Shallow tables or buy in with $1 in 2NL?

I've grinded(ground?) my bankroll up to $19.73, from $4 I won on June 01.

As I cross this bench mark I find myself wondering if it would be more worth it to buy in with 50 BB at normal tables now, instead of playing the 40 BB buy in tables.

My thinking is that more money is in circulation, but my play would be severely limited until I double up. I seem to be able to crush these shallow table players, but I seriously doubt there will be too much difference in the type of play I'll encounter moving to 2NL.

What would some of you do with a $20 BR? Buy in for .8 at the shallow tables or buy in with $1 at the normals?

First off, reducing your buy in doesn't reduce your variance (bankroll management is still maximum buy ins). The shorter your stack the lighter you have to be willing to play for stacks, once the pot:stack ratio gets low willingly deviating from optimal strategy is like denying gravity and optimal strategy is high variance.

You also wont notice a skill difference.. ok, you might, I have no idea what the play on the 40bb tables is like but the play at 2nl is by anyone's standards truly terrible (seriously, an actual monkey with a hand ranking chart would have edge).

Buying in for 50bb wont put you at a disadvantage to the rest of the table because they all have 50bb too (smallest stack is the effective stack, either player having more makes no difference), with that being said, buy in for 100bb, it's better and there's no valid counter-argument provided that you have an expectation of winning (I'd play it even if you don't so you learn the right skill set).

So yeah, play the 100bb tables and keep your stack at 100bb or more.
You only have 10 max buy ins, which admittedly means your chance of going bust as a new player is high, play like a nit (so you can't make mistakes as easily) and you'll be fine. If you can limit your mistakes which increases your edge, 10BI is enough.
Alternatively, learn to play SNG's which offer smaller stakes and you can stick to safer bankroll management with them.

Honestly you have plenty to start playing 2NL. Last summer when i started with a $20 bankroll I moved up to 5NL at $40 with the stipulation that if I dropped back to $20 I would go back to 2NL. The level of play at these stakes is so poor that unless you start off on a terrible run you should be able to go straight up and never look back.

Playing 'any' kind of cash game with only a $20 roll is pretty dicey to say the least

Lots of all-in shovers who 50% buy in at shallow tables and only play top tier hands...and others who will shove any two in late posn...variance only has to hit you a few times with a $20 roll...before you have no roll.

buy for 1 dollar at normal tables, thats what i did when i had about 20 dollars, i went to 20 tables joined with 1$ at each, played really tight and now i am doing much better. good luck.

IMO, it all depends on your individual talents and skills. If you can play short stack cash games well, then go for it. If not I would wait until you have about 50 dollar bankroll.

Deposit more. No seriously, you should.

But if you want advice from your situation, then you should buy-in for $2 at 2nl. You have 10 buy-ins and you should be fine at 2nl. Play tight, get it in as good as you can and you'll do fine.

Build it up to $100 and start playing 5nl. Continue.

Mehh I've lost down to 13.50 now... Combination of bad play + bad beats.. Time to move back down to shallow tables..


Actually this time around I didn't deposit anything, got freeroll moneys. I've deposited in the past but only 10 and 20 dollars. When I am reeeallly confident in myself, perhaps I will make a 100 deposit and try out the 5 NL.