depositing your own money for poker?

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bernotas22

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does anyone here deposit regularly for online poker from there own money? or do you just play free rolls if in any case you bust? anyone here from cc have a big bankroll that they built from cc free rolls in particular? and my other question is it best not to deposit ever so essentially you can free roll your way in everything online and not risk any of your money or create bad habits? I personally have decided to now never deposit again and just use free rolls and start playing the lowest stakes to build my roll and also start withdrawing a little percentage of my roll after i get a roll going, does that sound like a good plan and what is your approach to this?
 
Akorps

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You can build up a bankroll just playing freerolls, but sometimes there are benefits to making a deposit even after you have a bankroll at a given site. Entry to special tournaments, bonus to clear, easier to withdraw later, etc.
 
trolaAa

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I have been deposited my own money and I lost and now I want to try to build a bank for a start of freerolls :)
 
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tca3rd

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I started with depositing the least amount I could, it seems to me that it takes to long to make any money just playing freerolls
 
loafes

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The only deposit I've made is $15 to 888 and that was only so I could withdraw easier. When I made that deposit I'd already built my roll up to about $60 just from the free $2 I had in my account when I signed up.

But to be honest I think for most people it would be better just to deposit a decent amount to begin with to get the bonus + other benefits and so there's no reason to screw around forever playing free rolls and the absolute micros.


I also moved about $150 of my roll on to stars if that counts as a deposit, but then that was just money I'd won playing poker. Also I was a total moron and used the free20 code instead of going for the full deposit bonus. So I think I've missed out on quite a bit of potential extra money because of poor deposit strategy.
 
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tca3rd

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The only deposit I've made is $15 to 888 and that was only so I could withdraw easier. When I made that deposit I'd already built my roll up to about $60 just from the free $2 I had in my account when I signed up.

But to be honest I think for most people it would be better just to deposit a decent amount to begin with to get the bonus + other benefits and so there's no reason to screw around forever playing free rolls and the absolute micros.


I also moved about $150 of my roll on to stars if that counts as a deposit, but then that was just money I'd won playing poker. Also I was a total moron and used the free20 code instead of going for the full deposit bonus. So I think I've missed out on quite a bit of potential extra money because of poor deposit strategy.
I agree with you on not paying attention to the deposit bonuses you can get
 
ccocco

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the plan is very good, it is achieved there is a long way ... particularly this year I deposited $ 20 and with that, I kept until now, I've lost everything and I recovered with freerolls and tournaments with real money vpp. I now have a bankroll of 50 more or less but not to take money from the account. is not easy to live poker, thinking that only 4 or 5% of the players in the world live poker .. not difficult?!
 
rifflemao

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I deposited $300 on Bovada in June, and $100 on ACR recently. Have managed to not go bust in part due to rakeback-related freerolls ($460 won).

In 2012 though, I went bust for around $400 on Juicy due to really bad brm- gambling\floundering in $33 SnGs before I had a clue how to play. I don't recommend it.

I think there is some merit to building a bankroll from scratch, but I've had a positive experience on Bovada by depositing, playing freerolls and MTTs, and studying hand histories. I'm going to try to build a bankroll from $0 on Carbon though as a side project.

If you can't trust yourself with brm, freerolls may be the way to go, but you miss out on other benefits by not depositing.
 
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bernotas22

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I think the idea that it is very hard to build a solid starting bankroll with just free rolls is not true because just look at all the great free rolls and knowledge that are offered here at cards chat! I have won amounts here on CC monthly that would give me enough to play micro stakes and grind up a roll as well as even withdraw a couple extra bucks without hurting my roll too much! I think this way of thinking is great for those who still are not good enough to grind out of the micros the right way, and this is why I think depositing a couple hundred just to play higher limits and move up faster is a bad idea since you aren't getting better just skipping the micros!
 
Arjonius

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While it's easy to justify building a BR from freerolls, how good or bad an idea this is depends on the person.

The viability of depositing to play higher than the entry level is related to the player's ability level. I'm not suggesting that a complete newb should start above the lowest level. What I am saying is that I have no real issue with a fairly new player who finds this level easy depositing to move up a level instead of grinding out enough buyins to make the same move, especially if the person has already taken one or more shots at the level he's moving to and has determined that he can handle it.
 
radman

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Building a br from zero can be a pia but you have deposited and busted. So trying to rebuild from fr's is the way to go at this point. You have a better advantage(over others) being a member of CC the fr's and cash added games are the best private games online. So I say with complete confidence that yes you can rebuild. Making a dep later for a special event or ease of cash outs. I don't believe bonuses are a reason to dep.
(myself I am shooting to become a more active member here so I too can take advantage of the great games here)
 
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bernotas22

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Building a br from zero can be a pia but you have deposited and busted. So trying to rebuild from fr's is the way to go at this point. You have a better advantage(over others) being a member of CC the fr's and cash added games are the best private games online. So I say with complete confidence that yes you can rebuild. Making a dep later for a special event or ease of cash outs. I don't believe bonuses are a reason to dep.
(myself I am shooting to become a more active member here so I too can take advantage of the great games here)

yes good luck here at cards chat I agree with what you say that since I have failed with deposits I need to free roll my way up now, not so bad actually cause I can play stress free and learn along the way, as well as withdraw some small amounts for myself every once in a while since I am not in a rush to build a monster bankroll
 
kidkvno1

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All of my BRs are built from FR's. The BR i had on stars, was built form FR on stars, and the rest are from CCs FR's.
 
