Massive 2 month Update! And its not pretty!

Bankroll: -332

Shocking. Simply shocking. There's no denying it. I have a bankroll management problem, which when combined with a little tilt, results in very bad news. I'm intent on fixing this problem once and for all and setting some limits.

Anyways, how did it get this way? Would you like to learn what NOT to do, from what I did? Its a long story. Essentially I started playing more cash games, and at levels I'm inadequately rolled for.

At pokerstars, I completed what I could of the bonus I mentioned in my last post. But afterwards, there was no other bonus to complete. I thought that during the lull, starting a bankroll on another site (full tilt) would make sense. At Full Tilt, they have a $600 first depositors bonus, plus they have rakeback, if you get approved by rakebackpros. I made my deposit and was approved for rakeback, thereby starting the next leg of this journey.

After reading a few books on cash, and 6-max games, I started playing mostly cash, and transitioned away from Sit and Go's. At Full Tilt (FTP), this started well enough, and I did okay even at the lowest buy-in for Rush Poker (NL5 - a $5 BI). Rush Poker is like regular cash games, except that once you fold out a hand, you are immediately placed in a random spot in a new table (with new players). My first impression of rush poker was that it was fairly easy compared to regular ring games. This assessment was flawed.

With a fresh $600 I had deposited at Full Tilt, and my early success at NL5 Rush, I decided to give NL25 a try (technically, I was bankrolled for it on a deposit basis, but the $600 was really just seed money, and not "made" money). Unfortunately, I suffered from a few bad swings, and lost about 5 BI's after a few hundred hands. Many were bad beats, but the last BI or two was purely steaming tilt... Well, to continue chasing the money, I made the error of moving up to try to get it back quicker. I tried NL100, lost 2 buy-ins, then moved down to NL50, and lost a few buy-ins there too. My bankroll on FTP was a complete disaster.

Time to regroup and pledge to get out of this mess.

Where we stand:

My FTP bankroll is at $32.50 (from $600). I have about $10 in rakeback that should be deposited this Friday, as well as a $20 portion of the bonus that will clear soon. Its very bad, but its recoverable.

My PS bankroll is at $235.25 (free and clear!). I have been doing well at Pokerstars.

Currently, I have bonus and rakeback at FTP, so that is where I should play, just at a proper bankroll point. I will play cash games, 6-max, and I will play standard ring games at NL2.

It might be better from a bankroll rebuilding point of view to switch back to sit and go's where I have been relatively successful in the past, but I really want to learn the cash game properly. In fact, I think that although I have lost money at higher BI levels, I have learned a lot and improved my game as a result. Last couple of nights playing at NL2 6-max have been very successful, winning multiple buy-ins, and I feel like I'm playing against people much worse than me.

I will continue to build my roll at FTP at NL2 until I achieve $100, at which point, I will move to NL5. At $200, I will graduate to NL10. At $500, I will play NL25. If I start to lose at any of these points, I will move back down, and continue playing until I have paid off the shortfall in funds. I want to get to the point at FTP where the bankroll is free and clear money, just as it is at pokerstars.

So, that is the plan. I just received a copy of Harrington's 6-max Online book. It looks like it contains a lot of valuable information - on setting up HUD's, taking notes, etc. If its good advice, this stuff will end up being very good for my game, as I rarely take notes now, and my HUD certainly isn't optimized.

Anyways, the remainder of this year's goal is to climb outta the gutter once again. I've done it before and I will do it again. And this compounds the need for me to stay within my bankroll. If I cannot stay at the limits I can win, it means that as a losing player, I will need a hobby budget, not a bankroll. Having a budget is anathema to my point of view on poker though. I feel that what I hold in my account is not really in terms of money... to me it is more in terms of "points"... and the person with the most points is the better player.

To take this point of view to an analogy, to me, reloading a poker account is kind of like playing a game of basketball with someone, finding myself down by a score of 80-50, and then offering to give my opponent $30 if he'll make the score 80-80 - and that's just not right. So to me, my bankroll is a score, and the higher my score, the better I did. You can't buy a score, and doing so makes me feel like I cheated. I don't cheat at games, because that's not what its about for me personally.

Proper bankroll management will ensure my score never reaches zero (unless I can't beat the very worst games, which I doubt). I just have to begin being very strict with implementating these rules.

Anyways, to pique anyone's appetite for what I've been going through. This was the final hand I lost before my full tilt bankroll dipped to almost nothing, and I slammed on the breaks and decided to regroup.

Full Tilt Poker: Table Afterburner (6 max) - $0.50/$1 - No Limit Hold'em -

UTG : ($126.85)
MP : ($124.80)
CO : ($70.80)
Button: Hero ($90.10)
SB : ($71.75)
BB : ($105.35)

SB posts the small blind of $0.50
BB posts the big blind of $1

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [Qs Qh]
UTG folds
MP raises to $3
CO folds
Hero raises to $10.50
SB folds
BB folds
MP calls $7.50

*** FLOP *** [Jh 9h 2c]
MP bets $20
Hero calls $20

*** TURN *** [Jh 9h 2c] [Th]
MP bets $36
Hero raises to $59.60, and is all in
MP calls $23.60
Hero shows [Qs Qh]
MP shows [Jd Js]

*** RIVER *** [Jh 9h 2c Th] [Ad]
Hero shows a pair of Queens
MP shows three of a kind, Jacks
MP wins the pot ($178.70) with three of a kind, Jacks

*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $181.70 | Rake $3
Board: [Jh 9h 2c Th Ad]


The challenge I had here on this hand is that the QQ's are well worth the reraise. Once called, the leadout by the MP (middle position) player could be anything. With an overpair to the board, I felt a call was necessary.

