Gambloor needs some perspective from non-donks

[RiverTheNuts]

I am a donk, there, I said it.

I started playing poker in 2002 for fun, picked up hold em, and in late 2003 I started playing semi-seriously... Found this site, bought all the books, did my reading.

I would throw in 50 dollars, gambool it up to a couple hundred, go on a bad streak and tilt it away playing over my bankroll, rinse, and repeat. At one point I had bonus whored myself up to 2 grand before a bad beat at a NL 1000 table (yes, I am retarded) ended it all

This was around the end of 2004... I continually would throw in 50 bucks, run it up, and then hit a little downswing and parlay it into brokeness playing too high.

Its not like Im a moron who cant beat the game. My PT has me running at 7BB/100 over 15k hands at .5/1, and at over 6BB/100 after about 8k at 2/4 ...

After these tilting episodes I would swear off poker for a few weeks or a month, but then I was back.

This brings us to the present day. I have run 50 dollars up to about 1000 in the month of august playing only .5/1 and bonus whoring a few spots. At this point Id just like some perspective on how long it took people before they knew they could win at these low limits, their trials and tribulations, where they went from this point, and how they avoided tilting the BR away.

I am about to get reorganized, I have a seperate checking account for poker, a seperate email. I am going to set up some of the R-word on empire and party and move to 1/2, taking my downswings with grace and humility, and actually learning from them.

My worries are that I havent totally gotten in control of my tilt problem, and that all this donking around at .5/1 has made my game sloppy

Ive started to ramble, I was just looking for people to throw something out there, encouraging, ripping me a new a-hole, telling me their story, whatever...

When you get to $1000, cash out $500, buy something purely for enjoyment.

Most likely you play like you do because the money becomes meaningless after a while. After your first few cashouts the whole poker thing will make a lot more sense.

[MediaPA]

Don't play too high. Playing high does a number of things (to me at least). It makes low limits seem trivial and boring. It also can lead to over-confidence in the short term, or being completely broke if you mis-step or don't move back down.

Don't sit with more than 10% of your 'bankroll' in play. Even that may be too much. One suck out can lead to major tiltage and bankroll destruction.

Set some sort of a stop loss (BBs, buyins, etc). It could be just that the cards aren't running for you that day or more than likely it's your play being affected by something.

Setting up a second account is a good idea. Cash out some money when you are running good. That way, if you crash and burn, there's some in reserve.

Pick the game that you are going to play and set some kind of goal. My goal was to play 100NL until I won 20-30 buy ins then move up to 200NL. Well, I've failed miserable and am taking another break from poker. This was after 'donating' $250 back of the $850 I was up.

Just a few suggestions to do w/ as you will.

[Bodhi]

Stop taking shots at limits you can't afford. It's that simple.

A. Stop playing w/ your bankroll like your drunk and your number's keep hittin in a roulette game. Your setting your self up for both short term high's and long term low's.

B. Play at a limit you can afford instead of going up a limit every time you've got enough money to play at that limit.

C. Set a long term goal (I wanna play at 5/10 by the end of 2007 or something)

D. When you start losing you can't think about how your losing in the short term, you have to think about how you're winning in the long term. Just play as best as possible all the time, make that a goal.

[Rduke55]

[ QUOTE ]
When you get to $1000, cash out $500, buy something purely for enjoyment.

Most likely you play like you do because the money becomes meaningless after a while. After your first few cashouts the whole poker thing will make a lot more sense.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree with this 100%. I used to run it up, lose it, etc. until I started cashing out regularly.

[MustangMarc]

One of the best bits of advice I've seen on this site is this:

Don't move up in limits just because you have the money to do so.

Higher limits often take a different approach to beat. The differences are subtle, and I myself don't know them well enough to elaborate here. Stay a limit long enough to build up more than enough bankroll for the next level, and be able to take some money out of the bankroll as profit.

[Python49]

I've seen you play in the 2000 NL game on pokerstars :/

I guess the advice is simple... exercise some bankroll management.

[TripleH68]

Set goals. Keep a journal. Find a buddy that will listen to your reports. In poker there is only one way to keep score.

Side note: your story reminds me of someone who makes three birdies on the front nine, then makes a nine trying to reach a par-5 in two over the water. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] Course management.

[thesanch]

I totally understand the tilting problem ou are talking about. I played 1/2 9max for about 10k hands and at my high point i was up 100-120BB. After a few bad tilting sessions, I'm pretty much even.

I took a long time to move up to 1/2. I played about 30k hands of 50c/1 before moving up. I have a pretty good winrate there (2.2BB/100), not as stellar as yours, oh well. I just dropped back down to improve my confidence levels, control my emotions, and improve on seat and table selection.

I suggest you play more. I believe what you are going through will be compounded as you move up and you don't try to fix it. Just settle down and move on to the next hand. Like many have said, it's one long session.

-Freddie