Hello all,

I have been playing poker for a very long time, since I was 14 actually. I was always in the pool halls as a kid and noticed a free poker league in the local pool hall. I started dealing for them cause I thought it was neat you could make money doing something so fun. From there I started playing mostly free to start but being from an already heavy leaned towards gambling atmosphere in the pool world it did not take long for me to get into cash games.

Eventually I was old enough to play at casino's and it got worse from there. I was a losing Reg at the local casino but just thought it was bad luck and variance when actually I just didn't know how to quit. I got really involved in the game and wanted to know everything about it, but I feel like I haven't taken the appropriate steps to actually try and be profitable.

For the most part I would use my job to bankroll me too play in WAY to high of stakes and lose tens of thousands of dollars every year. I also continued to deal for most of my life as another side income. Downfall to that though is that the majority of that money from dealing was sent down the rabbit hole of my bad gambling habits. I understand the game well and have studied the game relentlessly. I just seem to lack the capability of using strict bankroll management.

I have recently decided that I want to commit and become a profitable player and not just recreational "fun" player. I am starting with $100.00 on ACR and plan to try and follow strict bankroll management. Any thoughts, advice, tips, and information that you think is valuable to me will be greatly appreciated.

Don't put more than 10% of your bankroll at risk, some say it should be more like 1%, I think that would depend on comfort level. But to be honest, I think you may just have a gambling addiction issue but that is just based on very little info. Wish you the best

That is 100% what I have, that being said.. I still would like to think that I have some level of self control and can stick to bankroll management. I feel like if I use BRM it can help with my addiction. I'll admit I get bored at low stakes, and feel like, why am I grinding to win 3$ when I can literally move up stakes and make that in one hand. I have learned though doing that, that no matter how much I move up I will still have that feeling that it isn't enough. Even when I was playing 1000 NL and winning 3K it was still the thought, well I could be playing 10,000 NL or 50,000 NL. and win actual life changing money. So it's not the money, I feel like the money will come when I am profitable. I am trying to establish something deeper than that. I want to prove to myself that I can follow bankroll management and move up stakes the correct way, and actually be profitable rather than just throw money at big games.

If cashgames: try to keep 20 BI and move down if you drop below that. Move up once you hit 50 BI

If tournaments: Don't buy in to anything with more than 2% of your bankroll

If you want to actually learn to be a profitable player in the long run, you have to detach yourself from how much money you are playing for at the table.

Even if you are playing a $3 game, treat it exactly the same as if you were playing for much larger stakes. Try and make the best decision you can in every situation available to you.

With $100 you will probably only be playing $2NL or $5NL. You should stick to these stakes until you at least DOUBLE or TRIPLE your bankroll. Then you can start taking some small shots at $10NL and see what happens. Track your results religiously.

Do not go on a 1 session heater of 5 buy ins and decide that its time deposit your whole pay check and play one bullet of $1kNL.

If you can grind up a bankroll purely from this $100 deposit with solid bankroll management strategies you can prove to yourself you are a profitable player.

I completely agree. "Even if you are playing a $3 game, treat it exactly the same as if you were playing for much larger stakes. Try and make the best decision you can in every situation available to you." I try this, it seems to just be a mental thing. I have been playing 2 NL and will continue to do so until bankroll reaches 500. I use Jivaro as a HUD but it doesn't keep hands and graphs which is slightly annoying. Any suggestions on a new HUD or if I can escape it without investing a few hundred dollars other ways of tracking hands. I have already used the trial membership on holdem manager, poker tracker, and poker co-pilot.

How much time do you spend on learning poker theory and reviewing your old hands compared to how much time do you spend on playing?

Try think of your bankroll in terms of buy-in. This will make it easier to stick to bankroll management.

I study slightly more than I play

Be patient and disciplined. I wish you good luck.

I appreciate it!

I have to admit i have the exact same problem. I start out playing the .01/.02 and then get sick of it after a while and jump straight to $1/$2. I've literally taken $5, jumped to $200 and then dropped to completely busted all in a single night because once I win enough to move up I desperately want to do so. I have personally not found a good way to overcome this, but I did once have an idea that is kind of fun in itself (though frustrating enough for me that I drop it and jump to the high stakes anyway after a few hours).

