The Pokerstars 5 Dollar Experiment
Rather than retype an entire post I'll just cut and paste my original from WPTFAN.COM
I can't type a interesting story for the life of me. I've been trying to make this post all day but couldn't make it sound not crappy. So, For those of you still reading, enjoy.
My bankroll on Pokerstars was down to 5 dollars after a terrible opening streak of sng losses, 8 in a row out of the money. So, I was stuck with trying to turn 5 measley bucks into a million. At first I was kind of upset with the situation but now I'm actually enjoying it. From 5 dollars I've built it up to 19.02 playing .02/.04 limit. I know its a way low limit and It'll take forever to make it up but I feel like I'm doing pretty good. My strategy has been to play 2 or 3 tables at a time to avoid getting anxious and playing crap. I can usually go up a buck or so with just 2 hours playing. Not making me rich but definatley a learning experience. I'm going to move up in limits but I really want to make my money last so I'm being extra cautious. I'm thinking that once I'm over 20 to play with the excess at the .05/.10 tables, again ultra low stakes but beatable with patience. Maybe another level at 50 bucks. I know that my roll could support a higher limit now I'm really just interested in making it work with patient play and a slow increase in limits. I was also thinking of playing the low (1-3 dollar) multi's once I'm over 25 or so. What do the experienced players on this site think of my plan. I don't think I'm destined for failure with the ultra low stakes but do you think I can ultimatley be successful in the long run? just wondering what you thought, If it was boring just tell me and Ill go back to reading instead of writing. Thanks
Joe Graber
ammojoe on PS and FullTilt
posted by Ammojoe @ 1:20 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
I followed a similar plan to control my bankroll while doing SnG's. I gave up on that and am now having more success at the limit tables, specifically the .02/.04 ones (on a different site though).
reading your recent post about how when you changed limits you noticed the pot size was over $1 which was 'big', I'd recommend you start focusing now on individual units as opposed to dollar view. If you're buying with .40 at the .02/.04 tables, then that's 10 units (10 BB). It will let you look at pots the same regardless if its .05/.10 or 20/40.
If you cash out, how many BB's are you ahead? (Poker tracker is a good tool for this as it calculates BB/100 hands). Then you can set a goal that when your total bankroll is X BB's, you'll move up in limits. So let's say you will move up at $20...that's 500BB's. And maybe you commit yourself at the new level (.05/.10, which is only 200 BB's of course) until you dip below 150 BB's, or $15. That gives you some room to play with but not much - 5 flat out losing sessions if my math is right.
I think if you pick generic nice round numbers, you might end up on the wrong side of the equation. For example, let's say after .05/.10 the next jump in limits is .25/.50. But without doing the math, you feel that when you hit $40 you'll be ready for that. You've doubled your bankroll after all. Well that isn't 500BB's at the current level, and you're not leaving yourself any room to 'fail' before you get brought back down to the $20's.
I'm kind of thinking out loud here and thinking about what numbers I might use as my goal, as I hover in the $20 range myself and can end some nights +$2 (+50BB's) and then dump my profits on a SnG in an attempt for a quicker ROI. Getting over 500BB's is done, so should I move up a level where the play is a little tougher, and the risks and rewards are higher? But I always have that safety net ... if I screw up and get down to 150BB's at the new level, then I need to regroup and build it back up again.
Would love to hear your take on this, and what your longterm goals are for changing limits over the course of your experiement.
-J
Very interesting experiment. I might try something similar after I get a new book I ordered about beating these low limit games online and in the casinos. I've played on Ultimate Bet for almost a year now. Started out with $50 and just played .01/.02 for while, then jumped up to .25/.50, since UB doesn't have any limits in between there. I recently had my bankroll over $200 so I jumped up to .50/1 and increased it even more to over $300. But since I've gone on a streak of bad cards and probably worse strategy, so I've moved back down to the .25/.50. I decide to put up a blog with an experiment similar to yours, I'll post about it over at my site.
-Nick
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