Hi there,

Though I've been playing poker for multiple years, it was always a recreational "spend 100-200 bucks and either win or lose". Now I moved to a new location that has regular live poker games and I started playing every weekend (1 or 2 times per week).

For the past 8 months, the only game available was $1/2 where I usually had small winnings until coming 3 or 4 times drunk after a party with friends and losing it all.

Now the casino in town changed and they keep playing for only $2/5 stakes often with 3-4 regs at the table. I've tried 6 sessions and had 5 in green (around $3k total) and the last one personal biggest loss of $1.8k (flopped full over full, top two pairs vs set, AA vs offsuit connectors that tried to bluff me off and got lucky on the river).

My biggest question to myself is: 1) how much bankroll should I have to play at these levels (assume coolers aren't that rare), or 2) should I stop for a while and keep studying?

Important notes:
- I don't have any online accounts, don't play online, just for the past 6 months spent around 8-10 hours a week studying (upswing courses helped a lot though they seem to be against "thinking opponents").
- There are literally no more formal $1/2 games in town anymore, just some $0.5/1 or even lower (I'm in a cheap country in Europe) but all private and not really enjoyable.
- I have some savings and a decent for the region salary (net $120k/yr) while spending around 4-5k months, however, it's at a startup that can go bust until the year's end and I will have no regular salary for 3-4 months.

Thank you guys in advance!
The Fish

The most important decision in winning poker is table selection. How would you compare your skill to the 3-4 regs at the table? To the remaining players? If you believe you are inferior to the regs and roughly equal to the others you should lose at this game. If you think you are equal to the regs and superior to the others you should win. It is hard to be honest here but this is the important question in whether you should continue to play or stop and focus on study.

There are multiple sources for proper bankrolls but given your job situation is unstable until the end of year you need look at your life bankroll position more than your poker bankroll position.

I would suggest you study more , way more . The amount of Courses for Live and online Poker is huge , there is a lot of knowledge that will definitely help you improve