Help me get rid of cashout syndrome!

[xLukex]

Well, I started playing in March. I've played about 200,000 hands, and I'm certainly a winning player at the lower limits. I started with $10 at Pokerroom and my bankroll is now $700. I'm playing 1/2 6max.

Anyways, I have a sheet of paper marking all my cashouts from Neteller to my bank account. Over $3,000.

Now I'm not saying that if I had kept that money in there I would be playing 10/20 or anything, but I feel I can beat 3/6 (I just don't have the roll).

Some of the money was cashed out for my security deposit, car insurance, and smaller things like that. But then again, I also bought a 2001FP, $200 computer speakers, books, records, clothes, etc.

How can I get rid of this mental block? I know that if I get up to $1200 and start 4-tabling 2/4 full I can definitely win and be on the road to winning much more. Instead I am stuck at 1/2 because I lack any sort of discipline. What is the easiest way to do this? Keep in mind I do need to cash out $100-$200 a month to keep myself on my feet. I live in an apartment with a friend of mine. I do have a job obviously. I just like using poker to live comfortable or something.

Any suggestions? And I know I'm not the first to have this problem. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Thanks!

I have a 2k roll, would be 3500 if I didnt cashout. I am regretting cashing out, espeically since I am still moving up levels. A $700 BR should ahve no problem getting to $1200; do some bonus whoring and in no time you'll have enough. Just try not to cashout until you despritely need the cash. Also, if you think you could beat 3/6 consistantly, look for someone that is willing to stake you and take 25% of your profits for a year or something like that.

And on a final note... Have you been at pokerroom this whole time? A 1/2 2/4 player NEEEEEEDS to take advantage of bonuses.

[Pog0]

the 3/6 games on pokerroom aren't very good and there aren't very many of them. No reason to shy away from the 2/4s though, and then maybe look for a bigger site.

[xLukex]

No I only played Pokerroom until I built it up to $50. Then I signed up at Empire. I'm thinking that if I do the IGMPay bonuses at Party (still exist?), Starluck, and Planetluck, I will be back at $1,000 (hopefully more) and I can find a couple little casino bonuses to get me moving.

Anyways, how do I stop the cashouts?

[TimsterToo]

[ QUOTE ]
Anyways, how do I stop the cashouts?

[/ QUOTE ]

Besides simply not cashing out?

Give yourself clear goals.

I started out in feb and after my girlfriend noticed I was not losing all my money but had finally found a hobby that actually made me some. (we have a babygirl and a bloody big dog that needs to be fed, I can't tell her to mind her own business [img]/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img])

My initial deposit was 100$ which I lost within 2 days, then I smartened up and started reading, my second deposit was another 100$ and I've never looked back. I promised my GF that any amount over 1000$ would be used for "good" things. The first thing that was carried into the house was a new 600$ washingdryer and after that I bought myself a squash outfit and a 3 month subscription to the gym (if I would include a picture of me you'd agree that that is a "good" thing [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img])

Now I've decided to bring my bankroll up to 2000$ so I can definitely move up to 2/4 3/6 (I'm handling myself at 2/4 momentarily but would feel better with a bigger buffer)and only cash out sums higher then that.

That and to me my pokermoney is not real money. I don't see it as an extension of my bank account. I've cashed out the initial 200$ so I'm only playing with my profits. So when I think about how much money I have to do stuff I never add up my pokerfunds to that.

Hope this helps, works for me!

[rwanger]

You need to go a month or two, or even three without cashing out. You have a real job, which pays for all of your necessities.

I just got a real job myself, and realized that if I only get a few hours a day to play...I might as well make it worth my time. Moving up to a higher level DOES make it more worth your time. Take a few months off of "the good life", and when you move up, your hourly rate will almost double.

Sound great right?

[captZEEbo1]

[ QUOTE ]
Some of the money was cashed out for my security deposit, car insurance, and smaller things like that. But then again, I also bought a 2001FP, $200 computer speakers, books, records, clothes, etc.

[/ QUOTE ]All bolded items were mistake purchases unless you want to remain playing $1/2 forever. Pretend your poker bankroll is not allowed to be touched (like a retirement account). That is, until you hit a really comfortable limit and plan on settling down there for awhile. You should be making all those other purchases with your other job.

[LearnedfromTV]

I made a similar post a while back, although my sin wis withdrawing from bankroll to invest rather than spend. A better sin, but one that was still frustrating from a poker perspective.

If I had kept all of the poker winnings and never cashed out, my bankroll be in great shape. On the other hand, I'm glad I put some money away during the time when I wasn't sure how good I was. Part of my dilemma was that I won some big tournaments but felt like I wasn't good enough to play higher limits and the bankroll was wasting itself if I didn't pull it out and invest it.

But I was overdoing it. I realized that continuing to downgrade my bankroll to 500-1K every time I built it up was making me choose between playing at a lower level than I wanted to and playing above my (reduced) bankroll to feel like I could earn enough to make the time spent worth it.

My compromise with myself was to restart with 5K and set a withdrawal schedule based on bankroll size. Each time I cross a 1K landmark (6K/7K/etc.), I pull $100, first time a cross a 10K, I pull 1K. Something like this might work for you, if you really need to make withdrawals. Given that a good portion of your poker money is going to spending that should, in theory, be taken care of from your job (monthly expenses and luxuries both), you probably should sit down and make a budget (that excludes poker as a source of income). Your problem might be a spending/savings/budgeting type problem as much as a poker bankroll problem.

In general, you need to realize that poker is a hobby you would play anyway, and that the way to make it most profitable as an investment/source of income, given that you are going to play x hours a week, is to have a real bankroll so that you are best utilizing that time.

[AceHiStation]

I used to have this same issue. Last time I cashed out I left 10k in my account, its now up to 22k and I still haven't cashed out. Playing with more bank in the account will make you a much better player. I played 3/6NL 6-max with a 10K balance, until I hit a 20k balance. First time I could lost a few $600 buyins and not be concerned at all. Since moving up in limits I've been swinging a bit and won't cashout until I hit 30k at 5/10 or even more if I move to 10/20. All of my lower stakes friends cashout whenever they double their initial buyin, horrible mistake. My roommate from college I've finally talked into not cashing out and he's up 5X his buyin the last week, and I told him to wait till 2K and then he can cashout $500. He's crushing the games and playing a lot more confidently, especially after taking the bad beats that come with 100NL.

-Ace