I have been contemplating this for awhile now. I have been playing 2/5 and have built a nice roll. I have enough to move up to 5/10. A couple questions:

1. 2/5 can be super loose at times. Is 5/10 a little tighter but tougher players?
2. I usually buy in for $1000 for 2/5. That past few times I have been to Caesars, I see people buying into 5/10 for just $1000. Is that enough for us to buy in with, or would we like to sit down with $2000?
3. I hope I am right when I say that competion will be much tougher than 2/5, correct?


Thanks all!!

It must depend where you are and the night.

The jump from 1-2 to 2-5 was not near as bad as I thought it would be but some times the games were way tuff. Should it not be a bit more so jumpng up to 5-10?

Take a bit more time with game selection and hopefully I'll be playing at that level sometime too.

$1000 buy in is 100BB the standard.

GL

Depends on where you play.

The 5/10 at Caesar's usually only runs on weekends. The 5/10 at Wynn is full of the same 6 guys who trade their money and pay the house to do so. The 5/10 at Bellagio runs all of the time and often has a few sharks swimming amongst the fishes. If you're gonna take your first shot, I'd say that the Bellagio's game is the best becuase the $1000 cap encourages action and keeps worse players in the game because they can lose only $1000. All that said, when the game is running at Caesar's, it's usually a more profitable game there becuase the people are flat out terrible. At Bellagio, you're gonna make msot of your money cause people don't care about theirs enough to play properly.

i'm sort of at the same place you are. I've beaten 3/6NL and lower for a while, and taken some shots at 5/10 but run extremely bad/had bad table selection when I have.

my advice is watch the table as much as possible before joining it. buy in with however many BB's you feel comfortable with --- if this means using a short stack strategy with $500, do it.

Use good table selection. I mean you can't 100% play at a table with 8 people worse than you, but make sure there are a few soft spots. Unless you're willing to lose a few times, but I don't recommend this.

also,

3. I hope I am right when I say that competion will be much tougher than 2/5, correct?

shouldn't you hope you're wrong?

No Vegas experience, but in Buffalo the 5-10 game is much tougher than the 2-5 game. Still very beatable though, but I'm assuming the comp is much stiffer in Vegas.

I'm also a lifetime loser at the 5-10 (2 sessions -$1400) and a consistent winner at the 2-5. But if I were in your shoes and had a big enough bankroll I would take shots at it until I felt comfortable playing in it.

Me and my live BR are ready for $5/10 as well. A $5/10 game started at the place I played last weekend, and I asked a couple dealers about how it played. The sense I got was that it was the same group that usually plays ... which tells me that they would all be playing at me if I jumped in. I recommend jumping into a $2/5 game where a $5/10 is playing, tip a dealer you respect and ask them their opinion. The other thing I'll be doing is probably jumping from $2/5 to $5/10 with other people's mobney. After all, why lose your own money?

Anyone know of a place that has a $5/10 game in the midwest with a rotating cast of characters?

TSkillz, I grew up in Rochester and played at Turning Stone all of the time. Their 5/10/20 game that they run on Friday nights is harder to beat than the 10/20 at Bellagio (assuming you're not playing on a Tuesday afternoon with the regulars) any day becuase the same players are in it all of the time. Typically in a place like upstate NY, the midwest or any other place with limited options, the 5/10 games would be much tougher because it's the biggest game available.

In Vegas, that simply isn't the case. There's always a bigger game, whether it is a limit game or a NL game. The 5/10 at the Bellagio gets the most traffic and is consistently running with a varying cast of characters, most of whom dont' live there and frankly, aren't that good.

I'd say that in Vegas, the 2/5 games and 5/10 games can actually have very similar levels of play since many 2/5 players in Vegas only play that level becuase they don't have a BR for 5/10. I'm not saying that you can beat a 5/10 game as easily as a 2/5 game, but I know that the level of play between 2/5 and 5/10 is nothing compared to the difference between 10/20 and 5/10

Thanks for all the responses!!

3. I hope I am right when I say that competion will be much tougher than 2/5, correct?

shouldn't you hope you're wrong?
[/quote]

I meant, some of the 2/5 play is terrible (very very loose) and I fair better against decent players.

Where/what limits do you play? I am in Henderson, where are you at?

Fundamentally flawed thinking.

