From Rags to Riches ***COMPLETE!!!!***

We didn't even think about that... Thanks man, I really don't wanna get my account banned on pokerstars for something stupid like that.

All time BR high reached today. $85.17 as of right now. I'm feeling really good about my game lately, although that could just be the positive variance talking. To give u guys a lil peek into how good I'm running right now, I'm currently running 56bb/100 for the week. I've made $42.89 in close to 4k hands. All skill imo (jk obviously).

If this rate keeps up I will hopefully be at $100+ in the next couple days, and once that happens, the BR should start building pretty quickly.

You know, I'm really thankful that I am having such a big heater right now, but in the back of my head I can't help but think "It's about time" lol. That might be really selfish but damn it, January was a "rough" month for me. I would have been WAAAY down if it hadn't been for playing 8k hands at FR. But that's neither here nor there now. Lets just hope this upswing continues.

Nice job on the heater!

Def reitirate what Dev said tho, what you and your friend were doing is pretty shady

I look at it like this: You can allow yourself some emotional enjoyment of a heater because you really can't avoid beating yourself up when you run bad. Take the good with the bad, then, right?

The goal is to be emotionless at the table, but it's difficult. Away from the table, do whatever feels right.

Yea dev, I'm not sitting at the table thinking "Oh man, this is AWESOME!!!" lol That would just be stupid, and it would affect my game. I'm just looking for spots to get my money in good like always. Not playing marginal hands OOP.

One thing I noticed I've been doing more is opening up in late position. Which is actually kind of new for me. I was so timid when I was breaking even/running bad that I would only play premiums. Now when I'm in the CO or on the Button I'll open anything decent if it's limped around or folded to me. My EP stats are pretty tight (between 8/8 and 15/15) but when I get to the CO it opens up to 24/18 and the Button is 30/24 which I like a lot.

And what me and my friend were doing wasn't really "shady." It was more of a live sweat for both of us. It was like having a coach at the table with you. If we were in a hand vs. each other (which happened quite a bit) we would play it the same way we would against any villain. The only time we would tell the other person our hand is after a hand was over or if we got in a tough spot. (Like we had a top pair good kicker type hand and villain donks into me on turn or river or something.) Basically we used it as a hand reading exercise. We would both try to put our opponents on a range, then compare it to each other's thoughts and see how similar they were. It was actually really good practice, and I'm not gonna feel ashamed for doing it.

When I'm running hot I sit at the table thinking "This is awesome!!".

Had another 5 BI downswing. BR is at $75.80. Pisses me off, but I've had some stuff on my mind lately about college and I'm not focused on the game really. I'm thinking that college isn't MY thing, you know? I'm kinda stressing about though, because if I quit college and go active for the Marines, my parents are going to FLIP.

Ever since I was a little kid, all I would hear is "You HAVE to go to college, you HAVE to get a good paying job, etc." I mean shit, when I enlisted for the Marines, my dad didn't talk to me for 2 months. TWO MONTHS. I don't even want to know what he would do if I decided to quit college... If I DID go active, it would probably only be temporary before I went back to school, and I could even work on my degree while in the Corps. I don't know, I've got a lot of thinking to do...

Originally Posted by dranger7070

Had another 5 BI downswing. BR is at $75.80. Pisses me off, but I've had some stuff on my mind lately about college and I'm not focused on the game really. I'm thinking that college isn't MY thing, you know? I'm kinda stressing about though, because if I quit college and go active for the Marines, my parents are going to FLIP.

Ever since I was a little kid, all I would hear is "You HAVE to go to college, you HAVE to get a good paying job, etc." I mean shit, when I enlisted for the Marines, my dad didn't talk to me for 2 months. TWO MONTHS. I don't even want to know what he would do if I decided to quit college... If I DID go active, it would probably only be temporary before I went back to school, and I could even work on my degree while in the Corps. I don't know, I've got a lot of thinking to do...

What are you going to college for? It might be worth dropping if its something like art history.

