Hi my name is Mike and I'm from the Moorhead, MN area and I've been playing poker for a good amount of time and have been a casual online player for the last few years. I haven't played a ton online because it's tough to keep a good bankroll online and I don't want to go broke trying to score big. I like to play in MTTs and I understand there is a lot of variance which makes it difficult at times to continue playing without the proper bankroll, especially when running bad. I have a good job but with a home mortgage/insurance/related bills(gas,electrical, and so on), car/insurance/gas, and planning for a wedding this October, it's tough to put a good 500 or so bucks online at once. I have had some good results and I know I'm a decent/good player but I haven't had the proper funds to continually play through all the ups and downs one can experience in online MTTs. Anyone have any ideas or helpful hints on how to build a better and bigger bankroll?

If you'd like to see some of my playing history you can go to the following links, maybe this will help determine if I'm a lost cause or not:

These are my carbon results:
http://www.officialpokerrankings.com...B184F.html?t=2

These are my pokerstars results:
http://www.officialpokerrankings.com...EFFE4.html?t=2

I think I've progressed and gotten better over time. I know my ROI isn't considered good but I know I'm on the verge of getting it back in the positive and keeping it there. Since starting to play online again on Carbon I've cashed 10/115 and three of those have been first place. I'd really like some advice on establishing a better bankroll so I can play more and give myself a better chance of becoming a consistent winning player.

get staked

I've only read about staking and I'm not very fimiliar w/it. I can't imagine it's easy to find some rich guy willing to back you or split buyins with you.

Getting staked is a bad idea for a casual player. You probably won't find people willing to stake someone who has a lot of commitments outside of poker, and playing staked makes poker :serious business:. You've stated you're a casual player, so avoid staking. Use proper BRM (40 BIs for your favourite SNG, this number is higher for MTTs), post hands you're not sure about to the forums, and read the MTT/SNG forums and try and pick up a few things for your game. Work on your short handed/short stacked play because this is where you win or lose tournies - SNGWizard is really good for this. Best advice is just play more.

You'd benefit from reviewing your hands with a coach, and working on picking some obvious holes in your game, but I don't think you want to get staked. GL GL

I appreciate your advice, thanks.

Hi,

If I were you I would look at poker videos before looking for a coach! It's cheaper and many of them are really good

Thanks, I've actually started watching some videos on top of reading anything I can come across.