Bankroll - What Do You Do With It? (1 Viewer)

MrCatPants

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For those of you who aren't playing professionally and using poker as an active income stream...what do you do with your bankroll as it grows? Do you still keep it separated from other funds? Invest it? Buy moar chips/"pay yourself" in other ways (and at what point do you do that?)
 
There was a discussion about this some time ago...
When the poker cash gets over $2k, I tend to spend it. I buy everything from chips to clothes to take out to weekly grocery runs... I use it for basically anything I can pay cash for. Poker winnings pay for fun stuff and Xmas and kids birthdays... you get the idea. When the cash flow gets down because I overspent or went on a bad run, I tighten it up until I'm back up to my comfort level.

None of this affects my play. Although this never happens but theoretically if I were to run out of poker funds, I could always go into pocket, move down in stakes or I just wouldn't play. It's just a hobby.
 
Once you throw it in there, do you just leave it? I'm relatively new to crypto but my basic understanding is if you dont want a tax headache, you just buy and leave it alone. If you are constantly moving it around between coins, you technically have to pay taxes on any gains.

I'm hoping to start playing live more and have a certain amount I've "capped" my bankroll at and any extra I've started to throw into BTC and ETH but once I put it in there, I no longer consider it part of my poker "bankroll".
 
Once you throw it in there, do you just leave it? I'm relatively new to crypto but my basic understanding is if you dont want a tax headache, you just buy and leave it alone. If you are constantly moving it around between coins, you technically have to pay taxes on any gains.

I'm hoping to start playing live more and have a certain amount I've "capped" my bankroll at and any extra I've started to throw into BTC and ETH but once I put it in there, I no longer consider it part of my poker "bankroll".
How many live buyins are you thinking of capping at?
 
For those of you who aren't playing professionally and using poker as an active income stream...what do you do with your bankroll as it grows? Do you still keep it separated from other funds? Invest it? Buy moar chips/"pay yourself" in other ways (and at what point do you do that?)

Until recently, I spent my poker winnings on paying bills or buying poker chips, cards, etc. Now that I am playing for larger stakes, my poker winnings have increased. My financial situation has also improved, so I am left wondering what to do with my bankroll.

(For me, crypto isn't the answer.)
 
Until recently, I spent my poker winnings on paying bills or buying poker chips, cards, etc. Now that I am playing for larger stakes, my poker winnings have increased. My financial situation has also improved, so I am left wondering what to do with my bankroll.

(For me, crypto isn't the answer.)
Same boat. I'm just starting to feel stupid with it sitting in a savings account. And if I don't cap it now, will I never cap it?
 
You could stick it in gold coins

I bought a bunch for at least a 6-7 year period

I’m pretty much even.

Then I bought other things
Things people would say are tulip bulbs

Crypto is correcting on global panics along with the markets and I’m still up like 20x over 3 years

You choose
 
This thread needs pictures.

First, a brief history.

12 of us began playing in a winner take all $10 NLHE, unlimited rebuy tournament in my cousin's unheated basement a month before the November Nine in 2007. Never imagined then, that I would be playing now.

The game quickly evolved to a .25/.50, $20 buy-in cash game. My cousin sealed off part of the basement and purchased a poker table and a heater.

My poker life took a turn in December of 2010 when I was invited to join a bar league. Met two other poker players who played in a weekly $30 STT. Through that game I learned of another cash game. I started hosting a bi-monthly $40 NLHE 18 to 20 player tournament in the winter of 2011/2012.

In mid 2012, Hollywood opened up their poker room. I became a fixture there, playing thirty+ hours a week.

Formed a poker league that consisted of 18 players for our winter tournaments in 2013/2014. Finished third in points, behind one of the two players I had met playing in the bar league. Took down the TOC.

Moved in May of 2014. In February of 2018, I signed up to play in a 30 player tournament at Hollywood on my day off. I showed up late and was second on the waiting list. A seat opened shortly before the re-buy period ended.

Made the final table, to my surprise, sitting across the table was Jared who played in my poker league. He eliminated the players who finished in third and fourth place, accumulating a 2.5 to 1 chip lead going in to heads up play. Called him down early on with A/K on a ten high paired board to win a large pot. From there, I went on to win the tournament.

The $1/$1 low buy-in cash game I played in last year broke up. Now I am driving one hour after work on Tuesday's to play in a weekly $1/$2 NLHE, $300 buy-in home game.

This is the box I had used for five years to store my poker winnings:

1645446689068.png


Had to move to a tin:

1645446758308.png


Outgrew that.

