:Pot Stuck

I just got done reading a great post over on 2+2. The thread is about what things make up a good poker player. One of the respected no limit players, limon, posted this:

the key to being a long time winning pro is making poker less than 1/5 of your income over a 10 yr. period from the time you start.

Post by limon, link

When asked to explain this he went into further detail.

in my experience most wanna be pros start out thinking their gonna love playing poker forever and so they never prepare for that day when it all comes crashing down. so when they make their first 50k playing 5-10nl or whatever they just move up to the next highest limit that they can barely afford. so even though they are moving up limits their lifestyle isnt changing and they still have all thier eggs in one basket. this is bad for financial and psychological reasons.

inevitably they go on a massive losing streak and because they were always playing right on the edge of what they could afford it buries them. now they have to work their way out of this hole and it becomes a horrible grind, many go on life tilt at this point. fully coming to the realization of how many hours theyre gonna have to put in ,they borrow money (from people like me) to make a quick hit and then really get stuck.

a smarter plan would be to move up slower and invest on the way so you never have to do any one thing to survive. sooooo, instead of jumping straight from 5-10 to 10-20 buy a little triplex. instead of jumping straight from 10-20 to 25-50 buy a laundromat or a parking lot. instead of buying into 20 events at the wsop parter w/ someone in a business venture that you find interesting.

instead of playing 70 hours a week play 40 and get a part time job you really enjoy (i still do golf club repair to this day). keep your ears open at the casino for opportunites, (one of my biggest f-ups was not partnering w/ co owner of an l.a. casino who was starting an offshore sportsbook a decade ago), pretty soon you realize that you never have to play poker again…then your poker game becomes unbeatable and you see the grinders in a totally different way.

i guarantee you 10 years from now the “winners” who post on 2+2 will NOT be the guys playing 6 screens 80 hours a week at higher and higher stakes. it will be the guys who are writing books or software or starting “poker schools” and it wont be because they made a fortune doing any of these things it will be because they diversified early and stepped out of the boom/bust cycle.

Post by limon, link

I think this post is awesome. Too many poker players move up when their bankroll allows it, which is fine, even correct, but they do not diversify their bankroll at all. Sure, a bankroll may allow someone to play at certain stakes, but thats it, it only allows them to play poker. When we all first started playing poker we all knew of some bankroll requirements, thats why we are all still playing today. None of us would ever dream of buying into a game with our full bankroll… Well, a few years later that same concept should apply. Since this time we are dealing with so much more money, why would we ever want that all in poker. Lets diversify that money!

I’ll make some more posts on this subject later, specifically what to actually invest in so that your money can be diversified.