Self exclusion form for all casinos in my state. It feels good to no longer think of money in terms of how many buy ins for 5/10 I have. It will be weird to no longer see the people i have spent a large portion of my last few years with. Here's where I went wrong.

Don't play blackjack, or any casino games for that matter. Don't even get started. If I was able to handle a simple $800 poker loss like a man, I would not be in this position. Instead, I would go to bj tables and turn an 800 poker loss into a 2000 loss. After losing my first few sessions at table games, I got into the mindset of "just let me play a few more times and get back to even at table games and I will stop." I never got back to even, I never stopped. Don't even get started playing table games, its a dangerous path to go down.

I was not emotionally or financially prepared to handle the swings of playing 5/10. I started shot taking 5/10 at 15k. Eventually I was playing 5/10 exclusively. If you have less than a 50k roll, be 100% sure before taking shots at 5/10 that you will be able to emotionally handle losing $4-5k in a weekend and that losing 4-5k in a weekend will not affect your confidence or negatively affect your play.

Keep your ego in check. I was not able to move down after my latest 7k downswing because I started viewing myself as "a 5/10 player" The player pool at my casino is very small. My ego was not small enough to allow them or the floor staff to see me move down to playing 1/3 or 2/5.

I am quitting while I still have a five figure liferoll and still have my job, so I will not be starting over from scratch like I have had to in the past. Maybe, in a few years, I will be living in another state and will have six figures saved up and will be able to learn from my mistakes and do this the right way. If it works out like that, then fine, if it doesn't and I never play poker seriously again, then that's fine too. I hope someone learns from my mistakes.

Good luck.

Nice summary of the defunct win rates thread.

It's not over yet. Now you just need to stay out but it's a step in the right direction. At least you know now that there are more formal consequences than just losing money.

Good luck man.

this is dangerous thinking.

this is like an alcoholic saying "maybe in the future I can only drink beer occasionally with friends"

my advice would be to dead gambling altogether.

you probably don't have the mindset to play poker let a lone gamble. Most professional poker players don't let winning or losing effect their mental state.

It's all about making the correct decision. If I make the correct decision and lose, i'm happy.

If I make the wrong decision and win, i'm not happy. I win a ton of hands where I think about it and say, wow I really played that hand poorly. I will be unhappy with my thought process, rather than the outcome.

Also, keep your life roll and poker bankroll separate. Keep a 20 buy in bankroll for smaller stakes, but 50 buy in bankroll for bigger stakes as players get better. Move down when you have 45 by ins, and move up when you have 50 for the next stake.

Or if you are comfortable at your current stake, there is no reason to ever move up. I have a bankroll for 5/10 - even to take shots at 10/25 - yet I still play 1/2 - 1/3 and 2/5 because I am happy not putting that emotional stress on myself. I like to make an extra $500 - $1000 a week playing poker and am happy with that - and I have been doing that the past 2 - 3 years consistently playing these stakes.

OP, do yourself a favor and just don't read this response.

There was a pretty epic thread about a dude who had grinded up a 250k roll. Then went to Vegas for the first time to play poker and never made it to the poker room. Pretty much torched the whole roll without playing a single poker hand on his poker trip.

Op, I like your point about ego, shot taking and unwillingness to move down.

Gonna self ban 2+2 acct?

GL

Thanks a lot for sharing. And congratulations for stopping well before ruin, that is no small accomplishment.

One thing I have learned through a bit of pain is as you've said, that your bankroll is not really how much money you have, it's how much money you don't care about losing.

This is another very good point. Sure we all like making money and want to imagine crushing high stakes, but even being a winning player is painful. I have learned from touching the hot stove a few hundred times that I am much happier playing 2/5 and being in complete control and rarely having doubt about my decisions or fear that I will lose a significant amount of money than I am at 5/10, even if my EV is higher, which it very well may not be.

Most importantly, we all know pit games are nothing but bad news, but sometimes it takes a tale like yours for it to get through. Hopefully you stop at least one person making the same mistake.

Good luck.

Not really strat, more blogish, so thread closed.