Blew another bankroll
Hello,
I suppose the aim is this post it to hopefully get some advice from people who have had similar issues and leaks.
I’ve been playing poker for around 7 years started live then play most online these days. I’m a winning player with 18k£ profit online with 7k tournaments played and ROI of 19%. I feel like I’m a good tournament player and I can get money from it if I didn’t let myself down.
Time and time again I have blew my bankroll on cash game mostly that I’m not rolled for and the odd time even worse on roulette. I always find myself in cash games chasing when I loose a big pot in a bad way. I’ve tired to fix this and write rules out and I stick to them and I do well but the variance of poker and beats can build up I play around 9 tables at a time so sometimes you really feel it and I struggle to stay composed when you get rivered 20 times in a day. There’s times where I can ride it out and stay disciplined then literally just that one bad thought can cost me my roll. I’m chasing a bigger roll became I know I can win and I want to move from the small stakes but it’s a long process as you all know.
I had a career change few years ago so being on a poor wage doesn’t help either so money is abit tight which of course makes it worse what do. I’ll be promoted in a few months with good pay and I want ti give poker one last shot.
I’ll be sticking 500 odd on there soon and playing 10$ and under tournaments I know this isn’t ideal but it’s all I have spare . I play on gg,pp and uni bet. The small stakes are even more tilting when you finish 20th out of 9k players for a 100$ but I don’t know what else to play to build. This week I’ve had 8 fts and finished 6th like 5 times and 5th and 8th I think this has led to my recent mistake as it’s build up of frustration.
I’m wondering how other people have dealt with similar leaks and could possible give advice ? I know it’s so stupid what I do and I let myself down.
Please no sarcastic replies I know I have a problem and I’m trying to fix it.
18 Replies
Find something else you enjoy and spend time on that instead. Serious answer. Good luck
Firmly agree with BullShannon here.
You are not sufficiently rolled for what you are doing. Variance can kill you, even if you make no mistakes.
$500 for $10 tourneys is not enough. That's 50BI (buyins).
For context, Acevedo's Modern Poker Theory recommends 200BI minimum. 1000BI if you really want to be safe.
That's $2000 if you want to do $10 tourneys.
Poker as a profitable enterprise only makes sense when you have the bankroll to play volume; because over volume,
variance regresses to the mean and you end up with average results for your skill level.
Beyond that, I want to zero in on this line you wrote:
"I’m chasing a bigger roll became I know I can win"
Evidently, you can't - your mental game isn't up to par. If, as you say, a "single bad thought" can cause you to blow your entire roll,
you are not ready to be doing this.
Seems like you have some discipline problems that will always be an issue for you. I have a similar performance in small stakes online MMT as well. Its honestly where I am best in terms of poker. I have always been profitable at the $5-10 range. I simply don't have time anymore with family and life for a 3-4 hour tournament. So I have switched to micro cash at the moment. Its very different and I was never the best cash player so I'm doing a lot of learning right now. But I can afford to play an hour and change a day and so far I'm grinding out profits.
You seem all over the place in your story. You are a MMT player but you end up on 9 tables cash? Roulette? Why on earth are you playing roulette if you can cash in MMTs?!? Cash was always the death of me because it was after I ran out of tournaments to play that I did not cash in. You can't bring the tournament style to cash. You need to separate the two. Obviously a ton of overlap but they are two different animals.
I hate to say it but the previous reply is spot on. There is no such thing as "chasing a bankroll." Poker is brutally honest. Its not fair all the time. There is no "deserved" in a poker game. It is what it is. I used to do this with higher buy-in MMTs. There are simply way more players with my skill set and of course a ton of players way better than me. I know who I am and I know what I'm successful at. I stick to it. I've made 3 deposits in my entire life in online poker. The last one was because of the US lock out and I needed to start somewhere else. Losing your bankroll is a giant red flag not a bad day. Take a step back. If you have to make rules for yourself and you still can't follow them you need to evaluate other aspects of your mentality besides your poker game.
I think that the current discipline problems and mental game problems might be too overwhelming to have a stable income from poker.
My suggestion would be to pick one area, such as MTTs, and only focus on this. Never play cash poker or casino games. If you feel this is not achievable for you and you are still very serious about improving, I would suggest you engage in some behavioural therapy with a professional. They can help get to the root cause of why you are having these challenges and give you strategies to help overcome these challenges.
Best of luck with your poker goals and otherwise.
