Friday, October 26, 2007

Moving back down

After burning off $30K yesterday I'm back on the 100/200 tables. What's it like?

* It's going back down to the minors after having been in the "bigs."

* It's having to drive 25 on surface streets after you've been cruising at 80 on the highway.

* It feels like punishment even it is just smart bankroll management.

* It is being told "don't call us, we'll call you."

* It is looking around the table at familiar names that you didn't think you'd see again.

* It is Matusow yelling at you from up the street.

* It is meeting the boss in a video game, dying, then having to run though the entire stage again trying to get back there.

* It is scooping dirt with a spoon when you are used to a shovel.

* It is incentive to bankroll manage well enough to never have to step back down again.

* It is a not so gentle reminder to consider how much of a roll you want to have before going back up and standing question of how low does your roll need to go before you drop down again.

It is the right thing to do. I had a bad run of hands at the 500/1000 tables and I am kicking it down a notch to be responsible with my roll. I am doing this voluntarily while I can choose to be at either the 100/200 or 500/1000 table, not because I *have* to be at the 100/200 table.

91,906 now. Good step up from 82K. Will feel better when it's over 100K again.

14 comments:

Marshall said...

lol awesome analogies.

Whoa, I just realized that analogy comes from the word analog. Weird.

Sushi Cowboy said...

Just had the most brutal grind of a session. 408 hands. 29% 4th street percentage is not out of line. 12% showdowns is not a big problem but only winning 30/47 with 6 scoops means I was netting very little from my showdowns. Cards just weren't cooperating. I was probably never up or down more than 3K all session and finished off about 400 down. Unreal.

When I was grinding away, believe me, the temptation to jump back to the 500/1000 table was something fierce. Especially when there were only 2 100/200 tables running. But I stuck it out and a good bankroll manager. Sometimes doing the right thing is just really tedious.

jsola said...

Martin, you know this, but you were sitting at tables with 20% of your bankroll on the line, right? That's horrible, this isn't 'moving down' so much as 'playing where I ought to.'

I had to do the same thing with my real Cake account after I did all those transfers, and it sucks, but I play SO much better when losing a buy-in goes from "Oh fuck that was a lot of money!" to "Eh, whatever."

Ryan said...

Funny stuff.

I have not had to drop down because I have yet to work up, but I can imagine. Hell, I get that feeling when my roll takes a hit of any kind, you want to think you are just going to go up, up, up, up, but of course, if that were true, I wouldn't need to adhere to conservative bankroll-management principles...

Ryan said...

I'm testing this new "Email follow-up comments to ryan@spain-o-rama.com" thing that showed up. Maybe it can replace the auto-forwarding system we have in place.

Marshall said...

blah

Marshall said...

testing

Sushi Cowboy said...

Actually playing fixed limit I may have 20% of my roll on the table but it is not the same as having 20% of my roll on the table playing NL. I'm still not thrilled about the ratio but it is not as bad as it may sound.

jsola said...

Ahhh, yeah, I missed that. I respectfully withdraw my scolding.

Sushi Cowboy said...

Feels good to be north of 100K again. After yesterday's brutal grind the cards evened out today. I saw 31 hands across four tables. 28% 4th streets, won 3 of 5 showdowns but scooped a 10K pot with a strong low backing into a boat and a virtual board lock low that made Spade flush on the river.

When I hit the 11K scoop that put me over 100K and I stood up from all the tables comfortable with having broken through the six figure barrier again.

This reaffirms to me that my play at these tables is EV+. And again, at the 500/1000 tables I would not have played my hands any differently, it's just that the swings for three big sour hands in quick succession was more than my roll could handle. I need to run numbers to figure out how much I should have before moving up again.

106,297 now.

Sushi Cowboy said...

Running good in a little quick session. Just 64 hands across three or four tables. A meager 17% 4th Streets and saw one extra 5th street. Other than that, I went to sixth, seventh, and showdown seven times and batted 1000 on showdowns scooping 3 of those. 100% efficiency from 6th street on. Took down over 10K which equates to roughly $160/hand - very strong.

Now at a new high water mark: 116,475.

Sushi Cowboy said...

Another grinder session. 202 hands. 27% 4th street. Won 18/24 showdowns with only 3 scoops. Small pots and not enough scoops kept my earn rate down but still a decent $18/hand.

Now 120,115.

Sushi Cowboy said...

Had a decent session earlier today and now an awful play session.

Tables were short tonight. Ended up playing some "boredom" hands and basically threw my hand selection guidelines out the window. I was entering into hands with all sorts of crap as my 41% 4th street % indicates. Despite getting involved in short handed play at one of the tables and some d0nkerrific calls with horrible holdings, I actually netted out almost 6K from 133 hands or an odds defying $44/hand.

Once again I contend that human factors are the #1 biggest threat to any bankroll and despite my best efforts to give my money away I actually turned a tidy profit due largely to lucking into winning hands or at least sitting at tables with chasers who didn't hit and d0nks who will call with nothing. I took an undeserving 21 of 28 showdowns including a gravity defying 12 scoops.

Now 133,540 because I stopped after I hit the 100K and 1/3 mark.

Sushi Cowboy said...

Running good. Four tables and 246 hands later I am past a century and a half. Making about $73/hand. 35% 4th street rate was way high but it worked out thanks to weak opponents mostly. Won 29/39 showdowns with 9 scoops. Normally I want my showdown percentage to be around 10% of my hands dealt but today I was WINNING more than 10% of my hands dealt.

Now 151,074.