Let's build some bankroll - who's with me?

#**141** 22-11-2007, 12:16 PM

Hey Chris - you've commented a couple of times about the psychological $6000 barrier. Have you considered that it may be having an effect (subconsciously or otherwise) on the way that you play?

The reason that I ask is because it got me thinking about something that happened to me a while back. I had come back from a very large defecit and was a couple of BB's ahead. I had other things that needed to be done, and had decided to leave the game when my next big blind came around. It's trrivial, and stupid I know, but was determined to finish the day in front having come back from such a huge defecit so was playing as tight as a camels **** in a sand storm (to be honest I might as well have left the game).

Although the example I quote is trivial, the point is not. It's important to maintain ones normal game and not play differently for reasons uncnonected with the actual poker play. However, I personally find this quite difficult sometimes.

Boltneck

#**142** 22-11-2007, 5:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boltneck

Hey Chris - you've commented a couple of times about the psychological $6000 barrier. Have you considered that it may be having an effect (subconsciously or otherwise) on the way that you play?
(...)
Although the example I quote is trivial, the point is not. It's important to maintain ones normal game and not play differently for reasons uncnonected with the actual poker play. However, I personally find this quite difficult sometimes.

I can confidently say that my play hasn't suffered at all. Amazingly, I've reached a point where my emotion is completely detached from my play. I can be in the worst mood due to a neverending series of beats and yet have the discipline to fold a hand that is no good. Yes, even to a guy who has stacked me twice in the last 30 minutes.

Yesterday, I lost just about every big hand I played (1,700 hands) - the only reason why my bankroll ended up with a profit was because I had cleared a bonus. Whatever I played, it just didn't seem to work, and I was steaming like crazy.
But I did fold hands like AA and KK postflop, I folded Queens several times (once preflop) and I didn't make any bad calls (the good calls of course ended up getting sucked out).
It was terrible having to lay these hands down amidst all the bad beats, but I did it anyway, and they were all good laydowns.

Then came a few hours (I 4-tabled, so I saw a lot of hands in that time) where I caught virtually no good starting hands, so I kept folding and folding and folding. I was in a terrible mood, but I forced myself to be patient.

And towards the end of the day, I finally made a few hands that held up and managed to break even. All that patience had finally paid off, and it made me feel ridiculously good just to have broken even.

I think what's very important during these tough times is to have confidence in your own play. If you know for a fact that you have been playing almost perfectly (as cocky as it sounds), then it's much easier to deal with bad beats and streaks of bad luck.

I always make sure to identify what happened in a hand. If I just lost a big pot, I'll immediately go over the hand again and find out whether my play was off. Did I make a mistake or did I just get unlucky? If I conclude that I just got unlucky, then I'll leave it at that. If I conclude that I made a mistake, then I'll keep it in mind for future situations.

What I still have to learn is to properly deal with bad luck emotionally. It's good that my play doesn't suffer, but I want to be immune to mood swings as well!

So in case you're wondering how to make your play bad-beat-proof: realize that only your A game is going to make you big profits. Giving in to your emotion is completely counterproductive.

#**143** 22-11-2007, 11:07 PM

Progress Update

Day 22: 270% ($5,395)
Day 23: 291% ($5,813)
Day 24: 333% ($6,651)

Playing $1/$2, I went up to beyond $7,000 today. After that I decided to play a few SNGs and did horribly.
While most of my hands seemed to hold up in the cash games today, they didn't at all in the tournaments.

#**144** 23-11-2007, 5:05 AM

Anxiously wanting to see what sharkscope makes the level after "super hot" is, but, well, the ITM streak ended in the 10th after faulty play early-on. Someone hit two pair and I knew it, but I called with faulty kicker anywhoo. The pressure of the streak definitely messed with my game.

It was nice to know the ups can come just as the downs did. It definitely put me in the black again, as far as sitngos go, for my career. (Graph Below) I finished the night by taking third, then first in the last one, making a new 2 game ITM streak. I should probably not even keep track and just play my game.

