Nit Picking
I am such a fucking nit, and it's ruining poker.
It's not my play at the tables that's the problem though, my problem is I am a bankroll nit. My desire not to lose money has shackled my ability to win money and destroyed my enjoyment of the game.
It wasn't always this way, back when I started I had more disposable income than I knew what to do with (part of the reason I started playing poker), losing meant nothing but winning big could have meant everything. The first couple of years wins and losses yoyo-ed erratically, but overall the pattern was a fairly consistent downward trend. After a while I got my shit together, started studying, reading books and forums, turned my game around and began climbing back towards the land of profit. At one point, I had a pretty nice win for a few hundred dollars, made all the more significant because it marked my return to the break even point. Only it wasn't.
I hadn't been keeping track of wins and losses, not really, only a rough estimate in my head, so when I thought I had reached the giddy heights of $0.00, I requested my transaction history. I had only played on partypoker at this point so it was easy enough to get a full record, but rather than confirmation of my rebirth, I received the news I was in the hole for twice what I thought. This is the moment I began my journey to nit nirvana. First off, I began making thorough records of all poker wins, losses, deposits, withdrawals. Secondly, I began applying some basic bankroll management. As boring as bankroll management is, I really do believe it was one of the major factors in turning around my fortunes. In the past, I would play a $10 sit'n'go, and if I won? Well it's free money isn't it? I could have lost my $10 stake but now I have $50, so the obvious thing to do is play a $50 sit'n'go. Luckily enough to win that one? Let's see... what I can I play for $200+? And I would lose that but it seemed worth it at at the time because it only really cost me $10 to play for major prizes. Wins came and went quickly.
Nowadays its all very different. Any big win is banked straight away, taking it out of my poker roll and tucked away into my life roll. This has done two things:
1) Ensures that I am a consistently winning player, year on year, never losing that profit.
2) Despite winning a bunch of money, my poker bankroll has not grown in 10 years.
It's not even about the money, it's about the idea of the money. Perhaps I'm only really fooling myself in some way but I like the notion I am a winner at poker, I am beating the game, I am successful, I am good. But do you know what? Being stuck at the micro stakes is as boring as fuck.
Various big wins and satellite successes has seen me play a range of $200/$500/$1000 tournaments, I've dipped my toes in the world of $1/2 cash games and held my own, I've played the WSOP, all while remaining in profit.
Yet I find myself scrapping it out at the micros, playing four fucking hours in the hope of winning forty fucking dollars. Well fuck that.
It's not my play at the tables that's the problem though, my problem is I am a bankroll nit. My desire not to lose money has shackled my ability to win money and destroyed my enjoyment of the game.
I hadn't been keeping track of wins and losses, not really, only a rough estimate in my head, so when I thought I had reached the giddy heights of $0.00, I requested my transaction history. I had only played on partypoker at this point so it was easy enough to get a full record, but rather than confirmation of my rebirth, I received the news I was in the hole for twice what I thought. This is the moment I began my journey to nit nirvana. First off, I began making thorough records of all poker wins, losses, deposits, withdrawals. Secondly, I began applying some basic bankroll management. As boring as bankroll management is, I really do believe it was one of the major factors in turning around my fortunes. In the past, I would play a $10 sit'n'go, and if I won? Well it's free money isn't it? I could have lost my $10 stake but now I have $50, so the obvious thing to do is play a $50 sit'n'go. Luckily enough to win that one? Let's see... what I can I play for $200+? And I would lose that but it seemed worth it at at the time because it only really cost me $10 to play for major prizes. Wins came and went quickly.
Nowadays its all very different. Any big win is banked straight away, taking it out of my poker roll and tucked away into my life roll. This has done two things:
1) Ensures that I am a consistently winning player, year on year, never losing that profit.
2) Despite winning a bunch of money, my poker bankroll has not grown in 10 years.
Various big wins and satellite successes has seen me play a range of $200/$500/$1000 tournaments, I've dipped my toes in the world of $1/2 cash games and held my own, I've played the WSOP, all while remaining in profit.
Yet I find myself scrapping it out at the micros, playing four fucking hours in the hope of winning forty fucking dollars. Well fuck that.
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