is gambling via credit card a good idea?

[Baulucky]

You don't need to start big.

A good player can easily double his BR every 10,000 hands or less at limit holdem, or even faster at NLHE. It doesn't take long for your BR to overcome your playing skill if you play 3-4 hours per day. I started as a lowly geek with $0, and built it from there at Goldenpalacepoker (they don't have the free cents SNG anymore, I think) but you get the idea, then moved to every other site, whored a lot of casinos, and made $38K in my 1st year playing low limits (i.e.: 2-4 and lower). I'm shooting for $75K this year, and I don't consider myself any good at all. Just play tight and put in the hours. It's easy to double BR every month till you have $50 K.

Never gamble on credit. It's tough enough on your mind as it is.

[MMMMMM]

This is only a good idea for those who have been winning pretty consistently for years, and who have just experienced some unusual financial disaster, such as unexpected high medical bills, or lawyer fees to get their first-born out of jail or something.

A non-expert unseasoned poker player has no business borrowing over $100 to play poker on at credit card interest rates. And if you are good and bonus whore as well and play low, you have a pretty good shot with your $50 right now (as long as living expenses aren't too high).

If I were you I would try it with exactly $100 instead of $50, in order to give myself a little more of a shot and protection at low limits. And THAT'S IT. You should be able to build up from $100 if you are good and diligent at micro-limits. If you can't then you are probably not yet as good as you think and should study more instead of gambling for a while. And if you fail on that $100 don't try it again 'til you have paid off that $100 debt on your card first. Then you should find someone who needs help with some painting or yard work or moving, and earn instead of borrow your next $100 shot.

[captZEEbo1]

are you planning on being a winning player. Playing within your limit, etc. Or are you going to be dumb, play out of your limit, and go for a big SCORE? If you are going to go for a big score, feel free to play with me =P

If you want to make poker your a parttime job, it's okay to do it on borrowed money, but you should be fairly confident that you are a winning player before you do it on borrowed money...

[SteveT1966]

I'm pretty new at this, so maybe I'm off on a tangent here, but wouldn't this be a good strategy?:

1. Open a Neteller acct if you don't have one.
2. Deposit $500 into Neteller using the credit card.
3. Deposit that $500 into Party/skin that you've never used before.
4. Withdraw $400 immediately back into Neteller.
5. Dump that $400 into your bank account.
6. Write a check to your credit card company for $400.
7. Play 500 raked hands to collect your $100 bonus.
8. If you've played break-even poker, you'll now have a $200 BR. You can either withdraw the last $100 of your original deposit and just play with your "free" money, or continue on with your doubled bankroll.
9. Repeat if desired with other skins.

You'll pay a few dollars in interest over the course of this little game, but nowhere near the 20% ROI you'll get from the bonus.

And of course, from there continue on with standard bonus whoring techniques.

For myself, I do have a job and some savings so I didn't need to gamble on credit. After an initial loss of a couple hundred bucks in $50 increments, which I chalked up as a learning experience, in December I bought and studied a couple books and deposited $500 into Empire. I've been a modest winner but a pretty successful whore [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]. My goal is to win/bonus-whore my way to a $500 bankroll with money I didn't deposit.

I've already withdrawn $225 from bonuses that I estimate as my initial losses. As I clear new bonuses I'm immediately withdrawing them and will till I clear an additional $500, at which point I'll just let the BR grow (with occasional withdrawals to fund special nights out/gifts to ensure domestic harmony [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]).

Anyhow, that's the path I'm on...