Building a bankroll (For newbies)

[Homer]

Recently, I've seen a lot of posts from newbies asking what site they should start out at with a $100 bankroll. Many of the responses suggested Party Poker, which I believe is flat-out horrible advice. The reason is that when you're starting with such a small amount of cash, the money you make from bonuses is going to dwarf the money you make from actual gameplay (as you move up in limits, bonuses make up a much smaller percentage of your overall profit).

As a new player on a limited bankroll, you need to make sure you receive the maximum bonus at every site to survive. If you deposit at Party first, you will not be doing this. You'll be missing out on $75, which is 3/4 of your entire bankroll! How are you losing $75, you ask? Well, at Party you are given a choice of either a $25/$25 or 20% up to $100 sign-up bonus. With $100, your best option is the $25/$25, which leaves you $75 short of the maximum bonus offered. What this means is that you should wait until you have $500 before depositing at Party.

So, where should you start? Remember, you want to obtain the maximum bonus at each site, and unfortunately most sites require a deposit of more than $100 to receive such a bonus. However, there are a few exceptions to this, namely some of the Cryptologic sites (Interpoker, Poker Plex, Carribean Sun and Will Hill). The bonuses offered at these sites are as follows:

Interpoker -> $90 for $90 bonus - 450 raked hands
Poker Plex -> $50 bonus - 300 raked hands
Caribbean Sun -> $40 bonus - 250 raked hands
William Hill -> $25 bonus - 5 hrs of play

Starting with your $100, proceed through each of these bonuses. If you breakeven on gameplay, you will have $300 (actually $305) when you're finished. If you suffer some losses and are at less than $200 when all is said and done, do these bonuses again the next month (yes, that's right, these are monthly bonuses!).

Assuming you're now over $200, follow this link to Paradise Poker and enter bonus code GRANNY for a 50% bonus up to $100. The $200 amount is key because that is the amount needed to obtain the maximum bonus. After you clear this bonus, you should have around $400 in your bankroll, assuming breakeven play. Now head back to the Crypto skins (if you haven't already) and get yourself up to that magic $500 mark.

Okay, so you now have $500. Now we're going to start rolling around in big piles of money. Hit up Party and skins, whose sign-up bonuses are as follows:

Party -> 20% to $100 bonus - 500 raked hands
Empire -> 20% to $100 bonus - 500 raked hands
Intertops -> 20% to $100 bonus - 500 raked hands (Use code EARN 20)
Multi -> 25% to $150 bonus - 1500 raked hands

After getting all of these bonuses, go back and get the iGM-Pay bonus from Party and Empire, for another $100 each (for more information on the iGM-Pay bonuses, do a search of the Internet Gambling forum).

For each of these sites, attempt to sign up through a reputable affiliate in order to get a percentage of your rake returned to you at the end of each month. It is preferable to sign up through a site that has express consent to offer rake rebates, such as www.rakereturns.com, than through an individual.

Anyhoo, by now you should have around $1000 in your roll. It's probably about time to hit up the Crypto sites again (you haven't forgotten about them, have you?). Also, you can now whore the following sites, which have good sized bonuses, but games that aren't quite as good as Party's (additionally, you may want to expand into casino whoring, starting with Casino-on-Net, Starluck and Planetluck).

Poker Stars -> No standard sign-up bonus, must wait for a reload (usually 20% to $120)
Ultimate Bet -> 20% to $100 bonus - 1000 player points
Pacific Poker -> 25% to $100 bonus - Wager $2000
Poker Room -> 20% to $100 bonus - 700 player points
Absolute Poker -> 35% to $210 bonus -> 2100 raked hands

Now you'll have $1500-$2000 in your roll, and hopefully have enough experience under your belt to multi-table 2-4 and/or 3-6 and pull in >= $20/hr from gameplay alone. Every so often, you'll receive reloads from Party and skins, and of course you'll still want to take advantage of the Crypto bonuses each month, but the majority of your profits will be from gameplay. Eventually, you'll be 47 tabling 400 NL and $15-30 ala Zee Justin, and the bonuses won't mean jack to you. But they'll always have a place in your heart...

-- Homer

[Homer]

Bump for any newbies who missed this and might be able to get some useful information from it.

-- Homer

[TrickyTree]

Great information that Homer.

I play a lot of my poker at CoralEurobet Poker. You dont know if there are any current bonuses there do you?

[Homer]

[ QUOTE ]
Great information that Homer.

I play a lot of my poker at CoralEurobet Poker. You dont know if there are any current bonuses there do you?

[/ QUOTE ]

I hadn't even thought of Eurobet because it isn't available to Americans, though maybe that's changed recently? So, to answer your question, sorry, I don't know anything about that site.

-- Homer

[kylemontero]

You can play on EUROBET poker if you are an american, but you cannot make sports bets. They have a couple of good freerolls each weekend $500 bucks with about 110 players which is nice.

[bodnotbod]

I suppose an '06 update of the original post is too much to ask?

It's something I really need advice on.

[ftball0000]

Thank you for this fabulous post [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]


-Ftball

[Baulucky]

Nice post. I'm eagerly awaiting the sequels 2, 3, 4 and beyond (seriously).

[Lazy Meatball]

The only issue I see with this is getting from $100 to $500 playing $1-2 on the Crypto skins. That's a pretty short bankroll, and to play each skin you are going to be spending alot of time moving money in and out of neteller.

Do you think the increased winrate from the bonus (about 4bb/hr) is enough to offset the variance of playing with only a 50bb bankroll.

The most practical solution seems to be to find some way to borrow $400, only for the purpose of maxing out deposit bonuses. Just make sure you have the discipline to not touch the money once you're done with it.

[Homer]

[ QUOTE ]
The only issue I see with this is getting from $100 to $500 playing $1-2 on the Crypto skins. That's a pretty short bankroll, and to play each skin you are going to be spending alot of time moving money in and out of neteller.

Do you think the increased winrate from the bonus (about 4bb/hr) is enough to offset the variance of playing with only a 50bb bankroll.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is a good question and I'm not sure of the answer. One thing I do know is that on a small bankroll like this, you should pass on slightly +EV situations to reduce your risk of ruin, keeping in mind that in return for sacrificing these profits you will have the opportunity for even greater profits down the road. It's kind of like tourney strategy, I guess.

[ QUOTE ]
The most practical solution seems to be to find some way to borrow $400, only for the purpose of maxing out deposit bonuses. Just make sure you have the discipline to not touch the money once you're done with it.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree. This is what I'm doing with a friend right now. He's starting out at the Party skins, and is only playing .5/1, since $400 of the $500 is really mine. After he's made his rounds, he'll transfer the $400 back to me. My money will never be in much danger of being lost.

-- Homer