Bankroll management is key when it comes to moving up in stakes - thats a given and a very common factor most MTT poker enthusiasts are familiar with in general.
A few other factors that are often overlooked are good game selection and whether or not you are beating the stakes you are currently playing at.
I'm still pretty much a low stakes grinder currently only playing games $16.50 and under - but when I was coming up through the micros and I finally was rolled to play $6.60 games - I went on a heater and won about $2.2k in one month - which was great but at the same time I had only just began playing at my $6 stakes and so I moved up a little too soon - fired a little too hard and lost a portion of those winning over the next month or two - I was doing well in the $6 buy ins but I wasn't crushing them - so I decided to keep my max buy in there for a while, and so I did and once I was comfortably crushing those stakes I hopped back up to $11s and havnt looked back since. So you want to be sure you are crushing your current stakes - the $11s are plenty beatable but you will also find a decent amount of capable players in those fields who put in alot of time and work on their game - so if you aren't on their level, you are going to have a hard time competing in their fields.
Bottom line is - use your tracker program, look over your results, ensure that you are playing a good strategy and are beating the stakes you currently frequent before you jump up to the next level - even if you are properly rolled.
The second thing I mentioned was good game selection. Chasing the dream is all fine and dandy - but an $11 5k GTD is going to be much easier to win than an $11 15k GTD simply because of the player field size - its simply less variance involved in smaller fields - so when we know we have an edge over the majority of our field (this refers back to ensuring we are crushing previous stakes) - its easier for us to see a definitive ROI in smaller fields than it is in larger fields. In summary - its easier to win in a field of 400 than it is to win in a field of 1200 - its just math, we are going to be playing more
hands overall and will be involved in many more all in scenarios in larger fields - thus exposing ourselves to more variance. Its just math. So what I am saying is look for smaller fields with a good payout for your time and effort. Its better to win $600‐$800 a few times a month rather than chase the dream of that $3k score in a massive field.
For me I play alot of 1k and 2k GTDs for $6 or so and then once or twice a month I fire the ACR $6.60 25k GTD that runs on Sundays - I fire it because I enjoy the challenge of the marathon, and even tho I would love to win that thing just once, I don't expect to win it often. I know the
odds are very slim simply because the field is so massive - so I just enjoy the challenge of the marathon more than getting stressed out over busting after 9 hours or so and not winning tournament.
Anyhow, to conclude - use your head, be smart about game selection, practice good BRM and make sure you are beating your current stakes before you hop up. Following these general guidelines should be more than enough for you to move forward. Good luck in your games.
