Hanging In There

Well... based on the advice I got from sndp, I got $10 free at pacific poker, and have been playing that for a week or so now. I know, without a doubt now, why you must have a bankroll appropriate to the tables you play. I've been playing my $10 at the $10 NL tables every time I play, as those are the smallest available. So, every time I sit, I am putting 100% of my money at risk. I've been up over $11 twice now, and I've been under $2 at least 3-4 times, and made my way back up again. Right now, after playing for about 3 hours, I'm at $10 and some change.

Anyway, my hobby allowance is coming in just about a week, so I'll have $60 to either buy in with, or buy poker tracker. If I've lost all of my money before payday, I'll obviously use the $60 to buy in (at PokerStars, where they have $2 tables). If I am making progress with the $10, I probably won't do anything with the money just yet. I'll wait until I bust, then buy in, or wait until I can cash out my Pacific money and transfer it over to Poker stars, then buy poker tracker.

Either way, I can't wait to actually be playing at a level appropriate to my bankroll. I'm having fun as it is, and I'm sure it only gets better when you're not afraid that you could lose your entire bankroll on any one hand you choose to play.

I know that it's usually not recommended, but given that you're having to risk so much of your BR playing each hand, you might think about buying in short stack while you build that $10. You can get by with a buyin of $2 for most of the play at NL$10, and probably end up building your BR while losing less of it. Should cut down your variance at least.

I'm a proponent of short-stack play even when you have other options (if you're better than the opposition), as it allows you to play at a higher (more profitable) level. However, I can see the arguments against it. I'm sure it's a much better option all around than putting 50-100% of your BR in jeopardy every time you sit down.

If your bankroll is only $10, you should really be playing penny stakes.

my suggestion, don't buy poker tracker quite yet. its helpful, but honestly doesn't say all too too much for NL, and especially if your BR is small its probably not worth it. After you make some money, say a few hundred dollars, then get it.

Check out Toasty's New Player Guide. There's a great section in it about building up your bankroll in the penny stakes.

http://www.flopturnriver.com/New-Player-Guide.html

Originally Posted by Xianti

If your bankroll is only $10, you should really be playing penny stakes.

Reread his post...he has the $10 because it was a free/bonus from the site he's at. Can't easily move that to another site, and I doubt it's important enough to worry about.

I tend to agree with Greedo on the Poker Tracker thing. Why spend your br on a tool at this point. It's like being a woodworker and selling your wood to buy a new lathe. A lathe is great, but what good is it without a supply of wood?

Plus, would knowing your stats, etc. really help you? I know players who make good money seeing 30% of the flop and players who make good money seeing 12%, etc. I'm sure there's value to the tool. I've never used it. I used on tool once long ago that said I was too loose preflop and too tight postflop. Great! So now what do I do? General information like that doesn't help me.

Anyway, I would recommend playing instead of buying a tool. Additionally, I think it's fair to say that $10 to anyone is a small amount of money, so risking it all playing a $10 nl table I don't think is out of line. I understand the whole BR management thing, but it's really made to keep your play on an even keel, and even more to make sure once you have a BR that you can't replace with the change in your wallet (whatever that amount may be) that you use it wisely. If you have a $1000 BR and can't plunk another grand online if you lose it, then you have to be very BR wise. That amount is different for different people. For some it's $50, for others it's $5000. But the point is that there are amounts that fall under strict BR management guidelines.

GL

Forkmantis -
You might be interested to know that I managed to run $10 free at Pacific to over 3K in less than 8 weeks. I had cashed all of my money out of neteller, so I took a shot with the 10 bucks.

Don't buy in short man. Play solid, but take a shot with the free money.

If I had only 60 bucks to either play poker with or buy poker tracker - I'd play poker with it. Buy poker tracker once with some winnings later on. Right now you just need to get some real money experience under your belt.

Once again, thanks to everyone for taking the time to respond. I appreciate hearing everyone's point of view.

Based on everyone's feedback, i'll hold off on purchasing Poker Tracker for a while.

As far as my $10 at Pacific, I'm treating it like a lottery ticket to a possible free bankroll. Pacific is not the site I really want to play on, and the money came to me for free, so I want to build it up to a point where I can cash out with it, or lose it all trying. Before I even had that money, I had already intended on buyin in at PokerStars this coming Saturday anyway, so if I am successful with my Pacific money, I can possibly use the money I'd intended on using for my inital buy-in for something else. At worse, I'll lose it all, and buy in at PokerStars as I originally intended.

So, I'll keep playing the pacific money as tight and solid as I know how, and hope for the best.

If it works out, I'll probably just set my other money aside in case I need to redeposit, or maybe for some poker books.

Thanks again for your thoughts and advice.