Building up that Bankroll

[jaeh00d]

How was it that the majority of you build up your bankroll originally?

was it from placing in tournaments or did you just play countless hours of cash games?

I'm findingeasier through cash games

[Hawt]

I am a total donkey in cash games, so I find it easier in tournaments. Especially if you are just starting out, the 1.20 tournaments are pretty easy. As long as you play tight and don't take too many risks cashing is pretty easy. I managed to get that 6.50 from the freeroll up to about $30 through those tourny's.

[jaeh00d]

Nice, so youre still doing good, you havent busted yet?

I know this might sound hilarious but i looked in my account today at around 5pm and i had $0.25 left in it from when i last busted. I put the rest of that in a micro mini and in those hours have worked it up to 13 dollars...lol

[Hawt]

With Cash games, (for me at least) at the lower limits, you get a lot more bad beats just because even though you may wait and only play solid hands, chances are that the fish you are playing with aren't, and aren't going to take notice that you are a tight player, so your big hands like AK and QQ, etc are going to end up getting busted by 94os.

Also, one thing TP told me when I went broke was to "never sit with more than 5% of your bankroll" which with a lower bankroll (mine was $30), 5% ends up being like 1.50 which is about what you buy in for at the 1cent/2cent tables. and it isn't fun to grind out like 80 cents an hour. If you play the 1.20 tournaments though, you are only "sitting" with about 4% of your bankroll (again, a $30 bankroll, I don't know what yours is at right now.)

So yeah, I busted out already. I was trying to build my bankroll by playing cash games (mixing it up) but was only making like $1 an hour, so I sat with my whole bankroll to play a higher limit, lost a few hands, and went bust playing catch up.

[PShabi]

Pretty much begged my way to a $5000 bankroll and then started playing 5/10 where I am today.

So, yes, you're on the right track.

[jaeh00d]

i dont get what you mean by begged your way? you begged for 5k?

[PShabi]

Not all at once. Who the hell would just give away 5k? lol.

I just hit all the forums repeatedly, under multiple screennames. Got a dollar here, if I was lucky, $5 there.

4 1/2 years of hard work.

[JDMcNugent7]

wut do u mean beggged ur way?

and isn't 5000 way low to be playing 5/10 ?

[BDMK]

with the caveat that i only play recreationally, only NLHE tourneys, and only real money buck tourneys and sats to big events on stars:

i started by playing playchips tourneys which both gave me some experience and enabled me to sell the accumulated playchips for cash.

nowadays, almost a yr since i started playing, i only occasionally play the playchips tourneys, as i cash more than sufficiently from the buck tourneys to keep my bankroll ok for what i need (ie, sats to various big events).

[ChipFish]

To build your bankroll... You should rely solely on Deposit and reload bonuses...
It's that simple.

[Talking Poker]

This is very good advice (bonus whoring), but this can be done in addition to some of the other suggestions floating around this thread. Well, except for pshabi's, which was a joke for those who couldn't tell.

When I very first started playing online, I was palying 1/2 cash games, just to see what online poker was all about. I did pretty well with it, but eventually discovered and fell in love with SNGs. I played those almost exclusively for a while - $30 and $50 ones - and did really well with them (at one point, I cashed in 11 in a row). This was fortunate for me, as I was playing well above my bankroll. I hit a bad streak not long after that, but still didn't really care about bankroll management because I knew I could redeposit if I needed to.

I will admit to you though that the bad streak was bad enough at one point, that I made myself take an entire month off from online poker (this was back in 2003). Why? Because I was afraid I MIGHT be addicted, and I wanted to make sure I could stop if I wanted to. After a few days off, I didn't miss it, but I promised myself I wouldn't play for a month, and I didn't. It ended up being 5 or 6 weeks, I think. I came back and played here and there, but I didn't get REALLY serious about poker until bdawg convinced me to give the 5/10 6 max tables a try. I had played them before, but not exclusively, as I always had more fun with the SNGs.

Anyway, one month and $4k later, I was sold. Two month and another $5k after that, and I was hooked. This was my game. And that's what I used to build my bankroll.

These days, I enjoy the big MTTs, but I am a much better tourney player now than I used to be. I do still enjoy killing the 6 max games from time to time, but I mostly play 10/20 and 15/30 now, with the occasional 30/60 game mixed in when I'm feeling frisky. The swings there are still more than I am comfortable with though, so I don't do it often.

Anyway, hopefully that bit of a success story will inspire you. While I skipped a LOT of levels early on (and was fortunate enough to not get broke), I don't recommend that for most people. Keep in mind, if I busted, I was ok with making another deposit (which is what I did when I'd start to play at a new site). If my entire bankroll was online and I never wanted to deposit another dime, this would be a horrible idea though.

If you never want to lose your bankroll:
1. Make sure you have 300 BBs (big bets) for limit poker.
2. Never sit with more than 5% of your roll in NL or any single SNG or MTT.

Do that, and play fundamentally sound poker, and you won't go broke.

[Hawt]

I have really thought about this, just saving up like a grand and depositing into different sites, clearing the bonuses, and cashing out. But I am afraid that with my tendency to act like a retard in cash games that I would lose my money before I could clear the bonuses. Plus, bonuses are kind of hard to clear because tournaments don't count that much towards clearing bonuses (if at all) which is the only thing I am really any good at.

[Reel Deal]

Cash tables and bonus chasing has worked for me (grew $25 to $1200 in 3 months).

[PShabi]

$5,000 / $10(bbs)

= 500 BB which is a fat, chunky, bankroll for 5/10 limit hold em.