I really want to thank everyone for their encouraging comments. It helped me get out of a horrible downswing, if that's what you want to call it. I would call it lost in the woods, to be honest. Lucky I made it out alive,

not that my ring play wouldn't have supported it.

I'd really like to move up a level in these sitngos, since I'm doing well now, but I don't think I feel comfortable with 18 seaters or the turbos they run.

Progress Update:

Day 18 : 198%
Day 19 : 206%
Day 20 : 219%

#**145** 23-11-2007, 11:24 AM

Thank you for your response Chris, I have a lot to learn, and even more to master.

Boltneck

#**146** 23-11-2007, 1:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wsorbust

I should probably not even keep track and just play my game.

I agree, you shouldn't keep track of these things. It really doesn't matter how often in a row you cash or lose. But obviously, the longer a streak the harder it becomes to ignore it.

Just to give you a rough idea of what to expect, here are my streaks after 800 Non-Turbo 10-man SNGs.

As you can see, my longest cashing streak was 6 tournaments. My longest streak of 1st places in a row was 3 tournaments which happened three times so far, and my longest losing streak was 15 tournaments.

#**147** 23-11-2007, 10:10 PM

Day 21: 246% (324.09)
Day 22: 249% (328.58)
Day 24: 220% (289.69)

To describe the day’s session as dreadful would be a huge understatement! My first winning hand (other than a couple of small wins where there was no flop) was hand number 121! If that was not bad enough there were four horrendous bad beats to contend with leaving me nearly 40 BB’s down after a little less than 3 hours play. My VP$IP at this point was 10.7% (about 6% below my norm – despite playing no tighter than usual) and although I was getting a reasonable number of premium hands, I either had to put most of them down. Things did improve marginally after than – it’s was mere a poor run of hands rather than dreadful!

The only positive thing that I can say is that I didn’t tilt, and remained patient and (reasonably) calm throughout. Since the recent relaunch of my poker experience, things had being going well until today. I guess this is when I will learn a little bit about myself, and my ability to deal with the downswings.

#**148** 24-11-2007, 12:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boltneck

The only positive thing that I can say is that I didn’t tilt, and remained patient and (reasonably) calm throughout.

That's great to hear man! If you look at your graph, you can see that it's really not that big a deal.
I know how much it sucks to spend hours and hours playing just to make a big loss. But you have to take it for what it is and start fresh tomorrow from where you're at now.
Don't make the mistake to keep thinking about your peak bankroll! Your bankroll is where it's at, and it WILL grow back to the peak and beyond. Just don't try to force things and play patiently and solidly.

To all the others: keep them coming, folks! I love reading your updates!

Progress Update

Day 23: 291% ($5,813)
Day 24: 333% ($6,651)
Day 25: 374% ($7,480)

I spent a few hours playing SNGs and ended up with just a bit of profit.
Then I played cash games for 2 hours and doubled up several times. Of course the cards were working for me, but I think I also played really well today.

A few situations off the top of my head:
I made one big river call with Queens on a fairly dangerous board. My opponent turned over 4 high for a monster bluff (he check-raised the flop, bet the turn, bet the river) and I took the pot worth over $500.

I also folded Jacks once to a large preflop reraise. Somebody else called the reraise with 77 and lost to the reraisers AA.

In another situation I got away from AK on a board of A3QJ6 (no flush possible) against Two Pair Aces and Jacks.

It just feels so awesome to end the day with a big profit. All the times when things aren't working out so well are completely forgotten on these days. They are totally worth all the hard work.

#**149** 24-11-2007, 10:06 PM

Day 22: 249% (328.58)
Day 24: 220% (289.69)
Day 25: 215% (283.12)

The sequence of below par hands continued where it left off yesterday, but I still managed to show a small profit until the last few hands. However, my pocket A’s were beaten by a set of 2’s then my set of J’s got rivered by a villain with QT that hit his straight. Still, I was pleased with the way I played, and resisted the urge to play on to try to get my money back. Hoping for better things tomorrow.

Boltneck

#**150** 25-11-2007, 7:03 AM

For the Thanksgiving break, I took some horrible beats and definitely gave some.

