Getting started all over again

[redmanstl]

Well, I went busto on Stars and gave up on poker for a few months. Didn't really feel like playing or donating $$ out of frustration. In a post-UIGEA world, I found Absolute Poker to be a safehaven for my little micro-deposit, and so I started playing there.

I put up my mere $100 (I'm not poor or anything, nor am I playing for rent money - this is a hobby, and I'm treating it as such). Nevertheless, I feel like I need/want a reasonable goal to shoot for, and bearing in mind that this is strictly for amateur fun, what kind of #s should I be shooting for? Double the roll? My feeling is too big a goal = overwhelming frustration, but too small a goal = complacency after reaching it. Any thoughts as to where the contemplative micro-roller would want to aim his efforts? Thanks!!

[Bozanic]

My thoughts would be to first decide if your poker playing is purely recreational or a long term monetary gain thing. Like picking up a few extra bucks for that vaction, or car etc.

If it's just for fun, the reward is the pleasure you derive from playing or winning. So I would likely just set session goals in an allotted time frame. Such as - going to increase my buy-in by 50% in the next hour.

For a more serious approach, starting out, like I am, I would suggest setting other goals such as the areas of your game that need improvement. Which can also be fun.

For example, today I am going to pay close attention to position & reading opponents hands by their betting patterns. One gets a great feeling of accomplishment by finding improvement in the big picture of their game.

If it's all just for fun, & you are not much concerned with winning or losing, come play with me!...LOL

If you're looking to pick up a few extra bucks, then the more effort you put into your long term game plan the more likely you are to succeed.

I suspect the latter, why? Cause yer here at FTR!

Good luck!

[deacon_bluez]

I would say first of all read the posts on the basics of bankroll management. Do this to make sure you are playing at the right level and not over your head (could be the reason you went bust?).

The other benefit will be that you can set out some goals based on your roll if you want. The most common general guideline I've seen is to have at least 20 times the max buyin, so if you are playing $10NL you should have at least $200. At $100, you would play at a lower level than that (I don't know what levels Absolute has) until you can push your roll up to $200. Personally, that would be the goal I would shoot for, which would enable you to move up to the $10NL level. Then $500 for the $25NL games. Since I play mostly cash games, this is how my goals are... I'm always trying to improve my game and move up levels.

[XTR1000]

try to make as much money as possible and move as fast as possible. moving up, beating certain levels and making money is fun. if you dont need that money, treat your $$$ as score and go for the highscore

[redmanstl]

Thank you guys for taking the time to read and respond to such a "small-time" question! I really appreciate the thoughts......it is $$ that I'm using for nothing but recreation, which is a nice feeling, but still accomplishing something with it just makes sense (or at least more sense than lighting it on fire!!).

I like the ideas of "score", and applying that to moving up levels. Absolute offers a $4 Limit game, which seems pretty friendly on a roll like this one, so I think I'll make it my goal to beat on that game until I can double through to $200. I'm alot more confident & comfortable w/ limit games when it comes to ring play, so really, I'll probably be working toward $500, b/c $20 Limit is the next stake up for Absolute.

So thank you again to you guys for giving me a little input and thoughts on how to order & chart my progress. Cheers!!

PS - How do you guys get those tracking bars for "operations" in your signature? I think something visual like that to be accountable to will help me.

[Pelion]

What do you mean by $4 Limit game?

$100 is nowhere near enough to play 2/4 limit where the bets are $4.

If you mean you sit at the table with $4 or so then thats ok.

[weezie]

Hey man, I too started on absolute a few months ago, severely underrolled (depositing only $25 as I'm just a poor college kid) with no online poker experience. I'd say the best goal to set is just to keep doubling your stack 100 >> 200 >> 400 etc.. It's always fun to move your way up to higher stakes too, right now I got 650 or so and I'm workin my way towards 50NL. It is important to protect the small 100 buy in by playing within your bankroll though

[moiraine57]

I dunno. I deposited $100 a month ago after cashing out due to the demise of Netteller (got freaked).

I started by playing $10 NL. I am not the poker master but I know I would have to be running extremely badly to go busto at $10NL after depositing $100. I am now up to approx $250+ and am moving up to juicy $25NL games when I see them but otherwise am still sticking with $10NL.

I'm not saying don't follow the bankroll management rules but IMHO if you know how to play ABC poker (or at the very least have a decent concept of pre-flop play) I think you have a bit more wiggle room at the micro stakes. Moving up from say, $100NL to $200NL, I would definitely want to have at least 20 buyins if not more. I really don't think though that it is that essential at the $10NL or even $25NL level....if you're really running through that many buyins at that level then IMHO either 1) you have serious leaks in your game that need to be fixed or 2) someone threw the doom switch of all doom switches on you...but that is far less likely than option 1.

