Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

So, out of the Comp, with only £100 for my trouble, it was time for some Dealers Choice, & with Jeff Buff, Jim McShane, Hyder, ("seeeee the flop, betttt the flop"), Ambro, Lalit, & the usual crew all deep-stacked by now (this was about 3am) I pulled up with £1,000, a lot for me, but there's no point sitting down with £500 when everyone has £1k+ on the table.

Very soon, I got tangled up with Jeff again, & this time, the outcome was both lovely, & a bit sad. Lovely, because I won a £2,700 Pot - & they don't come much bigger - or scarier - for me. And sadly, because we each played it bad, really, & I was a bit sad that I ended up busting Jeff. But the closer I am to someone, the harder I play, just ask Jeff, Jim, Red, Chili, or Thewy.

It's 5 card Omaha, & I'm holding, I think, A-K-J-J-T. Jeff is holding T-9-9-8-8, or similar. And the Flop came 8-T-J.......He has bottom set, & a flopped straight, I have Top set, and all the extensions.

There was £120 in "pre", & I bet the Pot on that flop, call, call, then Jeff ramped it ip to £625! Jeez, what to do? Push, obviously, or maybe even Pass, but Push is the right play. And I'm thinking, jeez, this is a lot of money......

So I bottled it, & in fact, double bottled it, because I neither Passed nor Pushed, I did the unforgiveable, & flat-called. I know, I know.....

Anyway, I hit the dream turn - the Q - & shoved for the rest, & Jeff, mistakenly I think, quickly called. (We both played it bad).

I nearly had a heart attack when the Q paired on the River, thinking he may have Queens full, but my Jacks full were good enough as it turned out.

And so, what with that near £2k cash at Walsall on New Years Day, when the concencus was I mangled that AK Pass, & this piss-poor play by me here, to win a £2,700 Pot (of which just over £1,500 was Profit), I found myself nearly £3.5k ahead in 2008, & that by playing like a loon. I'd be dangerous if I played good. Or if there were not so much luck in the game.

Jeff beat himself up after, & I felt awful for him. I guess that's the nature of the beast.

[tikay]

Confidence is a weird thing.....1

The very next night, I had a right mare at Luton. The Luck Pendulum swung the other way, I never won a hand for 4 hours or more. Rivers rivered me, houses beat my flushes, nothing went right. I pulled up £500, then another, than a third £500. Jeez, my profit is disappearing fast. I got really down on myself, started to play bad, make bad "desperation" calls. Horrible stuff.

I'd pulled up my third £500, & had got it to £700, when the weirdest thing went off. I'm desperate to claw back some of the loss, but my confidence is in utter tatters.

I had T-T-x-x in 4 card, & we took a T-9-6 flop. LLoyd bet out, I repopped, he called. The turn was a blank, check-check (why?), but the 6 paired on the end, & I potted it, with the nut house. LLoyd then bet another £200 on top, &, my confidence shot to pieces, I just flat-called, somehow convincing myself he had quad sixes! He saw my hand, & looked at me as if I was mad. Not a bad judgement I guess. Confidence is a strange thing, lack of it even more so.

The Luck Pendulum continued to swing my way, & I got out of the night only £400 down. Lucky boy.

[tikay]

Confidence is a weird thing......2

It's DTD, & I'm playing some £1 £2 Hold-Em, Cash, it;'s just fun stuff, Red & Chili are on the table, & we are into each other almost every hand.

I must tell you about Chili first. She had a rough ride during the early part of '07, was right down to the felt, & her Bankroll Management was not really very good - well, she never had a Bankroll, it had gone, some of it not very wisely. (We've all been there, & done that). But she fought back, got a hold of her bankroll discipline big-time, & now she's in good shape, and she protects her Bankroll with her life. We also tend to "clash" on Cash Tables, where my luck quotient against her is massive, & this has messed with her head.

