[X] Degenerate + Bankroll Management = ...

[CrizzyConnor]

...in before "tl:dr"

So I read quite a few of the blogs on here and I finally decided I'd give it a go, knowing me I'll probably quit within a few weeks but hopefully not. The plan is that the blog will serve as a tool to keep me practicing proper bankroll management. I've never been good at that particular skill as I'm a bit of a gambler at heart. I'm the type of guy that thinks it's a good idea to play a $216 PLO MTT on Full Tilt when he's only got $500 in his roll ("even if I lose I'll still have over half my roll" I told myself then proceeded to be the bubble boy) or thinks that a good way to use the last $55 in his account is by sticking it on the one tourney and hoping for a big score ("I've got a feeling" and I did end up with $1,600 that time but it's not the way to go about staying in the black in poker).

Is poker rigged or am I just a lucky gambler? Three of my biggest scores to date have been in tournaments where my whole roll has been fully invested. This didn't really help curtail my gambling ways at first. It's like the sites were trying to keep me around, the huge fish that I am, so they gave me these little top-ups every time I was almost down and out to make me think I was good. My main problem was that I would constantly play outside of my roll and would buy in direct to $50, $100, $200 tournaments. Most of the time I would stick to some sort of BR management of around 10-12 buy ins thinking I'd be ok, I was deluded. As the time went on I learned to reign in my gambling ways slightly, just in time for a massive downswing in the second half of last year. I had a healthy roll across a few sites in the summer but by November I was almost bust on all. I say bust but I've not went totally bust because I always cash out half of any win I have over $400 so I'm getting something out of poker, in 2009 I cashed out enough money to pay for a couple of APAT weekends, clear my credit card and buy some DJ gear. It's nice to have something to show for this poker malarky other than entries on a bank statement...

So anyway I depleted my bankroll severely and was running horribly with no decent scores to speak of until the APAT online WCOAP in December when I managed to take down the PLO event and final table the main event. I think this kind of gave me back some confidence in my game, I withdrew the lot though and paid for my family's Christmas presents (tyvm). I then redeposited $50 on Pokerstars at the start of January and have since managed to spin it up to my current roll there of just over $300. I don't intend on depositing again, I never do but then I always end up being a complete degen and going through my roll in a night. This usually happens on the weekends with the help of alcohol and a chat ban. This time I really do intend on sticking to it and this is my means of doing so, nobody wants to go busto in public now do they?

[CrizzyConnor]

Introductions over, here's the deal. I'm going to try and stick to playing with between 50 and 100 buy ins at a given level. If I drop below 50 buy ins for the level then I drop down. If I work the bankroll up to 60 buy ins for a level above me I might take a 10 buy in shot depending on how I feel but I'll drop back down as soon as I go below 50 buy ins at that level. This could of course keep me in an endless cycle of shot taking and not getting there but I'm good with that as long as I don't go bust. My current bankroll is listed below. I intend on playing $3.30-$5.50 MTT & SNGs for now and don't plan on playing any higher until I have at least $600 in my bankroll. I think this is fairly strict and there's every possibility I could say feck it tomorrow and play outside my roll but this is my first step to trying.


20/1/2010 - Day One.

I decide to play a couple of games tonight as I"ve got no work or Uni tomorrow.

BR = $317.21

$3.30 PLO $1.5k Guaranteed - out in around the middle of field
$4.40 NLHE 180 man SNG out in the 60 or 70's
$4.40 NLHE 180 man SNG out 24th 6 from money but I play for the win not the min-cash.
$4.40 NLHE $2k Guaranteed, ends up with 2197 runners & nearly $9k prize pool. As always the payouts are very top heavy and I'm gutted when 4hrs and 58 minutes into the tourney I bust in 40th place for $23.72. Great. That's the trouble with MTT's though, you need to final table to make a decent cash. I got crippled with 45 players left when I had KQ suited on the button, guy to my right has been raising 2.5x from the cutoff four orbits in a row. He does it again and with an 18bb stack and a healthy looking pot in the middle I decide to make a stand and re-raise all in. Of course the BB wakes up with AK and calls, cutoff folds like he was always going to. Luckily BB only had 11bbs so I"m left with 7bbs and one orbit later I push from the cutoff with pocket 8's and the small blind has pocket Kings. FML.

So all in all, 5hrs playing and $7.22 profit to show for it. I already want to just forget this whole bankroll thing and play some $20-50 games. lol. This would be the shortest blog in history if I done that. That's me for tonight though.

BR @ end of session $324.43

[MAIR]

All the best with this Chris look forward to reading more.

