i know its a noob question, but i have read about when to move up a limit and people say play 5000 hands or games, which 1? and how do i know if im ready to move up or down? also how do i gather this info, any help greatly appreciated.
by the way in my opinion only way to get better is to learn from your losses!!! anyone agree?
learn from both wins and losses 
you don't use any tracking software? if not, just email pokerstars support, they can tell you.
Ok, I'm still very noob so take this with a pinch of salt.
From what I've read you base your stakes on your bankroll and how many buy ins you can make. (this is different for tournament play and cash games I believe.)
So if you have $100 BR and play games with the 2% rule (2% rule is the recommended amount that use spend to buy in, it's recommended that you only buy in at 2% of the cost of your BR) then you can play at $2 tournaments (if your playing tournament poker).
http://www.pokerstrategy.com/strategy/sng/1347/1
This means that if you get to a point where 2% of your BR is say $5 ($250 BR) then it would make sense to up your stakes. Although from what I've read some people prefer to have more of a buffer when jumping up in stakes, this means that with heavy down swings they can adjust before having to drop back down in stakes.
So moving in stakes isn't dependent on hands or games played at all but instead based on what your bankroll can handle.
Personally I think (from a total beginner) that you learn from every play, win or lose. I find watching other players helps my game a great deal.
Read the articles on this site, I'm still reading and re-reading them, they help a lot!
Tom
Originally posted by whytheluckystrike
So moving in stakes isn't dependent on hands or games played at all but instead based on what your bankroll can handle.
It defiantly has an element of how many hands or games you have. This is so that you can make sure you are beating the limit you are playing on. For example you could win a satellite to a large tournament and then win that tournament. Your bankroll could go from $100 to $10,000. That doesn't mean you should play 400NL you should be able to beat all the limits below and to find out whether you beat the limits below you need to play hands.
hi all thanks for the feedback its much appreciated. as to tracking software have you any tips? on which to use how to get and where? (sorry for quizzing you all to death lol)
thanks
Best once in the world are Holdem Manager and Poker Tracker, both are in the Pokerstrategy shop
I just bought Holdem Manager yesterday, it look like it is the best one
