I started playing cash games during spring, got $50 free in a poker site and played NL5 until I had about 10 buy-ins and then moved up and down from NL10 - when having so few buy-ins I had to switch down quickly if I lost some so that I wouldn't go broke as I didn't want to deposit anything. Having a small bankroll was extremely annoying for me, and I decided that I want to have a much larger bankroll so that a loss of a buy-in wouldn't bother me so much. I.e. I need it to play well.
I think how many buy-ins you need depends mostly on your risk-tolerance, i.e. if you loose your poker money will you be okay with depositing more? Also I suspect it would be hard for most people to even know if they are winning players if they keep depositing more and occasionally withdrawing something. Finally I think its okay to play ten or twenty thousand of hands of every level, if you enjoy some success and maybe clear some bonuses you should have about 20 buy-ins for the next level which offers a nice cushion for bad beats
So yeah, I was almost at $500 before I moved up to NL25. Currently at about $800 and I haven't yet tried NL50. I suppose I could take a shot, but I'd like to get more experience from NL25 before I move up.
If you haven't done so already, check out
PSO offers for poker sites, you can quite easily clear a $120 bonus + get a part of the sites deposit bonus while playing NL25.
