starting bankroll..
 

hello...i want to start playing online seriously...ive been reading a few articles, and was wondering if i should start with a $50 or $200 deposit...here is why:

$200 because this is 20x the max buy-in at the lowest limits of NL on fulltilt (5 and 10 cent blinds)

and

$50 because i read an article

any thoughts on how much i should start with?

thank you [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: starting bankroll..
 

If you're planning on playing cash, $200 would probably be the best way to go because it would be hard to play anything comfortably on Full Tilt w/ $50 besides $2 sngs. Gl sir.

Re: starting bankroll..
 

Before you do anything read up on bonus whoring and rakeback...

Re: starting bankroll..
 

thanks for your advice guys...ill be sure to take it in...anyone else? [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: starting bankroll..
 

[ QUOTE ]
Before you do anything read up on bonus whoring and rakeback...

[/ QUOTE ]That is by far the most important piece of advise for anyone looking to build a bankroll. I would also suggest depositing the most you are comfortable with. If that is $200 do that, if more then deposit a little more.

Re: starting bankroll..
 

[ QUOTE ]
Before you do anything read up on bonus whoring and rakeback...

[/ QUOTE ]
Except nowhere tells you the real story, since 99% of sites out there want you to use their links to get the standard wimpy hard-to-clear bonus. And most people fall for it, since it says 1000%, which means you increase your money tenfold!!!

Re: starting bankroll..
 

I started with $40 and played about 500x $5 SnG's (two at a time) before moving to cash games (the first 300 of these were limit).
I figured I would get a lot of play for each of my $5 and I did.

What is important is experience. Move up when your skill level and win rates are noticeably better than those around you not just because your bankroll hits $X.

Bonus whoring isn't that easy any more for US players so RB becomes more crucial. For goodness sake make sure you get a decent RB deal on any of the sites you register for (Stars don't do RB though - they have an FPP system instead which is pretty poor to start out to be honest). If you play 6 max a 33% RB deal is worth maybe 3 big blinds/100 hands played at small stakes - that adds up hugely over the course of your poker career.

The money doesn't matter at the beginning - learning the game does - play some SnG's, some Heads Up (the Stars HU SnG with non-escalating blinds are good for this), some full ring and some six max. Play short stacked, play full stacked. Get PT and a HUD (or check out the new Holdem Manager) before you play a significant amount of cash games.

If I had $200 to start playing poker I would spend $70 of it on PT (and get the free HUD GT+) right away.

I'd put the rest into a site that gave me some RB for playign the micros and start playing micro-stakes mixed with some SnG's to see which I liked best.

Re: starting bankroll..
 

For full tilt deposit the $200 and make sure you get rakeback (27% is the max and use onr of the affiliates from the sponsored forums). If you want to do the SNG's the bigger deposit will still get you more bonus to clear.

Re: starting bankroll..
 

How can you play seriously with $200?

Re: starting bankroll..
 

[ QUOTE ]
How can you play seriously with $200?

[/ QUOTE ]

Carefully but it can DEFINITELY be done -- I started with 50 and have made a good bit and I'm sure I'm not alone...

Re: starting bankroll..
 

[ QUOTE ]
How can you play seriously with $200?

[/ QUOTE ]

We are no longer in the good ol' days but tonnes of people have started with less. I did the PSO instant bankroll 2.5 years ago and turned $75 into $12,000-15,000 total.

Re: starting bankroll..
 

[ QUOTE ]
How can you play seriously with $200?

[/ QUOTE ]
I started with $.90 and played seriously 100% of the time. Obviously I ran well in the beginning because I didn't go broke, but I practiced proper bankroll management as soon as I accumulated a real bankroll. Since I was playing the lowest limits available (.05/.10 LHE), this was $30.

That was April 2006 and I'm still playing with that free $.90 I got. I've never deposited (except moving money around via Neteller when it was still an option) and now I'm playing MSNL.

