I've been spending my poker life thus far at the Party Beginner tables - both $.15/$.30 and $.25/$.50, and am now starting to at least think about moving up to the $.50/$1 tables one of these days... Almost all my current sessions are at the $.25/$.50 tables, but I have played a few hundred hands at the $.50/$1 tables just to get a feel for the larger pots...

Here's the criteria I'm using to decide when to make the jump, and I'd welcome any input from those of you who have worked your way up from the nano-limits like I'm doing -

1. 500BB bankroll for the new level. I just think I'd play better knowing I have a nice huge cushion behind me.

2. 7500 hands at the current level.

3. greater than 2BB/100 win rate at current level.

Is that too conservative? Not conservative enough?

500 BB is a bit too conservative in my opinion, that means you won't be playing 1/2 til you have $1000 in your bankroll?! I made a jumps with 200 BB in a bankroll but I was very confident in my abilities at the time. Personally I'd say 300 BB is the standard.

as for 2&3 I think they go hand in hand, I don't think 7500 hands is enough to get a good bb/100, i'd say at least 10,000 probably closer to 20,000 will give you a good enough gauge.

300BB, play that level untill you drop 100BB or move-up. When you move-up though, don't be afraid to play a lower limit if it's the only game going, also continue to whore bonuses and feel free to send me 20%.

I generally go with 300-400BB for full ring and 500-600BB for 6max. Also it depends a lot on your ability to redeposit and recover from a large loss. For me dropping down in levels will hinder me finacially so dropping down is not possible. I could redposit, but thats really not an option either. My reasons for playing is to pay bills and secure a future. If you goals are not as high then your BR can be a bit lower.

This is what I normally do:

When I have 250BB at the higher level, I start taking shots when I see a good game - which for me is tables with an average pot of 6BB+. As my roll grows, I play the higher limit more frequently and finally make the switch full time when I have 500BB+

These numbers are probably a little more conservative than they need to be for two reasons:
- I play six max which has more variance
- My only other source of income is my student stipend (27k/yr). I can't reload a couple of grand to keep playing 5/10 that easily and I don't really ever want to have to step down in limits and go back to playing 3/6 and 2/4

I like the taking shots philosophy because it makes you more comfortable with more money on the table when you finally make the switch full time. Back when I was playing 1/2, I switched to 2/4 a couple of times after building my roll and had to switch back both times because I played too conservative and leaked a lot of chips off.