Time To Take Things A Little More Seriously

[Steevt_ 0]

I have been playing poker for about 2 years - Made a couple of nice finishes and some nice cashes... but in between playing well i sometimes lack any sort of motivation and find myself not concentrating and donking off chips...When I concentrate I can be a decent player!I deposited $15 into PS this morning and already have it up to $105 thanks to coming 3rd in a 180man $4 SnG and cashing in one or two 1 table SnGI play SnG's:1 Table $51 Table $111 Table $22 180 man $4180 man $11I also try and play a couple of tournaments which I can cash more often than not when concentrating and have had some success$11 30k $3.30 Rebuy 50kWhat is a good goal to set myself for 1month of playing and what should I be watching out for ie bankroll management ectAny advice for a player going from fun to serious play?I am going to use this post for blog to post my progress,I will post some hands if you guys would not mind giving thoughts ectSteven

[DemonDonk 0]

My advice would be to play lower stakes, I think Chris Ferguson said that you shouldn't play MTTs with more than 2% of your bankroll.Don't play rebuys unless you can afford at least 3-4 rebuys, they cripple you unless you cash.Goal after one month?Don't go broke.

[Steevt_ 0]

I have tried playing lower but with so mch wild play it is impossible to cash consitently - at this level it stll has donk play but general poker logic applies....thoughts?

[strappazon 0]

$15 to $105 in one day? Damn...you're either a good player or a total maniac.

[makaveliwj 0]

$15 to $105 in one day? Damn...you're either a good player or a total maniac.

That's not really that krazy if you are playing out of your bankroll even in a cash game...He already said he played a tourney and took third so don't think either option is a given here.

[MaxStPolish 4]

$15 to $105 in one day? Damn...you're either a good player or a total maniac.

what does 3rd pay in the 4 buck 180's? He basically played a MTT For 1/4th of his roll and hit. Nothing wrong with that per se, but yeah, neither "good player or manaic" are necessarily true based on this one result :)I think the first questions you need to ask yourself are:1) Does this bankroll mean anything to me from a physical standpoint? Because I play similar to you I think, in that I'll play well out of my bankroll range, but it's not like my "true life/poker bankroll" is sitting in my poker account.2) Once you've answered that, you need to decide that even if your online roll isn't your "true roll", do you want to create a level of play based solely on this poker site bankroll? Obviously even at 105, you are still technically playing outside of your roll doing 4 buck MTTs. I think 25 buys is fine though as long as #1 was answered "no". you are really stretching it if you are playing $11 MTTs and 11-22 buck SnG's. Again, I play very simliar to this. What you need to know is that your odds of going busto playing this range with a 105 bankroll are high, as you have very little room for variance. Using me as an example, I'll typically put 75 bucks in a site, making 75-100 bucks playing in games well outside of my roll, and then withdraw the original 75 playing on a new ~100 buck roll of pure profit.More often than not I am able to grind that roll up to 200-500 bucks over the span of a few weeks. However, I will often ultimately lose that roll because even at 250 bucks, I'm still playing poor B/R mgmt. as I'll play up to 33 bucks H/U and SnG's, and play MTTs up to 26 bucks. I'm comfortable with this style of play though, as this money is just "fun" money that I'm trying to build up or making a big score with...and I'm feel confident with my abilities at that level of play.This style of play is much more suited to making a quick hit and withdrawal. If you have any aspirations of creating and maintaining a roll, you will need to seriously bring down your stake level.Best of luck.

[Steevt_ 0]

what does 3rd pay in the 4 buck 180's? He basically played a MTT For 1/4th of his roll and hit. Nothing wrong with that per se, but yeah, neither "good player or manaic" are necessarily true based on this one result :)I think the first questions you need to ask yourself are:1) Does this bankroll mean anything to me from a physical standpoint? Because I play similar to you I think, in that I'll play well out of my bankroll range, but it's not like my "true life/poker bankroll" is sitting in my poker account.2) Once you've answered that, you need to decide that even if your online roll isn't your "true roll", do you want to create a level of play based solely on this poker site bankroll? Obviously even at 105, you are still technically playing outside of your roll doing 4 buck MTTs. I think 25 buys is fine though as long as #1 was answered "no". you are really stretching it if you are playing $11 MTTs and 11-22 buck SnG's. Again, I play very simliar to this. What you need to know is that your odds of going busto playing this range with a 105 bankroll are high, as you have very little room for variance. Using me as an example, I'll typically put 75 bucks in a site, making 75-100 bucks playing in games well outside of my roll, and then withdraw the original 75 playing on a new ~100 buck roll of pure profit.More often than not I am able to grind that roll up to 200-500 bucks over the span of a few weeks. However, I will often ultimately lose that roll because even at 250 bucks, I'm still playing poor B/R mgmt. as I'll play up to 33 bucks H/U and SnG's, and play MTTs up to 26 bucks. I'm comfortable with this style of play though, as this money is just "fun" money that I'm trying to build up or making a big score with...and I'm feel confident with my abilities at that level of play.This style of play is much more suited to making a quick hit and withdrawal. If you have any aspirations of creating and maintaining a roll, you will need to seriously bring down your stake level.Best of luck.

