I just found this site three days ago. The first day I ran into this site I read all of the articles off of the main page. I love reading about poker strategy and theories. I then moved on to these forums.
Over the last couple of days I've read every single post in the Bankroll Management forum. I just now came over to this section of the forums and figured that it might be fun to give this a shot. I think documenting how I'm doing will help my long term profit.
I started playing online poker about 6 months ago. I had played maybe once a month or once every two months before that for a couple of years at a home game. We usually just played dealer calls it though.

After watching several WPT events and the 2003/2004 World Series of Poker, I really started getting into the game. I was depositing $50 into pokerstars just about every week. I played .05/.10 for about 20 minutes, then moved up to .50/1.00 no limit. Needless to say I was WAY above where I should have been playing. I had been consistently dropping money and just throwing more into it. Just a couple of weeks ago I had deposited $100 into Ultimate Bet and started playing the $3/$6 game. I got down to about $30 and decided to quit. A couple $5 and $10 SNG's and I wasn't in good shape. I currently have a little over $19. I've managed to make this last for about a week, but I'm not playing nearly as much as I used to. I consider myself a fairly decent player and so for the life of me could not figure out why that $50 wasn't converting to profits.

I never really thought about playing above my bankroll until I was reading these forums. That's kind of a surprise considering I've read a few different poker books. I don't know that they really mentioned it. They may have, but they definitely did not emphasize the importance of playing within your bankroll. These forums were so incredibly insightful as far as guiding me in the right direction. I really feel like I'll be able to make that $19 last forever just by reading the ideas in the Bankroll forum.

I have PokerTracker and just downloaded GameTime+. I was able to play poker today for the first time with GT+ and it was such a huge difference. It really keeps you aware of your BB/100. That's another thing I never really put much thought into until coming to these forums.

I really only play No Limit and Fixed Limit. While here at work I have come up with the following guideline to use after reading through the forums:

Fixed Limit Guidelines
.05/.10 = Minimum bankroll of $30
.10/.25 = Minimum bankroll of $75
.25/.50 = Minimum bankroll of $150
.50/1.00 = Minimum bankroll of $300
1.00/2.00 = Minimum bankroll of $600
2.00/4.00 = Minimum bankroll of $1200
3.00/6.00 = Minimum bankroll of $1800
4.00/8.00 = Minimum bankroll of $2400
5.00/10.00 = Minimum bankroll of $3000
10.00/20.00 = Minimum bankroll of $6000
20.00/40.00 = Minimum bankroll of $12000
40.00/80.00 = Minimum bankroll of $24000

No Limit Guideline
$2 max buy-in = $40
$10 max buy-in = $200
$25 max buy-in = $500
$50 max buy-in = $1000
$100 max buy-in = $2000
$200 max buy-in = $4000
$500 max buy-in = $10000
$1000 max buy-in = $20000

I plan on sticking to this until the end. This plan really emphasizes patience and discipline and also should prevent me from going broke. I love tournaments, but I don't plan on playing in any unless I have 20 times the buy in. Considering I'm starting this with $19 it will probably take some time, but I'm looking forward to starting this plan.

I will post here after each playing session with my thoughts and as a way to keep track of how well my bankroll is growing.

One quick thought.

Assuming you're a winning player.... I think it's better to move up quickly through the lower limits, and then have a higher bankroll for the higher limits.

What I'm saying is.. $100 is replaceable...so you can gamble that a little. But when you get up to $5000..it's not replaceable. So I think your bankroll minimum. requirements should start out lower (say 10 buys in for NL) but then go significantly higher. When you are playing 5/1NL0...you may want 40 buyins..because there is no way you can replace 20k-40k...understand?? The higher you go..the less risk to your bankroll the better.

It's a difficult concept..i picked it up from some random mike caro article. It makes sense if you think about it.

Yeah, I definitely understand what you mean. I appreciate your input. What I'm trying to accomplish at this point is sticking it out with the $19 I have left and trying to build up from there. So I'm taking the approach that it would be difficult to replace it. Obviously it's not, but I wanted to attain that level of discpline at the early stages so that it's nothing new to me later on.

Ahh, where to begin. After reading through kennyg's journal and a couple other's, I came to the realization that I was playing way too many hands. My VP$IP was around 33% for my first 3,500 hands or so in Poker Tracker. When I saw that I should be about half that, I couldn't believe it. I was about a break even player when playing that many hands, so I knew if I cut down my VP$IP percentage, I could really start turning profit.

I took my new strategy into a table $10 NL buy-in table on UB. About 80 hands into it, I was up to $12.20. Nothing major, but I was playing about 21% of the hands. Still too high, but much better than 33%. With all the times I was folding, it got me thinking. Thinking that I should try multi-tabling! I did this for about a half hour and was up about $3.20 on the three tables. It was at this time that I decided to scrap my PT database and start anew.

So on Saturday, August 7th, I officially began my goal of one day becoming a poker professional. I realize I'm still probably a couple years away, but it has to start sometime right? Well, I started this process with $29.63 in my account. I've decided that I'm going to continue playing the $10 NL tables until I hit $400 to $500, and then move up.

I took the $29.63 and 3 tabled on UB for a few hours Saturday and logged nearly 1,400 hands. It's amazing how many hands you can log when you multi-table, lol. I had around 3,500 hands in about a month prior to yesterday. I'm currently up to $53. Nothing major, but a 79% bankroll increase in a 24 hour span is something I'll be happy about. I lost a $19 pot when I was all-in preflop with AA vs KK. He hit his K on the flop to take me down. The great thing about it was, with all three tables combined I was only down $1 after that hand. That also takes into account a $5.50 SNG that I placed 4th in. If I would have just stuck with the cash games, I would have had nearly a 100% bankroll increase yesterday.

