When should I move from 200nl to 400nl?

I was thinking that I would move to $400nl when i reach a BR of $10k (25 buyins) and move down if I loose $1200 (3 buyins). I've read that a lot of the players on this site have or are planning on moving to $400NL when they reach a BR of $14k-$16k.

When should I take a shot?

I play 5 max cash game.

I think you should already know the requirments for moving up if you're thinking about playing 400NL.

It all depends on your risk tolerance, though, and your ability to move down. There's nothing wrong with moving up at 8K or even sooner if you can move back down when appropriate without chasing your losses.

take shots whenever you fancy. Just dont chase your losses if it doesnt go right.

OK. so i'll move up at $10k then.
I thought that there might be some maths behind moving up and the best time when to do it

There is but it requires a little data from people who have played enough hands at that level.

It's a relatively simple portfolio theory problem taking into account the fact that you want to balance the desire to move up as quickly as possible whilst keeping your roll intact (and minimising the risk of substantial losses).

Unfortunately I doubt many players would donate their winrate statistics at various levels, so it's not that much use.

Surely, out the millions of poker players in the world - this information has already been publicized and there is a recommended time to move up

Most people consider moving up when they have 25ish buyins which is 10k. They then give themselves 5 buyins at the level as a "trial" and if they lose those, drop back down until they reach 25 buyins again and repeat until profitable.

do what i did.
move back up, lose 10 buy ins, have a cry in your op thread, short stack, win back all the profit, rinse and repeat.

Originally Posted by pokerroomace

Surely, out the millions of poker players in the world - this information has already been publicized and there is a recommended time to move up

Well not likely because poker is only just starting to recognise the similarities between itself and financial mathematics (for which there is a very rich deep theory). It's not too bad to work out (in fact it's easy) but you need winrate and variance for current level and level you wish to move up to.

Originally Posted by gingerwizard

Originally Posted by pokerroomace

Surely, out the millions of poker players in the world - this information has already been publicized and there is a recommended time to move up

Well not likely because poker is only just starting to recognise the similarities between itself and financial mathematics (for which there is a very rich deep theory). It's not too bad to work out (in fact it's easy) but you need winrate and variance for current level and level you wish to move up to.

but you don't know your winrate for the level you're moving up to

BR management and common sense

Have at least 20 buyins for that level. If you lose 3-5 buyins move down, if you get pwned move down..etc

Rinse and repeat

Originally Posted by pokerroomace

Originally Posted by gingerwizard

Originally Posted by pokerroomace

Surely, out the millions of poker players in the world - this information has already been publicized and there is a recommended time to move up

Well not likely because poker is only just starting to recognise the similarities between itself and financial mathematics (for which there is a very rich deep theory). It's not too bad to work out (in fact it's easy) but you need winrate and variance for current level and level you wish to move up to.

but you don't know your winrate for the level you're moving up to

Yes but you can have an Expected winrate based on an average of players with enough hands at the level you wish to move up to. This is natural because you can never know your true future winrate for any level, only your expected winrate.

It seems people are making this more difficult than it has to be.

Depending on how risky you are.
at 5-max, 20-25 buy-ins are fine.
This assumes a TAG style of play.
I play a much more LAG style of play and as such, tend to keep 35-50 buy-ins for a given level.

weekends, fish are off work