My Fluctuating Bankroll: Tips?

So I've been playing online alot again lately, and I'm doing quite well (by my standards of money, I know it's chump change to some of you). My 50 dollar deposit at Pit Bull has me at 400, and I've cashed out 400 from Full Tilt from the same deposit. However, my bankroll has been taking mad ups and downs, particularly at PB. I was up to nearly 700, then down to 28 before building back up to where it is now. I was fortunate to build it back up from 28, but I don't want to put myself in that position again. I have a hard time quitting when I'm not playing well obviously, which is a tilt problem that can be addressed in other threads. I'm looking for any other possible tips. I think I need to avoid the playing multiple tables at once for sure, especially when I'm playing tournaments. I guess I'm sort of rambling here, but really, any advice? Thanks and good luck at the tables.

You have addressed your own problem here and the best advice I could give you is to move away from the computer when your on tilt.
If you can't pull yourself away, may I suggest(provided your BR can take a small hit)move down to the lowest level and play there until you calm down.
This way your still playing poker with the chance of getting lucky.
I do this often when I'm on tilt, I'll move to the 2NL tables and take my frustration out on the table by spewing chips away with hands that normally would go into the muck.
I have gotten lucky on a couple times when I have done this.
I remember I had been playing on a table like a real donk, playing sub-par hands, getting caught with garbage, betting with air preflop and after awhile my bets meant nothing to the rest of the table.
After a few hands i caught some monsters and had made a small profit of $14 at a table with $0.01/0.02 blinds and I'll tell you, I wasn't tilting after that

Congrats on your winnings.

Are you playing within good bank roll management guidelines? Do you chase your loses by buying into SnGs or cash games that are too big for you roll just trying to get even?

I was just gonna ask the same question as WVHillbilly. What is your response when you have a bad run?

I used to do the same thing get up real big and go on a bad run and start playing games to big for my bank roll. I play alot of sit n go tourney so now I give my self two tournaments and if if i don't cash in either i call it a night, and dont play again till the next day.

To Hillbilly and Vector, in a word to my response... bad. For example, I made a huge, huge error the other day. I had lost about 100 or so of my stack. Not a big deal, I was still plenty up. But bc I was angry over a tough beat i went to the 5/10 dollar table where I was subsequently murdered. I played the money amount instead of cards. I will never play those stakes again, and nothing other than NL from now on. That "trying to get even" remark by Hillbilly is right on for me. I'm like, well let me try to get that 100 back and then I'll be good. I know that's a horrible way of thinking. I need to just get in the mindset that I'm AT even wherever my bank roll is at, especially when I'm still up from my initial deposit. It's SOOO much easier said than done though.

You just have to stick with it. Use the forum here to keep you on track. Seriously this is the most BR conscious forum online (and that's a VERY good thing imo). When you feel like doing something stupid, and moving UP in stakes when you're losing to chase loses qualifies as stupid, post here. Just taking the few minutes it requires to post your thoughts should allow you to think about how big a mistake you almost made. Then the forum will chime in and re-enforce that chasing loses is a mistake and by that time you'll be ready to either take a break or at least play at stakes you're rolled for.

I know taking shots at the big $$ seems like the way to make a bunch of money playing poker, but all it really does is guarantee that you'll need to redeposit to keep playing.

GL.

The longer I've played poker (which is nearly 3 whole weeks now) the more I have come to believe that the ability to:

1. Play within our personal limits. (yours and mine might be a little different)
2. Recover QUICKLY from bad beats/ bad play.

...is what separates the good from the great more than any other poker skills.

Of course, I am much better at talking than doing.

I'm taking your guys advice. Sat down at my normal 2.50/5 NL table with a hunj, and after playing for a bit, I noticed a loose player that was going all in with nothing. So i get A9H preflop and he pushes all-in. I call, and it was correct. He's q5s. I'll take my chances with that. Of course, he hits 3 fives and I bust out. So I go to a smaller table with 20 and try to build it back up. Doing good for awhile, then hit top pair on board and go-all in. Called and beaten with trips ( no excuses here just got outplayed ). So instead of doing what I normally do, reversing my cash-out and sit right back down, I'm leaving for the day. Still plenty to play the guarantee mtt that are always good value tomorrow and keep what I've won. If I wind up losing the MTTs, then I'll just wait until I get my cashout, then go at it again later on this month. Better to be up than lose all my good work. Lost most of it, but I'm trying to realize that profit is profit. Live to play another day. Thanks for all the good advice and I'm looking forward to getting to 50 posts so I can see you fine folks at the freerolls offered here. Good luck all.

I know your position, up to only recently i was a major succumber (?) to tilt and would chase my losses constantly and proceed to blow my roll which iv'e done many a time. Plus i'm a huge bankroll nit when in a clear mindset so it takes me longer to earn back what i've lost due to tilt.

Just stepping away from the computer and turning it off is 1 stage, but after ages of suffering from tilt i found my own kinda personal remedy. I now only ever look at the size of my bankroll about once every 21 days and this has worked wonders. Since i know i'm a winning player, i know my bankroll is going upwards steadily, i don't know how much exactly but i know it's going up, this way when i go on a bad run for a couple of days, i can't chase my losses at higher stakes, since i have no idea how much i've lost and for all i know it could only be a few bucks i've lost. This mindset seriously helps me mentally and allows me to play as close to my best game at all times

Great that you've decided to stop chasing.

Now let's work on not sitting down with 20 bbs and 1/4 of your BR.

Well, the 2.5/5 nl game is where I feel most comfortable, and where I've won my money. I just happened to get beat by lucky looser this particular time.

This is exactly why you shouldn't be playing this level with your BR. You need to be able to get your $$ in good and tolerate the fluctuations when you get sucked out on. If I'm reading your original post correctly, if you run into 3 more lucky losers, you're busto. There are VERY good players here who have dropped many more buy-ins than that in a single session (FPaulsson recently went on a 17 BI downswing). My point is that you need to have enough cushion to take these hits and still know that as a winning player you're chances of going broke are very slim. For example, to play 500NL I'd want $15,000 BR minimum.

Come play 25$ NL with me please.