I'm getting my Bachelor's in Political Science which is basically just a bull shit degree to get prepped to get into Law school.

Originally Posted by dranger7070

I'm getting my Bachelor's in Political Science which is basically just a bull shit degree to get prepped to get into Law school.

Hmmm, do you have high grades + extra curriculars? Law school is tough to get into from what I hear. But if you are able to make it to that then there is definately some pretty good financial opportunities.

I basically just went to college to please my family. I got a bachelors in software engineering and fucked off for a few years. My goal at this point is to never use that degree. My advice should be taken with a grain of salt.

Do you really want to study law? Is it something that you're passionate about? Once you make a decision on what to do, forget about changing your mind, stick with it. Oh, and before or after a session is probably a bad time to make life decisions.

My grades aren't the best right now, and I feel like I'm kinda just going along with the crowd by being in college. I'm pretty sure its almost all for my parents at this point. I have no motivation to do anything for it, HOWEVER I AM pretty passionate about the law. I wanted to be a lawyer when I was a little kid, kind of went away from the idea for a little while when I met my ex, now I'm back on it. But I don't think I'm ready to go to school for another 6-8 years just yet.

My grades aren't the best right now, and I feel like I'm kinda just going along with the crowd by being in college. I'm pretty sure its almost all for my parents at this point. I have no motivation to do anything for it, HOWEVER I AM pretty passionate about the law. I wanted to be a lawyer when I was a little kid, kind of went away from the idea for a little while when I met my ex, now I'm back on it. But I don't think I'm ready to go to school for another 6-8 years just yet.

TBH, I can't wait to get back to school... to each their own.

If you really want to study law you probably should find a way to do it. If not now, fit it into your plans for later. It's kind of hard to leave school and then go back later, so keep that in mind.

Quick update:

Couple of things, took a shot at 5nl this morning with my $95 roll. Went pretty good. Made $7ish, so over the $100 mark w00t! I'll also be posting the hand that made the session/biggest pot I've ever won later.

In other news, I'm quitting college after this year (for now). Gonna go active after I've served 6 months with my reserve unit (required). So basically next year I'm just gonna chill out in my apartment with some friends, play a SHIT ton of poker, work, and work out a lot. Gonna be a good year.

Heres the hand. The Ace on the river life tilted me so bad lol. With him 3-betting PF I don't think he has AA or a T very often. I told a later on when I showed him the hand, what I put him on. I said JJ or QQ maybe KK (although unlikely obv). If he wants to slowplay AA after I 4-bet PF then hes a moron. Anyways heres the hand:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.05 BB (6 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB ($8.34)
Hero (UTG) ($8.38)
MP ($3.03)
CO ($13.56)
Button ($11.06)
SB ($10.79)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with ,
Hero raises to $0.25, 4 folds, BB raises to $0.50, Hero raises to $1.30, BB calls $0.80

Flop: ($2.62) , , (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $2.10, BB calls $2.10

Turn: ($6.82) (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $4.98 (All-In), BB calls $4.94 (All-In)

River: ($16.70) (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: $16.70 | Rake: $0.80

Results in white below:
BB had J, J (two pair, Jacks and tens).
Hero had K, K (two pair, Kings and tens).
Outcome: Hero won $15.90

Well, I moved to 5nl this morning with a roll of $104.99. About 60-70 hands into the session I got AA and it got stacked by 23o for 100bb lol. So that put down to $98ish. (I had lost some through blinds and c-bets, etc. As soon as that hand was over I hopped in the shower, so I wouldn't spew off any buy ins and I could tell that I was on tilt. Watched an episode of lost on ABC.

After that got back on, and decided I was gonna buy in for 50bbs until I get used to the new blind levels. Well, I got AJ early on in the 2nd session. Flop came KJJ. I bet guy ships I call. K on the river, he shows K6o. Yay for him. Very next hand. I have AJ again. I hit TPTK. I bet he raises. I call. Turn blank I ship it for about $1 more. He calls. A on river. He shows a backdoor flush that hit. No pair no other draw. Whatever. BR is at $93ish. I'm moving back down if it hits 90.

