Making 15k a month to losing everything I have in world...

[Omahaking]

Hey all for past year or so I have averaged 10-15k a month profit playing at 4 sites...Things were going great I bought a home, a cadillac, an 8,000 dollar ring for my lady etc...I had every toy I ever wanted and of course had a sick bank roll... I really was living the poker players dream until the last month...in March I committed suicide on my bank roll...I actually had to ask my father for a loan to pay my house payment. I have no other income source and my bank roll is at 0.00 as we speak. I have lost it all in a month. I was losing 8k a day some days at party poker 1k buy in plo 8 and plo. Then I moved up to 100 200 on a couple sites and bamm another 30k gone in a week...My only saving grace is I have 9k in my ameritrade account invested in various stocks I bought with poker winnings. The question is besides buy a gun and rent a bullet what now? I am 26 with 1/2 of a college degree and an amazing amount of cash needed to sustain my monthly bills now as I was living VERY high on the hog. Any advice would be appreciated as my psyche is not doing well after the past month...

Ken

[jeffraider]

Get a job.

Seriously, if you went on a month-long rampage to lose your massive bankroll, you MUST get a steady job and do the best you can to reduce your monthly living expensive. Having a tilty night or couple of days is one thing, but ruining your bankroll when poker is your only source of income is another.

Get a job.

[Omahaking]

Not exactly the response I was looking for..was looking for ideas on rebuilding my BR quickly etc?

[Bodhi]

You busted yourself by playing in games that were too tough for you and too big. The last thing you need now is to find a few more grand and go back to those games.

My advice is to sell the cadillac and get a sensible car. Then sell the other junk you don't need. Last, and most important, get a job and complete college.

[Bodhi]

What temerity! If we don't trust you with another BR, why would you trust yourself? You suffer from greed and a lack of caution/discipline. You could have played in smaller games and lived a more modest life, gone on a losing streak, and still have plenty of money left over.

My original response was much softer, but your response about getting another BR quickly is outrageous.

[MicroBob]

I think I have to agree with Jeff here.

you went on a losing streak and then moved UP to 100/200 to try to get it back? not a good idea (but you know this now I supposed).


People ask me how I can possibly play poker for a living?? What about the stress of not making enough money to pay the bills, etc.

I ALWAYS have the mind-set that if my bank-roll gets to a certain point I can always just go back to the real work-universe (which I may do at some point anyway if I feel like it).
I also have the mind-set that if I go on a losing stretch at 15/30 that I can always go back to 5/10. If I'm not cutting it at 5/10 then I will probably need to step back to 3/6...and then to multi-tabling 2/4 and bonus-chasing, etc etc.


For your bank-roll to be at ZERO is really something.
If you were still playing at 100/200 when you were down to your last $10k or so (50BB's) and just sat there as it went down to zero then you really need to re-analyze.

Obviously I don't know if this is what you did.....but I sense it is a possibility.




To answer your question more to your satisfaction you may wish to consult Homer's thread on 'building a bankroll for newbies'. But this probably isn't as fast as you're hoping to build your bankroll.


If you're looking for a sure-fire way to quadruple-up your $9000 quickly with little risk...well....there isn't any.
If you want to stay in poker then you need to play within your limits. If playing within your limits will not allow you to pay all of your expenses then you'll either need to work that much harder OR you'll need to get a job.

[Omahaking]

The actual numbers for march were 122k gone from the 4 sites I played on. I did lose the last 10k at 100 200 as Bob figured...yes 100 200 is WAY to high for 10k but I was comfortable there when I had 45k there and just didnt slow down like an idiot. I dont really know what my next step is...my living expenses are over 4800 minimum a month right now...the get a job idea is fine but in same breath not many jobs pay 5gs a month for a non college graduate who's only played poker last 4 years....I am a fool for doing what I did but I imagine im not only one whos ever played to ruin.

[MicroBob]

If you're just wondering how to re-build your bankroll this is probably not the appropriate forum.


however, your post actually DID find the right place as the psychology of how you got in your situation in the first place needs to be addressed (even though you may or may not be interested in discussing this aspect of your predicament).

[dogmeat]

I feel for you. Don't feel that you are alone, there are millions of gamblers that have done something similar by playing to "ruin". Of course this is why you see so many posts about 300 minimum bb bankroll, the Kelly Criterion, and playing to a bankroll for a 5% or even 2% element of ruin.

Can you build up a quick bankroll from zero? No. Can you sell the Cady and get by for amonth while playing a low limit? Probably. Can your "lady" support you for a while? Only you know that.

A swing of $122K is huge, but don't rent a bullet. If you got there once, you can get there again. BUT - you can't do it FAST.

Dogmeat [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

[MicroBob]

when you were down to $24k you pretty much had enough to play at 10/20 I think.

$14k in reserve for your next 2 months worth of living expenses ($4.8k minimum you say....so I would 'round' it up to $7k/mth to be safer).

And the remaining $10k is your 500BB's at 10/20.
In your shoes I would probably be playing at 5/10 by this point though.


even with a roll of $20-$24k and monthly expenses of only $1.5k/mth one could justify 'playing it safe' and just sticking with the 5/10 for a little while (this is roughly my situation currently).



for $1.2k/week as you are hoping to make.

with a $9k bankroll I believe it is possible for the accomplished multi-tabler but high-risk (and I still would recommend selling stuff anbd/or getting a job).

If you can win 1BB/hr (or roughly 1.3BB/100 on the 5/10 6-max tables)


5/10 6-max X 4 tables = $40/hr
$40/hr X 40 hours = $1600/wk


These types of calculations should be pretty obvious to you anyway.


Also, this is cutting it REALLY close since you will be pulling a LOT of money out of your total bankroll on a regular basis. Personally, I would not be comfortable trying this AT ALL as your risk-of-ruin is pretty high but I do think one could pull it off.
If one were to try to rebuild in this way one would need to have a DEFINITE game-plan for what to do if your bankroll were to fall to $5k or $4k.

Can you sell the car? Can you pull it off at 3/6? At what point will you say "at such-and-such point I will have to leave poker and get a job and maybe re-build my poker bankroll from scratch on the side?"

In other words, grinding your way back at 5/10 can NOT be your only plan as there is a decent chance it won't work.


You're already shown that you're somewhat prone to tilt. blowing through your WHOLE $120k bankroll in one month and staying at a 100/200 tables with your last $10k are evidence of that. Consequently, I might recommend a time-out from poker for a little bit as well as a sale of some of your more pricey toys.