As a reminder, I am on a quest to turn $50 into $5000 playing sit n' go poker tournaments online. I have a strict set of bankroll rules that I am following to ensure I never go broke. I have been hovering just below the $500 mark, which is the amount I need to move from the $10 to the $20 buy-in. I won the first sit 'n go I played last night which was enough to break the $500 mark. But it was short lived!
I loaded up a $20 sit n' go. About 20 hands into the tournament I was dealt AA in the small blind. Only one player limped in front, so I made a pot-sized raise. The big blind thought about it for a moment and then called, and the limper folded. Heads up.
The flop came A92, rainbow. I had flopped a set. I thought about slow-playing the set since the board was uncoordinated. However, based on my initial profiling (he was a loose, passive player with a losing track record--to be covered in an upcoming lesson), I was pretty sure the player in the big blind would call a half-pot bet. So that is what I did--bet half the pot.
The big blind thought about it again and then pushed all in. This was an excessive bet based on the size of the blinds and the current pot. This usually means that the player doesn't want any action. Most solid players would just call with a set or two pair here and then raise or push the turn. So I suspected he hit top pair with a weak kicker. But he could have also hit a big hand like two pair or a set and was betting for value, hoping I caught a piece of the flop. Regardless, I had all possible hands beat at this point, so I insta-called! He turned over A5 of clubs for top pair and a backdoor flush and straight draws against my set. The next card was a club, as was the river, giving him a flush to beat my set and knock me out of the tournament. That's poker, as they say!
I will spare you more bad beat stores, but suffice to say that I experienced two similar bad beats on my next two games, which put a small dent in my profit. So, following my bankroll rules of quiting for the night when I lose 3 in a row, I shut it down. My bankroll total ended at $463, about $30 less than I started for the night.
I can't over state the importance of following the bankroll rules. After three bad beats in a row it would have been easy for me to go on tilt or start playing bad draws to try to suck out on people like others were doing to me. But bad beats are part of the game. If I continue playing solid poker, the odds are in my favor. I will win in the long term. The key is to keep playing at a level that allows for variance (swings in my bankroll) so I do not risk my bankroll during the downswings.
Although I am still above my 5% requirement, I will drop back to the $10 level once again until I break the $500 mark. It might be frustrating for some to drop back, viewing it as a failure to win at the higher level. But again, if you want to be a winning player you must establish bankroll rules and then strictly follow them. Otherwise, you can give back your whole hard-earned stack in a single night of bad beats and tilt plays. Patience, patience, patience!
I loaded up a $20 sit n' go. About 20 hands into the tournament I was dealt AA in the small blind. Only one player limped in front, so I made a pot-sized raise. The big blind thought about it for a moment and then called, and the limper folded. Heads up.
The flop came A92, rainbow. I had flopped a set. I thought about slow-playing the set since the board was uncoordinated. However, based on my initial profiling (he was a loose, passive player with a losing track record--to be covered in an upcoming lesson), I was pretty sure the player in the big blind would call a half-pot bet. So that is what I did--bet half the pot.
The big blind thought about it again and then pushed all in. This was an excessive bet based on the size of the blinds and the current pot. This usually means that the player doesn't want any action. Most solid players would just call with a set or two pair here and then raise or push the turn. So I suspected he hit top pair with a weak kicker. But he could have also hit a big hand like two pair or a set and was betting for value, hoping I caught a piece of the flop. Regardless, I had all possible hands beat at this point, so I insta-called! He turned over A5 of clubs for top pair and a backdoor flush and straight draws against my set. The next card was a club, as was the river, giving him a flush to beat my set and knock me out of the tournament. That's poker, as they say!
I will spare you more bad beat stores, but suffice to say that I experienced two similar bad beats on my next two games, which put a small dent in my profit. So, following my bankroll rules of quiting for the night when I lose 3 in a row, I shut it down. My bankroll total ended at $463, about $30 less than I started for the night.I can't over state the importance of following the bankroll rules. After three bad beats in a row it would have been easy for me to go on tilt or start playing bad draws to try to suck out on people like others were doing to me. But bad beats are part of the game. If I continue playing solid poker, the odds are in my favor. I will win in the long term. The key is to keep playing at a level that allows for variance (swings in my bankroll) so I do not risk my bankroll during the downswings.
Although I am still above my 5% requirement, I will drop back to the $10 level once again until I break the $500 mark. It might be frustrating for some to drop back, viewing it as a failure to win at the higher level. But again, if you want to be a winning player you must establish bankroll rules and then strictly follow them. Otherwise, you can give back your whole hard-earned stack in a single night of bad beats and tilt plays. Patience, patience, patience!
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