Bank Roll Update 6/19: Scared Money.

I had a pretty good run the last week on Full Tilt Poker, I ran it up to $600. I'm pretty happy with the results and I feel pretty comfortable on the 0.25/0.50 NLHE tables and sometimes I take a shot on the 0.50/1.00 NLHE tables. FTP updated their software to create a custom listing of tables and I choose to display at a minimum the 0.25/0.50 NLHE and up to 1/2 NLHE games.

Scared Money
I went up to Black Hawk this saturday night and I played at the Gilpin casino. I went up to play a C-note ($100 buyin/$100 rebuy) tournament at 7PM. I got there a few hours before hand so i played a 2-5 limit hold'em game. I was up $40 in that game after 1.5 hour of playing but I made some big mistakes.

I was gathering up my chips and I looked down to see pocket 77's, I called the $2 raise and then the $5 re-raise. There were 4-5 callers, so I had the correct odds to call. The flop came 45K and I bet out and I got re-raised so I folded and left the table. I should have either folded pre-flop or not raised after the flop. It was a dumb mistake that costed me $10.

C-Note Tournament.

I did okay in the tournament, I wasn't getting any cards so I had to let go some good calling hands pre-flop to a re-raise. I let go KQs in UTC after a re-raise and some other games. I called a all-in with another caller with QTs in the BB because it was only 2BB's to call. I hit a Q on the flop check check and a K hit on the river. The all in tripled up with a pair of Kings. The table was pretty loose aggressive, so I was looking for spots to put some pressure on other people, so I wouldn't get pushed around. I called from the Blind with A8d, The flop came two diamonds, I check raise all in and got a pretty aggressive player to fold. My last hand, some guy in middle position who was very loose aggressive raise 3-4 BB, I knew he was weak and probably just had an Ace or small part and just wanted to pick up the blinds. I went all in with AJs, when he thought about it for a while, i knew I had him and he called with A4s. He sucked out with an 4 on the turn and I was out.

Later

I went back to the limit hold'em table and the game was very loose. Money was just being poured on the table and I wasn't picking up anything. It's more easy to play a tight aggressive style in NLHE, because you can pick up 20-30BB in a pot if you wait for good cards. I didn't open up my game and I was lost. I need to revisit SSHE some time and review how to beat this game.

The main thing is I was 'scared money' I was putting up 30-40% of my live bankroll on the table and I wasn't willing to gamble it all. When you have 5-10% of your bankroll on the table, the risks are smaller. I really want to bet that game up there, but I have a lot of work and reading to do to do that.

Current bank roll
Full Tilt Poker: $601.90 + 1/$26 satellite token
Pokerstars: $117.44
Live: $150.00

Bank Roll Update: 6/15

Super, Thanks for asking.. - Big Gay Al, South Park

My Bank Roll has improved, I've been playing .25/.50 NLHE on FTP and I feel pretty comfortable at that level. On PokerStars, I took a bit of a hit and I'm back down to .05/.10 NLHE. You have to play a bit different on Pokerstars versus FTP. There are four times the players on Pokerstars than Full Tilt Poker, so you have to expect the variance in players to be different as well.

The New York Times published an article in it's Sunday Magazine entitled The Hold-'Em Holdup. Their whole magazine was about debt and this article was about how college kids are playing high stakes poker with borrowed money instead of attending classes. There was even a honor roll kid who stuck up a bank to get some money to paid for his gambling debts. The same can be said for those cheap credit card offer every student receives. I'm sure there are cases of sophomore shopaholics who have done the similar things.

Debt is a big problem in this country, whether it be from the Federal Government's huge deficit to retail 'Check into Cash' stores. American's love their debt.

Poker really should be called Patience.
- Mike 'the Mouth' Matusow on The Circuit.

I think of this as an opportunity. Money and Time Management should be part of any college education . I propose a Poker 101 class for all beginning poker players. The first few sessions would not even talk about the cards.

The first lesson would be about the self-psychology of poker. The importance of Discipline and Patience to your game. The extreme highs and lows of gambling. Going on Tilt. Walking away when you are bested. Knowing when you are addicted and programs like Gambler's Anonymous.

The second lesson would be about Expected Value. You have to expect to lose. The game is about making the correct decisions, even though you might lose that hand. The Fundamental Theory of Poker, making more correct decisions than your opponent.

The third lesson would be about Bank Roll management. Keep your normal money separate from your bank roll. Never risk more than 5% of your bankroll. Never put all your bank roll on the table. Build slowly.

After this base is established, then you can start teaching about the fact that there are cards involved in some way in poker.

Current bank roll
Full Tilt Poker: $473.65 + 1/$26 satellite token
Pokerstars: $103.19
Live: $300.00

Bank roll update 6/1: Tighten Up

We're gonna tighten up. Let's do the tighten up.
You can do it now. So baby get to it.
- Tighten Up, Archie Bell and the Drells

Tighten It Up by Archie Drell and The Drells is such a great song. Most people have heard this song covered in the Titan auto insurance commercial as 'Titan Up'. This original song was recorded in Houston in 1973. If you like early 1970's soul and r&b jammin' music, this is it.

This is what I have been doing in my poker play. Tighting up my game and trying to make it mellow. My bank roll has been getting healthy since as well.

So tighten up.

Current bankroll
Full Tilt Poker: $283.55 + 1/$26 satellite token
Pokerstars: $178.44
Live: $300.00