No limit Hold em bankroll considerations
Part 2 – Moving up levels
Further important considerations when considering whether to move up levels
- If you are constantly playing at a 1% risk threshold i.e. you are moving up limits as soon as you reach the ‘required bankroll requirements’ then your chances of going bust are significantly higher. There is nothing wrong with this approach, as long as you are prepared to move back down to the previous level once you fall below that threshold. Sounds ok, but not always so easy to do in practice!
- Sometimes even if you have a high enough bankroll to move up to the next level it might be correct to stay put, why?
- The stakes being played for might take you out of your comfort zone and you may be better off sticking to your current level temporarily at least anyway. World class poker players like Phil Ivey and online poker legend Durrrr (Tom Dwan) are comfortable playing for hundreds of thousands of dollars, top online poker players are comfortable playing for thousands. It is important to note that these guys are in their comfort zone playing for that kind of money. A more typical example would be when a player is successful say at $0.25/$0.50 NL – if he/she is not used to playing at $0.50/$1 then the fact that the player will now be in the position where they can lose a 3 figure sum much more regularly in just one hand may make them a lot more fearful. If a player is overly fearful, as opposed to reasonably cautious, then this inevitably will affect his/her game. The same principle can also be applied when moving from a 3/6 NL game to a 5/10 NL game, i.e. playing typically 3 figure sums to 4 figure-sums.
Once another zero is added to the amounts that a player is familiar with it can be a frightening prospect, in fact moving up levels period can be intimidating particularly in the no limit game, if you are fearful of the next level it is better to acknowledge this and not to be in any hurry to move up as it is nigh on impossible to be a winning player if you play with ‘scared money’. From a practical point of view if you were fearful having something like twice your normal bankroll requirements for giving the next level a shot might be a good compromise – once you have a high degree of comfort it should take a lot of fear out of your play and thereby increasing your chances of being a winning player.
- Even if the sums of money involved in moving up do not make you fearful – once you move up levels the standard generally tends to rise –A good indication to decide if you are ready or not is if you have been consistently winning well at your current level then though it is likely that you won’t find it quite as easy in the level above in all likelihood you will still be a winning player, if however you are only a marginal winner in your current level maybe you should bide your time for a little longer there and wait until your win – rate increases. If you do decide to give it a shot, you should be prepared to swallow your pride and move back down levels if need be to fight another day.
- Even if you can beat the game at the next level – maybe your win rate may actually drop so much so that you would make more from sticking to your current level.
- If you have been consistently playing at the same level for a number of months then you will know a lot of the regulars at that level, while of course they also will be familiar with you, knowledge is power and in the hands of a winning player this familiarity is highly advantageous, of course some of these players will also play the next level above but obviously you will be less familiar overall with the players there and so lose a lot of the familiarity advantage that you have at your current level, after a while of course you will gain this familiarity again so in itself I wouldn’t let it deter you from moving to the next level but nonetheless it is something to be aware of.
- The stakes being played for might take you out of your comfort zone and you may be better off sticking to your current level temporarily at least anyway. World class poker players like Phil Ivey and online poker legend Durrrr (Tom Dwan) are comfortable playing for hundreds of thousands of dollars, top online poker players are comfortable playing for thousands. It is important to note that these guys are in their comfort zone playing for that kind of money. A more typical example would be when a player is successful say at $0.25/$0.50 NL – if he/she is not used to playing at $0.50/$1 then the fact that the player will now be in the position where they can lose a 3 figure sum much more regularly in just one hand may make them a lot more fearful. If a player is overly fearful, as opposed to reasonably cautious, then this inevitably will affect his/her game. The same principle can also be applied when moving from a 3/6 NL game to a 5/10 NL game, i.e. playing typically 3 figure sums to 4 figure-sums.
As you can see there is more to it than simply having the correct bankroll for the level you choose to play, at the very least you should pay heed to the old adage of never playing for money that you can’t afford to lose.
Whether you are prudent or willing to risk all, here’s wishing you luck with building that bankroll.