Thats all for now kiddies.

Wow that sounds really sick man but I really admire what you're doing so GL and kep at it. You seem to have your head screwed on, so I'm sure you are going to have great success. This op was one of the main things that attracted me to joining FTR so thanks

It kind of amazes me that MY blog would attract someone to FTR, but kind of cool I guess. And I can't believe someone would say I have my head screwed on right lol. Maybe it just seems like that in the posts? I feel like I complain way too much on here, but I guess it's my way of getting it out of my system, instead of spewing chips on the table. (Which I am liable to do from time to time, I'm not afraid to admit it.)

Thanks for posting CTS!

Not that anyone will care (I think? lol) I ended today up after 671 hands. Ended up ~$2. Which isn't bad considering I started the day with a $13 downswing. Managed to get my head back into the game at the end of the day, and got some donkeys to spew to me, which shouldn't be a surprise considering the level I'm playing.

I'm actually pretty proud that I was able to pull myself out of the whole I made this morning. BR sits at ~$106 so new high (hopefully I can say that a lot more in the days/weeks/months to come ).

Short stacking 5nl for now seems to be doing the trick. It's only 50 cents more than I was buying in for at 2nl, so the stack size feels comfortable, plus I think my SS game is a lot more solid than my 100bb game (then again, whose isn't?). Once my roll gets up to $120-125 I'm going to start buying in full. Just trying to get myself used to the blind levels, and stop getting pot-struck with hands that I know are too good.

New mini-op:

-Play 3500 hands a week (500/day on average).

This is brought about because I was looking at a graph in poker copilot that shows how many hands you played on a given day, and my oh my, the swongs. There is a huge spike one day, then two or three days of 200 hands. It's retarded. The whole point of this is to GRIND a roll not "play" one.

No more being a casual player. Time to strap myself in and get ready to grind it out.

Good work with the roll, man! Way to hang in there. The only reason I took a break from poker was to let you catch up to me. Now it's on like Cheech and Chong hittin' Michael Phelps' bong! Fired up! Race ya to $200.

Yeah very nice progress with your BR, both you guys have developed your bankrolls well while i've been away, you've set a nice yardstick - I'm keener than ever to get 100$ now haha!!

Lol thanks for letting me catch up nibbles . I'll take that action on the race to $200 though!

Should we wait for slevin to catch up?

Quick update before bed. Played 700 hands today. Down ~$5 so BR is sitting at $113. No biggie, got it all in 100bb+ deep with KT when I had two pair, guy hit trips on KT383 board.

Going to bed pretty early (for me) tonight. It's about 1:30am here so I'll probly wake up around 8am and grind for a couple hours before class. Hopefully can make some moniez.

Originally Posted by dranger7070

My grades aren't the best right now, and I feel like I'm kinda just going along with the crowd by being in college. I'm pretty sure its almost all for my parents at this point. I have no motivation to do anything for it

Sucks man but join the club. I'll be graduating soon but I know how dumb/annoying it felt as a freshman (which is you, right?). Truthfully, the school part doesn't get much better. I decided to do psychology for the hell of it but now I can relate stuff to poker/why I do or think certain things in life/etc. which turns out to be kind of cool. Good luck man.

Good Luck dranger7070 !!!


keep at it

fuck Kmind beat me in here

out back buddy

*sigh* Downswings aren't fun. I'm still buying in for 50bb's yet somehow I've managed to drop $13 in the last two days. $7 today alone. I'm so sick of going on a heater, then immediately afterward having a downswing.

The downswing doesn't completely negate the heater, just takes enough off to make it pretty much useless. Irritating as hell. I just want one heater that at the end of it I just go back to a normally increasing roll.

BR ~$105

I guess its a little too much to ask that AA holds against 34o? Down to $99 done with cash for the night.

This weeks sexy sexy graph:

A lot of people seem to think that short stacking reduces variance - this is often wrong.

