To roll or not to roll

Hi,

how many people have a bankroll ?
What im getting at is, do you replenish your poker account as and when, or do you put in a big bank roll to start with ?
I tend to put £20 in every 2 weeks, if im up then i dont add another £20. I just play till im out of money and then start again.
Is this a really bad way to go, should i consider putting in alot to begin with ?
Your thoughts would be most welcome

Paul

As long as you're keeping tabs on whether you're 'up' or 'down' in the long run, there's nothing incredibly wrong with it.

If I were starting again I'd prefer to put a lump sum in and treat that as an entire bankroll (i.e. aim not to have to reload), simply because it aids bankroll management and would ensure I treat my bankroll with the respect that is due.

But if your method works for you, I can't object.

Thanks for the reply, i was concerened wether there was a right or wrong way, if putting a lump sum in is the way to go (or the best way), i'll start saving lol.

Paul

Wow this is not what I thought this topic would be about.. at all.. (Your welcome for my wonderfull addition to the topic... )




Personally I dont add to my bankroll... I started with a 20 dollar deposit.. and i'm working on building it up... using what ferguson did.. buyins for 5% of my bankroll.. (If a ring game.. I leave once I have doubled up..)

Well, I don't re-deposit that often. I olny do when I run out of money at that particular site.

While learning poker I set myself a fixed budget of £25 (around $50) per month. Some months it was gone in a week, other times that same deposit would last me two months. Regardless of how long it lasted I didn't let myself make any extra deposits, even if I'd 'saved' myself a deposit the month before.

I'd heard of bankrolls but wasn't prepared to risk a large sum gambling. I didn't want to put down a large deposit and risk loosing it through getting over eager. Having a set amount each month gave me time to cool down when on a loosing streak & reflect over what I'd done wrong.

Now my game has improved my bankroll has built itself. In the last month my deposit has grown enormously and allowed me to move up a couple of limits. Now I'm sitting on a bankroll of 5x the amount I normally take to a talbe and I've no intention of making a deposit ever again.

My plan is to continue to play as I am, hopefully making a steady profit as I go. If my bankroll ever does start to drop dangerously low I'll drop down a limit and try to build it up again.

If I do manage to loose my bankroll, I'll be going straight back to my original budget, playing with what I can afford to loose while I'm learning this game.

Myx

PS. for Caribe, it took me 6 months of online play to be making a profit at this game, and even now I'm not 100% convinced it's not just luck. Be prepared for a long slog ;-)

Unless I'm mis-reading some of the posts here, it sounds like there are some saying that they deposit money, play until they lose it all, then deposit more, etc. I don't hear anything about withdrawls, though. So that tells me that in each deposit, the next result is busted bankroll. I think there is an issue there, as all you are doing is depositing money and losing it. Even if you build it up some, you are winding up with 0 and redepositing. You sure as heck can't be ahead doing this (unless you're playing live games where you are winning money to lose online, I guess ). Sounds like there are some leaks to be plugged to stop losing cash. Or am I missing something?

Yup, did that for a good while

I'm thinking there may be a fair few folks in the same boat as me and learning the game, or simply playing poker at low limits for entertainment value. I know I enjoyed my time learning, that $50 a month would just have been spent on movies & beer otherwise...

Well I suppose most players do not win in the long run. In fact it's an impossibility. Even the ones that do will pay a similar amount or more in rake. So for every winning player there must be at least 2 losing players... not to mention the break-even players who need to be offset by more losing players to pay their rake.

Caribe

Try building yourself a bankroll !..

What i mean is, say u start with £20 and u win a little.. then take your winnings out of the equation.
If you start with £20 .. and you double your money . withdraw it and you start again with £20.. Then if u do go on a bad run and lose all your dollars. atleast you have your starting £20 you won to fund you again for your next trip..

I find that works best for me..
i start with about £200 .. build up to about £500 - £700 .. withdraw the difference and start again back at my £200 ..

hope that helps..

money management is a big thing in poker. u gotta watch what your winning as well as what yoour losing.

http://www.yourpokerguide.co.uk

hey all

Still new and learning but this is working for me

you can try depositing a small sum - say $10 - play on some of the smaller tables until you have enough confidence / bankroll to move up a level.

