Your poker bankroll story

[fanmail]

I think I started 3 and 1/2 years ago with like $25 at 5c/10c nl (2 buyins lol), probably had to reinvest another $100 or so, got the roll up to about $25K over time, withdrew a lot last fall, now its about an $8K online roll. I have always played nl, and play 2/4 mostly now. I have made around $180K total.

[luckbox666]

I started playing poker the summer before senior year of high school ('03) with my friends. We played a $10 BI nl game, and I was the first to really catch on (I watched poker on TV a ton, and read a few good books). When I graduated I had made around 2k in these games, and made my first attempt at managing a bankroll. This was also when I turned 18, and could legally gamble in MN casinos. However, my bankroll management was not very good because I spent almost all my BR. I started playing 2/4 and 3/6 limit (there is not nl in MN), made $500 or so and started playing 6/12 on a 1k roll. I ran really hot and got it up to 5k in a few weeks of playing every day, when I decided to take a shot at 15/30 after winning a table share of a jackpot for $2,433. I made $900 the first day but then had the worst downswing of my life, losing 5k back. This downswing included a day where I lost with the nut flush on 3-flush, unpaired boards to the straight flush twice for a $1,500 loss at 15/30. I also managed to get AA cracked back-to-back THREE times (6 total) in an hour the very next day at 15/30, which crippled my BR. I have never ran so bad before (or have I since), and I was very disappointed. So, even at the end of summer, I decided to take a break from poker.

I returned to poker my sophomore year of college ('05-'06), but I decided to take a shot online because my roommate was doing well, and the casinos were a long drive. I deposited $200 and ran it up to $800 playing .5/1nl (good BR management, right?). I then decided to take it to 1/2nl, and immediately lost it all to a few big suckouts, including AA vs. KK AI PF with $400 of my money on the table (I had rebought) to a villain who had me covered. So I decided "[censored] it," and deposited $400 more to play 1/2nl. I ran it up to $800, then moved to 2/4nl. After doubling up twice, I moved to 3/6nl and promptly lost it all to three suck outs. At this point, I stopped playing online. Coincidentally, this was the same BR management my roommate used, and he went busto soon after (not the best role model).

Last September I moved into a house, and one of my new roommates explained to me the proper 20BI BR management (he had turned $0.50 into 1k) and informed me of rakeback, Poker Tracker and PokerAceHUD. I decided to deposit $75 on PokerRoom (I have a MAC), and once I built to 1k (starting at $10nl and moving up) I bought a PC for poker. I started multi-tabling, and built my roll. I was at 4k before spring break, and I went to Las Vegas with my friends for a week and made $700 playing 1/2nl (I wasn't running very well). I continued to play online afterwards, and went to Vegas again after school was done and made another $1,300. Since then, I've been playing more online and have my BR at 10k. I have recently invested 1k in my poker computer to get dual 22" monitors, a new video card and 2.5 gigs of RAM. I'm now a regular TAG 8-tabler on Full Tilt 1/2nl and 2/4nl (just earned my 80 gig iPod in FT Points). I don't ever plan on playing outside my BR again.

[Reko Savinen]

Key Moments in Reko's Poker Career:

1. Started playing live in like 2002 with some friends in high school (the year before it was cool, so we had a jump on the rest of the world by the next year), found out about online poker in 2004 and deposited $100 via moneygram or whatever it was called (I was 17 and didn't have a credit card) on pokerroom.com and proceeded to absolutely kill in tournaments there not managing my bankroll properly at all, but somehow it didn't matter - worked that up to nearly $6,000 - cashed out $5,000 - and went busto with the last $1,000.

2. When I turned 18 I made a 6 hour drive to The Turning Stone in New York and won the first tournament I ever played in at the casino, for a little over $3,200. Bankroll was now at ~$9,000 and I was heading off for college.

3. Worked my online bankroll up around $6k (from another $50 deposit) by the end of first semester freshman year in college and cashed out nearly all of it except for like $300 or so. Ended up going broke online at the end of 2005.

4. Kept depositing for the next year on and off into random sites, but only ended up profiting on Absolute Poker because I run worse (live and online) than any other person in the world.

