Bankroll Management and Starting from very little.

Hi guys,

I don't want to bore you with my poker life story so I'll keep it short. I have been dabbling with poker for about a year or so and I love the game, unfortunately I have been a losing player so far :(. I have been playing the lowest buy in SNGs on Full Tilt with no success and after some deep thought I came the the conclusion that what I was struggling with in SNGs was the fact that the game changed as the blinds increased so i thought that maybe I should play cash games where the game is more constant in order to learn to play good poker.


So, I am playing $2NLHE (which means $0.01/0.02 i think) and have started with a teeny weenie bankroll of $10. After just over 1000 hands (yeah that's not much I know) I have a ptBB/100 win rate of +18 and my bankroll has grown to $24! So I am happy, this is a game which I feel as though I can beat with some consistency!

My only concerns lie in the area of bankroll management. I have always tried to stick to good bankroll management principles (I am an admirer of the legendary Chris Ferguson and I study maths and Stats so I know what variance means :P) but I only have 12 buy ins by the SI unit of a 100BB BI and the standard recommended amount for any level is 25!

One of my fundamental BRM rules at the moment is that I buy in for $1.40 and if I get that up to $2.80 then I have to leave the table. So my question are thus: does buying in for $1.40 instead of $2 make me less likely to bust out? Does leaving the table when I have $2.80 (and the blinds reach me of course) make sense? Am I treading on thin ice and heading for a bankroll disaster?

Any questions, thought, hints, tips or general comments greatly appreciated!

moved to the bc

I would recommend that you buy in full each time. When you buy in short you are missing value when you do get someone stacked. As far as when to leave, that really depends upon several different things. There was a decent thread on here about when to leave but I can't find it right now.

SnG's require you to play differently as the game progresses, ie. tight as first, loosen up and get more aggressive as the blinds increase and it becoms short handed. This could present a difficulty if you want some consistency.

here's some points to consider re 2NL

buying in less than full stacked requires a different strategy to a full 100bb stack
not being properly bankrolled puts you at serious risk of busting.
risking larger % of your bankroll increases the risk of tilt when you get suckouts
tilt will cost you your whole roll if you keep playing.
if you're new to the game, you may not realise your tilted.
18BB/100 hands is a very high winrate and is very unlikely to be sustainable even at this limit unless you play flawless poker.
Your new, so you wont be playing flawless poker.

with regard to short stacking yourself for BR management. I think thats fine, I built a roll years ago on a site where the max buying was 50bb. Just respect that you need to play differently to how you would with 100bb and that means that some of the advice you find here wont work the way its intended, so be aware.

that aside? you've got 24$? do you have another $24 not on the site that you can spare?.. since that would make your roll $48, or 24 buyins, which is fine. You don't need to put it on the site, just know that you have it and you'll be fine.

EDIT: if you want to learn the sit and go format maybe check out titan poker, get on google and find an affiliate site that will give you a no deposit bonus. you can get $15 or so, and they run 10c+2c or 20c+4c SnGs which will give you between 60 and 125 buyins of someone elses money. I found them fairly soft, and was in the money in 17 out of the 20 that i played. I was probably running good, but either way it doesnt matter since its just bonus dollars.

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Originally Posted by Shotglass

I would recommend that you buy in full each time. When you buy in short you are missing value when you do get someone stacked. As far as when to leave, that really depends upon several different things. There was a decent thread on here about when to leave but I can't find it right now.

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This is secondary to his risk of ruin.

I would suggest OP continues to play with a buy-in that is about his bankroll/20 until he reaches $40 and then he'll have a normal 20 BIs.

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moved to the bc

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Thanks!

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I would recommend that you buy in full each time. When you buy in short you are missing value when you do get someone stacked. As far as when to leave, that really depends upon several different things. There was a decent thread on here about when to leave but I can't find it right now.

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Yes, but surely I have to think about bad beats and getting drawn out on or do you mean getting someone stacked when I know I have him beat? Surely reducing the amount that I can risk in any one game means that when I stack someone then even if I get drawn out on then I am not losing a significant part of my BR?

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buying in less than full stacked requires a different strategy to a full 100bb stack

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Really? Are the changes required that significant?

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I would suggest OP continues to play with a buy-in that is about his bankroll/20 until he reaches $40 and then he'll have a normal 20 BIs.

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This is actually exactly what I was thinking regards to the $1.40 buy in rule, I thought I would buy in full once I hit $40.

neat

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Originally Posted by spoonitnow

This is secondary to his risk of ruin.

I would suggest OP continues to play with a buy-in that is about his bankroll/20 until he reaches $40 and then he'll have a normal 20 BIs.

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Well, assuming that the only roll that he has is what he currently has on the site then, yes I agree with you, Spoon. But seriously, how many people can't come up with another $20 bucks or so.

@OP - if you've got more $$$ that you can deposit should you go busto then buy in full, because when you know you've got the nuts and someone else shoves, you'll be wishing you could call the extra cash that you don't have at the table. If what you've got on the poker site is absolutely the only $$$ that you ever plan to deposit, and if you lose this roll then you quit poker forever, then buy in short enough to protect that roll from getting destroyed.

Edited: because my spelling still sucks

If OP plays on stars and comes to IRC and shows some general interest I'll start staking him. Sup?

what do u have to gain from that?

Thanks for the advice,

I do realise that I am losing value by not buying in for full but I think I will keep going buying in for less and taking less risk for the moment untill I get my roll up to $40. Yes I could afford another $20 but that's not the point, I fancy the callenge :p

Also, I am taking advantage of Full Tilts promo thingy where if you play at 2 tables and get a certain amount of points for 9 days in a row then they give you $25 which sounds like a good deal to me and kinda like rakeback. So hopefully in a weeks time I will be up above $40.

I have played a couple thousand more hands since I last posted and still running pretty solid and pretty good, up to $26 from the $10 I started with so hopefully things will work out okay :)

And yes my ptBB/100 has dropped from the crazy high 18 to more like 9 so you were right about that being short term

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Originally Posted by EasyPoker

what do u have to gain from that?

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Usually when you stake people you get %s lfdo. Could gain bout tree fiddy