Looking for personal opinion on my starting bankroll..

I am new to the game. Played play chips since FTP started years ago. After getting tired of my friend mocking my "Playchip Millionare" status, I made the jump to real cash about six months ago. I am pretty much "even" for my time playing, but I have earned money with my buy in bonus, the Biggest Bonus Ever, and get rake back. Considering all that, I have almost tripled my initial buy in.

You have to play stakes relative to your bankroll or you will go broke. Deposit more than $50 or play within that limit. Otherwise you will just have to deposit more later. Go with the .02/.05 or .05/.10 cash games or the $1 or $2 buy in tournaments. If you are good you should be at the final table often and cash enough to start earning a small ROI. Also, get that rake back. It helps.

IcyBlueAce said:

So those standards also apply to someone who just stepped in poker vs someone whose played live with friends, read 5 or so books, and has gotten a taste/feel for a lot of the stakes online?

That just doesn't sound right.

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Ok. For perspective, I've read 10-15 books and have played about 50-100,000 microlimit hands. With a $50 bankroll, I'd feel nervous playing 5nl. One suck out and 10% of your bankroll goes poof. One session like that can become 5, then you're asking how to manage a $25 bankroll. I'd feel comfortable playing $2 sngs, but I have about 500 of them under my belt I know what my typical ROI looks like. I've even calculated my risk of ruin based on my own results, so I can put a hard number on the likelihood I'll lose everything, and that's a small number. I think what people are recommending you do is good advice for me. Their advice has nothing to do with you, really, it has to do with the intrinsic variance in the game.

If you want "permission" to play higher, there's only really one question that matters. If you lose it all, can you reload? If so, play whatever you want. If not, proper bankroll management is important.

RF

IcyBlueAce said:

I've read some poker books, my favorites always been by Doyle.. Messed around and blew chunks of money in online poker play, hopping from penny stakes to dollars.. Mostly for the fun of it, but now I really would like to buckle down and play serious poker, not only for fun but to beat the game and profit from it.

The two programs I have and use are PI and PT3, the most I seem to be able to multitable is 2 for now..

Friday evening, I'll be starting off with a $50 bankroll.. I know tournaments are suppose to be easier than cash games, but I have a way stronger interest in cash games than those tournaments or SNGS.

So, with a $50 BR (I play on FTP BTW), what stakes do you think I should start at and when should I move up for each stake?

Thanks! :joyman:

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Need more information to answer your questions. Are you a tournament or ring/cash player? What is your largest cash in an online tourney or ring/cash table? What game(s) do you play? i.e. NLHE, RAZZ, etc. At low stakes you should be able to play 4 tables with no problem. Turn off the TV and other distractions and you will be fine. Still, more info is needed if you want personal advice. JMHO. X

I think that IVEGOTOUTS hit the nail on the head. You may want to review the psychology behind your play with some more reading. Judging from your posts, it seems like you are more in it for the kicks. If you want to take it serious, then the BR advice you keep reading here is the path that affords you the best chance for success.

Since I have your ear, just one more thing. Your time and skills may be worth well over the $1 or $2 per hour that your are making, but do not discount the value in experience earned and lessons learned from playing within the proper limits. This applies to both your technical skills AND your psychology toward the game. GL to you.

You obviously want to start at a higher level than what $50 bankrolls you for, but take all the advice serious. If you can't stand grinding 1/2c then deposit $100 or more.

These kind of people are my favorite kind of people to play with

tickin time bombs

http://www.pokertableratings.com/fulltilt-player-search/irollfreerolls

save yourself, I've learned from my mistakes and never would I want to do it again. I lost all my freeroll winnings and bonuses from a $20 deposit.

http://www.pokertableratings.com/stars-player-search/itsalwyscold

I also started with a $50 deposit and I follow a strict BRM. If you are really serious about playing poker start off at 2NL like everyone said and abuse the promotions/freerolls they have so you'll be able to move up quicker. Its pretty boring at 2NL since your mainly waiting on good spots/hands to get into so I usually do something while playing.

