Living through the Lows
There’s no question that even the greatest, most skilled poker players have slumps. In a slump you might see a bankroll you’ve been working on for months or even years go from tops to dumps over a series of hands you “should have” won. At the end of the day, running out of bankroll but still knowing that you have what it takes to win at the table is an icy situationyou know you can play, but the nature of the game of poker is that there will be ups and there will be downs.
Sometimes, too, it might happen that you run your bankroll down into nothing left to hang on to. These spots, such as the famous story of Archie Karas, who ran his roll up to $40 million and then back down to nothing, might be patches in the road of an otherwise great poker career, but knowing when to stop and take a breath out of the game (and get your bankroll back to where you aren’t risking whether you pay rent to play) is just as vital in this situation as any other aspect of the game.
Smart poker players are also in a way bookkeepersthey only risk what they can afford to lose.
