<< Blog Home



Archive for the ‘Bankroll Management’ Category

I’m a Losing Player

Sunday, May 29th, 2011

I’m going to have to redeposit again. This is so frustrating, although financially not a big deal – over my lifetime of online poker I’m now into the red and have lost about $130. That’s not a lot for 5 years of ‘entertainment’ – I’ve spent far more on shorter lasting and more trivial pasttimes. But it’s frustrating that my bankroll isn’t self-sustaining, even with proper bankroll management.

This year’s Rush 5nl looks like;

Somehow my losses are exactly equal to the rake I’ve paid. So it really has been 50/50 all the way, with Full Tilt being the only winner thanks to Rake.

Which brings me to my other frustration – Leak Buster has my leaks as pretty much just W$SD (won $ at showdown) being too low. Every other stat is smack on target, even WTSD% (percentage went to showdown). Basically I’m showing down the same amount of hands as a winning player, except my hands are losing more than theirs.

So Leak Buster’s final analysis – I need to run better? Who knows…

Anyway, with the redeposit I’m going to switch games (again). I’m going to drop Rush and go back to regular table games, with the aim to work on my player reading skills. So basically trying to understand player types and how to exploit them, which isn’t really possible on nl5 Rush (too many players, not enough time to build proper stats on them, with position on you constantly changing). It’ll have that double edged benefit of reduced volume though (slower to throw money away, but less visibility of progress through variance).

I’m going to try and deposit on Carbon (Merge network), but they’re having issues with so many players moving to their site and attempts so far have failed. So back to Full Tilt possibly if it fails again.

Swongs – Wrong Place, Wrong Time

Monday, May 2nd, 2011

I still don’t know if I suck at poker, or if I take swings far too personally. I redeposited on Full Tilt to take advantage of the bonus they’re offering at the moment, and decided to nl10 Rush it to have some chance of clearing it.

Didn’t go so well;

I did clear $5 of the bonus during that disaster though!

Everything I did seemed to meet some kind of resistance – flop cbet success only 45%, 3bets all over the place, and generally everything was awful.

I looked back over the hands, and of course there were some terrible ones – usually 3 barrel bluffs, but not too much that I should be ashamed of.

So I dropped down in stakes just to stop the bleed, and gave up on the bonus.

Instantly there was a difference – my cbets were working! They folded to my steals, they folded to my 3bet defending in the blinds, they even started paying off the odd hand or two;

Flop cbet success now at a reasonable 60%.

Small sample size (in both cases really), but I can’t believe nl5 should be so different to nl10. Surely they should be more or less the same?

Either there IS a difference, and everyone’s solid at nl10 (!?!), or I experienced a bad downswing – my opponents really did just ‘have it’ each and every time.

I also can’t believe I’m still writing about these nanostakes, but maybe understanding these swings is part of the learning process. I’ve never put in large amounts of volume, and over-reacting to swings in the BR like this has probably not been too healthy. Never mind, I’ll just enjoy the game for being a game for now…

Just a Little Bit

Tuesday, April 19th, 2011

So my shares in Party shot up about 30% :-) Not quite back up to the value before the Germans announced the tax proposal (funny that – dropped 30%, rose 30%, but not back to where it started – damn maths), but since I bought a bunch more at the bottom it means I’m averaging out to breakeven. Quite happy with that – roll on US regulation!

I figured out that all the fees for selling and buying shares had come to about £120 in the last month, which was a bit of a shock. Share dealing rake obviously. I need to calm it down a bit and just sit on the shares I have now. That was the original intention, but I got caught out in a bit of rollercoasting…

For poker I’ve been playing on Cake – 6max, ultra low stakes. More for relaxation rather than anything intense since I’m still very busy on that web contract. I logged in and found $60 just sitting there, so decided to see if I could build it up a bit. Reckon I’ll try a 10 buy-in BRM which is edgy, but I can’t face nl4 for too long. Setting that limit means at least I’ll have to put some effort into nl4 before spazzing it away at nl10. Plus Cake is kinda interesting with no HUD allowed – I’m making a lot more efforts with the notes (like ‘spazz bastard owes me $8′, ‘called me fish – DIAGF’ etc).

For returning to Rush I’d need to redeposit, but I want to see how Full Tilt copes over the next couple of months first. I expect them to be ok, but who knows what damage has been really done under the covers. That may change next week since I have the whole week off, and once the Cake money is spewed out, I’ll need to go somewhere obv.

