Money Management

[Malachii]

Not quite sure where this should go, I figure this forum is as good as any.

I'm a college student currently on summer break. I spent my days playing computer games and my nights at Commerce playing poker. Poker is currently my main source of income, but I am trying to grind out a roll for the 9/18 Hold'em game because I've heard it's a great game and really soft.

My question is what percentage of my money should I reinvest into my bankroll and what percentage should I spend? If anyone has some general guidelines they could share for how they use their poker bankroll, I'd really appreciate it.

[Onaflag]

I abuse my BR. But, like you, I want to take a shot at the 9/18 game in my area. I have decided to not dip into my online nor my live BRs until I reach a level where I can use it to leverage more profit from the game.

Sorry, I have no answer for you, but rather a common desire to be properly BRed for games bigger than 3/6 and $11 SNGs.

Keep as much as you can in your BR and only take out for expenses. That's really the only way to move up.

Onaflag..........

[bholdr]

get a real job before you go broke.

sry, i know it's not what you want to hear, but if you're asking what kind of BR you need to be playing that game, i almost garuntee that you don't know enough about poker to justify your assumption that you can support yourself playing. but, if you must:

First, you're gonna want to keep three month's living expenses in the bank att all times. bad runs of cards can last that long playing live poker. this is seperate from your roll. your bankroll should be at least 300BB, more if you have no other source of income or fall-back plan. that means at least $6,000.

On top of all that, even if you're REALLY good, even if you don't run into any extended cold streaks, even if you never go on tilt or develop a gambling problem (how could I? I'm in control!), you can still expect, long term, to earn about $20/hr in that game. not a particularly bit payoff for a lot of risk, eh?

personally, i pay myself a salary; I withdraw $1000/month from my roll and don't touch the rest (gotta be constantly building that roll). This is obviously not enough to live on- but i have a 9-5, too.

If i were you I'd dedicate myself to online play- plenty of juicy games, bonuses that will add to your winrate signifigantly, the ability to multitable and cut down on variance, etc... but I'd still get a real job.

GL either way.

[hotsauce615]

I remember Hilger being adimant about having 500x the BB to never go broke. Why not play 3/6 games tight and grind online? With a couple grand you can do ok.

[AKQJ10]

[ QUOTE ]
Why not play 3/6 games tight and grind online?

[/ QUOTE ]

I can answer that one: because live $9/18 is much more fishy and probably more profitable than online $3/6. (And live $3/6 is that much fishier; if not for the multitabling issue, I would recommend live $3/6 over online $3/6 any day.)

That said, there's nothing wrong with taking a shot at the $9/18 underbankrolled, provided you see it for the +EV gamble it is. Don't play with money you can't afford to lose -- but presumably everyone asking bankroll quesitons already knows that. Also don't play with money that, if lost, would take you out of playing poker for a long time.

So what's the worst that can happen? You sit down with your rack of whatever color the $3 chips are in California (red? I forget), take your shot at $9/18, and if you go down $300 you quit. If you can afford that, then go for it.

That said, I tried something similar at $5/10 the other day, which I really wasn't bankrolled for. I got drawn out on by 32-suited and 54 (the latter on a straight to beat my set of deuces -- serves me right for playing 22), and I felt like crap. No real long-term damage was done to my psyche, but I did regret playing above my bankroll. So psychologically, if you're going to feel miserable after losing $300, then don't play $9/18 -- but that should be obvious.

[Ray Of Light]

[ QUOTE ]


sry, i know it's not what you want to hear, but if you're asking what kind of BR you need to be playing that game, i almost garuntee that you don't know enough about poker to justify your assumption that you can support yourself playing.

[/ QUOTE ] True, True...


However, in answer to the OP question, a good rule of thumb is to maintain a 300BB bankroll, regularly skim 150BB profit off the top (whenever you reach 450BB), then save 50BB into a seperate savings account, and spend the 100BB left over. That way, you have a working bankroll, you have some spending money, and you have a bankroll steadily building in a savings account (gaining interest on top).

Then when you are ready to take a shot, take the money from the savings account and add it to your bankroll.