I am not explaining myself very well. I am just assuming. 2/5 is loose and crazy at most times with a lot of terrible players. I am assuming 5/10 with be not as loose but with tougher players. I think 5/10 will have stronger players but they will not be as half retarded as most 2/5 players. I hope I am explaining this ok, but I doubt I am. I know there will be loose and crazy 5/10 players at times, but I think they will be good loose and crazy players.

You never ever ever ever EVER want to play against players who don't suck. That's Zach's point. Yeah, the crazy players make dumb moves and can get lucky, but they're making dumb moves and will lose all of their money eventually.

I live off of Sahara heading west towards Summerlin.

Unless you are a total card rack.
Which ain't me.
I have to live on bluffs and SPTK most nights.

Competition depends on where you play. Some 5/10 games are tough, others are full of fish. You want to watch the tables before you play and join the games you think you have an edge on some or all of the players. You don't wanna sit at a table full of good players, because you lose your edge. Sit at a table full of fish, and the money will come to you. Thats about all we can tell you.

And if there's only one 5/10 game available, which is usually the case, then what do you do?

I will advocate my approach again.

a_ earn a decent dealer's respect and then quietly ask them
b_ just go sit in it, pay a few blinds and make your own observations
c_ triple up in $2/5 and play that as your buy in

Anyone disagree or have a better plan?

I think that the dealer's advice is irrelevant. If you're a regular there, you probably have an idea about how the game plays anway and if not, then you won't really know any of the dealers.

I would just sit down and play some TAG poker while you figure out what's going on. If it doesn't look like it's going to be profitable, then just get up and leave. That should be your standard approach anywhere honestly.

Just sitting down is good but be ready to play, my last time in Reno I was all in on the first orbit (both of us had the nut straight)

I'm not arguing, I'm just saying if you've played some $1/2 or $2/5 and know the dealers, asking isn't bad, as long as the dealer is pretty sharp.

Yeah, you're best move is just to take a shot and see how it goes. I've played some 5/10 in Vegas and sometimes, it will just be 8 nits folding around and paying time, and sometimes half the table will be hemmorhaging chips. The trick is to put your ego aside, and just get up if the game's not good. You'll be able to tell within an hour tops if the table's good or not, and if it's not, it's time to either move down to 2/5 or try another casino. Of course, I don't follow this advice myself when I play, but I can still tell that would be the best approach.

I live off of Sahara heading west towards Summerlin.
[/quote]


I work right off of buffalo and sahara.

I Google Earthed your house...

Creepy? You decide.

Yeah, feeling a little weird right now. I'm gonna go hide under my bed.

Now Zach knows where you sleep. You are probably going to start recieving Pen's Propaganda in the mail anytime now.

*begins shaking uncontrollably*

Hahahahaha. Good thread.

seems to me like if you haven't mastered beating weak competition, and think you'd fair better against better players, then you aren't ready.


Given the choice I'd take a table full of drunk loose guys who just stumbled over from paigow or something over a table of nits anyday.

Yes variance is higher, but EV wise, it's a no brainer, and if you're not comfortable getting sucked out on at your current level, that seems

like it would make you scared money at the next level.


And it's important to follow the credo of Tribe Called Quest: "Scared money don't make none."

Is it possible to have him banned for this line alone? Damnit, I didn't think so. Oh well, I tried.

Just wanted to note that when I went to LA, the 5/10 game seemed to be the best option for me. I'd never really played that high live (usually stuck to 1/2 or 2/5) or online (2/3 through 3/6 typically), but they had a wonky buy-in system. Their 1/2 game had a max buy-in of $40...the 2/5 game's max was $100...and then the 5/10's max was $400. So I got up my nerve and decided to sit. The players really weren't good at all and I felt comfortable after a couple of sessions. That said, it was Commerce...which is an absolutely huge card casino with probably at least a dozen 5/10 NLHE games going most of the time. I'll certainly play in it again the next time I'm out there. Heck, if I run well, I might even try the 10/20 NL game.

Oh, and just wanted to note that being friendly to the dealers is a pretty good idea. When I was in Reno playing in that WPT event, I'd chatted with a number of them. During breaks, they'd give me info like "That guy across the table is really scrutinizing your face." Not that I was oblivious to this...but it was still helpful and friendly to get outside confirmation.