[duke3016]

Bloody Hell - that first post is me FML  

Great stuff don"t neglect it

[bigredders]

yep that also sounds the mirror image of me. i once stuck half my bankroll on a $250 super turbo knockout tournament, thinking i was gonna knock out one of the full tilt pro"s and get my money back!

should really do a similar thing! good luck!

oh and a tip, try the 18 man sng"s on pokerstars and multi table, they are sooooo soft!

[AMRN]

Is poker rigged or am I just a lucky gambler? Three of my biggest scores to date have been in tournaments where my whole roll has been fully invested.

Interesting point. The general consensus is that you don"t play as well if you are playing with scared money..... I"ve often wondered if that really applies to tournaments, and if in fact the opposite might be true. Like you, I have often "taken a punt" with a huge chunk of bankroll, and generally found that I have played much much better.

Good first blog entry - keep it coming.

[Marty719]

tl;dr











ok ok I did - Good read all round!!  U gna stick with mtts or u play ne cash?

[Roscopiko]

good luck, stick with it ftw

[Cyntaf]

Hi my name is "Chris" and i am a "Degenerate Gambler"

Nice post Chris, you"ve made the break, also being very open and honest. Big congrats on self assesment, and making the adjustsments to suit. I am currently trying to find a format towards making a more steady profit/progress instead of win, big win, win then who cares attitude to a downward spiral of los lose lose, oh well it wasn"t my money really cavalier type of attitude.

You say play the night for ~$7 profit, what"s the point?
You also went for the win and not itm beforehand?
Well sometimes, especially with a sm stk, you may be better off accepting to be itm. Then your next tourney could be seen as free rolling, also you would not be going into your 4th trny of the night thinking, shiiiiiiiit?

With regards to small profit, that"s a lot better than losing ~$17, and therefore tonight, all your entries could be seen as freerolls? Just a thought, i am not saying never go for the win.
Your headline post and point is B/roll Management, so yes sometimes take the small amounts and see how you fayre at the end of the month/months. Don"tlook at every tourny as the, "Big One" as a leg upto higher stakes, too soon for your own good.
Another question, if you do find yourself winning at a particular stake, WHY? would you want to throw 1/2 your roll away on a big tourney. That 1/2 may have taken you 2 months to acquire. Are you trying to get rich quick or impress yourself or others with a big win? Carry on at your level, and after 10 months, your roll maybe big enough to take a shot at the big trny for only 5 or 10% of your roll, whereas now you can carry on after a heavy one off loss with a good roll behind you. Who knows, with it only being 5/10% of roll you may play really well because it"s not scared money and end up with that big win to add to your roll or spend as you wish, and still have your B/roll in good order.

Wow sorry about that, gone off on one, me thinks this is self analasys/counselling. Anyway good luck and stick with it, You have addressed it, now give it a chance. Look longterm.

Cheers Paul

[duke3016]

Wow sorry about that, gone off on one

standard  

[jlane1980]

What does this mean? Apologies for my naivety!

tl;dr

Thanks

Jon











ok ok I did - Good read all round!!  U gna stick with mtts or u play ne cash?

[duke3016]

too long;didn"t read  

[THEGUY84]

Yeah good luck chris, I guess im trying something similar for maybe the 3rd time! lol

But I will stick to it, started solid for the year and decided to play heads up cash 25:50 and lost 3 buyins ooops but the guy i played ran good, i felt they where pretty poor., nice chunk of roll gone, I manged to get a good score at 6 max to pay back my debt.

So few days on I play they same guy heads up and I got schooled oooops! 3 buy ins gone.

Then the gambler kicked in I put £100 on ladbrokes, time to bet and blackjack it! withdrew £300, 10 min later. woop!

Stupid but got luck so this is where I stand now. I challenge you to a friendly battle of who can get up more in there rolls and try make us stick to a plan! we can have a simple $20 wadger or somthing using Holdem manager to track out stats?? We no each other well enough for no fowel play!!

U up for it??

[CrizzyConnor]

[CrizzyConnor]

So I never really had time to play much tonight as I had a bunch of other things I had to take care of.
I did manage to squeeze in 45 mins right there before I head to bed:

BR = $324.43

So I played & failed to cash in three turbos:

$3.25 NLHE 45-man SNG
$3.25 NLHE 45-man SNG
$3.40 NLHE 18-man SNG

I had one table of PLO 5 cash running at the same time and made $2.32 profit there. I also got $7.61 of my reload bonus which I found weird as I thought it was released in $10 increments but oh well. Down for the night due to the three SNGs but the bonus brought me back up to a slight profit of three cents! lol.

BR @ end of session = $324.46