I don't think the actual amount of money is important. If you have $100 dollars to play with, then you don't buy into a cash game for more than $5. If you have $100,000...its $5000.

If i were really really rich, i wouldnt play micro stakes. The philosophy of bankroll management will not make you a better player. BRM simply allows a generally winning player to consistently overcome the variance associated with bad beats/suck outs/etc.

I'm gonna give you some advice that is also going to be a little different.

BRM is aimed at people that can't afford to go broke. I think that people are way to conservative most of the time with their rolls. I like to take chances and play short stacked, and short rolled, if it gives me the chance of a better pay day. I'm guessing your a young kid that is getting into poker. Losing $50 won't kill you. Play what ever stakes you think will keep your attention...but you need to see that there are serious problems in your idea of what playing cash games successfully takes.

Play the .02/.05 game if you want. $50 is enough for a few buy ins, and see what happens. I suggest you buy in with a shorter stack so that you have few more buy ins. $5.00 should be good. That gives you 10 buy ins at that level. See how it goes.

Put the $50 in and play, if you lose it o well maybe you will step back and think about your play. If you win, good for you. You have very little experience (reading books is almost worthless when compared to playing hands) and unrealistic ideas of how the game works. Cash games are about being patient and getting the money in over and over with small edges. You can't force action in cash games with great success. It doesn't work well in full ring games at .05nl.

Good luck to you. Let us know how you do.

Thanks for all the advice guys!

Is their a section in this forum where you post your bankroll and updates on where your at?

Wow..
Alot of great advice here!

Ultimatly it is your decision on what you want to do with your bankroll and how much you chose to gamble.

However if you chose to go outside of the standard be prepared to have the money to reinvest if and when you need to.

Play for fun though, once it becomes a "job" it can be very dull.

Enjoy!

just use good br management. Play with only 1% of br in tourneys, 5% in cash games and leave when u have 10% or more in a ring game

Those were Ferguson's BRM guidelines when he wanted not to go broke during his challenge. Personally, I try to play under those guidelines, because I am not nearly as good a player as he is. So far, I have not gone broke. At least, not since I have become a lot more serious and careful a player. I busted plenty, redeposited plenty, the first couple of years -- but it was fun money, entertainment. I have not redeposited in over a year. I still have fun, but it's a less wild sort of fun, more grownup. Sometimes it gets boring waiting for a hand and I am tempted to play like I used to when I thought that TV poker was accurately depicted -- but now I find it more enjoyable when I do not toss my money away. Go figure. It took a major attitude adjustment to play properly. Or even as close to properly as I have managed. Some days are better than others.

For me, $50 would be too little to start with, as I have a hard time caring about 1 cent raises at cash games or $1 SNGs-- but if you look at Mr Freerolls's second stats, you can see how, with conscientious grinding, it can be built into a bigger roll. Basically, you have to divorce yourself from real-life payscales, unless you are willing to deposit a substantial amount to play at a level that may matter to you. But it's really risky -- because it would matter to you, I suspect, if you lost a couple grand. Still, redeposit $50 twenty times and, hey, it's a grand. Might you actually prefer building the money you deposit by carefully reducing the risk that you will need to redeposit? Your call.

The better plan would be to develop your ability to be patient. About what cards, what level, everything. Patience is the key.

Books do not fully prepare you to play. I can sum up all books in one sentence: Play good hands, dump the garbage. You have to play a lot for much of the other book knowledge to mean anything. And you still might not be good enough to play with the big boys. Some people can beat the micros and low buy-ins consistently, but run into severe problems when they try to move up. The way around that is to find the highest level you can beat (moving up only in accordance with BRM), and then learn to multitable, moving up in number of tables until you hit a point that you lose consistent results. Then, periodically, after you rebuild your roll from your last fiasco at a higher level, try the higher level again. Some special people can keep moving up and up profitably, most cannot.

Books do not fully prepare you to play. I can sum up all books in one sentence: Play good hands, dump the garbage.

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:dito: