Slevins Journey

Hi everyone this is going to be a thread where I post any notable events on my way to building a significant bankroll.

I have been playing free rolls barring one exception over the past four weeks and they are so hard - that I've given in and made a very small deposit.

Last week I managed to get 8$ up to 180$ in one day but then lost it all. HEED the bankroll managament Mr. Slevin I told myself after that, and it was money well spent because I'm determined not to do the same thing again.

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Today I deposited 20$ and played some cash games, I played outside of my bankroll means initially just to try to build a slightly better bank roll.

I won a bit on the cash tables to get me up to 40$, I then entered a 9 man SNG for 11+1$ and came first!

I'm now up to 80.32$ from my initial 20$ and think now would probabally be a good time to start adhering to propper bank roll management!

start an operation thread instead?

oh and no offense, but you really shouldn't have done it in the first place. Now you've gone and again gotten lucky, planting the seed in your mind that moving up in stakes is "ok", when it really isn't.

what cash stakes were you playing?

Originally Posted by LuckySlevin

HEED the bankroll managament Mr. Slevin

Very good advice.

...to get me up to 40$, I then entered a 9 man SNG for 11+1$

Not to be mean but-- how is puitting 30% of your BR on one SNG heeding BR management???

I know you won the SNG and you're feeling pretty good about it having doubled your BR, but your risk of busting your latest deposit is off the charts if this is how you're going to go about it.

Newbie Circle of Death

http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...de-t72181.html

Originally Posted by speedcake

start an operation thread instead?

There's nothing wrong with the thread he's started here. It's essentially the same thing ...

thanks courtiebwnage I took the advice you gave to smitts and started one thread for all my accomplishments.

Yeah guys I know I didn't heed bankroll mngmnt at first, but I won't it's just the way I am. I cant play for 5$ it doesn't mean anything to me I might as well be playing with paper. I'm not saying I'm rich, far from it, just that I need to feel some kind of benefit from the pot. $5 pots just don't do that for me.

I've been out tonight, with some friends - I've had a few drinks, and am FAR from disciplined so will probabally be writing of my phenominal losing streak this time tomorrow, but... I'm going to play - who knows I may win.

Cheers, and w/e you play good luck, and thanks for taking the time to read my journey.

Slevin.

It's cool, man. We all play poker for different reasons and you should play the way that you enjoy. Just beware of it becoming a black hole, that's all.

Cheers and good luck!

Deposit more if $5 isnt worth playing for.

now you have a roll, do the bankroll mgmt thing and grind on up.
Good luck.

I'm pretty sure now is the best time for bankroll management.

Thanks guys wise words - I took a hit yesterday, I guess it was just deserts for my cavalier attitude. My bankroll is down by 40$ but at least from reading the forums I had the sense to stop when I lost the 40$ so still have a 40$ bankroll. I felt myself starting to tilt so just stopped playing.

I'm going with a new tact but just need to work out the specifics. I want to try to invest no more than 2% of my bankroll in each game I play this will be the chief way I'll manage my bankroll.

My goal is going to be to grow my bankroll by 4% each day. From initial calculations this will mean I will have to at least double up (on average) with any two of my 2% daily investments. Somedays I may not double up, others I may do significantly better (e.g. in a SNG or MTT). I don't know how ahievable this is? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Of course I could go backwards and have a run of losing but I hope with a 2% stake rule my bank will be able to cope with the variance.

I'm going to record in this thread my daily progress towards that goal. If it works owing to the exponential growth in one year the bankroll will be 79 million. Of course this won't happen, because as the stakes get higher it will become that much harder to find games, but midway through the year the bankroll should be 17k.

I'm basing the timing on having two successful 2% double ups a day, time will only teach me if this is too conservative or too hopeful.

Anyway it's going to be a fun challenge.

Any thoughts very appreciated.

Thanks guys.

It's definately too hopeful to think your BR will increase by 4% everyday. Or too even grow everyday. You will go through variance just like everyone else and because of this you will have periods of extended losses. It happens to everyone.

Also as a side note. You realize 2% of $40 is $0.80c right? So you plan on buying into 2nl for only 40bb on multiple tables? While there is mathematical advantages to shortstacking, your BR would probably grow much quicker if you just bought in for 100bb at 2nl and grinded it out for a few hours a day playing 4+ tables.