It seems the % of decent players coming out on the weekends/holidays outweighs the donkeys who play. I found myself in sitngos where the loosest, luckiest player at the table took the chip lead only for the other 3 or 4 people left to sit there and barley play a hand. Granted I was one of those people, and couldn't catch a decent hand to save my life, but luck would have it when I did grab something, the chip leader out kicked me or caught better by calling with "nothing". Two in a row the calling station wins out. Well, maybe not as for the tournament goes, because I didn't stick around to see who won... Very disheartening. I was having fun playing sitngos until turkey break kicked in. Bah. Now I can't say I want to play another.

Progress Update:

Day 20 : 219%
Day 18 : 210%
Day 18 : 208%

#**151** 25-11-2007, 5:23 PM

day 0 100% 220.00
Day 1 100% 221.38
Day 2 98% 216.54
Day 3 96% 210.66
Day 4 88% 195.46
Day 5 93% 205.16
Well, WOW, I sucked the last couple days, beat after beat after beat...it's crazy....taking a break from tournament/SNG play for a while.

I found some fun stuff tho on PokerStars......the Draw poker games.....25/.50...a bit above my bankroll, but.....I'm WINNING, been to 5 tables and left one table in the red because everyone else left.

I sure hope this streak continues.

#**152** 25-11-2007, 5:54 PM

This was just what I was looking for!! yesterday my boyfriend sent me 5 dollars on fulltilt... and in one day I managed to turn it into $34.65. I think this is the highest my bankroll has ever been. I've previously managed to place in a few freerolls.. placing 1st winning 15 bucks ... a few 5 dollars, 9 dollars, and a couple 2 bucks.. Best of luck improving all of your bankrolls!!!! I hope I can manage to increase my funds!!!

my screen name on fulltilt is bebewins, hope to see you all there!

#**153** 25-11-2007, 9:41 PM

Day 24: 220% (289.69)
Day 25: 215% (283.12)
Day 26: 222% (292.71)

For the third consecutive day my VP$IP was significantly below average, and again the river was my worst enemy. I did however have a couple of monster winning hands to compensate, and on my final big blind of the day I flopped 2 pair (with 7 4o hole cards!) and took a 12 BB pot to give me a modest profit for the day.

Since leaving the tables I’ve spent some time reviewing and replaying my significant loosing hands. There was one hand that I might have played differently with the benefit of hindsight, but all things considered I’ve got to be pleased with my effort – in particularly being patient and turning a 30+ BB deficit into a 10 BB profit.

Whilst reviewing my day’s play, I also checked a sample of my pre-flop folds to satisfy myself that the lower than normal number of hands that I’m playing is not due to me substantially tightening up since moving up to 50c / $1. I’m satisfied that it’s not and the only potential flaw that I found in my preflop play was a distinct lack of cold calling. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as my normal practice is that if I don’t feel confident enough to re-raise, then I don’t feel confident enough to cold call. However, I’m not sure if I’m taking this principle to the extreme. When I have a little time, I’ll see if I can find any cold-call threads on here, and if not I may start one.

Boltneck

#**154** 25-11-2007, 9:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bebewins

yesterday my boyfriend sent me 5 dollars on fulltilt... and in one day I managed to turn it into $34.65.

Please be careful with your bankroll. I know how great it feels to multiply one's starting roll quickly, but it's very easy to blow it all.

If you follow this thread, you'll notice that nobody is at 700%, simply because this daily winrate cannot be maintained in the longer run.
So please make sure to have some kind of bankroll management in place and I'm sure you'll build a nice bankroll.

Progress Update

Day 25: 374% ($7,480)
Day 26: 386% ($7,716)
Day 27: 420% ($8,403)

Things have been going well lately at the cash tables. My early downswings have been neutralized, and after 10,000 hands at $1/$2 my winrate is now a healthy 6.5BB/100.

I'm pretty amazed that I managed to quadruple my starting roll in less than 4 weeks. Granted, the bankroll probably hasn't stabilized yet, but it's still pretty cool.
This oughta prove that anybody who can turn $100 into $400 can also turn $2,000 into $8,000. Or $8,000 into $32,000 for that matter (broad hint)...

