ITH Poker Forum

[jtflush29]

What should my bankroll be for playing .25/.50 Limit?

Also what is a good win % to aim for after playing 5,000 hands?

[PizzaByNight]

Have you deposited any money yet with an online site ?

If the answer is no, look around for a site you’re comfortable with that has an attractive bonus offer and size your deposit to take maximum advantage of that bonus. Your account might start out a touch bigger than the roll you would need for .25 -.50.

How much experience have you had playing poker online ?

The less experience you’ve had, the more bankroll you’ll need for any level. If you have proven yourself a winner at .05-.10, say, then you might only need 300 BB (or $150) to play .25 -.50. If you do not have the experience, then you should start at the lowest level possible and get your feet wet before tackling .25- .50.

As far as a good win rate, the standard everyone seems to go by is 2BB per 100 hands.

[jtflush29]

I can handle
.25/.50 Limit

So with 150 as my bank roll
what are goals that i should set with that kind of bank roll?
I just want to know if i am heading in the right direction.
Thanks for your help

[PizzaByNight]

One standard that I have seen, for those that want to move up the ranks fairly fast, is that a player earn 300 BBs at a limit before he moves up to the next. If you happen to be a talented player, this will help you find your true level fairly quickly.

As for me, I'm ridiculously conservative. I started play at .25 - .50 with a 1000 BB bankroll and I'm insisting on earning 1000 BBs in profit to prove that I've truly "conquered" this level before I move up. In addition, I'm hanging around to earn 200 more BB as a cushion against an initial downswing at my new level.

So when I start play at .50 -1.00, I'll have 1000 BBs for that level as a base and an additional 100 BBs as a cushion. I've been reading the ITH forums for a year and a half now and a fairly common theme is that the moment a member moves up to a new level, they encounter a wicked downswing that sends them back to the old limit temporarily for cover. What I want to do is have enough ammo to enable me to stay put at .50 - 1.00 for a while.

One drawback of the 300 BB standard is that it would be possible for a player to breeze through a level while simply running good and misinterpret the reasons for his progress. By insisting on 1000 BBs (+200 for cushion), I'm ensuring that I encounter long stretches where the cards are frowning on me, too, so that when I'm ready to move up, I know the move will be legit.

[jtflush29]

So for bankroll we said $150 for .25/.50

and to move up standard is 300 BB but lets say 500 to be sure

so 500 * .50 is that right?

thats $250 so to move up to the next level my total bankroll should be $400?

Thanks

[RiverCascade]

Pizza, the guideline in Matthew's book for earning at a level before you move up is 100bb at the current level. I'm all for having a higher bb requirement for moving up (300-350 at new level is the recommendation), but I feel earning 100bb then moving, is plenty. A large reason is, why spend more time at a lower earn rate than necessary. We always have the option of dropping back down, and that's an important lesson for a new player to become familiar, and comfortable, with.

[Mowgli]

What should my bankroll be for playing .25/.50 Limit?

Also what is a good win % to aim for after playing 5,000 hands?

I used to play at $1/2 and $2/4 with 300 bb bankroll when I started with some real swingy results due to my inexperience.

I then decided to work my way up the limits starting at .5/.10.

I am currently on .25/50 for the second time. I worked upto $.50/$1 then crashed bigtime from $420 to $200 when I dropped back down to .25/50. The downswing continued and I dropped to $57 but I have fought back and will soon be moving up again. I am not a novice and a downswing can last a real long time so play at a level you can afford. I could buy in at a bigger level but am determined to work my way up the levels. Be advised that in low limit games, the rake can kill you. Try out sites like WPEX where you get rakeback - this can make a difference between a winning or losing week.

With regards to 5,000 hands - no offence but thats only a drop in the ocean. After 20,000+ hands you can then check with Poker Tracker to find out which starting hands your playing out of position, etc, etc.


Good Luck

[AlamedaMike]

Matt also suggested that you play at least 100 hours at the each level. That could be about 7,500 hands.

I bounced around at different levels and found that it was best for me to start over at the bottom and work my way back up.

It is more difficult than I thought.

I have 17 hours at 0.25/0.50 and 1,121 hands.

[taz115]

You should have at least 300bb for any level that you are playing. So if your playing 0.25/0.50 you should have at least a BR of $150. But everyone is comfortable with a different number. The smaller your BR is the greater chance you have of eventually going broke. If you don't consider going broke to be a big deal you can be more aggressive with your BR. If you are conservative you can have 500 or 1000bb for any level your playing.

