Joined: Nov '11
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 40 (M)
Posts: 747
i used too play poker on the weekends, i would make a deposit on a friday and choose a site and tounament to play in, an also play a few qualifers fo some bigger events, occationally i would win a good amount an cash out my winnings an felt quite confident that one day i would qualify for a big tourney and take it down , i lived by the simple concept of playing one amazing game of poker each weekend it was somthing to look foward too.
my problem is with bankroll managment is this somthing that is for semipros/pros if you dont really have much disposable income and somtimes struggle to pay your bills is it right to set aside money for playing poker with that you should not have to use. you see if 1 deposit $25 each week to play poker with this is $1300 ove the year is that not the same as me playing with a bankroll of $1500, for the tournaments i play in, i can afford to play a decent tournamet every week and and few qualifiers, but when i deposit $50 and limit myself to playing small sngs then i make only a marginal profit on the weekend and find it harded to stay focused and play that "pefect game of poker" when im strugging for cash i will cash out my winnings, but am no longer having those times where i have a good profit (say a whole weeks extra pay) to enjoy and when i cash a mico tournament (which to be fair is not that that dfferent to a more expencive one somtimes even harder because of field size) i find it frustrating that i have not turned a noticesable profit. i short i am a good player when i put my mind to it but find i do not have the motivation to play for "less than minimum wage" because constanty playing smal sngs is too time consuming and deprives me of a social life with very little return. just a rant, any thoughts
Joined: Nov '11
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 40 (M)
Posts: 747
Posted by zeroster: Take up golf instead?
now that is a rich mans sport lol, i cant afford golf clubs.
my point is i gave up drinking a long tme ago the £16 i play poker with is nothing compared to what i used to spend on drink and drugs on a friday night, but poker is a hobbie, not my life, but by focusing on bankroll managment, i need to play a lot more poker an find it harder to stay consistant ad find it consumes most of my time, ive won a few tournaments on PKR and partypoker. fiished a few places away from winning 4 figure quite a few times but i cant afford to set aside £500 - £1000 to play poker at a level i feel comfortable with. and playing more games for lower stakes i become inconsistant loose focus and start playing bad.
Edited by takingdrugs (17 December 2012 @ 11:37 GMT)
Joined: Mar '11
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 39 (M)
Posts: 1646
i would say keep doing what your doing if you can afford it and you don't have the time to grind smaller levels. i mean, for most of us poker is about having fun and earning a few quid on the side. so if your having fun on the weekend playing some decent sized tourneys and your not playing to try and pay some bills then yeah just keep doing what your doing. Just to repeat. Make sure that what your spending IS disposable income and your NOT spending money you need for bills. its a pretty slippery slope to start down when your playing and you know you NEED to win. because when you NEED to win you never will because your not playing your optimum game. good luck and keep having fun. the results will come back
Joined: May '08
Location: Germany
Age: 59 (M)
Posts: 6786
If you can't be bothered to play small stakes, just set aside the $25 each week untill you have enough money to play at stakes, you judge worth doing it.
Joined: Mar '09
Location: Greece
Age: 47 (F)
Posts: 14136
One suggestion is (not the best one, but worth the try and it might end up well) to save the money for three weeks, and put it all together to play bigger buy ins at the end of the month. Same bankroll-capital but you can play higher limits, and get a shot to a good finish in a tournament. That of course if you have the patience to wait and play once in a month.
Joined: May '08
Location: Lithuania
Age: 39 (M)
Posts: 10090
i think you're doing the right thing: first of all that you admit to yourself that you can't grind the small stake games- if you can't just don't, simple as that. now the second piece of the puzzle- what to play then? i think you should play those tourneys that motivate you & you can afford them- yeah you probably will be playing over your roll, but who cares- maybe you will hit a nice win one day & boom you're over-rolled...& as someone mentioned- make sure that you don't play with the money you can't afford to lose. good luck dude, see you around
Joined: Feb '11
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 59 (M)
Posts: 5712
TAKING.... a few ideas above resound what I was thinking, but then got me thinking a little more, and is something I may choose to do also.
