Ya Might As Well Spend It, Ya Can’t Take It With Ya
As promised, now we are getting to the last part of this little section: “Finances.”
I’ve been thinking about this for quite some time, since finances are such a personal matter. Especially since money is so very important in today’s materialistic society, I won’t give you specific advice. I sure as hell don’t want you goin’ broke over something I may have said. So please take this column with a grain of salt, so to speak, and only apply those things you think would be of positive help.
Naturally, the serious versus social dilemma is extremely important to this section. If you’re playing for social reasons, money is not nearly as important a factor in this scenario as it is if you are playing in a serious fashion. Heck, I’m sure we’ve all run into those characters who for some reason or another already have millions, yet continue to play in low limit games. You know who I mean, the player who raises and caps everything pre-flop, post-flop, at the turn and all the way to the river, no matter what kind of hand they have. To those players money really doesn’t matter. And Boy-Howdy, those characters seriously chap my posterior.
So, we’ll make the improbable assumption that you’re intention is to become a serious player, and you are starting at low limit in order to develop the skills to play the higher-limit, no-limit games. Since the actual play, is quite different from low limit to the upper end, I will confine this to general financial practices that will allow you to improve your game while limiting your losses to some extent beyond that of strict poker play. Play whatever hands you want, whenever you want to, but try to think about this advice, okay?
It is a general rule of thumb to always buy in to a hold ‘em game with 20 times the “big” blind. In a three-six game that would be $60, in four-eight, it would be $80. My personal preference is to just buy in with a $100 rack. Heck, I’ve seen players buy in with the minimum, (which in most places is $20-$30) and (metaphorically) manhandle the other players, parlaying that buy in into six or seven hundred dollars or more. Rarely, mind you. Very rarely. But it does happen. Just don’t count on it. Try to stick with the traditional buy ins.
The reason for this is fairly simple. Twenty times the big blind, lets you take a look at a minimum of 150 hands (considering a full 10-seat table) and usually somewhere within that 150 you will more than likely see a “solidly playable” premium hand. Of course, I’ve had weeks where I haven’t seen a “premium” hand. And everyone I did see, whether I flopped the nuts or not, the Raising Maniacs beat me at the river. Just a few nights ago, at a brick and mortar casino, I had one of those nights. They even had a “special” where after midnight, the special was “Red or Black, Aces Cracked gives you Fifty Dollars Back,” and because of one of those aforementioned highly irritating lunatics, it cost me $72 to get my wired Red Aces beat, for a net loss of $22! That was the hand that sent me home. The rest of the night was even worse.
Well, enough of the woeful “Tales-of-Wells-Fargo.” The concept here is controlling your poker finances. One of the first things to do is to set up a separate, “special” account at your local bank that is specifically for card playing. It can be a checking or savings account or both, preferably an interest-bearing account, with debit card.
Once you have an account like that set up, then it is a totally personal situation on how much to start with. That all depends on your personal financial situation and whatever your bank’s minimum opening balance requires. Please note that many interest-bearing checking/savings accounts require the balance to never drop below a certain figure. Avoid those. You are going to have to have the discipline to never kill off the account anyway, but you just might need to take most of it some time or another. Just something to think about.
I think the most important aspect in dealing with poker finances is to determine whether or not you may be an addictive or “problem” gambler. As with just about anything else gambling can be addictive, and some people do have gambling problems. Just as my editors and publishers here at Part Time Poker, I too, caution you to be a RESPONSIBLE GAMBLER. Never take out of your account more than you can afford to lose. Then, poker (or any other form of gambling) is exciting, challenging and fun. Otherwise, well…you’ve heard all the stories. Just remember, those stories always happen to the “other” guy, but to me, and everyone else in the world YOU are the “other” guy.
Also, as an aid to tracking your progress, which will also help you “tighten up” your serious playing, keeping an accurate game-to-game record of your wins and losses, is crucial. When you see your plus-minus ration gravitating towards or consistently heading for the “minus” side, take a break and try to analyze when, where and how that downward spiral began and why it is continuing. You will be surprised at how many details of your losing games or styles you will remember. Then, unless it was just a temporary fluctuation due to river-rats, suck-out artists and the miracle maniacs, you will be able to identify and eliminate those elements that have caused or contributed to the negative financial position.
Lastly, consider this: Once you start getting consistent with winning, people are going to take notice. In some ways this is good, because there are quite a few “bankers” or sponsors who are willing to bankroll a player into a specific game, sit-and-go, or tournament for a percentage of your winnings, while taking the chance on losing their stake with no penalty to you. This is a great thing. The percentages the banker requires vary from person to person, and game to game. Those details are between you and any potential sponsor. However, with all things, for every positive there is a negative.
When your win/loss ratio becomes consistent in the “win” column, and people begin to notice you as a “good, great, or professional level” player, you will find it harder and harder to get into a game where you can make money without resorting to tricks, traps and other devices that will be discussed in later columns. The best way to avoid all that is simply to vary your places of play. In this aspect, you don’t want to become “famous.” If you pick a big enough circle of “road games” in differing establishments, you don’t frequent the same places enough for most people to remember you. Except for the other good, great or professional level players. You aren’t going to beat them that often anyhow, and most of the times those types of serious players are more than happy to “share the wealth” by working the unskilled. undisciplined or simply stupid players and avoiding “heads-up shoot-outs” with you. Give them the same respect.
Ok, that’s it for this week. I recently suffered a fairly serious injury and it’s pretty difficult to sit at a keyboard, so next week’s column may or may not even be possible. I have had to take it day by day, but I’m kind of thinking about working with some of the tricks and traps I’ve learned over the years. We’ll see.
In closing, please remember, card playing for money is supposed to be fun! Watch your pockets, never bet more than you can afford to lose and please be a responsible gambler. If your financial record-keeping shows you may have a problem, get some counseling and find out. Whatever you do, don’t hurt yourself or anyone else, including the gaming industry at large. As you all know, we have narrow-minded “morality police” trying to shut down everything fun. And poker is supposed to be all in fun.
Good Luck,
Vinny
“It Could Be Just Me” by Vincent “Vinny” Setala
November 20th, 2006
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