Playing Online

Part One

I started playing online recently. I've been playing .50/1 limit 1/2 limit on partypoker.com and heads up games on ultimatebet.com. Playing online is the ultimate test of patience...I'm still not sure if it's a good idea to be playing at such low limits. On one hand it keeps me in check, it's so tempting to loosen up and play more hands, I have to remind myself to stick to tight and smart play. On the other hand I'm not sure if getting used to playing with people who will call with anything and suck out on the river is helping my game.

An example of the types of situations I run into: I had KJ in the BB and am flopped top two pair. Someone enters the pot out of position with 62c. The turn brings a second club but I've got top two pair and what are the chances of 1) this kid having two clubs in the hole and 2)another club coming on the river, right? Well he catches his runner runner flush with 6 high in his hand and rakes in a nice pot.

So my question is should I be playing for higher limits? Are the players better or will I still find bad players who are just willing to play for more money? I've never had such ups and downs in live cash games. This is the ultimate test...how to survive playing low limit online. Will playing smart/tight win over time or will it be a constant up and down?

I guess the way to do it might be to continue playing at levels I'm comfortable with (in terms of my bankroll) and eventually move up to higher stakes (and hopefully find more 'serious' players at those levels).

Part Two

Last night I decided to play online all night to see how I would fare. I was playing .50/1 limit and early on I was doing pretty well, I won a couple of big hands totaling about $50. I was focused and playing well. Then i started to get cold cards and the blinds started eating away at my stack, so i stopped for awhile and got dinner. After eating I signed back on and i just wasn't as focused as earlier and made started making mistakes. It's amazing how easy it is to 'do the right thing' one moment and completely lose track of it later. So that's the goal, stay focused, and when I start to lose focus, take a break.