So, she's a few hundred quid down this night, then I arrive, two to her right, & start messing about in her Pots. She catches me a few times, me her, ditto. Then I found 8-9 suited in Clubs, on her BB, & off we went, the two of us. She had a big hand - KK or QQ I think - but the flop came super-scary, all diamonds, Ace high, as bad as it gets for her holding. Anyway, it gets to the River, she bets, I re-pot it, & she ends up agonising for 2 or 3 minutes, with lots of info-gathering speech-play going off. She Passes, I do the Billy Smart Arse thing & show, & she says, through gritted teeth, "well played". And silently, "you arsehole", I'm sure.

She eventually left, & was a picture of dejection, & £400 down. How proud was I, then?

I spoke to Tom the next day, (who's also very close to Chili), after agonising over it all night. "You gotta play the game hard Tony, no matter who it is" he says. And I know. But then again.....

I rung Chili later. "I'm sorry I messed about last night" I say, & she tells me her version then.

"I was a few bob down, & I KNEW I was ahead, I KNEW you had nothing. But I was on my last pull-up, if I lose that hand, I am not pulling up again, & I have to go home, early. And I don't want to go home early, but I refused to pull up a 4th time".

It's that confidence thing again, see?

As a footnote, I'm so pleased she has got ger bankroll discipline fully up to speed now, that's just gret news, & it means she will survive in the game. She never - EVER - borrows, by the way. She sent me a spreadsheet yesterday, to help keep track of poker profits & losses, it's a great piece of kit, & she fills it in every day. Top Bloke, that Chili.

But I'lll still mess about in her pots, I just can't help it. I do the same with Tom, & if I bust him (in the hand) I always regret it afterwards, ditto Thewy, though that rarely happens!

Do other friends mess with each other at Poker, or am I just a nasty piece of work?, I ask myself.

Oh, & on Sunday night, again at DTD, Chili won about £600 - & left early - to protect her profit! Way to go, Maria, you are the schmizz.

[bobby1]

Confidence is a weird thing......2

It's dtd, & I'm playing some £1 £2 Hold-Em, Cash, it;'s just fun stuff, Red & Chili are on the table, & we are into each other almost every hand.

I must tell you about Chili first. She had a rough ride during the early part of '07, was right down to the felt, & her Bankroll Management was not really very good - well, she never had a Bankroll, it had gone, some of it not very wisely. (We've all been there, & done that). But she fought back, got a hold of her bankroll discipline big-time, & now she's in good shape, and she protects her Bankroll with her life. We also tend to "clash" on Cash Tables, where my luck quotient against her is massive, & this has messed with her head.

So, she's a few hundred quid down this night, then I arrive, two to her right, & start messing about in her Pots. She catches me a few times, me her, ditto. Then I found 8-9 suited in Clubs, on her BB, & off we went, the two of us. She had a big hand - KK or QQ I think - but the flop came super-scary, all diamonds, Ace high, as bad as it gets for her holding. Anyway, it gets to the River, she bets, I re-pot it, & she ends up agonising for 2 or 3 minutes, with lots of info-gathering speech-play going off. She Passes, I do the Billy Smart Arse thing & show, & she says, through gritted teeth, "well played". And silently, "you arsehole", I'm sure.

She eventually left, & was a picture of dejection, & £400 down. How proud was I, then?

I spoke to Tom the next day, (who's also very close to Chili), after agonising over it all night. "You gotta play the game hard Tony, no matter who it is" he says. And I know. But then again.....

I rung Chili later. "I'm sorry I messed about last night" I say, & she tells me her version then.

"I was a few bob down, & I KNEW I was ahead, I KNEW you had nothing. But I was on my last pull-up, if I lose that hand, I am not pulling up again, & I have to go home, early. And I don't want to go home early, but I refused to pull up a 4th time".

It's that confidence thing again, see?