Your £25 quid a week. It sounds like you are blowing most of it cos you 'can't be bothered' so to speak to play the lower games so you arent giving them your full concentration.
Open a building society account...theres loads of online ones that give you tax free too in the case of an ISA. Put £20 a week into it for 6 to 12 months...agree with yourself how long and dont touch it for that period of time. Even better still, ghet one of those accounts where you have to pay something per month and cant withdraw (an even better rate of interest).
USe your left over £5 per week to play low level games that you know are within your Bank roll Management and focus! Any winnings, either cash out and enjoy or use to play slightly higher stakes, or cash out and save.
When you 12 months is up, deposit your whole savings and play to that BankRoll.
That is unless you find a better or alternative use for it.
Whatever you choose, it sounds like you have to make some decisions about what you really want and go with it. Might be tricky but give it a go!
Joined: Jan '11
Location: United States
Age: 60 (M)
Posts: 3361
Can add much advice sinec I do play for the fun more then to attempt winning enough to cashout. I play a lot of micros for the most part and will go up and down on $20 for a few weeks before eventually losing it. If I do turn it into a $100 I'll cashout and start over with my initial $20.
I guess the way you did play from my understanfding is the way to go. Deposit $50 and play in a few bigger tournaments over the weekend. If you do well cashout, if not take it in stride. Better then wasting the time it takes to play several micros.
Joined: Nov '12
Location: Canada
Age: 55 (M)
Posts: 4675
Posted by takingdrugs:
i used too play poker on the weekends, i would make a deposit on a friday and choose a site and tounament to play in, an also play a few qualifers fo some bigger events, occationally i would win a good amount an cash out my winnings an felt quite confident that one day i would qualify for a big tourney and take it down , i lived by the simple concept of playing one amazing game of poker each weekend it was somthing to look foward too.
my problem is with bankroll managment is this somthing that is for semipros/pros if you dont really have much disposable income and somtimes struggle to pay your bills is it right to set aside money for playing poker with that you should not have to use. you see if 1 deposit $25 each week to play poker with this is $1300 ove the year is that not the same as me playing with a bankroll of $1500, for the tournaments i play in, i can afford to play a decent tournamet every week and and few qualifiers, but when i deposit $50 and limit myself to playing small sngs then i make only a marginal profit on the weekend and find it harded to stay focused and play that "pefect game of poker" when im strugging for cash i will cash out my winnings, but am no longer having those times where i have a good profit (say a whole weeks extra pay) to enjoy and when i cash a mico tournament (which to be fair is not that that dfferent to a more expencive one somtimes even harder because of field size) i find it frustrating that i have not turned a noticesable profit. i short i am a good player when i put my mind to it but find i do not have the motivation to play for "less than minimum wage" because constanty playing smal sngs is too time consuming and deprives me of a social life with very little return. just a rant, any thoughts
G'day mate. I might be wrong but it seems to me that you would like to move from the hobby stage of poker play into the semi pro field where you can make a dependable extra income. I know how it is since I personally had to go through that stage before in the past. I played poker for 18 months as my only source of income, and did manage to pay all my bills. It required a lot of grinding and DID require bankroll management. In the end I was totally burnt out and walked away from poker for almost two years. I am NOW right back in the same spot again. I am now starting to play on a professional basis again. On January 1st,2013 poker will be my only source of income again. I HATE bankroll management but know it MUST be done.
I think what you should do considering what you have stated to us is clear. STOP! wasting your time and money playing micros you do NOT enjoy or really even care about playing in very much. If you can afford to put in $25 USD each week then do so and play 2 tournaments with $11 buy in's and with the other $4 play a couple satellights to bigger tournaments. Then you can play your A game and hope for the best, also the $11 tournaments can pay out very well.
I wish you all the best and look forward to your keeping us updated on your progress mate. Good luck at the tables.
Joined: Oct '11
Location: Sweden
Age: 32 (M)
Posts: 1410
Well, I had the same problem when I first started playing for real money. I then decided to simply grind the smaller levels from scratch to get a decent roll for some bigger games and eventually I managed to get a system working for me.
Bottom line is, start out small, be patient and eventually you'll be able to play the games you want to.
