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Sunday, November 27, 2005

Poker, Black Jack and Sportsbetting

The end of the year comes closer, it's cold and dark outside - a good time to reflect some things and plan for the next year.
I know the deadline for my poker experiment is still 4 months away but I collected enough data to think about how I will continue.

In the last 5 years I was betting in three different areas: black jack, poker and sportsbetting. I skipped BJ for that year to concentrate on Poker and skipped sportsbetting till the NFL started.
Now I went through my numbers and made decisions how and if to continue with that three things.

Let's start with sportsbetting:
I had a horrible season this year and stopped after the first weeks. I had a horrible season last year and I'm down overall. Even together with my o.k. results from NBA and MLB.
More worse - I don't really have the time that is needed for proper handicapping.
Sportsbetting is my weakest thing and it requires to bet great amounts per game (at least $100-200) to make it worthwile. But betting between $500-1000 per weekend needs a healthy bankroll. Unfortunatly I plan to "invest" my bankroll in other areas. For that reason I skip sportsbetting from now on (except for some recerational low-limit betting through the NFL playoffs for entertainment) until I am able to invest enough time and provide a big enough bankroll.

Next is poker:
I was losing in the beginning but my results get better and better. I still have to learn a lot and I am willing to do so as I think that this is the future game for me. I will continue in both cash games and tournaments. I don't play cash games online. I tried several times and I failed because it isn't the kind of poker I like. But I will play tournaments online and additionally I will try to win seats in some high-level live tournaments through that play. Unfortunatly at this time during the learning curve poker doesn't create the amount of money it should do. Playing 4/8 limit just covers the costs over the long run. To make some money it has to be 10/20 or better 15/30. I'm not good enough for that level right now. And I am not willling to play NL cash games at this time.

That leads to the last part - BJ:
I skipped BJ for some reasons: I was exhausted from the bad beats that can be cruel. I wanted to concentrate on poker and I wasn't willing get banned from the important places in Vegas. On the other hand BJ is that game I made the most money from in the last 5 years. So I will add it again to my game plan. I will reduce my spread from 2x25 - 2x200 to 10-120. This decrases the pressure moneywise and gets my risk on the same level like 4/8 poker. And it should decrease the risk for barrings in Vegas greatly. Now that I know which places I will play poker most times I can avoid those for BJ. In addition I have a BJ game at my homebase around the corner and I can play more often (and less expensive) than poker (just once a week).

How about the money? I won't tell numbers here but I made a good amount of money through BJ. This whole amount is my future bankroll. I devided it into three (unequal) parts for cash poker, tournament poker and BJ. I will allow myself to shift between those three if I hit a good or bad streak some time. But I will not add any extra money from my main income or any other source than gambling to that bankroll. If the bankroll (hopefully) increases I might take out some money and this will never be added again. Fot that reason my main focus at this time is to increase the bankroll to play with a lower RoR or step up to higher levels again.

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