As a footnote, I'm so pleased she has got ger bankroll discipline fully up to speed now, that's just gret news, & it means she will survive in the game. She never - EVER - borrows, by the way. She sent me a spreadsheet yesterday, to help keep track of poker profits & losses, it's a great piece of kit, & she fills it in every day. Top Bloke, that Chili.

But I'lll still mess about in her pots, I just can't help it. I do the same with Tom, & if I bust him (in the hand) I always regret it afterwards, ditto Thewy, though that rarely happens!

Do other friends mess with each other at Poker, or am I just a nasty piece of work?, I ask myself.

Oh, & on Sunday night, again at dtd, Chili won about £600 - & left early - to protect her profit! Way to go, Maria, you are the schmizz.

Playing hard against your mates is great, the money won is only half as nice as the banter b4, during and after the game. Dont beat yourself up about it tho its all part of the game.

[Royal Flush]

Confidence is a weird thing......2

It's dtd, & I'm playing some £1 £2 Hold-Em, Cash, it;'s just fun stuff, Red & Chili are on the table, & we are into each other almost every hand.

I must tell you about Chili first. She had a rough ride during the early part of '07, was right down to the felt, & her Bankroll Management was not really very good - well, she never had a Bankroll, it had gone, some of it not very wisely. (We've all been there, & done that). But she fought back, got a hold of her bankroll discipline big-time, & now she's in good shape, and she protects her Bankroll with her life. We also tend to "clash" on Cash Tables, where my luck quotient against her is massive, & this has messed with her head.

So, she's a few hundred quid down this night, then I arrive, two to her right, & start messing about in her Pots. She catches me a few times, me her, ditto. Then I found 8-9 suited in Clubs, on her BB, & off we went, the two of us. She had a big hand - KK or QQ I think - but the flop came super-scary, all diamonds, Ace high, as bad as it gets for her holding. Anyway, it gets to the River, she bets, I re-pot it, & she ends up agonising for 2 or 3 minutes, with lots of info-gathering speech-play going off. She Passes, I do the Billy Smart Arse thing & show, & she says, through gritted teeth, "well played". And silently, "you arsehole", I'm sure.

She eventually left, & was a picture of dejection, & £400 down. How proud was I, then?

I spoke to Tom the next day, (who's also very close to Chili), after agonising over it all night. "You gotta play the game hard Tony, no matter who it is" he says. And I know. But then again.....

I rung Chili later. "I'm sorry I messed about last night" I say, & she tells me her version then.

"I was a few bob down, & I KNEW I was ahead, I KNEW you had nothing. But I was on my last pull-up, if I lose that hand, I am not pulling up again, & I have to go home, early. And I don't want to go home early, but I refused to pull up a 4th time".

It's that confidence thing again, see?

As a footnote, I'm so pleased she has got ger bankroll discipline fully up to speed now, that's just gret news, & it means she will survive in the game. She never - EVER - borrows, by the way. She sent me a spreadsheet yesterday, to help keep track of poker profits & losses, it's a great piece of kit, & she fills it in every day. Top Bloke, that Chili.

But I'lll still mess about in her pots, I just can't help it. I do the same with Tom, & if I bust him (in the hand) I always regret it afterwards, ditto Thewy, though that rarely happens!

Do other friends mess with each other at Poker, or am I just a nasty piece of work?, I ask myself.

Oh, & on Sunday night, again at dtd, Chili won about £600 - & left early - to protect her profit! Way to go, Maria, you are the schmizz.

Don't make a call even though you think you should because you don't want to pull up, leave a game early to 'protect a profit' these sound like silly concepts to me, the kind of concepts someone with NO Bankroll management has.

[Longy]

I agree with Flushy, bankroll management isn't about fancy rules. Its about having a set amount and making sure you are rolled so that your risk of ruin is as small as possible, which depends on varience.

If you can't stand dropping more than 4 buyins in a night, you should not be playing in that game as pro player. You should have at least 20 buyins for a cash game in a roll and that is given you have a decent edge.