Consider this. When you play short (20bb) you are often correct to be ready to stack off with top/second pair. When you approach middling stacks (60bb) a stack off range is more around the TPTK range. As stacks approach 100bb you'd feel most comfortable stacking off with two pair. When stacks approach 200bb you tend to not want to stack off with anything smaller than a straight.

While this explanation is wrong in many ways and simplistic it illustrates a principle that is valid - when short stacked all-ins should happen more frequently if you are playing correctly. With a bigger stack you might pot control a TPWK type hand and end up investing 20bb in it - with a 50bb stack it's good enough to go all in because there are no reverse implied odds threatening you so you get the money in faster and more of it.

While it's perhaps not absolutely true that short stacking has a higher variance than deep stacking the argument here should serve as an example that to assume that short stacking has smaller variance is probably a logical fallacy.

In other words, when you see variance as a short stack do not tell yourself: This shouldn't happen because I short stack. Don't go looking for problems that might not be there - try to be realistic about the fact that short stacking also has quite serious variance. Short stacking and moving down are similar in that they are confidence building exercises - you make your decisions simpler. With a short stack it's much easier to tell if you made the right decision and calculate it mathematically. This should help stave off tilt when you encounter the inevitable... variance.

I didn't read everything, but I don't advise shortstacking. You're at practice stakes, so practice the way you're gonna play when you get higher.

If I could start my poker career over, I would start at 2nl and full stack as many tables as I'm comfortable with, making sure to leave time to improve my game. I think if you aren't afraid of losing money, you will make more in the long term.

I stopped short stacking yesterday, and obviously it didn't help. But yea, I'm not really afraid of losing money, I just don't like it. My reasoning behind short stacking was that I just wanted to get used to the blinds, with as little losses as possible. (Apparently, that didn't work out so well, but meh. lol)

I've gotten close to 4k hands at 5nl so far, so I figured last night it was time to start buying in for 100bb. I'm at ~$99 right now BR-wise, but I'm not too worried about moving down as of yet. If I hit $80 I'll make the switch, but not a minute sooner. These guys are just as bad as the people at 2nl, if not WORSE.

As far as I can tell, they like to bluff just about every pot lol. Thank God for stupid people bluffing when I have AQ and flop comes AAA lol.

Just got done playing in a 1.20 9-man sng. Crushed it the whole way through. I felt kinda bad for the guy I was playing HU against. He was so straightforward. Raised the button I think once. Folded it most of the time, never 3-bet PF, and he was a huge dog in chip stack. I had 11k when it got to HU, he had 3kish i think.

It lasted for a little while, just becuz i knew i could get my money in way good, and i could wait and just steal the blinds. last hand was my AJ of clubs vs. his K7 clubs. Game over.

It was pretty fun to play a sng today. I might start sprinkling one in whenever I get burnt out on cash...

Great thread, gave it 5 spades.

Your operation is very similar to one of my own operations. Only difference was that I started with 20 USD and not 10 USD. I ran it up to 2700 in about 1000 hours- this was the time limit for my experiment. Most of those hours were spent from 20 USD- 1000USD.

Your most frustrating part of the journey is over. You have build such a tremendous edge at micro that your BB per hour grows for every day. Variance might hold you back at times, but with boomswitch and huge edge your roll will skyrocket soon.

I started a new experiment to prove the advantage of aggressive bankroll management when skill edge is already huge. So far I have clocked in 12 hours at 20NL/4 tables with a starting bankroll of just 200 USD. Had it not been for some late night superturbo sngs (all luck- no skill) bankroll had been 345, but is now 297.5 USD.

From what I have seen from your post you are probably better than 90%+ of the players I have played against. This journey is probably more about learning than about money so it is very nice to have good padding on your roll. Only downside to proper bankroll management is that it requires quite a lot of play to reach higher stakes.

You seem kind of obsessed with the state of your bankroll. Your obsession should be on your decisions, because that is the only thing you can control. A mistake should really bother you, but a cooler/bad beat is rather funny IMO. I usually smile when I get them.

