Time for real money!

Lets be honest here, I haven't had a lot of patience before when I've played with real money. I think I am ready to try again but I keep running into the same problem. I find myself in a bigger room looking for that big score. I'm tired of giving my money away. I am more serious than ever. I'm ready to take the next step from up and down to up steadily. So here's my question, If I start with $200 where should I be playing and when can(or should) I move up?

Any advice you can give would greatly help.

Run a search for bankroll management or "brm" I looked through the articles in CardsChat and couldn't find the right one to express its importance.

Read this by Chris Ferguson
Chris Ferguson - Lessons and Tips from Poker Pro Chris Ferguson and Other Full Tilt Pros

You have to be able to outlast the variances/swings in percentages and probabilities. Bankroll management helps considerably, find the brm that works for you and stick with it. My personal BRM is never buy in with more than 10% of my total bankroll and online if I triple up I leave and restart. Quit when I lose and play when I win.

Most players here in CC use a 5% brm strategy and it's probably smarter to go with that one, it handles the variances much better. Sticking with a good brm scheme will inform you when it's time to move up or down, if you can afford it or not .... don't deviate from your brm no matter how tempted. If your impatient take time off, impatience breeds bad playing.

Good Luck

I agree with DaMan and encourage 3-5% MAX.

NO REBUY mtt's. Too easy to get 25-40% of your BR committed. It's always tempting to go higher into buy-ins, more in = more out, but it also is all too often the reverse. You also have to pick a playing level that you are comfortable with.

'big score' comment seems to indicate you want the tooth fairy to wave the wand. Steady small 'scores' and smart play = 'big scores' overall. Takes time and patience. If you're trying to extablish a 'winning at poker' game and BR, stay away from that one 'big score' on one hand.

I apreciate your comments. I don't know why I have approached this game differently online. Sitting in a casino and then online is like night and day.

Yeah in a live casino reading players and judging a table is a whole lot easier, brm is important live as well but online it's really mandatory. Reading players online is more math based than live empathy/feeling based.

Good Luck

This thread helped me alot:

How To Avoid Going On TILT


Bankroll management is also VERY important (see the Chris Ferguson article linked above). I started playing about 5 years ago and was a decent (not great) poker player with horrible BR management skills and a tendancy to go on tilt easily.

My personal version of tilt was taking a bad beat at a lower limit and then jumping on to a higher limit to try to make up the loss. Eventually I'd find myself sitting at a table with my entire BR in front of me and playing with scared money...or worse yet, angry money. The outcome was always the same...eventually I'd bust out. Sounds like you might have been doing the same thing?

Eventually I just quit playing out of frustration and didn't play at all for about 2-3 years.

I started playing again a few months ago with a new mindset and a determination to stick with Ferguson's BR managememt recommendations. Now poker is a completely different game for me. I still take the occasional bad beat...and I still make the occasional stupid play...but I'm not losing my entire BR in the process. A losing session is a learning experience, not a bankroll busting kick in the groin that I'd just as soon forget about. As a result my poker game has improved immensely and I'm even winning on a pretty regular basis.

Sorry for the long response, but when I read your post I was thinking that it sounds like something I would have written myself awhile back. Good luck!

thanks alot toad. you were spot on. ill take some advice anytime short or long.

What sort of game do you enjoy? Tournaments or ring games?

Having a "proper" bankroll assumes that you will be sticking to a specific buy-in level. But if you're willing to move down, you can get away with less. Just be sure you have a plan and stick to it.

My table strategy:

If I were you, assuming you're on PokerStars and playing one table at a time, I'd start at the $.01/$.02 tables.

When you earn $20 move up to the $.02/$.05 tables as a reward.
Should you use up that $20 at the $.02/$.05 level, move back down to the $.01/$.02 tables.

Once you make $30 there ($250 BR) move up to $.05/$.10. Should you lose that $30, move back down. Lose an additional $20 ($200 BR) and move back down to the $.01/$.02 tables again.

Earn $50 there (bankroll at $300), try playing the $10 tables. If you lose your $50 move down.

Make $150 at the $10 tables ($450 bankroll) and try moving up to the $25 tables. However, this time if you get under $400 I'd move down.

I'm playing the $25 ring games now, and won't move up until I hit $1,000.

Of course you play tournaments as well, which makes things more complicated.
First off, use PokerTracker to keep track of your ring and tournament winnings.
Second, I'd move up and down on tables based on how much I won at the previous level regardless of how much my bankroll has increased because of tournaments. However, if your bankroll has decreased because of tournaments, do not move up until your total bankroll is at the appropriate level.

And of course, moving up and down tournaments should be based on your bankroll.

Another option might be dedicating only half of your winnings to the next level of play. That is, if you make $100 in the $1 S&G's, use up to $50 of that in the $2 S&G's. If you make $200 there, use up to $100 of that at the $3 S$G's. Etc. Then when you move back down a level, you're still ahead of where you were when you were playing it before.

the 10 and 25 dollar tables, ru talking sit and gos or what?

No. I'm referring to ring games (which is what I play a vast majority of the time).

The $.05/$.10 ring games are called the $10 tables because that's the maximum buy-in. The tables with the $.10/$.25 have a maximum buy-in of $25. The buy in for the $.25/$.50 ring games is $50, the $.50/$1 is $100, and the $1/$2 is $200, hence they are $50, $100, and $200 respectively.

The $.01/$.02 ring games allow for a $5 buy-in (instead of the normal 100 BB buy-in), so the $5 ring game could be $.01/$.02 or $.02/$0.05. Hence, I refer to those game by their blinds rather than their buy-ins to avoid confusion.

Go slow. Play tight and aggressive and don't bluff and you should do well. Be happy with a consistent, slow win rate (don't try to force big pots).
You should do well if you have the patience.