Digital Thinkbox

PokerStars

Played 96 hands in two sessions. -$0.43

Couple of poorly played hands wiped out the modest gains I made this day.

After taking about 5-6 weeks off of poker after my SnG experiment I decided to take a shot at learning No-Limit Poker. I still have a respectable bankroll left after a rather horrible downswing in the SnGs, but I wanted to start out low and work my way up rather than jump in at the level I was rolled for.

To this end I picked out the micro-limits at PokerStars. I’ve been playing a 6-Max, $5 maximum buy-in game single tabling to learn the game and how it differs from limit and tournament play. No-Limit poker is definitely a different breed from the limit cash games I’m used to. Hand reading is MUCH more important as is bet sizing.

I don’t play a lot of hands right now since I primarily single-table and spend my time concentrating on the action at the table trying to put players on hands and make good decisions. I will play 100 or so hands in a sitting and then take a break. My goal is to re-evaluate my position ever 1,000 hands and determine if I think I have the skill and confidence to jump to the next level: $10NL.

Over the last 30 days of play I’ve run fairly good, but not hot. I’ve had my winning days and my loosing ones. For the most part I play ABC poker, with few tricks and almost no bluffing. Bluffing and fancy play just doesn’t work at this low a level as the players either not smart/experienced enough to notice or don’t care. Seriously, I think most of the people play at this level are just gambling and could care less about skillful poker.

Currently I’m +$8.40. Of course I’m not going to get rich, heck I’m not even going to eat at that rate, but that isn’t the point. If I can’t reasonably beat these nano-limits, how could I possibly win at higher stakes against presumably better players. I do not expect to “crush” this level, I’m not sure it is even possible with the wild and loose play that players exhibit here.

In reality I just want to demonstrate that I can win consistently at this level before moving up. There is very little profit potential, and the play is extremely crazy. So crazy in fact that I am forced to play a very tight ABC poker game, not that this style of play is a bad thing. Tight is usually right.

Goals

For December I’d like to hit 2,000 hands of $5NL at PokerStars and then take a look at my play. If I continue as I have I don’t think I’ll have a problem jumping up to the next level, $10NL. I’m almost sufficiently rolled for $25NL, but I feel that a 2 step jump would be too much of a change. My observations show that one level increases are fairly smooth, while a two level jump introduces some fairly significant changes in play.

As far as bankroll management, I want to have at least 20 buy-ins for the level I am playing. Currently I’m over rolled for both $5NL and $10NL, but not quite sufficiently rolled for $25NL. If I drop 5 buy-ins I’ll immediately evaluate my play and consider dropping down a level to rebuild the bank-roll. Which is another reason to move up to $10NL, $5NL is as low as I can go!