[ryanghall]

I've never been down more than 6 buyins, either. I'm on what I consider a bad run right now and I'm down 2 1/2 buyins (although it's magnified in my mind because I fairly recently moved up in stakes). I am glad I have 20x the buyin right now.

However, if my roll had ever been less than 20x the buyin, I feel that there's a very good chance that I might have been.

The reason is that I would be playing scared. Just because I don't play for a living doesn't mean that my bankroll isn't extremely important to me, and I'm sure most players feel this way as well.

I also feel to even begin to properly master a level, you should beat it for the 20 buyins needed to continue having 20 buyins at the next level.

It's my opinion that a player should feel very comfortable at the level they're at before they move up.

But that's just me, and I'm a fairly careful person. I've heard an interview with Daniel Negreanu where he said that he took a lot of risks to get where he's at today.

I'd just prefer not to - I'll sleep much easier

Ryan