Blogs : playing a game for a living = +EV : New card protector! Hopefully taking a shot at 200NL soon.

by goodoldbm

So I just got a new card protector off ebay. Its a panda eating bamboo. I am quite fond of pandas. I have a panda hat, panda avatar, and a panda debit card. I used to have a big ass glass fish as a card protector, and it shattered on the floor when I was in Vegas, which sucked because I had had it since I was a little kid. Hadn’t gotten a new one since, b/c I’ve been looking for the right one, and haven’t played any live poker in a long time. But I finally found the perfect card protector and I’m pretty stoked for it to get here. I’ll be that crazy panda kid who plays a lot of poker. But who doesn’t love pandas. They are the coolest looking bear there is. They’re hilarious. And those eyes are just grrreat. and they’re the only bear I would want to hang out with, besides the fact it might try to eat me or something. but a panda cub i’d hang out with all day.

The WSOP circuit is coming to St. Louis, so I’ll probably hit up the cash games that run on the side during it. I kind of miss live poker, and the social aspect. Having a dealer, people to talk to and laugh with, and chips to play with cannot be replaced by online poker. Also, theres nothing better than amassing a massive stack of chips, and feeling unstoppable. My record at Lumiere was amassing a 2500 dollar stack from 300 dollars. It was pretty. A 500 dollar chip, a fat stack of 100 dollar chips, some greens, then a pyramid of reds. I played for 14 hours straight, and it felt amazing to have such a big stack at a 1/3 game. That being said, I almost definately make more money online, but I can still make a pretty decent profit at live. I think I could really dominate the game now. 1/3 in St. Louis is a joke. Equivalent of .05/.10 online. Suuuuch an easy game. I killed it the week I turned 21 for like 4 grand. Thus began my poker journey, and its been going strong since. Hopefully there will be some juicy 2/5 games going during the WSOP circuit. I might play in a few events too, but I suck at MTTs. So we’ll see how I’m feelin.

I’m thinking about trying out 200NL rush a few times a week, slowly easing into it, during peak player times like Friday and Saturday night. My bankroll is ginormous, though I’m constantly withdrawing. I’ve withdrawn 10,500 in the past few weeks and it still is at 21,500. 20,000+ is the only time I feel comfortable playing 1/2, yes I’m that big of a bankroll nit. Being insanely overrolled makes me not care when I lose multiple buyins. And makes me play much, much better. I was planning on withdrawing the entire thing for various reasons that I won’t go into here, its kind of a mess, before I move to Cali. Then reloading it. But I might actually hold off to moving to Cali for a while, because I feel like I’d have to take off too much of my bankroll for the move. I want to feel very, very comfortable with my finances before I move. I’m pretty comfortable right now – I have a ton of money saved up. But, moving money around is gonna be a hassle. Money is basically the only source of stress in my life right now. If I continue to beat the game and make 5000-10,000 a month, then money will cause me very little stress. Good news is I’ve made 4000 dollars in the first 9 days of March. I crushed again today, and the poker gods have been treating me well. I’m running great, and its times like these where poker is truly a gift. No matter how big a downswing I run into, I know that an equally large upswing is due to happen sometime in the future if i keep playing. Variance has a way of evening out over 100s of thousands of hands. Right now I’m running great, and quite happy with the success I’ve had this month.

Making a bunch of money has made me a money nit. I don’t really spend any more than I used to-unless its on poker related expenses, such as a new computer which I am buying fairly soon, or a big tv to play on which I am also buying pretty soon. The money I make is only put towards building a bigger bankroll so that I can feel more comfortable playing higher stakes. And will now be used to allow me to live in an amazing city – San Diego. I eat out more than I used to – pad thai with tofu is my favorite. Bangkok gardens in Columbia FTW. I love Thai food. And I eat a ridiculous amount of Chipotle – a great vegetarian and vegan friendly fast food place found all over the country.

