Moving up

I dont think 20k hands is enough to know if you are a solid winner at NL5 but it is a good start!

Regarding bankroll management and taking shots I would advice that you set yourself a stop loss limit which is an amount you are ready to lose and if you lose that amount you go back to NL5 to grind it back.

For example your stop loss would be 3 buy ins in NL10 and you have 16buy ins. If you lose them you would go back to NL5 with 26buy ins and.

Or maybe your stop loss would be 6 buy ins? Then you still have 20buy ins to NL5 in case your shot taking doesnt work.

But whatever you decide your stop loss limit is, stick to it and dont chase losses but instead move down if your stop loss limit exceeds.

And you might try shot taking during the weekend. Games are softer then! Good luck!

Be rolled enough so you feel you are playing with "chips" not with "cash". If you can't play fearlessly because you are conscious of how many buyins you have left etc then you are going to play substandard. From personal experience the biggest factor that affects tilting from beats/coolers is bankroll. At least 20 buyins, i.e. $200 for NL10, probably you need more.

[1] Yes, though it is a small sample.

[2] As long as you are capable of moving up and down between stakes as needed without encountering tilt or adjusting your quality of play, then you should move up aggressively as your bankroll allows it. As you say, ~20bi is fine. So, if you have around ~$200+ as a roll, then go ahead and shot take the next stake (10nl) and just move back down after you lose a few buy-ins.

Additionally, when moving up you should try to table select or time the shot-taking when tables are softest. Realistically, this will be during weekends and when liquidity is highest (usually ~friday/saturday and evenings for the highest liquidity market share). If you join a table and it isn't particularly soft, then you should just leave. Also, you don't have to only play one stake. Doing a mixture of 5nl and 10nl would soften any downswings and arguably allow you to move up slightly quicker.

[3] Tracking your results is incredibly important. With the software you'll have the ability to easily review your sessions/results and track important statistics. With a small sample you can take a look at preflop stats and see if they are in line with reasonable values. As you get more hands you can take a look at other stats and compare/contrast to "good" values and try to improve your strategy. In addition to your own personal analysis--you can also perform analysis of other individuals/regs or player archetypes to either emulate what they are doing well or capture additional EV by identifying and exploiting their mistakes.

Best of luck!

This is a good tip. I actually always play on 2 different stakes because that way I get to table select more. Few months ago I player NL5+NL10 and now trying my luck with NL10+NL25 as my bankroll allows.

I could play NL5+NL10+NL25 too but so far I have got good 4 tabling action with just two limits.

Next mission is to get to NL25+NL50 level

As others have said, take your shot and stick to a stop loss. However your sample is small and it doesn’t look like you have experienced any deep, prolonged downswings yet (It looks like a loss of 6 buyins over about 1K hands was your worst). Even if you play well, you might hit a large, prolonged downswing. Make sure that

1 You have the bankroll to handle it — if it gets too bad, you might even have to drop down to 2NL.

2. If it does happen you don’t let it get to you and affect your play.

Most players who have played several hundred thousand or millions of hands have had downswings of 10+ buyins lasting 5K or more hands. It happens, and that’s why you manage your bankroll so that you always have 20 or more buyins to cover it.

Just go for it. It doesnt make sense to use proper brm for stakes that you can more quickly replenish from money irl than by grinding. As long as you have the necessary skill to beat 10nl (which you won't know until you try) then you should do it

I disagree with this. For one thing, like all other skills one must master to be successful in poker, bankroll management is a skill. It requires discipline and practice, and if you screw it up it can cost you money. Just as you practice all other aspects of your poker strategy while playing micros (assuming your goal is to eventually move up and not just exploit the micro stakes for maximum win rate), it’s cheaper to master BRM at micros than at higher stakes, and you will form good habits in that regard just like you do by mastering other aspects of strategy.

Plus, who knows what OPs life situation is. Maybe $200 is all he has to spare for poker and tapping other money would be detrimental to his ability to pay bills and/or Butt food. If that is the case, then he should certainly practice good BRM. Only OP would know the answer to that, so I hesitate to assume that he could simply and easily reload if he goes bankrupt.

The other way to look at it is that if OP is able to easily reload without detriment to his non-poker finances, then the money he uses to reload is really part of his poker bankroll, even if it isn’t in an online site account. Your poker bankroll consists of all money you can dedicate to poker without jeopardizing your life finances. It doesn’t have to be money in an online poker site account. If OP could go broke three times and add $200 each time to refill his account, he really has an $800 roll, not a $200 one and can move up levels accordingly. If he’s only willing to risk $200 on poker, then that’s his roll and he should be choosing stakes differently in that case. Again, I don’t want to assume anything - only OP knows what his real roll is.

I don't necessarily disagree with you but spending 100s of hours grinding 5nl is a waste of time financially-speaking if you live in a western country, unless you are doing it to learn and improve. Op is crushing the stake from his results so far so there is no need to use extensive brm just to move up to 10nl

Running 16 buy-ins over in 20k hands is crazy😮

To answer your question, i think you can assume you are winning pmayer at nl5, 20k hands is just too low of a sample to really know the answer.
But i think you should try to move up to nl25-nl50 as fast as you can, so go for it.

20k hands is nothing (there is zero certainty that this is close to your true WR). You're also running massively over EV. Without any other info about your abilities this is very likely a heater mate. I am surprised at some of the advice given.

There is no 'rush' to 'escape the micros'. Players won't suddenly get easier to play. Your WR will always be generated by playing fish so embrace their abundance while you can and hone your game where it won't cripple you with anxiety. Play to get gud.

Generally if you don’t need the money just have aggro BRM up and down until about 200nl then take it seriously from there. Don’t ever overthink about people getting better etc. as you go up- there is a gradual progression but the main difference is how many fish there are.

You can even aim for a settling point lower if you’re in a lower expense country so even something like 50nl might be fine there.

It’s different if you need the money obviously then I’d be a lot more careful. If you don’t then I’d go for a 20/15 BI BRM roll until you get to the stake you want to get to at a minimum.

I myself would grind out more biy ins before moving up. if you are winning, the BR will grow along with your play, this way you don't have to take agressive shots that potentially eat a big hole in your BR and at the same time build discipline for your BRM over all.

Thanks for all replies. Very helpful.

Keep in mind that moving back down is always easier said then done.
You have to do it while on a loosing streak and are often not in the best of mindsets.

Good luck, and keep crushing.