I'm currently a NL25 player but I am very over rolled for it. I think I've got almost 70 buy ins for this level. I do however have problems with the emotional side of the game from time to time and there's no way of telling how I'd manage the swings at a higher limit.

I've got about 10k hands logged playing 6 max and am a winning player. I do know this is a fairly small sample size.

At what stage is it appropriate to move up levels? I've got approx. 35 buy ins for NL50. I play 5 tables at a time, looking to make this 6, so obviously this means I need to be higher rolled than if I was to play 1 or 2 tables at a time.

I play on crypto (I would never play NL50 on FTP) with rakeback and monthly bonuses. I feel that playing NL50 I will have probably get the full $200 monthly bonus where as I might only get $100 a month playing NL25. Rakeback will obviously be higher as well.

Is it a good idea to start off by maybe playing 3 tables of NL50 and 3 tables of NL25?

That sounds very familiar, I am in the exact same situation.

I moved up to nl50 a couple of months ago and proceeded to open my eyes to my tilting problem. I blew 4 buyins doing the most stupid things, so I went back down to nl25 until I sorted it out, and hopefully I have now.

I would suggest playing a few tables of nl50 like you said, mixing it with nl25 and see how you get on. If you have problems with the emotional side then easing yourself in would be the best idea. It takes time to adapt to the level (bet sizes seem strange, drawing to that flush seems alot more expensive now, lol), so test the water a bit before you dive right in.

35 buyins imo is a nice number to move up on. It's plenty to cover a nasty swing before you have to move back down and should help you detach yourself a bit from the emotional aspect of the money.

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I think a better idea than mixing levels is to slightly decrease the number of tables you're at. Like, play 4 tables of 50NL rather than 6 of 25NL. This should give you more time to focus on the way your opponents play their hands and will help you make a faster adjustment to the new level.

The most important thing to do when moving up is to keep playing the same solid game that made you a winner at the previous level. There is no need to get really tricky and try to make a bunch of changes to your game all of a sudden.

Yeah that's a better idea than mine, go with that.

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For Free Money, Rakeback and some 6x Ongame bonuses, I recommend PokerSource.

I recommend Cardrunners for superb poker coaching. It was honestly the single biggest improvement in my game signing up there! Sign-up fee might seem steep, but it pays itself back within weeks.

And one other thing, pay attention to what you are typing in as a perfectly normal raise size at nl25 becomes very donkish at nl50. Don't do this:

Before anyone questions the raise, BB was very tight and I had barely played a hand at the table, I needed to create some kind of non-nit image.

Hand #42332083-65944 at Mattoon (No Limit Hold'em)
Started at 27/Jun/07 12:49:30

anonymous010 is at seat 0 with $58.70.
mobiwan is at seat 1 with $80.35.
2spineless is at seat 2 with $99.05.
davidab157 is at seat 4 with $49.75.
riverratty is at seat 5 with $65.55.
The button is at seat 3.

davidab157 posts the small blind of $.25.
riverratty posts the big blind of $.50.

anonymous010: -- --
mobiwan: -- --
2spineless: -- --
davidab157:
riverratty: -- --

Pre-flop:

anonymous010 folds. mobiwan folds. 2spineless
folds. davidab157 raises to $1.25. riverratty
calls.

__________________
For Free Money, Rakeback and some 6x Ongame bonuses, I recommend PokerSource.

I recommend Cardrunners for superb poker coaching. It was honestly the single biggest improvement in my game signing up there! Sign-up fee might seem steep, but it pays itself back within weeks.

Not at all, unless your win rate drops. In fact playing more tables possibly lowers BR requirements since you rack up rakeback/bonuses at a faster rate.

Just play NL$50. Honestly all games are filled with donks if you game select well.

Thanks

Do you mind elaborating on your point on game selection? I normally just go for high average pots. What do I need to consider?




Lol at David's almost min raise with A6o, what a donk

I look for high players to the flop percentages on stars, but I'm not sure if they show that stat on crypto.

Another thing you can do is use the player search to seek out donks who you have played with before.

flop % is on Crypto......% of players AND big pots is what i look for on crypto but generally speaking the 6max games are good to go on both counts.


maybe i can be pointed in the rigth direction but i dont think this feature is on Crypto

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Keep 2 lists in alphabetical order for the site you are playing at.
1. Fish, 2. Winning regs.

Scan down the tables and look for games with 2 Fish in and join. If a game is highly populated by winning regs look for another table.


If stats such as avg. pot and players per flop are given:
Full ring I like to join a game with 30% player per flop + and an average pot of around 1/4 the max buy in. This is a good game.
At 6max I want close to 50% players per flop and 1/5 max buy in as average pot. Obviously the higher these 2 figures the better.

I would put 20x the weight on my own notes though as these sites figures are notoriously innacurate and slow to update. Plus you may see a game with juicy stats, get on the list and then the donks making the game juicy bust and you replace them and end up sitting with all the other TAGs who were also on the list. I would look at the table every 15 mins and ask myself where is my money coming from, is this game still good? If not - leave.