Dropping Down the Stakes

Marcus Bateman / Marcus Bateman / 17 March 2009 / Leave a Comment

In my opinion, dropping down the stakes at points is the hallmark of all truly great players.

Although you have many players in poker who seem to perpetually stay in the highest games, the reality is that for every one Phil Ivey or Patrick Antonius out there, there are thousands of broken players who just could not deal with the that inevitable downswing that put the big games outside of their bankroll, continued to play in games far outside far outside what their shrinking funds would allow, and went broke.

Basically any player who has been a professional for a very long period has at some point had to drop down if their financial status required it (The great Barry Greenstein's account of his career as a professional gives numerous examples of when and why he had to drop down the stakes in his excellent book Ace On The River).

The idea of dropping back down the limits can be a very painful one to many players. Your win rate is reduced, which means you will either have to play longer hours or make less money; the standard of play is worse, so you may feel less intellectually challenged than you did before; and just a general feeling of disappointment and frustration can haunt your game as you long to be back in the bigger games.

Despite all of these negatives, dropping down the limits has one very important positive - it keeps you solvent. You may well feel angry at poker or yourself, but you will still have a functioning bankroll - something that if you don't drop down the stakes you will not.

The reality of poker is that at points you will have to take a step backward. Just like in warfare, a calculated retreat is often the only hope you have of being able to keep fighting, and making very high risk choices with your bankroll will basically always end in tears.

There is no shame in dropping down limits, in fact it is rather the opposite - the players beating up on you in bigger games are licking their lips at the prospect of you playing outside of your bankroll, the last thing they want to see is you dropping down the stakes, regrouping and becoming a stronger player for the next time they see you.

Stick within your bankroll no matter how painful it feels - because playing a lower limit is much better than not playing at all.

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