better to win in intermediate division or lose in advanced division?

I have done some rolling off and on for the last several years but never anything super formal or at a legit jiu jitsu school. Ive been learning tenth planet from my buddy nathan orchard and feel im growing more competent with it. I competed in my first jiu jitsu tournment a few months ago and signed up for advanced but got knocked down to intermediate due to lack of entrys (small tournament) I hit an arm bar from spider web postion and a gallop to calf crank p.s. later found out that was illegal and got DQ for it but still felt like a W. I plan on competing at a much larger tournament in april but not sure if I should go advanced and more likely than not lose to a few top tier guys or compete at intermediate were I believe I would be top 3? I am not an egotistical kind of person so could care less bout winning or losing against top talent just curious what you guys feel would be a better learning expierence?

Completely up to you, if you feel like you might be sand bagging, you might want to move to advanced. I competed in begginer and intermediate for the first year or so, after that it is advised by some to move up depending on your skill level of course. In advanced I continued to loose, time after time and only recently started winning. It did feel kinda depressing for awhile, but when the wins started to finally happen it was the greatest feeling.

intermediate is the way to go, I started at novice. didnt get first my first try. then I did, while also winning absolute for whitebelt and whitebelt itself, moved to beginner, got second, did beginner again got first. now I do intermediate, placed 3rd, 2nd so far. So as soon as I place first once or twice I'll move to advanced.

well in intermediate you will likely work more on your offence and in advanced you would likely work more of your defence. kind of depend on what you want to work on.

That's the exact predicament I'm in. I guess it just depends on the quality of the tournament. I've seen people in intermediate that could destroy some advanced divisions before so it's not exactly like your rolling slouches. I'd say get some experience....unless you just have terrible turnouts for intermediate.

This is a fucking good question homie. Yeah, Scotty's^ kinda in no man's land right now. The way I see it, if you consistently win or get to the finals in one division, its time.

I appreciate all the input. the tournement is the is one of the bigger ones in Oregon. I hadnt even thought of it as working offense in intermediate and defense in advanced that is a great way of looking at it. I think ill try intermediate first then adjust from there. I really dont want to be someone who sandbags it and just want to keep growing over time.