How do you build a bankroll?

[Swickster007]

Black Chip Poker has a freeroll running about every hour. It's a lot of people so its a good learning curve for tournaments. If you stick to the freerolls, at least you won't lose your bank roll...then if you win a couple, you can always try your luck at a .50 cent tournament and keep your risk low.

[chipmonster]

you can start off in the PO games............................................. .................

[trueking]

thanks for all of the advice guys. i really appreciate it. what would you guys consider a good starting amount for lowest limit games?

[Fdor]

The best way to build a bankroll is to go to work... This may sound cheesee but it is true.

Now let's talk about building a bankroll from nothing. It will definitely take time. But is not interesting to make it from "Zero to Hero"? Furthermore starting from zero like some said enables you to learn without losing money. Build steadily your bankroll and start playing the lowest limit. Sng is a possibility and they dont require a crazy bankroll. With time you will probably reach the point where you don't need to play those freeroll anymore but you need to keep good bankroll management principles.

Best of luck at the tables

[drdre915]

My advice to start is to play within your means.don't jump out and play tourneys more than 2% your bankroll unless starting real small. Don't put your last in a bigger buy in when smaller more people is avalible.

[drdre915]

I agree whole heartedly but u can also try the double up sit and gos for for 2 or 3 bucks as well

[medic2090]

It's tough to build a bankroll .

[zingbust]

It's tough to build a bankroll .

That pretty much sums it up. However, you could be one of the lucky ones. Certain players have a knack for just being plain lucky early on in their poker careers. My late friend Dale was unlucky with his heart problem, but in poker, he could do no wrong. The very first live tourney experience he had was, to enter into a satellite in the WSOP's non-bracelet evening event. He won his seat into the 11pm event, then went on to take down the event, 1st place, no chop, for $12K+. His knowledge of poker was very limited as witnessed by a phone call he made to me once early in his career. He said "Hey, you got to watch out if the board is paired, it means they could have a full house" duh...really? This phone call to me was AFTER his extreme luckbox 1st place finish for $12K+. Some people are just plain lucky in poker, and you might be one of those persons.

I would sometimes rail my friend Dale as he was taking down another tourney.. deep deep deep into the tournament, he would get AA, he would be all in with someone and his AA would hold up and he would double up or knock out his opponent. Next hand? Yep AA again, again all in with someone else, again he doubles or knocks out his opponent. OVER AND OVER AND OVER again I witnessed my friend taking down tournaments or finishing on the final table somewhere around 3rd place, his competition sometimes being well-known pros. It can and does happen to some people sometimes.

Online it's the same way....there are certain people I see, who play really badly (or so it would seem), but they just are LUCKY LUCKY LUCKY (not short term, but long term). Some of these guys will take way too many rebuys or re-entries into the $1 or $5 buy-ins I see them play, even taking their 10th rebuy or re-entry just as late registration is expiring and only getting 5 bb for their buy-in. Result??? Right after late reg ends, they start getting really lucky....they end up in 1st, 2nd or 3rd way too often for it to be mathematically feasible....and they do this OVER AND OVER AGAIN!!! This is the reason many people think online poker is rigged...it's because the person who thinks it's rigged is experiencing average luck instead of the EXTREME luckbox good luck certain people are able to experience and carry this extreme luckboxness far far far into their career. By the time their luck runs out, they could be milliionaires, I'm not really sure how far they take it because I'm not familiar with any of these online luckboxes personally.

Good luck to you in your quest.

[Tacoflavoredthunder]

Assuming you CAN deposit some money,

1. Learn to play; specialize in a narrow field first. I prefer ring games over tournaments due to lower variance. I'd like full table NLHE or limit holdem. Pick 1 variant at first to simplify learning
a. read some books
b. go to a bookstore and ready for free :P
c. borrow books from a friend
d. read the forums a LOT
e. 2+2 has a lot of good books on the shelves

2. Play stakes where you have at least 20x (preferably) 50x 100bb stack buyins for NLHE ring, or 500 (preferably 1000+) big-bets for limit. Don't move up until unless you can meet bankroll coverage requirements AND have a long-term, 10,000 min hand streak

[buonafide]

If you are playing with 2% of your BR and you bust out (50x), then you are doing something wrong. You need to find out why you are losing - and its not just bad luck. Adjust your game and try again.