Once the turn hit, not only did I have an overpair, but a straight-flush draw. At this point, I had 17 cards which could improve me to best hand (any of the 9 remaining hearts for a flush, any 8 or K for a straight, and any of the 2 remaining Q's for the best 3 of a kind). Even if I discount two of these cards in case my opponent had made the nut flush or straight (with say, KQ, or Ahxh, for instance), that's still 15 cards, and about 30% chance to win the pot.

The problem is that he value bet the turn as well, and the cards could have hit any of his possible holdings as well. So, without the next card to come, I'm confident that either I'm way ahead or way behind. Given the betting and the limit, I'm probably way behind, but factor in the odds of hitting the winning hand on the river, figure a small chance that he's bluffing, and I thought I should shove. As a poker friend pointed out, this play is probably marginally positive, but that I should not have committed my stack given my current bankroll situation.

And now I have to recover $332. That's 161 Buy Ins at NL2.

Ups and Downs

I've calculated out that I need to average 5 SnG's a night at the $4.10 Knockout level to be able to attain the first increment of the bonus. I've been doing just that, and I'm on track, with 90 out of 200 point accumulated so far.

This past weekend was wonderful - in the SnG's I managed to put myself up $20, plus I did reasonably well at cash too. My bankroll advanced to $156 overall! How fast it climbs!!

Last night though, I played 6 SnG's, and only placed 3rd in one... So the bankroll has retreated to $139. How fast it falls....

I wish I could play at a higher BI to accelerate the point accumulation, but already, a bankroll of $139 makes a $4.1 Buy in quite volotile as you can see. Going to the next level at $6.75 would really make it swing out of control.

If I were to follow Phil Shaw's advise, then I would have to have 60 buy-ins. That would mean I would need $246 to be playing at the level I'm playing now. By extension, I should be playing the lower level of $1.4.

Shaw's advise seems sound, as a $20 swing at $246 wouldn't impact me at all. However, if I experience another dip of $20 from my current BR of $139 down to $119, I have to seriously consider moving down. And unfortunately, that $20 downswing is currently just 5 buy-ins away.

The reason I'm going to continue playing at this level though is related to rake percentage. The rake rate at $4.1 is 8.5%, which is far more reasonable than the $1.4 rate of 10.7%. The next level of $6.75 has a rate of 7.4%, but as discussed, the variance at $6.75 is much too high for my bankroll to handle right now. Upper levels after this remain at 7.4%, so there is nothing gained in terms of rake rate by moving up further than this.

In conclusion then, I'll be a little fast and loose with the buy-ins for bankroll requirements at these lower levels just to get my win rate up, given the lower rake percentage. however, as I approach the $6.75 level, I will tighten up those bankroll requirements, and require a 60 buy-in rate for anything above that.

I think this is a reasonable way to approach building a bankroll, as I am confident that I have a long term positive win rate that exceeds the rate percentage.

A New Bonus

I cleared the last of the bonus, and my bankroll stood slightly higher than before, at about $140.

As of a few days ago, there is a new pokerstars bonus. Its 20% of your deposit, and you get $1 cleared per 20 VPP earned. Interestingly enough, there are only 20 days to clear it. That's pretty challenging at the micros. On the other hand, it releases incrementally every $10. Incremental release is a big positive for us micros... its just too bad it won't matter with only 20 days to complete it!

As a result, I just deposited $75.00 for a total bonus of $15. After 200 VPP, the first $10 of the deposit will clear - I believe this is achievable for me in 20 days. The extra $5 is in case I go crazy and finish the first $10 early, there is something more to achieve.

I will, of course, withdraw this money at the first opportunity to keep my bankroll "untainted". :-)

Of course, I'm playing deepstacked NL5 tonight($12.50 BI) and I end up down $10 because my KK runs into AA all-in and loses. So bankroll is now down to $122

On another note, a friend suggested contributing to my poker cause. I thought about it a little bit, but I don't want the bankroll "tainted" like I said. Perhaps I would save them up and use the money for special events - like a pokerstars "$225 Sunday Millions" or something. I'm mulling the idea of donations. As I don't provide many great ideas to those who read this (is there anyone who reads this but me?), and as I don't know if I can make something great out of this, I would call it "The Pity Fund".

If you pity me, please donate to the pity fund, and I will use it to enter a large tournament. :-) I will keep all winnings (should it come to that)... but I may feel guilty at the end of it all and donate some to charity or something. This is the happy ending. More likely, the ending will be that I lose the buy-in and move on.

In other related news, I'm reading Harrington on Cash for the first time - borrowed from a friend.