[redmanstl]

Pelion, I did mean a $4 Buy-In (2 cent/4cent bets), not $4 bets. I know that's WAY over my head and will be for a long time. And even at that tiny of a buy-in, throw in a few SNGs that I wasn't patient enough in (& they were a little pricy for me), and after pushing that $100 up to $155 or so, I got it chopped back down to the whopping $87 that I have now. It's not variance, it was irresponsible tilt.

I know I can play alot better than that, but I don't feel like playing anymore. I will play again, of course, I just think that I need to step away & take a look at the big picture.

So I have a goal now - - $200, which seems like peanuts compared to most around here, but it'll be a nice, long climb for me. This thread is now serving as an official discipline monitor for me so that I won't make any more dumbass moves (BECAUSE I WON"T WANT TO REPORT THEM!) Any thoughts on the wisdom or lack thereof of this idea are welcomed. Thanks for the input!! Cheers!!

[Chopper]

Well, I went busto on Stars and gave up on poker for a few months. Didn't really feel like playing or donating $$ out of frustration. In a post-UIGEA world, I found Absolute Poker to be a safehaven for my little micro-deposit, and so I started playing there.

I put up my mere $100 (I'm not poor or anything, nor am I playing for rent money - this is a hobby, and I'm treating it as such). Nevertheless, I feel like I need/want a reasonable goal to shoot for, and bearing in mind that this is strictly for amateur fun, what kind of #s should I be shooting for? Double the roll? My feeling is too big a goal = overwhelming frustration, but too small a goal = complacency after reaching it. Any thoughts as to where the contemplative micro-roller would want to aim his efforts? Thanks!!

being that this is "recreation only," i would focus on positives. if you have pokertracker, win-rate. i like to look at a graph of my progress, and i dont care what it looks like as long as it is consistently trending up. i like to see where the variance got me, too.

if you dont have/want PT, focus on your money at the end of a month. and by that, i mean glance at it periodically. maybe graph it once a week, and watch that grow. that way you always have a "picture" with you when you want to "see" your progess.

if you dont have a graph trending upwards after say a couple months, you need to do some serious "check-ups."

in the meantime, post stuff here. and if you want maximum accountability, start your own blog here, or anywhere. post your hands, thoughts, results for the day...everyday.

[redmanstl]

I've got a golf tournament and some other stuff coming up this weekend - - I think I'll take a couple of days to A) Get losing that $70 or whatever out of my system & B) Put together some "accountability tools" to get started on my "march" to $200.

Again, I know that $$ amount is peanuts to many here, but I'm focusing on reaching the objective, not paying a bunch of bills. I pay those first, play poker for fun second. In the meantime, I'm just going to look at it as opening up a (very) small business & see if having the goals in and of itself instills a little discipline in my admittedly-amateur game. Thanks to all for the answers/input!!

[redmanstl]

With a whopping $85 & lots to learn, I set out to play a session where learning was the goal. And I learn I did.........250 hands isn't much at all, I know, & $1.12 ain't much to lose, but I learned a few things:

1) Short-handed (6 max) LHE is tough. I saw 47% flops, but I'll bet 60-70% of that was from the blinds. That much action makes it expense & you kinda have to hit, b/c you can't get anyone (it seems) to fold for 4 more pennies.

2) Because the end of #1 seems to be the case, RAISE RAISE RAISE is all you can do when you have something. Now granted, I got QQ run down by 830 when the guy rivered his 3, and I wanted to be mad, but then I thought "YOU GOTTA HAVE BETTER THAN TOP PAIR TO "RUN OVER" PEOPLE"!!! So I stopped being mad about that.

3) See end of #2, and I'm pleased that I got sucked out on more than once (& it was bad), but I didn't let that effect how I played, until a couple of loose plays at the end. I didn't flame the chat box, I didn't yell at the screen, I just told myself that more times than not, esp. at these stakes, superior pre-flop play will carry the day.

Anyways, started w/ $85, ended w/ $83.88, but learned along the way. After you guys w/ actual $$ stop laughing about the amounts, I'd love to know what u think. Cheers!!

[redmanstl]

Start: $83.88

Action: .50 + .10 SNG

Result: 2nd (+$1.35)

End: $84.63

[redmanstl]

Start: $84.63

Action: .50 + .10 SNG

Result: 2nd (1.35)

End: $85.38