Okay, you may now have an intellectual appreciation of the importance of bankroll management, however this is too important a topic to leave it at that. So today I'm going to tell you a personal story of bad bankroll management and its disastrous results. This is a story I have not even told my wife because it shames me so much, but I really want you to understand why I think bankroll management is the crucial element that separates the financial winners from the frequently broke.
How I lost $400 on a single hand trying to impress Jesus.
I started playing poker for money on the internet with an initial deposit of only $100. I played well at first and probably had more than my share of luck as well. After a few weeks my bankroll had grown to about $450, and I was a little too confident in my poker skills.One day my dad, who was living with us, came to me and said. "Hey, I'm playing poker on-line and I see your hero is playing." I went down to his suite to see what he was talking about, and sure enough, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson was playing on the poker site I used. Now I would not say Ferguson was "my hero", but he is certainly a player I admire. He was the winner of the World Series of Poker main event in 2000, a feat that was chronicled in the great book, Positively Fifth Street by James McManus. Now, here he was in all his animated avatar glory. Well, actually his avatar looked more like a cross between Waylon Jennings and an Orthodox Jew, but still, it was Chris Ferguson. I was surprised to see an empty seat at the table, usually when a poker celebrity like Jesus sits down at a table there is a long line of wanna-be's waiting for the chance to take a shot at him, but here an empty chair sat. Invitingly. I checked the limit, and it was much, much higher than I had ever played - in fact the minimum amount I could bring to the table was $400 - almost my entire bankroll. But when will you ever have a chance to play poker with Chris Ferguson again? So I sat down, clicked on the empty seat, and took almost all of my bankroll with me.
I was determined to play my very best. I remember wanting to impress Chris with my skill. Why did I want to do that? Well, it's a fairly common reaction when one come in contact with recognized master. Bobby Baldwin calls it "fancy play syndrome": regularly good poker players suddenly try all sorts of "creative" moves in an attempt to impress the famous poker pro. So there I sat, way over my limit, determined to show Jesus my brilliance.
Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. I was playing tight, waiting for the right cards. It wasn't long before I found myself in middle position with pocket Jacks. One guy limped in ahead of me. I had played enough to know how tricky JJ is and how it was also very probable that no one had a better hand than me at this point. I made a large bet, hoping to maybe get one caller and then take it from there. I got my one caller - the guy on my immediate left- and everyone else folded. The flop came down - J A 6 (I don't remember the suits). I flopped trip Jacks! My heart started beating in my throat. I put out a bet of half the pot, and the guy re-raised me! Now, sure he might have pocket aces, but that was a remote possibility. More likely he had AK or AQ or AJ. He hit top pair with a good kicker and was not giving up the pot. I moved all my chips into the pot. He called and turned over....two aces.
I suddenly felt like throwing up. I can't remember what came on the turn and the river, but they were not jacks. All my chips went to the guy on my left as I stared, dumb-founded at the screen. My dad, who was watching television, called over to me. "So, how's it going?"
So what was my mistake? Believe me, I have played this hand over and over in my mind and I think if happened again I probably would play it much the same way. If you are to timid to go all-in when you flop trips, then you are probably playing too tight to be a winner. No, my mistake had nothing to do with the hand. Sometimes you can do everything right, and still lose. My big boneheaded move was to take almost all my bankroll to the table.
So, that lesson cost me $400, and I'm giving it to you for free.
I wish I could say I never played over my limit again, but that would be a lie. Time and time again I built up my bankroll by playing well and practicing good bankroll management, only to blow it in a few hours at a much higher limit. For me, there is something about internet poker that is too intoxicating - I have to keep moving up to higher limits even though my bankroll can not support it. Finally, I had to just give up on putting money into internet poker sites altogether. I find it much easier to practice bankroll management at the real live poker tables, where moving up to higher limits is not an impulsive move I could make with the click of a mouse.
The rules of bankroll management are simple, but they are also very difficult to adhere to.
Master bankroll management and you will have the discipline to learn everything else you will need to be successful.
No comments:
Post a Comment