Sinking the Fleet
We all know the story of the Titanic, the ship that “not even god could sink.” But it did. And it’s assailant was a giant iceberg. Well this may not seem like it has anything to do with online poker, but just like the Titanic, you can sink yourself when you go into uncharted waters because you feel invincible. What this is really about is bankroll management. If you’re a poker online player who’s playing for income on a monthly basis, then you’re undeniably going to have to keep up with your bankroll, or at least practice some form of bankroll management. So let’s say you’re paying at the 1/2 no limit tables and you’re making a hefty profit. You have about 2500 in your bankroll and you started with 1000. You turned 10 buy-ins into 25, so now you are properly rolled to play at the 1/2 level. However, you decide that since you’re winning so often at the 1/2 level, you’re ready to make the jump to the 5/10 level. You’re feeling invincible now. And you jump in with your 500 dollar buy in, a half stack, and you start to see yourself losing and losing fast. So you put up another 500, and you lose it. Now you’re back to 1500, and you decide it’s time to go back to the 1/2 no limit tables. But the problem is you’re losing there now, too! I’m sure you’re wondering what is happening you’re losing at both poker online games now. Well what has happened is that you are experiencing Titanic Syndrome. You’re playing at a level you haven’t learned to play at yet and doing so without being properly rolled to do so. So you try to adapt to that game and your general strategy changes. By the time you move back to the 1/2 no limit game, you’ve changed your strategy so much, you’re not mastering either the 1/2 or 5/10 game and are losing at both. This is your sinking of the boat, how you can be likened to the Titanic. And we all do it from time to time, move to a level that’s too high for us or that we’re not prepared for in one way or the other. And we sink our invincible ships. So this is really just a word of advice from experience, from someone who sunk his ship before he understood all the nuances of bankroll management. Stick to your 25 to 30 buy-ins for each level. And when you get to 50 or so buy-ins then you can try your hand at the higher stakes, but don’t just jump up there because you think you’re good, because there will always be that iceberg waiting for you to sink your ship and send you back to shore until you can afford another boat.
