Then a flower grew out that sand...

Interesting 2+2 post from a long-respected poster as he spirals the 57 buyins to busto. It's worth looking in to how different people view busto. Suzzer doesn't seem to have that much of a problem with hitting bottom, reloading and grinding back up. I've been playing with other people's money since day 3, so for me to lose all that and have to start over with my money would devastate me, to the point of quitting poker forever, or at least no longer viewing it as a money-making enterprise.



So think about what busto would mean to you and poker, and if you couldn't handle it (as I couldn't), keep super-close track of your play, and drop the fuck down if you get outside your [insert corny Caro-ism for "comfort zone"]. My first advice is to use the spreadsheet. Set it up properly and it will tell you all you need to know about your expected wins, winning confidence, and intervals on $/tourney and ROI and all that good stuff. If you know Excel, you can even write your own addons (RB calculator is great--not for Party, obv.) If you have trouble figuring out just how the fuck Excel works, keep in mind the 50-buyin guideline-- if you get below 50 BIs, drop. If you get below 50 BIs at that level, drop.

This hearkens back to the ego thing. The first step to being successful at pokah is to leave ego at the door. It will only blind you to the odds. This was never hard for me, since I assume I'm a failure at whatever I'm doing no matter how much evidence stares me in the face. Every time I load a table, I feel like I'm the worst player at the table, until some 14-year-old playing on daddy's credit card raises me on the river with the bottom 1-card straight. That makes it better.

We out like Stephen Noon.