I'm getting to that point...

Let me give you a brief run-down of how the last month or so of my online poker stint has gone.

I'd like to think that I'm a somewhat decent player. I know a bit, and I'm a very patient person when it comes to the game.

So I start off putting $100 into FT. I quickly turn it into $200. In the same day I run into someone on a heads up table who caught runner-runner for quads over my A-high flush to bring my account to $50. Eventually I lose that 50, and re-buy, and this pattern seems to keep up... I kept losing to some pretty outlandish beats.

I think I'm about $700 stuck to FT right now, in all honesty, I might have titled of about $100 of it... the other $600 (I still have $100 in there) was lost in situations where I lost from being ahead... A lot of them were my fault, I played the hands that were ahead not so great... It still amazed me that the hands got cracked SO badly... but as of recent I've been playing better...

I've been betting better, playing tighter, and more aggressive when I do get the hands... and laying down when I thought I was behind...

Okay, so what happened today?... I didn't lose any more money than I ever have, but it's just in the same fashion as before...

I start off with the $90 I had in the account, sit at a .10/.25 NL and build up $60 ($150 in the bankroll). I'm playing at 3 tables.
I'm playing tight, and aggressive. I'm doing good.. Then...

I get dealt Ad-Qd, I raise to $1.50 (there was a total of $0.30 in the pot) I get a caller... flop comes Ac-Qc-3s... The pot is about $3.30, I bet $5 or so.. the guy flat-calls... the turn is a 5h... I raise the pot $15.. guy flat-calls again... river comes 8c... I had a gut feeling the guy was chasing (even though it looked more like maybe trip Q's or 3's), so I checked... he checks too (?!?!?!?!?) and shows 4c-6c for a flush....

Then I flop trips (on a different table) and I raise 2x the pot, and the guy smooth-calls with 10-6 for another flush on the turn this time...

It just kept pounding me, and pouding me... until my bankroll was at $80 (down $10 from when I started)... I swear they were all beats from the person either chasing and calling getting NO ODDS at all with BAD DRAWING HANDS.. or someone who had bottom/mid-pair and hit the river for two-pair or trips.. It didn't take a whole lot of bad beats to get me down below my starting point, just like 6 of them... and they all came within an hours frame...

So, I figure... let's not get over worked with this, let's jump on a little SnG and just try to do good.... so I buy in a $10.. get down to the bubble... Have a stack of about 2,200 with blinds of 100/200... the guy to my right is short stacked (600 or so) in the small blind.. He pushes all-in, I have AQ, I call... he has 6-9 offsuit... flop is 7-8-5...
Very next hand I get KQ and I raise from 100 to 700... the guy calls... flop is 6 K 9... I push all-in.. he calls and shows 6-9 offsuit...

I'm getting SO SICK of playing online... Okay, okay, it's not rigged... FT makes enough money to not have to rig the site... but there is SOMETHING that is up... there might be a flaw in the system that people are taking advantage of... there might be a flaw in the 'random shuffle' that maybe makes events that are unlikely to happen, more likely... like when there is 2-outs for a player.. and ONLY TWO... it might just happen that those two cards have just as likely a chance to come out as any other card (i.e; if there is only two 2's in the deck, and 4 4's, maybe it's just as likely that a 2 will come out as a 4.. even thought it whould be 2x's less likely.)

I'm probably all wrong, and just upset that I have the WORST LUCK IN THE WORLD! lol...

But I mean, c'mon, what the hell is it... the theory that you get more bad beats becasue you see more hands is bull... the % of bad beats online is WAY higher than in person... The only logical explanation is that the players are just SO bad and so loose... but it isn't as comforting as my explanation of... FTP IS OUT TO GET ME!!!!

Classic! Been there done that!

Bankroll management is the shiznit!

If it can happen in poker ..... sooner or later .... it will!

Especially at the levels where most people play. This is where bankroll management and learned poker skills make the difference.

#1. If you're not winning ... DON'T PLAY! This is the hardest rule for poker players to follow. Re-examine why you're playing, for fun, for profit, because your stuck? Do you like playing so much that you don't mind paying for the fun?

Only play when you win, it's cool to love the game to enjoy the game, but many newer players easily slip into the mindset of playing while losing and refuse to recognize the real statistical percentages. The more you play while on a negative swing the MORE bad beats and odd wild and weird crap is going to happen at the tables.

If you are winning .... PLAY! Everything is gong in your favor but your tired, bored been playing too long, something else interests you and you want to quit. You're winning! Why quit now? Re-focus and keep playing until you see a negative trend setting in then quit.

This rule is broken by 90% of poker players.

#2 Bankroll management. This is different for everyone because some of us are richer or poorer than others you have to find your comfort zone and decide BEFORE YOU PLAY where to make your stand. Usually it's less than you think.

I can afford 100 bucks a week but does that mean I can afford to LOSE 100 bucks a week? What am I thinking! If I want to play for fun and profit I have to MANAGE by bankroll. This is my rules of management for me and it's probably too loose, but it's kept me down to 100 bucks a month rather than 400 bucks or more a month.