The best thing about having a big bankroll is that I’m not losing money that I need to survive. I have already made more than enough money to live on. And I live fairly cheaply – I don’t spend much money at all besides on food and rent and insurance and taxes. So when I make mistakes, lose some buyins, its not the end of the world. Just a small scratch in an otherwise ginormous bankroll. I’m not gonna lie, January really sucked. I had never had a losing month until January. I only lost 2 grand, but that also means I didn’t win any money, and it felt bad. But I’ve probably had 7 months where I booked solid wins, and 1 month where I lost. So thats a pretty good track record eh. If I ever get to the point where I’m crushing midstakes or highstakes games, I plan on donating quite a bit of money to charity. Even crushing low stakes I can make a substantial amount of money. The best thing about this is I get to deduct this money from the ridiculous taxes I have to pay on my winnings. And this way I’m not just playing a game for a living – I’m also helping others at the same time. Which is a life goal of mine, and why I’m going to grad school to get a pHD in psychology in a few years, to hopefully further the psychology field in some small way. But in the meantime – I want to beat the game of poker!

I’ve been thinking a lot about bankrolls and whatnot the past few days, as I have several friends who tend to deviate from solid bankroll management. I have come up with a way to think about a bankroll through talking with them and just really thinking about why I am such a bankroll nit. First and foremost – a bankroll is your lifeline as a professional poker player. Without it, you are unable to grind, and therefore unable to provide yourself with money to pay your bills. A bankroll can be instantly destroyed via moving up to stakes you are not rolled for, but thats about it. I have witnessed the destruction of poker players due to lack of bankroll management, and it is not pretty. But it is for this reason I am such a bankroll nit. I used to be a huge phish back in highschool, would play pit games, blow money in poker, and had no concept of bankroll management. I know the old me is still somewhere inside, and I am scared as hell to let him out. Even 1 year ago I didn’t really have solid BR management. have 20+ grand, I only played 2/4 a handful of times. I never played above 2/4, except for live cash games, but live cash games are completely different than online. I realize I am scared, scared of letting an irresponsible self out, scared of losing more money than I feel comfortable losing, and letting this affect my game. I have read stories of countless poker players spiraling out of control. No one ever plans to spiral out of control and blow their bankroll – but it happens. I realize I could take 5 buyin shots at 1/2, and once I lose 5 buyins just grind out 100NL again until I want to take another shot. This should only positevely affect me, and if I start off from the get go winning, I would have a much, much higher hourly. But I am still scared. And hope to overcome this fear fairly soon. I think I can beat 200NL, and I think I’m going to take a shot this week. Going in with the spirit that I won’t care if I lose 1000 dollars. That I will be able to make that back in 20-30 hours playing 100NL. We’ll see how it goes.

Well I’m off to bed, wakin up early tomorrow for a long day of grinding. I have a few new plans for tomorrow. A) I’m going to min raise every button. I think this will be a profitable strategy for many reasons, but mainly b/c ppls 3bets won’t be as effective, and ppl will most likely call too much OOP. And I think people at 100NL will react poorly to this. B) I’m going to stop 4bet bluffing a ton IP, because I am losing less since I’m minraising when people 3bet, and I feel my 4bet bluffs are not profitable against a bunch of the rush poker monkeys. They may be slightly +EV against some. Or slightly -EV against others who 5bet shove light. But either way, they increase variance a great deal, and it tilted me today when I got 5 bet shoved on multiple times in a row. I can outplay people postflop, and 4bet bluffing seems to cause me to tilt when it doesn’t work out for some reason. It may be nitty to stop altogether, which is why I am combining it with min raising buttons, and I will still 4bet bluff against specific opponents who 3bet way too much out of the blinds. C) I’m not going to 5bet shove AQ, so I’m going to flat with it a lot more than 3 betting it so I don’t get stuck with someone 4 betting me, unless some guy is a huge monkey. But I have gotten myself in some shitty situations by 5 bet shipping too light in rush poker. I think this will have more of a positive affect than a negative effect. So yup, those are my plans for tomorrow. We’ll see how it goes!



Comments

#0
by Justice88
4 months 		Nice post. And San Deigo eh? Hopefully someday I'll see you there haha. I play 100nl on ftp as well, taking the occasional shot at 200. Hit me up if you ever want to talk hands or strat (Rounderup88 on ftp). Skype is oneonth3run. Cheers

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