#**155** 26-11-2007, 3:10 AM

420% very nice chris you are making bank!

Im depositing $500 to attempt a bankroll build on full tilt soon.

I strictly play PokerStars, always with random tidbits of money, prolly never deposited more than $50 at one time. Ive withdrew alot of money, always leaving a little so I can rebuild.... Im getting reallly... tired... of pokerstars however. Example, yesterday I deposited $13 so I could play 2 6.50 games, placed in 1, won other, suddenly bankroll isnt $13 but $96!

Its not satisfying though because I have no "Base" I cant say, im up 50! im down 30! im up 90! honestly I have no idea where I stand.

Blame poor BR management but regardless my actions havnt hurt me - probably hindered my ++ progress - but thats it.

Anyway im really excited to start using BR management seriously.. and ill be posting on here when I do the deposit in... 1-2 weeks.

#**156** 26-11-2007, 4:30 AM

Really interesting to see how everyone is doing!

Just wondering if it would be possible to edit your original posts instead of reposting every time you have an update?

It would reduce the number of post and make it easier to follow each story. Maybe there is another way to keep the info sorted and easier to understand but the edit idea would do it for me.

PokerStars. I would like to be able to participate but my records are so bad, it's to embarrassing to show in public!

#**157** 26-11-2007, 5:39 AM

Quote:

Just wondering if it would be possible to edit your original posts instead of reposting every time you have an update?

You can't. At least not at this forum, unless of course, you're a mod.

#**158** 26-11-2007, 8:27 PM

Day 25: 215% (283.12)
Day 26: 222% (292.71)
Day 27: 227% (299.72)

It would be nice if I didn’t keep to having to recover from an early session deficit – this time about 25 BB’s after a couple of hours play! However, I have to admit that I did contribute to my own downfall to some extent today. I had QQ as an overpair on the flop, hit trips on the turn (creating a rather dangerous board – QJT rainbow) which I subsequently overplayed and lost 6.5 BB’s to a K high straight. Still, I guess even a small profit is better than no profit, but it could (and should) have been more.

Boltneck.

#**159** 26-11-2007, 10:04 PM

Day 13: 123% ($2,468.89)
Day 14: 119% ($2,399.19)
Day 15: 123% ($2,575.19)
Day 16: 129% ($2,590.69)
Day 17: 128% ($2,574.64)

Been busy over the holidays and didnt have a chance to post. Heres my results for the last five days. Day 14 took some very bad beats, not going to get into them. Day 15 was great, played some NL cash games and did well. Other than that not much else.

#**160** 26-11-2007, 10:26 PM

The only thing really to report is a 4 game sitngo losing streak. The last loss was just pure bad play, but the one before, my J's get called by something like K4 suited by the massive donk stack. A "K" of course rivered me out. I just can't seem to catch a break when I need it in these things. When it goes good it goes good, same with the bad. I just wish I could get in the profit a ways before I would streak bad again. lol

Progress Update:

Day 21 : 210%
Day 22 : 208%
Day 23 : 219%

#**161** 27-11-2007, 2:55 AM

I took a week off at Bodog trying to roll $25 into something.Now I'm back and here are results so far.

I'm playing mostly 6 and 9max-$25 ring games.I will specify other games.

BTW,I need help figuring out my percentages

and I will edit this including them in the future.Starting BR is $350.

Day 1: (363.97)Played good.Lost $30 getting AA in over KK.Got drunk and played a $10 soooper turbo,won that.

Day 2: (342.42)Played badly.+ I bet $10 on the Lions to win SU

.

Day 3: (307.33)Played CC private tourney.Lost $40 getting AA in over KK(he hit quads)Bad day.

Day 4: (318.08)Played a few ring games,got drunk and played $5 soooper turbo's.All in all not a bad day.

Day 5: (299.61)Was not in the mood to play,shoulda not.

Day 6: (364.00)Jimmy got his groove back

.Played 9max-$25 ended the day with a $5.50 SNG(placed third)Waking up with positive attitude tomorrow.