Good Luck on your journey and may most of your decisions be great!

Hey thanks SP, and yea, I really am focused on my BR. It is pretty stupid, and I know that, but for some reason, after every big pot I HAVE to look at it. It's such a noobie mistake to make, but I do it anyways.

Starting today, (thanks to your post) I'm going to try and go the whole week without looking at bb/100, $ won/lost, or my BR. I'll let you know how I end up on Sunday, or if I fail at not looking.

Thanks for posting

Starting today, (thanks to your post) I'm going to try and go the whole week without looking at bb/100, $ won/lost, or my BR. I'll let you know how I end up on Sunday, or if I fail at not looking.

I have this same habit. Good luck, I should try that too.

Constantly checking bankroll is something everyone does. I did it too, I knew it was wrong, because I had been spying FTR for a long time before I started playing and was well aware of variance.

What I did was to put a post-it note over the place that showed the bankroll. I still remember what it said: "PPP (positional power poker)-never enter a pot without initiative!"

My mini experiment has worked out well and a couple of more hours into it BR is 327 USD. It is so many shortstackers nowadays and the discussion we had about shortstackers earlier has helped a lot.

Look forward to hearing about your progress.

So, just finished a 250-300 hand session. Stacked off twice and won both, one of which I will post in a second. Session went good, actually GREAT, as far as I can tell. Never checked my BR, or poker tracking software to see how much I won. Just decided to let the cards fall where they will, and if I win, I win.

It seemed to do a lot for my mental state. I was focusing more on the tables, even though my roommate was watching a pretty good movie right next to me, I resisted the urge to look at it TOO often. Never got on FTR while I was playing, only thing I had open that I was using other than the tables was pokerstove, to crunch some numbers while it was slow, and an interesting spot came up before.

I think not looking at it is going to do me a world of good. Anyways, thank you KK for just limp/calling PF and allowing me to suck out. No clue what KTo was thinking, but wutever, must have gotten caught up in the moment .

The reason I just flatted was because the guy that donk led into me has been do so a LOT lately. I have yet to play back at him, so I figured I would let him continue to bet into me. I felt I would win more off him by just calling his bets than by raising, even with flush draw on board. Obviously once the shoves start happening I'm in .

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.05 BB (6 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB ($1.09)
UTG ($10.59)
MP ($8.47)
CO ($6.53)
Hero (Button) ($5)
SB ($4.97)

Preflop: Hero is Button with ,
1 fold, MP calls $0.05, CO calls $0.05, Hero bets $0.30, 1 fold, BB calls $0.25, MP calls $0.25, CO calls $0.25

Flop: ($1.22) , , (4 players)
BB checks, MP checks, CO bets $0.30, Hero calls $0.30, BB calls $0.30, MP raises to $8.17 (All-In), CO calls $5.93 (All-In), Hero calls $4.40 (All-In), BB calls $0.49 (All-In)

Turn: ($19.17) (4 players, 4 all-in)

River: ($19.17) (4 players, 4 all-in)

Total pot: $19.17 | Rake: $0.95

Results:
Hero had Q, Q (three of a kind, Queens).
BB mucked K, 10 (high card, King).
MP had K, K (one pair, Kings).
CO had Q, 3 (two pair, Queens and threes).
Outcome: Hero won $15.31, CO won $2.91

$20 pots at 5NL are always sweet. Good job. And nice discipline not checking your bankroll afterwards, cos i'd HAFTA check that badboy out after two stack offs. Just to feel good.

To be honest, I didn't feel any need to check it, which at the time wass surprising to me. But looking back now, it's obvious I didn't need to check it because I did well. No need to check it when I KNOW I'm winning.

The hard part is going to come when I lose a BI or two, then win one back, then lose half a stack, then double up, miss a few c-bets then win a big pot. I'll have NO idea where I'm at BR wise. That is when it will be tough to not check. Hopefully I have enough willpower to not check it. And yea, $20 pot is sweet .

