Small Stakes Bankroll

[Admania]

Hi all

I've been playing 1/2 holdem for about 3 months now across 3 different sites and although I've had my ups and downs in each of them I have more than doubled my initial bankroll of $100 and in some cases it's much better than that, so I feel my game is heading in the right direction after what must be a few thousand hands. I play a tight game about 20% of all hands and seem to do ok.
I recently opened an account at Party Poker with $100 as I heard the play there was worse than average. Early on I did ok but then this week , for the first time I experienced going broke in my account after losing with initially the best hand time and time again and being rivered. I don't feel I played badly but although I kept my emotional game in tact it was very very hard and personally I wouldn't recommend it for outright beginners as the tilt factor to me seems very high.
My question is have you ever lost this equivalent bank and should I continue to play there and put this down as a minor setback? Your comments/ experiences would be much appreciated.
Cheers
Adam

[Tosh]

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My question is have you ever lost this equivalent bank and should I continue to play there and put this down as a minor setback? Your comments/ experiences would be

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Don't worry, everyone has been there.

[rayrns]

Your starting bankroll is too small for $1/2 games. I think you would want $500 to $600 to comfortably handle the swings at this level.

[Styles]

I'm also a new player and playing $1/$2 too.

One thing I see is alot of people confuse the concepts of BankRoll and BuyIn.

IMHO $100 is a large BuyIn at $1/$2 but a small BankRoll.

I think most here use 20 or 25BB, but, I'm using 30BB = $60 as a BuyIn for $1/$2.

300BB = $600 is my BankRoll. Still fairly light, but, so far I only dipped into it once for the first BuyIn of $60. Fingers Crossed [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Ian M.]

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My question is have you ever lost this equivalent bank and should I continue to play there and put this down as a minor setback? Your comments/ experiences would be much appreciated.
Cheers
Adam

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Don't worry about it, depending on how loose and how aggressive your table is at party, you can have wild swings to your bankroll. Last night I was playing there on two 1/2 tables at a time...the one table I was up $80 and the other I was down about $80 (almost down to the felt). Don't worry, If you keep playing solid poker you will make the money in the end.

[Ian M.]

Personally I have a bankroll of just around $400 for the 1/2 games but I have a large buyin, about $100. I feel a lot more comfortable when I have a lot of money in front of me. I also know that I feel a psychological impact of having to rebuy at the table, so I buy-in with lots so I never have to. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Styles]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
My question is have you ever lost this equivalent bank and should I continue to play there and put this down as a minor setback? Your comments/ experiences would be

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Don't worry, everyone has been there.

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Reading this I realize I failed to answer the question.

Yes!

I have already had a slide where I lost 91BBs at the end of a week. However, this was after a gross gain of 90BBs at the end of the previous week and so represented a net loss of only 1BB overall. I quickly gained 80BBs back the next week and then lost 34BBs the next week. Holding a 45BB Net Gain after the first month.

Seems pretty common and I'm trying to see the bright side which is I'm still at a Net Gain however pitiful ($90).

[Styles]

[ QUOTE ]
Personally I have a bankroll of just around $400 for the 1/2 games but I have a large buyin, about $100. I feel a lot more comfortable when I have a lot of money in front of me. I also know that I feel a psychological impact of having to rebuy at the table, so I buy-in with lots so I never have to. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

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I see people regularly BuyIn with $10 and go broke, rebuy, and go broke again, over and over at my table. In these instances I think their BuyIn is just not large enough to sustain the variance of the $1/$2 session.

At $60 BuyIn, I think going broke at the table means that either THEY (my competitors) or MYSELF are creating bad conditions for me to win, so I would never rebuy at the same table.

If I thought it was me (tilt), I would quit for a while.
If I thought it was them (better or wild players, even collusion), I would rebuy into a different table.

I don't really have to be right about Why, just Who.

At $100 BuyIn I would feel much more strongly that it was more than a 'normal variance' due to the cards and I would not continue to play that table.

Just my opinion.

[MrDannimal]

FWIW, at UB the defauly buyin is 50 times the big bet (so $50 at a .50/1 table and $100 at a 1/2 table). I just use the default because I'm lazy.

That said, I agree that a $100 bankroll (full amount in the account) isn't enough to play through swings at a 1/2 table, while it's plenty to sit down with.

[bushky]

Yes!

I know the feeling. I started playing for small stakes at UB, and promptly lost my buy in three times. Only $100 each time, but one of the hard parts was figuring out where to play.

Once I started playing Sit n Go's, and 2/4 it seemed like the luck factor started to be taken out, with less in on every flop.

So, my bankroll started to grow, and as it did, I thought i would try the 3/6 tables. Hmmmm.... Well, that didn't work as well, so I went back to the 2/4 tables. My $200 went from down $200, back to even, up to $1,000 and now back down to $350.

So, fluctuations can be severe, and game selection makes it even harder to tell what's right.

Any ideas from y'all about when "skill" begins to be important, rather than patience? (I tried .05/.10 NL Hold em, but didn't have the patience)

And when and how do you decide whether to move up or not?

thanks in advance

bushky