Oops

[illguitar]

Hey guys, I'm flat broke. Broke like Mike McD at the beginning of Rounders when he plays over his head. In fact, almost EXACTLY like that. I began playing in about August and by October I had enough money to quit my part-time college job as a bartender. I was up to about 3,000 dollars from about 400. Unfortunately, being the naive college poker newbie that I am, I counted all of that money as my bankroll instead of keeping money aside for rent and bills. Since that time I have paid about 1,600 in rent and bills, not to mention expenses including food and bar money. So...I got to the point where I was low again, but I worked it back to about 1,800. Just grinding.
Then, not thinking about my bankroll I began playing 5/10 and 10/20 games because I was beating them. I did not consider the fact that I might go on a downswing of between 90-180BB. I did. Over two weeks. The more I lost, the more I pushed. At one point I even jumped into a 30/60 I had beaten before, knowing I couldn't afford it.
So, many big mistakes later I am now nearly flat broke and without a job. My question is...what next? Aside from learning that I am not immune to downswings of this magnitude, I have gained nothing from this experience except regret. I'm not a big gambler, I'm not looking for flames or criticisms of where I went wrong, (although you are free), I know what I have done. I know that i should've been playing a 3/6 game or less with my bankroll. I just want to know what to do now. Help me. I have enough money to live for a bit. And I'm not dumb enough to gamble that.

Just tell me stories of your bankruptcies and what you did. If you have any. I have to assume that SOME of you were stupid kids at one point.

Thanks,
Daver

[BottlesOf]

What do you think you should do? I would say, get a job and don't play until you can afford it. If and when you play again, never play above your means.

[illguitar]

yep, sad truth is I probably will have to get a job. Too bad since it's my senior year and getting a job for just my last semester sucks. I have always played within my means before this. Until I recently joined Pacific Poker. Because the games were so unbelievable all the way tio the top level, I figured that I could easily remain on top. Anybody go broke and get stked or know how to go about getting staked? I don't know many poker players since I play almost exclusively online. So it would be down to my firends who can't afford it, and my parents, who I refuse to financially burden. Who knows.

I guess I don't know what I'm expecting from this post, maybe just some advice or experiences with this type of situation.

PLAYERS BEWARE OF GAMES OUTSIDE YOUR SPECIFIED BANKROLL LIMITATIONS.

I wasn't and like the classic dumb college kid, I didn't think that this could happen to me.

-Daver

[Justin A]

[ QUOTE ]
I have gained nothing from this experience except regret.

[/ QUOTE ]

This will not be true in the future. You'll gain more from this experience than you would have if you just kept winning.

Justin A

[Pepsquad]

I agree with Justin. Good/great players are always compelled to review their play, makes changes, grow and get even better. What I would do? Suck it up, get a crappy part-time job and serve your semester's worth of penance. Who knows, maybe a year from now, working at a great job and making cash part-time playing poker - you'll look back on this as one of the greatest lessons you ever learned. One that HAD to be learned before you could take the next step.

[captZEEbo1]

My advice is INSTEAD of getting a part-time job, just drop WAY down in the limits. You can easily make minimum wage playing 4 tables of 1/2. It will be humbling, but I'm sure you have SOMETHING saved up that you could put it back to poker. I guess it depends on what kind of pay you expect to get from a part time job, but I say, stick to poker. You're clearly a good player. Just remember if you play 1/2, it's going to be a lot different from 30/60 [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[semipro]

I had a similarly humbling experience on the same exact site, Pacific. I thought that I was flying high, and with a BR of 1500, playing 5/10, OBVIOUSLY above my BR level. I took a 80BB hit, and was very upset as well. But then, I realized that overall I was up, and that poker is one long life-time session, and that the session only ends when you quit or retire. So, keep your head up, realize that overall you are in the positive, and that if you built your BR from 400 than you can do it again. Good luck.