What's the REAL reason(s) so many "top" players are busto?

[JokersAttack]

Because the play in games where they have little to no edge for massive stakes. And due to pride are unable to move down when they should. That = succeptible to variance = eventually busto.

[GambleAB]

[ QUOTE ]


Thanks Aaron. I recently saw you shortstacking either the 2/4 or 3/6 HSPLO on FT. I know you dont regularly play HSPLO or HSNL, on FTP anyways, were you playing outside your BR? Was there any special reason you were giving that game a shot? Curious is all....

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I had been drinking and had to much money in my account. One of those "oh I'll take an 8k shot, it'll be fun", which was obv just an idiot move. I cashed out a decent amount the next day, which I should have done a week ago, to make sure I didn't do it again. I don't play HS, mostly 10/20 and 25/50pl and 30/60 through 1/200 o8.

[Zorlac]

I would argue that 'well adjusted', quality poker pros don't go busto. The ones with gambling problems, the borderline OCD's that are always pushing the boundaries and need to (quoting Bear) "get their juices going", are the ones flip flopping between hot streaks and going busto.


.Z

[Howard Treesong]

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Almost no one is as good as they think they are. Some are not as good, but are still winning players, and some are going to be longterm losers. The long term is a VERY long time, especially if you are playing live and infrequently, so you are going to see a bunch of "great players" that don't adapt to the fact that they just aren't that great and slowly, over time, going broke just from playing poker. Add to that the fact that some people are playing out of their bankroll, the fact that everyone has life expenses that they need to take out of their bankroll, and the multitude of other leaks (pit games and drugs being the top two) and it's no surprise that you hear about different people going bust every year.

[/ QUOTE ]

Let me add that playing poker well requires a total disregard for money while gambling with it. Life, on the other hand, requires significant regard for money in deciding how to spend it. The tension between the two is obvious, and it is a rare breed that can shift gears between the two.

[stinkypete]

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They haven't built the fame, fortune and success they now hold by practicing piss poor bankroll management

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i'm pretty sure that's exactly what a lot of them have done

[LearnedfromTV]

warrant's analogy is flawed.

It may be true that poker players reach a ceiling above which they can't effectively use their bankroll (rolled for one level, have excess cash that they can't use to play the next level responsibly, because their edge there is too small is doesn't exist). But those players should simply find their level, play for income, and invest the excess in a market where they don't have that problem. After all, the poker "ceiling" is much lower than the stock market "ceiling." Or, stop playing for income at all, if the money you make elsewhere makes your max poker hourly seem a waste of time. Furthermore, even if an investor cannot find a way around the big-capital problem, at minimum he can earn the risk-free rate, which hardly equals going broke.

Poker players go bust for all the reasons others listed: they play too high due to ego, overestimating their edge, having too much gamble; and/or they have poor money management outside of their bankroll, including bad investments, too much spending, too much pit gambling. But it isn't because their bankroll gets so large that are forced to play with too thin of an edge - believing this is the case assumes that the goal is to perpetually move up; in finance this can be a real problem, because your available investment capital is by definition your entire net worth, and if that amount is too large you run into problems maintaining your roi; in poker you just divert the excess.

[jeffnc]

[ QUOTE ]
warrant's analogy is flawed.

It may be true that poker players reach a ceiling above which they can't effectively use their bankroll (rolled for one level, have excess cash that they can't use to play the next level responsibly, because their edge there is too small is doesn't exist). But those players should simply find their level, play for income, and invest the excess in a market where they don't have that problem.

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This doesn't mean his analogy is flawed at all. Go back to the original post, including the original title - "top" players.

[Potvaliant]

IMO, Any player who has the $ to play at the stakes where the general public would know them as a big name poker player, is an action junkie and won't stop, ever, unless they happen to go broke.

Sorry if someone else has already said this, I couldn't be bothered to read the whole thread.

[PLO8FaceKilla]

Going "busto" would definitely not be cool.

Hey.....
speaking of "cool"....
I heard that Brad Booth bought into that high stakes poker tv show with A Cool Million.

[inyourface]

[ QUOTE ]
Going "busto" would definitely not be cool.

Hey.....
speaking of "cool"....
I heard that Brad Booth bought into that high stakes poker tv show with A Cool Million.

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL, in answer to OP it's people like BoostedJ that won one donkament (but are terrible cash players) that donate back to the better regs like CTS, PA, aba, JMan etc. who will never move down because of their ego.

That will eventually bust them