Retired after 26 years of martial arts teaching, now playing poker, and tinkering with computers.
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Lonnie Lepp
[email protected]
http://www.pokerology.com/poker-school/texas-holdem/beginner/math-and-statistics/
which hands have the advantage in certain situations
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Bankroll management is the number one priority in my poker career.
The bankroll is the bullets. The game is the battlefield. The stategy and tatics used daily are the weapons.
Need all three to make it.
Here's a good article on Bankroll Management.
http://www.flopturnriver.com/Bankroll-Management-101.html
Note that the added imphasis is mine in the folling article.
'For cash game players, the minimum you should have in your bankroll is 20 buy-ins for the level you want to play. If you get to 15 buy-ins or less, you need to move back down to the previous level until you get back over 20 buy-ins. One buy-in is considered 100 big blinds. For instance, at .01/.02, a buy-in is $2 (100 x .02 = $2) and that is why .01/.02 is called $2NL. So, for a specific example, let's say you deposit $50 and plan to use good bankroll management, moving up and moving down as needed. You must then start out playing $2NL until you can work your way up to $100. When you get to $100 you can then start playing $5NL. If things aren't going well at $5NL and your bankroll gets back down to $75 (15 buy-ins), then you must drop back down to $2NL and grind your way back up. Moving back down is one of the hardest things to do, but for proper bankroll management it's probably the most important thing. Just remember that even the best players need to move down occasionally and the only people that never move down are the ones that eventually go broke.
A lot of people start their poker careers playing Sit & Go tournaments (SNG). Most people have seen poker tournaments on television so that is where they start. I also think there is a misconception that SNGs are an easy way to grind up a bankroll. In fact, tournaments in general have more variance then cash games. Not that SNGs aren't a good option for the micro player, but with the variance in mind, you should have a larger bankroll to absorb the swings. I think a minimum of 40 buy-ins is sufficient, so if you start with $50 again, you should be playing $1 buy-in SNGs until you get up to at least $80, then move up to the $2 tournies. Again, be sure to move back down if you are having trouble, but definitely if you get down to 30 buy-ins. Multi-table tournaments (MTTs) are going to be the hardest games to grind a bankroll with for a couple of reasons. First, the variance can be brutal, often going a very long time between big cashes. Second, there just aren't that many MTTs at the micro level, so trying to grind up with a small bankroll can seem impossible. However, there are options. There are often satellite tournaments that the micro player can enter with very low buy-ins. These will pay out tournament tickets instead of cash, but the tickets can be just as good as a big cash score. One word of caution if you choose to play satellites though. You will sometimes be tempted to use your ticket to play in the big tournament. Proper bankroll management says no! Take the tournament money and use it to play more games within your bankroll. Another tournament topic to touch on is re-buy tournaments. Keep in mind that you should price in a minimum of 1 re-buy and 1 add-on so the actual buy-in should be multiplied by 3. For instance, to play the $3 re-buy on stars you should have a minimum $900 bankroll ($3 x 3 x 100 = $900). In reality you will often use more than 3x your buy-in so, again, this is a minimum. Proper bankroll management doesn't have to be difficult or constrict your growth as a poker player. In fact, it will surely only help your game as you grind from one level to the next. All of these guidelines should be seen as minimums really, although I think they're adequate for most micro-stakes players. However, once you start getting to more aggressive games and you begin to lose your edge, you should really become more conservative with your bankroll management. Although, by the time you get to those games, bankroll management will probably seem like second nature and you will likely naturally get tighter with your roll. Three final things to keep in mind: don't act on the temptation to move up too soon, don't worry about what level other people are playing, and remember there's no shame in moving down."
Take care now and then.
I am always looking for resources to improve my game.
Here's a free poker school with exams to check your progress. Basic stuff.
http://www.myholdemtips.com/poker-school.aspx
I aced the first test.
Here's another poker school
It seems to be more extensive than the first school in this post.
http://www.pokerology.com/poker-school/texas-holdem/
there are more lessons in this school.
Bothe cover the basics
Take care now and then.
I started playing poker about five years ago. My wife got me started.
I have not been playing every week since then. Busted out several
times and had to gather a bank roll to begin again. I have been
playing consistently since October 2009.