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bernotas22

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All of my BRs are built from FR's. The BR i had on stars, was built form FR on stars, and the rest are from CCs FR's.

did you build a substantial roll on stars or major sites doing this? I have also heard annette obrestad who is a pretty big winner in poker built her roll up to some serious money from free rolling and she never had to deposit after that so I respect a player like her very much for that and also her live results are just top notch
 
WEC

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I am sure several players at CC has built a meaningful BR without making a deposit and it can give one hope. Myself, since 2001 I have only made two deposits (both in 2010). BUT, it is a very small minority that can get this job done. My experience is, You have to have extreme patience, not be prone to tilting, and be more on the nitty side of playing. I think most who have done it have also been experienced good players.

While I distain sending money to these online sites, I would probably recommend most to study, learn the game, deposit, and move up slowly.

Best of luck to everyone no matter the method they choose.
 
psychotie

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I deposit every month around 10 to 20 $ on FTP. If I win I cash out to netteller all money over 10 $ . I stay on mikro games , though I lost nearly 10k in the early 2000th years . Its better for me to start with a new BR every month than too lose my winnings on higher stakes. I know that I have no control of myself .If I have the money in my BR I will spend it. Just call me addicted lol
Gl on and off the felts
 
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hrix

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Never deposited and I only play freerolls, I will try to make very big bankroll in 2014 from freerolls (Cardschat, PokerOwned, some Baltic tournaments etc.).
Will make deposit only to be able to withdraw money.
 
Arjonius

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I deposit every month around 10 to 20 $ on FTP. If I win I cash out to netteller all money over 10 $ . I stay on mikro games , though I lost nearly 10k in the early 2000th years . Its better for me to start with a new BR every month than too lose my winnings on higher stakes. I know that I have no control of myself .If I have the money in my BR I will spend it. Just call me addicted lol
Gl on and off the felts
Your post points toward an important point. The key reason for BRM is to establish some form of guideline that works for you within the way you play poker. It isn't to stick to an arbitrary minimum number of 20, 30 or X buyins. Although this does happen to work for me and many others, it's not the only way.
 
Arjonius

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did you build a substantial roll on stars or major sites doing this? I have also heard annette obrestad who is a pretty big winner in poker built her roll up to some serious money from free rolling and she never had to deposit after that so I respect a player like her very much for that and also her live results are just top notch
Annette Obrestad as 15 when she started playing online (thus her nick annette15). She started off freerolling because she had no way to deposit, not because she thought it was better.
 
Arjonius

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I am sure several players at CC has built a meaningful BR without making a deposit and it can give one hope. Myself, since 2001 I have only made two deposits (both in 2010). BUT, it is a very small minority that can get this job done. My experience is, You have to have extreme patience, not be prone to tilting, and be more on the nitty side of playing. I think most who have done it have also been experienced good players.

While I distain sending money to these online sites, I would probably recommend most to study, learn the game, deposit, and move up slowly.

Best of luck to everyone no matter the method they choose.
I gave myself a $150 BR when I started. But I won $150 in a freeroll almost immediately, and never used a cent of the original $150. So, both my current BR and all the money I've permanently cashed out to use for non-poker purposes over the years started with freeroll money.

But that was back in the poker boom years when freerolls were far more abundant, both private and open ones, plus it was common to find at least a few each month with prize pools of $500, $1000 or more. And small fields. The $150 win above was from coming second in a field of less than 200.

So, even for a newbie, it was realistic to average winning $100 to $300 per month depending on volume of play. This meant you could build up a pretty decent BR while learning - and after you became halfway decent, you could just continue freerolling and expect to win even more per month.

Obviously, it's not like this any more, which is the main reason I am now more in favor of depositing. There's a lot less EV in freerolling now, plus compared to how much even a small winner will win over his entire poker "career", losing a few small deposits at the beginning is basically meaningless.

As a caveat, I do admonish anyone not to play with money you can't afford to lose.

Otoh, I think quite a few people rationalize their fear of losing a few bucks by saying they can't afford it. I came up with my original $150 deposit by promising myself to decrease my weekly spending on coffees, snacks and other incidentals. by $3 a week. All it took to give myself a $150 BR was a tiny sacrifice. Easy peasy.
 
crusinnn

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I deposited a lot of money in the past and I'm still doing so but now I think I have a better grasp at bankroll management. I find that playing freeroll is a good way to learn the game and test your skills ,also it's free and fun but it calls for patience to build a bankroll. I usually deposit about 10 and start at .50 s&g 360p and build up a bankroll to about 50 then cash out and start all over again ,some times it's even better when I win a few bucks from freeroll , I start to build from that .
 
nc_royals

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Im not patient enough to build from freerolls. I deposit $50 or so and Ive hit a few good scores so havent had to deposit in quite a while. One key is when cashing out to give yourself enough to continue playing and go through some downswings.
 
IPlay

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If you have a job, just deposit $20 and play micros
 
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PresidentWu

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I think really depositing between $10 and $20 is fine. Then use a system to withdraw.

Example

Level 1
Finish @ $22
Cashout $10 keep $12 (need to make $12)

No matter what you break even. The $12 kept is to show you at least you are building from a higher level.

Level 2
Finish @28
Cashout $10 keep $18 (need to make $16)

Now you have made $10 and you have built your bankroll

Level 3
Finish @35
Cashout $15 keep $20

Bankroll still moves up but you are also getting paid.

Then again just keep moving up or just keep cashing.

I think what could work well for me is start with $30 and when I break $40 cash $10 and keep doing that.

The key really is BREAK even first. Then build abit and pay yourself abit and then your set.
 
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Tiltt2424

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free rolls are an excellent way to build your BR up but depositing has a lot of advantages. Most sites offer a first time deposit bonus and will double the money you put in. The withdraw rates are a lot quicker when you make deposits as well.
 
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