There has been one certainty in my journey to build my bankroll/wealth, increase my ability, and play with the very best. That certainty is that with every step along the way, I have almost always had to take a step back. When I beat my $5 games as a freshman entering college, I swore I was better than everyone at the local charity poker halls, only to be sent home in nearly every tournament and cash game with a questioned look on my face, wondering what I did wrong again. <READMORE>

When I took a step back, I began to realize that I did not understand the intricacies of the game of poker. Position, blind strategy, and hand strength were all novel concepts to me. When I told myself that I would use my brain to learn some more important lessons about the game, I went back and won. Then I won again. Then I had enough to move to the next step.

This article is about the poker journey that many of us take. It is for the people that look to move up by playing in a new game with increased stakes and different challenges, but don’t know what to expect waiting for them at the next level. When you move to another level, you are a beginner. The game and the players are different. Regardless of how skilled you were at one level, you are in a new game. The rules remain the same, but now the players react and respond differently. I want to talk about some of those differences and how to overcome them and strive along the way.

The underlying assumption of the entire moving up premise, however, is that a player must have bankroll management. If you want to move to the next level, you have to be disciplined enough to keep a substantial bankroll that will allow success at your current level. I have never taken a step up immediately without losing money when doing it. No player should ever expect to lose when moving up in stakes, but you need to be prepared to lose and just accept it as a necessary adjustment period. Do not move up to the next level until you are crushing your current level to a point that makes you comfortable enough to step back and continue beating it.

You should look at your bankroll much like a semi-aggressive young investor. Set a certain percentage that you are going to use to truly gamble, maybe 20%, 10%, or 5%. This money is for you to take risks and try to make something happen with it. It’s not the money to invest in your safe value companies (the game you are sure you can beat).

Cash games, sit n gos, and multi-table tournaments all have different ways to move up. Multi-table tournaments are the easiest to move up monetarily. There is such a vast range of buy ins that often the leap will only involve a few more dollars. When I started, I used to stick to the $10-$15 buy ins and would eventually mix in a $30 or $50. Eventually, I made some big scores that I could grow from. While I still played some of the $10-$15 buy ins, I moved to the point where the majority became $30-$50.

Also, an easy way to move up here is to play satellites into bigger tournaments. Treat it as part of that risky money. Cash games are a little different. Sometimes the jump from 5/10 to 10/20 or 3/6 to 5/10 is a little different. Always be prepared to buy in for the maximum amount in a no limit game and for at least 50 big bets in a limit game.

Now moving up might seem like an easy and natural progression for some players, but very few move up without struggling. I recommend watching the game for a while before even stepping into it. Watch final tables of the higher buy ins to see if you notice differences. Join a training site and watch some of the higher stakes. Buy a credible book that gets you in the right poker mindset. Just like in almost everything, there are naturals at this game. Some people will be able to move up faster than others, and some will never move up at all. Some will always be losing poker players no matter what level they play because they fail to adapt to the game at hand. Either way, there is always room to improve.

Sometimes the step up is not moving up in stakes, but in the amount of volume you put in at your current profitable level. Multi-tabling is a challenging concept to master. How do you know if you are comfortable multi-tabling? You should never be timing out at any tables. You should be able to have a decent idea about your opponents.

You have to accept that the biggest sacrifice that comes with multi-tabling is that you will lose valuable information about your opponents. If you forget what has happened in each betting round because you are playing too many tables, then you are simply not helping your cause. If you build up and add one extra table at a time, you can be successful as long as you keep yourself in check.

I wish you success if you move up, but I titled the article the way I did because sometimes the most important thing in being able to move up is taking an honest, humbling step backwards. Sometimes, we cannot beat the game. Our skill set is not where it needs to be to match our opponents.

Other times, simple misfortune takes us to the point where our bankroll is again in a tight spot. At these times, to be successful you need to reevaluate your situation. Why did you lose in the game this time? This is often the toughest assessment we have to make, because it involves us admitting that we lost. It could have been misfortune, bad luck, or a bad beat. If that’s the case, get the bankroll to where it needs to be and take the shot again. If it really was a fluke unlucky performance, it will correct itself over time. If it has nothing to do with your luck in that session, and you know that you did not play to the level required for profitable play in that game, then you have to figure out what went wrong.

We all know there are many ways that you can improve your game, and I listed some of them before. The first step is eating crow and admitting your loss was your fault. If you can take that humbling step backwards, eventually you will succeed in moving up.
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