I am currently trying to save for a live roll, had 5k in mind, was wondering tho,..maybe I could start with a smaller roll and just half stack. Is the varience too high for half stacking and should i just wait until i have 20ish reg buyins? what would you guys recommend my roll be if I want to go half tho

Good question. It really depends on your level of experience and your expectations. If you're a rec player looking to get your feet wet, you don't need a 5k bankroll, you need a budget to play. Set aside a little bit of cash every paycheck, or withdraw from your account what you could comfortably lose, and go play. You don't need 5k to learn/enjoy the game. If you're looking to grind and be profitable off of a roll, then 20BI is about the minimum you'd want to go. I do not recommend half stacking, as it puts you at a disadvantage to be profitable if you're sitting in a good game and start with half of what most people are buying in with.

Good luck.

Agreed, there is a ton of information missing such as your motives, your risk tolerance, what a "half stack" is at your $1/2 game, etc. If you're not thinking of these factors (or not thinking to mention them in your thread about BR management) then you might not need to concern yourself with BR management.

If you have a job, then you don't need much of a BR at all just take some shots and if you bust just wait for your next paycheck. If you're talking about playing full time (please don't), you need much more than 20 buy ins imo. Coming from someone with experience in both situations.

Good stuff here ...

When I first started I only bought in for $120 .. then $160 ... then $220. Now I typically only buy in full ($3-400). I see no reason that you can't enjoy playing and build up a BR with a short(er) stack. Please don't dip below $100 as I think you will be nothing but a target.

You obviously need to be 'more' aware of your spots and very well will lose value since you 'should' be over-shoving some Flops and Turns when your SPR gets reduced in a hurry.

I only bring 3-4 BIs to the room, I didn't really care how much they were. Now, I typically will top-off as soon as I drop by more then $100 below table max. I've seen too many times where a player will get coolered and nurse a short stack only to miss out on some big value when they get into another good spot ... unless it's your last BI, then just ride it out. GL

Where I play 1/2 is usually 300 Max. I think you can safely play a $200 stack at these games and rarely miss out on the extra value.

The whole "buy in full, always top up" thing perplexed me for some time when I was starting out. If you are an inexperienced 1/2 player you simply are not going to get it in ahead often enough to make buying full profitable. Buying in short in this way protects an. inexperienced player. More importantly, it helps a TON at creating good SPRs for overpair/toptop type hands which play themselves. And really these are pretty much the only hands you should be playing when first starting out.

After some time under our belts, decent thinking 1/2 players all prefer to play deep primarily because, as others have said, we see all too often folks missing value when they hit that perfect hand. It also allows us to make more moves, to play more speculative hands, and it helps your image a TON if you have a big stack on a 1/2 table. When you are starting out, you can't really take advantage of any of this.

I am of course speaking of live poker only - I don't play on the Internets due to the law in my state and I certainly don't pretend to think I could play .05/.10 profitably.

A lot of good answers ITT. I agree with the above, $200 into a $300 max game is light enough to have some extra buy ins (say 5 instead of 3 and change if your budget is 1k), but also not too light to be sitting with $150 at $300 max. I agree that $150 is simply too light and you're A. A target, and B. Lose 1 pot of any substantial value and now you're under $100 and short stacking.

grunchy opinion: $200 is fine for 1/2, but i'd never play 1/3 with less than $300 regardless of min, and that's doubly true if the 1/3 is 500max

free tip: if you want more chips for only $20, buy $220 (including 20 whites/ones) for 1/2

What does it mean to be a target and why is this a bad thing?

Man, I would have no clue how to determine true winrate in live plo. Hold em is hard enough as seen before in this thread.

I've logged 105 hours at 5/5 plo this year at 28 bb/hr, but there have been sessions I'm immediately stuck 10k or go on a 14 k heater. There are a couple of guys who have been playing the game for a couple of years, would love to see what their results are, but they are the enemy so prob not gonna happen

For the overwhelming vast majority of players, the "quit poker and concentrate on school" advice is a clear winner, and not close.

If OP has a *solid* handle on where both poker and school fit in his life, then maybe it doesn't apply.

Gnowonlydown$5in2017,nowtherealpokerstarts!G

because these are beginners asking beginners questions.

Hit 500 hours so far this year (i usually only play weekends). Mostly 2/5, some 5/10, and a few 10/20. Regressing towards the mean it looks like.... hopefully the graph doesnt jump off the cliff the next 500 hours heh .

Nice! Run good at highest stakes? How many bb/hr over this sample?

Expert giraffe posting tip: Set x/y resolution at 20% to improve giraffe awesomeness.

Here's my 3000 hour one again, but this time with new and improved resolution awesomeness:



Turns out my game didn't need work at all, just my giraffe posting skillz.

GfeelingbetteraboutmygamealreadyG

10.75bb. This recent $4k downswing at 2/5 isn't helping heh.

That's the way the graph looks on my phone. I guess I could turn it sideways and screenshot... but I never look at it that way.

Ha, wasn't a shot at you Tilty, but definitely did inspire me to post my skewed giraffe.

ETA: And nice results, BTW.

GcluelessgiraffepostingnoobG

My first graph! 269 hours played all at 1/2nl, $7,700 in profit. 14bb per hour so far.

I've been on a nice little upswing, and if it continues I'll be taking shots at 2/5nl shortly. Much excite!

unless you're dipping into your BR to fund expenses, you're plenty rolled to play some $2/5 right now.

nice giraffe!

Thanks man! Yea I was dipping into it pre- January but have kept it totally segregated since then.

Rolled for a shot. I wouldn't say plenty rolled tho

Especially if he plays for a living with no job. Not close imo.

Jac's graph reminds me. I'm coming up on 1500 hours at my home room. They're all within the last 2 years. I think I'll post the total in 300 hour snippets to show the variance then post the full graph.

I was extremely fortunate to run like I did early on. Really allowed me to get off the ground with live casino poker.

Thankfully I have a job and just play as a "serious hobbyist". I am in no way reliant on income from poker.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

Same boat as me, but no 2/5 for my room. Go for the 2/5 dood!