Hope this doesn't like a go, especially towards Chili but I don't think its helpful people telling her that this is good bankroll management.

[tikay]

I agree with Flushy, bankroll management isn't about fancy rules. Its about having a set amount and making sure you are rolled so that your risk of ruin is as small as possible, which depends on varience.

If you can't stand dropping more than 4 buyins in a night, you should not be playing in that game as pro player. You should have at least 20 buyins for a cash game in a roll and that is given you have a decent edge.

Hope this doesn't like a go, especially towards Chili but I don't think its helpful people telling her that this is good bankroll management.

In theory, you may well be right, Flushy too. But it's a psychological thing from someone who is learning the ropes at Cash-Game Strategy. Which was why I headed it "confidence is a weird thing", because, to us mere mortals, playing for what, to us, are sllly amounts of real money, the confidence thing does weird things to our heads. The theoretical thing aside, surely you can see that? That was the point of the Post.

As to her Roll, she's perfectly adequately funded for the cash game she plays, but she'd never bring 20 pull-ups with her in a million years, & nor should she, & I'd slap her if she did. In my opinion, that is.

I play in a £500 sit-down game, & I usually have a max of £2k with me. My Bankroll is just fine, but I am not prepared to risk more than £2k in any given night, I just ain't. And yes, I agree, that "by the book" that may be deemed daft, & non-optimal. But it won't ever change, & if I ever turn up at a £500 sit-down game with more than £2k, I'll have taken leave of my senses. I can afford it, but I just don't want to. With age, comes not only an appreciation of money, but the memory of how hard it is to earn, & how easy it is to lose a lot in a night of madness.

I gave up drinking because I hated the way I felt the next morning. Gambling for amounts beyond common-sense does the same thing to me the next day, if I lose. And I don't like that. At all.

Quite how "spin-up merchants" live with themselves is one of life's great mysteries to me.

[Longy]

I agree with Flushy, bankroll management isn't about fancy rules. Its about having a set amount and making sure you are rolled so that your risk of ruin is as small as possible, which depends on varience.

If you can't stand dropping more than 4 buyins in a night, you should not be playing in that game as pro player. You should have at least 20 buyins for a cash game in a roll and that is given you have a decent edge.

Hope this doesn't like a go, especially towards Chili but I don't think its helpful people telling her that this is good bankroll management.

In theory, you may well be right, Flushy too. But it's a psychological thing from someone who is learning the ropes at Cash-Game Strategy. Which was why I headed it "confidence is a weird thing", because, to us mere mortals, playing for what, to us, are sllly amounts of real money, the confidence thing does weird things to our heads. The theoretical thing aside, surely you can see that? That was the point of the Post.

As to her Roll, she's perfectly adequately funded for the cash game she plays, but she'd never bring 20 pull-ups with her in a million years, & nor should she, & I'd slap her if she did. In my opinion, that is.

I play in a £500 sit-down game, & I usually have a max of £2k with me. My Bankroll is just fine, but I am not prepared to risk more than £2k in any given night, I just ain't. And yes, I agree, that "by the book" that may be deemed daft, & non-optimal. But it won't ever change, & if I ever turn up at a £500 sit-down game with more than £2k, I'll have taken leave of my senses. I can afford it, but I just don't want to. With age, comes not only an appreciation of money, but the memory of how hard it is to earn, & how easy it is to lose a lot in a night of madness.

I gave up drinking because I hated the way I felt the next morning. Gambling for amounts beyond common-sense does the same thing to me the next day, if I lose. And I don't like that. At all.

Quite how "spin-up merchants" live with themselves is one of life's great mysteries to me.

Im not suggesting that you physically bring that much but i presume few people have their roll in actual cash. Simply that you should have 20 buyins, probably in the bank and work from there.

