Managing cash not in play

[KurtSF]

I have a rather strange question and I can't think of a good place to post it... maybe if it was $25k it could go in Business and Investing, but since its not a huge amount of money and I'm hoping other live players have similar concerns, I'm going to post it here instead. This is about cash management, not bankroll management. I would like to hear what others do, and would love any sort of advice.

Backstory: I began with a small deposit online and spent a long time grinding the micro-stakes games to build up my bankroll. Once I was rolled for live games I withdrew some money for live play, and have since, for various reasons, shifted the bulk of my play to live games. Since (a) I play bigger stakes live and (2) the majority of my play is live, the majority of my bankroll was kept in cash in my apartment. I originally kept it in the spine of a book, but after a while it was too big to fit in the book, then in an envelope on my desk, but then it became to large to fit in a small envelope. Now I now have about $8k stashed all around my apartment Mike McDermott style.

This is starting to make me nervous:

* my building isn't that secure - its a upscale appartment high-rise in a bad part of town and anyone so inclined could sneak in pretty easily, plus there are like 8 full time employees with keys to my apartment, and while I don't think any of them would steal from me, I don't want to tempt anything either

* since I own nothing and live paycheck to paycheck my bankroll represents about 99.9% of my net worth, and any accident like a fire or something would be utterly disastrous (destroying not only everything I own and all my money, but also my ability to play poker)

* Perhaps, though I may be wrong, this is now enough money to "make my money work for me", and I am losing value by letting it sit around in cash

* I'm mostly a moron, and it is not unthinkable that I would forget where I put one of my stashes, effectively losing part of my roll for a couple years until I stumble across it in 2011 when cleaning out my closet or something

So keeping in mind my goals of safety (can't be lost in a single bad event), utility (interest???), and convenience (I can quickly get a couple hundred or a couple thousand to put in play), what should I do with my poker money? What do you do?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or advice.

[budblown]

get a box at your local casino. No interest but you know its safe

[kmak]

Please take your money to a bank and deposit it. They will pay you interest to do so. And give you an atm card so you can get it back when you want it.

[orange parrott]

i'm pretty much in this exact same situation. though i don't have that much cash on hand i keep what i do have in a safe i bought and installed in my apt. much safer than hiding it in a drawer or in pages of a book. fireproof and waterproof, with push-button code/key required for entry. might work for you.

[pfapfap]

Fireproof safe. Safe deposit box. Savings account. Mutual funds. Real estate.

Really, just get a box at a bank or the casino and keep enough on hand at home for a few sessions. You're never risking your whole bankroll in one game, right? You're smarter than that, right?

[Mike Gallo]

Kurt,

Tough spot.

Do you play at the same card barn every time?

Can you safely deposit that much money into a banking account and get it out or.....if not, its cool, I know many people who cannot have banking accounts.

[SlightlyMad]

Your story sounds eerily familiar.

If it's not possible (for various reasons) to procure an ATM card with an appropriate daily withdrawal limit (my bank frowns on me having access to $1000 daily through an ATM for my own safety they claim), I'd recommend keeping four buy-ins in the apartment and putting the rest of it in a savings account or a safety deposit box at the local bank that you can get at on the next business day.

Four buyins assumes that you play relatively tight and are unlikely to blow four buy-ins from a Friday night to a Monday morning. That's the amount that you should have "on hand" because you won't be getting into your safety deposit box at 3:00 am on a Sunday morning.

If you are paying taxes on it already ... I don't see any reasons you couldn't pump it through to Emigrant/ING and leave it earning 4% or so. That's where the remainder of my roll is sitting now and I can usually recover it within a couple of business days.

[Mr. Ratface]

Just deposit it in some fund with a decent interest rate and that does not lock it up long term. If withdrawing is a problem for you then deposit , say 6500, and leave 1500 at your house and play with that. Hopefully you won't ahve to, but if you ever have a bad streak just go withdraw another 1500. Losing it is still a possibility but atleast it would be much less, or you can jsut deposit it all in a bank as I mentioned earlier.

[Captain R]

Stick half of it in the bank. You need some emergency funds anyways, why are you living paycheck to paycheck? You may be young, but you don't have to be stupid too.

The rest you can keep in cash in your apt., it would be too much of a pain going to the bank every so often to withdraw money to play poker.

[KurtSF]

[ QUOTE ]
You're never risking your whole bankroll in one game, right? You're smarter than that, right?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm an experienced player who understands variance, and since I have no money in real life I am a total bankroll nit. No worries.

[ QUOTE ]
Do you play at the same card barn every time?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd say about nine of ten sessions are at the same cardroom.

[ QUOTE ]
Can you safely deposit that much money into a banking account and get it out or.....if not, its cool, I know many people who cannot have banking accounts.

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually, I'm not 100% sure they'll let me get a bank account, but I think I'm in the clear now (fingers crossed).

My major concern is access. Are there accounts that will let me withdraw more than a couple hundred dollars by ATM?

[ QUOTE ]
If you are paying taxes on it already ... I don't see any reasons you couldn't pump it through to Emigrant/ING and leave it earning 4% or so.

[/ QUOTE ]

This will be the first year I have to pay taxes on live winnings. I've always paid my taxes on my online winnings, and I plan on staying on the up-and-up with the IRS.

So it looks like some combination of these might be best for me. Something like 5 BIs in a box at my regular room for easy access, another 5 BIs at home for trips to other rooms, and the rest in an Emigrant account where its a week away, but still earning a little interest.

Some specific questions. How much does a box at a casino usually cost? Does anyone know of a bank with unusually high ATM limits?

Keep 'em coming. I like hearing how others deal with this.