Let us say that you want to play no-limit Texas Hold’em poker and you want to start with $500. What level should you start at and how should you go about using your bankroll? Well this isn’t an easy question to answer as much of it depends on skill but I think that $500 is enough to play NL25 as this is 20 buy-ins which is a good number at that level.

So you start with $500 then and you play six tables of NL25, the plan is to drop down to NL10 if your poker bankroll drops to $300. It initially drops to $380 after you start but a good run of hands and situations sees you rising to $550 after the first week. You are also getting a good rake deal as well.

You are playing tight-solid and are merely looking to take advantage of the weak players at these levels. In week number two then you are really starting to feel out this level and you win a further six buy-ins which takes your poker bankroll up to $700. This equates to 14 buy-ins at the next level up which is NL50 but you want to get some more experience at NL25 first.

Week three sees you go up and then down several times and basically break even on the week. You are still $200 up on the month which is eight buy-ins and that increases hugely in week four when you go on a heater and win a total of fifteen buy-ins which sees your stack increase by another $375 and you now have $1075 in your poker bankroll.

You get another $75 in rakeback so you now have $1150 in your bankroll. You are seriously tempted to withdraw the $650 in winnings but you fancy having a shot at NL50. Both are viable options and you do have 23 buy-ins at the higher NL50 level which is a good bankroll to have for that level as well.

But you cannot just jump into any level with your whole poker bankroll and stay there for the simple reason being that this new level could be too tough for you. Caution is definitely advised when you move up. So you try your hand at NL50 with ten buy-ins safe in the knowledge that if you lose the $500 then you still have $650 to play NL25 with again. This is still more than you started with but if it does go wrong then this could be an indication that NL50 is too tough.

Of course there is a third option and that is to keep on playing NL25. Your sample size is still very small so you have not proved that you can beat NL25 yet. You change your mind and decide to wisely continue with your education and play NL25 for another month.

After a break even two week stretch you then win a total of sixteen buy-ins over the second half of the month which is a nice $400. You also get another $75 in rakeback which now takes your poker bankroll to a nice healthy $1550. You seem to be beating NL25 and now decide to take a six buy-in shot at NL50 to see how that goes.

Moving up and down through the levels like this can be your best weapon when it comes to making money in any online poker game.

Carl “The Dean” Sampson

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