What would you do?

digiman

I would really like to start doing something with my poker money but I am unsure as what approach to take with it. My end goal is to save up about E40k-50k for a house deposit but I am unsure what is the best way to go about doing it. At the moment I am well rolled for 2/4 and have been taking the odd stab at 5/10 games when they are good. At the moment I am looking at it from 2 different options which I see as:

A: Take out say 3k/month and but it into the bank and hopefully increase this as I move up levels and make more each month, I set up a regular savings account with the 4 main banks which allows me to save 3k/month making some interest of around 4-5% or something like that which ain't great but at least its a guarnateed interest rather than some risk account were you could make much more or perhaps even lose alot.

B: Don't withdraw the money at all untill I can afford to take the amount I need out of my bankroll which is hard to quantify when you get to this stage as I will inevitably have to drop down a level or 2 if I do this and who knows how long this could take as nothing is certain in poker earnings.


There are some advantages and disadvantages to each. Now at the moment I am working in a good job which pays pretty well so I don't really use poker money for personal use to often and have no intentions of giving up my job to play poker or anything like that. Poker is just a past-time were I make a reasonable amount each month but I would like to start saving it or at least come up with some plan for what I can do with it. I can see myself being able to make around 5k/month on average if I put my mind to it.

If anyone has any other tips on better ways of saving 3k/month I would appreciate that also or what good investment would be for someone in my situation or has any other advice in general I would be grateful.

Ste05

100% take money off the sites, it's a huge mistake to leave your entire BR on an on-line Poker site.

I only keep 10-20 BI's on-line at any time. Where you put it is up to you. I keep the majority of it in a Savings account in Ulster Bank, I earn some interest on it and can move it around with no waiting times.

Rod & Reel

under the matress, put a pea at the bottom of the stash. bring home a few odd 1s from coppers and see if the feel the little thing in the nite. if so get rid of em quick cause there only after ya for ur money!!!.

on a serious note. house prices will drop dramatically over the next 12/18 months so keep that in mind.

maybe a nice mobile. 35k will get u a very good second hand 1. somewhere exotic like cork, wexford or wherever get ur self a good boat go fishing and enjoy.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

I usually only leave a few k online at any time. I mostly use poker monies to buy things such as cars/holidays/kitchens/gadgets although i am hoping to earn enough from poker this year to buy a small village somewhere:D

I suppose you need to weight up your choices -
1. Withdraw bankroll and stunt progress in moving up levels
2. Leave money online and have the bankroll to get to your desired level and once there then start withdrawing a % of profits on a monthly basis
3. If you are happy at the level your at keep ypur 25/30 buy in and withdraw all profits over and above that and place in a high interest savings account with a view to investing in property

Did not realise you are more or less the same as myself in terms of day job/poker

Theresalwaysone

I have to admire your goal setting, forward thinking and dedication. I thinks these are things that many many people dont have, and to be honest, they are pretty much the hallmarks of successful people.

Fair balls to you for being sensible about it all.

As regards, your actual question, Im not sure my advice would have any relevance, 21 year old student and all that.

RoadSweeper

As said,

The main problem is the stunting your moving up levels.

You have to decide what you ultimately want from poker. Otherwise take the money offline so it actually become like real money to you and wont spew it on tilt :P

kmick

As well as that you should deposit and withdraw on the same night to avoid exchange rate risk if you are playing in dollars.

The C Kid

31 Black imo.

Or hookers and blow.

