Well, haven't updated this in a week or so, but now I have news. I got sick of the beats. They kept coming and I got frustrated. In a move that was probably -EV in the long run, I opened two tables of NL200 and focussed entirely on them.

I knew there was a good chance I would blow those buyins, but my bankroll has the flexibility to be added to if necessary (but I don't like to, poker money is poker money and vice versa) and wanted to take a shot.

Suffice to say, I won, and won big. I've 2-tables NL200 for about 4 hours, and i'm up about $900. My bankroll is about $2100 at this point and whilst I know it throws all bankroll management out the window, i'm going to play a bit more NL200, at least until I get stacked once.

My bluffs at this level actually work, I've been sucked out on once and at that point I had only commited about $40, and i'm finding my play works perfectly. At this stage i'm playing fairly passively before the flop, and mostly TAG afterwards, but picking solid spots to bluff and pulling them off. If my success happens to continue, and I wind up rolled for NL200 properly, i'll open up and become a little more LAG, but i'm still treading cautiously and trying to get paid off for big hands (which is happening so far).

I can use a good analogy here. I used to be a tennis coach, and am a pretty good player. Generally, it can be easier playing a better player than to play a mediocre one, because the better player has pace you can use against them etc. I feel a lot more comfortable playing better poker players than I did playing the NL50 guys.

People will probably tell me it's a bad idea, and yea, probably true, but i've been running so hot the last two days that it's worth continuing at least until I drop one buyin. I made $600 in an hour tonight, without being all-in once. Making $600 at NL50 was going to take me an age.

Anyway, I shall report back with more later.

-Andrew