That is honestly your best bet. Just play some 2nl and prove that you are a winning player there before setting a 17k BR goal.

Good luck.

Originally Posted by LuckySlevin

I've been out tonight, with some friends - I've had a few drinks

please don't play drunk with your real roll. You'll lose it.

Nothing worse than a hangover and an empty poker account. Trust me.

I stopped playing even after a couple glasses of wine with dinner. Even that took enough edge off to make playing poker -EV.

lightweight.

whats worse than drunk poker??
drunk blackjack.
eurgh. way to wipe out a roll.

but what they said. dont play drunk, hungover, too tired, stressed. anything that impacts your play negatively is bad, ldo. dont feel you HAVE to play either, just to get the hands in - not playing at all >>>>>>>>>>>>> playing when you shouldnt be.

i also agree w stacks that 4% is very ambitious (variance is a twat), just try and aim on grinding out a solid winrate and the time to move up will come, gl.

I really think you need to learn proper management but also have enough to start with. I've been through a couple of bankrolls over the last couple of years before applying these principles and it really does work.

Variance can be a total SOB, especially with SNG's and MTT's - if you win, great, but have a bad run and you're investing a whole lot of time with no return. Which is why I play full ring now.

My feeling reading your posts is that you are looking for this to be a fast process. It's not. If you're not going to be happy sitting at a table with $2 in front of you and being happy that you increased it to $2.50 over 100 hands (a return of roughly 18BB/hour - which is a great result) then you need a larger starting roll so you can begin at 25nl or higher.

Thanks for all the great advice guys, and yeah I've learnt my lesson I'm not going to play sloshed anymore!

I am going to stick to this bankroll management because I really see this as an opportunity to prove to myself that I can do it and also to make some money from the way I apply myself and learn. I'm determined to give it my best shot.

So far so good. Following the advice in my pokerstars/full tilt thread I deposited 48$ at poker stars, and my target for today was: -

48 1.92 49.92

That's make 1.92 (4%) of 48 to be on track.

So far I've entered a 9 man SNG for $1 + 0.20 and came 3rd cashing out $1.80 so a profit of (0.60$).


The other tournament I've entered so far just finished it was a 27 man $1 + 0.20 and I came fourth! Losing because I went all in with QK and and came up against AJ (ace high) - everyone had folded and there was only one person to act after me. As I get to more of the later stages hopefully that part of my game will improve, I read you can open your ranges because there's only four of you left, but I must have opened it a bit too much!

So all good news today so far my BR is : 50.33 and I'm up by the 4% for the day, I'm pleased because I stuck to the bankroll and although it's taken me almost 3 hours to make 2$ I know this is just the start of things and hopefully I'll reap the rewards as the bankroll grows, also because I'm playing within the bankroll hopefully when my good streak inevitably dries up hopefully I'll be able to withstand it!

QUESTION...

I like poker so would like to play some more this evening, but I'm wondering if I need to set a limit (e.g. if bank is increased by x amount stop playing for the day). I can't see why because I think if the variance is going to kick in it may just as well kick in if I continue to play the same day as it would the next day if I didn't. Only reason I can think for not playing more hands would be If I feel tired and think it might effect my play, any thoughts on this?

I'd set limits for what you are prepared to lose, but if you find a good table and are winning, why leave just because you win x amount? Once you feel mentally you are getting tired or you catch yourself making a stupid play then I usually quit at that point.

Thanks that sounds sensible, OK I've set my loss stop limit to 10% of my BR so if I lose more than 10% of what I started with in any given day, I have to stop no matter what.

Edit:
Just placed second in my third tournament so earnt $1.5 that was a great add on, so I'm almost another 4% up. So far so good!

I'm up to 90$ so going at a great pace. I'm getting kind of scarred that i'm suddenly going to hit a huge losing steak, oh well just have to have a bit of courage and move on, I know it's not much to most of you, but this is the best i've ever done since I started by following br management and having the self discipline (something I've lacked for most of my life) to stop when I feel myself getting tilted.

I hope I can keep it up would hate to go backwards now!

how did u win the 30-40$ to turn ur roll to 90?

