Starting Bankroll

[BobVersion1 0]

Hey guys, general bankroll question.I normally put $50 on a time and I can usually make it last a couple weeks or a month or so. Alot of times I get high enough where I take $100 or $200 out or so. My question is, how different would my game be if I started with a healthy bankroll of lets say $500 or $1,000? I'm 26, getting married in July and I work as a customer service rep for a ticketing agency, so I don't make a ton of money, but I'm serious about making money at poker and I feel maybe my bankroll is hindering me. Any thoughts would be great. Thanks!

[Ron_Mexico 4,219]

You realize of course, you gave us no information to work with, right? Cryptic posts are so 2004. What games do you prefer, what limits do you like to play? Do you have any nude pics of yourself that you can send out? Seriously, if you are gonna get your answers, we need these questions answered.I'll take a shotLimit poker- 300BBNL poker- 20-30 buy insSngs-20-30 buy insMTTs- Unlimited helps.swings are bigger in short handed cash gamesSo seriously, about those pics, let me know.

[Vintage00 0]

I usually have a 30-buy in rule with NL and PL games, as well as sng and MTT's. A good way to quickly jump up is to try and satellite into big MTT's; if you can make a big score there, then you'll be in great shape. As for moving up in cash game limits as well as being able to take out money, start with a certain amount, let's say 100$. Once you double it, take out half your profit, leaving you with 150$ to "start over". From then on, every time you double your bankroll, take out half of your profit. It has worked for me thus far, hopefully it helps.

[11 to 1 0]

Hey guys, general bankroll question.I normally put $50 on a time and I can usually make it last a couple weeks or a month or so. Alot of times I get high enough where I take $100 or $200 out or so. My question is, how different would my game be if I started with a healthy bankroll of lets say $500 or $1,000?

Don't do it - seriously. If you want to take poker seriously - then $50 is enough. The real problem is "make it last." The real answer is: find a way to win that works for you consistently. Try this: only play the lowest possible limits for a while at everything. Play FFP tourneys, play micro NL, play whatever you have to wherever you have to to see a steady overall climb for six months. And do that MTT thing Vintage said. You don't need serious money - you need serious committment.(Oh yeah- and some mod should sticky this topic and then start moving all the bankroll posts into it - it comes up a lot and these guys give great advice.)

[BobVersion1 0]

You realize of course, you gave us no information to work with, right? Cryptic posts are so 2004. What games do you prefer, what limits do you like to play? Do you have any nude pics of yourself that you can send out? Seriously, if you are gonna get your answers, we need these questions answered.I'll take a shotLimit poker- 300BBNL poker- 20-30 buy insSngs-20-30 buy insMTTs- Unlimited helps.swings are bigger in short handed cash gamesSo seriously, about those pics, let me know.

More info would have been helpful, sorry about that. I play NLHE, PL Omaha H/L and HORSE, But I 99 % only play SNG's and MTT's. I rarely play cash ring games because I tend to either not make alot or lose alot. I seem more focused when I know my money is in and I don't have to worry about it anymore and can focus on my game.About the nude pics, Sorry can't help ya there lol

[Ron_Mexico 4,219]

About the nude pics, Sorry can't help ya there lol

Can't or won't?

[BobVersion1 0]

I usually have a 30-buy in rule with NL and PL games, as well as sng and MTT's. A good way to quickly jump up is to try and satellite into big MTT's; if you can make a big score there, then you'll be in great shape. As for moving up in cash game limits as well as being able to take out money, start with a certain amount, let's say 100$. Once you double it, take out half your profit, leaving you with 150$ to "start over". From then on, every time you double your bankroll, take out half of your profit. It has worked for me thus far, hopefully it helps.

Thanks, that is good advice. I've been playing $6 Single Table SNGs, cashing in then entering $10 + $1 10 Minute level tournies which I LOVE...just started playing them this week, have finished deep but shy of the money. Last night was closest, was up to 6th but fell and got two bad beats in a row.

[BobVersion1 0]

Don't do it - seriously. If you want to take poker seriously - then $50 is enough. The real problem is "make it last." The real answer is: find a way to win that works for you consistently. Try this: only play the lowest possible limits for a while at everything. Play FFP tourneys, play micro NL, play whatever you have to wherever you have to to see a steady overall climb for six months. And do that MTT thing Vintage said. You don't need serious money - you need serious committment.(Oh yeah- and some mod should sticky this topic and then start moving all the bankroll posts into it - it comes up a lot and these guys give great advice.)

