Looking to move up a level

I started my online poker life on Empire, I don't know why, I just did. So I started with $50 and am now at $115. I am down $20 on SnG's so I am up $85 at the $5NL ring games. I would like to move up to the $10NL ring games (slightly under rolled)

1) Is it a good idea to move up with this bankroll (~10 buyins) since the play should be the same, just the stakes double.

2) I usually only see one $10NL table at Empire and it is always empty. Are there $10NL ring games I just haven't seen yet?

3) Or, should I cash out and move? And where to?

Thanks!

My suggestions:

Move your roll to PokerStars and play 10nl until you get to 500.

Move your 500 to party (get the 100$ welcome bonus) and play 25nl until you clear the 350$ in various bonuses (about 5000 hands or so).

By that point you should be ready for 50nl.

500! lol. as long as you manage tilt thats crazy.

when i started out heres what i did:

i had to earn ten buyins for the next level, and cashout five buyins at the current level before moving up (without counting bonus money)

eg

25NL - had to cashout 25x5=125, and swell bankroll to $500

then i started 50NL. cashed out 250, started 100NL at $1000

i think thats reasonable at the lower stakes. now my targets are 20 buyins, ie, i will start 2/4 when i have 8k

it was healthy for me to cash money out because it made me feel like i 'owned' my bankroll. however, a lot of people will disagree with that.

Originally Posted by geoffm33

1) Is it a good idea to move up with this bankroll (~10 buyins) since the play should be the same, just the stakes double.

No it is not a good idea. The reason for not moving up is not only potential differences in play, it's also the fact that your roll can't support any sort of variance. If I were you, I'd grind it out until you have a roll of $200. Then switch to NL$10 and play until you have $500 like Renton suggested. And then, yes, move your money and begin bonus whoring

I would more it to Stars lotsa tables to choose from. Start multi tabling you dont really need detailed reads for micro limits. Like if you wana two table play 2 5nl tables but if you see a really juicy 10NL table sit down their for a bit.

And if you ever get 10% or more of your bankroll at one table leave the table and sit back down no use losing 10% of your bankroll in one hand.

Good luck man I know the 10NL grind is bad, I can only imagine ho bad the 5NL grind is.


ps. I am breaking the 20 buyin rule for 25NL buying poker tracker so Im gona be at like 19buyins

Or you could do what I'm doing - having a huge bankroll for microlimits lol. NL stresses me out too much, so I need at least 50 buy-ins to make me feel comfortable. I'd also like to destroy the level I'm at before I move up, instead of moving up just because I doubled up a bunch of times.

I 8-table PokerStars to minimize variance too, which in turn minimizes tilt.

I just thought I'd provide the extreme # of buy-in angle...Hope it helps in some way.

I'm with bankit...I love having a bunch of buy-ins behind.

I wouldn't dream of moving up with ten buy-ins. At these stakes, I'd move up at about 20. I find myself playing 25NL all the time with over 100 buy-ins for that limit. Mostly because it's twice as easy as 50NL.

I 8-table PokerStars to minimize variance too, which in turn minimizes tilt.

I am curious how this minimizes tilt. My logic is yeah hand on Table 1 gots its ass kicked , BUT HEY! AA on Table 7? therefore boosting the "spirit" back up?

Unless you're getting bad beats at 8 tables at once, "you win some you lose some" should happen most of the time, reducing tilt triggering.

The more tables you play the more you realise you get AA alot and some of those times you will lose.

I mind getting stacked with AA (in places where I cant help it) alot less now im playing 4 tables and get AA once every half hour or so. When I played 1 table it hurt alot more to have AA cracked because ive been waiting for it for 2 days.

Yeah, I'm not so sure I'll be moving up just yet. I may, however, switch sites since Empire has very little micro-action. There are rarely 2 full $5NL tables. I've only seen 3 $5NL tables occupied.

I just started at 25 nl with just over 500 dollars on UB, i was in the same situation you are know about 3 weeks ago i was playing 1.10 sng's and 2nl

I got my roll to about 120 and started playing the 5.50s i doubled my roll 2 tabling these over one weekend then started playing 10nl, when i got to 300 i started 3 tabling 10nl full ring

I have been playing 25nl for 2 days played around 800 hands so far i feel comfortable at this level, a pre flop raise actually gets a bit of respect and people dont seem to be chasing the miracles as much, i know 800 hands is nothing but i feel i can learn more now other than bad beats and nut camping.

I'm hungry to get better and hopefully one day reach the level of some of the big guns that grace this wonderful forum, i feel that 25nl is probably the real start of learning the game! compared to grinding a bankroll at the lowest stakes (putting up with constant donk plays and suckouts) i just think the sooner you get to that level the sooner you can learn to really play, i could be way off and be a dillusional noob, but i really feel my path of learning has just begun.

Thanks to all the help i got and will still get from this site and gl geoff.

Originally Posted by Pelion

The more tables you play the more you realise you get AA alot and some of those times you will lose.

