High On Poker

The online hot streak continues! After cashing in a 2-7 TD tournament for around $80 and a PLHE/PLO game for around $90, I really broke through last night with this win:

First out of 234 players in a $27.50 buy-in NLHE big ante tournament. The payout, $1257 and change. This win places me atop all three of my Summer Bankroll Challenge – Southern Hemisphere Edition bets. My bankroll has increased 985%, the previous largest win was $200 (also mine), and my win means I placed in the .43%, covering all prior submissions in the Slayer of Donkeys bet.

My success around the same time as the SBC is no coincidence. I often enter these contests to force myself to play better. For instance, in the last BBT, I was able to win May’s Leaderboard for $2000, even though my play outside of the BBT was minimal and probably not terribly profitable. The extra competition and transparency causes me to play better. It’s one thing when I choose a random game to donk around in while sitting at home in my BVDs. It’s another when I know the results will be publicly announced amongst fellow bloggers. I was more than willing to lose my entire online bankroll of $172 when this contest started; monetarily, it didn’t concern me. But the shame of going busto in front of your peers, that’s a different story. And the result is that I’m playing better.

There are some negative aspects of the prop bet. The biggest one is that it encourages a bankroll-building strategy that is normally ill-advised. A smart bankroll builder will grind out small wins without over-exposing him or herself. But the bets in the BBT actually encourage playing above your bankroll. With bets like the biggest payout and biggest % bankroll increase, one smart strategy (not the only one) is to simply play higher to go for those bigger payouts. It’s part of the reason I was willing to try a $44 tournament, higher than my usual $20-range fare, mostly because I wanted a shot at a decent payout. It worked, too, netting me $200, which at the time was the highest payout before I demolished it with my sextupled figure.

Another peculiar aspect is that it encourages starting with a meager bankroll. If you can start with $1 and make a go at it, you have a much better chance of winning the biggest % increase than if you started with $1,000. I suppose with $1,000, you have a much better chance of avoiding busto, but with $1, you don’t really care about busto anyway, so its like betting $1 to win tens of dollars  on the side bets.

Final thought, if it weren’t for the SBC, I probably would’ve went to the Tuna Club last night. Wifey Kim had dinner plans and I usually use her social gatherings as an excuse to degen it up. That usually means live poker, but last night, I wanted a chance to do some SBC damage. Ka ching!

As for strategy, I won the tournament by playing smart poker, at least in the later stages. Admittedly in the earlier stages, I was multitasking. Once we got down to maybe 60 or so players, when I was at about 27th place, I decided to really focus. From there on out, I watched my screen intently, opting for some talk radio instead of television so that my eyes would stay on the screen. I stayed fairly tight, until I could pick up information on my opponents. It was amazing how much difference a little concentration makes. For instance, one guy would min raise with any two suited cards. I’m talking K9 twice, K4, J9, etc., always suited. Because of this, I was easily able to call him light or re-raise him preflop and push him off of his hands. That’s worth a pretty chunk of change, considering the blinds were high and this was a big ante game.

When we got down to the final table, I was above most of my competition by almost 50%, but a hand or two brought me closer to the pack. I mostly played tight and looked for spots to throw my weight around safely. Down to three people, I was again in first place, before another series of hands brought me low. How low? Less than 5,000. Keep in mind, at that time, my two opponents each had more than 150,000, and one of them had over 400,000. I ended up with less than 5,000 when I got into a betting war with one of the other players. I ended up on the wrong side of it, but at the river, instead of pushing to his bet, I just called. On some level, I wanted that small amount to keep me in the game. Keep me in the game, it did. Four hands later, I had increased my stack back to over 50,000, and from there, I didn’t look back.

One negative about the SBC. After a win like this, I’ll usually withdraw a chunk, but since we are in the SBC, I think it best to leave it online. At least I can try some higher buy-ins.

Until next time, make mine poker!