[britspin]

Fantastic read. Many thanks.Good to read something aimed at the casual player.

Bankroll History:

Playing online poker came when the players in my then regular home game started saying things like "I won fifty pounds playing poker last night online". This intrigued me and I wished to subcribe to their newsletter.

Because the money was only part of the issue for me, I started out small. My first (and so far only) deposit to a poker account was £35. Enough to get me $50 of chips. I played .05/.10c NL. I crushed that game. I can still remember my first $5 pot. Jacks full.

I've never felt the mad pressure to climb up limits to earn more cash money now. In fact, I've usually lagged in the shallow end for ages.

More often than move up limits I've switched from STT to MTT to FL to NL to PL to omaha to keep myself learning and interested. When I get back to the "old" game and find it easy, I might give a higher game a try.

My Maximum Bankroll was around $4k. That was playing a mix of micro NL, MTTs, 1/2FL and STTs. I didn't want to use it to step up at the time, so I cashed out about $3k to spend on a trip to South Africa. Then I got up to $2k and cashed out again to buy a computer and big TV, which took me all the way down to $700.

Right now I'm playing $10 STTs and full table $1/$2 limit with a $1.5k bankroll.

Bankroll Philosophy:

I play for enjoyment, for mental stimulation and to make some money doing the above. So building a bankroll, while Important isn't my primary motivation.

I have a bankroll to allow me to play poker, I don't play poker to build my bankroll alone. Oddly, this makes me quite conservative. I want to make sure my Bankroll isn't a worry to me, so I play within decent margins.

Second, I want to enjoy the fruits of my labour. My poker profit is the bonus I get for playing well so I use it to reward myself. I think In addition to OPs decent cashout reasons is the idea of cashing out for a specific pleasure based target. I don't want to open a savings account with poker money (though it's a good idea) but I do want to use it to visit somewhere I've never been.

To put it another way, my initial deposit was play money, so I use my winnings to fund pleasures i wouldn't justify otherwise. This retards limit climbing, but helps me stay disciplined and motivated.

I suppose the key is be aware of your motivations.