Seems like you have some discipline problems that will always be an issue for you. I have a similar performance in small stakes online MMT as well. Its honestly where I am best in terms of poker. I have always been profitable at the $5-10 range. I simply don't have time anymore with family and life for a 3-4 hour tournament. So I have switched to micro cash at the moment. Its v
Cash and MTTs really are different beasts, and it sounds like getting grounded in one lane would help a lot.
for context pileupthecoins recommendeds only 3.5 buyins maximum. thats $35 for $10 mtts. if you cant bink in the first 3 mtts u got no hope to play pro poker cause your not lucky enough. poker mtts are 90% luck 10% study/skill. when u go back to back to back at wsop main come back and post here.
Yep, bankroll and self control. Poker isn't against you. The game does't choose favorites. Some huge hands win, some get busted. Sometimes your monster stands, sometime you miracle a river against a better hand.
Take a break, ask yourself why you're playing cards. It's just a game, after all.
If you're using your home "nut" money - what you need to pay out each month - then stop playing cards until you have a sufficient bankroll.
Consistent practice at being consistently accountable. You cant do that with increasing volume thats not bankroll managed in your playing style. Also you cant be consistent if your putting in volume while tilted. Consitency is only putting in volume while your not tilted.
Roll management and mental discipline have been mentioned already so I would exclude myself from casino or other side games as you mentioned this has cost you in the past.
You have done the hard bit by acknowledging the problem exists and I wish you the best going forward.
You should be looking for +EV spots rather than gambling in -ev spots. Chasing money is -ev you should just quit when you do that either in cash or casino games.
Instead of chasing a bigger roll just look for +EV spots and milk them.
If your up in casino games you should just quit. really if you double ur money in roulette/blackjack just quit. You need a stop/win point in casino games and quit if you lose instantly. You might also wanna quit if your up in cash games as well if you cant see much +EV spots. Table draw you could be -ev just sitting at the table.
Take $50 of that $500 and play casino games and if you bink $100 quit. Train yourself to do it. if you lose the $50 train yourself just to click the X and quit.
if you cannot do these things you might need to go to GA.
It sounds like you could have a gambling problem. That doesn't mean you can't grow out of it and become a successful poker player, but it's a good idea to look at yourself in the mirror and ask whether you're too impulsive to be gambling right now. If it's having a negative effect on your life it could be a good idea to get some professional help or try GA.
Regarding the poker side, read up about the Kelly criterion. There is a percentage of your roll that can be wagered to maximize wealth growth. There's really no reason to ever bet more than that. Mathematically in the long run you will lose money/go broke that way. Even following the Kelly criterion is incredibly aggressive compared to more conservative bankroll management strategies that aim to limit your risk of ruin.
Do you have a graph of your online results?
It could be that you just ran hot in a few tournaments.
Also, in my experience MTTs are far softer than cash games are.
You’d be better off putting that $500 into coaching for now, not just playing, IMO.
"I’m chasing a bigger roll became I know I can win"
Evidently, you can't - your mental game isn't up to par. If, as you say, a "single bad thought" can cause you to blow your entire roll,
you are not ready to be doing this.
I meant I can win at tournaments which I evidently can. I wanted to fix my mental game, that’s the whole point of the post, I was looking for advice.
I understand about the bankroll but at the time this was all I could afford.
Bankroll management is the one leak that ends more poker careers than bad play. If you are taking shots at stakes your roll cant support then the math guarantees you go broke eventually regardless of your skill level. The standard advice is 100 buyins for MTTs and 30 for cash but honestly if you keep busting rolls the issue isnt the number - its discipline. Set a hard stop loss for each session and stick to it. No exceptions.
Ok right off the bat, youre most likley playing too many hands and overvaluing them.
Play tight
Focus on seeing your opponents bet sizes
Try and catch what they raise with and how much
Cash games play very differently than tournaments, you need to slow down and take your time in cash games. Fold a lot, and find a weak spot through observing their moves. You fix your mental game by being prepared and tell yourself you played the best that you could and a worse player wouldve lost more that day
Ok right off the bat, youre most likley playing too many hands and overvaluing them. Play tightFocus on seeing your opponents bet sizesTry and catch what they raise with and how muchCash games play very differently than tournaments, you need to slow down and take your time in cash games. Fold a lot, and find a weak spot through observing their moves. You fix your mental game b
None of that has any relevance to what I said. Thank you for explaining that cash game is different to tournaments
