I have a few things I wanted to talk about in this post. The first has to do with what I've learned about bankroll management, and my failures with it in the past. When I first learned to play, and had some success, I found myself quickly moving to higher stakes because of my early success I thought I would easily keep it going. I had no concept of bankroll management and the swings that can be expected in poker, especially online poker. I just figured if I played good, then I would keep winning. It never occured to me that playing in a game where I only had 5 buyins might be a problem.
Another big problem is how to deal with losing streaks. When I would play, I was so focussed on how much I was up or down on the day, and didn't have much of a bigger picture look. If I started the day with $500 in my account and I was just on a bad streak and was down to $350, then I felt like I had to at least get back to even by the end of the day. The fastest way to do this was obviously to move up stakes. I would do this, and sometimes be successful, but often enough I would go bust. Losing the whole $350, while trying to get back to $150 I had lost.
After a while I picked up on this problem. When I would run a small amount of money up into a nice bankroll, but then would see myself going on one of these downward spirals, often I would just withdrawal a large chunk of it, and try to go back to the re-building mode. This helped me to not blow it all, but because of this I was never able to maintain a solid bankroll over a long period of time.
Through this I found a big problem that online players have to deal with way more than live players. Online, your whole bankroll is right there and easily available to put into play. For a live player who plays 1/3 NL and buys for $300 each session, might bring 2-3 buyins to the casino with them. If they lose this they are probably done for the day, and aren't going to go to the bank and withdrawal half their bankroll to go play in the big 10/20 game. However online there is always a bigger game, and it is way too easy to take shots. Too often I have had a bad session losing a few buyins, then jump up a level or two trying to get back my losses and end up losing 2x-5x that much.
Now that I have a good bankroll with 40buyins for my NL game online, it is easier for me to manage the swings. Because a 2-3 buyin losing session, doesn't look at bad when I still have 37 buyins left. However if I only had 5buyins for the game, it's like WHOA, I just lost half my bankroll, things are falling apart. Also in the past I never thought I should have crazy big losing swings. Now I understand that it is normal for someone to have a 10buyin downswing over a period of time. As a matter of fact, it is expected at some point.
This means that if someone is having early success online and keeps moving up in stakes too soon, eventually THEY WILL GO BUST. Say someone has $500 in their account and 5-tables NL100. They have 5 buyins but go on a sick hot streak. When they get to 1k they move up to NL200. This hot streak continues for a few weeks and they run it up to 2.5k then play NL400. Before they know it they are at NL1000 with 6-7k in their bankroll. All the sudden they hit their downswing, and that 6-7k evaporates in no time, because 10 buyin downswings DO happen.
Interesting psychological things happen during a crazy hot streak like that, and you begin to beleive that you are winning only because you are playing so good. It doesn't occur that you haven't been on the bad side of a set over set, or AA v KK battle. Eventually that will happen and that's when you lose it all. This is where the good bankroll management comes in. If you are playing out of your bankroll you must be willing to move down when things start to go poorly. For good bankroll management in NL cash games it is recommended you keep anywhere betwen 20-40 buyins. So let's say you are trying to be good and play with 25 buyins for your game, but you go on a terrible 10buyin downswing. Now you have only 15 buyins for your game, it is very neccesary to move down in limits, and work your way back up. I was always too stubborn to do this and I wanted to win my money back as fast as possible. Moving down in limits definitely wasn't going to help me to win it back faster, so that was out of the option. Either I would keep playing at my stakes, or move up to win it back faster which I talked about earlier. A huge thing is how you manage swings, and being able to swallow your pride and avoid going busto.
Taking shots is another thing. Let's say I have my 40 buyins for my, and I work it up to where I have 50buyins, which gives my 25buyins for the next high stakes. It would be reasonable to take a shot at the bigger game. However, if it doesn't go so well, I must know my limits and when I plan to move back down. I might decide that if I fall down to 20 buyins for that game, I will return to my previous stakes and play there with my 40 buyins. If things go well and I have a nice run I might be able to work those 25 buyins up to 30-35buyins and then be able to play the higher stakes comfortably for the long term.
I have really struggled with all these things in the past. I am not in a position where I am comfortably playing my game with 40 buyins and a good understanding of how to manage my bankroll. If I have a -10buyin streak, I know I will be okay in the long term, and am not going to go on crazy tilt and try to play a game 4x as big. This was not the case for me in the past, and I know it is a huge problem for the online poker community. It is probably the biggest difference between online and live games. When you go to the casino you have your normal game you play, and probably don't change it very often. Every once in a while you might move up and take a shot, but it is usually something you think through (maybe think about playing it a few times, then one day you get guts to do it, and bring more money that day when you come to the casino). It is something that is planned for ahead of time, and isn't the result of some crazy tilt. Often it is because you have been consistently been beating your normal game, and think you can take the bigger one... which is when you should move up anyways. Online it often seems the reason for moving up is tilt, and not something that was well thought through with good bankroll management.
These are just some big things I have learned, almost all of them the hard way, multiple times. No school this week, and really no plans. I have a bunch of people I want to spend time with while I'm in my hometown. Also going to try and play about 4 hours a day grinding online, and might make it to a live game once.
-Boooom
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