Well that is nice to hear. If it's felt with that Bankroll that it is managable to really climb, then I will stick there for now. I'm seriously considering investing in Poker Tracker and the add ons since people really seem to stand by it..

[dms26 3]

Can't or won't?

He's just playing hard to getI'd say try not to cash out when you get up to 100-200, try moving up a level and see how the SNG's go for you there. If you are typically playing the $5's, the $10's really play about the same.

[BobVersion1 0]

Can't or won't?

Won't. I mean I'm not ashamed of my body or unwilling to lose it all, but, yeah... lol

[navybuttons 15]

6 months ago i went broke. i went from having a $5000+ bankroll to completely out of the game. from work i was in the red each month and never had $80 to put in play. (<----all that was live) i had about $180 on FCP and tried to clear a $200 bonus. at it's lowest it was $13 or so. after i cleared the bonus i had $280 which i transferred to stars. my stars account now has $2500+ in it.if you are taking poker seriously the key is not to withdraw until you get to a bankroll that you are comfortable with for the stakes you want to be playing. i probably won't withdraw until i get to $3500+ and then i'll withdraw whenever it's over that amount.i hope you understand what i'm getting at (besides that i'm the best player ever).goodluck.

[BobVersion1 0]

He's just playing hard to getI'd say try not to cash out when you get up to 100-200, try moving up a level and see how the SNG's go for you there. If you are typically playing the $5's, the $10's really play about the same.

Yeah I've tried that and when I start losing a bit at that level, I panic a bit and cash some out so I have something to show for my winnings. Maybe next time I get to that level I'll rethink it.My biggest cash has been a $5 1252 MTT Win for $1332 and Im real proud of that, but the thing that sucks is after work and the gym, the only MTTs when I get home are either $10 and higher or $1 or less unless it starts at 9 which is kind of late where I am when I have to be up at 6:30 for work... I miss the 7 PM $3 MTT tourney (I only play on stars BTW)

[BobVersion1 0]

6 months ago i went broke. i went from having a $5000+ bankroll to completely out of the game. from work i was in the red each month and never had $80 to put in play. (<----all that was live) i had about $180 on FCP and tried to clear a $200 bonus. at it's lowest it was $13 or so. after i cleared the bonus i had $280 which i transferred to stars. my stars account now has $2500+ in it.if you are taking poker seriously the key is not to withdraw until you get to a bankroll that you are comfortable with for the stakes you want to be playing. i probably won't withdraw until i get to $3500+ and then i'll withdraw whenever it's over that amount.i hope you understand what i'm getting at (besides that i'm the best player ever).goodluck.

Yeah I understand what your saying and I really appreciate your advice (and everyone elses to). I wish I had more time to play poker. If I could get out of work and the gym earlier, I could hit a couple of the MTT's I really enjoy. I'm down to $19 right now, I'll see where that goes. I'm thinking after that I'll try using my FPPs. I hit one of the $215 Sunday Million Satelites and used that for SNGs/Tournies etc..maybe I can hit that again, that would atleast give me some breathing room.

[navybuttons 15]

I panic a bit and cash some out so I have something to show for my winnings.

scared money don't make none!who cares if you don't have something to show for it?

[BobVersion1 0]

scared money don't make none!who cares if you don't have something to show for it?

Correction - Mainly use it for bills/expenses, to make some breathing room for myself to save a little in the bank, so maybe that's how I should have worded it lol

[lind0 0]

To be brutally honest, if you can't win with $50, then you probably can't win with any amount. I'm not saying you aren't capable of it, but maybe you need to improve your game to become a winning player. If you're playing better poker than your opponents, you will win money over time. It's that simple. If you excersise proper bankroll management while playing better poker than your opponents over time, you will not go broke. There are low enough stakes on the internet to accomodate a $50 bankroll, so either you are not playing well enough to win money, or you aren't managing your money properly. You're assuming that the amount of money you have is the problem. If that's the case, it's an easy fix. All you have to do is strictly enforce proper bankroll management. Stick to the micro stakes games and you'll be moving up in no time. I'm guessing it's more likely that you aren't playing well enough to win. Or you aren't playing consistently well enough to win. Put some time into getting better. If you keep trying to get better, eventually you'll start winning. Stick to the low stakes and grind your way up. If you do that, you'll never have to deposit again.

