Advice to never go broke:
1. BRM - Play at least 50 buy ins. Honestly before I move up a stake I have at least 200 buy ins. I do this to make sure I can beat that stake level over a decent sample. What's a decent sample you ask? IMO its 500k-1m hands at one stake level. Pros like Daniel Cates say 100k is a decent sample.

2. Motivation - At 25 are you just fantasizing about making millions? If you are your thought process is ****ed. This is a game about outhinking other players at the table and making appropriate moves. If you are not willing to constantly think at the table and make correct moves you will always go broke eventually. A lot of people that play a lot per day and win understand the mental toll it takes on the brain, the sacrifice is real. Once you factor in all the mental work it takes to win; you realize what a ****ing uphill battle it is i face every ****ing day at 5 - 10 nl. Can you see the "fun" already going away? Just wanting to play this game is not enough to win, you have to be ****ing sick to play this game!

3. Never play depressed, drunk, high, cranked up, angry, coked up, method up, or "x" up. You need a clear mind to process all the information coming at you and being under "any" chemical will hinder your progress. Treat this like your playing a game of golf or basketball 1 on 1 against a pro, and if you win you get 5 million bucks! Even though the likelihood of you winning against a top pro is small, think about how you would prepare for that match! Do the same everyday before you play poker!

Life Advice:
The state of poker in casino and online is currently cannibalizing itself. If you think online poker being legal will create another poker boom think again. It won't even be a new poker bubble, it will be a poker fart gassing over a few months and then back to the ****. I play at the same casino in Illinois everyday and let me tell you the fish are gone. I play online every day and let me tell you the fish are gone. They are not coming back and this has made poker very tough for new players. With the amount of effort you are going to have to put in to "truly" beat this game; you could get your CPA, travel to many countries, invent some new technology, or just get a really sweet tech job and move out to dope area. If you truly have love for the game well then ****ing go for it, but you won't be doing it for the money.

Poker Chris

I'm going to add one thing. If you want your mind to really be on poker at the table, turn off your phone. If you can't turn your phone off to play poker, you're not a serious player.

If you're texting when a guy at the table is making a tough decision, you might miss a tell. Or you might not notice that someone is betting 50% of his hands when it's folded to him on the button.

When I play live poker I register for the tournament, then call my wife and tell her that I got there, then I turn off my phone. We have some family members with serious health issues, so I make sure she that has the number of the poker room in case there is an emergency.

Serves them right that's what happens when you get lucky and overly cocky/erect/ignorant but then you can't put in the work and effort to study/grind after the fact.

Im glad these young agro maniac guys eventually go broke they have a horrible mindset/mentality and are spoiled by the poker gods lol.

Honestly i don't even know wtf i just typed was mad for some reason because i just see these guys everyday sort of jealous how lucky they get i guess...

And uh sorry.

Switching main tasks I do the same

Not only poker, all games are good, but the fact is that this is a type of gambling. In my opinion we are not more optimistic to run behind the game thinking of gaining a lot, if so, may the result will be lose. This will create depression and affect our normal life.

May be a lot ear a lot, but lose is also as much.

Nice apology, but do you realize that you said people get "erect" during poker? I like poker, but not that much.

This I have to agree

I think a lot of people just have no clue how to manage money, in poker or in life. Consider two scenarios.

1. Joe and Sally are in major debt for two expensive new cars and other toys and don't understand why they never seem to have any money.

2. My wife and I went 15 years without a car payment. We drove the last car until my mechanic found holes in the floor. We had to get another car in a hurry. We upgraded to a "new" car and got all those modern conveniences like power windows. We put $2,000 down on an $8,000 used car and we plan to pay the rest off well ahead of schedule.


1. Since Joe and Sally can't manage their money outside of poker, they can't manage poker bankrolls either. Even though they both think they are good players, they can't afford to play higher because they are always "taking shots" that their bankrolls can't handle.

2. I don't have bankroll issues. I'm mostly a live player and I don't move up until I have 100 buy-ins for the new level. I also had $38 sitting on one poker site and $120 on another one. I recently decided to grind those bankrolls up and I'm doing that playing $1 SNGs (sometimes $3 if there aren't any $1 SNGs running.)

In most cases, I don't think it's about managing a poker bankroll. You either make wise and careful financial decisions or you don't, and that carries over into poker.

The people who oppose poker do so because they want to impose their morality on others or because they think that people who gamble are too stupid to make their own decisions. You cannot reason with such people. The moralists are on a mission from God. The nanny-staters are equally irrational in their beliefs that they know better than you how you should live your life.

It is a well-articulated statement, but it is preaching to the choir, and will have zero impact on those mindlessly opposed to gambling.

I see that this was only your third post, welcome to 2+2.

You're right that there are a lot of people who hate poker. Some tell me it's because it's a card game for money--which is not a good argument because competitive bridge players can win money and be ranked (International Rating Points) in ways that are very similar to poker (Global Poker Index.)

I used to be very involved in politics and the truth is that in most political battles, the fight is in the middle. Some people are Republican and some are Democrats but there are always some that are independent or persuadable. That last group is the battleground.

That's why many of us, including the PPA, are always making the case that poker is a legitimate profession and also a game of skill. A lot of voters and legislators know nothing about poker or don't care one way or the other--and those are the persuadables.

By the way, regarding the "mission from God" comment--I am an Evangelical Christian. I had a very long discussion with my pastor where I finally convinced him that there is nothing in the Bible that would speak to poker as a career. One of the many reasons is that when the Bible talks about gambling, it is always a zero-skill game such as "casting lots."

One month on FTP 68 bi under EV.This picture says more than 1000 words.

I think all poker players must go broke, for experience.
It's normal, everybody needs to understand BRM by making mistakes.
That's how humans work.

Holy ****, you used to be crazy!

iv never been broke and im 100% serious

Every once in a while I hear of a pro who started with nothing and started a bankrool by grinding freerllso and grinding out a few bankroll dollars playing freerolls. Someone with the descipline to start with freerolls* probably won't have a problem with bankroll management.

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*On one of the site where I play you have to be in the top 10 of over 700 players to win a dollar. That's a tough way to build a bankroll

IIRC it was my 3rd year that I had to choose between the bottle of water or a can of red bull for my drive home, I couldn't afford both. When you go broke is not nearly as meaningful as how you react to it.

My first reaction was

Hi..i have just joined the community, i hope i don't have to do anything with my password.

Something like happen with me also in past but the reason i didn't broken due to my safe side of money and earning resource its a game play like game its not life...........