Or any other cliches like that.

digiman

Castiel Tiny Smog wrote: »

Did not realise you are more or less the same as myself in terms of day job/poker

Yeah, I've a full time 8.30-5pm job so poker is just an extra tax free earning and in no way puts food on the table or pays the rent or w/e


@Ste05, when you say you only keep 10-20buyins online I think this is a good idea and all that as if something happened you or the poker site goes and steals it on you, you are not left with nothing. I was also thinking before if anything happened me my faimly/girlfriend would have no idea how to go about getting access to the money which would be bad.
My problem is kinda a mental thing that I need to see 30BI or so there for me to be comfortable at the stakes I am it. I have played with my money spread accross sites before and say 10BI on each one. All of a sudden if I dropped to say 5BI on one site I would lose confidence and would be afraid of busting my roll on that site and play bad. Its a bit silly but its stuck in my head and can't get over it!!

thedini

As you say you are well rolled for 400NL, but if it's your goal/expectation to reach 1000NL then once you reach this goal you will be able to withdraw more than €3k pm and be able to put down a bigger deposit.

zuutroy

I change my mind pretty regularly on this as I'm in the same boat. Decent money from the regular job with poker as the side project. When I'm running well I think I'm awesome and I'll leave the money in there and build up towards 5/10. At the other extreme, when I'm running bad I'm all 'Fck this mf rigged sh1t', I'm withdrawing everything bar $5k and I'm gonna just play 1/2 for life coz I suck.
I'd suspect the best thing to do is something in the middle. I'd imagine at the midstakes if you (I mean everyone not you spefically) weren't withdrawing your bankroll grows quicker than your skill level and you might find yourself well rolled for 5/10 before you're good enough to beat it for a decent clip. So it mighn't be any harm to skim some off for your savings, but still have your bankroll growing and at the same time only growing fast enough that you have to put in a good few more hands at 2/4, and taking conservative 5/10 shots until you feel well enough rolled and skilled.

RoundTower

zuutroy wrote: »

I'd suspect the best thing to do is something in the middle. I'd imagine at the midstakes if you (I mean everyone not you spefically) weren't withdrawing your bankroll grows quicker than your skill level and you might find yourself well rolled for 5/10 before you're good enough to beat it for a decent clip.

this

unless you are absolutely crushing 2/4 you should be able to withdraw quite a lot before you are comfortable moving up to 5/10, no matter how much you've made

fatguy

100% take money off the sites, it's a huge mistake to leave your entire BR on an on-line Poker site.

This cannot be said enough. Otherwise, Zuutroy has it right. Keep enough to stay at 2/4 comfortably and withdraw the rest, or a % if you're still serious about moving up.

Jesus Wept

Castiel Tiny Smog wrote: »

I usually only leave a few k online at any time. I mostly use poker monies to buy things such as cars/holidays/kitchens/gadgets

How many kitchens do you have?

digiman wrote: »

I was also thinking before if anything happened me my faimly/girlfriend would have no idea how to go about getting access to the money which would be bad.

Considered this before, maybe it should be another thread.
Has anyone made any plan for this outcome?

Mr.Plough

i'd prolly play 3-6 before 5-10 tbh

lee_arama

Are you renting as it stands or are you living with family?

If you're renting then you might take a look at the 'rent to buy' scheme. Uses rent paid towards the house/mortgage so that it acts like a wee piggy bank saving yer pennies while you live there!

And Halifax offer the best rates (at least they did) on savings accounts right? Wasn't it like 10% if you lodged 1500 a month?

digiman

Mr.Plough wrote: »

i'd prolly play 3-6 before 5-10 tbh

3/6 or 4/8 rarely runs on the site I play on, you would be lucky to see 2 tables of 3/6 at any time during the day or night.

Jesus Wept

lee_arama wrote: »

And Halifax offer the best rates (at least they did) on savings accounts right? Wasn't it like 10% if you lodged 1500 a month?

It's a current account, you have to have 1500e coming into the account each month. you will get 10% interest on your balance upto 2k.

So if you maintain 2k in your current account over the year, you'll get around 20e per month (-dirt), or 15e per month.

Still, it's better than paying to bank.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

The-Rigger wrote: »

How many kitchens do you have?



Considered this before, maybe it should be another thread.
Has anyone made any plan for this outcome?

Sure the missus changes kitchen style every year:pac: