Dealing with the swing that breaks tthe bank

[Airpoaneman]

Hey Mike,

I have been having the same problem you have been having, but mine has been getting knocked out in tournaments that I cant afford, that I should had won. NL 30/3 tournaments when I only have 100 bucks.

So, this week I have been experimenting on my own limitations. I just started limit games about 3 weeks ago and have been able to stay about even.

Deposited $50.00. Two tabling .5/1. One hour later left with $66.XX. Went into a .5/1 table and a NL 25 table. Left one hour later, Now up to $96.XX. Played One 1/2 table and one NL25. One hour later left with $120.XX.
Never playing 2/4 I wanted to see what my limitations were. So after about an hour and a half of 2/4 I left with +.5BB. Later that evening I played another hour and ran into a hand that caused me to leave the table.

JJ, pre flop is raised, I 3-bet. 3 callers

Flop : 3 9 10
I bet, am raised, re-raise. One caller.
Turn : 8
Turn i check, he bets, i raise, he re-raises, i call.
River : 8
River I check, he bets, I call.

JQclubs

I leave the table about -10BB.

I am currently not ready to handle that kind of game.

I then threw the rest of my money away in tournaments when I didn’t feel like playing but felt obligated to attempt to increase my bankroll.(still something I need to work on)

In college I will play .5/1 for two weeks. then 10/1 tournaments for 2 weeks. 1/2 next two weeks, 20/2 next two weeks. Then slow down from there. Also Sub-qualifiers are looking really good right now. I know a person who makes top 30 twice a month and qualifies with sub qualifiers which makes for a very good profit for them.

We are so, so, so young. Don’t waist your life on the computer, much less playing poker. If you enjoy the game like most people do, the occasional session is plenty, dont over do it or it will run your life.

[Losing all]

Let me see if I've got this right.. Your advice, other than not playing if you're young, is to play an hour at each limit, and move down if you lose a hand?

That's not a really solid strategy, dude.

[bernie]

Welcome to the wonderful world of bankroll management.

Now there's a starting point.

b

[pzhon]

What does it mean to have a sufficient bankroll? Some people mean that you should have a 5% chance of going broke if you play at that level forever. If you are a competent NL player, then $250 is a sufficient bankroll for Party's $25 NL tables. Perhaps it is just that 5% isn't 0%.

Ten buy-ins may be too few when you have less of an edge. In very weak games, you may have more of an edge, though the variance can be greater, too. Ten buy-ins should be enough.

You can make busting out much less likely by shifting to SNGs when you have less than $100.

[ QUOTE ]
Playing stupid hands and just bad luck broke me out, I reloaded for $50 and went after it.
...
Rebuy again, and lose it on tilting.
...
Which brings me to my last rebuy. We both had sets of aces, with my jack to his king.

[/ QUOTE ]
You should worry that you may have some large leaks in your game. Just as, "A man who is a gentleman 90% of the time is no gentleman," playing decently at NL 90% of the time does not make you a decent player. Tilting can be horribly expensive in NL. So can playing AJ.


[ QUOTE ]
I raise it and get 2 other callers. Flop comes, Ad,6s,9h... We check around to 4th street, 2s. I bet the pot ($5) and the guy to my left moves in for about $40.

[/ QUOTE ]
What does your opponent put you on? Quite possibly JJ, QQ, or KK. Would you fold those to a raise? That your opponent had a gutshot draw wasn't why he raised. It was a bluff that would work a very high fraction of the time if you always bet an ace-high flop with TPGK.

By the way, that the pot was $5 after you raised and got 2 callers suggests that you raised to 3xBB. That doesn't sufficiently exploit a weakness that Party NL $25 players have of calling too much. You will still get many callers with an open raise to 4xBB or a raise to 6xBB after 1-3 limpers.

[jfresh]

[ QUOTE ]


JJ, pre flop is raised, I 3-bet. 3 callers

Flop : 3 9 10
I bet, am raised, re-raise. One caller.
Turn : 8
Turn i check, he bets, i raise, he re-raises, i call.
River : 8
River I check, he bets, I call.

JQclubs


[/ QUOTE ]

i don't see anything that amazing about this hand.... flopped an open ended and turned a straight with two high suited connectors.... where's the bad beat?

[BlueBear]

These swings are just a regular part of poker. I prefer maintaining a large bankroll, say 30 times the minimum buyin so I can withstand the fluctuations comfortably without becoming frustrated and tilting.

[Blarg]

I always keep in mind Puggy Pearson's famous two-year losing streak. If one of the best in the world can lose for two years and still maintain a good attitude and come back from it, I almost never have anything to complain about in comparison.

[StogeyMike]

My thoughts exactly - in this case the opponent played the hand perfectly, including the flop raise.

While this is not at all a bad beat, I can sympathize with the original poster a bit. It does seem that when things go wrong EVERYTHING goes wrong, including having your "high pocket pairs with no overcards on the board " hands cracked.

But, this is the game we have chosen...

[adamstewart]

... such a tool.

[turnipmonster]

FWIW, you realize that beats like this are the reason you can make a ton of money in a game like that, right?

post some hands to the small stakes no limit forum. don't worry about bad beats, work on improving your game and scrape together a couple hundred and take some shots at the 25 game. the main thing you should be concerned about is learning to play well, not making money. money will come as a result of playing well and making good decisions.

--turnipmonster