As for psychology of it all, yes if you feel you are not playing well and you have lost your edge.  I advocate getting up but this shouldn't be necessarily a monetary value but being honest with yourself and knowing when this is happening. Admittedly this is damn difficult thing to judge, but you should at least be trying to achieve this.

[tikay]

Confidence is a weird thing......2

It's dtd, & I'm playing some £1 £2 Hold-Em, Cash, it;'s just fun stuff, Red & Chili are on the table, & we are into each other almost every hand.

I must tell you about Chili first. She had a rough ride during the early part of '07, was right down to the felt, & her Bankroll Management was not really very good - well, she never had a Bankroll, it had gone, some of it not very wisely. (We've all been there, & done that). But she fought back, got a hold of her bankroll discipline big-time, & now she's in good shape, and she protects her Bankroll with her life. We also tend to "clash" on Cash Tables, where my luck quotient against her is massive, & this has messed with her head.

So, she's a few hundred quid down this night, then I arrive, two to her right, & start messing about in her Pots. She catches me a few times, me her, ditto. Then I found 8-9 suited in Clubs, on her BB, & off we went, the two of us. She had a big hand - KK or QQ I think - but the flop came super-scary, all diamonds, Ace high, as bad as it gets for her holding. Anyway, it gets to the River, she bets, I re-pot it, & she ends up agonising for 2 or 3 minutes, with lots of info-gathering speech-play going off. She Passes, I do the Billy Smart Arse thing & show, & she says, through gritted teeth, "well played". And silently, "you arsehole", I'm sure.

She eventually left, & was a picture of dejection, & £400 down. How proud was I, then?

I spoke to Tom the next day, (who's also very close to Chili), after agonising over it all night. "You gotta play the game hard Tony, no matter who it is" he says. And I know. But then again.....

I rung Chili later. "I'm sorry I messed about last night" I say, & she tells me her version then.

"I was a few bob down, & I KNEW I was ahead, I KNEW you had nothing. But I was on my last pull-up, if I lose that hand, I am not pulling up again, & I have to go home, early. And I don't want to go home early, but I refused to pull up a 4th time".

It's that confidence thing again, see?

As a footnote, I'm so pleased she has got ger bankroll discipline fully up to speed now, that's just gret news, & it means she will survive in the game. She never - EVER - borrows, by the way. She sent me a spreadsheet yesterday, to help keep track of poker profits & losses, it's a great piece of kit, & she fills it in every day. Top Bloke, that Chili.

But I'lll still mess about in her pots, I just can't help it. I do the same with Tom, & if I bust him (in the hand) I always regret it afterwards, ditto Thewy, though that rarely happens!

Do other friends mess with each other at Poker, or am I just a nasty piece of work?, I ask myself.

Oh, & on Sunday night, again at dtd, Chili won about £600 - & left early - to protect her profit! Way to go, Maria, you are the schmizz.

Don't make a call even though you think you should because you don't want to pull up, leave a game early to 'protect a profit' these sound like silly concepts to me, the kind of concepts someone with NO Bankroll management has.

James, my admiration for your poker skillset - & I'm being serious now - is huge, you have a stunning Online Tourney & Live Cash Game, & the facts prove it.

But there are many of us who think that getting up from the Table because we are a good few bob ahead is a good thing, a sensible thing, & a wise thing. I for one could never be convinced otherwise, not even by you & your far superior ability & results. It just don't come naturally to most of us, & maybe that's why you do so well. Chili has seen the dark side of bankroll management, & still shudders just to think about it. As a result, she will survive in the game for as long as she so desires. Not many can say that, most will go busto along the way.

There is never a bad time to take a profit, imo. Straight & narrow for me, little & often, sod the big swings. I protect tomorrow.

Having said that, if I had your (poker) ability, maybe I'd think differently.

[tikay]

Well, I got a whole bunch of DTD stuff to write - some amazing stuff went off there last week - but it'll have to wait. They need a fish for the Luton Cash-Game, & I am that fish. If I win a big lump, I'll sit quietly for an hour or two & protect it, then go, if I lose, well, I know the most I can lose, so that's OK.

So I'm off tp Luton, & then onwards to Feltham, where I'll stay overnight, as I'm working at the ungodly hour of 10am.

Back home Thursday night, probably via the DTD Cash Game, a meet at Heathrow at Midday Friday, thence straight down the M4 for the APAT weekend in Cardiff, so not back home until Monday I guess. Unless I drive back Sunday night, & happen to Pass Luton or DTD.....

[MANTIS01]

Posted by: tikay

I can Pass my way to £1,920, or take him on. If I lose, I get £760, if I win the hand, I get, I think, nearly £4,000.......

I passed. Of course. Thank Heavens Flushy is away, he'd crucify me. But sod the glory, bankroll Rules in my little world. And £2k goes a long way further than £760. And a lot less far than £4k. I guess it depends how you view these things

Posted by: tikay

I am sitting quietly, plenty of chips, doing the passive laddering thing, plenty of shorties around, this is a guaranteed top three, maybe a 4 figure win, very nice. And then, out of a clear blue sky, the bomb dropped.

With Blinds at 800-1,600, & average chips 42,000 - plenty of play here, then - UTG suddenly pushes his entire stack over the line - ALL-IN. Eh? Ah well, such is poker, no big deal. Until I look down & see the beautiful K-K. What a dream coup! CALL I bravely say. He turns over J-8, he has trips on the flop, & houses up with a card to spare, & I'm toast

So what changed?

[Simon Galloway]

Tikay,
I think you are missing the argument being presented.  And if I am misinterpreting it, then my point of view in any case:

There's nothing wrong with deciding that you are going to bank a win, if times have been rough and a cash player counts up 600 in front and decides to leave, then that's fine.  Even if the game was so good that they should have maybe stayed in it, there's nothing wrong with licking your wounds and living to fight another day with a win booked.

However, when you have decided you are going to book that win, you need to get up straight away.  Not even waiting for the blinds to come around, NOW.  Otherwise, next thing you are playing a premium hand sub-optimally becasue you don't want to get too involved in the hand.  Mentally, you have already left the table at this point, so physically, you should do the same.

[Chili]

Confidence is a weird thing......2

It's dtd, & I'm playing some £1 £2 Hold-Em, Cash, it;'s just fun stuff, Red & Chili are on the table, & we are into each other almost every hand.

I must tell you about Chili first. She had a rough ride during the early part of '07, was right down to the felt, & her Bankroll Management was not really very good - well, she never had a Bankroll, it had gone, some of it not very wisely. (We've all been there, & done that). But she fought back, got a hold of her bankroll discipline big-time, & now she's in good shape, and she protects her Bankroll with her life. We also tend to "clash" on Cash Tables, where my luck quotient against her is massive, & this has messed with her head.

So, she's a few hundred quid down this night, then I arrive, two to her right, & start messing about in her Pots. She catches me a few times, me her, ditto. Then I found 8-9 suited in Clubs, on her BB, & off we went, the two of us. She had a big hand - KK or QQ I think - but the flop came super-scary, all diamonds, Ace high, as bad as it gets for her holding. Anyway, it gets to the River, she bets, I re-pot it, & she ends up agonising for 2 or 3 minutes, with lots of info-gathering speech-play going off. She Passes, I do the Billy Smart Arse thing & show, & she says, through gritted teeth, "well played". And silently, "you arsehole", I'm sure.

She eventually left, & was a picture of dejection, & £400 down. How proud was I, then?

I spoke to Tom the next day, (who's also very close to Chili), after agonising over it all night. "You gotta play the game hard Tony, no matter who it is" he says. And I know. But then again.....

I rung Chili later. "I'm sorry I messed about last night" I say, & she tells me her version then.

"I was a few bob down, & I KNEW I was ahead, I KNEW you had nothing. But I was on my last pull-up, if I lose that hand, I am not pulling up again, & I have to go home, early. And I don't want to go home early, but I refused to pull up a 4th time".

It's that confidence thing again, see?

As a footnote, I'm so pleased she has got ger bankroll discipline fully up to speed now, that's just gret news, & it means she will survive in the game. She never - EVER - borrows, by the way. She sent me a spreadsheet yesterday, to help keep track of poker profits & losses, it's a great piece of kit, & she fills it in every day. Top Bloke, that Chili.

But I'lll still mess about in her pots, I just can't help it. I do the same with Tom, & if I bust him (in the hand) I always regret it afterwards, ditto Thewy, though that rarely happens!

Do other friends mess with each other at Poker, or am I just a nasty piece of work?, I ask myself.

Oh, & on Sunday night, again at dtd, Chili won about £600 - & left early - to protect her profit! Way to go, Maria, you are the schmizz.

Don't make a call even though you think you should because you don't want to pull up, leave a game early to 'protect a profit' these sound like silly concepts to me, the kind of concepts someone with NO Bankroll management has.

Glad to see you are your usual obstinate self Flushy......Just to clear things up:

a) I THOUGHT I should make a call against Tikay, but it's not from not WANTING to pull up ( I actually done how much I was prepared to do that night and had no more cash).  I also don't take a bank card out with me anymore to avoid being in any stupid situations.. The point being I thought I was ahead but wasn't sure.  I had no where near what Tikay thought I had, it was pocket 8's and with 2 over cards and 3 diamonds, I had no diamond also.  I was prepared to lay it down.  I am at the moment high in confidence but being in a pot with TK just removes the lot due to 3 years of him battering me in cash games by calling with trash and HITTING with amazing consistancy..

b) By leaving the game "early" that was 3am instead of the usual 6am.  It was the end of the week and I was extrememly tired, I had built upto £910 from £150 and ontop of that, with me holding most of the dosh on the table others were mumbling about leaving after doing their money.  So excuse me Lord Flush if your judgement of "NO Bankroll Management" is offered to me.  It might not be written in stone or what OTHER people spurt out as the perfect way to play (if there is one) but is MY way and it works for me....xx

[thetank]

Something that's always confused me about this timeless debate.

Hypothetical scenario, you buy into a game for £100 with what has been mentioned as a reasonable bankroll of 20 buy-ins behind you, £2000.

You get a hot streak of cards, and teble up to £300. So form risking 5% of your bankroll, you are now risking almost 14% of your bankroll, potentially in the next hand. Surely this must change your way of thinking on close calls with regard to what standard deviations you can stomach?

[Djinn]

Something that's always confused me about this timeless debate.

Hypothetical scenario, you buy into a game for £100 with what has been mentioned as a reasonable bankroll of 20 buy-ins behind you, £2000.

You get a hot streak of cards, and teble up to £300. So form risking 5% of your bankroll, you are now risking almost 14% of your bankroll, potentially in the next hand. Surely this must change your way of thinking on close calls with regard to what standard deviations you can stomach?

Tank - that is interesting, and looks at first glance like a totally solid argument for rat-holing when you are playing the maximum sit-down game that your bankroll can afford.

My gut reaction is to agree, but my brain doesn't like it.  I can't work out exactly why...yet.  A couple of questions:

1) Is £100 the max or min sit down?  If it's the min, you shouldn't really be playing it anyway as a) you're not going to have a bunch of raises in you and b) you are very likely to be outstacked by most of the others on the table.  You might have to pull up several times, suddenly making it look like a not-so-affordable game (NB. some people play a short-buy-in well to great effect - see Rolf Slotboom's Omaha book).

2) If £100 is the max (or standard) buyin, does the £300 put you way over the stacks of the other players?  If so then surely that is an advantageous position to be in UNLESS the (not totally rational, but common and sometimes un-turn-offable) concern about money in general is going to affect the way you play?