Poker Moving Up Stakes

Moving up in stakes is a complex topic, and one I’m glad is a constant presence in poker forums. Everyone, from newcomers to old-school players, is a little curious about the process of moving from microstakes to small stakes, or from $2NL to $5NL.

If your goal is to continuously earn money while playing poker, you’re going to want to move up stakes at some point, since you can earn more money in a smaller amount of time. As you progress through higher and higher cash game limits, you’ll face increased competition in games that involve increasingly-higher amounts of money.

If you’re going to move up stakes successfully, you need to understand the process. This post is a guide to the why, when, and how of moving up stakes in online poker.

A Bankroll Tip for Moving Up Stakes

Moving up in stakes is a complex topic, and one I’m glad is a constant presence in poker forums. Everyone, from newcomers to old-school players, is a little curious about the process of moving from microstakes to small stakes, or from $2NL to $5NL. Moving up stakes conclusion. If you’re a regular winning NL Texas Hold’em cash game player, anywhere between 1 to 12 months at each level before moving up sounds about right. It all depends on your winrate, time spent playing and the number of tables you play at during your sessions. Moving up is a natural progression for all poker players. The higher you climb the stakes, the more money that you will make. However, it does get more and more difficult as you move up. The competition is tougher and the edges are smaller.

Opinion is a little divided on this subject – in my opinion, as long as you have a bankroll that can sustain 20 buy-ins for the next stakes level up, your money is ready to move up. If you start with a bankroll worth 20 buy-ins of $5NL, and your goal is to build a bankroll worth 20 buy-ins of $10NL, all you need to do is double your money. By waiting until you have that $200 bankroll built up before you move up stakes, you’re protecting your bankroll for the inevitable bad streak.

As a poker player rising up the stakes, it is important to analyze your play to ensure continuous improvement. With the felts getting competitive, it is important to stay ahead of the game. Here are a few ways of ensuring what you’re doing is generating positive results and is. Poker Bankroll Management and Moving Up Stakes Most of you are probably catching on to the fact that I approach poker in a somewhat systematic way. To me, this is the act of treating poker like a business.

But remember – just because your bankroll is big enough to handle a certain buy-in doesn’t mean you have to move up at that point. Think of this restriction as a floor rather than a ceiling. The more you grow your bankroll before your move, the more secure your money once you decide to make the move. Never be ashamed to move back down in stakes if an experiment in moving up goes wrong.

When to Move Up in Stakes

Here are some factors to consider once your bankroll is big enough to move, but before you actually make the move:

Am I winning?
You should be keeping track of every dollar you spend on poker, and be able to calculate how much you win vs. how much you lose for each poker session. The use of poker tracking software is a huge boon in this regard; looking at statistics will help you decide if you’re winning enough to consider a change in stakes.

What’s my ROI?
Your ROI should be a positive number (and ideally at least a double-digit positive number) before you consider a change in stakes. Here’s how to figure your ROI – divide your profits by the gross amount you’ve spent on poker, with that number then multiplied by the total number of games played. The break-even point is 0%, so any number above 0 is a positive ROI. It’s a mistake to move up in stakes when you can’t even consistently make money at your current level.

Moving Up In Stakes Poker

Am I ready to move up?
This is a psychological/philosophical thing, and it’s difficult to quantify. The level you’re comfortable with psychologically is unlikely to change. You may be a billionaire who’s just uncomfortable with anything about $20NL – or you may be dead-broke and totally in the zone at $100 a hand. Only you can tell – so it’s important to be honest with yourself.

How to Move Up in Stakes

Once you’ve made up your mind that it’s time to move up in stakes, I know of two different methods for doing so. They both have something valuable to offer, so you can borrow from each of them to form your unique moving-up method.

The “Blended Games” Method

Think of this method like adding cold water to a hot bath to make it comfortable. Blending two different buy-ins into your sessions allows you to maintain some comfort while challenging your abilities just enough to eventually move stakes altogether.

I discovered this method while moving up from $3 SNG’s to $6 SNG’s. I started small, running just one table of each. As I got more comfortable with the method, I was running two $3 games and 2 $6 games. Eventually, I got to the point where I was playing all $6 SNG games. The change in stakes sneaked up on me and I made myself comfortable with the tougher competition by exposure.

The “Testing the Waters” Method

The other end of the spectrum is more like tossing a kid into a swimming pool to cure them of their fear.

As long as you have enough cash for the buy-in, you can play at any stakes level you want. Throw out all the rules I’ve established in this post – you don’t need a specific bankroll size, or a specific skill level. Heck, you don’t even have to be good. If you want to test the waters at stakes way beyond your means, go ahead and do it. The experience will be worth it.

Taking a quick stabs at the stakes level just above you won’t be so scary after you’ve seen the talent level four stake levels ahead. This is the best way to overcome any mental block against moving up – jumping in with both feet against the big boys and getting it over with.

What’s the downside to the testing the waters method? You’ll probably be playing at a huge disadvantage and get beat a lot. Most players in this situation tighten up or just start gambling and bluffing like crazy. But here’s the beautiful thing about this strategy – you can bail and head back to your original stakes level at any time.

Conclusion

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Moving up in stakes is about recognizing when it’s time to do so and implementing a strategy. When you’ve decided that you’re financially and mentally-prepared, you’ll want to test your skill before committing to a complete move.

The safest way to move up is to study a little bit every day and play an awful lot. As long as you’re checking your win rate and ROI along the way, and committed to moving back down if your move isn’t timed right, you’re doing it right. Remember that swings are a big part of the game. Changing stakes is a test of your psyche more than your skill set or bankroll.

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Make sure your confidence is high

Poker Moving Up Stakes Track

The perfect time to take a chance playing higher stakes is when you have been on a good, sustained run in your usual games. When you are on a hot streak it’s likely that your confidence is high and you are playing good, intelligent poker. This will give you the best possible chance of winning at the new limits where the pressure will be higher and the opponents might be tougher.

Don’t go chasing your losses

Ironically, the most common time that players take a shot at higher stakes is not when they are playing well but when they are playing badly and losing. Chasing your losses by increasing the stakes in this way is a recipe for disaster. It can be tempting to do but if you are on poker tilt already and making big mistakes at the table then you will have to get very lucky to win. It’s far more likely that you lose more than you bargained for instead.

Use good game selection

It’s difficult to game select (meaning to play on tables where your opponents are weaker) when you are playing tournaments – it’s just luck of the draw what table you get sent to. Yet when you are playing cash games this is a vital skill. It’s even more important if you are playing higher stakes than usual. Don’t just jump into the first game that you see; take your time to scan the lobby and find a table where your edge may be higher. You can do this by watching the action unfold and spotting whether opponents are making obvious mistakes. Maybe they are limping in too much? Making bad calls on the river? Or bluffing in really obvious spots? Whatever the major mistake is, if you spot a table full of them then you should attempt to get in that game right away.

Keep your head

Playing for higher stakes than you are used to will conjure up a wide range of emotions. This can include anything from exhilaration to nervousness to outright fear. It’s easier said than done but it’s important that you try to contain these emotions and treat it just like you would any other game. Sadly, the main way to get over this mental block is purely through experience. The more poker you play, and the more shots at higher stakes you take, the easier it is to deal with the swings in fortune and continue playing your best game. Another top tip is to try and view your chips purely as betting devices and detach the monetary value from them. It’s not easy to do but if you believe you are betting half of your chip stack on a stone bluff rather than, say $100, it is much easier to pull the trigger.

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