running bad but not playing bad...

Not exactly... So during this time I was at 25NL ($0.10-$0.25 blinds) and came with 2 major swings that almost erased my previous gains. I would probably have been up another $200 if I was able to stop myself from tilting. That's what happens when you let running bad, coupled with a series of bad beats get mixed up with bad play.

The next time, I got above $500 bankroll, I did take a shot at 50NL ($0.25-$0.50 blinds) knowing fully well that with the current roll I have, I can easily get myself broke with a string of bad luck, and worse if mixed with its twin brother bad play. BR went up to a little over $700 briefly, and had its lows at around $450 all in 8000 hands. This time around though, during those brief few thousand hands that I was running bad, I kept checking myself to see if I was tilting and playing bad... not there anymore. Still I have to make conscious effort preparing for unlucky streaks that come in cycles and making sure that I still have my head.

A week of roller coaster action, and I'm up to $672.69, got to Goldstar VIP Level in the process, cleared a $50 milestone credit and 6,253 VIP points. Well at least when things start to go really bad, I'll be able to cash in my points for $75 + $50 = $125. That would be enough to start a beautiful new beginning in case I go broke.

I'm hoping to break the $1000 bankroll, by next week. Cheers.

From $0 now at $500

What excites me most is that this time around I am building my bankroll from $0. I've never done it this way before and it might come in handy in case another improbable catastrophic event sends me to the rail. Before this, bankroll building came down to a formula that I learned how to skip the ugly parts and go straight to the easy part. Basically, whenever I return to poker, I just start with a $400 deposit through my BPI mastercard at pokerstars and start grinding $4.40 180-mans with $3.30, $4.40 and $5.50 MTTs until I get to $1000. It almost never fails. Then work my way from there.

This time, I came back broke (online) as I somehow managed to go broke with the $500 I initially deposited. My real life finances and ventures prevented me from redepositing again soon, perhaps I could have at the end of December soonest. I guess this was a blessing in disguise, as I learned a great way to start a beautiful new beginning. Plus I got the opportunity to work on my cash games strategy which has always bored me in the past. 

With the busy life I'm living between business, family and financial obligations, cash games might be the way to go for me in the future for a very good reason -- I can quit whenever I quit. Take for example my adorable 5-year old autistic little girl who like to bother me in the middle of my play time. For me this means I need to quit playing as in NOW to attend to her needs. If I was in the middle of a tournament, this would be disastrous, as it can last from 5 to 9 hours. But with cash games, thankfully I'm done as soon as I sit out.

I'll post a screenshot of my online bankroll as soon as I get a copy of a photoediting software as my new Acer Aspire Core i3/Geforce GT630m laptop doesn't have any when I installed the Windows 8 release preview last August.

More to come...