5. In 2006, I decided to be bold and go to Foxwoods at age 19 when I was in Massachusetts for winter break. Didn't get carded. Played a 4/8 half kill Omaha 8 game for a 10 hour session. Won $1,800. Decided to never play online poker again because at this point I had NEVER lost in a live session (14 sessions) and could not win at even the microlimits online despite how well I played.

6. This summer I won a 'Young Guns' tournament at a casino for roughly $5,000 - this is all going to pay for school, though as I'm at a school my parents can't afford ($45,000 a year) and I had a football scholarship, but that got dropped when I got dropped from the team after spring ball this year.

7. Haven't played online since June 2006 (14 months). My spreadsheet says I'm up $15,989 lifetime from just playing live poker on and off (total casino sessions = 21, total winning sessions = 18). I can only imagine how much higher that would be if I didn't blow so much depositing money into friggin' Full Tilt and PokerStars. Probably won't ever play online poker again.

[Dids]

Started with 25, depo-ed into party, played NL25 lost most of it when my flopped broadway lost to a river boat.

Decided I should learn how to play, read hella books, posted hella 2p2, depoed another 25 into Party.

Ran that up to 3K, tried to be a semi pro and 4 table 3/6 full ring lost half of roll.

Start back up on 'Stars 2/4 and 3/6 LHE 6 max.

Grinded that up to like 5K, hit a 4.5K score in a step 5 that instant was cashed out to pay off a loan.

Started playing less poker/running bad. Ended up cashing out almost everything to go to Vegas, buy plasma, buy other toys. I think I ended up cashing out down to like... ~50 and then busted that.

Though I'd be a poker player again, depo-ed 500 onto FTP. Ran breakeven, hated poker, cashed out everything but like 50. That went down to like 13, flipped for it, then played some SNGs, eventually got that up to 200, ran bad, hated poker, lost in SNGs down to 100, took a show at 3/6 with last 100 busto.

Recently had peopel ship $60 worth of unfatting money to me online, played sngs and now lhe 6 max and got that up to just north of 500.

[Gary Stevenson]

[ QUOTE ]
Deposited $50 in FTP about 15 months ago, went busto, deposited another 50, ran hot playing $10 and 20 HU SNGs, then moved to .25/.50NL, ran hot some more, then moved to .5/1NL, ran hot some more......Juggled between $400 and $1200 for a week or so, discovered 2p2 and have made almost $200k since then. [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 2p2

[/ QUOTE ]
seems like you might not be that good, just been running hot for 15 months...
"what you know bout seven?!"

[jasonfish11]

My bankroll story.

Take half of it to one table and the other half to another talbe. Do this for 3 days and be up 4x inital by in. Keep doing this and go busto on day 4.

[I_Like_Beer]

I'm a casual player (play about 5-10 hours a week) and started playing online just over 2 years ago. Deposited $100, and played SNGs and limit Hold 'em for the first few months at Stars. Then discovered No Limit and bonus hunting In September. $100 -> 21K in two years

These pics are from a month and half ago

[sethypooh21]

After tilt quitting poker after a 20k breakeven stretch in late 2005 (after 2+ years of solid winning), I loaded up PStars ~march 27 of this year. Won 2 FPP seats into the Sunday mil (it was a $1050) that week. Sold the T$, and started grinding 1/2 6max LHE. Game quickly returned, up to $40k (20k of that in July alone) and now grinding 5/10-10/20 6mLHE and 200NL.

[FoxwoodsRounder]

my story....a little over 3 years ago i maxed out fake money on jokerstars @ 20mil....sold it all for $300 ($15/mil)....currently around $14k....

[btmagnetw]

$50->0
$50->0
$100->0
$100->0

OH THATS HOW YOU PLAY, LOL!
-$300->$500

OK THIS SUMMER I AM GOING TO PLAY POKER LIKE ITS MY SUMMER JOB!
$500->$2500

OH NOES 10 BUY IN DOWNSWING IM NOT PREPARED FOR THIS!
$2500->$2000

TOO SICK, I AM QUITTING FOR A LITTLE BIT
$2000----------------------------$2000

POKER LEGISLATION?! GUESS I QUIT POKER FOREVER