Staying Ahead of Your Game
By Susie Isaacs

A friend of mine coerced me into writing a book a couple of years ago, entitled, MsPoker: Up Close and Personnel. I use the word coerced because it was never my intention to write instructional poker. On the other hand I do enjoy writing about poker and poker players. I was informed that my style of writing was unique and seemed to be enjoyed by my many fans through my years as a journalist at Card Player and presently, Poker Digest magazines.

With that in mind I decided, why not? Maybe, just maybe, there are poker players out there that would enjoy my story and possibly benefit from some of it.

MsPoker was never meant to be an instructional poker book but I felt I had enough tournament success to at least supply the reader with how I achieved my success.

I choose to write a minimal amount of instruction on the games I had been successful in and collaborated with a friend to supply the reader with some solid tournament advice.

The book became a trilogy; my story, some poker strategy and, last but not least, some of my favorite Chip Chatter columns.

In my book I preach about money management and the importance of good (and honest) record keeping. I admit I do not play every poker game. Omaha is my "weakest link." I picked my favorite games and the games I had achieved the most success in - seven-card stud, limit hold'em, and no-limit hold'em - and concentrated on perfecting them. That's one way of staying ahead of your game.

I specialize in tournament play and money management can be the difference between a winning day and a losing day, or a winning week and a losing week. I choose my tournaments based on several criteria: buy-in amount, rebuys, structure, number of players in the field, and possible return on my investment (overlay). I generally will not enter a tournament unless I can win a minimum of 10 times my original investment.

Rebuy tournaments are not my favorite because of the expense but the return on your money can be much greater. I have a formula for rebuy tournaments based on money management. I don't make a rebuy just because it is available. I evaluate the situation - my chip count, the amount of chips received for the rebuy, number of players - all these variables have to meet my standards.

Let's say you are playing a small buy-in no-limit tournament and you triple through before the end of the rebuy period, now you have to ask yourself, "is it feasible to make a rebuy? Are the added chips going to make a big difference?" In a limit game the additional chips might give you some extra play time but in no-limit, generally speaking, a single rebuy is not going to make much difference. Saving a twenty dollar bill here and there eventually adds up to hundreds.

The Orleans Casino in Las Vegas has some of the most reasonable weekly buy-in tournaments with unlimited rebuys. With smart money management you can play these tournaments on a very limited bankroll. Let's say you play three to four of these a week-the buy-in is $20 and the rebuy is $10-if you limit yourself to only one rebuy per tournament you can play them for $90-$120 weekly. If you disregard money management and rebuy over and over again, it could cost you $50 to $100 per tournament and that could add up to as much as $500 weekly, that's a huge swing. On a larger scale, the Mirage offers $60 and $120 buy-in tourneys with rebuys. You do the math. It all comes down to discipline and how much you are willing to invest. I have seen players rebuy so many times that they would have to place in the top three spots to recoup their investment, never mind coming out a winner. That is not what I consider good money management and shows very little self-discipline. This same lack of discipline philosophy can spill over into your game and become a tell that you are not a controlled player.

There are several other poker rooms in Las Vegas, such as the Las Vegas Club, Sam's Town, the Sahara and Sunset Station that offer tournaments with only one rebuy. I especially like these because the rebuy builds the prize pool but forces the players to play better, knowing they only have one rebuy available. In these tournaments I factor in the cost of the rebuy before I buy-in but if I manage to meet my standards before the rebuy period is over, then that is money saved. That is one more way to stay ahead of your game.

Some of the major tournaments today include an evening schedule of tournaments along with their main events. These second chance or twilight tournaments generally offer rebuys and without good money management, they can cost hundreds of dollars to play. I enjoy playing these but I play on what I call "one bullet" and rarely do I ever rebuy. On a few occasions in no-limit, if I am eliminated early, but feel good about my game and my table, I have been known to make one rebuy. With this attitude I can play several of these tournaments and therefore allow myself several chances to win. I would rather have seven or eight chances to win one of these tournaments than to put all my eggs into one basket and have nothing left for tomorrow. One more reason to practice good money management and stay ahead of your game.

Good money management can keep you ahead of your game by keeping you in action.