Take Two

Starting Bankroll: $1.00
Finishing Bankroll: $2.61

Needless to say, this evening went far better than my first abortive attempt. Tonight I tried my hand at a micro-limit ($0.02-$0.04) limit table. Last night I found my short stack was too vulnerable for a no-limit table. I think I'll stick to the limit tables until my bankroll has a bit of padding to it. The multi-table tournament I frequent starts with an hour of structured betting, so I find myself more comfortable in a limit game. Sure the gains are potentially higher in no-limit, but so are the losses.

Only one hand of note tonight. I found myself in the small blind with T8h and two limpers before me. I limp in and BB checks. The flop comes T-7-T and I check, hoping to get a bit of action for my top set. UTG bets and the one limper folds, I call figuring I can make some money on 4th and 5th street. A six comes on the turn and I bet, UTG raises. Uh oh. Now, he's been giving action every round so I'm guessing he's had a made hand pre-flop, possibly a large pocket pair. I call his raise hoping he's not holding 7s. Then, a glorious ten comes floating down the river. Quads! I figure I better get while the getting's good and put in a bet. UTG raises and I re-raise, UTG caps it. Yep, he's holding something big, tens full of something. I call and he shows pocket 7s! The poor guy flopped a boat and I sucked out quads on the river. I thank my good fortune and rake in the pot. I think I'll quit while I'm ahead.

Maiden Voyage

Before I get started, let me say I had no idea how hard this would be and how much I need to have a solid bankroll management strategy.

That's right folks. I busted out.

I'm chaulking it up to falling prey to impatience and not knowing when to quit. So there I am, with my dollar looking for a $0.01-$0.02 table (man, this is going to be real riveting journalism). I hate playing short-handed so I tried to find a mostly-full table. I found one with 8 players and an average pot size of around $0.30-0.40 and sat down. The average stack size was around $1.80 with stacks ranging from $0.30 to $3.50. Almost anyone at the table could put me all in at any point so I was careful with my starting hands.

After about half an hour, I was up about $0.50. Doesn't sound like much, but it did constitute a 50% increase in my bankroll. Had I been smart, I would have stood up and hit the sack. Unfortunately, I didn't know when to quit. After a string of cold cards punctuated with good hands that led to some bad beats, I was down to about two bits. Now I'm playing with scared money. And it shows. The bigger stacks are looking at my quarter hungrily and isolating me at every opportunity. I decide to be patient and wait for a hand to push in with.

After a string of rags, I find KQh in the big blind. Not exactly a monster, but I'll take it. I push in and get 2 callers. King-rag-rag comes on the flop. I'm actually sweating at this point (hey, you try having your whole bankroll riding on a single hand). Thankfully (and uncharacteristically), the turn and river are kind to me and I scoop the $0.75 pot that the other two callers have checked down. Phew!

Once again, I should have packed it in, but I wanted to quit winners on my first night out. Half an hour of bad calls that I won't even get into and I'm busted out. Oh the shame!

A huge lesson learned: especially in the begining when I'm always so close to busting out, disciplined bankroll management is a must. Conventional wisdom states that to play at any level, your bankroll should be at least 300 big bets. Considering I'm starting with a sixth of that, I need a strategy. Chris Fergusson suggests only buying in for 5% of your bankroll (or the minimum buy-in) and always quiting once you've won 10% of your bankroll. Sounds good to me. Had I followed that advice, I'd be writing about a 10% profit instead of a humilating bust-out.

So, armed with this lesson, I'm going back to the drawing board with another dollar (hey, even Fergusson busted out on his first dollar). Stay tuned for my hopefully triumphant return.

The Concept

I love poker. I can't get enough of it. Hell, I don't even care if there's money riding on it (however, putting money on something always makes it more interesting). I'm just as happy getting together with friends and family to play just for chips (and bragging rights) as entering the weekly Saturday multi-table tournament at my local brick and mortar casino.

As my life has gotten busier, I've found I don't have the time or disposable income to build a decent bankroll. You can read all the poker books you want (and I do, the nerd in me devours poker books) but it's no substitute for playing hands. I've tried online "play-money" games and have had a lot of fun but found most of these turn to be Tijuana Donkey Shows with jackasses making 50X BB raises under the gun with 9-2 offsuit and sucking out. The tournaments are somewhat better as there is a bit of a consequence to getting busted out, but trust me, there'll always be at least one guy who'll type "OK. EVERYBODY ALL-IN. COME ON YOU PUSSIES. LOL. OMFG. ROTFL!!!!!!1111." on the first hand. Yeah, don't even get me started on the chat.

So what's a poker geek to do for action? Stick it out in the play-money tables and go insane from frustration and develop bad habits or play cash games but less frequency? The answer lies in two discoveries I made in the last couple weeks. The first was the ultra-ridiculous micro-limit games at PokerStars ($0.01-$0.02? That's crazy). The second was a podcast (yes, I'm that nerdy) with Chris "Jesus" Fergusson talking about turning a buck (yes, one dollar) into twenty-thousand playing online, stressing the importance of bankroll management. The idea intrigued me. How far could I go on a buck?

So here's my plan. I'm going to start with one dollar and see how far I can go, grinding my way up the levels playing No-Limit Texas Hold'em ring games. I'll start with the high-roller $0.01-$0.02 tables and go from there. I'm hoping the quality of play at these tables is better than the play money tables. I'm banking on that going through the hassle of setting up a money account will keep the riff-raff out. I haven't really figured out what kind of time limit I'll give myself (one year has a nice ring to it. But hell, who am I kidding, I might be busted out in a day) or how many tries I give myself (will I swear off poker for life when I'm busted out? probably not). I guess I'll figure it out as I go along.

I'll use this blog to record my progress and relate interesting hands (who doesn't love to hear a bad-beat story. heh). As I mentioned before, I love studying poker, so I'll probably include book reviews and the like.