Poker bankroll + Life bankroll

[soko]

It's often dicussed how important it is to be well bankrolled for the game you are going to play not only to keep yourself protected from a bad run of cards then going on tilt from the shock. What about your other, personal money?

I work 9-5 making [censored] pay in one of the most expensive places to live in America, already being super thrifty with my money I am still only able to stash about $400 a month of savings money which i still need to dip in to a few times a year for big purchases.

I noticed after my last big purchase (new computer+winter clothes, ~$3500) my personal savings have dipped down to $2000 while my poker bankroll is around $3500 and ever since then I have become very easy to tilt on the smallest downswings at games I am overbankrolled for, I have voice in my head telling me $2000 isn't enough for emergency money, if you lose your poker bankroll you will be DOOMED. I log in to my online bank account 3-4 times a day after every purchase I make, and check my poker bankroll like every half hour while im playing.

I'm cutting down my playing now, gonna spend more time reading books and only single table now $2/$4 limit (instead of $100NL/$200NL which was playing havoc on my emotions) instead of multi table to monitor my tilt better.

How frustrating.

[jaydub]

Your poker bankroll should not exceed your "life bankroll". Assuming you are beating 100NL, cash out 1500-2000 and continue to play 100NL. Playing single table 2/4 is silly if you are beating multi table 100NL. Get the "life bankroll" to 5K-ish off 100NL profits and then work towards moving up to 200NL, assuming you beat that as well. That's what I would do.

[rwanger]

I find that I tilt MUCH less when I'm NOT looking at the balance of my poker account. You are a winning player, you need to keep playing your winning game. Don't worry about "only" having $2000 in savings, because if you REALLY need it, you have your poker bankroll as well.

What you do need to worry about is PLAYING YOUR BEST. You can't do that if you feel like this is money you can't lose. I've stopped checking my poker balance ENTIRELY until after I'm done with a session, and it makes a BIG difference. I play 2-4 tables, and sometimes it will look like I was up $1000 in a night, but when I check my balance, I'm up $600 because I didn't realize that I had a ton of short rebuys early in the session. If I had been watching my balance each time I had to reload, I would have been unhappy about the $400 I had "lost", and surely not have played as well for the remainder of the session.

You are overbankrolled for your limit, that's good. You have the luxury of not needing to watch your balance everytime it changes. Be thankful for that, it will allow you to play better...if you have the right mindset.

[onegymrat]

Hi Soko,

Although you should know the risk of poker, it is gambling after all, it is probably less optimal if you have to worry about how much money you have left all the time. It doesn't matter if you're a great player or not, if you only have $2k as personal savings, perhaps it's time to reevaluate the limits that you play. Unless you live with your parents and have no bills whatsoever, you really should step down to a limit in which it is virtually impossible to lose all your bankroll, thereby, playing your best game without worries and looking into your account all the time. This will surely bring more enjoyment to your playing. The less stress you put on yourself the better, especially since this game does a great job with putting stress on us already. Good luck.

[mindflayer]

Inside the Poker Mind (Feeney) read it.
Golden rule = play your best every hand

In general, you sound like your play is in danger
of being affected by your need for financial security.
Never gamble with money you cannot afford to lose
in reality or EMotionally.
I had a good friend Very well off who can day trade 50k on a single investment. The first time i took him gambling he lost $20 at his first spin of roulette and he was WRECKED for the rest of the evening.

[Sciolist]

Jesus, I've never had any kind of savings until recently, and I don't save $400 per month, that's for sure (and I earn +50% London average wage).

What are you saving for exactly? What kind of emergency requires more than $2k?

I just don't find that I consider poker money as real. My poker bankroll has been larger than my "savings" (or debt, as they used to be called) for pretty much all my poker-playing life, except lately.

I guess what you really need isn't related to real life savings (that should really never impact on your poker at all), but a detatchment from your poker money. Poker money isn't real. I found that it really helped me that I've only ever deposited $250 online, and that's all it will ever be - I've cashed out significantly more.

I don't think that'll really help you in this case, but what will help is a detachment from the poker money. You simply can't think to yourself "right, do I bet the money that could buy me fifty pints of beer here, or do I pass?"

I'm a big believer in the theory that "scared money never wins"

That said, I believe that anyone who is going to count on gambling as a source of income should have at least a year of "life" expenses socked away, completely separate from your gambling bankroll.

If your gambling bankroll dissolves, get a job, but don't touch the year's worth of savings.

[PokerAce]

[ QUOTE ]
What are you saving for exactly? What kind of emergency requires more than $2k?

[/ QUOTE ]

Are you serious? If you own a house, there are countless things that could happen that would require more than $2,000 to fix. If you own an automobile, any decent problem could cost $2,000 or more. $2,000 is really not a lot of money, especially for a poker player.

Also, are you planning on working every day until the day you die? I don't know about you, but I plan on retiring so I don't have to worry about working. The only way this will happen is if I save an enormous amount of money. Good luck retiring on $2,000. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]