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# Starting over from Micro Stakes Poker, Moving Up to $50NL
- URL: https://jimmakos.com/starting-over-micro-stakes-poker-moving-up-to-50nl/
- Published: 2012-04-02T08:16:25.000Z
- Updated: 2023-12-16T19:27:21.000Z
- Author: Jim Makos
- Tags: Poker

You might remember me playing poker at high stakes, [winning $17K pots](https://jimmakos.com/2010/01/my-biggest-winning-pot-online-poker-straight-worth-17000/) and [losing 30 grand in one day](https://jimmakos.com/2010/01/30000-loss-worst-losing-day-ever-online-poker/)! Those poker days have come and gone. Poker hasn’t been exactly my favorite hobby during the past months, focusing on [trading](https://jimmakos.com/sports-trading/) and website development instead. Reasons include Black Friday events and consequences, law changes in many European countries and obviously the 2010 downswing that led to extreme lack of confidence. I decided to start over in mid-March and since my online bankroll in Pokerstars and PartyPoker is rather small, I went on and began at micro stakes. 10 days of $25NL and 25 hours of 8-tabling play resulted to the graph below.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/44/8d/448d9c80-c34d-4d74-8a89-3db10bee06f2/content/images/2020/12/25-nl-poker-graph-bb.gif)

At least there’s still money to be made at micro stakes level! I ran and played quite well hitting a winrate of 6,45BB/100\. That is [PokerTracker](https://jmks.co/pokertracker)’s Big Bets per 100 hands, since my nowadays favorite poker tracking software, [Holdem Manager](https://jmks.co/holdemmanager), shows winnings in terms of big blinds.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/44/8d/448d9c80-c34d-4d74-8a89-3db10bee06f2/content/images/2020/12/poker-stats-pokertracker-holdem-manager.gif)

Anyway, I suppose I could have added the BB/100 column in Holdem Manager interface. Meanwhile I do have important leaks that need to be filled like the W$SD% statistic, if I’m going to move up levels. Micro stakes’ rake on the other hand is quite expensive, so I moved up to $50Nl where I plan to stay for at least 50,000 hands, trying to catch up with the game. I read a lot about how [poker](https://jimmakos.com/poker) has changed over the last years, but at this point I’m more interested in improving my poker skills rather than pointing out the differences.

4 hours of play is my daily target nowadays, which equals to about 3,000 hands. I did just that yesterday, although I registered in a couple of tournaments at the same time, leading to fewer hands per hour. I don’t want to add more than 8 simultaneous tables as I have witnessed huge impact on my game if I go for 10 or 12 tables. At times I was playing at just five $50NL tables, while taking shots at 3 other poker tournaments, in one of which I ended in the money (192nd place at Pokerstars Warm-up) for a $560 win. I also tried to get into the €530 EPT Grand Final satellite but I almost bubbled two qualifying tournaments. Maybe I’ll be luckier next Sunday.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/44/8d/448d9c80-c34d-4d74-8a89-3db10bee06f2/content/images/2020/12/1-april-poker-graph-holdem-manager.gif)

$50NL went better than my predicted performance of about $40/hour (I’m interested only in the EV graph as you should if you play cash games). If I’m to win less than $25/hour I may well go back playing at micro stakes of $25NL. I’m expecting a drop in the winrate as I move up levels, keeping to the same strategy: 8 tables at the same time, 4 hours per day. Most likely I will be moving up levels until I earn less per 100 hands, therefore going back down to the previous level and staying there.

I’ll try keeping up with a daily poker performance in April, so don’t forget subscribing to my blog’s feed.