Playing With, Not Against, Your Bankroll
Saturday, April 02, 2005
Last night, my friend Betsy and I played on PokerRoom, an online poker site I never played on before. While I liked the game play, I was dissappointed with how difficult it was to deposit money. It would not accept my debit card, which works on Golden Palace and other sites. And I swear that Neteller has a personal vendetta against me. So, Betsy was nice enough to deposit $22 into my account, enough for four $5 SNGs.
By the end of the night (2am) I had lost it all, mostly in a .25/.50 limit game. This is a shame. However, I learned a lesson. I like Golden Palace because of the low stakes. Online is not a profitable game for me. Its because of my light bankroll. I'll start with $20 and play $5 tournaments or NL ring games. This may not sound bad, but in fact, its a foolish move. My bankroll, online at least, at $20, cannot handle those quantities. It isn't a horrible ratio, but if I had a larger bankroll and/or played lower level games, I would be in better position to ride out the losing streaks.
I was reading somewhere (don't recall where exactly) that many players online play at a level, win some money, and then go up to a higher level. They do this hoping to compound their winnings. But in fact, what they end up doing is going broke. It is because the players are creating a psuedo tournament style game, where the blinds (or in this case, the buy-ins) are getting higher and higher, thus forcing players to go broke at some point or another.
It was an interesting article. After playing last night I realized that I was one of those players constantly raising my stakes with my wins. I have to start playing WITH my bankroll, rather than AGAINST it.
This morning, I had about $2.90 in my Golden Palace account. I've been playing .05/.10 limit, with $2 buy in. Its very low stakes, but with a $2 buy in, and my short bankroll generally, it is a smart move. I sit at a table with 40x the big blind, and I know that in a given hand heads up, I can limit myself to losing .30, about 1/10 of my total bankroll. (Of course, I play to win, but exposure should be considered).
So, there you have it. I'm now at about $5 on Golden Palace. My limit game is improving, hopefully. On Monday, I go against Desi's game, which will be my first real post-Vegas trial. I can't wait.
posted by Jordan @ 3:02 AM,
