Beginning Bankroll

[john_bcfc]

Hi there.

Im have just turned 18 and want to start playing poker over the internet for money. I have deposited $50 in my full tilt account and started playing $0.05/0.10 no limit hold em. Anyway i got my bankroll up to about $70 (not alot really) and then lost it all. I then deposited another $50 and made that up to $120 but again am down to $25.

Should i be playing these stakes? Or should I buy in with another bankroll. I continually get frustrated at these stakes and i think i am a generally decent player.

Does anyone have any ideas about how to get started???

Also i believe i am a much better tournament player and sit n go plyer than i am a cash game player....

Any suggestions????

Much Appreciated.

John_bcfc

[ottsville]

This link has lots of good info.

Generally you want to have ~20 buy-ins for your stakes in NL. However, until you can have some degree of certainty that you are a winning player you are not really managing a bankroll. Winners have bankrolls, losers have "the cost of learning," or "entertainment expenses."

If you can add to your poker accounts from other sources, your "effective bankroll" is more than what you have on the accounts. So you may have 20 buy-ins for NL10(or NL25 or NL50), just not all on the poker sites. Also just because your are rolled for a game, doesn't mean you should play it. Having recently made the switch from limit to NL, I'm rolled for a game much higher than I'm playing, but I am starting where I can learn the game while risking less.

[South Pole]

John_bcfc is that as in Up The Blues John?

In answer to your question start at the bottom - $0.01/0.02 and $1 buy-in SnG tourneys - unless money is no object. Build up your funds slowly - the (us) guys at this level may not be world beaters but you have to respect them (us) - a lot are not bad as you think.

[Harv72b]

Start on Stars, or some other site that spreads .01/.02 NL. Seriously, unless you have some gigantic trust fund or a part-time job that pays you out the ying yang, as a beginning player you should be playing at the smallest stakes you can physically stand.

If you're into tournaments, look into some of Full Tilt's freeroll tourneys. They run every 2 hours, absolutely free entry, and a $100 prize pool--you just have to be sitting there the instant registration opens in order to get a seat. Most are NLHE, but they also have the odd PLO or Stud freeroll.

Understand, very few players avoid losing their first deposit. There are just so many mistakes that new players make, from playing stakes which are too high to tilting after a bad beat or two to just basically sucking at poker. Before you get truly good at the game, you are probably going to have to spend some money in the form of losses. Why charge yourself more than you have to?

[whickerda]

Stars has the $0.01/0.02 that South Pole refers to. Unless this has changed recently I believe that FT's cash games begin at 5c/10c. 5c/10c though is a good place to grind it out, discover your leaks and try to plug them up without losing too much money. There is a big jump in skill level from the 1c/2c to the 5c/10c. This comes as a suprise to a lot of people.

However, you stated that you believe you're a better tourney/sng player. If that's the case the $1 and $2 sng's are the way to start out for sure. If you're playing on a $50 bankroll it can be quite shocking to lose a couple of $10 buyins in a short period of time at your 5c/10c level. Think about the $1 sng's though. You could play tons of these things on $50, get in a lot of hands and find out if you are good at them or not.

[Pvnuts]

I'm in the same boat as you are... I do quit well in large field tournaments, but my situation has changed which does not allow me to play these long tournaments... Therefore, I tried NL ring games and got slapped arround. So as a result I learnt the proper way to play Limit and I'm now practicing with Academy Pro. I prefer Academy Pro because the bots are better players than the free tables online. From my reading, your bankroll for Limit should be 300 to 500 times the big blind and never risk more than 10% at a time. While I'm learning and playing the bots, I'm taking time to build up my bankroll so I coul play the $1/$2 online when I feel I'm ready.

I'm just learning, so don't take what I said for cash... Google your question and you'll see what found myself.

But word of advice.... stay away from NL unless you know you have the strengh and discipline to fold an all in raise that could hurt you if you don't have the nuts.

[Bona]

OP: Ottsville mentions something about himself that you might consider instructive. He indicates he learned poker playing limit. I think that might be worth your time.

The differences in the two games are significant but the concepts of limit are worth learning as a background for your future NL play and most are transferable to a large degree.

This is just my opinion, and I'm sure not universal thinking, but I would consider it if I were you.

[faststeady]

i agree with the sentiments above

learning limit first gives you a much better grasp of the fundamentals , odds of hitting, cost of drawing, preflop hand requirements etc

no limit will put you in situations that until experienced may scare you off your hands too much or cause you to donk off when you should fold

[ottsville]

The arguments about where to start have been hashed out to death on these forums(although not lately). I don't think it matters where you start to learn. Nl and limit have theoretical similarities, but are immensely different games. Different personalities are attracted and better suited to each game. Long term, I think it is valuable to have an understanding of both. But for starting out, pick the game you want to play and go with it.

For me, I don't think I could have started with nl and had the success I did. I'm sure that some people can though. I think the learning curve is a little less expensive at limit for comparable stakes - that was why I started there. I just think that nl is more profitable now then the limit stakes I was playing. That's why I switched.

[grizzle]

I am practically a beginner as well in terms of online play so I'm not sure how much my advice will be of use, but I figured I would chime in anyway. I started playing again recently after taking about a year off, and I think this is the first time I've managed to hang on to my roll. I deposited $50 a few weeks ago and told myself I'd only play $10 NL until I had the roll to move up. I would have played lower limits, but this was the lowest offered. So far, I've turned it into over 220, simply by sticking to a few rules.

I play only $10 NL cash games. I find that I play much better if I focus on one game. This isn't to say that you shouldn't ever be mixing up your games in the future. When i feel comfortable with my roll, I will probably start taking a few shots at MTTs. I just think as a beginner, you should pick one game, whatever it is, and stick to it.

There are a few great threads here on when to move up to higher limits and when to take shots. I suggest you look them up. I personally wont start taking shots until i have at least 15 buyins for nl25 AND until I feel comfortable playing there.