My Story

[MichaelOar]

I don't know if I'm looking for advice or whether I'm just writing this as therapy. So, comment if you wish, but don't feel compelled.

Background: I'm 28 and married with no kids. My wife has a decent paying job, though she yearns for the day that she'll be able to quit and have babies. I've been to college and grad school, and I'm currently in my second year of law school. I held down a normal job for a few years after college, but I haven't worked at all since February 2004. I played poker full-time from Feb until I started law school in August 2004. Since then, I've played mostly limit hold'em online at limits 10/20 to 20/40. I can't play many hours each week as I'd like, but I try my best to get in 15-20 or so.

I've consistently beaten these games for 1.25 BB/hr. Not a super-high win rate, but it is good enough for me. I don't have dreams of being a pro! My wife is generally cool with the amount of poker I play. As well she should be! Poker has taken her on free cruises and out the WSOP ME! Poker paid the down payment on our home, and poker pays my tuition.

My first 1.5 yrs of law school have been great. School is a lot of fun, and even though we went from two incomes to one poker has ensured that our standard of living hasn't really dropped. I had a major tournament cash in August 2005 (winning the $200 buy-in Sunday tourney on UB), although 90% of that never returned to my bankroll, as my wife demanded that we pay down some principal-thing on our mortgage!

That's the background. Now, here is the problem:

The Problem:
I've gone on the most protracted losing streak of my life. Over the last six weeks, I've dropped over 300BB (@15/30). I dropped down to 10/20, but the slayings continued. I've carefully reviewed my stats and many, many hand histories, and I've concluded that I've simply been a victim of some bad, bad luck. Unfortunately, I've also dipped my bankroll below the "floor" that I set for myself. I have wanted to keep at enough cash in my roll to pay for at least two semesters of school, and my losing streak has pushed me under my minimum (I go to a state school, but my tuition is still around 500BB of 15/30).

What to do?! I considered not bringing my wife up to speed (she is not involved in the day-to-day goings on in my roll), but I ultimately decided that would be a bad idea. So, I sat her down and explained to her my financial situation. I suggested we could either: (a). Set aside $5 or 6K for me to continue grinding it out at 10/20, or (b). Quit, and take out a small student loan next December.

Suffice it to say, my wife wanted me to quit playing. The way she figured it we could lock up most of my tuition risk free. I argued that I am a statistically winning player, and whether I win or lose in a given hour, day or week is not important, since I theoretically make money every time I sit down. She agreed, but worried that an even longer streak might wipe out my whole roll. Better not gamble, she said, and keep the whole tuition-roll set aside.

Now what? Back to 2/4? Hang it up until I'm making the big lawyer bucks? To heck with it, it's my roll and I'll do what I want to?

Michael

[surfinillini]

what about a part time (or even full time) job to build back the BR and hit the 15/30 hard?

this way you could save for your BR (the horror)
you could also give some money to your wife as well as seem responsible in her eyes once again

with your degress, you could muster up something at least for $20-40/hr...a few months and your back on track

[greed]

You say you are beating those games for 1.25 BB/hr. You don't list your BB/100, which is a more useful measure of your skill I think, so it's hard to know your situation exactly. Are you playing only one table at a time? If so, you would be beating the game for something like 2 BB/100 if you are playing full-ring.

If you are only playing one table, and your bankroll is dwindling, I would strongly suggest moving down in stakes by quite a lot and learning to multitable. I think in your situation, you need stability. I believe lower stakes games would provide that to you. If you could learn to play say 4 tables of 3/6 SH, and beat them for only 1 BB/100, you would be making almost what you are with just 1 table of 20/40 if you include the extra rakeback and bonuses you would get from additional tables. And there would be a lot less variance for you.

[somapopper]

5 or 6k isn't nearly sufficient for a 10/20 roll. 300BB is thrown around a lot as the amount your roll should be, but I think people fail to realize that 300BB provides a totally unacceptable RoR for a static roll, which is your situation.

In other words, if you never withdraw any of your poker winnings, then 300BB will probably be a decent roll for you, if you continue to play in games that you can beat at a decent BB/100 number. However, if you are withdrawing your winnings then you should probably have something much closer to a 1000BB roll, as you will almost certainly go bust with a 300BB roll.

so my advice is to take what you can down to 2/4 or 3/6 (if you're beating the 10/20 you should be able to beat these games pretty handily), and once you've built up a good static roll for a limit where you like your hourly rate, then you can again depend on poker for income.

[Howard Beale]

I'd do what my wife wanted. You're in it together now and you have the rest of your lives to look forward to. Playing 'scared money' with an unhappy wife (she'll be unhappy even if you win because you gambled with your future) isn't the way to go. You've got a couple of years left of school, everything should be OK after that, and you can pick up poker again at that time.

That's my 2 cents.

[SmileyEH]

Just drop down until your roll is comfortable. No point taking a pay cut by getting a real job here.

-SmileyEH

[Good Idea]

I gotta go with the wife here. The important thing is that you need to finish law school. Poker ain't goin' nowhere. Law school could be a one shot deal. You can't predict when a downturn will end and if you burn through your roll you won't have poker or law school. I suspect your marriage will become very difficult for quite awhile also.

Like Grandpa always said "Happy wife= Happy life"

Regards,
G.I.

[_TKO_]

You shouldn't have a problem taking out a student loan. You'll make it back really quick with you and your wife's combined income.

Additionally, your story doesn't have the hallmark of good bankroll management. The fact that you've been spending most of your winnings means that you've techincally been playing on a much shorter bankroll that you think.

I would say keep playing, but drop limits in the fashion stated by other posters.

[franchise99]

Mike, the most important thing is your relationship...but you already know that.

I am also half way done with law school and playing poker 15-20 hours per week. I've yet to go bust but only because I'm single and haven't spent nearly any of my winnings over the past 6 months of 10-20 no limit. I have had prolonged downswings that my large bank roll has allowed me to withstand.

That being said, if your wife won't disown you, I see no reason for you to drop to lower limits. I am taking out the max federal loans for law school and not thinking twice about it. This is because I can make much more playing poker/investing than the low interest rate charged by the gov't, and because I know even if I go bust I have a great paying job waiting for me a year and half from now. If you are going the firm track and have a job lined up for the summer I see no reason for you not to take advantage of low interest federal loans, even if you quite poker altogether and just invest the money. Just my two cents. Good luck with your decision.

[lil']

I'm in a similar spot. Your story is almost identical to mine, right down to the length of losing, age, marital stauts and wife's response. Lucky for me my grad school days are behind me, though the loan lives on.

The phrase that stood out to me was "standard of living." You and your wife may be spedning too much. On the plus side, you paid off your mortgage some, which was a good idea your wife had. Better to spend the poker winnings on that than other things.

If you are truly worried about bankroll, swallow your pride and drop down a little. I'm doing that now to rebuild confidence and money. Also, I would suspect that your game is suffering a little more than you think. Bad runs tend to do things to anyone's game.

Just a thought. Hope you pull yourself out of it soon.