The silence of the Daliman (long)

[Frozen]

Daliman, this is a mistake worthy of OnlineChamp.
Crushing party sng's does not mean you have a shot at the 80-160 games, or certainly not 25-50 NL vs. top pros for god's sake!

25% of my game is GAME SELECTION. Notice how I always duck out of any sng pre-start if I see one or two rocks sit down
at my table. You're a talented grinder, but not a world champion! A talented grinder who I can see making a cool 1/4 mil per year (tax free if u know how to do it) if you just stick to grinding it out on the sng's. How do I know? Because I am the exact same thing.

~Frozen

[Daliman]

Actually, I did fine in the 80-160 I played. The 30-60 SH is what hurt, along with the 25/50 NL, which i actually only LOST ~6k in. Not that 6k is nothing, but it's nothing in that game for 20+ hours of SH and HU play with the likes of Deeb, Keller, Hoff, Friedman, and Lindgren. Actually, if not for ONE pot i made a huge error in,(and still could have gotten lucky and hit a 16%er for a win or tie), I'd have made money in there. But yes, I am back to grinding.
F LImit poker. I know longer know how to play it.

[RYL]

Thank you for this post. I originally started with $100 and went to $1000 in a week 4-tabling $0.25/$0.50 NLHE 50 Max. After getting a $1000, I got cocky and decided to move up, 4-tabling $0.50/$1.00 NLHE 100 Max. I got my account up to $1600 before losing it all in a week and a half. This post teaches everyone a great lesson on how important your bankroll is in relation to the game you play. I'm now going to move up once I have enough for 20 buy-ins. Once again I thank you for this post.

[Bigwig]

Daliman -- you've no clue who I am, but I would appreciate it if you would answer my question. How long have you been playing, and what experience did you have before you went on your SNG run?

I ask because I'm currently self-employed, but dislike my job. I do just fine, but would actually like to get my game to the point where I become an SNG pro. At my current win rate on the $30 tables, I could make half of my average income full-time right now. So I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that after learning and improving more, that I could make the jump when I am able to do the same at $100's (could take a while, I know). I'm just curious about your time frame, and how long it took.

Thanks.

[ammbo]

Daliman, I frequent another board and only lurk here, so I apologize if this seems out of left field. Your cautionary tale is exactly the medicine I need right now. My bankroll jumped exponentially recently, and my first impulse was to jump into higher games. However, your tale has given me the proper perspective on playing within one's limits.

I play a lot of NL ring and SnGs as well. My first foray into $200 SnGs was considerably more disastrous than yours. I shaved off half of my $4000 bankroll in one evening after being emboldened by a single win. Playing beyond my limits is a mistake I do not plan to repeat, and I doubt it is one you will repeat either.

I might recommend a stop-loss for NL games. I find that in a NL ring, losing a few buyins can affect me enough to play just below my par game. I leave any table after losing two buy ins now. (I don't like the idea of a stop-loss, but it works for me.)

Discipline is the most difficult aspect of poker to learn. You learned this the hard way. I only hope that your story is how the rest of us to learn.

[ZeeJustin]

It's so easy to share success stories, but so much easier to learn from someone's mistakes. Thanks a lot for sharing this.

[AtlBrvs4Life]

Daliman, I am sorry to hear that things aren't going well for you right now. Your posts were invaluable to my SNG game when you used to post more in the SNG forum. I am certain you will be able to recover from this downswing and be back soon.

Out of curiosity, I was wondering if you could post the hand where you made the huge mistake that cost you ~17k? Not a big deal if you can't.

[silversurfer]

Thanks for the post. Like many others here, I am an aspiring SnG semi-pro wanna-be who respects your posts.

As reinforcement to what everyone else has said...please stick with what you know. I'm envious of the ability to be a high-limit SnG grinder like yourself (and depending on the state of online poker, may one day be). Don't tilt off your winnings after the tremendous year you have apparently had.

[Daliman]

[ QUOTE ]
Daliman -- you've no clue who I am, but I would appreciate it if you would answer my question. How long have you been playing, and what experience did you have before you went on your SNG run?

I ask because I'm currently self-employed, but dislike my job. I do just fine, but would actually like to get my game to the point where I become an SNG pro. At my current win rate on the $30 tables, I could make half of my average income full-time right now. So I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that after learning and improving more, that I could make the jump when I am able to do the same at $100's (could take a while, I know). I'm just curious about your time frame, and how long it took.

Thanks.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have been playing poker seriously for about 5 years, professionally for last 18 months. Before i went on my SNG run, i'd played about 60-70 SNG's at varying levels, but i have MILLIONS of hands played previous to this foray. My time frame was essentialy as soon as I started playing these consistantly, as i had previous thought them to be hard to win in. I study alot of hands, and have every single book ever written on poker, it seems. But the short of it is that In february i had about 1200 o party and started playing 2 to 3 tables of $100's at a time, won about 1800 in a week, then started 4 tabling $200's like crazy and never looking back. i'd have moderate drawdowns here and there, but rarely one that exceeded 100 tourneys until the big hit. Near as I can call, take 11 full %off yer RoI for every level you play above your standard level, starting at $30 as base, so is yer $30 base ROI is 45%, figure 34% at 50 level, 23% at $100 level, and 12% at $200 level. Also expect tjhe swings to be probably 20% bigger ech level yo ugo up, and 50% bigger at $200 level.

Sorry is this all seems a mess, as my sonata i tokk 35 miniutesago is really starting to kick in... [img]/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]

[Daliman]

I have it on another comp. I'll post when I'm on it.