Got me thinking

Hello sports fans

Last night i was once again up until ridiculous (sp?) o'clock taking on the huge field of the PokerStars, midnight, $10, whatever guaranteed. I finished 350th ish of 2500 or so. I don't know, who cares?! No money, blah. I busted after a player limped in late position, the small blind minimum raises and it is to me in the bb. Now i have AQspades. I decide he is weak or else he would raise more than min. I decide he has cards decent cards that he wants to see a flop with. His bet is 800, i make it 2000 as i want the other guy out and want him to call more money with a worse hand. The late player folds and he calls. All good so far. The flop comes 9TJ. I have 2 overs and an open ended straight draw a back door flush draw and more chips. He bets 1000 ish and i shove. He insta calls me, all his chips with AT clubs. He holds with second pair and i am down to the felt. I split a pot with A3 when i shove the next hand, i call a raise all in with AK and double up. Some dumb bitch gives me 5 minutes till i am out. I tell her i don't give a fuck and she should shut he pie hole. She tells me i am sad, as sad as those programmes about starving Africans. I tell her that that is impossible as i am as fat as fuck (not true ladies!) and that if i sat on her she would be dead. She then said i was chat blocked as she was "to" intelligent for me. That just cracked me up and the silly bitch had untilted me through the power of my winning the banter war. I then shoved k3 - she insta reshoved with 44 - the board paired and counterfeited her- fantastic -then i shoved 33 and was called from the blinds by 99. Ball sack!

Anyway, the reason for this post is to do with an old post i wrote and an article i just read. The article is in this months Poker Player magazine (link right) about bankroll management. This is a good article and will be on their website shortly if it isn't there already. It was basically discussing good bankroll strategy, the stuff we all know, 5% of roll for cash tables and 2% of roll for stt or mtt's, etc. But here is what i thought was interesting. It said you don't need BR management if you are playing for fun, letting off steam etc. If you have serious poker ambition then it is vital to succeed. (although there are others whose recklessness, or educated gambles has got them to their position now). Another interesting point is that bankroll management is only going to work IF you are a winning player. The percentages risked each game are offset by the long term profits you will make IF YOU ARE A WINNING PLAYER. If you are not a winning player then no matter how good your BRM is you will still lose. So my point here links back to a previous post on variance. The post said something along the lines of;

we all experience variance, when your T7 loses to KQ on a KT7 flop etc, today it lost but more often than not it will win. So often i am on different blogs, forums, sites etc where variance is the reason for the losses. It is undoubtedly true that the complainers do suffer from varience, but thay also suffer from making bad plays over and over again yet this "pro term", a term to describe a winning players run of bad luck is often to blame from any player no matter what their current limit is.

This links to the BRM thing. It is all well and good harping on about percentages and number of buyins but if you are not a good player you may as well just forget it and rebuy until you can no longer afford to play. The magazine literally says if you are a losing player you may as well ignore it and risk everything as tday may be your lucky day.

One thing i have always been about this game is honest (except when in a hand, obv). It is important to me to be honest with myself about monies won or lost, plays made, good and bad, as well as how my overall game is, otherwise how else can i improve. One thing i am not going to do is say i can beat a game when i can't. My ROI over 600+ tournaments is currently something like 19/20%. This is not great but it is improving. If my results are bad and i am losing money, i may as well just play at the play money tables and take the occasional shot at a tournament and practice no BRM. Whats the point if i am a long term loser anyway? Lol - a long term loser.

My final thought is - it is great to read abut poker and improve your game, to implement strategy and to progress through the levels. But don't forget that the experience of playing and REALLY paying attention is important for learning too. "Poker strategy - no matter how good - is no substitute for years of experience". A lot of low limit players, myself included, just haven't logged the serious hours, equating to years of game time. I have played for nearly 2 years. (It was meant to be going better than it is by this stage - lol). BUT, the first month i was logging on and buying i didn't even know what beats what. $50 gone? Rebuy! Also don't forget that a lot of the strategies are designed to be long term winning plays and don't account for the random plays of the NL$25 tables. Harrington is great, but how well is a hand analysis from the final table at the WSOP going to help against a player who can't fold second pair in a $5 stt. BRM is crucial to getting further if you are seriously considering this as a profession, but if you're not, you just play for a hobby, or if you are a long term loser, then who gives a shit, as long as you can afford it.

Enjoy yourselves you lovely people

Dan