When I first started playing online poker cash games, one of the most fascinating questions that I wanted answered was: "What are the differences between the stakes?" I wanted to know what bad plays were the $2NL players making and what great plays were the $1000NL players making? I decided to document my journey and highlight the answers to those questions as I progressed. Obviously, there is not a succinct, accurate answer that could be given to that question since poker is always changing, players play @ different levels of skill and awareness, PLUS your individual style and game will create different dynamics and results than my style will.

Nevertheless, I thought it might be at least fun if not an informative thread to discuss the differences between the stakes. This question DOES come up a lot in the form of "I'm thinking of moving up from X stakes to Y stakes, can you tell me the differences?" I've linked to my retrospectives for each stake I've been through to date below. Since this is the "Beginner's Circle", it could be argued that the discussion should be limited to as high as $25NL, however, I think we can discuss any limit since many beginners are interested in those, too. When reflecting on the differences between stakes, be sure to mention the site you play on, when you played, the stakes, the number of tables you play, and a brief description of your style. Let's keep it limited to full ring games.

For me, I play full ring @ Stars in a style I consider semi-loose and aggressive. The stakes, dates, and # of tables are noted below:

$2NL retrospective From 12/13/2008 - 01/22/2009 1 tabling
$5NL retrospective From 01/22/2009 - 03/03/2009 2 tabling
$10NL retrospective From 03/03/2009 - 06/18/2009 3 tabling
$25NL retrospective From 06/18/2009 - 07/18/2009 4 tabling
MICRO STAKES RETROSPECTIVE
$50NL retrospective From 07/18/2009 - 11/24/2009 5 tabling
$100NL retrospective From 11/24/2009 - 02/04/2010 6 tabling

If nothing else, this will be a nice, convenient spot for me to link for future queries about the differences between the stakes since I have made several links and comments in the past in other threads.

I'll also edit this post for any future stakes IF I am fortunate enough to move past them. In fact, I'll have a $100NL retrospective within the next day or two.

Updated 02/10/2010 - Added $100NL