How i got creative after losing all my Pokerstars bankroll.

at the start of January, as i said in my previous post, i deposited $40 and was trying to get it up to $1k. i got up to $400, then managed to lose it all in the last 2 weeks, as i was having no deep runs in tourny's whatsoever.
i literally had NOTHING left in my Ps account, spent all my almost 2k fpp's on Bigger $11 and Sunday Storm yesterday. So today i went on to my Full Tilt account and used the points i had earned on that- almost 2k too- to buy sng tickets. I came 3rd in a £2 odd tourny, for around $3.50 and then transferred that to my PS account- i wanted to try build a br from nothing as i could easily deposit again but that would not teach me a lesson OR improve my game.
So anyway, i played in some $0.10 sng's etc. with big fields of 360, made one final table but came 9th or something. i played in the Hotter $0.55 and ended up losing that small amount of money there.
So then i googled free online poker money, basically, as a sign up bonus. I noticed that 888 poker said they gave you £12 free- $20 to me and you in poker money, although i am ofcourse Scottish. $2 was earmarked for a cash ring game of your choice. I started off quite badly and was down to around $1.50, i raised and was re-raised by the guy on the button who was very, very aggressive. so i shoved with my 6's. He shows Aces. First card- a 6.
This was strange for me, as most people on a downswing will know, it is never expected that you actually get lucky in a hand, you are just worried that your 60% favourite hand wins. I then won a flip with 9's v AKs, and left with $7 odd when i was called upon for my tea.
888, provides the rest of your free br as tournament tickets- 1x $7, 3x $3 and 2x $1 tickets, as well as several freeroll tickets. I played the $7 one first as it was on first, quadrupled my stack, then lost to some idiot who called two all ins with A 7s. I raged at him for a min then went off.
I decided to give it another go and signed up for the freeroll and a $1 tournament. Both started off well, then i lost a flip in the freeroll with 7's v Ak, i think, and was out. So i was now mighty one tabling the $1.
My first aim was to get itm. 144 places paid of orignal 1018 field. I was on under half of the average stack when the bubble burst. i kept on plugging away, was under average until the final two tables. I had to really grind to make it there. I then went on a mini rush and ko'd the ft bubble boy and was in 4th heading into ft.
This is getting long but basically i got into heads up, albeit massive shortstack, and lost 1st hand with Q6s to 65o as he hit trips.
I banked $127 and my br from nothing is over $130 on that site.
Basically i just wrote this if anybody else is on a downswing and maybe it is a good idea to switch sites, anybody agree? For a bit. I ran good and played well. And my confidence is once again restored. Happy days!

Congratulations.

I once put a self imposed limit so I would not spend money on PS and switched sites to bypass my own rules. I am now a good enough player that I mostly play for free and take the occasional shot at higher stakes.

It takes a lot of discipline to stay at games within your bankroll. I find I have played much better when I am forced into the ten cent games and have won first place in one a few months back (the 360 player PS SNG you mentioned.)

Then its in with the FPP's.

Turning $40 into $400 is no easy feat, and if you managed that then you likely have changed your playing style and have become looser. In tournament play there is often monster hands that will take you down when you are too carefree and if you want to play for hours you need to be fully aware and conscious of all your betting.

I agree it might be a good choice to take advantage of sign up bonuses, but would likely be concerned about why I lost $400. It happens. We all experiment with different levels and types of play that sometimes backfires.

I am glad you got your groove again, but think you should have dialed down when your bankroll was still high and played a few .10 games then.

I am still a rookie myself, but have had some slumps.

ive turned 2 dollars into 300 more than 20 times and then lost it all in 5 minutes.

GOOD JOB though man. its always great to turn nothing into something. be wise and play as though u have 1 dollar in your account. ive noticed that the more you have the more careless you play sometimes. keep that in mind.

I agree switching sites can help. I remember specifically going from winning around $20k on FTP and PS back in the day then went on a small downswing so I Tried UB out and won about $7k there, then back to PS and FTP for another $20k+

Mixing it up can be real good

yupp i'm doing much better on my new site. Its like a new ocean to swim in

Good job dude, I know it is always hard and encouraging to come back from nothing. but you should know sth about managing your bankroll and don't let this ever happen again.

vinylspiros said:

ive turned 2 dollars into 300 more than 20 times and then lost it all in 5 minutes.

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So how many times you end up with losing the 2 dollars?

needaGF said:

So how many times you end up with losing the 2 dollars?

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more than i wish i had.

you can fight variance or you can run from it

I think switching sites is often psychological. It's like a fresh start and you start making some plays and relaxing back into your game more. whereas in the midst of a downswing on the same site I find myself tightening up, not c-betting in obvious spots because I'm worried about getting raised, etc.

The worse the downswing the worse I play so the key is trying to forget you're in a downswing and forgetting about the hit your br has taken. Switching sites for a month or two helps to do this I find.

don yeah i have to agree, just now i am continuing to lose on pokerstars and i feel it is largely psychological, any time i don't cash in a couple of mtt's i am like aw no another losing day unless i do well in x tourny. and with cash games i feel sometimes i need to flop a set to finish slightly up or if i am down i need to add more tables to recover the loss. not going well for me online but when i play live i am not bothered about losing one or two buy ins and i make a profit there and i believe that is why. i am playing a bit scared poker just now on stars unfortunately and it's tricky to get out of.