[BobVersion1 0]

To be brutally honest, if you can't win with $50, then you probably can't win with any amount. I'm not saying you aren't capable of it, but maybe you need to improve your game to become a winning player. If you're playing better poker than your opponents, you will win money over time. It's that simple. If you excersise proper bankroll management while playing better poker than your opponents over time, you will not go broke. There are low enough stakes on the internet to accomodate a $50 bankroll, so either you are not playing well enough to win money, or you aren't managing your money properly. You're assuming that the amount of money you have is the problem. If that's the case, it's an easy fix. All you have to do is strictly enforce proper bankroll management. Stick to the micro stakes games and you'll be moving up in no time. I'm guessing it's more likely that you aren't playing well enough to win. Or you aren't playing consistently well enough to win. Put some time into getting better. If you keep trying to get better, eventually you'll start winning. Stick to the low stakes and grind your way up. If you do that, you'll never have to deposit again.

I appreciate the critique. I'm not going to say if I am a good player or not, I feel I am pretty good but by no means would I brag (or ever brag) that I was the best. I think the hardest thing for me is I can do fairly good at $5 27 SNG's, but I do a couple of those and I'm already down if I don't money. Probably my biggest thing for me is dropping to a lower level, which is so hard for me to do. Trying to do a $1.75 turbo is so unappealing right now, but maybe it's what I need to do.Edit : And I don't know if this helps, but I've worked $50 up to around $200 on a few occasions grinding it out in S&Gs and higher when hitting in MTT's... It might just be a big dry run that's gotten my confidence down and questioning what's going on.

[Taffer92 0]

6 months ago i went broke. i went from having a $5000+ bankroll to completely out of the game. from work i was in the red each month and never had $80 to put in play. (<----all that was live) i had about $180 on FCP and tried to clear a $200 bonus. at it's lowest it was $13 or so. after i cleared the bonus i had $280 which i transferred to stars. my stars account now has $2500+ in it.if you are taking poker seriously the key is not to withdraw until you get to a bankroll that you are comfortable with for the stakes you want to be playing. i probably won't withdraw until i get to $3500+ and then i'll withdraw whenever it's over that amount.i hope you understand what i'm getting at (besides that i'm the best player ever).goodluck.

Very interesting can I ask what level did you play when you went down to 280 $ in your bankroll I have a situation not to different to this. and what level do you play now?

[navybuttons 15]

Very interesting can I ask what level did you play when you went down to 280 $ in your bankroll I have a situation not to different to this.

$.5/1 and 1/2 Horse and O8. i ran terrible in the cash games when i first moved to stars (probably the first or second worst run i've had in 5 years of playing), but i was playing SNGs and treading just barely above $150. started playing $5 HU SNGs, and never looked back. started playing $10 HU's when i got to $400, $20's when i got to $800, and now $50s. i'm totally overolled for the $50s but it's less stressful that way, and i want to prove a huge winner in them before i move to the $100s.going broke was the best lesson i ever learned.

[donk4life 34]

You don't need to hundreds or thousands of dollars to build a healthy bankroll, you just have to have good BR management..It's all relative to how much money you have in your account.. If you have 50 bucks and make 10 bucks, that's a substantial increase, maybe not at first glance, but percentage wise it's a pretty big increaseYou have 50 dollars in there, then start in cheap games, such as .05/.10 limit games.. Or play 1 dollar SnG's. Play the cheap MTT for a couple of bucks and maybe you'll win one of those and can move up... Yes it can be boring but this is what you have to do, and if you CAN win, before you know you'll have 100 bucks, and double that 100, and then double that , and so on and so forth.I put 25 bucks on AP on February 1.. Currently have 1250 in there, and I don't plan to withdraw until I can hit 2k.. Sure the first part sucked, but I won a couple big MTT tourneys that cost 2 dollars and now can play higher limits... Plus, pay attention to these guys in here, sure you'll have those that will insult you and make fun of you (i'm guilty of that as well), all of us are, but we seriously do help. I didn't start making most of my money until about a month ago when I really got into this forum.However, if you say you've been putting in 50 bucks and continue to do so, I don't think building a bank roll is your foremost problem.. I'm not trying to be a di.ck, but to be a winning player at the higher limits, you have to be a winner at the lower limits.. Don't bother with 5 dollar games, play 2 dollar and 1 dollar games..

