Sometimes I want a bit of fun and excitement after endlessly playing at my usual minimum level, eeking out a few pound every week.. I 'take a shot' at the next buyin up or the one after that, but bankroll limitations hamper this and without a solid start it quickly turns into a disaster, especially after a few too many brews the idea pops up and next thing I know Ive blown the majority of my hard earned balance...
Sometimes I treat STTs as ladders.. If I win say 2 in a row or 2 outta 3 I will use the winnings to jump a level up etc... tried this a few times to good effect. However the problem is that when Ive been to the $20 and $50 STTs I dont take my winnings and go back to bottom levels again, so eventually I bust out cos my bankroll cant handle it.. Then again no risk no reward and there aint too many pros that started with huge rolls and didnt have to take shots to get where they are
Read an interetsing article recently, where 'rampaging' comes in..
Even at the micro-stakes cash games proper bankroll management ( ) suggests that say the 5p/10p no limit cash tables requires a £200 bankroll (20 times the full buy in of £10). So, the £1/£2 tables requires a £4k roll and £2/£4 requires £8k!!
But heres the thing...
You dont have to risk your bankroll to take shots and this is a strategy to have a go with minimum risk...
'Minimum risk', in keeping with the proper bankroll management is about 5% of your bankroll... with £50 in your account this will give you £2.50 and more than enough to sit at the 5p/10p tables where the minimum is £2...
Now you sit tight and wait for premium hands... and push or raise enough to reduce the field and hopefully get a reraise from aggro players to your left (for once being out of position is good!), but its all going in on the flop the vast majority of the time regardless, because you have a premium hand!... simple as that! Then when you double up you leave the table, taking your new stack with you and go to the next level with £5 (minimum buyin at the 10p/20p is £4) and do it all over again!!!
This is said to work best on 6-max tables, where there are aggressive big stacks that will not be scared to call allins from the puny wee stack.. To find such a table, check out the stats and watch the tables before taking up your seat. Look out for big pots, which are contested by few players as this indicates there arent so many calling stations, but a couple of aggro players preflop. For allin premium hands need to be as near heads up as possible to minimise the risk of getting out drawn! Plus you will be up against bigstack LAGs with (hopefully) worse holdings than you..
It requires a little patience to wait for big pocket pairs and AK/AQ and maybe a little worse depending upon position... However you can play the usual small pairs and suited connectors and aces in blinds cheaply and if you hit.. push!!!
In later levels and in late position resteal allin with decent hands, you are very unlikely to get called by the cutoff who originally tried the steal... not the first time anyway and probably not the second either... but before you do it a third time you will have the goods!
It also requires self control and discipline as the object is to double up one way or another and get out and into the next level and when you reach your target (prob best to make it semi-reasonable.. dont push it) you must get your head back out of the clouds and assess where you stand with your new nosebleed balance and decide where you can play proper poker within a proper bankroll management framework...
All for the initial outlay of £2.50!
As ever the poker gods will need to be favourable, but you shouldnt have to wait that long each level to get one of the top 5 or 6 hands to push with....
For a little extra insurance (for you will bust out eventually - hopefully later rather than sooner) when you've taken a couple of levels, why not bank a bit and return to the same level again...
Me thinks I'll give it a go with a few beers for good measure as a fun experiment....
good luck
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