Almost all the poker players dream that they could play in bigger poker games than they are currently playing. There are countless reasons for the desire to play and win in bigger games: for an example you might simply feel like if you play bigger game your winnings will automatically go up, or then people might feel like they want to show the world that they can actually win in the bigger games as well, or maybe they want attention and recognition which they believe would come if they were to play in the bigger games. In my opinion by far the best reason for wanting to move up in the poker stakes is that you want to improve as a poker player (and thus win more money) – if are only looking to move up for the fame it is quite possible that you will play sub-optimally and instead of becoming a winning player who enjoys the respect at those stakes you will become the fish whose money everyone is trying to take.
Knowing when to move up to bigger stakes, when you should take so called shots to bigger games and when to move down in the stakes can be somewhat confusing for the beginner and experienced players alike. For this reason I wrote this little guide about those matters – obviously you shouldn’t blindly follow the advice given in this article but instead listen to yourself and ask yourself if it might be a good idea to move up or down. The article is especially aimed for the 6 max NL texas holdem cash game players as it is the game that I have the most experience with, however the advices can be at least to a certain extent applied also for other poker games and poker tournaments.
When to move up and what to do before moving up:
The first thing I will look into this article is the most pleasant one: when to try to move permanently to the bigger games.
Basic rules for moving up in stakes:
- 1) You MUST be a winning player in the smaller games. Don’t fool yourself by saying that you are not winning player in the smaller games because your opponents are calling stations or something like that. The winning players know how to play and win against every single type of opponents and thus if you are not winning over long period of time (at least 20,000 hands) in the level below the one you are looking to move to (for an example you need to win in $0.5/$1 in order to move up to $1/2) do not even think about moving up.
- 2) You MUST have sufficient bankroll for the game you are looking to move to. I recommend that you only think about moving up when you have at least 60 buyins to the game you are looking to move in your bankroll, so for an example if you are looking to start playing $1/$2 NL you should have at least a $12,000 poker bankroll set aside. This might sound like a lot, but the matter of fact is that you have most likely underestimate the skill level of the players already playing in those games and thus you will harder time at winning then you thought. With 60 buyin bankroll you also buy yourself some time and are not forced to move down immediately when you hit a small losing streak.
- 3) You MUST have a reason to think that you are a winning player in the games you are looking to move to. It should be obvious but if you are playing poker to win money there is absolutely no reason to move to the bigger games unless you actually think you can win money in them. Yes you will also most likely improve as a poker player by playing against the better players, but you would have also improved by watching the action, reading books, watching videos and reading poker forums – and that would have saved you lot of money. So if you are looking to move to a bigger game make sure that either you suspect that there is lot of so called fishes and recreational players in those games or that you can beat the players who regularly play those games.
- 4) You MUST feel like you are playing good poker. It is pretty simple: if you don’t have confidence in your game right now the situation is unlikely to improve when you are playing against tougher opponents. When you are confident and feel like you are playing good poker the bad beats and losing streaks wont bother you so much and you are able to play quality poker even during the tough times.
When you can take shots to the bigger games:
Taking shots simply means that you play a session in a bigger poker game than you usually would because you think there is excellent value in the bigger table ( = bad player(s) from whom you can expect to win loads more money than you expect the good players playing at that table to be able to win from you on average)
The rules for taking shots:
- 1) Only take a shot if there is great value
- 2) Never put more than 5% of your bankroll at risk
- 3) Don’t take a shot if losing session puts you on tilt
- 4) Don’t take a shot if a losing session harms your confidence.
When you need to move down:
This is the last and the only slightly unpleasant thing associated with moving between stakes in the poker games. However if you are forced to move down don’t be too harsh on yourself, almost everyone has been forced to do it at some points during their career and it is way better than the alternative of losing your poker bankroll.
Situation in which you need to move down in stakes:
- 1) If your bankroll drops to less than 30 buyins move down immediately. If you for an example have been playing $1/$2 NL and your poker bankroll has decreased to under $6,000 you simply have to move down or you are facing a huge risk of going broke. That $6,000 is still a good bankroll for $0.5/$1 NL so move down and build up your bankroll again before giving the $1/$2 NL games another shot.
- 2) If you are not playing your best poker anymore. Being confident in your poker game is one of the most important things in being a winning poker player. And thus if for some reason you lose your confidence it is important to do something to get it back, and one of the easiest way to get it back is to play and crush the smaller games for a while.
- 3) If you suspect that games have become much harder and that you might not be a winning player in them anymore in the long run. The truth is that online poker games at all levels are getting increasingly difficult to win in. Thus if you notice that the games you are playing in have become too tough simply move down to the smaller games – there is no shame in it, it is much better to move down now that you still have some bankroll left as opposed to losing your bankroll in the too tough games.
Final words about shot taking and moving between levels:
Takings shots and moving to bigger games is one of the funniest things in poker however it is important that instead of doing it because you steaming or on tilt you do it because you have clear reason for it.
