Starting Bankroll and Losing It

[vinnie]

Well I am already profiting at present but that is only recent and took a lot of practise to get a rigid set of optimal moves and to prevent me thinking of short term result justification.

Actually never mind, I assume this will be replied to with sardonic things too.

Man, if you only knew how much I want you to succeed and become a good player. You are getting a lot of flack because most of us went through the same phase, where our egos far exceeded our abilities.

It is clear, from some of your advice, that you aren't as great as you currently think you are. You can get there. I believe you can, but it is going to take some work and starts with being aware of your current limitations and ability.

 

[Outlawluck]

Well I can't speak for anyone but myself. But I know with me, I'll never quit poker. It's in my blood. I may go 6 months or a year without playing, but there will never be a day where I wake up and go "the last poker session I had will be the last game I ever play" it's just not going to happen.

That being said I have been a notorious fish, losing somewhere between 30k and 50k over the course of the last 7 or 8 years of playing poker. (Much of this can be explained by a complete disregard for bankroll management, as well as very bad play. I believe I'm just now getting to the point of being a decent pkayer)

I've only ever managed to work up a proper bankroll once. Sure I've ran $100 or $200 up to $700 or $800 or even $1000 or $1200 before (doing that right now actually, turned $115 into just over $700 in 3 days, again with no BRM) but only once did I actually build what would be a proper bankroll.

It was back in late 2010/early 2011, I turned $100 or $200 into just over $4400 over the course of 2 or 3 weeks grinding 1/2Nl. I thought I had turned a corner, and I'd never go broke again. Oh how wrong I was. After peaking at $4400 I feel back a bit and coasted for a week or so, before watching my bankroll start dripping away day after day. Finally, after 3 or so weeks of losing I found myself down to my last $1200, I should have moved down in stakes, in fact I should have moved down it stakes much esrlier, but I didn't. It only took me 3 hours to lose that last $1200.

I've vowed to myself if I could ever build a bankroll like they again I would practice BRM and never let that happen again. So far that's never happened, but in really determined for this time to be the time.

I don't think you should ever quit playing poker unless you just don't love the game anymore.

 

[discintildeath]

Bankroll issues

I think most people struggle with bankroll issues, mostly because no one is there telling you how to do things. You can swim in deep water with sharks and get your leg bitten off very easily. There's no protector for you because poker is built upon being responsible to yourself. Like other people have said you need to lower your limits when you begin to lose many times in a row. Also stopping to evaluate where you may be playing differently that is causing you to lose suddenly is critical as well.

Poker is a double edged sword. It is very easy to say I'm going to throw my last 100 BB to the highest limit possible to get back a loss but in the end you will end up a loser with no money! Keep that in mind.

 

[C3H6S]

u must managment bankroll....20 or buyins in your bankroll for the tourney that u play

 

[MountHollyDK]

New poster here. Been playing for 20+ years (even though I'm only 36). I've always been no worse than a break even player and have had many more profitable years than negative ones, but still, I find myself learning more about poker on an almost daily basis.

One thing to keep in mind about bankroll management is that you're only broke if you're BROKE. If you have a job and your bills paid then your bankroll isn't $200 in your online account, $500 in your wallet or $6000 hidden under your bed. Your bankroll is whatever you can afford to lose or play with without it negatively effecting your life. Personally my "bankroll" is never more than a few hundred bucks because I know my actual bankroll is significantly more than that.

This week I've grinded out a $600 profit in 9 hours across 3 days in my local casino playing 1/2 NL after putting in a full day's work at my normal job. Since I only bring $400 to the casino, $200 for my buy in and a $200 parachute, my "bankroll" is always extremely short for the games I play but only because I know that if it ever came to it my real life bankroll could sustain me.

So yeah, if you lost the $6000 but you have $50k saved up, no big deal. But if you lost the $6000 and your checking account is empty it's a huge deal. These are the true implications of bankroll management.

 

[vov4ik]

I used to raise my bankroll many times and lose at big bets, now if I raise my bankroll I play very carefully or play small bets and not expensive tournaments

 

[Syltan]

If you have a decent job, not someone who does not interfere with trying to play 1 hour a day to build a bankroll without deposits.

 

[darthdimsky]

Please correct me if I'm wrong but since some of us are facing BRM issues when we play cash, myself included, wouldn't it be wise to set a higher threshold before going up stakes, as a form is rigid self discipline? For e.g 80-100x instead of 40x?

Especially useful for those of us that rely on poker for a significant proportion of our income yes?

 

[1noname1]

I always play without sticking to the bankroll (if there is free money and time), I can play and play.

 

[Serjo600]

Usually I playing on pokerstars, and sometimes be up, my element the limit games. More money loose if grind 12-14 in a day. And given the fact that I focused only razz.

