Trying a new bankroll strat.

Hey guys. I'v recently moved up to 100NL once my roll hit 3k. I'm starting a new bankroll strat. I play two sessions a day, one of them usually late morning or early afternoon and the other one in the evening. I try to get 2 buyins in each session. If I loose 2 buyin's I'll leave that session. This way I usually figure that I'll either be up 400, 200 or break even at the end of the day. I don't usually play two loosing session, well not yet thankfully. I figure this gives me greater risk control.

This is only the first week I'm trying this. Do any of you use a similar method? Any feedback appreciated.

This does not affect your risk. It may help with tilt control.

I have to build a bankroll thats viable at cash tables first lol, right now i have a 'training roll.' At 3K is really good... you seem to be risking a real small amount in comparison to your roll, kudos to you!

I wish I could be disciplined and play to my bank roll.. I always win a lot, move up.. lose a lot move down.. I should perhaps stick to the level I am good at,.


AS for your strategy, Lets see how it works. Keep us posted.

But all I can say is that if you are Killing a table why would you leave when you have won your 2 buy ins? ... If all the other 'players' are desperate to give you their money... TAKE IT!

Bigsmak said:

But all I can say is that if you are Killing a table why would you leave when you have won your 2 buy ins? ... If all the other 'players' are desperate to give you their money... TAKE IT!

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Actually thats really true, you shouldnt limit yourself to what you want to win...

Yeah, to the stop loss/gain thing rainy days and cabbys and whatnot. There is merit for some individuals as a tilt control method, but leaving when the money's soft is just bad policy if you're still on your A-game, and waiting till you've tanked 2 buy ins might even be worse if you're off your A-game and can spot it sooner.

IS it just me or is a two buy in per session swing kinda big?

sammyfive said:

IS it just me or is a two buy in per session swing kinda big?

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Two buy ins is nothing.

Variance is huge, based on that alone this is very common.
There's also the human factor, sometimes you're playing your best and sometimes you're just not on your game, this can result in huge swings.

Cash game strategy, very basic: never bring more than 5% of your bankroll to a table (for you, that's 150$), stay in a game if there are a lot of fish, leave if there are a lot of sharks (regardless of your 2 buyin limit). I'd suggest watching a few rounds at the table before sitting down, to get a sense of images/tendencies. The two sessions thing is completely up to you, frankly I play whenever I both feel well and have a solid block of time I can devote solely to poker.

thepokerkid123 said:

Two buy ins is nothing.

Variance is huge, based on that alone this is very common.
There's also the human factor, sometimes you're playing your best and sometimes you're just not on your game, this can result in huge swings.

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When you have lost 2 buy ins you are definitely either not playing your best or the cards are just not falling your way. Either way, it can't be smart to stick around at the table that long.
+2 buy-in on the other hand, I have experienced and obviously keep playing.

Am I playing too conservatively by leaving around 1.5 buy ins.
I usually rebuy once but if I keep on losing I find no reason to keep playing.

How much variance you can expect in a session would depend on how many hands you play in a session, how aggressively you play and what your winrate is.

However with a high winrate and playing TAG I've experianced a lot of 1k swings (both positive and negative) in $1/$2NL over the course of 500-600 hands. These sessions are abnormal but they do happen without obvious differences in the quality of play.

Like I said earlier, variance is huge. Consider even AAvs22 all in pre-flop, their EV would tell us that one player gets 80% of the chips and the other gets 20% but one is going to get 100% and the other 0%, they're either going to be off their expected EV by 80% each or 20% each of two full buy ins.

sammyfive said:

When you have lost 2 buy ins you are definitely either not playing your best or the cards are just not falling your way. Either way, it can't be smart to stick around at the table that long.
+2 buy-in on the other hand, I have experienced and obviously keep playing.

Am I playing too conservatively by leaving around 1.5 buy ins.
I usually rebuy once but if I keep on losing I find no reason to keep playing.

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Sammy.... if one is playing on say 12tables simultaneously (or 6 or whatever)... 2 buyins either way is real small.

If you're just one-tabling... when you say.."I rebuy once and that's it"...are you not rebuying continually to keep your stack at a full 100bb's?" (referring to online play here obviously). You'll see alot of players who'll play their stack as if they're in a tournament situation (letting themselves dwindle down). You're losing out on tons of value here if you're doing this.

ForgotAboutDre said:

Hey guys. I'v recently moved up to 100NL once my roll hit 3k. I'm starting a new bankroll strat. I play two sessions a day, one of them usually late morning or early afternoon and the other one in the evening. I try to get 2 buyins in each session. If I loose 2 buyin's I'll leave that session. This way I usually figure that I'll either be up 400, 200 or break even at the end of the day. I don't usually play two loosing session, well not yet thankfully. I figure this gives me greater risk control.

This is only the first week I'm trying this. Do any of you use a similar method? Any feedback appreciated.

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I don't want to be a noob or anything but exactly do you mean 100NL? Is that the stakes you are playing?

Poker Orifice said:

Sammy.... if one is playing on say 12tables simultaneously (or 6 or whatever)... 2 buyins either way is real small.

If you're just one-tabling... when you say.."I rebuy once and that's it"...are you not rebuying continually to keep your stack at a full 100bb's?" (referring to online play here obviously). You'll see alot of players who'll play their stack as if they're in a tournament situation (letting themselves dwindle down). You're losing out on tons of value here if you're doing this.

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I was wondering this myself, I have noticed a lot of other players doing this. Auto rebuying to keep at the same limit. Thank you for bringing this up.

That seems like an interesting strategy. It seems like a good way to make steady profits, but also protect your bankroll. Let me know how it goes.

Poker Orifice said:

Sammy.... if one is playing on say 12tables simultaneously (or 6 or whatever)... 2 buyins either way is real small.

If you're just one-tabling... when you say.."I rebuy once and that's it"...are you not rebuying continually to keep your stack at a full 100bb's?" (referring to online play here obviously). You'll see alot of players who'll play their stack as if they're in a tournament situation (letting themselves dwindle down). You're losing out on tons of value here if you're doing this.

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Ive got auto rebuy on pokerstars. Even if i only loose like 0.10c (I play NL5) It auto tops up. Cant afford to loose any extra vaule.
Loosing 2 buy-in's is nowt. Ive herd ppl have sessions who have lost 20+ buy-ins.
When I loose 4 buy-in's I tend to stop playing. I multi table from 4 - 9 at times so it could happen all at once lol.

One thing I noticed (once I was introduced to poker tracker) was that I gained a very solid BB/100 in my first three hours of a session. After a while, the money meant less to me, and I was more likely to make poor decisions, and more likely to go on tilt.

I decided I would *hit and run* at online tables once I was up half a buy-in, then sit at another table - playing one table at a time, 6-max, for two and a half hours. Every time I played more than three hours I went on a dumping spree.

Eventually variance caught up to me, as well as playing outside of my BR.

Ugh, I always have an overly wordy post about a simple concept. What I'm getting at is this: Consider time spent at a table as well.

But overall sounds like a good method of control, and I agree with the people saying to stay when you're up and destroying a table. However the more you have on a table at a time, the more of a target you'll be for big stacks/everybody, so make sure you're playing your A-game.