#**162** 27-11-2007, 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DetroitJimmy

BTW,I need help figuring out my percentages

To work ot your percentages, divide your current bankroll by your starting bakroll, then multiply the result by 100.

(current bankoll / starting banroll) * 100

Example

Starting bankroll = $100
Bankroll at the end of day one $107

107 divided by 100 = 1.07
1.07 multiplied by 100 = 107%

Hope this helps, and welcome to the thread.

Boltneck

#**163** 27-11-2007, 3:04 PM

You don't even know how much that helps,thank you boltneck.

I'll be back here in a couple of days with update.

Again thanks.

#**164** 27-11-2007, 5:04 PM

Day 16: 129% ($2,590.69)
Day 17: 128% ($2,574.64)
Day 18: 133% ($2,679.44)

Yesterday started bad, but finished great. Played a 20 SnG and decided to play a 50 Sng, which dont fill up very fast. I was really suprised by the 50 Sng, I thought people would be a lot better at those stakes (Its the second highest stake at the site I play on), it looked like a $1 SnG game. So needless to say I made a stupid call and lost. Then lost the 20 SnG and wasnt doing too well on another 20 SnG. Well I ended up taking first in it, then cashed a little in a NL cash game and then played two more 20 SnGs and finished 2nd in both.

#**165** 27-11-2007, 6:24 PM

Day 26: 222% (292.71)
Day 27: 227% (299.72)
Day 28: 250% (329.61)

A shorter than normal session, and I’m pleased to report that my bankroll is moving in the right direction again after a few pretty disappointing days. As I’ve had a moan about bad beats / bad cards in my last few reports, it would be inappropriate not to mention that things went very well for me today. Only one particularly nasty beat, and several hands where things fell nicely into place for me. I also have to say that I played a pretty good game today, so I’ll sleep well tonight (not that I ever do lose sleep about my poker sessions)

#**166** 27-11-2007, 7:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NorCalAdam

decided to play a 50 Sng, which dont fill up very fast. I was really suprised by the 50 Sng, I thought people would be a lot better at those stakes (Its the second highest stake at the site I play on), it looked like a $1 SnG game.

I believe that this is truly one of the biggest myths in poker. All this "fear" of moving to higher stakes is fuelled by internet forums where people talk about being worried to "move up" and "beating a level" and whatnot.

The truth is this: as you double the buy-in, your opponents may get a little better than at your old level, but they're not even close to being twice as good. In fact, I couldn't tell the difference between a $50 and a $100 SNG just by looking at how well my opponents play.

Moving up will generally allow you to make bigger profits, the only thing that might hold you back is the increased money at stake.
But if your bankroll easily supports these stakes you'll get comfortable very quickly.

#**167** 27-11-2007, 9:10 PM

That's yesterday's progress. I'm hoping to graph it up for next time.

Progress Update:

Day 22 : 208%
Day 23 : 219%
Day 24 : 217%

#**168** 28-11-2007, 6:22 PM

Day 16: 129% ($2,590.69)
Day 17: 128% ($2,574.64)
Day 18: 133% ($2,679.44)
Day 19: 136% ($2,720.44)

Not much to report. Lost a couple $50 SnG and finished first in one.

#**169** 28-11-2007, 6:31 PM

Progress Update

Day 27: 420% ($8,403)
Day 28: 407% ($8,140)
Day 30: 398% ($7,958)

I haven't played a lot over the past days.
The day before yesterday I lost a couple of big pots to suckouts.
Today, I wasn't content with my own play, I made too many mistakes. On top of that, my big hands didn't get paid off or got sucked out again. I ended up quitting the session early.

#**170** 28-11-2007, 8:26 PM

Day 27: 227% (299.72)
Day 28: 250% (329.61)
Day 29: 245% (322.65)

I’m not satisfied with my play today. Several times I had top pair (with top kicker) or 2 pair (including top pair, and using both hole cards) but failed to grasp that if an ultra passive player raised me I’d almost certainly be beaten. Ultimately it cost me


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