I completely agree - as an example:Last week I had $1.50 in my account so I decide to play a 1 table dollar game and come 2nd...That got me enough for the 3 dollar game which I came first in...This gave me what like... 14 dollars?So I buy into an $11 game and I come third in this for what... $23?I then buy into a $22 1 table where I come 1st for a nice $100BUTthen i hit a wall... the confidence of the day takes its toll and because I am not onto pretty high stakes I lose it all pretty quickly....hense putting in $15I will track my progress on here....I think I will take your advice...

[river_me_this 0]

at the end of the month I would prob set a goal of around $400-$500 you can't really count on making a set goal through MTT's because of varience etc. Also regarding MTT's if you cash in smaller buy in tournies you won't make your goal and if you win one you will be over your goal so MTT's prob wouldn't be the way to go if your building a bankroll. Once you have built it however, there awesome to play because they can just boost your bankroll so much with a big score. The exception I would say is the $2.20 90 man sit and go that starts you off with 2000 chips and the structure is really good to win it it takes around 3.5 hours and winner gets $50 I've hand great sucess in it with not ever missing the final table and winning two out of 10 of them. If you can consistintly win sit and goes and can multi table I would do that and also heads up tournaments can be a great way to build a bankroll. Hope this helps.

[MaxStPolish 4]

at the end of the month I would prob set a goal of around $400-$500 you can't really count on making a set goal through MTT's because of varience etc. Also regarding MTT's if you cash in smaller buy in tournies you won't make your goal and if you win one you will be over your goal so MTT's prob wouldn't be the way to go if your building a bankroll. Once you have built it however, there awesome to play because they can just boost your bankroll so much with a big score. The exception I would say is the $2.20 90 man sit and go that starts you off with 2000 chips and the structure is really good to win it it takes around 3.5 hours and winner gets $50 I've hand great sucess in it with not ever missing the final table and winning two out of 10 of them. If you can consistintly win sit and goes and can multi table I would do that and also heads up tournaments can be a great way to build a bankroll. Hope this helps.

[texan_driver 0]

If you truly want to "take things more seriously" then you need to also take bankroll mgt seriously. Otherwise you'll never be able to make and keep money in the long term. Also, I don't buy that you can't beat the low limit games because the play is too wild. If you can't beat them you either aren't fundamentally good or are bluffing too much. If you are fundamentally sound and make smart decisions there's no reason you can't make money in those games.

[trystero 0]

you're caught in a classic dilemma I see. On the one hand, you must move up to where your opponents respect your raises. But, on the other hand, doing so means you'll be playing outside of your bankroll. A tough one, my friend.

[Steevt_ 0]

Exactly! I can beat the lower limit games but the variance is too high....I am not super tight but I am not a maniac... I try to play witha couple of different gears.....I play a lot ofdifferent types of hands depending on position and if you hit you can desomate all if playing against the iht players...EXAMPLE OF LOW STAKESSitting on button with JJ1 Caller round to youYou raise from 20 to call to 120 (bigger bet thinking less callers = I MIGHT be able to put themm on a hand)SB, BB AND PREVIOUS CALLER ALL CALL!FLOPQ 10 7There is NO WAY I know whether I am good or not, so I continuation bet and 2/3 call...How the heck do I Know if I am good..Then at te end of the hand once I have foldedSB shows A7BB shows A9....AS AN EXAMPLE

[texan_driver 0]

I don't know what to tell you. Maybe you have to adjust your play if you play lower limits. I do play a lot of lower limit games and I've had a lot of success for a few years. I play a lot of SnGs (typically $2, $5, & $10) and cash games (.10/.25 & .25/.5 NL). What I consistently find is that players bluff too much and call with mediocre to bad hands. If that's not what you call an ideal opponent, then I don't know what you're looking for. Sometimes you will take ridiculously bad beats, but your wins should overcome these. I'm not trying to call you out or anything but just show that you can build a bankroll in these games.