Bankroll Builder

I've been exchanging some email with a blog reader who claims it's impossible to build a bankroll at the microstakes these days. He says the competition is too good, the rake too high, and the bad beats legion.

I disagree.

Yes, the competition has gotten significantly better in the past few years (especially since Black Friday), but there are still many, many fundamental mistakes made at the microstakes by many, many players.

Yes, too, the rake is disproportionately high at the microstakes. But the dead money at the tables more than makes up for it.

And yes, the bad beats are there. Perhaps more than at the higher stakes, in fact. But as I've written before (e.g., here), bad beats are a good thing. Seriously. Bad beats, by definition, means you're getting your money in good.

But my e-pal remained unconvinced. So we've done some sessions together online. Specifically, I earmarked/set-aside $25 of my Bovada bankroll to a 'roll building exercise/coaching session. I'm only playing $5 zone poker tables (primarily to get in volume, plus we're working on the reader's preflop hand selection, which the zone tables are ideal for).

We're playing daily, with 45 minute sessions, all with said reader looking over my virtual shoulder, asking questions, and generally hearing my RED-i thought process spoke aloud.

He's tasked with keeping records of the profit and loss of each session (to keep the exercise honest), and we're going to play 30 sessions altogether.

Here's his record of the 'roll after five of our daily sessions:

I'll report back as the experiment progresses through the 30 days.

All-in for now...
-Bug