I've logged 18 sessions at the .5/.10 - $10 buy-in tables. Of those 18, I've had 14 winning sessions. My VP$IP % is at 18.92. I still want to get this down to around 16. My PFR% is at 5.42%. After 1,400 hands PT has me rated as a Tight-Aggressive. My Aggression Factor is 2.67. I want this over 3.00 so that I can get the Tight-Aggressive/Aggressive rating.

So far I'm very pleased with my early results. When I hit the 5,000 hand mark I should have a much better idea of how well this is working for me. So far so good.

Check out Pokerchamps for some soft low buy-in NL games. The problem is that it doesn't work with PT, but the bonus is that you really don't need it to.

You do get real-time stats for your play at each table, so this can help keep a player in line for a session with regards to VP$IP, etc.

10k would be a good number. 20k is better


You better get a handle on tilting or you'll lose all your money quick..especially with the short bankroll you have. 10 buyins is workable for a winning player..but certainly isn't a guarentee for success.

My personal recomendation for you is to just play 2 tables for now. Get a better handle of NL ring before you go full blown into it. There's lots of little things you need to learn, that you can only learn from experience and concentration.

Well, I was up 2 buy-ins and had a BBPT/100 of 12 after 1,100 hands at the $25 NL level. I played this afternoon and managed to lose three buy-ins before I even knew what hit me!!! Now I have a negative BBPT/100 after 1,300 hands! My how quick things can change.

Kennyg, I'm definitely going to take your advice and go back to just two tables. When I multitable 4 at a time, I don't play with GT+. I'm going to go back to using it on two tables and see if I can crawl back up to the $250 mark.

I set my goal at making $50 a week at the $25 NL table. I was up $53 after 2 days of play, but now I need to make $80 in the next five days to reach my goal.

From what I read so far... I assume you haven't read too many books on poker? I HIGHLY recommend reading Dan Harrington's No Limit books. They are simply mandatory for anyone serious about playing poker. For limit, I highly recommend Winning Low Limit Hold'Em by Jones, and Small Stakes Hold'Em by Miller and Sklansky.

I was depositing $50 into pokerstars just about every week. I played .05/.10 for about 20 minutes, then moved up to .50/1.00 no limit. Needless to say I was WAY above where I should have been playing. I had been consistently dropping money and just throwing more into it. Just a couple of weeks ago I had deposited $100 into Ultimate Bet and started playing the $3/$6 game. I got down to about $30 and decided to quit. A couple $5 and $10 SNG's and I wasn't in good shape. I currently have a little over $19. I've managed to make this last for about a week, but I'm not playing nearly as much as I used to. I consider myself a fairly decent player and so for the life of me could not figure out why that $50 wasn't converting to profits.

I don't know how you figured yourself a decent player after losing that much money so consistently. Re-read that paragraph and tell me you really think you were a decent player there.

It sounds like you're on the right track now. I still highly recommend doing some reading on the subject.

hey ace... im playing at a table with you.. but i dont really like talking on UB chat much..
so dont think im a rude bastard

would rather chat here..

also dont like the fact that ppl could look me up on this site and get a better understanding of how i play..

Escape...I said I consider myself a decent player now...not then. I've actually read several books on the subject, including Harrington's. Although, I haven't picked up the second edition yet.

Stoiter, it was good playing with ya. I understand what you mean when you're talking about people reading your thoughts on the subject and then playing against you.

I got home tonight and was up nearly $50 in about 20 minutes. Twice I was dealt QQ and was able to break two players. Had nearly $70 at the $25 buy-in. Then about half an hour later, I got QQ again! Was all-in against JJ. He rivered a J and that brought me all the way back down to $25.

Amazingly, just got QQ again on the same table. That's 4 times 61 hands. Was all-in after the flop when I tripped the Q. Opponent had KK. That was a $23 pot...doesn't quite make up for the $63 pot I lost with them...but in the end I'm ahead. Right now, I'm loving the ladies.

It's been a little bit since I've updated this. Let me just say I think I've found my style of game. First off, in order to get more in my bankroll I've decided I'm going to be a whore. I mean, bonus whore. Caribbean Sun has a 100% bonus up to $50, and they also pay out $40 a month every time you play 200 raked hands. I joined up on August 31st and put in $50. I had a bankroll of around $320 at the time.

I played $1/$2 for a while, and realized that I need to be playing $2/$4 to clear the bonus. I took my whopping $40 and hit the $2/$4-6 handed tables. I was able to get to $100 before trying the $3/$6. I wanted to clear the $40 bonus in August, so that I could get another $40 bonus in September. Things worked out so well, that I went on to have the best day I've ever had. I ended up making $398 in about 5 hours of play. $90 of that was due to bonus money. I was able to rack up another $133 today at the $3/$6-6 max games as well, and cleared the other $40 in bonus money. I've since deposited at InterPoker and have $120 bonus dollars there. I plan on clearing that this weekend. I really like the Crypto bonuses.

My bankroll is now floating around $850. If it weren't for bonus whoring, I would have never thought the $3/$6-6 max would be something I enjoy playing. The only reason I started to was because you can clear the bonus quicker since you play about 100 hands an hour. I love the quick action and definitely feel that it's my best game. I'm hoping to hit the $1,000 mark this weekend. I thought I was a couple months off from hitting the $1,000 mark, but now I know I have a realistic chance at hitting it soon.