1. You start the session buying into the lowest possible stakes.
2. When you win enough to buy into the next level up, you are allowed to do so, but only with the money you won from the initial buy-in.
3. Each time you win enough to move up you are allowed to do so until you bust out.
4. If you bust out, you have to go back down to the first level and start all over again.

The starting all over again is the thing that gets me. After busting a few times (only losing $2 for hours and hours of play btw) I get sick of the low stakes and give in to the urges once again. But I will say it is a fun system and being able to move up relatively quickly is rewarding in itself. Give it a try and let me know if it works out for you. Maybe yhou can overcome the urges I can't seem to.

Originally Posted by JonathanAReth

I have to admit i have the exact same problem. I start out playing the .01/.02 and then get sick of it after a while and jump straight to $1/$2. I've literally taken $5, jumped to $200 and then dropped to completely busted all in a single night because once I win enough to move up I desperately want to do so. I have personally not found a good way to overcome this, but I did once have an idea that is kind of fun in itself (though frustrating enough for me that I drop it and jump to the high stakes anyway after a few hours).

1. You start the session buying into the lowest possible stakes.
2. When you win enough to buy into the next level up, you are allowed to do so, but only with the money you won from the initial buy-in.
3. Each time you win enough to move up you are allowed to do so until you bust out.
4. If you bust out, you have to go back down to the first level and start all over again.

The starting all over again is the thing that gets me. After busting a few times (only losing $2 for hours and hours of play btw) I get sick of the low stakes and give in to the urges once again. But I will say it is a fun system and being able to move up relatively quickly is rewarding in itself. Give it a try and let me know if it works out for you. Maybe yhou can overcome the urges I can't seem to.

Man I FEEL you. I put $50.00 on my account 4 days ago and I have followed strict BRM. I'll admit it was hard, especially after I won 3 buy ins multiple times. I was like if I was playing 1/2 I'd be up $1200.00 instead of $12.00. Not to mention watching the twitch streams while I play and the guys I am watching playing the MOSS events and the buy ins are out of my bankroll. but I finished the four days having $61.00 on my account where as before I would be re-depositing, so I guess this BRM is doing something lol. Your game sounds fun, but honestly I wouldn't stick to it, I know me. So I'm just going to stick with being strict and following BRM on this deposit and in a couple years I'll be playing normal people stakes hahaha

Originally Posted by MemphisGrind

Man I FEEL you. I put $50.00 on my account 4 days ago and I have followed strict BRM. I'll admit it was hard, especially after I won 3 buy ins multiple times. I was like if I was playing 1/2 I'd be up $1200.00 instead of $12.00. Not to mention watching the twitch streams while I play and the guys I am watching playing the MOSS events and the buy ins are out of my bankroll. but I finished the four days having $61.00 on my account where as before I would be re-depositing, so I guess this BRM is doing something lol. Your game sounds fun, but honestly I wouldn't stick to it, I know me. So I'm just going to stick with being strict and following BRM on this deposit and in a couple years I'll be playing normal people stakes hahaha

Well, I don't know if it helps but I'd look at your situation from another perspective:

Gambling addiction is no psychological problem, it's a physical one. Certain parts of the addicts brain react to events that are called "near miss".

While your BRM experiment is kinda cool, it doesn't tackle the problem.
So if I was in your shoes, I'd google "gambling addiction near miss" and read up on this stuff. Really interesting and somehow it affects everyone of us (meaning the guys who are into games where chance plays a role).

Thing is, you need to understand WHY you're not satisfied when you win at small stakes and WHY you want to put everything on the line over and over again. I wouldn't say I have a gambling addiction, but I definitely have tendencies....and always loved longshots.

Studying this behavioral pattern helped me to chance my motivation from making money to getting better at the game and finally I'm moving up stakes.

So perhaps you try it, too. For me it was an eye opener and I'm much less stressed out when I run into coolers or have a loosing session.