Satellite king

Had a bit of a downswing on the cash table's yesterday morning. Didn't feel like playing cash games last night so fired up some of the super soft $26 token satellites on Full Tilt. They cost $8 each and the top 5 of 18 win a $26 token. I can play 4 at once while doing other things, only playing premium hands. Doing this I won 6 tokens from 8 satellites in about 2 hours. I used 4 of my $26 tokens to play the $75 satellites (same structure) and won 2 $75 tokens. So in 3 hours I ended up with 2 $75 tokens and 2 $26 tokens for a $70 investment.

Using the tokens to play in tourneys I haven't found a big difference in the skill level between the $26 and $75 tourneys. Unfortunatel, while I consider myself fairly competent at both cash games and sit n go's, tourneys are my weak point. When I have a medium stack half way into a tourney I play way too tight. I can't quite get the adjustment right; when I try to change I get overly aggressive and end up pushing with average hands. At least with winning the tokens cheaply it gives me a good chance to improve my game without much expense.

Today's Topic: Moving up limits

Over the next couple of weeks I hope to be making a move to NL200, so I thought I would list my criteria for moving up a level.

• Have a sufficient bankroll: First and foremost have a minimum of 2o buy-in's for the level you are looking to play at. So if you are looking to play NL100 have a minimum of $2000. If you fall below the 20 buy-in minimum drop back to the lower level until you have over the 20 buy-in threshold again.
  
• Ensure you are a winning player at your current level: I like to win a minimum of 2bb/100 over 100,000 hands before I consider moving up a level. This is very conservative, but I would recommend that you are a winner over at least 20,000 hands before moving up a limit. Some peoples reason for moving up a level is that there are too many lucky donkeys at their current level to enable them to win. The logic is that if they move up to a higher level with better players, the lucky donkeys won't suck out of them constantly. Let me say that there are lucky donkeys at every level, and if you can't win at your current level, your chances of winning at a higher level are even less.
  
• Don't multiable as many tables when first moving up: It takes a while to get use to playing the new betting structures at a higher level. I recommend if you usually play 9 tables, drop back to 6 when you first move up. If you usually play 6 move back to 4 until you get use to things.
  
• If uncomfortable with the higher blinds, buy in short: When you first move up it can be a good idea to buy if for half the maximum until you feel comfortable at the new level. It will certainly make all-in decisions a lot easier, and lower your initial variance.
  

Today's Link:

Coverage of this year's WSOP main event starts tomorrow (Tue) on ESPN (US) at 8pm and 9pm EST. You can view it online via one of the free global live TV services such as TVU Player.