Is this a terrible idea? I played a ton of play money SNGs where I had success, so I deposited $50, I've played less than 20 games (most of them in an impaired state ), and I'm currently up $2.30. I've been playing strictly $1+.20 games, but in looking at the buy-in fees for other levels, this seems really high. The next step up is $3+.40 (3x the prize pool for just 2x the fee) and then $5+.50 (5x the prize pool for just 2.5x the fee).

I think playing the $5+.50s would be a horrible idea since it means that I have less than 10 buy-ins, and it probably represents a pretty big jump in player ability. With the $3+.40s though, I have slightly more than 15 buy-ins, and I'm (perhaps inappropriately) confident in my ability to win at that level.

In the $1+.20s, the buy-in fee is 13.3% of the prize pool. In the $3+.40s, it's 12.6% of the prize pool. Is this enough of a reason to move up prematurely? If 15 buy-ins is simply too early, would 20 or so buy-ins (about $65) be reasonable?

I'm not advocating moving up early in general, and especially not at higher stakes. I think that this situation, though, is one that at least warrants consideration. Of course, if I would get down to around $30 or so, I would definitely be forced to drop back down to the $1+.20s and build my BR back up.