However, the most useful tool that has been a real eye-opener is a spreadsheet I made for keeping track of my poker playing. Not only hours spent, but bankroll vs. winnings (or losses). The funny thing is that I've been all about the input, and haven't even really analyzed it until this week. The good news is, I'm up over $1200 for the calendar year. The bad news is, I'm in a ten-day slump--I haven't won a dime in almost two weeks. Not that I can count on it, but it seems to be turning into a nice little 'part time job'. Heck, I'll take an extra $300 per month.
Of course, I know I don't have what it takes to be a poker 'pro', just because I don't have the nerve to play big money. Nor do I care to spend 12 hours a day with the dregs of society that sometimes come with the territory. Or maybe I just don't have the bankroll--maybe if I did, I'd find the nerve to move up in limits. Right now, the biggest cash games I play are $4/8 and $6/12. (And I still get nervous when I'm holding a mediocre hand and get raised twelve bucks).
Sidebar--can somebody tell me why nobody in Vegas spreads $5/10??? I can't find that game anywhere! And when I lived in Nashville, I couldn't even find it in Tunica--I had to drive up to some shiatty riverboat up in Indiana that had ONE table. It's hugely popular online, but nobody offers it in Vegas. WTF?
Anyhow, I also play a lot of no-limit tournaments with small buy-ins and a few single-table sit-n-gos. So far, so good. I will freely admit, however, that I have never played in a no-limit cash game. Not even once. I know that eventually I'll have to throw my hat in that ring, but right now the numbers aren't there for me to do so. A regular poker-playing bankroll is required unless I'm just playing lotto-style hit-and-run poker, and the recommended amount is 300 times the big blind. At 2/5 No Limit, that's $1500 of dedicated poker money. But at $6/12, I'm looking at having to keep $3600 on hand.
That ain't gonna happen anytime soon.
All of my profits, especially from the past month or so, have gone to pay off bills, old debt, and stockpile household staples (I learned a few things back during the Dark Times, otherwise known to the rest of the world as '2002'). Building a poker bankroll is so far down the list of priorities that I've not even wasted any ink on it. So I guess that right now I am a de-facto hit-and-run player, as my bankroll consists of whatever is leftover after the bills are paid and the groceries are bought every month.
Anyhow, my rudimentary 'analysis' of my basic spreadsheet shows that I'm a much better player now than I was a year ago, and much more conservative. But it also reveals that I need to track more details, like separating cash games from tournaments, limit from no-limit, time vs. income, which rooms I do better in than others, etc., and I need to compile it all to come up with a monthly result of how much money per hour I'm making at the poker table. This assumes, of course, that I'm actually winning at the poker table. As of right now, knock on wood, I am. But I attribute it to the fact that I have completely stopped playing online poker, which has cut down significantly on the bad beats I've taken. Also, playing live games has taught me a level of patience that online games could never do. Of course, playing slower live games (and not playing multiple games at once) is easier on the bankroll, but on the flip side, I don't see myself going on a rush and winning $1500 plus in one week, either, which has happened for me in the past when I was playing online from my bedroom back in Tennessee.
Slow, steady, and patient seems to be working for me. And not just in poker, either. (And it only took me 40 years to learn that lesson...)
Anyhow, it appears that I'm junking the entire tracking sheet I've been using and will come up with a new system in time to keep better, and more useful records starting on May 1st.
Let's hope my luck holds out and I'm not just tracking losses.
Mikey
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