When do you chance it and start to roll your money...

[joecatz]

I've got a question to pose to some of the pros and folks who play a lot of tournament poker.

I've been playing for a little over 2 years now, mostly lower stakes NL cash games and tournaments in and around NY, CT, and NJ. I lost a lot of money in the first yar, and then learned to play. Since January, I've played in five higher stakes single day tournaments, and cashed in three of them.

I played in the $2500 borgata tourney on friday and finished 17th. A few different hands at the end and I feel like I could have made the final table pretty easily. I feel like I played the best poker of my life, and was lucky enough to be at tables throughout the day with four world series final table veterans, and a lot of respected pros. I feel like I hung with them all day, and played smart.

I also feel like the only way to get better at this point is to continue to play at the level I played at this week. Unfortunately, My bankroll isn't the same as most of the people who play the circuit.

Also, I wouldn't have been able to afford entry into the $2500 tourney if I hadn't have won a super into the event.

But now I've got around $15,000 in my poker fund, and I'm thinking it might be time to take some and buy into a few events, and see how it goes.

I guess I'm looking for some "starting advice". For instance, I want to hit the Bellagio tourney in October, but I know they only have single table events for the 1000 and 2500 type events. If I go out for the week, say I don't get into one of the tourneys via sattelite... Do I just bite the bullet and buy in and see how it goes? Is it better to play a $1000 and a $1500, or just save it and play in a $2500?

Am I being hasty, do I have the bug, or is it time to see if I can hang?

(I got a lot of compliments on my play from a lot of people this week, so I think that's in my head a little...