Hi had a good run, I've been two tabling for the last couple of days and it took me a while to adjust (got worse before better) but now i'm finding i'm still making money on the whole, and slightly faster. I was helped in a 9 seater when I had AA and the flop came out AKQ by the time the pot came to me it had been raised four times, I went all in and was called by three people that turned me a profit of about 12$ i had 4$ !

It's kind of slow but I know this is the right way, and I realise why it's called grinding - the last six hours i've made .20c !

Just in case anyone is wondering how my br jumped from 90 to 120 I have deposited another 30$ to my bank roll I know I probabally shouldn't but it's a kind of reward for managing my roll well so far. Upto $120 now.

My free roll perserverance has paid off ! I've just made entry to a $22,000 freeroll. Hopefully Ill play well I could do with some bankroll boost!

Dear LkySlev1n, Congratulations! You've cashed in one of our PokerStars 2X First Depositor Freerolls, and have therefore qualified to play in one of the Finals on July 31st! If you have qualified via a 13:00 First Depositor Freeroll, you have been automatically registered for the Final at 13:00 on July 31st. If you have qualified via a 20:00 First Depositor Freeroll, you have been automatically registered for the Final at 20:00 on July 31st. The qualification for each Final is separate from the qualification for the other Final. Seats are not transferrable, either between times for an individual player or between players. Once again congratulations, and good luck in the Final! --The PokerStars 2X Team

congrats!

Originally Posted by LuckySlevin

M I've just made entry to a $22,000 freeroll.

now you just gotta win
play well and good luck!

Thanks for the words of encouragment :P

Just made the money in another free roll, thats two consecutive ps first depositors i've made the money in, $3.60 and $3.

But more importantly it was the 13:00 hrs first depositor, not the 20:00 hrs one. Which means I've made the second $22,000 freeroll so am in 2/2 finals now! Both on the last day of this month at 5ish and 1am-ish GMT.

I'm in another qualifier in about 3 hours, just to try to win some money - I'm going to see if I cant make the top 5 this time around because that's where the money starts to kick in. I think the qualification for both finals has to be worth more than the $8 odd i've picked up.

To date I've learnt a number of things from this forum. The three most important things which seem to be having a big impact on my game are.

1. Patience in hand selection, not taking chances because of impatience, but waiting until I have very strong hand to do something with. Unless it's early in an MTT and the blinds are low in which case I'll see a few flops with suited connectors - and occasionaly any suited two cards if one of them is 10+.

2. factoring in position in my descisions, how many people in front of me are left to act, what 'type' of players have already acted, do they play tight or loose? Post flop same consideration, what are they likely to have gone in with, how many outs are they likely to have?

3. reading players. what's their vpip how often do they raise? How often do they back down when shoved over.

The three steps are helping me to make better +ev descisions.

Which in turn has made me a better player - long may it continue.

Good news! I qualified again and was nicely surprised to find out I can transfer my qualification to another event as I've already qualified ! Thought it would just be a redundant qualification.

Dear LkySlev1n, You finished the tournament in 117th place. A $3.12 award has been credited to your Real Money account. You also qualified to play in Tournament #94498941. As you are already registered in this tournament, you can either use your extra seat for a future event, or transfer it to another player of your choice. Please contact [email protected] for assistance in your choice.

- On the downside I keep losing my winnings! 10$ gone now from some small cash games and sng's - the problem is I'm waiting for my real BR to get released from paypal and just find it so hard to be disciplined with such a small 4/5$ broll! The key is the qualifications here though I think I'm really giving myself a decent shot at earning some decent cash.

So for the next few days if i'm lucky enough to cash in any more, I'm not going to spend the winnings I'm just going to let it accumulate until it reaches a semi playable size.

I too have qualified in a couple of the 2,222's(They're great). Is it the Third that you got that option?

yeah.
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Edit: Just enquired about transferring the token and was told it was an error on the part of PS that they are non transferable and void.

What a great service though they replied so quickly I thought it was an auto-responder receipt confirmation, very impressive.

Hey guys just to let you know I've decided to discontinue this thread. I will be maintaining a seperate blog at

http://poker.blogvis.com

Thanks for everyone that's posted in this thread =)

i luv readin blogs of newbie's tryna make it, just post regularly n ill read it