[DaveduFresne]

Are you a recreational player? From your post I'm pretty sure that you are, but just in case you're not this is important information to know when determining bankroll needs.

Since I've been a winning player, probably the worst run I've had is ten buy ins down. A run that bad is pretty unusual. Perhaps the fact that I multitable smooths things out, although there seems to be an occasional nightmare scenario where I lose on all four tables at once.

Being a recreational player (as I'm assuming you are) going broke isn't the end of the world as it is for a poker pro. However, you still probably want to make money at it, and not have to pay for it without outside money.

What I reccomend is you get forty buy ins for the next level up before moving there. (So for a 400 NL game you need 16K). The reason I say this is because your psychological bankroll is such an important factor to how well you play. You really have to be completely comfortable losing four buy ins at whatever level you decide to play, because runs like this happen all the time if you are at all an aggressive player.

Also, just because you're a winning player at the level you're at now does not necessarily mean you will be at the next level right away. You may even be the fish for a couple of weeks. Play is usually considerably stronger when going up a level. You don't have any notes on players so you may lose a few buy ins before you realize certain guys are only betting with the nuts, and your second nuts are no good against them.

And for me, I tend to play too loose when out of my comfort zone. It goes against what you might think, but at stakes I'm comfortable at, I make the correct laydowns (most of the time) but when I'm uncomfortable, and I've gotten what to me is a lot of money in the pot, I hate to fold and give it away to my opponent, even if my read tells me its the right move.

Its tough to move back down once you moved up a level, because making that kind of money takes twice as long as it did at the higher level, so I reccomend being as prepared as possible before making that leap. Also, now that online pokers been around for awhile, the good players advance up to higher stakes, while if you have been a fairly low stakes player, you may not have had to contend with many seasoned players.

I know twenty sounds like a lot, but if you're conservative like me you may find forty makes for a smoother transition.

Good luck at the tables.

David