1645446834451.png


Current bankroll (Plenty of room to grow):

1645447102597.png
 
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Right now I’m letting some crazy luckboxes in my pokerrrrr 2 club hold onto it, but just for a little while. Im pretty sure they keep it meme coins, NFTs and the gold you need to run private games on the pokerrrr 2 app
 
In the past, I have bought toys with it I would normally not buy.....a kayak, a couple bikes, a surfboard.

Currently, I have plans to play semi serious to partially fund my kids' college tuition. Not sure that will ever happen though, because my wife is not on board yet....she still thinks I am basically a break-even player (current bankroll is about $5k....all winnings).

If that doesn't happen, I'll probably get tired of trying to convince her and fund a trip with it....either to play WSOP seniors event or go somewhere cool like Costa Rica.
 
Play so rarely these days (once a month) that it mostly just sits there, until we have to make a cash purchase (we paid for our 1st puppy with my bankroll). I'll take it to S@P and see what happens. If it gets over 5k I'll probably out some of it in the bank.
 
Play so rarely these days (once a month) that it mostly just sits there, until we have to make a cash purchase (we paid for our 1st puppy with my bankroll). I'll take it to S@P and see what happens. If it gets over 5k I'll probably out some of it in the bank.
Did you name the puppy Mr Bill or Ralph?
 
I used to use it to buy upgrades to my game. Dice chips, then Chipcos. Plastic cards. Materials for us to build an 8 ft table topper for my friend's dining room table. I stopped playing for a few years when I went back to finish my degree and then started up again once that was done. Played in my friend's summer league and cashed every year in the end of year ToC. Covid stopped the games for a while but I've played a few games in the last 6 months and hosted once. My roll isn't huge, but plenty to play the buy-ins around here with cushion for swings. Since I've got a full time job, I'm just trying to make it grow. I took out a decent chunk to take a shot at a WSOPC event but other than that I try to pick buy-ins that fit the roll. I don't see myself spending any of it outside of buy-ins anytime soon.
 
In the past, I have bought toys with it I would normally not buy.....a kayak, a couple bikes, a surfboard.

Currently, I have plans to play semi serious to partially fund my kids' college tuition. Not sure that will ever happen though, because my wife is not on board yet....she still thinks I am basically a break-even player (current bankroll is about $5k....all winnings).

If that doesn't happen, I'll probably get tired of trying to convince her and fund a trip with it....either to play WSOP seniors event or go somewhere cool like Costa Rica.
I started tracking mine because my wife thought I was gambling away our money and I knew I wasn't.
 
Just to share a little more here in line with others sharing - I keep it in two places (well, three technically):
- Cash in a hidden place - enough to cover like 5 or 6 buy-ins in a card room generally - I top this amount off and roll it to the below when it gets 'too high'
- Savings account with my bank - earns paltry interest, but does earn
- Small balance on my Poker Mavens site

My #2 here has grown to nearly 100 cash buy-ins (not my small stakes home game, but the stakes I'd play in a casino or card room.)

Those of you who have been in that range (or never let it get to that range), are you just moving certain money into your "normal" money like a bonus would be treated? Or are you continuing to keep it separated?

If separated, are you somehow investing it? Or keeping it liquid?
 
For those of you who aren't playing professionally and using poker as an active income stream...what do you do with your bankroll as it grows? Do you still keep it separated from other funds? Invest it? Buy moar chips/"pay yourself" in other ways (and at what point do you do that?)

My bankroll is separate from everything else. I wouldn't care if it was combined. Colleen likes it separate. She doesn't want to know I take 500 gambling lol. Let alone meet up loot lol.

I keep half of mine in an account. I keep half of it in a lock box, then some loot in my the basket on my fridge. Last month my son texted me and asked why I had 2k sitting on the fridge lol. He recommended better security of the loot to the Safety and Security Officer.........fuck it
 
For me, this is just fun money. I play well within my pain tolerance, and generally just combine with my other savings (or spend it as if it were savings).
 
My poker bankroll is pretty much spent on gambling, poker chips, meet ups and lately bourbon.

I occasionally purchase something outside of poker/bourbon. I'm in the process of buying my wife a new phone for her birthday. I'm paying for it outside of my funds.
 
I buy a coffee around Christmas with my yearly poker winnings. Sometimes a donut too, if there's enough left over from the coffee... ;)

j/k - poker winnings and table building money usually go into either equipment/supplies for my game (ie more chips) or towards vacation money. I track my poker record but usually don't keep the cash physically separated from my other play money.
 
I have a dedicated purse, obviously.
206ADA47-6F27-49DB-9EB3-D64374D09DB5.jpeg


Really though, I just keep it separated for future buy-ins, adding any winnings to it when possible, and just pulling from it as needed. Im only playing at very small stakes so it’s hardly worth the separating, but figure it’s a good practice in the event it grows more.
 

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