It took another month and a half, but I was able to get the full 30 buy-ins for $100NL from $50NL plus the extra 10 buy-ins to give me a full 40 buy-in cushion as I move up to $100NL. I even have an extra 5 buy-ins waiting for me in the form of FPP's the next time they offer a monthly special. My total win-rate for $50NL during that time was 5.62 bb/100 or 2.81 ptbb/100 over ~71k hands. As I alluded before, I had to work through a lot of conflict with the easier games @ $25NL versus harder games @ $50NL and in the end, I feel very comfortable @ $50NL moving forward. I think $50NL is a one of the first big litmus tests for full ring players on PokerStars in terms of adjustments and moving up. If you don't make those adjustments, you'll find yourself gravitating back to $25NL, but if you step up and accept the challenge, there will be a LOT of improvement and profits to enjoy.

Just like $50NL, I've decided I'll need at LEAST 40 buy-ins to move up from $100NL to $200NL:

$100 times 40 equals $4,000 (profit)
$4,000 (profit) plus $,4000 (my current bankroll) equals $8,000 (amount I need)
$200 (next level) times 40 (required buy-ins per my Bankroll Management rules) equals $8,000 (amount I need)

As always, everything will take care of itself eventually IF I'm able to consistently win.

Here's my $50NL graph from HEM:


Here's my overall graph:


I plan to start playing and keep playing $100NL until I drop down to $3,000 (30 $50NL buy-ins) at which point I'll drop back down to $50NL exclusively or until I rise up to $8,000 at which point I may move up to $200NL. I'll continue to play a combination of $100NL and $50NL depending on table selection. Again, I have a caveat because 40 buy-ins is the EARLIEST I would move up and I also have to make sure at LEAST 30 buy-ins of that was earned strictly from $100NL. It is possible I may want to earn as many as 50 buy-ins because I have heard there is another large jump in skill from $100NL to $200NL. In fact, in one video I watched where poker pro Sean Nolan was playing $200NL, he said he recognized many of the $200NL players as $1,000NL regulars. So, either they were dropping down for some better games OR the player pool has gotten so tough for some that they have had to move down to $200NL permanently from $1,000NL.

This next level @ $100NL for me has some special significance. When I first deposited less than a year ago, I started with $100 playing $2NL. Now, I plan to play at stakes where my entire initial deposit is a buy-in. To this point I have earned my deposit 40 times over. It certainly hasn't happened overnight, just shy of a year, but it has happened and it's been a lot fun thus far. I also periodically host home games I refer to as "high stakes" that are $0.50/$1.00 blinds because they are the top end of what the poker players I hang out with will play. So now I will routinely be playing my home "high stakes" games online. Smile

I think my game really made some big strides while traversing this stake. For starters, in the past when I would execute bluffs, I would often HOPE the villain folds. Now, I find myself much more often EXPECTING them to fold. In many situations, I could just better sense how the hand was going to play out. I would think or say things out-loud like "he'll either fold or raise me" and often be right. I more often knew where I was at and knew how to take it where I wanted. I had many hands where I would correctly value bet pre-flop, flop, turn, and then fold the river and I was correctly ahead the 3 streets I bet and correctly behind the last street I folded. I made several correct hero calls, too. I also remember several spells where I would be break-even or even ahead and most to all my profits were from NOT making a hand and just getting everyone to fold. In most micro-stakes games, I needed a hand, but it was a breath of fresh air to win so many pots with double or triple barrels and sometimes total air. Obviously I didn't always do those thing right, but much more than in the past and definitely in a way that was making me money long term. Poker can feel like magic when you're on your game and things are working.

There are also many things about my game I know I need to work on. I'd like to start doing more fold equity calculations and just fully understanding the theory and math behind it. I've found that concept to be much more useful than stakes past. I also need to revisit my value betting. In the past, I like to go for home-runs with my big hands by default, which worked out fine when I didn't know where I was @ because I'd get paid more often than not. Moving forward, I've found that's usually not the case, so it's even more important to have a good range on your villain and then to have a sound strategy if you don't - smaller value betting and checking to induce are two strategies that come to mind. Also, I definitely need to continue to work on my mental and psychological game. I've noticed two bad habits I have are related to tilting when winning. If I have several winning sessions in a row, I can EXPECT to win and allow my game play to suffer. I once had a nice run of winning sessions and then crashed and burned HARD on the one that broke the streak. It probably would have been a losing session anyway, but I'm sure I compounded my losses by expecting to win from the get go and trying to force a comeback. Short term I have a propensity to do the same thing where if I win several pots in a row, I will get careless, too confident, with some fancy play syndrome thrown in, and invariably lose when I probably normally wouldn't. By contrast, when your flaws cost you and the luck doesn't go your way, poker can also be a nightmare

In the next few days, stay tuned for a $50NL retrospective.


How High Can You Get?
Level 1 ($ 2 NL) - 12/13/2008 @ $100 -> Winrate for level: 24bb/100 or 12ptBB/100 over 11k hands (As of 01/22/2009)
Level 2 ($ 5 NL) - 01/22/2009 @ $150 -> Winrate for level: 36bb/100 or 18ptBB/100 over 8k hands (As of 03/03/2009)
Level 3 ($10 NL) - 03/03/2009 @ $300 -> Winrate for level: 24bb/100 or 12ptBB/100 over 20k hands (As of 06/18/2009)
Level 4 ($25 NL) - 06/18/2009 @ $750 -> Winrate for level: 15bb/100 or 7.5ptBB/100 over 18k hands (As of 07/18/2009)
Level 5 ($50 NL) - 07/18/2009 @ $1,500 -> Winrate for level: 5.62 bb/100 or 2.81 ptBB/100 over 71k hands (As of 11/24/2009)
Level 6 ($100 NL) - 11/24/2009 @ $4,000
Level 7 ($200 NL) - ??? @ $8,000
Overall Winrate 13.64 bb/100 or 6.82 ptBB/100 over ~145k hands (As of 11/24/2009)