Quote:
Originally Posted by King Panda
I can pretty easily beat the 1/2 NLHE games in my state . . . . How do you manage a bankroll when trying to start and you have nothing?
These two statements have difficulty being both true without some major leaks in your life.
The place to start is to see if you really are easily beating 1/2 games. There are apps available for tracking your results in playing. You need to start recording the results of each sessions, taking special care to record the bad sessions along with the good ones. Donked off 3 buy ins because you were mad at someone? It counts. Moved up to where people were going to respect your raises and got crushed? It counts. Lots of people leave that information out because "it was just a one off" or "I won't do that again."
In addition, recreational players often only play on weekends and holidays. Those are the easiest times to win money. If you plan to play 2000 hours a year, you're going to play a lot of weekdays. You're going to run into regulars. Regulars aren't necessarily good, but they aren't handing their money to you. Their losses have to be at minimum sustainable over time, so they have come up with ways reduce their losses, whether it is by playing very tight, nursing a small stack or even getting good at the game.
Finally, even the weakest regular is going to eventually figure out how you play. When they do, you're not going to be able to win as much from them. They know better what your bets and checks mean.
If you don't know yet, you need to try to start figuring it out. You'll need to start playing throughout the week for a sustained period of time. When you have breaks from school or vacation from work, you need to be playing regularly.
So let's say that you over a period of a half a year or so of playing casually you are a winning player throughout the week. The next problem is that you should have plenty of money to generate a bank roll. The fact you don't hints you tend to treat the winnings as found money. That has to stop. Everything you win has to got to your bankroll starting out. You need to get a job if you don't have one to build a bankroll. If you are working, you need to cut out every unnecessary expense. Don't eat out, even fast food. Many people has sustained themselves on Ramen noodles if you are living on your own.
These are the areas you need to work on first. The only other thing to consider is how difficult it is in poker to make over $100k per year. Realistically, you have to be a winning 5/10 live player to do this. Of the regular poker playing population, this requires being in the top 0.1% or so of players. Almost any other type of work requires less excellence to get to the $100k level of pay and far less work to sustain it. Unlike the corporate world, everyone around you each day is looking to take your living away from you in a poker room at the 5/10 level.