Any advice for building a bankroll on a small deposit?

[doomasiggy]

< this is entirely INCORRECT!!! I doubt anyone playing SNG's has an ROI of +50% (although there may be some MTT-SNG playing the 45's who are close & maybe some that are an exception). Winning SNG-STT (single table tournament) players have an ITM (in the money) of ~39%-42% & ROI will range from ~+1% - +10% (for winning players... in micro/low stakes some winning players will have slightly higher ROI% but not mugh higher. Med. & HS SNG, winning players more typically have ROI +1% to +3%)

Ahar10 and ChewMe1 have ROI's for STT's in the 50% range; and the OP wasn't talking about HS SNG.

Banning yourself for a month just sounds ridiculous imo (for OP anyways). Spending an entire month just on studying/reading will be close to useless (imo) as your head will be overfilled with info. & will have you confused in a big way. Ideally you want to be playing & studying. And at first you'll probably want to split this time up maybe 2/3 to 3/4 of the time playing, 1/4 to 1/3 of the time studying/reading (< & even that will be overdoing the studying part imo).
Find a decent book & read it. Play some pokerzz.

When he's making basic mistakes and just spewed off 20 dollars, you think maybe he needs to study the basics?

Pretty hard to say why OP is losing when we haven't seen or witnessed any of their play

I was trying to say he'd get better as he played real money. If you go straight from playing play money and move to real money, you lose, a lot, because you have no idea what you're doing.

 

[Foxhound3857]

And I think I am getting better. I'm still taking some bad beats and making mistakes, but I'm learning the hard way what I did wrong and know better now. I'm still hovering around $12.50.

Would I be okay adding in $0.30 tourneys into the mix? I think they're called quarter quickies.

 

[Poker Orifice]

When he's making basic mistakes and just spewed off 20 dollars, you think maybe he needs to study the basics?
Not necessarily, especially seeing as he was playing buyins too high for his bankroll.



If you go straight from playing play money and move to real money, you lose, a lot, because you have no idea what you're doing.

I disagree. Why do we assume this? I know many people who were never losing players right from the start.

 

[freeringo]

I have never deposited on any poker site except to qualify for cashout and I have won thousands.
one April weekend I had a nickel on intertops and
in three days I won $1350. My advice to you is
to play within your means and when your hot, don't stop playing till you cool down. If you don't cash in 3 in a row in a single day quit for the day.
Patience patience patience
P.S. raising with KJ early position will cost you money

 

[bullishwwd]

My best advice ... Don't lose.

 

[Karkus77]

foxhound, with your small bankroll, i would suggest not to play any MTT's other than freerolls

variance at SnG's can sometimes be tough, but variance at MTT's can be huge, you might go hundreds of tournies without a good cash even if your phil ivey

stick to your 9 man SnG's only, that way your improving all the time, with less risk to your bankroll

 

[bullishwwd]

foxhound, with your small bankroll, i would suggest not to play any MTT's other than freerolls

variance at SnG's can sometimes be tough, but variance at MTT's can be huge, you might go hundreds of tournies without a good cash even if your phil ivey

stick to your 9 man SnG's only, that way your improving all the time, with less risk to your bankroll

good advice ..... I'd add, maybe try some small DON SnGs and play TIGHT & AGGRESSIVE especially paying specific attention to 3 things: POSITION, different stages of the game, and "reads on player's tendencies".

 

[Foxhound3857]

Well, that was interesting. I was down to my last $6 so I decided to just play one bigshot, a 6-man $5.50 SnG. Somehow I survived with my 55 against AA and caught runner-runner to make a straight, and ended up winning the thing. So I'm back to my starting bankroll of $25.


So...what should I do?

 

[doomasiggy]

Well, that was interesting. I was down to my last $6 so I decided to just play one bigshot, a 6-man $5.50 SnG. Somehow I survived with my 55 against AA and caught runner-runner to make a straight, and ended up winning the thing. So I'm back to my starting bankroll of $25.


So...what should I do?

Don't do this again.

 

[Samango]

Well, that was interesting. I was down to my last $6 so I decided to just play one bigshot, a 6-man $5.50 SnG. Somehow I survived with my 55 against AA and caught runner-runner to make a straight, and ended up winning the thing. So I'm back to my starting bankroll of $25.


So...what should I do?

Well don't do that again if you can possibly resist, we don't want this thread to end with a post about going bust!

Stick to the sng's as that is what you know best.
Stick to low buy-ins, < $1 (imo preferably lower, Chris Ferguson may have used a 20 buy-in rule, but don't forget... He's Chris Ferguson!! Mere mortals who are just starting out need more buy-ins). As we have said, and you now know first hand, it is perfectly possible to have a losing streak even if you have been winning, so you need the buffer of reserve buy-ins.

Play one table at a time, (don't play any if you are tired or unable to concentrate), concentrate on the game—no distractions, and watch how your opponents are playing even when you are not involved in a hand. Play good hands from late positions, and then go from there as you learn more about your opponents.

BRM is the most important thing. If you get down to $6 again, play 10c games if you can find them on Lock. You don't need a fast profit at this stage, you need practice to improve your understanding of the game. Only if you have the money to play, can you keep practicing and improving.

Good Luck

 

[Karkus77]

well if your going to ignore peoples help, the advice in this thread will soon dry up

 

[Foxhound3857]

Okay.

Is it just me though, or are the players at the $0.60 SnG's tougher than the ones at the $1.10 and even $2.20 SnG's. Why do I feel like these players are more skilled despite being a lower BI?

Anyway, I'll try some $0.11 SNG's for a while.

Edit: And Karkus, I HAVE been taking everyones advice. I was tilting over a string of bad beats, that's why I decided to jump into a $5.50 game, I was just fed up. Now that I was lucky enough to re-earn my entire deposit, I don't plan on doing that again.