Dranger checking in on you buddy. Sounds like you doing pretty well at 5nl. I to have stepped up with mixed results. Keep up the good work.

Hey I'd really like to talk with you some time about your decision on college/marines!

Didn't play at all yesterday. It was a friend's bday and we all went on to the bar, and got drunk. I <3 being 18 and still getting served lol. There was this really cute chick that came with us, and we talked and flirted for a lil while, but I found out from my friend that she has a boyfriend. Epic fail.

In other news, just finished playing a ~220 hand session. Still haven't checked BR/bb/100 so thats a success. I'm pretty sure I finished up around a BI. I got off of one table with a ~$12 stack plus I stacked a 50bb stack early on. So I think not checking it actually is helping quite a bit.

I'm sure a lot of it is positive variance, but I don't feel so stressed out about losing a pot, or c-betting and getting called. Let's see if this can keep up .

It has happened a couple of time that I have accidentally bought in with my entire bankroll on a limit table (no limit buy in).

Quite scary when you discover your bankroll is gone and wonder what happened.

Hopefully you will get a nice surprise on Sunday.

Yea, I hope so too lol, but if I don't I won't be too upset I don't think. I've been playing pretty solid (well, for me that is) poker so far this week. If I can keep that up, the money won't matter so much as long as I am making the right decisions at the table.

Hey dranger your playing 5nl now correct? Talk about what you feel the difference is between 2nl and 5nl. I know most say there is no diff but I find it is although I haven't really identified it yet. I did notice right off talbe selection is different as there aren't near as many tables running 35% flops etc.
I played like god yesterday finishing up several bi's then this morning I sucked big time. I didn't look at my winrate or anything all throughout the session but I knew I was sucking. I do think not checking is good but damn it's hard. Well keep up the good work buddy.

Yea man, I'm playing da 5nl's now. I play 6-max so it may be (is) different from FR, but it is essentially the same game. I generally get a super nit (~8/5 lol) on a table nowadays, but there are still plenty of retards to be exploited. Bunch of loose/passives that still call down with 3rd pair no kicker.

The real change is that oftentimes I feel like I'm getting 3-bet a lot more, but I figure thats to be expected every time I move up in stakes. Players tend to be on the more aggressive side on the flop, but once you get them to the turn, their hand pretty much turns face up.

As long as you have a decent (or even marginal) post flop game, you will crush.


PS I keep trying to catch you on IRC but I must not be on at the right times, I'll hop on right now just to check. You said you wanted to talk to me about the Marines/college situation, and I'm always open to more opinions.

So yea, this month went EXTREMELY well for me, especially after the breakevenness of January. February was my biggest winning month +$78 for the month, got the BR over $100 and I am playing 5nl regularly now.



As for my weekly update for today. I DID get a nice surprise . At the beginning of the week I was ~$120 and now my BR is at $122. That may not seem like much but I had a big downswing at the beginning of the week down to $99. So that is a pretty swingy week, but I'm glad I pulled out of it.

My stats for the week were 21/14/1.96 over 2k hands and I ran at 3bb/100. All in all not a terrible week, I don't mind it because its not a loss .

Nice job, keep up the good work (2k hands very nice), and don't forget to update your operations banner. But just between you and me, when you log on to Stars, you don't hit the big red box in the lower right corner of the screen? 1st thing I do after logging on and I know how much is in there cos it is the last thing I do when closing out. I was never good at reading mystery books either.

***WARNING TILT POST***

Well, haven't had one of these in a while. I was spewing chips out the ass in cash for around 500 hands and ended up down ~$10. So I took a break, played some NHL 09 (bad ass game btw).

Came back fresh and ready to play. Decided screw cash for now, I feel like playing a sng. So I sign up for a 3.40 27 man non turbo. Starts out good, I stack a guy with AQ with TPTK on the 3rd hand.

