Building Your Bankroll - Online Strategy ???

JimmyHo

I know there has been a lot of discussion on money management when it comes to your online poker bankroll, but I was wondering if most part-time online players have a systematical approach to their online sessions. For example, do you start off the session with a single table SNG for say $10 + $1 and if you place in the money, do you then take the proceeds to move up to say a $20+$2 SNG or maybe a multi-table tournament to take on more risk for your session but limit your potential losses to profit you have made from earlier action during the same session? This would likely only apply to online players that pay a few hours a week and are playing one table at a time. Or is it better to stick to $10 + $1 sessions until you have built up an adequate bankroll to move up to $20 + $2 SNGs permanently? Say the person has at most 10 hours a week to play online. Cheers.

PokerJAH

Big E

Here's what I do for better or worse: (I play on Empire, Party, Stars, Paradise, and Poker Room)

Reloads: If any site is offering a reload I deposit the maximum amount and then play .50/1.00 limit to clear the bonus which is easy on all the above sites at that level (except Empire, I play $25 NL and Stars I play $1/2). Once I am done my required hands I move all my money back to Neteller and wait for the next. This is a grind but worthwhile to pad the roll.

Monthly: Blackjack on a couple sites that offer monthly 100% reload bonuses, it's boring and mindless and ultimately frustrating, but it's easy money and pads the bankroll.

SNG's: These I play for enjoyment, I love them, and I stick to stars $5+.50 or $10+1 and I play a lot of them, I have a good ROI so I use some of my winnings here to try MTT's (a few a week) as my goal is to really improve my MTT play. This keeps me interested in the game.

I don't really plan on moving up levels until I have met some of my financial goals (currently when I reach a certain amount with my bankroll I move half into my bank account to handle some personal financial goals and then rebuild and repeat!), perhaps if I score a big win in an MTT I may play a few more expensive MTT's? I also used to reload Absolute, they'd reload a few times a month which was fantastic and that is the only place I plan on moving up in levels only because you used to be able to clear easily at $.50/1.00 now you have to play $1/2, 2/4, or perhaps $3/6 but my roll isn't there right now.....when it is I will return to take advantage of their very frequent reloads but for now I am happy with my plan and it's working for me. Some people use rakebacks as well and I'd love to hear more on this, it sounds profitable and I'd love to hear other sites that offer easy reloads if anyone knows of any.

In summary I'd say the first week or two of the month is grinding it out cursing the game building a roll, the balance of the month is pure enjoyment and learning playing SNG's and MTT's.

AcidJoe

As bigE said, Bonus whore and grind it out. Go to bonus whores web site and they list a method of whoring to build your roll. Where you start really depends on what your roll is. If you don't have at least $500 then you need to work on it. They list the sites that you can successful whore if you have as little as $100. One site that is missing is Trident poker, which used to give you $30 free for signing up. Also look into rake back deals (i use rakebreak.com and betrake.com) which I'd like the referral if your going that way, but there are countless others. One thing you can't do is play limits over your bankroll, I've tried and it's the easiest way to go from $200-nada in 60 seconds flat.

JimmyHo

At this point I have been playing strictly on PokerStars which offers no initial bonus. As I have only been playing in SNGs to start with, I thought this was good as I could limit my potential losses based on the entry fee for the SNG. Versus playing hand to hand where I could loose my entire bankroll in one bad session. It sounds like playing on Party/Paradise/PokerRoom at low levels, 0.50/1.00, will be easy to clear the sign-up bonus if I can play breakeven poker to start with. Then with any excess cash that I make from the sign-up bonuses, this could be used to play in risker SNGs or MTT. Couple follow-up questions, is the quality of play better in $0.50/$1 games than in SNGs? I have been making money so far in my SNG play (haven't tracked my ROI at this point) but it doesn't seem to grow that fast. Which site would you recommend to start with if you wanted to clear your first sign-up bonus? Does anyone follow a methodology of only risking 10% of their bankroll in one session/day? See you Saturday Joe!

Big E

I'd be willing to do some refer a friend offers to Party, Empire, Paradise, and Poker Room if you'd like. They are usually pretty good as well. Usually one gets $50 the other $25 and you don't have to play many hands, once you clear the hands we split the $75 even. Let me know if you're interested by PM. It's a good way to start, then those sites usually reload monthly or ever couple months. Stars reloads are few and far between and tough to clear playing less then $1/2.

pedro55

As mentioned by others bonuswhores is a good source for information on reloads etc. I think the best place to get started if you don't have accounts at alot of sites is pokersourceonline, they offer all kinds of bonuses although most people take the points and redeem them for party poker gift certificates as it is like getting extra money. They also have an instant bankroll offer for party or titan so if you have no money it is a way to get started. If you do signup I would appreciate the referral (referral code pedro55). Most people are skeptical at first because it sounds too good to be true, but I took the plunge after seeing their add in bluff magazine and it has worked out great. The one thing I will point out is to read the different promos details carefully as some are alot more difficult to clear than others and most require you play cash ring games not sitn'go tournaments.

Good luck and happy building.

Forgot to mention if you do any of the promos, check their forum first as they have upgrade codes every month where you get an even better bonus for doing certain sites, it is usually a sticky at the top of the promotions forum.

JimmyHo

thanks everyone for the feedback. Much appreciated. Single table SNGs seem to be a tough way to build your bankroll, not unless you are in the money constantly. Last night I started off with a $6 single table turbo SNG and finished first for a $27 payout ($20.5 profit). Then I proceeded to blow my winnings on two back-to-back $12 6 handed SNGs. Such is life.

AcidJoe

As someone who plays almost entirely sng's, find a level 5 10 20 30 50 whatever. Have at least 20+ buy ins. Then play that level for at least 200 games. If your winning move up. Track all your results. I use a note book at the computer then plug everything into SNG tracker. SNG's are frustrating but very profitable. I have a 20% ROI with a 44% ITM despite several bad beats with 15+ buy ins lost with no cashes. SNG play is getting better but you can still beat it tho it now takes longer since the fish don't beat each other up in the first 4 hands anymore.