Why I Never Went Bust (But Had to Start Over 7 Times)

As I shared in my last post, I’m proud to say I have never actually gone bust playing poker.

However, that doesn't mean it’s been a straight line to the top. The truth is, I’ve had to completely "start over" multiple times throughout my playing career.

I never lost my bankroll at the tables, but life has a funny way of requiring liquid cash. Over the years, I’ve completely cleaned out my poker accounts to fund real-life priorities:

• To transition from online poker to live cash games.

• To build out a home gym.

• To cover unexpected daily life expenses.

• To navigate Black Friday (Admittedly, I didn't see the 2011 shutdown coming. I had luckily withdrawn my balance to deposit elsewhere later, but before I could, the US market locked down).

• To wipe out personal debt.

• To cover out-of-pocket medical surgery expenses.

So, while my accounts hit zero multiple times, it was always by choice. In that sense, I guess you could say I was successful. But back then, I still suffered from the mindset that I needed a rigid "poker bankroll" instead of a flexible poker budget.

And that brings us to exactly why my current poker experiment is so unique.

The 7-Year Retirement Plan (And the Poker Accelerator)

Let’s lay the cards on the table. My day job is incredibly fulfilling, and I have absolutely no intention of leaving it anytime soon.

According to my financial planner, I am currently on track to retire comfortably in about seven years. It’s a solid plan, but I have a different goal in mind: I want to cut that timeline completely in half.

If poker can help act as the financial catalyst to get me there sooner, all the better.

My strategy is simple: Play at the lowest stakes possible while making structured, regular injections into my poker funds. This will allow me to aggressively refine my skills, adapt to the modern game, and build a massive cushion so that when early retirement arrives, I can smoothly transition to playing part-time or full-time on the side.

The Baseline Grind is here to document every single step of that journey.

The Modern Multi-Site Blueprint

To make this experiment work, I am focusing my play across three main platforms:

1. ClubWPT Gold: This will serve as the primary proving ground for low-limit play.

2. Global Poker: A steady, high-traffic option for consistent volume.

3. Clubs Poker: They have a fantastic, wide variety of mixed games, but the overall player traffic isn't quite there yet. However, their tournaments frequently feature overlay (where the prize pool guarantee exceeds the buy-ins), so I will be selectively targeting their tournament schedule to capture that massive mathematical edge.

Wait… Bankroll or Budget?

You might be thinking: "Hold on. Didn’t you just say in your last post that recreational players need a poker budget, not a bankroll?"

Yep, I absolutely did. And I stand by it.

But for this specific challenge, I want to see a definitive proof of concept. When I tell you about my past success, it’s entirely anecdotal; I don’t have the receipts or old hand histories from fifteen years ago to prove it to you.

This time, I want to find out exactly how far I can go if I start at the absolute bare minimum, without ever having to redeposit out of pocket again because of a loss. Every single outside cent added to this experiment will be rigorously documented.

The Transparency System: Receipts, Trackers, and Sheets

To keep myself accountable and give you total transparency, the system is going to look like this:

• Low Stakes Grinding: Sticking strictly to the lowest limits on ClubWPT Gold.

• Structured Investments: Making regular, bi-monthly deposits into ClubWPT Gold and Global Poker to simulate a disciplined budget.

• Raw Video Footage: I will be recording my sessions. Entire, unedited sessions without commentary will be uploaded to my YouTube channel.

• Hand Analyses: I'll take the most interesting, complex, or standard hands from those sessions and embed them directly here on the blog with deep written commentary.

• The Custom Bankroll Tracker: Everything will be logged via a custom Google Sheet. I'll be posting regular screenshots of my progress.

Bonus for Readers: I am currently fine-tuning this poker tracker template. It doesn't just track your standard hourly win-rate; it actually calculates your mathematical Risk of Ruin. Once it’s fully optimized and ready for the public, I will be making the template completely free to download here on the site so you can track your own poker journey.

Now that the foundation has been set, let's see how far I can go.

How do you handle your poker funds? Do you keep a strict, isolated bankroll, or do you play out of a monthly hobby budget? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!