Winnings

When is it time to build a bankroll? In the games since I started recording I've won several games. Before then I took 3rd once and lost a bunch of other games, I think I was even or maybe down 20-40? I can't remember, but I was just playing from the gut. The first game I recorded was before I studied the game at all, it was just after watching on TV a bazillion hours.

All the following are NL hold'em tourney games. I separated the more "professional" type ones from the home games. All the home game buyins were $20, losers game was $5, the tourneys were $30.

+60 - 1st in an 8 player home game.
+150 - 1st in a 13 player tournament.
-20 - 5th in an 8 player home game.
+10 - 4th in a 20 player home game.
+10 - 1st in a 3 player losers game (same evening).
-30 - 27th in a 43 player tournament.
-20 - 7th in a 18 player home game.
+125 - 3rd in a 32 player tournament.

Adding it up I'm +245 in tournaments (with $90 worth of buyins), and +40 in home games with $85 in buyins. The numbers may be skewed a bit due to a small sample size. But I think it shows what I believe anyway. In home games I'm a bit more relaxed, I'm not as aggressive because I just like to see cards and play with friends. I'm not out to eliminate them. I'm busy telling and listening to stories.

So now when do I stop using "spending" money for the buyins and when do I start to actually have a bankroll that I can draw from and add to? I can afford to lose the buyin typically, but not if I lose three or four times in a row, that's nearly $100 even if I'd still be up money long run. So it'd be nice to have a bankroll to smooth out the lumps. But then again by having a bankroll it seems like I'm taking the game more seriously and I've always enjoyed the recreational aspects of it more than winning money.