[Smurph64]

One of the things I struggled with in moving up is the timing of when to do it.

As I have read others here post sometimes a move up corresponds with a downswing. This is an important factor to consider.

The psychological impact of losing on a move up is significant because your brain is conditioned to the smaller movement of cash. Essentially a swing of 100 bb is a swing of 200 bb. I ran into that on my first cash out experience.

In reviewing the play I made, I actually was playing better than I was at the lower level but I ran into horrible beats. It happened so quickly but because of the short roll for the level I made the mistake of staying too long.

It would seem logical therefore that we don't move up until we have a roll for the next level but I think that may be a mistake for some of us. Let's face it, building a roll takes time and patience. When we have double the roll for the level we were just at it is a worthy accomplishment. Our tolerance for loss at this point is slim because of the high investment cost of the money we are gambling with.

We are most of us willing to gamble with serial numbers on a 5 dollar bill with 6 other people or spew a dollar into a 14 million to 1 lottery draw in the hopes of winning 5 million because it has a low investment cost and a high reward. When we are supposed to drop down 2 months of salary to buy someone an engagement ring or drop down a few thousand as a down payment for a house we are hesitant but are aware of the fact that the future reward is still great in doing so.

With poker we don't know that we will be getting any future reward. We haven't played at that level we have no history of experience and even if we did it is no guarantee that history repeat itself. For some that may be a good thing because the experience may have been damaging. I for one am likely going to run into some hesitancy when I try and play 5/10 again.

So where does this lead us? Well for me it lead me to two solid conclusions.
First I decided that I would set a bottom bankroll limit for when I would drop down back to a level I had a positive history with. My second decision was that I would not make definitive moves up. In other words I would not wait to play a higher level until I had the bankroll for it.

Rather I would continually take 25 bb shots at the higher levels. In other words I would play 1/2 when I had my minimum bankroll for the lower level plus 25 bb for the level I wanted to take a shot at.

Sometimes this meant I took 5 or 6 shots at the level before I made any head way into it, but grinding up 50 bb at the lower level was not a big deal, even if in fact it turned out to being 300 bb.

By doing this, I actually reduced the psychological impact of the higher level's money flow so that I could justify the dollar swings more readily and detach the purchase value of the money from the investment value.

By looking at the money as investments into opportunity instead of purchasing power we do a lot to diffuse the significance of the money.

By using a bottom management bankroll instead of a minimum bankroll system we free up a lot of the impact of moving up and instead are able to focus on the opportunities.

When I take a 25bb shot at a table and think of it as an investment I actually take my time and decide where the best opportunity is. Sometimes there is no opportunity in relation to the opportunity I would have by playing at the lower stake.

I have no stigma of playing at the lower stake because it is in fact the stake I am rolled for. In fact, I can even take a 25 bb opportunity shot at a level that is 2 levels above my current level if I find a huge opportunity investment.

This process has done a lot for me in terms of removing the challenges I struggled with in moving up for the last 2 years.

Its been 7 months using this method starting from 5 bucks and now I have 1000 in my roll.

For some that means I am rolled for 500 bb at 1/2 but it doesn't mean that for me. I still consider myself rolled for $1 because I haven't won enough at 1/2 to justify any roll being enough to stay there.

It is only when I meet my bottom bankroll requirement that I consider myself having moved up.

My definition of bottom bankroll is simply the bb required to never run out of money 99% of the time at my current win rate and deviation.