As far as moving up goes, that is just a comfort thing. ITH suggested 100 hours and 100bb won at any level but really this is just a subjective guidline. your BR and how confident you are that you are playing winning poker should be the determining factor.

Some respected players at ITH have 1000bb BRs and display knowledge in their posts that would lead me to believe they should be able to beat 5/10, but they are playing 1/2. That is because they might not be confident in their game or comfortable winning or losing $500 in one night.

I do not have PT with me but I would estimate that I played:

5k hands at 0.25/0.50
5k hands at 0.50/1.00
20k hand at 1/2
5k hands at 2/4
5k hands at 3/6

On my way up the levels. Some levels I won 100bb some levels I was a net loser. But I was always banked for my limit and I was confident I was beating the game (whether or not I was winning money). Over the past few months Ihave put in a lot of hands at 5/10 but have also played 3/6 and 2/4 depending on my BR and how I was playing/feeling.

There is nothing wrong moving around limits or feeling stuck on a limit. If I don't find a good table at one limit I will look for tables at other limits.

Goals are very hard to set in poker because the long term is very long. It is tough to say my goal is to win 100bb after 5k hands because you could be +300bb or -200bb and still be playing fine (or poorly for that matter). So goals over 5k hands can be frustrating or leave you feeling overly confident.

I think a good goal for a begginer looking to move up limits and improve their game would be:

I am going to concentrate on my decisions and always consider why I am betting/calling/folding. I am going to post hand examples and ask questions when I am unsure of a decision. I am going to review my hands. I am going to consider what my opponents are holding even when I have folded. I am going to be active and read other players' hand reviews

A goal like that is FAR more likely to move you through the limits confidently and competently then saying I want to earn x amount in x hands. Because if you are successful in acheiving those goals you will become a winning a player and you will feel confident that you are beating the game. That goal is far less concrete, but little is poker is black and white.

[RiverCascade]

Well said, tazbo! And to think I remember when you were just starting...

[Mowgli]

Matt also suggested that you play at least 100 hours at the each level. That could be about 7,500 hands.

I bounced around at different levels and found that it was best for me to start over at the bottom and work my way back up.

It is more difficult than I thought.

I have 17 hours at 0.25/0.50 and 1,121 hands.

Interesting. I dont know why but interesting.

Today I played for 10.15 hours in 9 sessions making up 664 games of .25/50 and finished up 32BB. Usually try to play 1000.

Sometimes you just go sideways for days on end then all of a suddens its hello Abigail Rocketblast and away you go again. I also played two hours short handed on WPEX but got my ass handed to me on a plate and was down 32BB but was covered by rakeback and the 50BB up from yesterday.

Here is a chart for my last 10,000 hands. What does it mean? No idea any more. I just grind away.

[img=http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/1122/chartoh4.jpg]

I do know one thing though. After being kicked down from .50/$1 Im not going up until I have won 800BB at this level. Im halfway there.

Good Luck

[AlamedaMike]

Strange and interesting is right - variance is a bitch.

Abigail Rocketblast

At .25/.50 I got smacked around at 6 sessions in a row and lost 30BB then on one table I won 35BB so far.

Some days your hands just hold up.

But, like you I am not going to start back up in limits until I have won a significant number of BB at this limit.

500BB sounds good to me at 2BB/100 that will take 25,000 hands if my math is correct.

[jackdog1963]

just wanted to say I really found this thread heplful.

[robsmith82]

Matt also suggested that you play at least 100 hours at the each level. That could be about 7,500 hands.

I bounced around at different levels and found that it was best for me to start over at the bottom and work my way back up.

It is more difficult than I thought.

I have 17 hours at 0.25/0.50 and 1,121 hands.

Interesting. I dont know why but interesting.

Today I played for 10.15 hours in 9 sessions making up 664 games of .25/50 and finished up 32BB. Usually try to play 1000.

Sometimes you just go sideways for days on end then all of a suddens its hello Abigail Rocketblast and away you go again. I also played two hours short handed on WPEX but got my ass handed to me on a plate and was down 32BB but was covered by rakeback and the 50BB up from yesterday.

Here is a chart for my last 10,000 hands. What does it mean? No idea any more. I just grind away.

[img=http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/1122/chartoh4.jpg]

I do know one thing though. After being kicked down from .50/$1 Im not going up until I have won 800BB at this level. Im halfway there.

Good Luck

I love this chart! I wish I could see my own bakroll like this. Will pokertracker ne able to generate this or did you manually record your sessions in excel?

[taz115]

PT records the data but a free program called Poker Patterns graphs the data.