Is your lack of confidence hurting your poker profits in your online poker play?

In the good Texas Holdem poker rooms on the internet there are various levels of buy-ins for tournament play, generally starting from around $5 (plus site fee) per player. This is the level that most new players play at but has your game moved on while you've stood still? What I mean by that is - have you gained enough poker experience to leave the "newbies" behind and move up a couple of levels? If you have then I would seriously suggest that you start playing for higher stakes, you could be losing out on a lot of online poker profits if you dont.

The thing about playing at the bottom rung is that inexperienced players make unpredictable moves a lot more of the time than experienced poker players, so the very fact that you don't know what to expect from them often means that they're harder to beat than better players. Take Phil Hellmuth for example. Phil is probably just about the best player in the world but he's famous for ranting and raving whenever somebody makes an unexpected move against him. He would find it very difficult against a complete novice who got a run of lucky hands, in fact most of the top pros avoid playing beginners for the very reason that there is an unacceptably high risk of them suffering an embarrassing defeat.

Poker is an art as well as a science. It's about people as well as about cards and different people do different things, it's human nature. A hand that one player might see as cause to raise all-in, another might fold. And nowhere in the world of online Texas Holdem is this difference of opinion more polarised than in the bottom buy-in tables. But as you move up the poker ladder, you willl find yourself mixing with a better standard of player at each stage.

Everybody wants to win so the players who have taken the plunge and have decided to move up are playing at the highest level where they still have a realistic chance of taking a prize. Nobody wants to play hand after hand without ever winning so each player finds their level and plays there until they are ready to move up again to the next grade.

So if your game has moved on and you've gained experience playing Texas Holdem online, don't hang around for too long at the $5 tables. Do yourself a favour and make the step up to the next level. You'll find players there that are more in tune with the way you play so you will have more chance of being able to read their game and boost your poker profits.

Sure it will cost you a bit more money, but look at the positive side. You're a better player now so you've got a good chance of winning more money!

Is your glass half full or half empty? When it all boils down the decision where to play is of course yours, but don't you think it's worth a try...just to see?