 

[Fastone2]

Yes, we need a bank roll. I got mine from playing a free roll. Won $5.00.... Been playing ever since.....
If I were you, I would keep my job. You seem to lack the positive mind set to deal with lots of poker, in my opinion.
If your positive from experience, you will know the answers to your questions.
See ya, at the tables. Good luck....

 

[yurok42]

But, some professionals believe that more than 20 buyins are needed! In the best case, start with 25 buyins, they say!

 

[Kiddk88]

I've recently been considering a move to full time poker. I think you need to start with a bigger bankroll to get a better sample size.

 

[mbrenneman0]

Ok so most people know that starting out in poker you need a bankroll. General rule is to start with at least 20 buy ins. So at a live 1/3 game with a max buy in of 300 you would want to start out with a roll of 6000. Now the real question. Say you save that roll and start playing and lose it all that year.

DO YOU START OVER AND KEEP PLAYING OR DO YOU CALL IT QUITS FOREVER?


Me personally I been playing since I was 16 years old. I'm now 30. I always played for fun and always played better than my friends. I took it serious for a while and was making a living off of it, but then I had a son so I chose to go on to a more reliable source of income. I've always considered myself a above average player. I noticed that the game has gotten a lot tougher and was just wondering what everyone's thoughts where on my question above.

Also I do know that some big name pros have went broke more than once, but do any really grind it out all day or did they get ahead like they are because of a few HUGE tournament wins?

Ok guys I'm getting carried away with this topic. Thanks for reading and please respond. Thank you 😜

I always recommend people to start online because the cost of learning is much much much cheaper. 1 buyin at 1/3 is 3 bankrolls at .02/.05 also the competition is harder online so when you do transition youll absolutely dominate the lowest stakes live.

im pretty sure most players lose their first bankroll. i consider it the cost of learning.

 

[cardshark777]

These guys are noobs to poker. If you want to play poker for a living you only play a fixed amount .005% of your entire bankroll. Thats it. You don't play anymore then that. You don't rebuy and reload into games= you will have huge downswings and cause tilt. And when you tilt you can break stuff, move up in stakes, not get sleep etc. And thats what will end your poker career is big swings which= tilt. That is what you want to avoid so you can deal with the adversity. The reality of poker is your going to lose a TON. all these guy who think they are pros are great at poker are not. Poker is 90% luck and about 10% skill.

People get delusional thinking they can study and just out play everyone ( its delusional thought process by noobs who haven't had a real bad downswing yet). A lot of them win a little and run off the tables and that doesn't work either cause when they lose they will lose more then they win. Your always 1 card away from losing. I probably get bad beat about 10-30 times a day in big pots and a lot of them i lose to runner runner or 2 or 3 outter. Its non stop every day. But I play every day and grind around 200 hrs a month. So the reality is your going to run very bad in poker. It doesn't matter how well you play lots of things are going to go wrong. You have to embrace that part of it and realize its a game of luck. This is not chess. Your 1 card away from losing doing everything right. And it happens all the time loss after loss after loss. And then they stupid stuff like study or get poker training site membership and they think it will change the variance. I been through it all waste of time and money.


All you have to do is watch these guys who made millions at poker play. They are not that good. They make the same mistakes everyone else does, but fan boys are like zombies they think every play these guys do is wonderful and perfect. They binked a few tournies and got a stamp poker pro on their forehead so they get big ego they are the best and then they lose and start poker training sites ( galfond, ivey, polk etc) they realize its game of luck and can make more off poker subscriptions. I seen daniel negreanu, hellmuth, ivey ( right now heavy down swing says he felt like he hasn't won 1 hand in the last month), dwan( went broke), isildur ( went broke), doug polk ( half million down swing in cash 2012-2017) 5 years of losing at cash. And these are supposedly great players. Well people think they are because in the past they won and I am talking about like 2 week downswing they lose for years. So the key is to realize your going to lose. Its a game of mostly luck with a little bit of skill and to protect your bankroll from heavy downswings. This is the reality of poker coming from someone that has grinded poker for over 10 years now live and online and I am one of the few of all my friends who did poker for a living to last. Most of them didn't. Trying to play 3-5% of their bankroll and reloading into mtts or cash games day after day of losing for weeks and next thing they know they lost half their bankroll and the hard part is trying to win all that money they lost back. It might take them rest of the year to get back even and instead move up in stakes to try win it back in a few days. Or they quit and get a job.

And on top of this being a game of luck you have to deal with cheating. A ton of collusion, bots, sites have been caught super users, they can definitely manipulate the rng if they want they own the alogrithm, etc etc etc. A lot more cheating going on then you guys think. Scotty Nguyen quit cause he said its everywhere now your lucky if you can sit a game with no cheating involved. So Gl grinding poker for a living. I do it but its not easy and this is the truth. don't let these a holes fool you into thinking its a game of skill and you got rotten luck and swing through it and that your skill willl trump luck any day. Not in poker. Your gonna have to take up chess for a living if you want to beat people with actual skill.