Small Stakes No-Limit Hold'em

So the 100 buy in thing… I think that's great for those who are playing proffesionally, are super conservative, or have a relatively large bankroll…. Eventually I would like to be able to follow this or have 100 buy ins to whatever level I decided to play at.

When starting off though what should one be doing? I've heard to take more risks with a small bankroll but protect it more and more as it grows. Over the past year (just started playing online just about a year ago), My bankroll has been on a rollercoaster of the worst sorts… First it was because I didn't have a clue about bankroll management, then it was tilt that would set the roller coaster crashing to the bottom who knows how many times… So I'm back at it once again playing .01/.02 6 max grinding my way up once again…. I'd like to do it right this time around instead of getting on a nice run of luck only to tilt it away when the luck ran out… I'd like to think that I've learned my lesson…

Ok getting to the point… theoretically speaking I should have $200 just to play the .01/.02 (which I'm far far far from) and then to move up to .02/.05 I would need  to reach $500 which would mean playing .01/.02 until I hit $500… This would just take forever… Playing higher levels 1/2 and above (maybe even a little below that) it wouldn't be so painstakingly tedious of a task because you are making meaningful (something you could possibly live off of) amounts of money in the process of getting to that next 100 buy in level.

So at those lower levels, what are some good bankroll guidelines. Should I use 50 buy ins per level until I hit 25NL and take a stab at the level above everynow and then? Anyway, I guess I'm just interested in hearing about others bankroll strategies and trying to tailor something from there.

There are a bunch of factors that determine how conservative/loose you should be with your bankroll.

• Do you consider your current bankroll "a lot of money"?
• Can you reload?
• Are you good at moving back down if need be?
• Do you think about your bankroll/fear going broke while playing?

The more money you're playing with, the more conservative you should be because the harder it is to replenish your bankroll.

I think bankroll management can be summed up as "90% discipline and 10% head knowledge". 

Nemo, you need to ask yourself why your even playing.  Is it to take a run at it?…..if so I think that's fine……but don't kid yourself about it.  Your either going to make a run at it and try to move up quick and get a quick score (gamble)…….or you can build up your bankroll slowly and improve your skills as you climb from level to level (gambling, but not as bad). 

Why does it require so much discipline? 

Let's say you have 50 bucks with which to play 1-2 cent NL.  You start beating it.  Its hard to sit there and keep "playing good" at 1-2 cent.  Its hard to put aside what you "could" be winning at 2-4 cent…..or 5-10 cent.  This is where the discipline comes in…….  The discipline not to make dumb plays, the discipline not to take a stab at a higher level, (if your goal is to build up slowly), and the discipline to not get stupid in general just because its "only 50 bucks". 

A while ago I was five tabling 5-10 cent full ring relentlessly.  I five tabled (which is the most i could do on one monitor) and played 160 hours in one month (along with being married and having a full time job).  My bankroll went from $100 to $1000 in that month (this was using the strategies in PNLHE V1).  As far as BB per 100 hands, I think i mistakenly posted this as being 3BB/100 hands in a previous post.  After looking at it again, i think its allot more than that.  However, I didn't have the discipline to just stick with it.  Also, along with being married, I didn't want to waste all my time at a computer screen(which I won't use as an excuse, but this was a concern).   I think I started playing wrecklessly, and when my bankroll dropped to 800, my "run" was done and I just cashed out.  Honestly, I was also sick of playing.  I burnt myself out. 

I think I can be the first to admit I'd never have the discipline to be an online pro…..or even a CONSISTENT online winner……..I don't have enough discipline.  I can go on runs here and there………..right now I'm on a pretty good run actually.  But its just a run and I'm playing way to high stakes for my BR, and I know it.  (which to me is ok, once again……why are you playing?)

If your playing to improve your game, build your bankroll, and move up in stakes……….or if your playing for the long hull in hopes of one day making a living off it……….I think you need to take a long hard look in the mirror and make sure the guy you see has the discipline.  Human nature is counterintuitive to professional gambling.  We wanna take risks, and discipline is typically not our forte. 

Can you actually imagine playing for a living with less than 100 buy-ins?  If anything, I think I'd want even more…….not to mention a putz load of other money saved for a rainy day. 

I'm sure there are people on this forum who play as a "side job" and are disciplined enough to win consistently and manage a bankroll.  So to them and anyone else here making a living off of poker, my hat's off to you!

jdk050507 said:

playing for the long hull

Not to be a d*ck, but I'm now picturing the owner's papers for a supertanker being pushed into the pot.

Thanks for the two above posts. I'd really like to get to 10NL ASAP also and I have toyed with the idea of putting some more on to have a decent amount of play in my bankroll to play at that level.

After starting this thread I've been thinking quite a bit about what to do and when to move up to .02/.05 and then move to .05/.10. I've also thought about playing 10k hands at .01/.02 to try and see if I very general baseline of where I might stand. I've just started playing 6 max ring games since reading this book and am at 2k hands of .01/.02 at the moment with 23BB/100 so far. I didn't have that great of sessions last night and this morning and dropped from 66BB/100 after 500 hands of suckouts and bad play (I need to just stick to 2 tables for now not 4). I'm not too worried about that though because the numbers are going to change much more dramatically with such a small sample size. Though looking at my play over the last 10k hands (once I get there) takes us over to another thread and the questions that Sunny brought up. We'll see what to do when I get there.

I had thought about adding 30 a week or every other week for a little while to help add to my bankroll and get up to a little bit higher limits. I really would rather it be 20 a week but Full tilt's min deposit is 30. Though I could do 40 every other week to make it 20 a week.  

Yeah I am building from basically nothing but I do have a bit of room for smallish swings. I just can't practice moving down a level after some swings because I'm down as far as you can go.