Advice on micro-grinding

[Sofisdad]

First post on forums but long time lurker and have learned more from reading the posts and responses than I would like to admit since I used to think I was a decent player. I played Party Poker for a few months 3 years ago. Deposited $50 and first tournament I sat down at 10 minutes after my deposit cleared was a $30 MTT NL tourney with 2,000 people roughly. Yes, I put 66% (with $3 rake to PP) of my roll on the felt immediately! Insane and stupid play obviously. Somehow finished 6th for $950 and thought I was a great player immediately. Time, sanity, and better players taught me otherwise over the next few months and I cashed out my last $300 and said no more online poker for me.

Fast forward 3 years, I finally took ahold of utlilzing Bankroll Management after seeing, reading, and finally understanding the concept through many, many responses to posted questions. I deposited $50 on FT 3 weeks ago and initially played a mix of SNG's. This was my first taste of playing way over my ability and playing scared chips with such a small bankroll. I gave up the SNG's after losing $33 from the original $50 and feeling like a complete idiot. I decided to just attempt to grind the tiny stakes, .05/.10 NLHE tables, until I was good enough and had the proper bankroll to move up to .10/.25. I have played each night of the last 2 weeks sitting down with $4 at the microlimits. I have gotten up from the table once I've reached $8 the last 7 times and my 'bankroll' is now back to $53. Sometimes I sit for 5 minutes, sometimes for an hour, until I reach the $8 mark. So far, so good. I'm not looking to ever go against aba or durrrr so I'm not in any hurry to move up. I just love to play poker and want to keep from going busto.

Is this a sound strategy to get up and quit for the day after doubling my sit down amount? Its worked for the last 7 sessions and 9 of the last 10. Results are just fine by me, even as small as they are, but I don't fully grasp how much leverage continuing to play with a larger stack will give me over the other players versus the chance of losing that small gain while my bankroll is still so small. Am I being a complete donk by not playing longer and trying to win more money during a session? I realize this might be the dumbest post ever but I'm sincerely interested to know if other players agree with my reasoning or if I'm being too cautious. I would like to try and get my bankroll up to $200 over the next few months and then move to the .10/.25. Thank you for your time if you read this far.

[Poker Plan]

Sounds like a good plan to me.
I would advise however, that you limit your sessions on playing time / hands played, etc; rather than money won- if you're not very careful you'll focus too much on monetary results, rather than quality decisions.

Ian

[Sofisdad]

I hadn't thought of it like that. Thank you for the advice. It makes a lot of sense.

[Poker Plan]

Also,

Have you checked out all the FAQ / Sticky threads on the "Beginners" and "Micro Limits" forums? Loads and Loads of really good info / advice. Worth copy and pasting these for future reference.

Ian

[Sofisdad]

I have read the vast majority of them and learned a lot. I tried to avoid posting a question that has been answered before and not waste anyone's time. I appreciate the responses and wish you the best of luck at the tables Ian.

[AmonRaa]

First: dont shortstack (buying in for 4$)
Why?
Because, you're not learning poker this way. You often dont have implied odds for sets, straights, flushes. All you do is raise pf and go all in on the flop and try to double up. This will hinder your progress as a poker player.
I know that you dont have a roll to play full stack at NL10, but when you're up a few buyins, give it a try.

And second as has been mentioned, dont play results oriented. You have 2 hours to spare? So play poker for 2 hours regardless if you are up a buyin or down (exception to this is if you are tilting).

[AKQJ10]

[ QUOTE ]
First: dont shortstack (buying in for 4$)

[/ QUOTE ]

Discussed ad nauseum on this thread. Please read the whole thing to see the whole range of opinion. Frankly the tendency of people to accept one respected poster's opinion as Gospel is frightening, if profitable for your opponents.

I would expect a starting NL player, even one who's read a book, to be a weak postflop player. A lot of players with little theoretical knowledge can still read hands well. If you don't, you'll be dog meat.

I'm a strong proponent of simplifying the game (i.e. preflop and flop only), learning that well, and then moving on. Others are strong proponents of trying to learn everything at once. I think their opinions are wrong, but I respect the depth of experience on which they're basing their conclusions.

As for implied odds -- your opponents aren't going to "top up" their stacks just because you like to play deep effective stacks. You can either learn how to play correctly with short effective stacks, you can pick up and leave the game every time someone gets shortstacked (though tournaments are pretty much out), or you can donk away money because you never learned how stack size affects preflop decision making. Your call.

[SuperPokerJedi]

Some1 said it best in their SN: 'VolumeOverSkill' !!!

[ottsville]

[ QUOTE ]
Is this a sound strategy to get up and quit for the day after doubling my sit down amount?

[/ QUOTE ]

In general, I don't like getting up simply becuase you have reached some predetermined win goal. If you are winning in a game and you have an advantage, I like to stay as long as I have that advantage. However, you need to play where you feel comfortable. If you feel that you can't effectively play a big stack, then don't.

[Spanky1974]

40BB stacks are great for beginners. If you are more comfortable playing a 40BB stack, do so until you have a comfortable bankroll, then you can play 100BB deep. Get a bankroll first, learn better poker later.

I don't think it should matter how long you play for, as long as you don't keep playing when playing badly, and looking to get up to even.

Good luck!