You shouldn't ever think of the game you're playing in in terms of money, just chips. Otherwise you're probably going to have a LOT of trouble moving up when the money *really* starts to mean something. This is something I've gotten much better at over the past few months. Strictly think of your bankroll in terms of buy-ins and big blinds, or you may make stupid mistakes when the absolute amount of money has blinded you.

Re: starting bankroll..
 

[ QUOTE ]
How can you play seriously with $200?

[/ QUOTE ]I played a lot before the "ban" but cashed out everything about 6 months ago. Last month I deposited $200 to play $25nl, I just moved up to $100nl with over 25 buyins. Not to mention I made ~$30k originaly playing poker on an initial $50 deposit, and I am sure there are a lot of players who made more with less, like DMoogle from this thread for example.

Re: starting bankroll..
 

echoing most of the others posters advice, but also just wanted to mention that you dont want to play 10NL on full tilt. Unless something has changed recently the rake on those tables is 10% (double the norm)

Re: starting bankroll..
 

[ QUOTE ]
How can you play seriously with $200?

[/ QUOTE ]

Believe it or not, I started with $50 my generous wife let me start 3 years ago and turned it into 150K all in cash games. Without ever rebuying. Although, those were the Party Poker days.

Re: starting bankroll..
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
How can you play seriously with $200?

[/ QUOTE ]

Believe it or not, I started with $50 my generous wife let me start 3 years ago and turned it into 150K all in cash games. Without ever rebuying. Although, those were the Party Poker days.

[/ QUOTE ]

So? I turned negative 47 cents into a solid gold replica of Mount St. Helen, to scale.

Re: starting bankroll..
 

i played for money online like a year or two ago...i heard that fulltilt will not let me get rakeback or bonuses anymore...is this true? if so...what should i do?

Re: starting bankroll..
 

[ QUOTE ]
i played for money online like a year or two ago...i heard that fulltilt will not let me get rakeback or bonuses anymore...is this true? if so...what should i do?

[/ QUOTE ]
Do you have any more information than that? Is this something specific to you? I have no idea why somebody wouldn't be able to get bonuses...unless you mean the sign-up, which you can't get twice. As far as rakeback goes...you say "anymore", which seems to imply you once did. Unless you opened a second account to get RB and had that account closed by FT, you should be able to get RB still.

Re: starting bankroll..
 

[ QUOTE ]
hello...i want to start playing online seriously...ive been reading a few articles, and was wondering if i should start with a $50 or $200 deposit...here is why:

$200 because this is 20x the max buy-in at the lowest limits of NL on fulltilt (5 and 10 cent blinds)

and

$50 because i read an article

any thoughts on how much i should start with?

thank you [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

I think the point of the article is that regardless of the amount you start with, you must implement effective bankroll rules so that you are not playing beyond your means. You can start with $0 like Chris Ferguson did and built to $10,000. You can start with $50 and play small entry sit 'n go's to build. Or you can deposit $200 or $600 or whatever. The key is to ensure the level you are playing at is in line with your bankroll AND your current skill level.

An added benefit (as mentioned by someone else) to starting with a smaller bankroll is that you will risk less money as you go through the required learning curve (build your skill level). You need to "pay" for the learning curve whether at the low buy-in's or at higher amounts. Starting low and building your bankroll as you learn might be more cost effective for some.

Good advice from the other posters regarding rake and bonuses. The rake adds up, especially when you move to the higher limits.

Re: starting bankroll..
 

One other small thing to consider -- there may be more variance at lower limits as people are willing in general to risk more when they are risking less...

Re: starting bankroll..
 

why don't you deposit 50, and deposit 50 more if you lose it? you can still play 10nl.

"bankroll" isn't just online money, its the total amount of money you're willing to lose playing poker before you stop.

Re: starting bankroll..
 

Great advice here.

Re: starting bankroll..
 

It doesn't really matter what you start with since the sites will let you run really good and bad beat the 2+2 players for the first few days. They want to get you hooked before they turn the doom switch on you.

Re: starting bankroll..
 

buy-in for $200; start with 200NL, run hot, profit