Quote:
Originally Posted by adonson
Let's say you're a solid winning player at 1/2 over 10,000 hands and want to make a one-time investment into a bankroll to move up in stakes, as high as 10/25 (allegedly the softest game in the cardroom). What is the maximum percent of your life roll you would invest? Let's say you had a $1 million IRA + $300,000 house at retirement. When you retire, how much would you put into a bankroll?
I was half-joking when I told my wife that, when I retire, I'm going to take a chunk from my IRA and invest it into a bankroll. She wasn't pleased. Any help here is also some marital advice.
It depends your buy in amount. Is the game regularly straddled to 50? I would say 40 buy ins minimum for shot taking. But you don't just start playing 10/25. You play the next stakes below that mostly and take some shots at 10/25, get to know all the 10/25 players, who are the pros, who are the solid regs, who are the recreational players. Get to know their stories. The recreational players are usually independently wealthy or have high incomes. A typical 10/25 game is going to be a mix of pros, recs, and decent recs. The lineups in these games are typically curated so that there aren't too many pros. They will let new blood in, but if they find out you are a crusher they likely won't have you play unless the game is in danger of breaking.
You want to play when there is a good ratio of rec to pro. Sometimes these games can get short handed and it is like 3 recs and a pro and that is the best time to hop in. And for the most part you will play 2/5, 5/10 while you get more comfortable playing 10/25.
If you are seriously thinking about doing this, start making friends in the higher stakes community as an investment for the future. Don't step on toes because you never know who is going to be the one to veto you from being in a game, even if they are seemingly a no one today. And start building your bankroll at 2/5 and 5/10.