Need advice on moving up

I stumbled into poker in October last year, I was registered with UK bookmakers Blue Square, where I used to bet on football, horses, NFL etc etc... Blue Square then opened a poker room, a skin of Victor Chandler, so I gave it a try.

VC is great for beginners. It has fantastic micro limits. For ring games it starts at $0.02 / $0.04 for limit and $0.05 / $0.10 for no limit. For SnG there are single table tournaments with a $0.10 buy in. You can play all day for $1.

In January I discovered FTR and started making progress. In 3 months my $50 bankroll has steadily grown to $586. I have done this only playing $0.05 / $0.10 NL and some $3 SnG tournaments.

OK, so what's next ? I now have the bankroll to move up. Here are the options I am considering....

A) Stay on VC for a little bit longer but move up to $0.10 / $0.20 NL ($40 max buy in)

B) Move my bankroll to Party Poker and clear the $100 bonus playing $25 NL, followed by EMPIRE etc etc...

Questions...

1) Which is the smaller step to take. VC $40 buy in with its 200x big blind structure. Or PP $25 buy in with its 100x big blind structure ?

2) Does anyone have experience moving from VC to Party Poker ? How do the tables compare ?

3) What is the best way to move my money about. I understand that I can freely move money in and out of lots of sites using Netteller ? But can I get my money out of Netteller into my UK bank account (without charges) ?

Hi sinky,
I think that Platinum poker and VC are the same place.

I have played the 40 max buyin tables you are talking about and found them to be very easy. I like the low blind/buyin ratio, as you can just sit back and wait for the premium cards to hit. I think the VC 40 max may be more profitable, but it sounds like you bankroll and skill level can handle Party 25 NL if you are ready for a change of scenery.

Sinky

I was in EXACTLY your position 2 months ago, had $550 from VC ring after vreating my BR from SNG's. I signed up at party to get the $150 sign up bonus that was available, i wound up losing $60 clearing the bonus for a $90 profit. A week later there was a $200 reload on party where i made 47 for 247 profit. Then i got empire and poker now bonuses (make sure you sign up through FTR or you won't get any bonus)

First thing you need is a neteller account in $, you're going to be moving a lot of $ around and having a £ account gives you loads of conversion fees which you really don't need.

I would pull everything out of VC, deposit at Empire, clear $100 sign up bonus and then redeposit for the reload which is running this week (will this be possible or will the first deposit kill the reload?)

The 25NL games at party are quite a bit tougher than VC. VC has 200BB stacks as you know, you can't limp with some of the crap you limp at VC, and people have an annoying habit of betting $3 if they are on the button if it is checked round to them which screws most draws. I've been clearing my bonuses playing 4 table 0.5/1 limit. For a raked hand to count you need to see a flop and the pot to get to $3, this happens a lot more in limit than in NL. I'd also reccomend playing late on party, after 11pm if possible, all the american 9-5ers get home and the games are a LOT more fishy.

If you've ever tried to get a bonus at VC don't let that put you off, party bonses are great, i clear about $20 per hour 4 tabling.

In summary you'll make more from poker at VC but party bonuses can quadruple your win rate. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Thanks Legendash

OK, I have set up a $ Neteller account. I have a couple of questions..

Do I need to make an initial deposit into Neteller ? Plan was to deposit on Party or Empire using a credit card and then move the cash into Neteller from there.

What is the best way to get your money out of Neteller ? Or do you cashout your profits directly from the poker sites ?

I think you'll need to put a bit of money in your neteller from your bank so you can do small deposits ($50) into your party accounts, they only let you cash out to neteller if you've already deposited from there. You could wire the rest straight into party which'll be cheaper than the conversion you'll pay if you put a chunk in neteller and deposit from there.

I've not got money out of neteller yet as i'm building a bankroll in $US, i'm not sure what i'll do when i come to cash some out, neteller charge 1.9% on conversions so what i may do is deposit it all into party and cash out using switch, the fee is apparently 0. I don't have a switch account at the moment but it would be easy to get one. Basically you want to avoid converting £ -> $ or vice versa unless you are cashing that money out for good.