Thursday, 4 June 2009

A - Z of Poker: Day 2

From London to Vegas in 26 Letters

Day 2: B is for ...

B is for Bankroll Management (BRM). Apparently bankroll management is one of the most important skills of a professional/successful/winning player.Is it more important than running good ? Ha, I doubt it !

I don't play with money I can't afford to lose (fortunately, and I am in the fortunate position to be able to do this).

This is not to say that the money doesn't matter to me. Au contraire. I manage to be very upset when I lose the money I have nominated as my bankroll. This, and managing to have a bankroll in the first place is as far as I am claim to practice BRM !

The fact is that proper BRM is that other B-word .... BORING and most people will agree that when I am playing the game is anything other than boring !


B is for Bad Beat. Ah yes ... a universal constant of poker.

I like to think that I score very high on the etiquette index in poker. You will find that I never slow-roll; I never criticise another player or a dealer; I do not scream and shout; I do not call the clock on people; I do not angle-shoot or seek to bend the rules in any way. For me this is just the right way to behave.

I have to accept in poker that I am giving up some edge because of this, but for me this behaviour is so hard-wired that it is not up for negotiation.

There is one area, though, where I consistently fall short of my own high standards. I cannot help relating bad-beat stories. I try to stop myself but I can't !

I often don't cast them as bad-beats per se; I usually will explain in my story that the event was just one of those things, or my bad play or something other than a pure beat.

However, that just means they are thinly-veiled beats and maybe that's even worse !

I would make a resolution to myself to stop telling bad-beat stories but I'm trying to give up making resolutions that are impossible to keep to !

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