ride it ’til the wheels fall off

Man, I’m tired. This will be a short (hopefully), simple post. First of all, my run continues.

Since my last post, here are my stats…

1136 total hands, 14 hours (7 hours on two tables), $221.75 won, 61.77 BB/100. My total bankroll is at $573.

This thing is crazy. I’m feeling good but reminding myself not to get cocky. I’ve read enough books, blog and forum posts to know that variance, or an up and down cycle, is to be expected. And I also know that a 61 BB/100 winrate is not usually sustainable (more like 7 to 10). But right now I’m just gonna ride this upswing for as long as possible.

Actually I moved up a level yesterday and I was a little apprehensive. This was really the first time I did it in the manner that many online poker experts and pros suggest. With the proper bankroll.

General consensus is that a winning player should keep at least 20 buyins for each limit he’s playing. Excluding poor beginner play, bad bankroll management is the biggest reason that new players go bust. Do yourself a favor and only play in games you can afford. — MicroNL Temporary FAQ, The 2+2 Forums

So, when I had over $400 I moved up. I remember reading something somewhere that said you should just keep doing the things that worked for you on the previous level when you make your move. So, that’s exactly what I did. I am a very aggressive player, but fairly tight as well. Actually, I just recently (over the last couple of weeks) tightened up my starting hands, and it has made a big difference in my profit margins. I never open limp. And with anything decent in late position (66+, KQs+, AJ+), I will put in a second raise, depending on the table. I’ve been doing these things as I grow more confident in my postflop play. I’m getting much better at dumping hands that are probable losers.

So I’ve been pretty much just eating up chips like Pringles. One thing I can say, though, winning poker does definitely have an inescapable element of boredom to it. Especially at these microlimits. In the past, as I surfed various poker sites, I have come across comments from successful poker players regarding how they eventually just got sick of poker. This always puzzled me.

These comments were coming from people who had supposedly made thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars from playing poker. How do you get sick of making money for playing a game? While I am far from getting sick of poker, I can understand the disciplined grind it requires to win at cash games. It’s really pretty simple to win at microlimits. It’s mainly just a matter of discipline. And that’s where the grind comes in.

When I was losing consistently, now that was exciting. I would go on extreme tilt and push my entire stack in with 72. And sometimes I would win! That is real entertainment. I was truly gambling, and it’s no rush like that. Putting all your money on the line with only a hope and a prayer. On the other hand, there’s really nothing exciting about sitting in front of the computer for hours at a time, weighing each hand, thinking about expected value, position, another player’s VP$IP percentage, etc. “I bet the flop here, if he reraises I autofold… 1,2,3…1,2,3…”

I’m oversimplifying (a little), but at micro-limits, it’s not too much more complicated than that. And I think that is what some losing players don’t get. Without fail, everytime I sit down to a table online, I hear one player giving another player holy hell about one specific play. And usually the playing giving the lecture is the “good” player berating the “fish.” But a truly good player understands that over time, grinding it day in and day out, thoughtful, disciplined play will be profitable. I don’t need to do anything fancy. And if I’m losing over time, say months and years, maybe, just maybe I need to take a look at my own game.

But speaking of profits, in my last post I mentioned something about waiting until my bankroll reached $2100 to make another withdrawal. Now I’m admitting that that idea is pretty much totally unrealistic. I’ve decided that I’m gonna stay at my current level for a while (maybe 20,000 hands), take my time and enjoy some fruits of my labor. The first thing I hope to do is buy myself another mobile phone. I want to be able to leave in $450-$550 when I pull out the two bills I need for the phone. So I need to work up to at least $650. This bankroll management will be one of my greatest challenges.

I’ll keep you posted.