into playing a game completely different than the one that got him or her there in the first place. That player begins to spew chips, get into constant flip situations and lose enough to where they have to move back down. It's that type of behavior I'm looking to avoid.

I am very proud to say I had never sat at a 200nl table until tonight when I was properly bankrolled for it.  BR management is just so important as I have seen the pitfalls of those that don't adhere to it.  Anyways, I played my regular nitty full ring style game and played 7 tables as always, and in the end, had a positive session.  For the record, here is my first ever hand at 200nl in my entire life (pure skill!!!):