how much should my bankroll be?

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indahood193

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okay, this is my first thread on this so hopefully it goes not too shabbily haha. i have played poker for just under a year, i like to think i can be quite good when i am thinking clearly etc. i play at pokerstars and i used to just play cash games as well as sng's but in the past month i started to play tournaments and had some decent results. i usually play 1, 2 or 3 dollar buy ins and anything higher i usually satellite to. i have played in two 27 dollar tourny's in the past week that i did that for like 1 or 2 dollars. i done okay but seeing as they aren't turbo, which is what i am good at, i struggled a bit at the step up and playing a touch scared poker.
anyway sorry for the long intro basically a couple of weeks ago i had zero in my account but had been doing quite well at the casino and winning there after night's out. i used fpp's to enter a satellite and got into the Sunday Storm. cashed for $38 and fluctuated between $50 and $10 until i finally started playing really well and cashed in quite a few tourny's in the day including a $213 for coming 4th/ just under 1,000 in a rebuy tourny. so i got $0 up to $250 then withdrew $200. the next day i just didn't cash in anything and then went back to cash table and couldn't get anything going and lost that. i then put in just over $30 to play in tourny's again and was staying just below it until i got bored and decided to buy in with my last $15 to a heads up. i lost with AK against 10's going all in pre. i then preceeded to promptly put in another $33 and split it over 2 tables. my friend came round and i was put off and tilted it away- i know it's not rakes but annoyed me as i managed to build up from much less.
anyway basically my question is what kind of bankroll should i have to play 1, 2 and 3 dollar buy in tourny's? should i avoid all heads up as i can sometimes tilt unless i have a massive cash and boost bankroll? should i also avoid cash games and concentrate on tourny's? and is my strategy correct of using satellites as a means to aim at higher stakes? cheers.
also, after a very good upswing where i made money for Xmas presents etc. i haven't been winning as much online or at homegames etc. think i might be on a bit of a downswing? how can i stop this and get confidence back? cheers for reading this haha but i love poker and will answer others too!!
 
ovitoo

ovitoo

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Congrats on your success so far :icon_thum

Was a little tough to read but I think I got in most of it. A little help to you(imo of course):

Bankroll
I would suggest checking out some info on BRM (bankroll management). Strict brm for mtt's would have you at 100bi/stake. Meaning 1$ games with 100$, 2$ games with 200$. Seems you don't have a problem depositing so maybe closer to 30-50bi's wouldn't be bad. Any less and a downswing will be the end of you.

Self Control
If you are playing $1,$2,$3 games and your acct goes down to $15...I'm not sure why you would use that as 1bi for a HU game. Stick to the cheapest games you can find. I don't think you are one of them, but you'd be surprised at the amount of players grinding out from nothing to try and get near a $15 roll. It could take one good session to double that instead of busting in one game and depositing again. You may think "it's only another $30, no big deal", but that mentality will be significantly damaging in the long haul.

Game Selection
HU, STT's, MTT's or Cash? Really it's just a matter of personal preference. It'd be an endless to debate to say one is better than another. My suggestion is stick to what is most enjoyable for you and work on perfecting it. Grinding long sessions days, months, years will definitely take it out of you. So, stick to what you'll be bored with less lol.

*Also double space your paragraphs. Makes it much easier to read.

Hope it helps. Welcome to CC and Happy New Year :)
 
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indahood193

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cheers man :) was very helpful. yeah my brm is usually quite good but i fancied playing hu and the cheapest tables are min buy in of $10. but i suppose to be able to play in these you would need to have a br into the thousands. i suppose tournaments are my favourites now. i kind of want to be good at hu but i think i tilt too often and then when i don't think playing hu i instantly lose. is there any books/ blogs etc. you would recommend to study on this subject? cheers. also i was buying in less than my opponent which i felt left me with a slight disavantage? thanks again!
 
Arjonius

Arjonius

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Assuming you continue to play a mix of $1, $2 and $3 MTTs, I'd look at having at least $100. More would be better. If you fall under $100, eliminate the $3 games until you work your way back over again.
 
ovitoo

ovitoo

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cheers man :) was very helpful. yeah my brm is usually quite good but i fancied playing hu and the cheapest tables are min buy in of $10. but i suppose to be able to play in these you would need to have a br into the thousands. i suppose tournaments are my favourites now. i kind of want to be good at hu but i think i tilt too often and then when i don't think playing hu i instantly lose. is there any books/ blogs etc. you would recommend to study on this subject? cheers. also i was buying in less than my opponent which i felt left me with a slight disavantage? thanks again!

Np. Unless your goal is to never deposit again, you won't need a 1k br for $10 games. Myself, I will play $10 games with any 200+ br and I usually won't drop down unless I'm down near 10bi's. This is not great brm bc I can bust with a bad enough downsing, but I think we are similar in that we dont mind depositing now and then.

As far as books, I can't be much help to you there. I've gotten most my help here. Posting hands for analysis, starting a grind thread, and finding ppl for sweat sessions have been very helpful to me. If you are interested in books, I'd like to link a thread but there are tons of 'em. Do a search and you'll see what I mean. GL man.
 
Bankroll Building - Bankroll Management
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