And… Crash.

Wednesday, January 5th, 2011

FFS, more crap :-(

$15/$30 No Limit Holdem

2 Players

Stacks:
SB ($1,845)
Hero ($1,155)

Pre-Flop: ($45, 2 players) Hero is BB 8spades poker card Ahearts poker card
SB raises to $120, Hero calls $90

Flop: 2spades poker card 7hearts poker card 8hearts poker card ($240, 2 players)
Hero checks, SB bets $240, Hero goes all-in $1,035, SB calls $795

Turn: Kclubs poker card ($2,310, 2 players, 1 all-in)

River: 6clubs poker card ($2,310, 2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $2,310
SB shows two pair, Sevens and Sixes
6diamonds poker card 7diamonds poker card
Hero shows a pair of Eights
8spades poker card Ahearts poker card

SB wins $2,310 (net +$1,155)

Hero lost $1,155

$20/$40 No Limit Holdem

2 Players

Stacks:
SB ($1,530)
Hero ($1,470)

Pre-Flop: ($60, 2 players) Hero is BB Kdiamonds poker card Kclubs poker card
SB calls $20, Hero raises to $120, SB calls $80

Flop: 9diamonds poker card 3diamonds poker card 4diamonds poker card ($240, 2 players)
Hero checks, SB goes all-in $1,410, Hero goes all-in $1,350

Turn: 2clubs poker card ($3,000, 2 players, 2 all-in)

River: 9hearts poker card ($3,000, 2 players, 2 all-in)

Final Pot: $3,000
SB shows three of a kind, Nines
9spades poker card 10spades poker card
Hero shows two pair, Kings and Nines
Kdiamonds poker card Kclubs poker card

SB wins $3,000 (net +$1,470)

Hero lost $1,470

No Limit Holdem Tournament
Pokerstars
2 Players

$10.00+$0.50

Stacks:
Hero (2,365)
BB (635)

Blinds: 15/30

Pre-Flop: (45, 2 players) Hero is SB Jdiamonds poker card Qspades poker card
Hero raises to 60, BB calls 30

Flop: 10spades poker card Qdiamonds poker card 2diamonds poker card (120, 2 players)
BB bets 80, Hero goes all-in 2,305, BB goes all-in 495

Turn: 4clubs poker card (3,000, 2 players, 2 all-in)

River: 9hearts poker card (3,000, 2 players, 2 all-in)

Final Pot: 3,000
Hero shows a pair of Queens
Jdiamonds poker card Qspades poker card
BB shows two pair, Tens and Nines
10diamonds poker card 9spades poker card

BB wins 1,270 (net +635)

Hero collects 1,730 (net -635)

Admittedly those hands look a bit shakey with top pair shoves :-) Still, they called!

Feeling a bit rattled now, so might just hammer a load of $5s just to get some confidence back. BR is still twice what it was before the December heater, so no point throwing it away too quickly…

Internets Are Going Down

Thursday, November 25th, 2010

ok, I’m going off the grid for a little while. Moving into a new flat on Saturday, and it’ll take the obligatory stupid amount of time to get a new internet connection. I’d like to get a cable connection since it’ll be fibre-optic to the home which seems to be kicking ADSL’s ass at the moment, although since this new flat is a typical ‘convert a shed and rent it’ type thing (even the postal address is ‘the annex’, which sounds like my mail is rear-ending me) I doubt the cable guys will know how to connect it.

So no poker for a week (or two if it’s really bad), which is a shame since I was picking up a bit of steam volume wise. Volume doesn’t equal winnings though, as I’m still rattling around the $100 BR mark. How long has this blog been around, and I’m still moaning about $10 losses? Oh well, whatever.

Today has been particularly irritating since I just know my play has been good, yet as you can see at the 120 game mark it’s clearly been going the drooler’s way. I even ended up playing some more $5s today, which while being ridiculously easy are also very unrewarding. Maybe it’s time to put the second $100 deposit in so that I can play the $10s with some comfort.

Move Up To Where They Respect My Raises

Sunday, October 24th, 2010

Finally got a paycheck so chucked $100 into the Full Tilt account. I know I said $200 before (which is the correct BR for playing $10 husngs), but I figured I’d do it in 2 steps, so if I do ok on the first $100 then I don’t need to do it again. Not exactly balla amounts, but I’d rather build a roll than use my sparse savings.