[BobVersion1 0]

You don't need to hundreds or thousands of dollars to build a healthy bankroll, you just have to have good BR management..It's all relative to how much money you have in your account.. If you have 50 bucks and make 10 bucks, that's a substantial increase, maybe not at first glance, but percentage wise it's a pretty big increaseYou have 50 dollars in there, then start in cheap games, such as .05/.10 limit games.. Or play 1 dollar SnG's. Play the cheap MTT for a couple of bucks and maybe you'll win one of those and can move up... Yes it can be boring but this is what you have to do, and if you CAN win, before you know you'll have 100 bucks, and double that 100, and then double that , and so on and so forth.I put 25 bucks on AP on February 1.. Currently have 1250 in there, and I don't plan to withdraw until I can hit 2k.. Sure the first part sucked, but I won a couple big MTT tourneys that cost 2 dollars and now can play higher limits... Plus, pay attention to these guys in here, sure you'll have those that will insult you and make fun of you (i'm guilty of that as well), all of us are, but we seriously do help. I didn't start making most of my money until about a month ago when I really got into this forum.However, if you say you've been putting in 50 bucks and continue to do so, I don't think building a bank roll is your foremost problem.. I'm not trying to be a di.ck, but to be a winning player at the higher limits, you have to be a winner at the lower limits.. Don't bother with 5 dollar games, play 2 dollar and 1 dollar games..

Thanks, I appreciate the feedback. I guess the general concensus is to drop a level or two. I will look into that. Maybe I'll try the $1 MTT tonight at 7PM Eastern. I think I was spoiled by my $5 MTT Win (Which I'm still waiting for $500 of that from Neteller...), the $1 MTTs don't seem as attractive for the ammount of time in it, but a $300 win is better then losing $50, so maybe I'll look into lowering my levels a bit.As of late I seem to cash more in PL Omaha H/L and Horse Single table SNGs, maybe I'll focus more on those also...

[Royal_Tour 0]

6 months ago i went broke. i went from having a $5000+ bankroll to completely out of the game. from work i was in the red each month and never had $80 to put in play. (<----all that was live) i had about $180 on FCP and tried to clear a $200 bonus. at it's lowest it was $13 or so. after i cleared the bonus i had $280 which i transferred to stars. my stars account now has $2500+ in it.if you are taking poker seriously the key is not to withdraw until you get to a bankroll that you are comfortable with for the stakes you want to be playing. i probably won't withdraw until i get to $3500+ and then i'll withdraw whenever it's over that amount.i hope you understand what i'm getting at (besides that i'm the best player ever).goodluck.

LOL.. wow.. welcome to my world circa 2005, now i'm back in action, hopefully climbing the ropes quickly

[babylondonks 5]

With $50 I'd probably stick to 3.40 SNG's. They are extremely weak, especially in PLO8, which you said you're good at. The 1.75 18 man NLO8 are also very easy. I reccomend limping a ton of speculative hands early while not risking much of your stack and then not being afraid to put it all in on a A3Q7 kind of hand later when the blinds are big.I wouldn't advise you spending hard-earned money unless you're going to play cash games. If you want to use something to track results there are many spreadsheet programs on the board.Best of luck with this!

[BobVersion1 0]

With $50 I'd probably stick to 3.40 SNG's. They are extremely weak, especially in PLO8, which you said you're good at. The 1.75 18 man NLO8 are also very easy. I reccomend limping a ton of speculative hands early while not risking much of your stack and then not being afraid to put it all in on a A3Q7 kind of hand later when the blinds are big.I wouldn't advise you spending hard-earned money unless you're going to play cash games. If you want to use something to track results there are many spreadsheet programs on the board.Best of luck with this!

Thanks for your thoughts. I'm going to seriously look at dropping down a notch and then rebuilding. You said there are alot of spreadsheets on the board, do you know any by name I can search for? I actually for a year been writing down every single game I play, be it MTT, SNG or Ring Game, how many players, where I finish, how much I started with and how much I finished with, so something on the computer would be nice.I'm also thinking of trying the poker tracker. Any ideas what the best add ons are and if it is really worth the investment? (It looks like for NLHE, PLO8 and Stud I think, it's $50 each or a deal for 2 or 3, just going on memory since I haven't looked at it in a while. Does it really help alot of people out there?

[Wandigo 1]

Alot of times I get high enough where I take $100 or $200 out or so.

you'll fit in just fine around here.