How to Lose a Bankroll in 6 Days

Well, last Sunday when Linz and I got back from Kansas City, she was feeling sick, so I thought I'd leave her to her couch and TV and give real money another run. I put in a minimum buy-in ($50) at Full Tilt Poker and started out at .25/.50 NL 9-handed. Before I knew it, I was down to $12.05 and calling it a night before I steamed off the rest of it. I ran BAD that first night. I'll be the first to admit if I play like an idiot, but things couldn't have gone worse for me, card-wise, than that Sunday evening. On Monday, I moved down to .10/.25, and that lasted for about another 10 minutes and $7. So, .05/.10 6-handed, here I come. I did manage to play for another 5 days at that level, but then lost the rest of it (including $10 of my deposit bonus I'd unlocked) on Saturday.

First of all, I'm an idiot. I have some complaints to wager about my typical bad luck (I did a lot of losing as a 70%+ favorite in make-or-break hands), but also, I'm an idiot. I managed to blow through $60 in 6 days without playing one SNG or MTT. I kept thinking to myself "the *real* money is made in cash games", and that all I needed was one good run, get back to even, and then I can take a deep breath, punch myself in the nuts, and "do it right this time". Fat chance. I ran decent for 2 days, but other than that I was poker's b*tch. And when I say I ran decent, that means that I actually won 1 out of every 3 big hands I got in as a favorite on. On the one hand, I feel like an idiot for not at least trying a SNG, but at the same time I kept thinking "why get sucked out on once and lose $5.50 when I can get sucked out on a few different times for the same amount in a cash game?"

I'm gonna rant here a little. Every poker player thinks they're unlucky, but I think I can safely say that I have never run well for more than a day or a tournament at a time. I pride myself heavily on getting my money in the middle as a favorite. I've failed plenty of times, but more often than not, someone needs to draw to beat me. And more often than not, they do. Ask anyone who knows me, I'm a solid player, but I run unlucky. If I ran half as good as Rich, I'd be profitable at this game. Maybe I've got too many chips on the line too often, or maybe I'm just as jaded as the next poker player, but I swear, if you're 20% or less against me, then nh...you win. You're probably thinking that I'm just whining and I need to suck it up and take my bad beats just like everyone else does, but I'm a smart guy, I'm humble, and I know when something ain't right, and the losing that I do ain't right.

Anyway, back to my original point of idiocy. Up to this point this journal has been about my MTT play, right? And I've been running pretty well. Consistently in the top 10%, with little or no effort. In fact, yesterday I played in a freeroll and got 35th out of 444, and it was easy as pie. So you'd think when I get real money in, I'd *at least* play a SNG or a MTT that would likely pay 10% or better, but no. I tinkle it all away in NL cash games. Not even limit cash games where I have a safety net for my less-than-fabulous post-flop play. NL...where I can just skip around the table and toss nickels and dimes around.

Anyway, my thoughts are really disjointed at the moment so I'm winding this part of the story up. I signed up for 27% rakeback at FTP before I put money in, so that will be deposited to my account tomorrow or Wednesday. According to FTPs website, they give you 1 player point for every dollar raked, and I've got 120-some player points I think, so did I really give up over $120 in rake, and could I really be getting over $30 back? I think it sounds too good to be true, but I guess we'll see. All I want is $2 so I can buy back in to the lowest level cash game and hopefully not donk it off. I've also got $40 of my deposit bonus left to unlock, so hopefully I can play enough on my rakeback to keep that coming. But you can bet that I'm gonna steer clear of cash games for a while if at all possible, or at least get my ass on Chris Ferguson's bankroll management plan. I am *terrible* at bankroll management, but I just might get a rare 2nd chance this time, and I am *not* gonna funk it up.

Bad beat story of the day comes from Friday night's poker night, where I *finally* won for the first time in probably 5 or 6 months. We're at the final table of the third and final tournament, and I pick up KQ in a blind. The one guy at the table who has me covered raises it up on the button, and although I put him on a pretty decent hand, but I went ahead and called because I had some wiggle room and wanted to see if the flop would hit me. The flop comes Q-high, and it checked around to the raiser, who bets. I raise all-in, and with a "well, I've gotta see it", he calls and shows AK. I'm 85%...to lose apparently, as an A hits the turn and crushes me. Sure, I sucked out on the flop, but I knew it was gonna have to hit me perfectly to win, and it did.

I also put a doozie on my brother. 3-handed, he calls the big, and I raise a couple times the big with my KQ. Cory calls. Flop comes KQJ, and he reaches for all his chips. I beat him into the pot and show my top 2 pair, as he rolls his KJ. Ouch. Sorry bro.

And apparently I called w/8 4 on the button at some point, flopped 8s full of 4s, and slow-played it to a pretty profit and a knockout of my co-worker buddy, who apparently, quite steamed, left after that without saying goodbye. I don't remember that hand, and it doesn't sound like me at all...but I'd had a couple of drinks, so I guess its possible.

Until next time.

Originally Posted on 8/14/2006