After that pretty card dead, then I pick up QQ in the BB with about 3k in chips. UTG ships it all in for ~800. I was planning on calling. Then a guy that has been playing (raising and calling) pretty much ATC minreraises (hes got about 2.5k in chips) so I think and think, and hes been shoving pretty light, (KJs, Q8o(lol) both of these PF) and had gotten extremely lucky with both flush with one, two pair with other. So I decide to ship over.

Naturally, he has AA, other guy had A7s. Next hand I bust with 78s. (I only had 500ish chips left and blinds were 75/150)

But seriously, this shit tilts me so bad. In a cash game I wouldn't be phased, I mean its a cooler. But FUCK every time it seems like in a tournament when I get a QQ or KK hand, some other guy that has been playing every god damn hand, wakes up with one better. Its just disgusting. If I had one that hand, I woulda had a 7k stack and well on my way to the final table and cash.

Ah well, fuck em. I own that douchebag every other time.

I apologize for venting but FUCK IE:THELKTHSL:SJSGISHDLKSFJDS cant help it sometimes.

BR is *sigh* $108.66 after starting today with $122.

Depressing.

dude, you lost 2.5 BIs. no problems there. if every day was a winning day this game would be too easy right? . . . .

just keep doing what you have been and you'll be fine. at least you had the sense to stop when you knew you were tilted - and that DEFINATELY makes a difference.

middle of last month i was about -$70 one day at 25NL and on massive tilt, but I didnt stop and by the end of the day I was -$170. All you can do is get back to your A game as of the next session.

gl dude.

Thanks sil. Yea I found out a while back that playing while tilting = not a very good thing in the morning lol. So if I ever don't "feel" it I just quit. No sense playing when the mojo aint running imo.

Just got some REALLY good news tho. A friend that has owed me $30 for fricking EVER is finally get money on pokerstars and is gonna ship me $50 for making me wait so long. (I lent him the money back in early December, so its been a while.) He gets the money on March 10th or 11th so by the 15th I better have it lol. So that will boost the roll to ~$150 which will be pretty gross for me lol.

Getting sick as hell though, (healthwise that is). Sore throat, coughing, all that bs. Probably gonna affect my poker playing the next couple days, and that REALLY sucks cuz next week is spring break, and theres no way in hell im playing poker at all next week (unless its live) becuz i jsut aint gonna have the time lol.

Originally Posted by dranger7070

Just got some REALLY good news tho. A friend that has owed me $30 for fricking EVER is finally get money on pokerstars and is gonna ship me $50 for making me wait so long. (I lent him the money back in early December, so its been a while.) He gets the money on March 10th or 11th so by the 15th I better have it lol. So that will boost the roll to ~$150 which will be pretty gross for me lol.

He won't be able to send it until 10 days after he deposits it and it clears.

Awww... don't tell me that lol. Thats alright though I guess, 10 more days aint gonna kill me i suppose.

Even though I feel like ass, I played a decent (~700 hands) tonight/this morning. First session was swongy as fuck. At one point the BR dipped down to $93, and then it got as high as $111. Pretty fun, eh? Ended at $106 finally, for a total of 1 BI up after 400ish hands so I aint gonna bitch.

After that, I just played some random flash games online and watched some ESPN even though there wasn't dick on. Bout 5:30 I opened up a couple tables, ran pretty hot. Stacked two feesh with 100bb stacks to give me a $18 stack on one table when the server restart started (damn pokerstars) and on the other, I was up to $11 when I hit TP with KQ on a flush draw board. I bet pretty big all the way down, guy shoved his last ~$2 giving me like 5:1 odds on the call and the flush didn't hit, and he rivered trip 4's to take out 100bb.

All in all a pretty lively session. Ended up 2 BI over 300 hands. If only it were this easy all the time .

Hey man good luck with everything. I'm an honest guy and if I drink 1 soda or have any chips for the rest of the month I owe you $50. Hope you start pwning and moving up soon sir.

Originally Posted by kmind

Hey man good luck with everything. I'm an honest guy and if I drink 1 soda or have any chips for the rest of the month I owe you $50. Hope you start pwning and moving up soon sir.

