How did you build your bankroll in the beginning?

[lemonPeel]

Hi everyone, I've been kind of a lurker in the 2+2 forums for quite a while now. But, I recently set aside 3000 dollars to play small stakes hold'em in B&M casinos. My question is how did alot of you guys build your bankrolls when you first started out? I play mostly 2-4 and 3-6, mostly 2-4 and I usually scout out tables that are loose passive and follow the guidelines in the SSH red book by Sklansky, Malmuth and Miller. I've managed to build my bankroll up to about 3900 playing 2-4 and took some shots in some small buy-in tournaments and happen to place 1st once, 2nd once and 3rd once and also scored a couple of wins in cheap tournaments online and now bankroll is over 7000! My question is, should I try to move up in limits or should I stay at the same limit 2-4/3-6?

One last question, do you guys think its possible to make a living play small stakes? Especially if you don't have many commitments other than rent and utility bills? Would it be pushing to hard to expect to make about 2000 dollars per month playing 2-4 and 3-6 hold'em in B&M casinos?

Any responses would be appreciated! Thanks in advance guys.

[eric5148]

[ QUOTE ]
Would it be pushing to hard to expect to make about 2000 dollars per month playing 2-4 and 3-6 hold'em in B&M casinos?

[/ QUOTE ]

Not live, but you could do it online.

[baronzeus]

I built my bankroll using Instant Bankroll (a promo by PokerSourceOnline I think) that gave me $75 to start off.

I just started up at .5/1, won the 5K freeroll that party gives, moved up to 1/2, dabbled in NL, now in 2/4.

My bankroll resides at 2.5K with no withdrawals from my bank account.

If you think you are a good player you should play limits you are comfortable at. I'm moving up to 3/6 as soon as a few hundred dollars means less to me, because 20 or 30BBs at this level seems like quite a bit to me.

Good luck!

[squeek12]

I'm kinda in the same situation as you. I just graduated college and am going to law school in August, but I can't get the kind of job I would like since I would have to leave it in 3 months.

So I thought about trying to play 3/6 live since I thought I could make at least $10/hr doing what I love instead of maybe $12-15/hr. doing something god awful.

I've since discovered Party Poker 2/4 multi-tabling. Through about 10,000 hands I am winning about 2BB/100 hands, which ends up being about $13/hr playing 3 tables at once.

[lemonPeel]

How come it can't be done playing live? I don't know why, but I really like to play poker in an actual cardroom. The feel of those plastic cards, the real poker chips and the atmosphere just is like no other. And, I don't know if it is just me, but whenever I try to play online 2-4 or 3-6 hold'em, it just seems like there are only about 2-3 players per pot and usually it is raised before the flop too. At the cardrooms here in southern california, it is not uncommon to see 5-6 players limping into pots. So in a sense, its much easier for me to control the table at a cardroom then it is on a site like party poker where most of the games it seems are either tight/passive or loose/aggressive. I don't like either types of games and prefer the live loose/passive type games.

[brazilio]

Bonus whoring the party skins and stars has done wonders for my initial bankroll. Approximately 3k or so of my initial br was entirely from party reloads/first deposit bonuses. I can't possibly see you making 2-3k a month in brick and mortars at 2/4 and 3/6. The games might be wild and crazy, but 30 hands an hour [censored] blows.

[shant]

I put aside some money from my savings. Since I had been playing 2/4 and 3/6 at Commerce, I jumped online and thought I should be playing 3/6. When I say jumped online I mean I deposited like $150 bucks and thought that was good enough. Who knows what I was doing because I won 300BB in like a week, and then the next couple weeks dropped back most of it. Then I dropped to 2/4 with what was left.

[666]

It can't be done live because you do not play enough hands per hour live. Also, you can definitely make a living playing small stakes online. There are people who make $3,000 + a month playing 1/2 and 2/4.

[Chris Daddy Cool]

i built up my bankroll by selling crack.

[lemonPeel]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm kinda in the same situation as you. I just graduated college and am going to law school in August, but I can't get the kind of job I would like since I would have to leave it in 3 months.

So I thought about trying to play 3/6 live since I thought I could make at least $10/hr doing what I love instead of maybe $12-15/hr. doing something god awful.

I've since discovered Party Poker 2/4 multi-tabling. Through about 10,000 hands I am winning about 2BB/100 hands, which ends up being about $13/hr playing 3 tables at once.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I have a job that pays 20 bucks an hour, but I really don't like the work or the atmosphere there and really want to play poker for a while until I decide what I want to do with my life. Would it be crazy if I quit to play 2-4? I think about poker all day, I have a whole library of poker books that I have bought and read over and over again. I read all the card player magazines, bought the WPT DVD season 1 and 2 and watch the pros play. Alot of people think im some compulsive addicted gambler, but I don't think I am. I don't get upset when I lose and have on many occasions left a casino down over a hundred dollars with no regrets about it. I think in terms of the decisions I made over the night, not whether I won the pot or not. I play this game because I really enjoy playing it! So much so, that I'm really thinking about giving up a decent job to play it full time. Am I crazy to want to give up a sure thing and take a risk to do what I really love to do?