[MicroBob]

Very nice post (yet again) stripsqueez.


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i spend about half my playing time at limits which mean i have a 1500BB bankroll - that makes a 200BB downswing feel boring

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You know...even THIS isn't true for me.

If I have a $15k roll and drop $2k at 5/10 you better believe I'm not going to be say "meh...that felt boring."

Speaking of which..I'm back at 5/10 for now.
A couple of fairly 'normal' downswings at 10/20 combined with the fact that I already know I'm not really that great a player anyway.


I am a bit desensitized to the smaller swings at 5/10 (not the 200BB types though). So when I win or lose a hand it doesn't really blow me away because I feel like I'm crawling along compared with the topsy-turvy 10/20 swings.



Maybe a way of looking at the swings would go something like KNOWING ahead of time that you are going to have a series of 25BB and 50BB swings throughout the day and there's not a damn thing you can do to stop them (which we know is already true of course).

In the course of 2k hands or so you will have a handful of +/-50BB swings.

On an average 2k hand stretch perhaps you will typically have 2 +50BB swings and 1 -50BB swings (a total guess).

At the end of the 2k hands you're +50BB of course.


Sometimes you won't get 2 out of 3 though.
You might have 2 out of 3 -50BB swings in one stretch....and then 2 out of 3 +50BB swings in the next stretch.


This isn't precise of course. Might not be too far off though.
Just looking at your poker KNOWING that it will be a series of 50BB swings...and that every once inawhile you will string together 4 consecutive +50BB swings or 4 consecutive -50BB swings.

If the idea of having these kind of $500 swings bothers you then get out of 5/10 (similarly...I have decided that the idea of too many $1000 swings bothers me enough that I'm stepping back from 10/20 for now until I have a bigger roll).



Screw the stuff about having a 300BB roll or a 1000BB roll or a 2000BB roll.


When you sit down at a game ask yourself "Am i going to be cool if I drop 50-70BB RIGHT FREAKING NOW because my cards sucked?"
That's the 'emotional-readyness' test.

You have to be ready for the possibility of a 50-70BB drop that comes practically in the blink of an eye. And if not I think you should probably step back a level.