Strategizing

The beginning of building ones bankroll is very similar to a rocket launch.  The most dangerous part is the very beginning.  If there is a problem with liftoff, the whole ship can crash and burn before things ever get off the ground.  I find that the mistake most players make is they don't develop a starting plan/strategy.  Below is mine.

My strategy has 3 main components:
#1)  Bankroll Management.  No matter what, I will stay within the confines of my bankroll at all times
#2)  Game Selection.  I will only stick to games which I have a proven track record of crushing
#3)  Cashing out while ahead.  I will employ a modified version of  the Chris Ferguson Method and leave whenever i've won 15% of my bankroll

Bankroll management is key.  Typically, you need 20 times the buy-in for whatever game you are playing to be considered adequately rolled.  In online games, you need 20-40 times the buy-in.  But I will be playing primarily live which has lower variance.  Regardless, I will maintain proper Bankroll discipline, though at the start of this venture I will be at 12 buy-ins for my game of choice, 5-200 Spread limit.

I'm not overly concerned, this is a game that I routinely crush and the worst downswing i've ever had was 6 buy-ins and that was a combination of me playing like shit, tilting, and being super tired from playing 18 hours straight.  My normal downswings are 2 buy-ins and my normal upswings are 4 buy ins, so I'm not worried. 

However, I will consider this a potential problem area and I will flag it as red in the bankroll chart I will be keeping.  Lastly, I will chart my bankroll with a start of $1,000 which is less than my actual bankroll/stake.  This gives me some cushion and a great incentive to get the curve moving up. 

#2)  Game Selection:  My bread and butter games are 1/2 No Limit (buy-in $150), 5-200 Spread Limit and 2/5 No Limit ($500 buy-in).  I've done fairly well with 5/10 NL ($1,000 buy-in) in the past but I am not adequately rolled for that game and will not be playing it until my bankroll is at $20,000.  All things considered, I will primarly be playing 5-200 Spread limit. That is the juiciest game in the Bay Area.  It is as fishy as 1/2NL but the players have more money.  Once my bankroll hits $12,000 then i'll move up to 2/5NL

#3)  Cashing out while ahead.  This is the hardest thing for us poker players to do, but I got good at it last year when i was building up my roll.  Chris Ferguson wrote a great article about when to leave and how much of your bankroll you should use to play in tournaments (SnGs and MTTs).  I've modified the rule somewhat because he is sorta a nit (in a good way), but his underlying logic is sound.  Whenever 15% of my bankroll is on the table (due to me winning) its time to leave. 

The X factor in my strategy will also involve Online play. Playing online is low risk but high reward.  The only problem is that online, competition is a LOT TOUGHER than live play.  I know, that is tough for you live players and grinders to hear, but the truth is the truth.  I've had some success online, I cashed out for $6K before that stupid anti-gambling legislation passed a couple of years ago.  I also cashed for $2K last year.  Conversely, i've lost about $7K online so overall i'm a breakeven player online (though in my defense majority of my loses where from taking shots and not so much bad play, just bad bankroll management)

After I generate some profit from live play, I plan to roll a few hundred into online play.  It will take a while for that to generate serious monies from online though.  I could get lucky, go on a super heater and win a donkament for big money, but most likely it will be a couple of months before I can cash for anything over $1K online.

Why?  Well, with online play, your bankroll requirements are HUGE.  In order to play 1/2NL live, you can get away with having a bankroll of $1,000.  But in order to play 1/2NL online, you need a bankroll of at least $4K just to be able to handle the variance.  So, in order to comfortably cashout from your online bankroll, you need at least 30 buy-ins, and that's if you don't plan to try to move up in limit.

Anyways, that is a problem for a later date and not too much of an issue now since my focus will be on live play for the time being.