Poker Finance Help!

Option 1. You appear not to have a poker bankroll and financing it with money that is to be used to pay off debts, well that looks like you have a gambling problem. Just my humble opinion.

Option 1,pay off you debt, but leave enough in poker sites to play, you`ll probally play better knowing your debt`s are paid off, playing with debt on your mind makes for a disaster,, gl, buck

Sure someone with better knowledge will be along shortly m8.

Personally if I was guaranteed £1000 month, I'd get the debt paid off! But you're not! $1000 = £500 apx

My concern is that it is not guaranteed, it is potentially what you can earn.

Hope you make the right choice

Always pay down debt 1st if you have the chance. The following reasons are why, 1st the sooner debt is paid off the less interest you actually pay, 2nd, it increases your credit score enabling you to negotiate for better rates when applying for mortgages or other loans etc.

$1000 a month at 50NL = 20 buy-ins per month.
30 days/20 buy-ins = .66 buy-ins per day.
.66 of $50 = $33 per day.
$33 = 33 PTBB per day or 66 bb per day.

You'd need to run at 3.3 PTBB/100 hands (or 6.6 bb) over 1000 hands every day to do that. Can you swing this and keep up wth school?

You are mistaken. He is looking to use poker to finance his other debts, not the other way around.

what? I started with $100 and now have $1800 so what are you on about with a gambling problem. I could wipe out my bankroll and pay the debts off but then I will have no poker bankroll and cant progress up the limits even further to 100NL.

Think this may be the route to take

I plan earning $1500 this month which = £1000

Sorry stick but I didnt state this, I have easter off Uni so no work and can play basically the hours of a full time day job.

I have set out to play 75k hands, which means I only have to run at 2ptbb/100 in order to reach my goal of $1500. I dont think I would be able to 3.3ptb/100 at 50NL.

I plan on possibly playing 2.5k hands a day.

I would probably just ask the parents for money if your only reason is to be independent? You will have plenty of time in your life you make your own mark, no point in doing it just to do it.

That said, does your debt have any interest? I probably dont take all my money out of poker, especially if your loan is interest free unless you wont be able to play well due to scared money.

Pay off the debts, leave whatever you can for some recreational poker.
Trying to make a living with a limited bankroll and debts hovering over you is NO way to play

personally I would pay off the debt simply because you can.

OK it sets you back a little in terms of poker, but you are still relatively new to these levels so a bit more practice while you build it back up wont hurt.

The problem I see is right now you have no experience of 50NL... so hopefully the transition will be smooth but if it isn't then you could loose some of that money anyway whilst to get used to the level.

If you pay off the debt now, you know exactly where you stand. you don't have to worry if you hit a downswing and you will never look back and think 'why didn't I pay it when I had the chance'.

Obviously its going to annoy you a bit using your bankroll to pay for this as I know you have put a lot of time and effort in building it up.. but hey don't look at it as a set back.. look at it as your first real pay cheque.

Whatever you do, don't use up all your overdraft. That can really get you into trouble with exorbitant bank fees and penalties.

I think you should pay off as much of your debt as you can while still keeping enough in your poker account that you can stay at your current level ($25nl?). You will build it up soon enough to take a shot at $50nl without the added pressure. And if you don't, and have a downswing, at least you will have less debt and can reevaluate then.

So basically he has $1,200 in debts and a $1,800 bankroll.

Are you paying any interest on this dept?
When is it due? What are the payments? So you have additional living expenses that you need to take care of?

Basically, if there no interest or very low interest and can be paid off slowly and you have a level head about your bankroll, paying it off with pokers isn't a bad of an idea.

I'd make some sort of deal with myself. Maybe say that if I dip below a $1200 bankroll , I have to immediately put $800 (2/3 of your debt) to the debt and look for a part time job to pay. And that anything over $2,000 goes to pay off the debt each month. Plus if it's not paid of by a specific date I'll pay it all off via my bankroll.

Your ROI for keeping the money online has to be greater than any interest/fees/penalties you'll pay to your creditors. So I'd say that your expected ROI would have to be *significantly* greater.

yeah interest free and like 4 years left to pay it, basically when I leave Uni.

I am going to use all of the Months profits to pay it off until its paid off I dont like the feel of being in debt.

Thread may now be closed

Not a bad plan Jurn. Just don't go on a downswing imo.

Good luck with your life

I think that's a fine plan, if keeping the debt isn't going to cost you anything there is no point in paying it off right away. As long as you have some sort of backup plan if poker doesn't work out (I'm not saying it won't but anything can happen) there's no need to withdraw your bankroll.

Why even bother trying to pay it off if it is an interest free student loan? You do realise that $1200 is $25/month over 4 years? $1600 for house >1 year away shouldn't be much of a problem ($100/month).

I'd just keep everything in your poker account, withdraw whatever you need to get by month-to-month, withdraw $1600 or whatever next year, then worry about your student loan in a couple of years. Option 2 is fine as well, i just don't see the hurry to pay off a debt that is a free loan 4 years away, unless you are really concerned you might go busto in poker or sometihng.

Depends on your overall goal for poker as well. If you have no net money considering debts and assets at this stage, then i don't think you should really be going over 100nl anyways. Maybe grind nl50, play nl100 and keep your roll at 5k then withdraw excess until you are in a more comfortable situation and could consider moving up (ie. no debt, and more than $200 in the bank).

^^^ This imo!

Wow feitr's returned! Good to see you.

Jake, if the loan is interest free, there is no need to pull a big chunk of your roll out to pay it now.

IMO, you should pay off the debt steadily since it won't cost you anything to do so.

I don't think you should be in a rush to go up in limits as you could take a hit on your bankroll.

I admire your confidence to succeed and just hope for your sake that it is not misplaced.

GL to you and hope everything works out.

Yeah now that I think about it. Withdrawing a huge chunk now to pay off something that's interest free will probably harm you a lot more in moving up the limits and making more $$ than paying it off with small withdraws and gradually over a large period of time.

Just imagine it is very possible that you are at 200nl or higher in a year or even sooner and then taking 1k out of your roll doesn't hurt you all that much.

No!!

Pay off the debt now.!

This is, theoretically, good advice. He has an interest free loan and a banker's advise would be to make use of that.

However. He has the money available now.

If were to pay the loan off now, it would take only a couple of months to restore his BR, we know this because its only taken a couple of months to build it.

The problem with not taking care of the debt now is that noone can predict the future. What if something that we cannot even begin to predict changes in the next 6 months? The debt will rise and he will wish that he had paid it of whilst he had the change.

This is why I said its a good idea in theory, because in practice, the reality is virtually every ex-student I know has debts higher than they expected, a job that pays less than they were led to believe and a repayment rate that is higher than they thought the signed up to.

Why gamble.. noone here sees themselves as a gambler, but the only certainty here is that he has the money now, why gamble that he will achieve $1000 a month whilst a debt exists?

I've been deep in debt before. I'm not talking about i owed a couple hundred. I've owed 10's of thousands. Pay off the debt first!!! get free and clear. THEN build a bankroll. Watch Rounders and decide if you want to be like worm. It is hard to manage a poker bankroll and your other life budget, it is even harder as a student. You will never have a GREAT poker bankroll if you have other debts.