bad bankroll mgmt - please help

i have been playing online for 4-5 years and the highest my bankroll has been is around $100.00. i seem to always go broke.

last week i did win $75.00 on bodog in the $500 freeroll (30 pt buyin) i cam in 2nd. over the past week i have gone up and down from 75 to 85 back to 75 and now i have a little over $81.00.

can some people please give me some suggestions on the best ways to increase my bankroll?

i played in the $2 +.20 beginner sit and go yesterday and won $6 but i usually play and sit down with 5% of my bankroll about $4 at the .05/.10 nl and then get up when i get to $8 or when i lose it.

any other suggestions or other help?

thank you in advance,

seth

You're playing the right stakes to protect your BR from bad luck, probably just need to work on your game. An average poker player is losing to the rake, so to turn a profit...(edit: you should be playing 5nl with $100, I just saw 5%, buying in short doesn't mean you can play higher stakes. What's usually recommended is buying in full [100bb] where you have odds to setmine or less popular, play the true shortstack ~20bbs)

You've made a good first step by joining Cardschat We have some poker articles at the top of the page, and there's alot to learn from reading posts by some of our better players in hand analysis.

Is .05/.10 the smallest stakes on Bodog? If they have smaller games, I'd suggest playing those so you can play with 100bb+.

Currently, with a 40bb buy-in, you have to make sure you're employing a profitable short-stack strategy, and be aware that's different from how you would play with 100+bb, which is what a lot of strategy info you'll find is based around.

If you like tournaments, cheap 9 person S&G's are a good way to build up the bankroll, and personally, heads up S&G's are the best. You can play more of them an hour, and I have a better ROI too.

Good luck with getting that bankroll up.

thank you for your reply. i appreciate it. unfortunately that is the lowest stakes that bodog has. i have managed to grind my bankroll up to over $110.00 but i am still going up and down every day. i was as high as $125.00 but i will try the sit and go's and see what happens. they have a $2 + .20 one that i have one 3x but i finished (stupidly) out of the money 3-4 other times. any other advice? i thought about just withdrawing the money from bodog and putting it in at full tilt or somewhere else? what do you think and thanks again.

seth

i would suggest 2k big blinds for a ring game. so you would need $200 to afford one buyin for .05/.10 or $10nl. so w/$100 you could only afford a $5 buyin and i wouldnt buyin for less than the max allowed. so your only rolled for .02/.05 but its too bad its not offered. as for MTTs $100 would allow for a total buyin(w/rake inc.) of $2. so if i were you i would look for a STT(SNG) for under $5. stick with those until you can afford something else. as for buying in for $4 and leaving at $8 why would you cap your win at all. i do get up if i got 10% of my roll at one table but then i find another.

if you do change sites SIGNUP THOUGH A RAKEBACK SITE. you get a 27% back from tilt and 30% back at stars. only if you signup though the rakeback site not if you signup at fulltilt or pokerstars directly.

Hello Seth, I have the same problem or should I say I had.
What I found out was the reason I was suffering such swings was a lack of discipline and patience, I had started to get bored with the limits I played and started moving up in limits too soon just to experiment(Or so I told myself)or would start changing my style of play to force the action which would almost always end badly.
The reason I found I did this was to try and make a quick buck and soon realized that this type of play was a mistake and have not gone back to this type of playing again.

As for the games to play, play the micro-limit SnGs and shut the comp down when you start getting bored with the games.

With whatever path you choose grasshopper, remember that patience and discipline walk the path together.

With small bankrolls (yes, I consider $100 to be small), I tend not to put too much weight on what level you play at. This does NOT mean I'd put all of it in play on a single table, but I also wouldn't be too concerned about having 20 (or whatever guideline number you want to use) of buyins.

The reason for this is simple. We're only talking about $100 or less. Losing it isn't likely to have any significant impact on your life. And even if you do lose it all, it's just not that hard to replace. All it takes is a half-decent game and the self-discipline to do some grinding.

Given that you've been playing for 4-5 years and never gotten above $100, I can't help but wonder if you need to work on one or both of those things. Proper bankroll management is important, but you still have to win money in order to manage it.

You are on the right track, My suggestion is this.

Set a specific amount of hands to create a session.

It will allow you to have swings, ensuring you stick to the 5%

Also set specific time limit between sessions, win the session or loose

the session this will alow you to control your money over a much larger time.

Keep this in mind.

You are not banked to be a marathon player. YET!!!!!!!!!!

If you withdraw your money you should put $25 in pokerstar and $25 on FTP, and keep $75+ for yourself. In the last week I've turned $0-$20, I one a freeroll on pokerstars for $1 and now have a $20 BR. I think your doing a great job in BR management, you might just have to work on your game a bit more or your just getting unlucky (bad beats, bad moves). Well I wish you luck in whatever you do w/ your money, hopefully your luck changes.

Thinking about it, if you do decide to withdraw the money deposit $50 to pokerstars and get $50 free. You will start w/ a $100 BR and keep over $75 for yourself, i'm not sure what the code is to get the extra $50 but I think its stars50 or something like that. Go to few pokersites and find out what the code is, BEST OF LUCK.

Make sure you have at least 20 (full) buy ins for NL games and 300 big blinds+ for limit games. Be prepared to move down if you hit a rough patch. Stop if you are on tilt as it will crush you. Make sure you have rakeback and take advantage of deposit/reload bonuses.

Are you chasing hands?, if you are you need to stop... That will kill your BR fast.....

Increasing ur BR is relative and how good u are at the game.
In hindsight, i should have taken this approach.

I should have kept pushing upto the higher limits asap. Forget this 5% rule lol. As aslong as u can beat the lowest level u can never go broke. So once i hit $100(a nice safe amount) i shoudl have built upto $200 and took 4 buyins up at $25nl. If i lose 4buyins across 4tables, then i move back to 10nl and go for 25nl again. If i win 4buyins for 50nl, i hit 50nl asap. Taht way ur playing better players and always looking to move up.

See i'm only half the player i should be. I would have learnt alot from losing at 25nl and i'm going to experiment with this at full tilt and open at account 2nite. Go busto, but i can always reload. I'll start at 10nl see ya the tables.

Chris Furgeson has a great money management article on FTP. Its simple, basic, and sound. Check it out.

It's not hard, to start at a low level. I have been building a BR on PS, i started with 4.00 bucks.. I have been playing sit&gos, and doing good.