How do you find out if you're a fish or a shark or just an avarage guy who floats on the 0 line?

duuuuuuuuuuuuuuude! ofc its normal to stay long on 1 limit... every limit brings many new things which u have to learn to beat it. u cant expect climbing through like a rocket. i think its way than normal to stay like 2-3 years on micros by playing cople times a week... and only then take shots to NL10+ how can u play NL25 with 10-15 BUI in bank roll, thats not soo smart u know...

If you think you're playing too much, there's one very simple solution: play less! If playing as much as you do makes your winrate go down, then you're clearly just playing too much. Also, if you get tilted a bit by simply not hitting flops etc., just consider stopping your session early! There's nothing worse than playing when you're on tilt (even if only slightly), because it simply costs you money.

As for your questions, sure it's normal to stay on certain limits for a longer period of time. You can't expect to get things done within a matter of weeks/months unless you grind and grind and grind and grind and grind, which most people simply don't have the time and/or skill level for. So if you have trouble moving up over a long period of time, maybe there's certain aspects of your game that need improvement. Always start with looking at yourself, see what you're doing wrong, and improve on that. It's easy to blame things on a 'downswing', but very often are to be blamed yourself!

So don't worry about staying on a limit for a longer time. It's normal. Just see if there's things about your game that you can improve that can help you increase your winrate

As for your second question, that is completely up to you! If you spend enough time studying the game and applying the theory whilst playing, you should certainly be able to get out of the micro limits. However, you should take this studying seriously. If you don't study well, you won't improve your game. If you're not motivated to improve your game, you might want to reconsider whether this is the right game for you

Hope this is helpful!

+1 TinoLaan, thank you for that epic post

Just glad I could help!

Hey Rahica

So my question is: Is it normal to stay in one limit that long? If you play good, your bankroll should go up and you can change the limits but to me, this just doesn't happen so I'm thinking that I have a problem. I am thinking of quitting as well and stop wasting my time with this, find myself a different hobby.

My second question is: how do you know that if you're a fish, a shark or just another guy stuck in the micros for the rest of his life?

Q1) Yes. How many hands have you played overall at your current limit? Some people like to play at least 100k hands at a limit before they think about moving up, some want to move up faster and go as soon as their bankroll is healthy enough. I also think you should have a play around with HM2 and instead of just looking to see how it rates you try and use it to its full potential. Create a HUD optimal for what you need and most important use HM2 to post hands in our hand evaluation section after every session

Q2) This answer is dependent on how hard you want to work. If you are willing to put in the effort and do whatever it takes to be a winning player then you will be a shark someday it might take a long time and a lot of hard work but it will come. If you want to sit back and enjoy the game and not improve yourself you will always be a fish im afraid. So you controll the answer to this question

I played around 50k hands give or take in NL10. I don't know if it's true or not but I used to play every day, minimum 3 hours and maximum 12 hours of Nl10 Zoom on stars. After a while I've noticed how I lost my interest and pleasure in playing the game and I just do it for the money like a robot. Maybe I should have a maximum hand no. per day... For the moment I took a break and haven't played since yesterday. Tx for the answers !

Originally posted by Rahica
I played around 50k hands give or take in NL10. I don't know if it's true or not but I used to play every day, minimum 3 hours and maximum 12 hours of Nl10 Zoom on stars. After a while I've noticed how I lost my interest and pleasure in playing the game and I just do it for the money like a robot. Maybe I should have a maximum hand no. per day... For the moment I took a break and haven't played since yesterday. Tx for the answers !

You desperately need a break
Trust me a break does wonders to your game

I recently went for a tour for live poker and we played 5 days of non stop poker tournament and cash games
After I returned I've hardly played poker just feel so bored of it. And when I did try to play in the middle I'd just wish it'll be over or wish I'll be eliminated so I can do something else.
It seems like an overdose of poker

This happened to me even the previous time I went for a live tour
And I was so fresh after the break

Just take a break. Say 5 days of no poker even though you feel like playing.
And web you start again you will regain your focus and enthusiasm

Originally posted by abhi147

Originally posted by Rahica
I played around 50k hands give or take in NL10. I don't know if it's true or not but I used to play every day, minimum 3 hours and maximum 12 hours of Nl10 Zoom on stars. After a while I've noticed how I lost my interest and pleasure in playing the game and I just do it for the money like a robot. Maybe I should have a maximum hand no. per day... For the moment I took a break and haven't played since yesterday. Tx for the answers !

You desperately need a break
Trust me a break does wonders to your game

I recently went for a tour for live poker and we played 5 days of non stop poker tournament and cash games
After I returned I've hardly played poker just feel so bored of it. And when I did try to play in the middle I'd just wish it'll be over or wish I'll be eliminated so I can do something else.
It seems like an overdose of poker

This happened to me even the previous time I went for a live tour
And I was so fresh after the break

Just take a break. Say 5 days of no poker even though you feel like playing.
And web you start again you will regain your focus and enthusiasm

+1 from me

Playing for the sake of playing is never a good idea and yet I think we all do it far too often or at least I do it far too often!

I think I will prepare myself a schedule of playing poker, like a maximum number of hands per day. I just gotta find the right number, right before I begin to lose my focus and "game hunger". And this might be my biggest leak. I always seem to win a lot and after play just for the sake of playing and lost it all slowly.

@everybody I am still in my poker break for 3 days now and I don't feel the need of playing yet. I will start doing that when the word "poker" starts sounding interesting again:). Thank you for all your help !

@abhi47 Your message was an eye opener dude ! Thanks a lot !

Another thing you can think about doing is some exercise and healthy eating (if you don't already) this can seriously improve your attention span

Read more as well as some other great tips in the productivity guide in my sig under this post

@ExternalUseOnly I think this is the greatest advice that you can get, poker and life related. Working out is very important and I know it, even if I don't do it:). I work a lot and in the night time and I like to use that as an excuse because I am too lazy:). My healthy eating level is 7/10. Thank you for the advice ! I was already thinking about it for a while now..:)))

No problem

You should still read the productivity guide anyway as it will help you learn a lot about yourself and how you can improve yourself in all areas i've learnt a huge amount from reading through it!