Perfect bankroll

[Aballinamion]

I kind of disagree with this and would like to ask why? If its just a question about earning 100 bucks, then there are much faster ways to do that. In many countries you can work 10 hours in McDonalds or a similar low skilled job, and then you have your starting bankroll for poker. If by contrast you play freerolls, you are realistically looking at houndreds of hours to earn the same amount of money.

You can argue, that freerolls gives practice, which you can use to do better, when you start playing real money games. This is true, but you can also get that practice on play money tables. These run all the time, so you dont need to sit and wait for the freeroll to begin. And if you get stacked, you can just buy in again and continue playing, as long as you want to.

Play money games will have a different dynamic than real money games. But this is also true for freerolls. Especially if you want to be a cash game player, because freerolls are of course tournaments. Some freerolls also have a very fast structure (hyperturbo), where you wont learn much else than going all-in preflop.

So all in all I am unconvinced, that freerolls are a great way to learn poker. What I would suggest to most people instead is to begin on play money tables, until they have learned the basics like hand rankings and reading boards. Like for instance being able to see, when a straight is possible, so that a set is not the nuts. Or understanding, that a full house is possible on a paired board, so an A high flush is not the nuts. Or when their hand is counterfeited.

And after that for me the best place to practice is 2NL cash tables. The reason I prefer cash games is, that you only need to focus on playing your hand as well as possible. There are no additional elements like understanding ICM in different situations, or knowing a 5BB shoving range.

Cash games are more difficult in the sense, that you typically play with a deeper stack like 100 BB. But this is exactly, why they are good for learning things like how to play the late streets, and when you need to fold a hand like top pair or an overpair. Which are skills even a tournament player need to have, if or when they move to MTTs.

I liked everything you’ve just said. The only thing I would say is that in brazil we don’t make money so fast as in Europe.
A person who works for McDonald’s should work at least 15 days, eight or ten hours per day including transportation to work and home to earn $ 100 dollars.
The minimum wage in Brazil is something like $ 200 dollars per month give or take something, and they aren’t freelancers, the worker must go to work 6 times per week, 4 weeks in a month having just 1 Sunday to rest!

 

[fundiver199]

I liked everything you’ve just said. The only thing I would say is that in Brazil we don’t make money so fast as in Europe.
A person who works for McDonald’s should work at least 15 days, eight or ten hours per day including transportation to work and home to earn $ 100 dollars.
The minimum wage in Brazil is something like $ 200 dollars per month give or take something, and they aren’t freelancers, the worker must go to work 6 times per week, 4 weeks in a month having just 1 Sunday to rest!

And then it might make more sense to start online poker with a smaller deposit than 100$ or no deposit at all. But I think, to many people do this for the wrong reasons. Maybe they think, there is some special glory in being able to say, they started with nothing and ended up with millions. But the truth is, nobody care about that at all other than themselfes

 

[Aballinamion]

And then it might make more sense to start online poker with a smaller deposit than 100$ or no deposit at all. But I think, to many people do this for the wrong reasons. Maybe they think, there is some special glory in being able to say, they started with nothing and ended up with millions. But the truth is, nobody care about that at all other than themselfes

Yeah, I confess that I had this idea myself in the beginning. Just another ego trap that doesn’t change anything for real.
I think freerolls is a good way to build a bankroll to make the player learn to have patience and resilience, to turn the heads down and be humble:
If we are going to be realistic about cash profits, a very good player should be able to make $ 0,30 cents of dollar per hour (one table).
But I feel that many players want to make much more than the expected value (which is a scientific measure for hands played x hour, if I’m correct).
But you are completely right, if the player have means to make a deposit of $ 100 bucks or even more it will have more chances to grind from NLHE 2 to higher stakes more quickly and without worries over losses.
In Brazil, since we are poor, we use to make a $ 50 dollars deposit to begin with.
And yes, nobody cares about our high heels that are elevated upon our ego/self. We gotta play in silence and out of external concerns.
Thanks for your insights.

 

[Poker Orifice]

I actually like reading the stories about players who have gone from zero > to > 'Hero'. I think it was more common a dozen years ago when there were many lucrative freerolls & cash-added private tournaments. When I first began to play online poker, I had previous experience with the game and thought I was good (but I was terrible lol). My first deposit was $175 on Fulltilt & $150 on Stars. The very first game I played online was a $1 mtt on Fulltilt. I placed 2nd for $114. Easy game! I was playing 20nl on my second week of poker! (& winning).

When I first deposited I did so with the intention "I will make this one deposit (2) to try out online poker... to see if I like it and to see if I can win something" (I had some friends who were already playing... mostly $1 mtt's).

My answer to OP... 'It Depends'
It depends on what you want to play.
It depends on if you want to deposit again (or regularly).
It depends on what your goals are.
It depends on your previous experience with playing poker.

I have some friends who keep a $20 bankroll and are comfortable with that and able to play in games they are interested in playing in.
I have other friends who keep $50,000 in their online poker bankroll (with a typical day's MTT buyins totally $4k to $5k, 5 days/week, playing 40+ mtt's per day).
$50k might be way too small of a bankroll for other players (even online). There are some people who are multi-entering the $10k buyin on GGPoker. (I wonder how much they keep in their poker accounts?)

 

[Bazil777]

Hi! As a poker expert, I recommend starting the game with a bankroll that allows you to play comfortably and learn without the risk of losing all your money. Ideally, your bankroll should be 20-30 big blinds for cash games and 50-100 tournament blinds for tournaments. For example, if you are playing cash with a $1/$2 limit, your ideal bankroll would be $4,000 to $6,000. If you play $50 buy-in tournaments, a $2,500 to $5,000 bankroll would be enough to get you started. Keep in mind, however, that these are only recommendations, not hard rules. Some players prefer to have a larger bankroll to feel more confident, while others may start with a smaller amount. The main thing is that your bankroll should be manageable and allow you to play without the stress and risk of losing all your capital.