I play online poker for that one BIG cash

Is this ok? All of my bankroll comes from freerolls, then I risk most of that trying to win big. I know that most of the time I will lose most of my $, but making back $5 from freerolls isn't that hard.

Do I lose respect because of this? I just want to see $10,000 sitting in my balance one time, lol.

Am I foolish? Will I never get that BIG cash?

Maybe this is because I'm only 18.

Hey, you're young and have a dream! I say go for it and don't worry about what others say.

Most critical is that at your age, I think the person you should be asking these questions of is yourself. Sounds to me like a part of you is ambilvalent about this goal. Once you come to terms with that you can soar.

Who knows if you will make the BIG cash--you won't know unless you try. And who knows, after a couple of months or a year your goals might change radically, and that's OK.

Good luck!

If this is the way you want to play, then go for it. It's basically akin to gambling/thrillseeking though, and won't likely develop your poker skills past a certain point. Just as long as you are aware of this and are fine with it, and are also aware that the odds of making a huge cash in this manner are pretty slim, then just go for it and have fun.

A problem comes though if you do eventually make your big cash. So you'll have $10,000 in your account, and the only experience you have is by being a master of freerolls and a handful of MTT. What will you do with your newly acquired bankroll? If you start playing higher stakes then what your skill and experience dictates, you will likely end up losing ALL of it for naught. If you just withdraw it from your account and use it for your life then it may be worthwhile. But really, once you start working, you will realize that $10,000 is nice to have, but in the grand scheme of things is really not that much money.

What happens when you work your way up the ladder stakes with appropriate BRM is that you gain a ton of experience along the way, which then makes you fit to compete and have a higher probability of winning when the stakes really are significant to your personal finances.

As you are only 18 and likely have never worked a full-time job, let me tell you that $10,000 is nice, but if money is the only thing you want out of it there are easier ways to get it (like getting a good job). If you can make something like 50-60k a year, as a bachelor with little responsibility, you can probably afford at least 5-10k a year as completely expendable income.

I think this kind of belies an important aspect of poker though -- poker is a game that we play for different reasons. Some of us play for the fun of competition. Some play just to gamble and thrill seek. Some play as a hobby and for side income. Some play for a living. Playing for each of these reasons has benefits and detractors, and really there's no ONE way to play that is right for everyone.

Parley Poker Babby. Try the freerolls for free entries to big tourneys. When you do make a score keep hitting the qualifiers. You may never cash but maybe you can. Its free its fun and you can allways become a grinder. How many 22 year old pros are grinders? Just dont take it seriously and if you do hit dont quit your day job or school.

Fly at 'er if you really want to continue to play in freerolls!!!
Personally I have a couple of accounts that have too small of bankroll in them & can't f'n stand playing in any micro bs... cuz it's lame & it's f'n boring as hell. Can't imagine playin' freerolls & then bonkin' it off on one buyin. (meaning, I think the micro bs. would at least be better to play in then more freerolls).
Why not just grind it up instead?
I've seen some players who win big.. but it's 'never enough'.. they continue to throw all BRM principles out the window & are always goin' for the 'bigger cash'. Those are the players who are feeding the acc'ts. of the others who are grinding imo.
GL on the 'big one'. It happens obv. Check out most of those Rush Micro Rebuy MTT's.... look at the players on the final tables of them & you'll see 75%+ of them are HORRIBLE players.. & binking for a decent score.

If you really do want to go after a big score with your freeroll cashes.... I'd play some micro rebuys where prizepools are alot bigger.