Opinions (with support) requested....

Situation:
Live mostly 1/3NLHE (very little 1/2; occasional 2/5) player
I don't track closely but I do keep my poker BR and life BR separate, so I know I am +EV player (no $'s from life going to poker bank roll for "years" and poker BR has increased)

Life BR is fine and if poker BR sent to zero, I could xfer life to poker to restart. But would definitely knock me to max of 1/3 (not much 1/2 here) and maybe back to 4/8 limit (I don't want to go back and try to beat 4/8 limit again. Certainly doable (been there/done that) but it is a real grind to build reasonable BR.

Poker BR is in the 5 digits (i.e. somewhere over $10K).

For 1/3 typical buy in is $240 to $300. Even at $240, it seems deep enough to play here usually w/o GII on the flop kind of play. Even 80 BB leaves some wiggle room for high +EV speculative shots.

When I have played 2/5, buy in has been in the 300 to 500 range. At 60BB, not really much wiggle room, so that locks me into pure TAG maybe even nit/rock world until it builds. But $350 (780BB) has seemed to be similar to 80BB at 1/3 unless table is very deep or very laggy. I have not felt like fit or fold when playing 70 to 80 BB deep to start.


OK, with that info (or I can give other if asked), how much poker BR is necessary to start taking more (maybe routine) shots at 2/5? If hit a serious down swing I would def. move back to 1/3. And like I said, even going broke (poker broke, not life) would not end poker but would crimp it.)

Opinions?

It's hard to tell from your post if you have a full time job or not.

If you are playing recreationally with a solid full time job, you have over 20 buyins for 2/5. Just play 2/5 when the game looks good and 1/3 otherwise. If you find that the 2/5 game always looks more +EV, then play 2/5 unless you lose a significant chunk of your bankroll.

If you are trying to play professionally, don't do it.

20BI for a soft live 2/5 game is plenty.

In case the game isn't soft: play 1/3 instead, your hourly winrate won't be much lower and you'll have less variance.

Thanks. What you suggest has been the direction I have been moving recently. The only real issue is that it means changing my "primary" room. Where I play the most now seldom spread 2/5 and the room that does is a much higher variance game (both 1/3 and 2/5 there tend to have some deep pocket players for whom the stakes really have little meaning.)

To clarify, yes I do have a FT job. It is one I enjoy, pays well and plan to keep for several more years. The closest I would ever expect to playing professional would be after I retire to use poker as a income source. But even then I expect my life BR will be my main source of $'s. If I can't afford to retire with no other income source then why would I retire from a job I really like, pays very well and I do very well. The possible exception would be to retire and then go do the same basic work but hiring myself out as a contractor or consultant. (And I am not sure I will ever want those head aches.)

Transitioning is only hard because the games typically play differently, for this reason I advocate slowly I integrating yourself into the game lets say you play 2/3 times a week. Make one of those days a "2/5 day". And then add a second day a week and then fully commit.

Rule #1 is always play at the best table for your game to accumulate chips.

How long are your sessions? Do you ever step up during a session?

One of the very first books I read suggested to use your profit to step up on a daily basis so that you aren't cutting into your bankroll. He was a Vegas grinder so that may not apply to you. But if you are playing 'very' long sessions then you could look at starting at 1/3 and then put yourself on the 2/5 list once you double up or something like that.

Do you take money out of your BR for fun? Taking 'years' to get to that level might suggest a pretty snug style. $10K is fine for 2/5 and you sound like you wouldn't have a problem going back to 1/3 if it dipped down.

Not sure if there are straddles or not, but most 'regs' will always say to buy in for the table max so you can take advantage of 'max' opportunities. There are some tables where buying in short is fine as well. You sound as if you have a good grasp of the poker scene. GL

With over 20 buy-ins at 2/5, you shouldn't worry about playing it exclusively.

However, if the 2/5 game plays like 2/5/10 or 2/5/10/25 or something much higher, then that changes things. Really you should look at the typical raise in the game to determine what the game is actually playing as. For example, the 1/2 games at my local casino have typical raises of $10-$20, meaning it plays more like a 2/5. When a straddle is on, the typical raises are more like $15-$35. As a result, the game vacillates between being 1/2 and something like 5/5 or a nitty 5/10 game. I evaluate my bankroll accordingly.

There are times where a 1/3 table (and less often, a 1/2 table) will be more +EV both relatively (in BB/hr) and absolutely (in $/hr) than a 2/5 table. So you should really just walk into the room and look for the best game.

It sounds like you are being plenty cautious. Just make sure you evaluate the tables you are sitting at realistically - are you +EV, and what are the true stakes of the game.

Take what you consider a reasonable minimum bankroll for 1/3 using conservative guidelines. You can consider taking shots at a higher stake using the money in your bankroll that is over that minimum.

I'm giving some rather nitty advice for bankroll management. I'm not opposed to embracing more risk in taking shots- that's up to you- but I can give you what I think is probably the minimum necessary to take shots without being insanely overly cautious.

If you need thirty 100BB buy-ins at 1/3 to feel super comfortable, that's $9000, so $10500 would be enough to have three 100BB buyins at 2/5.

Sounds like you are ready, but what you should do is just start mixing in 2/5 sessions with your 1/2 session. See how it goes. If you continue winning at 1/2 and 2/5 then add more 2/5 sessions. And then you should take it to the next level and get to know the players in your room and find the juiciest table, be it 1/2 or 2/5.

It should not take much of a downswing to knock you back to 1/2. Then you regroup, rebuild, hit X target again, and try it another time.

the concept of a bankroll is that you can play your game fearlessly. so for 2/5 youd need quite a bit to keep playing fearlessly after days in a row of losses. Like 10 to 20k.