Updates

MarkBlade.com - The Home of PROFESSIONAL POKER

Updates &
Elaborations:

Please look at the very first page (cover page) of your book. If it says "First Edition" only about 2/3 of the way down, then the following updates apply. If it says, "Revised First Edition," then you can ignore the following updates as they've already been corrected in your version of the book.

As the first printing was quite small, few of you will have the "First Edition."

Page 114: The bankroll for no-limit players assumes that you are playing in the popular version of no-limit as it is today with a low ceiling maximum buy-in, which is usually at most 100 times the big blind. Of course, as you could obviously conclude for yourself, if the game is truly no-limit, then the recommended bankroll amount would be much too low as you could theoretically buy-in for your entire bankroll amount and lose it all with one ill-timed all-in move against another huge stack. Also, you must take serious notice of both the drop-down advice and stated assumption that you are an expert, along with incorporating the previously learned Bankroll Facts #1 & #3. Because of the great risk that players will assume they are experts when they are not (along with the fact that games could get much tougher to beat in the future than they currently are now with all the no-limit novices regularly found at most tables today), here are some modifications that are in the next printing of the book that you should know about. If you truly are an expert and are playing at a table that doesn't include many other experts, then the current recommended bankroll could apply. However, I think it is much more prudent for even those who consider themselves as experts to have about twice as much. If you consider yourself great, then use two and a half times as much. And if you consider yourself very good, then use three times as much. If you are losing a third to a half of your bankroll more than once a year, you are almost certainly playing at too high of stakes and are not truly the caliber player you think you are. Or you are playing with too many other great players. Either way, you are playing too high for your current bankroll.

Also, if you and most of your opponents are regularly buying in with more than 100 times the big blind, then you also need to increase your bankroll to account for this. So after factoring in everything above, if you and your opponents are regularly buying-in with 200 times the big blind, an easy rule of thumb is to just go ahead and double your bankroll. Triple it for 300 times the big-blind buy-ins, etc.

Current page156: Greg Raymer, the 2004 World Series Of Poker Winner of $5 million, used to solicit backers on the internet without much luck. So instead, he had to earn his entry fee for the WSOP through an internet satellite. After winning the big one, I can only imagine how many potential backers who had previously refused his offers, were kicking themselves for not believing in him.

Corrected page 156 as it will read in the next printing: Greg Raymer, the 2004 World Series Of Poker winner, used to solicit backers on the internet before his big score. As he mentions on his website, FossilmanPoker.com, he "caught a lot of flack from the naysayers out there" over this. Even though most scoffed unfairly at his proposal, some smart investors stepped up and partially funded his playing bankroll. He used some of that bankroll to play a $160 internet satellite, which he parlayed into the WSOP entrance fee. When he won the $5 million grand prize, his prescient backers were rewarded with 42% of it. I can only imagine how many of those internet naysayers were kicking themselves for not believing in him.

Mark Blade Comment: I apologize to Greg Raymer and my readers for this small inaccuracy. I incorrectly assumed that since Raymer won his WSOP entry via a satellite, that he hadn't secured or utilized the backers he had originally sought out. In fact, he had. On the one hand, I'm very happy to know that Raymer was successful with his landing of backers. On the other hand, I'm a little sad. My incorrect version had an ever greater Hollywood/classic-underdog style storyline where no one believes in him, he then proves everyone wrong, and he finally takes home the entire $5 million. Oh well, $2.9 million is still a fairy tale ending we can all envy.

By the way, it is quite a feat for someone without a very high public profile to attain backing in this manner. Although in effect, Raymer had earned a high profile on the internet with his considerable amount of very intelligent poker chat room postings, thus earning the confidence of his backers. His considerable business talents and long-standing reputation for honesty and integrity also helped greatly in his staking endeavors. FYI - Greg Raymer has a poker book coming out sometime in the near future. Once it is released, I'll certainly post a review of it. Suffice it to say that I have very high hopes and expectations for it.