Cash game strategy

As September dawns I can’t get past the fact that I’m at my lowest total profit since day one – a measly $103. Yes, I’ve been battered by a gruesome run of outdraws, but I also know I haven’t been playing my A-game. As my bankroll has dwindled I’ve been trying harder to boss the tables, and pulling unnecessary moves in an attempt to catch up.

The result of this chasing is that I’ve been playing four $100 no-limit Hold’em tables with just one buy-in behind (my daily Badbeat bankroll is $500). Obviously, that’s not great bankroll management, so I decide to try a new approach. I opt for the ‘more the merrier’ route and open up six tables with $50 on each. I quickly find that if I bust one of these smaller buy-ins it’s not as big a problem, as I still have three or four rebuys behind, and there’s always a table or two where John’s aggressive tactics pay dividends. On one table, for instance, I manage to run $50 up to almost $700 in a single session!

Deadly focus

Instead of the multi-table action splitting my attention, it actually helps sharpen and focus my play. There’s no time to check emails, half-heartedly follow what’s on TV, or get snarled up about another bad beat, because glancing away from the action for more than a couple of seconds can see me losing track of hands completely. Having a shorter stack also leaves me fewer big decisions to make post-flop, and by the time I’ve managed to grind my stack up to over 100 big blinds I’ve got good reads on the tables. It’s a tactic that’s worth trying some time if you find your focus waning.

Anyway, as you can see from the graph below, my plan has worked and I’ve had a stellar month. With the end of the Badbeat project in sight it’s good to see some decent profit after a couple of months of turmoil. The question now is, can I maintain the delicate balance of aggression and insanity that John’s game dictates, or will I have one last rage-up and leave my account in tatters? Find out in my final instalment next month.