Biggest Mistake in Poker - I am Guilty

Biggest Mistake in Poker - I am Guilty!!

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Josh1313 Nibs: 59,758 Member Since: Jan 3rd 2006

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Biggest Mistake in Poker - Guilty as Charged!!

In my opinion the biggest mistake a poker player can make is try to win to quickly or recoupe losses by playing at a higher level then they are accumstomed to or then their bankroll can handle.

I am guilty of the ladder.  Here I am cruising along playing great poker for the last month or so, grinding it out at the lower levels and steadily increasing my stack with some good play and good fortune.  I had rebuilt from the botto and was up to just over $800 on my bankroll.

I had been playing great and was really on a roll.  Just moved up to $20 NL and things were still going steady.  Played there for a couple days and was up another $80. Perfect.  Writing blogs and giving information and advice to other players and don't adhere to it myself.

I decide I want play at a higher level like I had in the past.  No big deal, I know I can play at that level, I will do well and win some extra cash a little more quickly.  It would also be a nice change from the grind of the micro limits.  Then here is where the mistakes just started to compound each other.

Although I am an advocate for testing yourself at a higher level especially when you feel that you are playing well, it should be one level up.  Not a big jump up to a much higher level.

First mistake - play out of my bankroll at a level that I could not afford.  Second mistake was that I brought min chips to table.  I decided to play $400 NL and bring $80 to the table.  Play tight and solid poker and everything will be fine, look for a spot to move all in.  This is exactly what happened.  I get AK on the button and reraise all in.  I get called by a player with 77 and lose the race.

Now that would not have been that big of deal if I stuck to my own advice and swallowed my pride and went back to my regular level and chopped it up to a learning experience.  Instead I reloaded for max, that was my third mistake.  Now I was risking half of my bankroll on one table.  Always a bad idea.

I continue playing and am playing well up a bit and disastor strikes.  I get dealt KK and the flop comes 972.  Get check raised all in and to my shigrin they other player had called my preflop reraise with 77 and hit the miracle 2 outer.  Now i needed to redraw to 2 outs and no such luck for me.  Left with just over $100 on the table.

That was enough for me.  Now had $506 in my bankroll and was really disappointed.  So I cashed out $500 and left myself $6 to restart the rebuilding phase and once again teach myself the patience and discipline to keep a bankroll and play within it.  And to follow some of that non table poker specific advice I like to give to other players.

This all started last thursday.  I dropped right back down to $0.02/0.04.  By Sunday with some hands holding up and some good play I had turned it into just over $36.  Then I hit the jackpot finishing 3rd in the PI leaderboard 2 freeroll for $135.  Moved me up to $170ish.

Back on track and moving in the right direction.  Will be playing $0.02/0.04 until I have a suffecient bankroll for $10NL.  I am retraining myself to follow my own as well other players advice from the blogs to stay within the bankroll and will be trying to follow it very closely.

I am leaning towards a 40 buyin bankroll rule.  Looking for suggestions from other micro limit players on a bankroll they would suggest for the limits I am playing.  Any advice would be appreciated!!

Current Bankroll as of 3:00pm EST Monday July 21st, $181.88 on Betmost.

Comments (4)

Posted on Jul 22nd 2008 by Josh1313 Nobody has any microlimit Bankroll Suggestions???

Posted on Jul 22nd 2008 by fritzson Safe play... till your bankroll is up again! That is the only way to go... patience! huh... hahaha.. I have done the same misstake me self! But 6 dollar.. yeye ... congrats and good luck. Talk about putting some pressure on your self. Come on, put in 40 dollar in you bankroll and you can relax a litte. It is no fun to play with thiny bankroll.... if you lose you might go tilt and lose even more. Jaja.... good luck! :o))

Posted on Jul 22nd 2008 by fritzson I see now that you have been working your bankroll up a little.. good work!!! But no more pain, next time leave 40 dollar in the bankroll.. ;o))

Posted on Jul 23rd 2008 by Josh1313 Thanks, fritzson I appreciate that. I hope to never have to have even only $40 in there again. The intention is to keep growing it and play within my bankroll.