But I'm still a bit tilted over the bad beats I'm taking at the $0.60 9-player SnG's.

 

[Poker Orifice]

Play $1 sng's

 

[Foxhound3857]

Play $1 sng's

Are the players generally easier? I'm trying to find normal-speed SnG's on Lock Poker, but they seem to only have Turbos.

 

[Poker Orifice]

ChewMe1 have ROI's for STT's in the 50% range; and the OP wasn't talking about HS SNG.
.

He's not playing STT-SNG.

 

[Poker Orifice]

Are the players generally easier? I'm trying to find normal-speed SnG's on Lock Poker, but they seem to only have Turbos.

Sorry I'm not familiar with the sng's on merge network.

 

[calicard]

Okay.

Is it just me though, or are the players at the $0.60 SnG's tougher than the ones at the $1.10 and even $2.20 SnG's. Why do I feel like these players are more skilled despite being a lower BI?

Anyway, I'll try some $0.11 SNG's for a while.

Edit: And Karkus, I HAVE been taking everyones advice. I was tilting over a string of bad beats, that's why I decided to jump into a $5.50 game, I was just fed up. Now that I was lucky enough to re-earn my entire deposit, I don't plan on doing that again.

But I'm still a bit tilted over the bad beats I'm taking at the $0.60 9-player SnG's.

Go In With a Plan:
:listen: In your situation and if you are what you say you are a TAG then do this. I am assuming Lock Poker has the same tournaments that all merge sites have? Play the $2.20 9 man bounties in the SNG section. Do not get caught up in the bounties.( i.e.guy has 180 chips left and you are so intent on getting his dollar bounty you call with 9 4) Play your game to the best of your ability. THE BOUNTIES WILL COME in the later stages. Just play your TAG game I guarantee you win money. Also they have 1 Multi Table Tournament that fits your style you should play. At 1:00 AM PST they have a $5 buy in deep stack with 15 minute blinds. The time levels for a TAG player are very important as you need time to have a friggin hand before you decide to shove with J,10 suited. The 15 minute levels allow actual poker playing. You will find a lot of good players in this tournament so don't get too frigging happy when you get AK and raise 10 times the BB and get a caller.You ARE facing a person that has a hand. Play your cards accordingly do not get to fancy and you should have no problem cashing and or winning this MTT.
Good Luck

 

[Samango]

Go In With a Plan:
:listen: Play the $2.20 9 man bounties in the SNG section. Also they have 1 Multi Table Tournament that fits your style you should play. At 1:00 AM PST they have a $5 buy in deep stack with 15 minute blinds. Good Luck

You're certainly going to need that LUCK if you follow this terrible BRM advice
MTT's are high variance anyway, you could go a long time without winning or even cashing— putting 1/5 of your roll on one game is bankroll suicide. Also, you said you have very little experience in MTT's, so just play freeroll MTT's for now until you have a nice roll and more experience.

Similarly, why would you play $2.20 games when you could play $1 games or lower and have at least a fighting chance of hanging on to your roll. This is the only thing that matters for now.

You said
'Anyway, I'll try some $0.11 SNG's for a while'

You can play for a very long time this way and gain an immense amount of experience and I wholeheartedly approve, and think that it shows that you have a better understanding of the value of good Bankroll Management

 

[peedee91]

if you are on lock poker play the .60 sit and goes you would have over the 40 buyin rule needed to play

 

[Foxhound3857]

The problem I'm having is that almost all of the SnG's on Lock Poker are Turbo or Super Turbo. The $0.60 and $1.10 9-man SnG's are ALL Turbos, with blinds advancing every 4 minutes. The only non-turbos I've seen are the $2.20 9-mans, but they're hard to get in to.

Why so many turbos? Where's the REGULAR speed games?

 

[Poker Orifice]

The problem I'm having is that almost all of the SnG's on Lock Poker are Turbo or Super Turbo. The $0.60 and $1.10 9-man SnG's are ALL Turbos, with blinds advancing every 4 minutes. The only non-turbos I've seen are the $2.20 9-mans, but they're hard to get in to.

Why so many turbos? Where's the REGULAR speed games?

Maybe give the $2 Bounty SNG's a shot. I've played a handful of them (a long time ago) & the players in them were real bad. Games are (were) soooo soft that 10buyins might be enough to get you through as long as you don't run too badly. As Cali mentioned above, don't concern yourself too much with the bounties... they'll take care of themselves.

 

[Foxhound3857]

LOL, I actually gave one a try before reading your post, and won the damn thing. Collected 3 bounties too.

 

[Poker Orifice]

LOL, I actually gave one a try before reading your post, and won the damn thing. Collected 3 bounties too.

Cool! They might just be the ones to go with.

 

[Foxhound3857]

Yeah, but I learned that the competition is actually a bit harder than at Turbos. My bankroll is currently at $38 though, so I am moving up.

I'm trying to get into more MTT's though, learning via Marty Smith (turtleknife).

 

[Foxhound3857]

Still hovering around $35. I've gotten much better now and have learned how to recognize dangerous flops and get away from them with marginal hands, even probably winners. I'm even starting to fold stronger hands out of position like A10, KJ, etc, because of how often hands like that are dominated, and so far it's been working out well. Avoiding a lot of dangerous situations as a result.

But this is still frustrating. How can my bankroll bloom when I keep suffering from so many bad beats so often? Last game I raised from UTG +2 with pocket 9's, folded to the SB who shoves all in, and I snap call. My move was right, he had pocket 5's, but he flops a set and knocks me out.

How do you accept those and overcome them or get away from them? How can I make it so that the bad beats don't threaten my BMR? I always assumed this to be a game where you can win/profit every time as long as you make the right moves, not one where you can make all the right decisions and still lose.