This post is my advice to fellow blogger's post yet was too lengthy to put in his comments section, so I will leave him a linky-link to this post. I think it is sound advice if you want to stay in the game. If you think not, leave me a rebuttal or your theory, and we can have a conversation on the matter. I have an open mind. lets talk. Am I high-strung?
I can’t disagree with you more XXXX on your BR management theory. Your friend got lucky if he was risking 1/4 of his roll at once and made money. I will bet it wasn’t long-term with that percenage of his roll on the table everytime he played. Plus you said he made money on his “last roll!” You want to talk physics of poker, lets talk about variance. You can play perfect poker and be the best poker player in the world and still lose 4 buy-ins in a row. I know I’ve had 4 bad beats in a row before, not to mention adding in a few hands are made to take your buy-in also, like set-over-set and AA VS KK. That is just an inherent aspect of poker’s odds. Playing with that much of your roll on the table, you are destined to go belly-up; you can’t support a downswing. And obviously if you scooped it up to $400 you would give $100NL a shot with this theory. At that pace, staying on that path, you won’t be heading up the ladder for long. Yea, you’ll have a huge rush while your climbing that ladder on a heater, but with risking that much you statically will be back to nothing before long, so you better enjoy that success while it lasts. I’m not trying to be a nay-sayer here and tell you how to live your poker life, I am just trying to save you some bumps in the road. I went bust a few years back, with 2 small buy-ins of $25 when I first started out, because I sucked and didn’t know how to play, but once I read a few books and frequented forums I gained some skill and became a winning player. I won enough to take off my original money so I could play with sheer profits. That was at the beginning of last year and I have never gone bust again. This is because I’m a winning player that uses BR management. Once I had a 3 month downswing, but although I lost money over and over and over, I was never near going broke because I didn’t put a large percentage of my BR at risk.
The reason why most players go broke is because they won’t take advice and learn the whole game from wiser more accomplished players. (Not me – Pros) And when I say the whole game I don’t mean only the cards, hand odds, and outs; I mean the business, the lifestyle, and how to safely go pro. If you listen to the pros, it is a methodical systematic process, not taking risk after risk. Being a poker player doesn’t mean being a gambler.
Most Pros say to always have 15 to 20x the max Buy-in at the NL stakes you are playing. I used that system last year and went from the Penny tables on UB to playing $200NL and cashed out $4500 last year. This year as of yet, I suck and am playing like a punk and dropped down to $60 playing and having to play $10NL on Tilt, but in the last month and a half I’ve built that back up to $600 and playing the $50NL tabs again. If I would have stayed on tables with 1’4 of my roll, I would be working over-time to get some more seed money.
Most Pros say no matter what, never have more than 10% of your total roll on the table at once. I will say that I have junked both of those theories just because I have already crushed these stakes before and have already learned the differences between each level on my up the 1st time. But I am doing something close the 10 buy-in rule. I am playing tables if I have 8 buy-ins. Ex: to play $50NL I reached $400. If I lost 1 buy-in and hit $350 I would drop back down to $25NL and get that $50 back. That means if I lose 1 buy-in at the start of a new level and have to drop down I have 3 full buy-ins at that level that I’d have to lose before dropping down again. That is pretty safe if you ask me. With this system I get the best of both worlds: I am conservative enough to sustain downswings due to variance, yet willing and ready enough to move up stakes quickly. I think this hyper-minimized-management strategy is the most liberal you should ever be with your BR. Any looser with your roll and guaranteed you will go broke. Try this management system at least, if you can’t conform to the Pros more conservative management systems and you will be able to move up stakes quickly enough for your gambler’s spirit if you do well and secure enough that if you do badly, you will still have enough of a roll for another shot when the downswing is over. It takes discipline, but you will find it hard to go broke using BR management system.
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3 comments:
I compeletly agree with what you say in your post, Ash. I have been tought by people who have gone busto and have learned the proper way to sustain a livable bankroll.
I may have exaggerated how under rolled I am. I have the roll to lose 5-6 buy-ins at 50NL and still have 30 left at 25NL.
Once again, I builty my roll by grinding the microstakes. I feel that I have a edge that I should exploit and continue to build my roll by playing where the games are good.
I hope that I will run well enough for me to learn how to beat this new level, build my roll and move on to my goal of beating 100NL.
Playing within your bankroll is of utmost importance. It's all too easy to be tempted to move up when the roll is just not ready. Chasing losses is the other big risk.
While many players have the goal of constantly moving up in level, some of us like myself, simply enjoy playing at one level and enjoying it. I've decided that my bankroll is something that will NOT be restocked if I ever lose it. So I always try to play within my means.
Good post. Hope more people read it.
good post.
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