Been playing for years but only in the past few months have I really taken the time to rebuild my game from the ground up with a day vs night change in my online poker play. I've dabbled in micro MTTs with some success, tried other formats but didn't really like them, and have been focusing most of my time the past few months on full ring games at 5NL and 10NL on Bovada. Like it because I also play 1/2 live sometimes and the full ring game is more enjoyable to me than 6 max or HU.

That said, Since early February I've put in around 60,000 hands with the following stats and I can put in another $250-300 on top but not sure if I should keep grinding or top off and try 25NL. I have played 25NL to 100NL online in the past (both 6 max and FR) but don't really consider myself a winner at those stakes based on that history and poor understanding back then of some key concepts.

So my goal would be to try 25NL and move back down to 10NL following a 20BI up, 15BI down BRM set up (and if close to the next stake, move down at 35BI briefly of current stake so I don't spiral too far downwards if I hit a downswing). Not sure if the rake is too high at 5NL and 10NL on Bovada either. I do occasionally still play small MTTs of around 2% of my roll.


With these stats , what are people's thoughts? And if I should grind some more at 10NL , how many hands with a winning sample would you want before depositing and trying 25NL?

5NL (most FR, some Zone): 23,700 hands VPIP/PFR/3Bet: 21.7/8.9/5.6
bb/100 = 10.6 (Net won: $126, EV Adjusted: $62)

10NL (all FR): 36,700 hands VPIP/PRF/3bet: 23.8/8.5/4.3
bb/100 = 3.3 (Net won: $120USD, EV Adjusted: $200)

I started with around $67, took an aggressive shot at 10NL with $80+ and pretty much never looked back after a move down once or twice, although kept mixing in 5NL sometimes . I did try some 25NL a few months ago but at that point I only had maybe 10K hands at 10NL and didn't want to burn my existing roll before knowing if I was on the right track.

I want to ensure I'm beating a stake over a reasonable sample before moving up .

Thoughts? Thank you!

I feel like if you're killing your current level then it won't take that long to build a decent buy-in for the next level. For 25NL with 30 buy-ins you want $750 behind, so if you're doing well then you should get there, and you'll have a reasonable sample by then too.

I'm curious about your VPIP/PFR of 22/9 though, your raising range is good but you're calling quite wide. Looking at the stats on stars, the average table has a VPIP of around 25% from 2NL through to 10NL, but at 25NL the average VPIP drops to around 19%. Aggressive seems to be the better approach, so either dropping your calling range to 15/13 or bringing up your raising range to 22/18 seem like good options imo.

Thanks for the thoughtful and good reply. Sorry for the delay in responding. I ended up depositing on the main site I've been grinding, started off great but then got smacked over and over by the river when all in and had to move back down, where I'm still stuck at lol.

As for m VPIP/PFR that's something I'm struggling with in terms of bringing my PFR % up a bit more through better play. Any other tips on how to do that without trying to force the action? I'd prefer to not be stuck in 5NL and 10NL hell forever!

Try never open limping. Don't know if you do this already, but that is a good start. Also, if there are limpers consider raising instead of calling. Further more, try and call from the SB less. If the button or CO player raises, it can make sense to play a 3-bet/fold game from the SB.

Thanks for the reply. I was open limping a lot so have been steadily working to reduce the frequency of open limping. And putting more pressure on limpers in general so I'm not just calling along pre with them. As for 3-bet/fold game I think I had been calling too many 3bets and 4 bets OOP with weaker holdings than I should have been.