7 Tips for Moving Up in Stakes Fast

18 Jul 2025

Beginner

This material is for beginner players

Hi everyone, my name is Gary Blackwood, professional poker player for Upswing Poker, and today I'm going to give you my seven top tips for moving up in stakes. When I started playing poker, I started out at 10 NL and I have moved all the way up to 2K NL, so I have moved up many times in my career. These are the best pieces of advice that I can give you for when you're ready to make that jump to the higher-staked games.

The most important piece of advice I can give you is this: bankroll management is key. Like I say, this is the most important piece of advice.

When you're looking to shot take, make sure you do it very responsibly with minimal risk to your bankroll. Now, everyone's situation is different, whether you're a professional or a semi-professional. If you're a semi-pro, for example, and you have a regular source of income, you can be that little bit more aggressive with your shot taking.

However, if you're a professional poker player, you need a deeper bankroll so that if things don't go well, you can stand the heat essentially and you're able to withstand the swing. So it's really important, whether we’re pro or semi-pro, we exercise responsible bankroll management. However, you can be a little more aggressive if you have a regular source of income, but make sure whatever you do, you leave yourself enough of a bankroll so that if things don't go well, you can move back down in stakes.

Something we should be doing anyway is looking for the softest tables possible. When you move up in stakes, you want to give yourself the best opportunity of making your shot stick. So you want to choose the softest games that you can.

Look for recreational players — more recreational players per table. Look for the players that you know are the weaker regulars. Stay away from the players that you know are the stronger regulars in that stake, and give yourself the best possible chance of making your shot stick and not having to move back down in stakes.

Also look for the softest tables, make that shot stick, and don’t be a hero. Don’t battle with all the really tough regs just because you can and you’re shooting your shots. You want to look for soft tables and give yourself the best chance of making that shot stick.

Something I used to struggle with all the time is mixing stakes if necessary. This does tie in with point number two, but if you’re going from 50 NL to 100 NL, for example, don’t just play all 100 NL tables when you’re shooting your shots. If there are softer 50 NL tables running, don’t be a hero.

Play the best tables possible, and if that requires mixing stakes — or even sometimes when you log in, check the lobby, and see that all of the higher-stakes games are tough while all of the lower-stakes games are really good — go ahead and play those lower-stakes games. Just because you’re shooting your shot doesn’t mean you always have to play that stake and battle it out in the really tough games.

Tip number four, unbelievably important: play your game. I used to get really paranoid that the regs who were pushing me around, targeting me, trying to isolate me, exploit me, or bluff me on the river meant I wasn’t playing the best poker I was capable of. I was being a calling station. I was being too aggressive versus their aggression. I just wasn’t playing my best possible poker.

This is really normal, really standard. Everyone who moves up thinks: These guys are exploiting me. They’re targeting me. I can’t let them do that. I’ve got to make a stand. I’ve got to call down. I’ve got to be more aggressive.

It couldn’t be further from the truth. These players are just playing their game. When you move up in stakes, they’re better, they’re tougher, they’re stronger, they’re more aggressive. They’re not targeting you. They’re not trying to exploit you. You don’t have to push back and fight back.

What you do have to do is focus on playing the game that you’re capable of playing — good, solid poker — and not letting paranoia influence the decisions that you make. Like I say, when you move up in stakes, the other players there are not out to get you. They’re not targeting you. Get that out of your mind and just focus on making good decisions and playing the best poker that you possibly can.

Tip number five, something I used to struggle with all the time and it is unbelievably important: leave your ego at the door. Nobody in the history of shot-taking has ever made a shot stick at the first attempt. More often than not, you’ll get slapped back down to your regular games and you’ll have to grind out there for a little while longer. It’s tough. It’s painful. Your ego is bruised, but you must be okay with that. You must be prepared for it, because it might happen.

You’ve got to sometimes just swallow your pride and stick with the rules that you made when you said you were going to shot take. For example: I’m going to take my five buy-in shot at the higher stakes games. If it doesn’t quite work out, swallow that pride and move down. Don’t keep going six, seven, eight, nine, ten buy-ins, because that is very problematic. It’s not following solid bankroll management and it can get you into a lot of trouble.

It’s difficult. It’s really awful to have to move back down to the stakes, and you feel like you’re not able to make it, but it’s normal. It happens to almost everybody. As I say, nobody makes it stick the first time. Swallow your pride, move back down, rebuild, and the next time you move up, you’ll be ready to go again — and hopefully you’ll make that shot stick.

Tip number six: do not let the money affect you. It’s a little scary moving up in stakes. The pot sizes suddenly double. The hero calls you’re making are worth a lot more money. The mistakes are much more costly.

Play your best. Make the right decisions without letting these bigger pots influence you in any way.

• If you’ve got a good bluff catcher, make the call.
• If you’ve got a good hand to bluff with, go ahead and do it.
• Be brave and don’t let those bigger pots you’re playing affect your judgment.

Tip number seven, really important: embrace it and above all, believe in yourself. You’ve proven yourself a winner at your regular stakes. You’ve built the bankroll. You’ve improved your skills. You’ve worked hard and put yourself in a position to take this shot. Remember that.

Celebrate the success that’s gotten you to this point and enjoy the moment of moving up in stakes, shooting your shot, playing bigger games, and chasing the success and money that come with it. Give it your absolute best.

Before you jump in, do everything you can to prepare properly for your shot. Of course, start with your regular session prep:

• Do your breathing exercises and mental warm‑up.
• Clear your desk or playing area.
• Make sure you’ve got everything you need so you can focus 100%.

But there’s more you can do:

If you’re playing online, study your opponents in advance. Look at population tendencies at the new stakes so you know what to expect. Identify common leaks and be ready to exploit them.

If you’re playing live, understand that as you move up, the games often get deeper:

• A 1‑2 game might feel shallow.
• A 1‑3 or 2‑5 game plays deeper.
• At 5‑10 and beyond, you might suddenly find yourself 300+ big blinds deep or even in uncapped 10‑20 games where you’re effectively playing 10,000 big blinds.

Prepare for those spots before you’re in them. Study deeper‑stacked strategies so you aren’t caught off guard when the stacks get big. That’s it from me. I’m Guy Blackwood — thanks for watching, and I’ll see you in the next one!

And if you really want to speed things up and feel confident when moving up? Then work with someone who’s already been there. Check out our coaching platform and find a poker mentor who can help you plan, study, and crush those higher‑stake games. Good luck out there. Go crush it now!