Drop Down, or Bleed Chips?
This week i have been talking a lot about bankroll management and when to move up in stakes, but i haven’t yet touched on when to drop down. There is a stigma attached to this, and most people when faced with a dwindling bankroll tend to try and “go big or go home.” They play more tables, bleed chips, pull moves they normally wouldn’t. In short they are tilting, and bleeding away their chips, and wrecking their bankroll. The reality is, you know when you should drop to lower stakes. Your bankroll is telling you, your pokertracker is telling you. To boil it down, and simplify it: when you have fewer than 20 buy ins at the stakes you’re playing, you should drop down.
It’s not much more complicated than that for players playing tournaments or NLHE. But i want to dispel the stigma. Dropping down a level in stakes is not a defeat, nor is it something to be ashamed of. It should be looked at as another tool in your arsenal to help you refine your play and keep your bankroll in tact for as long as possible (if not forever..who likes reloading?).
The first step is recognizing that you’re not playing winning poker. You will see this much more quickly than the 25,000 hands required to move up in stakes. This involves dropping below the 20 buy in’s required. At this point you should be looking at lower stake games, and planning your return to the higher stake ones. When you do drop down to a level that you’ve presumably already conquered, chalking up a few easy wins will do wonders to boost your confidence.
When you have a few wins under your belt, and your bankroll is back to the level it was before going card dead, move back up and play aggressive poker without worrying about destroying your bankroll.