Set yourself an upper limit - say $100 dollars, when you reach this withdraw maybe $70 and buy yourself something nice. That way you continue playing (and learning) with profits.

Eventually you will either reach your upper limit quicker and quicker, in which case move it up to maybe $150 or you can move up another level.

This has worked for me while learning and i only ever deposited $5 once and make monthly withdrawals.

lol, just noticed, similar to yourpokerguide post..

myxiplx said:

Yup, did that for a good while

I'm thinking there may be a fair few folks in the same boat as me and learning the game, or simply playing poker at low limits for entertainment value. I know I enjoyed my time learning, that $50 a month would just have been spent on movies & beer otherwise...

Click to expand...

Exactly! Heck JD - somebody has to lose or nobody would win.

whats the saying? 20% of players end up with 80% of the money? or something.

i didnt start turning a profit until recently, like 9 months of small deposits at a time to just now be breaking even pretty much, after rake

I started with $100 and got lucky to build a decent roll a few years ago.

In summary I play with a working roll on-line that is not quite big enough for the buy-ins I play knowing I can top up if necessary.

I cash out when I get over $1500 back down to $800-900, because this is usally as a result of a decent tourney result this can be anything from $600 to a couple of thousand.

There have been several occassions when I've gone bust and I put $250 back in until I get rolling again (sometimes this requires a couple of deposits). This is because $900 is a bit underolled for the $33 MTTs and $33-$55 SnGs I play so downswings of $1000 are going to happen. Fortunately funding this variance isn't a problem and I track every cent or penny in and out. I've only deposited $500 in the last year like this while withdrawing about $5k. In total it's about $2000 in and $16500 out.

Interestingly enough, I've never invested one dime of my own money in this online gambling bit. I got my initial stakes 2 years ago ($20 each at Absolute and Poker Stars) via their end of the week Sunday freeroll finals, grinded that up to $300 or so within 3 months (the days when winning $5 was a great day seem so long ago), then took advantage of a free bankroll offer from Party Poker early in 2005, and haven't looked back since.

My bankroll management is simple: At the end of the end of the month, any money I have over $1,000 is "swept" into my bank account - this way, I have locked up some profits and/or bonuses earned. This also has the effect of limiting what stakes I can play, unfortunately, but this is just a measure of self-discipline so I don't blow a lot of hard work in one bad stretch.

Sadly, I had to change the way I made money playing poker because of all the sites shit-canning the U.S. players out of their sites - I can think of at least $400-$500 per month in bonus-whoring income I am currently losing out on. However, this change has also forced me to change my playing habits - and moving up a level or 2 in SnGs and cash games while keeping the same (or better) win rates has almost made up the loss of bonus income.

Not to brag here, but after December I fully expect to pass the $10K mark in total withdrawls back to my bank account - not bad for such a small monetary investment!

I have been playing online poker for a while but i just started an account on Full Tilt a week ago. I started with a 100 dollar bank roll. I play 5+ tables of .25/.50. I only play hands that should be played. Now 7 days later my account is at 556.25...Its a good process but building your is tricky. You should try to build it little by little at games you know you can beat. Dont start with $300 and play 2/4's to try to double up. I did that many times and found my self broke. Yes i know its stupid!!!!LOL

Thanks for all the replies, it seems there are many ways to manage your money.
I have just stepped up from 5p/10p blinds (NL) to 10p/25p blinds. The change in gameplay is vast, cant believe how different the quality of play is.
Like a few of you i am very weary of putting a large bankroll in only to blow it all on one hand.

Paul.

Caribe

Great post. I am pretty in the same situation as you are. (New player, depositing money monthly) After reading some of the tips here on cardschat, I am slowly building up my bankroll. IF everything stays on course, this will be the first month in three that I will be withdrawing instead of depositing. Anyway, the two best bits of info that I have taken from this site are: Don't play more than 10% of your bankroll and be patient with your cards. Those two tips have helped my game tremendously. Good luck to you and keep us updated.

TKO