SKLANSKY BUCKS

Well first off after a rough go with the bankroll challenge, well not too bad really, I've decided trying to do it on PokerStars is too difficult because that's where my bankroll is and where I play to make money. Also sorting the challenge games from my regular games on Stars using PokerTracker just proved extremely difficult once I moved up to the $3.40 games. So I have put it on hold for now and I will start it back up on Full Tilt the first of February. I don't have a bankroll to speak of on FTP, only about $75 and I need to start winning on there just to prove that I can and build a bankroll on there so moving the challenge to FTP just makes sense. I made around $50 in the challenge on Stars by the way.

So now for the topic of this blog, Sklansky bucks and of course variance. This has been my worst online poker month in like.... forever! No, this isn't a whine post! It happens, no one can run good all the time and it was just my turn. If you don't understand variance and learn to cope with it you'll never make it in poker.

Sklansky bucks is a really interesting way to think about variance.

The official definition of Sklansky Bucks is as follows:

"Sklansky bucks are theoretical money won or lost based on the Fundamental Theorem of Poker. The FTOP is discussed in The Theory of Poker. Basically, if you lose a hand but your opponent made mistakes, such as drawing to a flush without proper pot odds, you may lose the pot but you have earned Sklansky bucks by causing your opponent to make a mistake. On the flip side. If you are drawing without odds but you get lucky and draw out on your opponent, you win the pot, but you lose Sklansky bucks."

from: http://www.sklanskybucks.com/

So that said I am due for some serious cash out in Sklansky bucks and I will hopefully collect this weekend and improve my outcome for January. I will be playing in the Turbo Takedown on Sunday after winning my seat this month in the first satellite I played for 500 FPPS. I am working on a Sunday Million seat and this time if I win one I will be playing. So here's to breaking the Sklansky bank and cashing in those bucks.

Below is my EV graph for January the blue line is net expected won in chips and the pink line is actual chips won, so as you can see I was definitely running a bit below expected value. My Sklansky bank runneth over.