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Termi8r's Road Continues

Published on 27 Aug 08 12:11 by TribunCaesar

This week has been the best week concerning his poker education but the worst ever concerning his bankroll. Termi8r learned that beginners lose money due to bad play rather than bad luck.

by Termi8r

This week has been the best week as concerns my poker education but the worst ever as concerns my bankroll. I moved up to NL50 SSS and had a terrible run there. Then I went down to NL25 and the trend continued. Overall I lost $150 of my bankroll this week playing 4.6k hands. The weird thing is that I can't remember being overly on tilt and I tried my best to stick to the strategy. It was really difficult for me to write this article at first. I want to be successful at poker and after only one week my bankroll is knocked down by 37%! I was looking for ways to justify the "downswing" in this update. Then I read the articles about professional attitude and the downswing excuse. These articles get neglected, I think, because they don't give you a strategy on how to play poker, but they are as important as the strategy articles.

I learned that beginners lose money due to bad play rather than bad luck. The first thing I did was to stop playing and instead start analyzing my game. I looked over all the hands I had lost and I grouped them into bad luck and mistakes for the two limits I played. I posted 20 questionable hands in the forum which did not include the coolers and bad beats I had suffered.

THe summary

NL50 SSS:

Mistakes: 11 out of 1,856 hands costing me a total of $58 (6bb/100)

Bad luck: -$219

Winnings: $106

Net profit: -$171 which should have been -$113

NL25 SSS:

Mistakes: 8 out of 2,837 costing me a total of $23 (3bb/100)

Bad luck: -$112

Winnings: $155

Net profit: $20 which should have been $43

I made 19 mistakes over the 4,600 hands or so I played and they cost me $80. This means that I made a mistake every 240 hands or so and considering that I play four tables at a time it works out to only one mistake every hour! Some of the most common mistakes I made were calling re-raises with TT and AJ preflop, second barrel continuation bets with AK and calling re-raises with pocket pairs and overcards on the board after making a continuation bet. At the end of this week, my bankroll is down by $150 and $80 is due to mistakes that I shouldn't have made. I have been making these mistakes since I started playing and it has cost me a lot of money. This bad run motivated me to look at my mistakes and then correct them.

Conclusion: 50% downswing and 50% bad luck

Goals for this week:

Play 7,000 hands
Make ZERO mistakes
Organize my poker literature

Cheers and good luck!

Termi8r

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Comments (14)

#1 timukasr, 27 Aug 08 17:42

Even Barry Greenstein says that when he plays poker he plays 10% of the hands badly (makes mistake).

#2 miskokvo, 27 Aug 08 18:17

some players never be succesfull in cash game ... like me .. maybe you too much thinking of your bankroll .. or just your first steps was right into downswing ...it happens.... playing low limits can be very frustraiting when u thinking of u bankroll coz u get called very often..
maybe u should try sng :) dont kill me guyz im sng player :D

#3 Gerv, 27 Aug 08 18:28

1. second barrel continuation bets with AK and 2. calling re-raises with pocket pairs and overcards on the board after making a continuation bet.

1. If you play with stats, its quite easier to decide whether to second barrel. As a general advice, I would only 2nd barrel 20% (2nd:20) of the time against the same opponent.
2. Calling so your all-in or? If so, you should calculate your Equity , combining it with your outs (5 or 6 with overcards) And you should be fine.

Good luck!

#4 xarry2, 27 Aug 08 19:10

I really appreciate what your doing Termi8r. If you work that hard on your game you will definetely succed finally.

thumbs up!

#5 swissmoumout, 27 Aug 08 19:10

the PS photographer/photoshopper(s) never cease(s) to amaze me ^^

#6 timukasr, 27 Aug 08 20:04

Again have to agree with swiss ^^

#7 TribunCaesar, 27 Aug 08 20:39

I'll forward the compliment. Great read Termi8r.

#8 Termi8r, 27 Aug 08 21:10

@Miskokvo: I agree fully that if you focus too much on your bankroll then you might forget the process of playing correctlly. My aim was to show how much of the downswing was bad luck and how much of it was due to bad play.

#9 cannell555, 27 Aug 08 22:46

Nice write up

#10 SoyCD, 27 Aug 08 23:24

Looking forward to seeing this project develop further! Its certainly already very interesting :)

#11 dallievas, 28 Aug 08 04:22

q:Make ZERO mistakes.
Termi8r-do not make mistakes is impossible,you can not make basic mistakes.Leave a little bit room for yourself.From me personal experience I suggest you(like Gerv) to start using software like Elephant,PT,HM.and play some BSS for learning purposes.
Good luck.

#12 pepelinko, 28 Aug 08 09:21

Good luck in the future!

#13 abundance211, 28 Aug 08 15:03

Hi Termi8r,
making mistakes is only human (look up at what Timukasr wrote you about Barry Greenstein). The only one who does not make mistakes is the one that does no do (anything). The fact that you are trying to find out your mistakes and learn from them - this is what counts.
I am looking forward to see your further success.
Good Luck

#14 SecurityDrew, 28 Aug 08 16:41

I think this is a great project. As a SNG guy turned SSS I too have run into some of these problems and find these blogs etc very helpful. When I was running bad I look at my stats to see if I am perhaps playing too loose. Very important for the SSS to keep it in the 6/6 7/7 range. Also as Xarry and Leo258 say, as you move up the limits you need to adjust your play. Attend the coachings and get the more advanced charts and strategies. They are invaluable.

I think your most important point here is one that is lost on many players. In a game of numbers, which SSS is, it is not about winning more money, but loosing less. Learning to fold is the one of the hardest lessons.

Good luck, look forward to more of your posts.

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