2/4 and 3/6, Largest Losing Day Ever!

When playing poker, one of the most important things a person can do is move up in stakes. If you're good enough to beat the next level, the amount of money that you will win increases exponentially. Anyone who wants to make a ton of money playing poker should move up the stakes ladder as soon as they are good enough to beat that level and are financially capable.

The bad thing about this is variance. Variance is the difference between your short term results and your long term expectation. On any given day, you can get all of the money in as a substantial favorite and still manage to lose every hand. If this happens to you at the highest stakes you play as soon as you move up, well, it's painful.

I just moved up to 3/6 and 2/4 not long ago, and yesterday I ran into a massive and insanely aggressive fish at 2/4 (3-betting me 40% and barreling relentlessly). I had started the day up about $400, but that was all about to change. As this guy proceeded to run hot, cooler me, 2 outer me, win every flip, my bankroll takes the biggest nose dive I've ever seen. There's something funny that my roommate and I have talked about before in regards to poker: If you're having a losing day, there is a point at which you lose so much money, any amount you lose after that point becomes irrelevant. For example, if you're stuck $2700, you don't really give a shit if you lose $800 more.

Poker is brutal.