Hi everyone, this is my first post so lets hope it's alright. I used to play at Noble, but since their NL games go from .5/.10 to .25/.50 with nothing inbetween I decided that I would switch over to the gaming club. I would say I am a decent player, but not anything spectacular... With a 400ish BR, would it be better to start playing the $10 NL games and move up to $20's as soon as I feel ready and have about $600? Or, since I plan on multitabling 3-4 tables, do you think I need more or less of a bankroll? Is there much difference in play among these two games? I guess I should add that if I go broke this won't be the end of my poker, but if I went broke playing $10 NL with $400 I would seriously consider quitting..

I would always prefer to play at tables of a skill level I know I can beat consistently until I have won enough that the worst bad beat possible on the next level up would be an irritation not an 'Oh my God!'.

I did about 5 months doing 10+PTBB/100 at the $50NL tables before I moved up to the $100's. My roll was over $4000 by then but I wanted to be sure.

You can move up faster if you like but moving up too soon is the most common mistake in bankroll management. At the low stakes it isn't the money per se that causes people to drop out (after all what $500 in the scheme of things?) , but psychologically a long steak of losing poker is very hard to cope with.
Poker is a lot more fun when you are winning

So I would go with getting used to the site and its players and nailing the $10's for a while. Once you've earned a couple of hundred then take a shot at the $20's.

As for MTabling - well provided you are playing winning poker it will smoothe out your ups and downs (more hands played = less variation) but I'm not sure it mkaes that much difference to the bankroll requirements.

There is a difference in play between the $10s and the $20s. It's not huge but it's definitely there. Very few people who are any good play the $10s for very long, but they'll hang out at the $20s for quite a while before jumping to the $50s.

If you have the patience for it, I would definitely advise beating the $10 game for a while then move up. Make sure you're beating the game. Keep close track.

Plus you won't run into me at the $10 games, which is probably good for both of us.

I moved up to the $20 games when I got $400, but I had been on GC for quite a while by then beating the $10 games. I don't think it's so much a matter of bankroll as it is of getting comfortable with the software, learning how the other people play, and being confident that you can win. 20x or 30x the max buy-in, either is fine.

Good luck!

Thanks for the replies everyone, also... Should the first $50 I win go directly toward PT?

I wouldnt put the 1st $50 towards PT. Its a very good tool, but if you play half way good at all, you can beat $10NL w/o it. You probably wont be at that level long enough to accumulate any meaningful stat on anyone anyway.

The quicker you get a track record of being able to beat the $10 game, the quicker you can move up. $50 will be a lot less (proportionally) of your winnings when your playing $20NL.

PS.....You will be signing up at Gaming Club via our banner at the tp of the screen right?

Already done Ice, already done

I feel comfortable with 10 buy ins for almost any given game at GC that I might play, at the lower levels .50/1 and down I feel fairly comfortable with 5 as minimums, of course more is better. I don't multi-table, so wouldn't begin to have an idea of the requirements.

I have a new question


While multitabling would you suggest playing all three tables the same (as in all three tables $10 buy-ins or all three 20 etc.). I was thinking about my bankroll last night and I have an idea but not sure if it would be alright or not (was hoping someone else had tried this or something) I start with a bankroll of about 350, and start by playing three $10 tables (in essence that would give me approx. 10x the buyin for each table) When (and if !) I hit a BR of 400 I would move to playing one $20 table and two $10 tables (once again that would give me 10x the buyin for each). If I hit 500 it would go to 1 $10 table and the other two 20's. Finally, 600 would bring me to all $20 tables. Does this sound like it could possibly work? It seems as though this way of building my bank would result in a faster build. Perhaps my thinking is way off here, but I would appreciate any comments

I would definitely play all 3 tables at the same stake level - it's just too confusing if the standards bets and raises on one table are twice what they are on another

Before I jump up a limit i usually "try" it out by playing 1 table of the higher limit..and two lower limit tables. it can be confusing..but just pay attention and you'll be fine.