Stories of pros spinning up hundreds of poker winnings into thousands in a matter of days are commonplace
Every amateur cash player must have thought about sitting short-stacked at a game they have no right to be in and spinning their winnings up to thousands through a combination of timing and blind luck. Few ever take the risk, and with good reason.
Plonking your entire bankroll onto a table you’re severely under-rolled for is an ultra-risky strategy and one that goes against every precept of correct bankroll management. Whether you’re playing at $0.10/$0.20 or $10/$20, it’s a sure path to being broke.
However, there is a smarter way to spin up some fast cash without busting your bankroll. This article looks to answer this question: if your profit for the month was $1,000, what would be the best way to spin that up to a small fortune in the shortest time possible?
MANAGEMENT TRAINING
John Tabatabai, the charismatic runner- up of the World Series of Europe, says the most important consideration is how you spread that $1,000 from the very start. There’s definitely a right way and wrong way to do it – and he learned the wrong way first. ‘I’m reformed now – I’m a good boy,’ he laughs.
‘What I used to do was deposit between $500 and $1k all on one site. I’d start off at $1/$2 (no-limit hold’em) and always play two tables and have 50% of my bankroll spread across them. As soon as I got to $1,600 or $1,800, I’d move up to $2/$4. By the end of the session, I’d usually end up with everything on the table.’
Tabatabai explains that the main problem with committing all his eggs to one basket was the psychological barrier that comes from playing with what was essentially scared money.
‘It was super- risky. If I had a big decision to make it was so tough, because I knew if I got it wrong I’d be wiped out. I’d work for six or seven days to get to $10/$20 with a 4k stack and make a bad call against what I thought was a big bluff… and be stuck.’
After clocking up thousands of hours of online experience since, Tabatabai says that if he was given $1,000 to spin up today, he’d still open up two tables at $1/$2, to counteract the vagaries of variance, but the main difference would be the way he distributed his funds.
‘I think the safest and quickest way is to have between 20% and 25% exposure at all times. So I’d open the two tables of $1/$2 with $100 at each.’
Another fan of the multi-tabling/ limited exposure technique is Wayne Blodwell (aka ‘blodders03’ or ‘Borg Queen’), a Bad Beat Trader who turned $400 into $15k in one six-hour session and frequently turns three figures into five. Multi-tabling not only staves off variance, says Blodwell, but it can also stave off distraction. ‘With one table I make stupid decisions. With two I keep my focus on the players,’ he says.
Like Tabatabai, Blodwell has never had problems making money online – only keeping it. Staying disciplined with a limited bankroll is key. ‘When you get past $10/$20, you shouldn’t put more than half of your bankroll at any one table – like I used to. If you’re doing a spin-up, put a quarter.’
PICK YOUR PREY
If a successful spin-up is on your mind then picking the right game is an absolute must, says Ed Hollis. The player better known as ‘bluescouse’ has been detailing the highs and lows of his online poker career in his blog ‘88% Concentration’ over the past two years. In that time he has run up a bankroll from nothing to over £100k several times, hitting a high of £235k on one occasion (and later losing it all). In his experience, leaving your ego at the door is obligatory.
‘Don’t join a table where all the players are decent or good if you can help it,’ says Hollis. ‘Even if you have an edge, it puts a lot of pressure on your bankroll and increases the luck factor.’ Telltale signs of weak players should be easy to spot: calling a lot pre- flop, half-pot bet sizes and calling off chips with weak hands consistently.
SHORT SHARP SHOCK
There is a more straightforward way to spin up some cash than simply playing at a higher level. Buying in very short and looking to shove pre-flop with good hands is a common straegy online. If you’re buying in very short (say 20 big blinds), then InsidePoker writer and BlueSquare pro Karl Mahrenholz says data-mining is vital. If you don’t have the software, however, literally sitting and watching can yield similar results.
‘Ignore the lobby stats,’ says Karl. ‘They can be quite misleading. If there’s been one huge pot then the average pot might be a lot bigger than all the other tables when in reality it’s playing a lot tighter. I think you get a much better idea if you open up the table. You’re looking for players who are raising a lot pre-flop. You won’t get that from the lobby.’
A feature common to players like Tabatabai and Blodwell is that because they find spinning up so easy, their impatience to move up gets the better of them. ‘When I got to the mid-stakes, $2/$4 or $5/$10, I’d usually calm down, telling myself, “This time I’m going to play sensibly.” But I’d play a week or two, get to $30k and instead of playing for five or six months, I’d want to be a dick and move up to $10/$20.’
If he had his time again, Tabatabai claims that to safely spin up, he would set himself daily goals. ‘The first day I’d try to win five buy-ins and double my bankroll to $2k. The next day I’d play two $2/$4 tables with a $200 buy-in and do the same thing. I’d do a lot of hit-and-runs. By that I mean I’d sit there until I hit $800 and then leave. Let’s say you’re unsuccessful twice and you’re successful twice.
The times you’re unsuccessful you’ve lost $400 and the times you’re successful you’ve made $600 profit on each table. That means $800 profit overall. For the next day you’re up to $2,800. I’d spend the next five or so days doing the same hit-and-runs at $2/$4. After those five days, you could easily be up to $6k or $7k, giving you a lot more space to do stuff.’
Blodwell reckons the very idea of a ‘spin-up’ can mislead players into trying to do things as quickly as possible, even if it means sacrificing optimal play. ‘In the past I might have been going out in half an hour and I’d still sit down and play. Spin-ups can happen quickly, but don’t just sit there and think, “I have to do this in ten minutes” because you’ll just end up making poor decisions.’
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