I never buy-in to a cash game, MTT or SnG with more than 10% of my total bankroll. As my bank roll builds I play higher levels, as it drops I play lower levels. Right now this is comfortable for me and reasonable for my personal financial situation. If I'm losing I don't play, if I'm winning I try to play until I see a negative trend begin to effect my stack/play then quit.

Bankroll management helps you to recognize the positive and negative swings , helps you recognize when to play and when to quit, helps you actually maintain a bankroll and keep a perspective of how you're playing, winning, losing. Bankroll management is another rule that 90% of poker players don't follow.

In all honesty, I know what your saying, not only have I been there and done that, I catch myself doing it STILL! Though not as much as I used too. When I lose my bankroll and have to re-deposit it's 90% of the time due to my playing while losing and disregarding my bankroll management. it's a lethal combination.

I KNOW I'm good enough to compete at the higher levels but I don't want to spend all of my patience waiting for my bankroll to build from my comfort zone. When I'm stepping outside of my bankroll management, I'm gambling, when I'm gambling there's a chance I can lose it all. this changes my style of play and my perspective and I don't play my best ... I lose! Sometimes it pays off and I'll hit a nice payday but more often than not I'll have to start over.

Even when I do step out of my bankroll management and win the occasional nice payday. Raising my levels ... step out of the bankroll management again, being impatient ..... lose ... arrgh! Re-deposit time back to grinding 10% of my 100 dollars.

Discipline ... gotta have it. Good luck.

BANKROLL MANAGEMENT!

It doesn't matter how good you are or think you are, Aze, variance will affect you. You're playing with way too much of your bankroll at one time. I play with %2 of mine, meaning I play with no more than like $15 with my now $800 bankroll.

%5 is the general rule for NL and tourneys. 300BBs for fixed limit (correct me if I'm wrong).

Everybody - me, MrDaMan, Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson...we all get bad beats like this. The key is playing with a small enough portion of your bankroll that it doesn't actually hurt when you get bad beats.

As for a higher % of bad beats online, well that's not true. More bad beats? Definitely. Faster play, looser players and bad tournament structures (ie short stacks) make for lots of all ins and draw-chasing and of course suckouts. Plus jokerstars is rigged.

It's better to lose to a bad beat then make a bad call, at least you know you played right. I agree with the garbage play meaning more bad beats...it's true. I have had runs of getting rivered on one and two outers that went a long time....even emailed FT support enraged.....just plain silly. More bad play equals more bad beats. At the same time it means a good player can cash in more often then not. Just ride the wave and hang in there.

One thing I'm noticing is this...why are you overbetting by so much? These people are going to chase, and I understand wanting to get them off the hand, but you could avoid losing so much $$ on these hands if you didn't throw so much in the pot. If they do catch.. why let them take so much?

These players you are speaking of are call stations and there everywere there what makes the poker world go round I personlly if i see someone playing that way i will prey off of it!I see them at full tilt all day everyday prolly some of the worst hands i see win but that is simply poker you gonna have ups and downs.
A piece of advice some prolly will not like me saying this but alot of people do it say you buy in for the 25 dollar max at the table you double up you have had a good run go on and bank when you see youre cards getting cold.Theres no sense in letting someone chase you to the river and take youre money you just won with better hands then there playing.Plus its real easy to find another table to go to with as much money at the table you would be leaving.

Just to echo what ChuckTs and MrDaMAn said:

Every half-decent poker player who plays regularly online has been through that stage where nothing, and I mean NOTHING seems to go right. And it's true that more bad cards breed more bad play so, yes, it's probably best to just stop playing - although this can be VERY HARD.

But those swings that you mention in your bankroll are just WILD and ChuckTs advice is spot on.

I think it was Jon Vorhaus who said this, but it's something I always try to bear in mind when the cards are being cruel and nasty:

The difference between just an "average" player and a "good" player is defined by HOW THEY REACT TO THEIR BAD BEATS AND LOSSES.


Therefore, as ChuckTs points out, the "good" player who knows the basic principles of Bankroll Management makes sure that when the losses come, they are kept to a minimum. The "average" player goes down the road of digging a deeper and deeper hole for himself when Mr Bad Beat pays him a visit.

Ok, I predominately play SnG's and my bankroll management is such...

Starting BR is always $200.

At less than $200, I play 5$ sngs.
$330+ = $10 sngs
$500+ = $15 sngs
$700+ = $20 sngs
$1000+ = $30 sngs

I adhere to a 30x buy-in (plus rake) schedule. The levels are always rounded up, so there is some leeway. Basically, if I get above a level I move up, if I fall below that level... I move back down.

And if I ever get below $100, I move down to 1 or 2$ sngs. Of course I play 2-4 at a time, so the swings can be pretty good.

Now, as far as cash game BR management, I believe it is 20x the max buy-in at no limit, and 300x to 500x big bets at limit.

There was a good BR thread posted by Welly. It's a little conservative, but he gives good reasoning for it. Bankroll Management

Hope some of that helps AZ.