Help Me With My Birthday BR!?! NLHE as opossed to LHE

So i recently had deposited 15$ into my account on ftp .I didn't do so hot with it at all. I mosty had played freerolls b4, never really did well in cash games(well the play chip nlhe ring games at least), and that is where i practiced is in the play chips and freerolls. Well when i played with the 15$, i joined the ferguson and lost really early on, and it discouraged me. I finish the freerolls in the bubble everytime just about, always the top 100 but not in the money. Also in the face the ac.com rnd1 180 player sng'si can place n te top 2 tables usualy, but only won ftp points 2 times, finished 3rd a few times and top 2 tables any many times. So i decided to try cash games and ended up playing the .01/.02 .60 or .80 cap nlhe 9 handed and 6 handed. I would do alright in them, mostly double my buy-in, then i would keep playing, trying to build up to 2x or 3x my buy-in, but would never suceed and end up losing everything. I did this multiple times, only increasing my BR when i would leave after i was ahead. I unfortunatly did not leave when i wa ahead enough times, and lost more by-ins then doubled them. I also tried a couple 9 player 1$+.25, whihch i do well in te 250 playchip and 2000 playchip 9 player sng's, whih i know the 250 is pretty much a joke...but hey, its practice, which i know i needed. I did not do well in the real money sng's either, played 2 or 3 and did not place in any of them, but i did not do them back to back, which i think would help to do 1 and if lose, try another right away. Sometimes you jut dont get the cards, but in th next one you do great, or at least thats how it was with the play chips one. I treid to stick to BR manageent, LOL but thats kinda impossible with 15$.
OK, so moving on. My birthday is around the corner, and i have a little extra money, well enough extra to put 40$ on my ftp account, more than last time, but more margin for error i guess? lol which i don't plan on messing up this time.I got couple poker books from the library, and have read segments in those, but 1 is on limit holdem, the only one on cash games, the others are tourament play starategy. I usually play No limit, maybe i will have to learn limit also. I tried to plan out a startegy this time as to what i would ty with what money, and then see what i am god at, and what i just am not good at. I really like tournaments, but i want to make some $$ on a daily basis, and with dry spells and variance more liely with tourny play, i want to try cash ring games, or cash sng's. I feel like i can do well at 9 player sng's, but i want to do well at cash ring games. So i have this plan to use my money like this, to see what i do well in this time. maybe take 20$ and do something like :

5x1$ mtt's(daily dollar//ferguson)

4x1+.25$ 9 haned SnG's(do 2 back to back two times)

5$nlhe cash ring (6x .80 buy-ins?)

5$ for limit holdem & other games
PLO, Razz, etc.(i like to play plo, i seem to do well at that sometimes also)
...this all equals 20$, then if i lose it i will still have 20$

So maybe if i try that out, see what im better at, play around a lil bit, and if i lose 20$ then i need new strategy...LOL, or do you guys thinnk a better way woud be to just join a higher up stakes game, and try and build a BR with something like half my BR, then if that doesnt succeeed, try the 20$ thing...I think that doing that last thing would prolly be a bad idea, or at least a easy way to lose alot quik? Well anyy suggestions or comments thta might help me build my BR with these limits would be gratly appreciated, Thaks guys!
oh also, does rakebake or anytihing affect me very much at this low lvl, or should i not worry about it until i acctually have alot of money?

Search "BRM", "Bankroll Management" on this forum.

Also, on FTP, Ferguson has guidelines on BRM embedded in the challenge.

i would go to the full tilt academy and watch lessons.

participate in the sit n learn interactive.

lots and lots of great advice there

I thought the minimum you could deposit was 30$. Did they change it?

Your plan is a terrible idea. You will go broke playing that way. Play chip games are in no way even close to real money games. You are just going to learn bad habits playing with play chips.

You need to pick one form of poker with a BR that small. If you don't cash in the $1 tourneys you are screwed. You don't have enough buyins with the pay outs that are being paid in the low buyin tourneys you are playing. I know people that have played on table SnG's and built their BR up that way. I would play limit or NLHE, screw the NLHE cap games. Play ring games and leave when you double your buyin, until you gain more experience playing with a deeper stack. Continue to play FR's for practice and to build your BR. Keep in mind FR's play a lot different than a normal tourney would. It's going to be a long road to build your roll, but you can do it. I''ve done it and then threw BRM out the window and had to start all over again. I'm sick of doing it, so make sure you read BRM articles and stick to it. If you follow proper BRM you should never go broke. However, like you said it's very hard to use proper BRM with such a small roll. So I would stick to the lowest buyin 1 table SnG's and play 2nl ring till you can build your roll some more. I would stay at 2nl, until you have $100 to 140 in your BR. Hang in there, you can do it!!!

Triggalos is right about focusing on a single game. Pick limit or no limit. Also set a stop loss for yourself. If you play 2NL ring games decide how much you are willing to lose. I recommend 50% of buy-in. So if you find yourself with only $1, get up and go, dont reload or blow it all trying to get back to even quick. I dont agree with setting a stop win though. Once you have doubled your buy-in, reset the stop loss. In the 2NL when you get to $4 set your stop loss at $3. It is a good idea to set a tiered stop loss for yourself. At $6 your stop loss is $4. At $8 it is $6. At $10 it is $7. These are just examples, what those numbers should be is something you need to think about and decide on. Most importantly, you need to stick to your plan. If you have $4.5 and call an all-in preflop with AA and lose taking you to $2.5, you get up and go because you are now below the stop loss of $3. Don't call it bad luck and pretend you are starting over with stop loss at $1. Limiting your losses is good but don't put a limit on your wins.

why would you set a stop loss?

imo i think he should buy in for the maximum at whichever limit he is playing. better to have 100 BB than 80 or less...... guess i dont understand

You buy-in for the max. $2 is the max in the 2NL. But you decide ahead of time what your downside is. This is common practice in trading. Just applying the same concept to poker. You invest $2 in the game. Limit your loss to only $1 though. If your position deteriorates to to $1 then get out before you lose it all. But dont limit your profits. As reach each plateau, you reset your lower limit. Basicly you stop when you have lost what you have predifined as the most you will lose. As you win, your loss limit keeps moving up with it. This is an effective way to maximize profit while limiting losses.

I agree with this methood, however, when you have such a small roll, and playing these low limits, if you are at $4.00 and a couple of players are around $4.00, he needs to leave, if he gets a bad beat or put in a tight spot, he is looking at loosing two buyins. Which is why I would suggest getting up and moving tables. He needs to bank as much as he can to build that roll up.

Now if he has $4.00 and everyone at the table has around $2.00 then yeah, he's just playing deepstacked and it doesn't really matter. So I agree with what you say Wolfe, however if there are similar stacks to his, he needs to leave.

ahhhh alright man i got you now.

this sounds like a good workin plan right here long as like trigg said others stacks aren as big as his.

imma start this stop loss thing when i play now too. see how i like it and ill let you know.

thanks wolfe

In principle, I generally agree with Wolfe, it's silly to leave a table you're crushing - however, in addition to the potential bad beats and tight spots, playing deep effective stacks (multiple players with 200BB or more) is tricky for some players. Some hands that should be played for stacks at 100BB should not be played for stacks at 200BB, and it takes a bit of experience to know the difference - and obviously losing 2 BI's here is a concern.

Here I strongly agree with Trigga - after he's got more experience/bigger bankroll, I strongly agree with Wolfe.

Love the stop/loss recommendation, Wolfe.