I mind getting stacked with AA (in places where I cant help it) alot less now im playing 4 tables and get AA once every half hour or so. When I played 1 table it hurt alot more to have AA cracked because ive been waiting for it for 2 days.

Ya also the more tables you play the easier you are able to lay down hands like KQ and AJ/AQ preflop when its necessary.

Originally Posted by Renton

Ya also the more tables you play the easier you are able to lay down hands like KQ and AJ/AQ preflop when its necessary.

Like all the freakin' time.

Originally Posted by sejje

Originally Posted by Renton

Ya also the more tables you play the easier you are able to lay down hands like KQ and AJ/AQ preflop when its necessary.

Like all the freakin' time.

yes, lol. sometimes i forget this, and it crushes me everytime.

raise to me, me KQo. flop AKQ. call half pot (what can i beat, nothing, JJ? lol) turn, x. call another big bet. river Q, checkraise him all in, why not, fish...

he flips AQ, i wasnt even surprised.

some people call that a bad beat, i say that sometimes i really really suck.

Hm, I'm gonna be looking to move up too I think. Started the day with $23 in my BR. Single-tabled 10NL for the better part of the day. Like I said in earlier thread, my game is really coming together since I got inspiration from my friends yesterday. The BR is now sitting at a comfortable $93. I must've hit some major positive variance or something, cuz $70 for single table 10NL.. eh yeah. Kinda comfortable there. But it's becoming painstakingly boring. I hope I can ride on this wave of poker goodness to get the BR for 20NL not too far away in the future.

if you've only got 93 bucks then you have a long way to go.

You really shouldn't move up to 20 until you have at least 300

Originally Posted by Renton

if you've only got 93 bucks then you have a long way to go.

You really shouldn't move up to 20 until you have at least 400

FYP.

The 20 buy-in rule is by far and away the most often quoted, and is that for a reason. It's the safest.

Jack, I know you're a deep thinker, but I'd stick to the rules anyway. If you jump early, move back if you lose a stack.

15 is for the unfaint of heart.


I obv would never move up until 20.

Wish my BR went up to $93 in a day. I'm right now in the mid $40 range after a bad weekend. Had a decent day today, but only made a few bucks from my SnG loses from earlier this morning.

Originally Posted by sejje

Jack, I know you're a deep thinker, but I'd stick to the rules anyway. If you jump early, move back if you lose a stack.

Eh, I didn't say I wanted to jump ahead of my BR. The plan is, as I said earlier somewhere, to move at 20 buy-ins, ie $400 for 20NL. Yesterday was the first day I was able to play a decent game all the time, without 'crashing' and blowing a few buy-ins on various sorts of stupidity. I'd need atleast a bunch more to get the confidence to move up, whatever my BR might be at.

I got a bit excited after it all went so well, which is normal I think, lol, but I'm back to full realism mode now

Originally Posted by ProZachNation

Good luck man I know the 10NL grind is bad, I can only imagine ho bad the 5NL grind is.

It can't be too bad. With 250bb stacks, suited connectors must be the bomb there.

Originally Posted by Renton

15 is for the unfaint of heart.

Heh, I've been at 1 buy-in before ($10) and fearlessly played on, lol . Even two days ago I had a low at $18 after a KK vs AQ all-in loss. You know what I bought in with thereafter? $9 hehe. Just kinda felt $5 wouldn't cut it to move up fast enough.

Ofcourse this is all b/c of necessity, not by a calculated plan. Given the choice, I would always want atleast 15 buy-ins. And if moving up, buy in low (half stack) at first to get a feel for the level of play. Ofcourse my $60 I started with was never meant to be a BR, but a learning expense. However now that I've put it at $93, coupled with the level of my play, I just might be able to make it with my first deposit without going broke..

Originally Posted by Xo_Sirk_oX

I 8-table PokerStars to minimize variance too, which in turn minimizes tilt.

I am curious how this minimizes tilt. My logic is yeah hand on Table 1 gots its ass kicked , BUT HEY! AA on Table 7? therefore boosting the "spirit" back up?

A high bankroll decreases tilt because if I loose a whole max. stack, I only loose >2% of my entire bankroll. Multi-tabing decreases tilt because my overall losses or gains for any given day will (on average) be closer to break-even than not. Whereas, a gain or loss of a few buy-ins will alter my confidence one way or the other.

Ok, so when my BR hit $170 (17 buy-ins for 10NL), I decided to invest $20 into a further "learning experience", so I went to take a look at what the game is like on 20NL. Hm definately tighter than 10NL. A lot more folding, only going strong on the real top hands. Played simple ABC poker, didn't wanna go crazy on my first trip up. But the tables seemed to be still somewhat passive. Not much aggression. Kinda like the "better" tables you find ons 10NL. That's my first impression atleast. Clocked off after forty minutes with $15 profit. As such the roll is at $185.

Now I'm quite in doubt whether I should try 20NL a couple more times, or grind 10NL first for a bit longer.. hmf..