Unfortunately it didn’t start out too grandly, and I lost the first three $10s. I switched down to $5s and lost them too :-( I’m totally aware that’s not many games and I should just play through it, but it was dismal seeing my redeposit rapidly dwindle.

Fortunately Yegor stepped in and said he’d review the HHs of those crappy games. He quickly spotted some bad 3betting habits, plus a bad check-raise move. I returned to the tables playing just $5s and everything turned around;

There’s a couple of $10s at the end there, and also a lot of the opponents today have been complete droolers, so leakpatching can’t take the credit entirely. Nevertheless, feeling a lot better today :-)

Get Back On It

Friday, October 15th, 2010

10 days since my last post, so I need to get going again. With the new job, plus looking for a new place to live, I haven’t got that much poker in. However had a few games last night, railed and chatted with Yegor, and feeling optimistic for a new start.

$2 husngs are pissing me off a bit, and while I’m showing a 5% ROI it’s not amassed much of a bankroll. The games are ridiculously transparent, but obviously you suffer from the usual badbeats and stupidity that is poker. The obviousness of it all also makes it too easy to dive into FPS, and last night I was muwahahaha’ing my way through a bunch of games, believing that I was crushing them left right and centre, and yet when I looked at the final score I hadn’t done that well. Too many of my cleverly contrived plans had gone awry at the last minute – basically I started playing for stacks too readily when a more modest approach would have had much better results.

So plan is to give up on the $million BR from $10, and just deposit a decent amount so I can play $10s at least. So I guess that’s about $200. Depositing $400 for $20s is a bit too much money really, better that I build my way there. All I need now is my next paycheck…


MeteoricPoker rakeback

Cellsino Poker

40% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Everleaf Gaming

Rake: contributed

Statistics: Monthly

300% up to $500

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!
MeteoricPoker rakeback

Minted Poker

40% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Everleaf Gaming

Rake: contributed

Statistics: Monthly

$250-$2,500

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!
MeteoricPoker rakeback

Cake Poker

33% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Cake Poker

Rake: dealt

Statistics: Daily

110% up to $600

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!
MeteoricPoker rakeback

Americas Cardroom

27% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Winning Poker

Rake: dealt

Statistics: Monthly

100% up to $1,000

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!
MeteoricPoker rakeback

True Poker

27% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Winning Poker

Rake: contributed

Statistics: Monthly

100% up to $1,000

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!
MeteoricPoker rakeback

Fortune Poker

30% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Boss Media

Rake: contributed

Statistics: Monthly

200% up to €1,000

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!
MeteoricPoker rakeback

Poker Heaven

30% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Boss Media

Rake: contributed

Statistics: Daily

200% up to €1000

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!
MeteoricPoker rakeback

Paradise Poker

30% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Boss Media

Rake: contributed

Statistics: Daily

200% up to €1,000

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!
MeteoricPoker rakeback

PKR

30% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: PKR Network

Rake: contributed

Statistics: Monthly

100% up to $800

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!
MeteoricPoker rakeback

Red Star Poker

33% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Cake Poker

Rake: dealt

Statistics: Daily

250% up to $1,500

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!
MeteoricPoker rakeback

Unibet

30% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Microgaming

Rake: contributed

Statistics: Monthly

30% Loyalty

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!
MeteoricPoker rakeback

NoiQ Poker

30% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: IGT Poker

Rake: contributed

Statistics: Daily

200% up to €1000

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!
MeteoricPoker rakeback

Interpoker

30% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Boss Media

Rake: contributed

Statistics: Daily

200% up to €1000

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!
MeteoricPoker rakeback

Carbon Poker

- Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Merge Gaming

Rake: contributed

Statistics: Daily

150% up to $750

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!
MeteoricPoker rakeback

GR88

- Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Merge Gaming

Rake: contributed

Statistics: Daily

150% up to $750

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!
MeteoricPoker rakeback

Bulldog777

- Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Merge Gaming

Rake: contributed

Statistics: Daily

150% up to $750

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!
MeteoricPoker rakeback

Overbet

- Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Merge Gaming

Rake: contributed

Statistics: Daily

100% up to $600

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!
MeteoricPoker rakeback

Black Chip Poker

- Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Merge Gaming

Rake: contributed

Statistics: Daily

150% up to $750

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!