Here is my start from
this old thread.
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2005 My first major poker year.
I had a back injury at work on Jan 12 2005, and that put me working nights. I'd just been playing recreationally for about a year online. Jan 23 I get home from work at 12:45 and play in a $2+.50 MTT on Pacific @ 1am. 300 players and as soon as I made the money, I was on a rush from hell. Had my first (and only) Royal. I won that for a cool $300. That was about 1000% of my online BR at the time. I donked around with that for about a month while working nights, then withdrew $200. Feb 23 was my last day of nights, so the next day, I decided to do this limit thing, and do it right. Bought Poker Tracker, SSH and deposited $100 at Paradise for my first Bonus Whoring venture. I played about 6K hands of .10/.20. When I got to $150 I moved up to .25/.50. I played 10K hands of that and cushed it for 5bb/100. I hit the $500 mark and moved to Empire and a r******k deal.
Since I wasn't working, I kind of treated Poker as my 'job'. My wife just loved that. [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img] Anyway, since I was losing about $200 a week on workers comp, I made it my goal to earn $50 a day. Either from bonuses or winnings or unmentionable. That wasn't hard to do, so to help out at home, I paid my boat payment with poker money. (still my only real concrete goal)
May 9 I had surgery on my back. This is about the time I moved to Empire. I had been posting a lot here and knew I was learning more and more. I had dabbled a bit at .50/1, but didn't like my results. So I started following my stats from then on. What a difference. I knew I could beat that game, I just needed to get my head on straight.
I hit the 300BB for 1/2 around June. I'd heard about how 1/2 was a rock garden, and how 6 max was the way to go, so I played a little of both. I won more at 6 max, but didn't like the swings. So I played around 10K of 1/2 and hit the 6 max tables occasionally and took some shots at 2/4.
I had a few MTT cashes along the way, and did well in SNG's, so my roll was growing quite nicely. I went back to work on Oct 19.
Then November came. I'd played about 80K hands of cash game poker. Read about downswings, but never had one. Then November came. I couldn't win a hand to save my life. I was totally lost. 2 decent tourney cashes made me break even for poker for that month. Thank God for bonuses.
I spent most of December trying to get out of my funk and decided to play 2/4 exclusively. That is a horrible limit for clearing bonuses, but i stuck it out and made good.
All in all, 2005 was an awesome poker year for me. I met some awesome poker players on this site, played in some fun 2+2 games, and got paid for my favorite hobby. Not to mention all the quality poker swag. [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]
I have proved to myself that I am a winning poker player. Does that make me in the top 5% of players? I don't know. I know I know more about poker than my buddies I play with once a month. But I don't think I know half as much as some of the posters in this site.
Many thanks to all the higher limit guys, who still slum with us in the Kiddie Pool. I couldn't believe it when I found this site, that people were so willing to share their knowledge of the game. The micros really do rule.
In 2006, I want to play 5/10 with a decent winrate. Will it happen? I don't know. I've got to get through 3/6 first. I also plan to play in more tourneys this year. I would like to cash in one of the big Sunday tourneys at least once. Oh, and get an iPod for my daughter with Stars FPP's. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
<font color="white"> this BTW is my longest post ever. </font>
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Wow, what a difference 2 years can make.
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What is your bankroll experience? When did you start playing poker semi-casually? How much did you start with? Where are you now? What have you done with your winnings?
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Most of these answers are up there.
Right now I am enjoying rb at FTP, playing 2/4 3/6 and 5/10 on a limited, but reloadable, br. (~1300)
With my winnings...lol. vacations, computers, electronics, boat, wheels for my truck, golf gear and green fees, yada yada.
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What is your bankroll philosophy? Do you agree with me? Disagree? How do you look at your poker money?
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My br philosophy is the classic, don't play with money you can't afford to lose. Poker is a game, it's supposed to be fun. If you aren't enjoying yourself while you play, you probably can't afford to lose what you are playing with. I got a small stake earlier this year from a friend in another hemisphere. I was glad he had enough faith in me, as well as trust, to loan me the money, and I hope he would do it again if the need arose. I got to play again, but it was kind of tough playing with someone elses money. I didn't know what I would do if I went busto, and I was fing close a couple of times. Anyway, I grinded (??) it back up and settled with him and decided to play on my own dime.
I look at poker money like it is bonus money. I don't
need it, but it sure is nice to have. [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img] If it all went away, no big deal. I would miss playing, but I've made a ton more than I have deposited.
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What are your struggles with your bankroll? How have you dealt with bad variance? Have you ever been close to busto? What did you do about it?
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I haven't had many huge bad variance runs. I think the 300bb rule is a pretty sound rule to follow for a newer player, or someone who can't reload and depends on the $$. I've pretty much played on 200bb since I moved up to 2/4. I think having too big of a roll made me play too loose. If I put some pressure on myself, being on a short roll, I played better. This is still true.
My online roll went to 0 after the Fristing, but I was kind of burned out anyway and didn't really care. I had taken most of it out for the micro Vegas trip anyway.
Still only one Royal Flush. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]