Bankroll Strategy (1 Viewer)

[buntly]

Later this month I'm going to be in Florida for vacation and plan on spending a lot of time playing at the poker room in Pensacola. I played there for about 6 hours last year and profited 600BB playing 1/3 by just letting the cards play themselves pretty much. The action there is incredible. I don't expect to play that well, realistically I'm expecting to make closer to 20BB/hour over many hours.

What strategy or guide should I use for bankrolling? I'm in college so I'd like to make money but not risk going entirely broke. Buy-in is capped at $500 for 1/3 and I'm interested in trying out the 2/5 game which is uncapped. I'm quite confident in my live game and don't tilt or anything. If you're going to be playing there towards the end of this month let me know and maybe we could meet up too!

 

[wickedwonka121]

My best advice for building your bank roll is go slow. Chop your nightly portion into three bullets. I like only risking about 200. Chopped into three, between 70 and 60 per buyin. I've noticed when the cards run cold, take a break, then buyin again later. So make adjustments based on your budget. But keep in mind, it might take 2 or 3 buyins before you start running good. Good luck.

 

[Oddpac87]

Stick with the 1/3 for now. Especially if you plan on spending a lot of time playing poker. You don't want one bad session at 2/5 to wipe out everything you planned on gambling. If the game is soft enough to pull off 20BB/hr, you should be thrilled, but I wouldn't go in expecting that. Even around 10BB/hr, you'd be doing great.

 

[DrStrange]

20 bb per hour is exceptional playing in a raked big-bet game.

Hero didn't mention exactly how he gained his confidence in live poker. Lots of different advice would be appropriate depending on Hero's level of experience.

Someone winning an ongoing 20bb per hour doesn't have bankroll issues. Hero can get into trouble moving into tougher games - 2/5 uncapped can play quite differently than 1/3 capped at $500. This will be inaccurate if Hero plans to live off of poker winnings. If you are paying for your food and lodging out of winnings - that becomes a much different discussion.

So much of the lore in poker stems from limit poker math rather than big bet poker math. I am sure someone soon will chime in with how you need tens of thousands of hands, perhaps over 100,000 hands to figure out if someone wins or loses at poker. There is much truth in that observation playing limit poker with a 1bb per hour win rate. But big bet poker and the attendant higher potential win rates is far easier to figure out.

My advice is to have fun. Don't be alarmed if 22bb per hour proves elusive. Take a shot at 2/5 for fun, but don't blow your vacation money.

Good luck -=- DrStrange

 

[buntly]

20 bb per hour is exceptional playing in a raked big-bet game.

Hero didn't mention exactly how he gained his confidence in live poker. Lots of different advice would be appropriate depending on Hero's level of experience.

Someone winning an ongoing 20bb per hour doesn't have bankroll issues. Hero can get into trouble moving into tougher games - 2/5 uncapped can play quite differently than 1/3 capped at $500. This will be inaccurate if Hero plans to live off of poker winnings. If you are paying for your food and lodging out of winnings - that becomes a much different discussion.

So much of the lore in poker stems from limit poker math rather than big bet poker math. I am sure someone soon will chime in with how you need tens of thousands of hands, perhaps over 100,000 hands to figure out if someone wins or loses at poker. There is much truth in that observation playing limit poker with a 1bb per hour win rate. But big bet poker and the attendant higher potential win rates is far easier to figure out.

My advice is to have fun. Don't be alarmed if 22bb per hour proves elusive. Take a shot at 2/5 for fun, but don't blow your vacation money.

Good luck -=- DrStrange

Thanks for the tips. Im still 20 so I don’t have all that much live experience in poker rooms because I don’t live near any places that are 18+. I’ve played a bit over 10 hours in the Pensacola card room and Rounders up in the Northeast. I’ve done good in all of those games.

I have around 50 hours of play in low stakes home games, usually .25/.50 and some 1/2. I got a lot better playing these tough home games against good players my age. I’ve also read a couple of books on poker theory and have seen just about every CLP call-in video for the past two years.

Now this doesn’t make me an expert or even a solid player by any means, that’s why I’m asking for advice. But from my experience at the room last year, yes, the game really was that soft. It wasn’t just one session either, it was three separate nights of just playing mostly nutted hands and playing them fast. I’ll try to build up some chips and confidence in 1/3 and then take a swing at 2/5.

 

[RagingAZN]

Bankroll management is really only for professional players. If you have the ability to reload your bankroll, I would just play whatever stakes you think you will have an edge in as well as have fun.

You are on vacation so presumably you are playing with money you can afford to lose.

 

[extreme517]

I think bankroll management and game selection are far and away the most important factors. So, unlike others' advice above, I recommend you stick to 1-3 and play nice and snug.

If you do really well you can take a shot at a bigger game later in your trip. I believe you will play best with at least a $10K bankroll for that $500 buy in 1-3 game. I doubt you have that much in your roll, so you are best to stay at 1-3 and buy in for $200 or $300 even rather than $500.

 

[Storm2006]

I remember 100 buy ins being the norm 20 years ago when I was younger. I do sometimes wish I would have taken more shots back then, but I was always pretty conservative. Good luck.