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Message: [QUOTE="STL FAN, post: 2691146, member: 120788"] Assessing information from moving up from one level from the level below; I have had the bank roll to support the $5.00 and $10.00 9 max. SNG, $10.00- $20.00 MTT for about a year and a half. However, mentally my game could not support the swings; maybe this was all just an excuse? I was comfortable playing in the $1.50 and $3.00 9 max SNG, $1.00-$5.00 MTT levels. The variance swings from the lower level could be maddening and to combat this I would have to chat after when short term results did not go my way, journal to help cope with short term variance, or both. Because playing at lower buy ins, I knew the goal was the top three, small buy ins need to win more than min cash to be profitable. Mentally the game was simple, exploit when I had them crushed, set and wait, and repeat when possible. Final table, aggression with the information learned, play for the final three, then heads up, win heads up. MTT and SNG the strategy from one helped with the other, one is just as important as the other. Practice the strategy from one because of one table, because of seeing all stages of an MTT or final table from a one table SNG, understand, know, apply this to a long run MTT and use all the MTT information, experience, knowledge from my game to flourish in the other. People playing in the lower levels, there are a mix of people, from the mix some are slumming down to play the lower buy ins, multi tabling is the most common, however, before moving up I pulled up tables of the next level. Most of the people are the same, this is part of why I was reluctant to move up, logic told me, why would I want to lose a bigger buy in against the same people that were playing from behind against me and winning? Mentally, this was my block or one part of many blocks? Just like when things happen for a reason or the need to challenge myself, or the real reason my coach asked me why are you slumming at the lower levels? His push in this area, challenging my thought process in a game when I thought a player had cards; they actually were just making a move on me. This buildup of emotion had me journal my thoughts and assess what I was waiting for, why I could not produce the play from the talent I knew I had. I could talk a mean game at the lower levels but felt I was scared money at the next level. After watching the next level, I was understanding, knew I could play at the next level especially in the one table SNG. From working on what I had been struggling with from prior responses to myself on this thread. I decided to give this a fair shot and play with the same mindset of winning but the difference is a person can show profit from having some min cashes mixed in with some wins from sample sizes of ten buy ins as an example. The game in my mind was the same for me; however, I noticed my opponents were playing tighter, money I believe this has them playing different than that of the level below that I was accustomed to playing with them. They would still make some critical mistakes; play from behind at the wrong time as some examples. What I had been working on now has the desired results that were not happening at the level below. Funny, this level is actually mentally easier than the level below, not as much stress because the play is proper for longer stretches, the game dynamics, and table dynamics, player dynamics are more stable and easier to exploit. Confidence here is higher than the level below. Here is my first small sample of 10 $5.00 SNG 9 max, 3 firsts, 3 seconds, 2 thirds, and 2 bubbles. I spent four days playing the 10 games mixed in with other MTT tournaments. Because I play one table at a time, take mental breaks, to refresh, and reset my brain. I have had success in the $3.00 $ 150.00 GTD with one hour late reg. $4.40 $250.00 GTD 6 max one hour late reg. I won the $150.00 GTD two nights ago, fifth in the $250.00 GTD a few days ago. My first $ 16.00 $500.00 GTD one hour late reg. Unlike the other two this one had my favorite 15 min blinds, the others were 10 and 12 min blinds. Last night I took second in the $500.00 GTD. Mentally, last night’s game was draining and found myself fortunate to take second. The game was different than I have experienced before because of how long I had to keep playing instead of trying to wait for cards. Even though, I might have got caught it did not deter me from continuing what I knew was the right game theory because of what I knew about how the people were playing in this game. I still had to tighten up at certain times but always went back to entering in pots to attempt to take dead money without showdown. This allowed me to disguise my holdings optimally, put pressure on the right people, change or play within the table dynamics confidently as some examples. However, I played one $10.00 SNG 9 max and finished 7th because of my short comings, I am going to continue to play the $5.00 SNG 9 max to accumulate a bigger sample size, adjust if necessary, add in new information, see how my game plays for a bigger sample size before determining more of a conclusion. This allows me to see if my play is optimal, if short term variance is the reason for the early success, adjust, keep building my game, and accumulate more information to analyze. [/QUOTE]

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