The Pounds/Dollars Conundrum

*WARNING* Anal stuff, read at your own risk.

Keeping accurate records is going to be important when embarking on my quest in 2011. Unfortunately, there are slight problems when considering the consistency of keeping precise records at online poker and this is to do with the currency conversion and the commission on the exchange rates.

* Raw, live poker results in the UK are measured in pounds (£).
* Online results are in dollars ($).
* The exchange rate fluctuates through the year.
* Banks impose a commission charge when withdrawing the dollars.

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This will be my system:

1. Live poker results will be recorded in pounds (£).

EG.

LIVE TALLY
January +£360 / Year +£360
February -£250 / Year +£110
March +£150 / Year +260

etc etc etc

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2. Online results will be recorded in dollars ($) with the addition of showing the conversion to pounds (£) were I to WITHDRAW the money, as per the cashier page - at that moment - from PKR. (There's a tiny bit of give and take here.)

EG.

PKR TALLY
January -$310 (-£190) / Year -$310 (-£190)  Conversion as per 31st Jan '11
February +$560 (+£350) / Year +$250 (+£160)  Conversion as per 28th Feb '11
March -$200 (-£120) / Year +$50 (+£40)  Conversion as per 31st March '11
etc etc etc

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It would then be much easier to do a "Total Tally" using good ol' pounds sterling:

EG.


TOTAL TALLY - POUNDS (£)
January +£170 / Year +£170
February +£100 / Year +£270
March +£30 / Year +£300

But I could also do a conversion BACK into dollars ($). For this, I would use whatever the amount would be in dollars ($) were I to DEPOSIT that money, as per the cashier page - at that moment - into PKR.

TOTAL TALLY - DOLLARS ($)
January +$250 / Year +$250
February +$150 / Year +$350
March +$50 / Year +$400

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This system allows us to see the cash amount won and/or lost were I to actually have access to the readies right there, right then. It doesn't beat around the bush, it's clearly transparent and there's no namby-pamby nonsense!

Live Poker and the "Stop-loss Rule"

In my last few posts, before my phd post, I wittered on a bit about a BRM strategy for my online poker game in 2011. I didn't mention any sort of BRM strategy for my live game. Well, there should be something in place to keep things in order and under some kind of control: put simply, if I lose any more than £1000 within two monthly increments then I'll just stop playing live poker until the end of that time frame. When the 2-month time frame ends, the stoploss balance gets reset to zero and I start again. I'll just spell it out here to make it clear...

From Jan to Feb --- Stop playing if down £1000 ---Start playing from 1st March
From Mar to Apr --- Stop playing if down £1000 ---Start playing from 1st May
From May to Jun--- Stop playing if down £1000 ---Start playing from 1st July
From Jul to Aug----Stop playing if down £1000 ---Start playing from 1st September
From Sep to Oct---Stop playing if down £1000 ---Start playing from 1st November
From Nov to Dec---Stop playing if down £1000 ---Start playing from new year 

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The difference between professional poker players and mere amateurs is that professionals do not constrain themselves within these restrictions because they know they are likely to win the money back in the long term. Amateurs, like myself, need time to recover so I will be operating within these boundaries.

The phd.

All experienced poker players will tell you that to turn in a profit at this game you need a phd:

Patience - sometimes you've just gotta keep throwing away hands.
Humility - to appreciate that you're not as good as you think you are and never stop learning about the game.
Discipline - to make sure you keep your self-control and not throw away large chunks of your bankroll on a tilt-induced frenzy!

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Sometimes I think that part of the little success I've had with this game is because of the similarities this has with the teaching profession:

Patience- to tolerate all the crap that the students (and staff) throw at you.
Humility- to value what others say to you and appreciate the students know a lot more than you sometimes give them credit for.
Discipline- to refrain from the daily urge to throw verbal abuse at someone.

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Bankroll Chart

For a written explanation of the above, see below.

My Plan For 2011 (The $5K Bankroll)

Bankroll & Limits
The great thing about being an amateur poker player is that I don't have to play the game to pay my bills; my fairly well paid job is more than sufficient to take care of those. As such, I can go down a few limits whenever I want and without worry. At the start of the new year, I intend to start gently and slowly; just how I finished the old one - by one-tabling the $25nl-$50nl tables. I'll make an initial deposit that will put me on a $2000 bankroll on 1st January 2011.

I think I'll chug along like this for a short while before 2-tabling the $50nl games but I know I'll get the itch to play higher very soon. When the time is right, I'll deposit another $3K, effectively making my starting bankroll $5K for the year, and will then move up to the $100nl game. Soon I'll be 2-tabling the $100nl game leading onto sessions of single-tabling the $200nl game. When, or if, my bankroll hits $6K, or if I just think I'm playing good, I'll think about 2-tabling the $200nl tables. There is also the option of 4-tabling the $100nl on my beautiful PC. If I get up to around $7K-$8K, I'll  be considering the option of taking shots at 400nl.

If my bankroll drops to $4K, I may allow myself the luxury of a $1K top-up but this will depend on my mood. If this occurs then 2-tabling the $100nl game or just single-tabling the $200nl game will be in order for a short time until I get my confidence back. If I go down to $3K AFTER the $1K top-up I'll need to consider taking a long break or, at worst, pulling the plug on the whole project. Of course, it all depends on my state of mind and how well I think I'm playing at the time.

What I really want to avoid is the endless cycle of depositing and withdrawing, withdrawing and depositing depending on what mood I'm in. I did this a lot in 2010 and it's not really a good idea. Ideally, I just want a starting bankroll of $5000 and play with that and see what happens for the year, for better or for worse for richer or for poorer! Actually, in my next post, I might just sum up the above in a chart; it may help me keep my focus and keep my self-discipline.

SnGs & MTTs
Trips to these games will need to be rare. Any MTT that is below a $33 entry is usually a donkfest in my book. My SnG days are virtually over while the occasional dip into MTTs will only be made when I need a change of scene. However, I'll ALWAYS enter the $5K ADDED for Gold Members whenever I can as it is excellent value. I'll, no doubt, play the odd $33 6-seater in the evening and I'll maybe even do the odd $55 Grand Prix.

Satellites
I may allow myself more pops at satellites but, truth be told, I'm sick of slogging through the early stage ones. I'd rather have a go at the later stage ones for the more meaningful MTTs like The Masters, The Prestige and the higher stakes MTTs. For PKR Live, I'll do what I did last time; have 5 or 6 goes at Stage 1 and 2 then if I fail that, have a crack at a final stage one.

Other Sites And Playing Live
For convenience sake (and the sheer fun of it) I plan to play exclusively on PKR. This, I know, will prove very difficult but if I do go over to the 2D sites I'll blog about it but keep the results totally separate from my PKR tally. Similarly, with live play I'll keep accurate records through the year but, once again, I'll keep the live tally separate from the other results.

Results & Graphs
I will be 100% truthful about my results. I know this is a very risky game to play but life is full of risks and this is one I'm prepared to take. There are much more stupid risks to take in life than showing everyone your year's poker results and I reckon I could do a LOT worse.