ITH Poker Forum

[Polar_Bears]

How do you build a bankroll for live poker when you don't have much to work with??

It's easy to do on the Internet because of the micro games. From what I have read 30 x the max buy-in. Everyone refers to the max buy-in as being 100 X BB. However, at least where I play in Vegas, the 1/2 is 150 X BB max buy-in, and 2/5 is 200 X BB max buy-in. The cheapest game spread is 1/2. So going off these numbers, 300 is the max buy-in on the 1/2 and you would need $9000 bankroll to comfortably play the 1/2 NL game (and $30,000) to play the 2/5 NL.

What if you don't have anything close to $9000 to get started? How do you build a live bankroll to eventually get you in the game? Do you focus on internet play at the levels you can afford, work your way up, then cash out so you have a live bankroll?

Online is definitely not the issue for me here, but I am clueless as to how to go about starting off with a very small bankroll and the cheapest is 1/2 game. I don't even have 20 x max buyin to get started.

The only thing I can think of is focusing online until I can make the move to live. But then eventually I will deplete my online bankroll and have to start from the bottom again.

[Da_Big_Fish]

For live, I think the best you can do is save up for the lowest limit you can play at your cardroom/casino and start there.

For me, where I live, the lowest limit is $2/$4. A starting bankroll is $1200 for that limit. More if you are new and don't know much about how to play right.

The safest way to go is to save up the money and use that money only for poker. If you have a job then you could take out at least $80-100 when you get paid and play with that then you could start there too. This is what I did until you get a bankroll built and then you just use your bankroll instead of any of your check money.

[nsidestrate]

If you don't have the right bankroll for the smallest limit available, you just have to accept the higher risk and stay there until you build an adequate bankroll for the next level.

[Scully]

The 30 buyin rule of thumb is more appropriate to higher variance levels. The lower the inherent variance at a given level, the lower the BR that you'll need is.

$1/$2 NL in Vegas from what I have seen on my last two or three trips there is pretty darn soft and passive, and therefore lower variance.

In my experience of the play in these games, a decent player would have to have a brutal run of cards to go broke with a 10 buyin roll as most players are so passive and straightforward that they might as well play with their cards face up. It's no different to beating NL10 online - don't run big bluffs as people call light, and bet heavily for value with made hands. Generally if someone starts betting heavily themselves then get out of the way ASAP unless you have a super strong hand yourself, and if someone looks a bit tricky, then simply avoid them and play against the weaker players

[Piscivorous]

Continue to play online to create your live bankroll. Take a few stabs at NL live, with the intention of banking any winnings for when you have your bankroll.