I've heard that you like to make random prop bets, but are you sure dude? I mean, I won't bitch if I wake up to $50 extra, but that's a lot of money to me (even in real life lol hurray for being poor). But if you want to...

And thanks for the support. I just gotta stop paying the guys off on the river when I KNOW I'm frickin beat, but HEAVEN FORBID I lay down TPTK lol. Still got a lot to learn.

Now, since I've pulled an all nighter for the 2nd day in a row (I slept during the day yesterday not 48 continuous hours) its time to crash. When I wake up I might being getting a PS3 with 2 controllers and some games (not sure which) for ~$300, which would be pretty sweet.

Sick about the PS3. And yeah man, I'm sure. Trust me $50 is a lot to me too but anything to keep my life moving into the direction it needs to be is worth it.

Keep at it and study study study and you'll get there.

Enjoy the bankroll boost dude! BTW, i ran like god at 25NL in Jan and Feb so take that 50 to 2 $25NL tables and pwn

Hey thanks kettleofish and alright kmind.

Dude that was gonna sell me the PS3 bitched out, and said he was "financially secure" now. rofl. Maybe you shouldnt have bought a $700+ machine if you WEREN'T financially secure. God I hate morons. lol

Sorry just pissy about that, I was looking forward to getting it

Tough break on the ps3 dranger. I got mine by buying my friends plane ticket to vegas back in november. So he owed me some cash and he owed my girl like 100 so in comensation we took the ps3 with 2 controllers ^_^ Youll find a good deal soon man. Check craigslist near yourself my friend.

Go dranger you're making well good progress. Have you thought about switching to FR? I mean solid ABC poker you can't lose at FR, well not with 20 BI's anyway. As always rooting for you, keep the vision of poker ownage in your mind, it's kinda nice being low like we are, we have the other FTR regs to look up to, don't we - one day, others just starting out will be looking up to us! Just keep playing solid poker dude. GL!

Hey slev, yea I've thought about switching, and I did a stint in January of like 7-8k hands of FR that worked out pretty well, but I was just in robot mode, not playing the people or anything, so I think I will stick to 6-max for now.

Once I get up to 25 or 50nl I may switch over to FR and start grinding it out that way, but for now I feel I am getting my more educational benefit playing 2-4 tables of 6-max then I would playing 6-10 tables of FR. I still get in as many hands as I would like, and I get in more interesting spots with less than premium hands in small/medium pots and it really helps out with reads and exploiting an opponents tendencies and stuff.

And about the PS3, I'm not really actively searching for one, it was just kind of something that fell into my lap really. It was a friend of my roomie that was supposed to be selling and he backed out when I put the cash in front of him, but whatever.

The only reason I considered it was because my Xbox 360 got the gay ass red lights again, and I really don't feel like sending it in AGAIN (this will be the 3rd time in 2 years). Its getting to be a joke, so I figured I'd give the new Playstation a shot. If I find another deal I'll probly jump on it though.

Back to the grind!

I think that's a joke that they can get away with that (Microsoft) I mean... That's a blatent product malfunction and they don't even care. Surprised me a bit I used to respect Microsoft. The LEAST they can do is give people new boxes that don't overheat. My little brother got an xbox recently and the guarantee cost almost as much as the xbox, but with that defect - you can't really be without it can you. I don't blame you for looking to the PS3, if I was getting a console I think that's the direction I'd be looking too, either that or the Wii - the tennis looks kinda cool in the advert lol.

Just finished a 500 hand session. Finished up 1.5 BI's so a pretty good session imo. Got a couple guys to donate ridiculous amounts with trash hands. Ah... the micros.

Got stacked KK < Quad 5's to start out for 100bb stacks so that was pretty gross lol. But still managed to turn the session in to a winner.

Thanks to kettle coming through on his wager, my BR currently stands at $174.15. And the guy that owes me money should have shipped by March 20th. So my BR is looking to get another big boost soon.

Its sad really, I just made 1/2 my BR by not even playing poker lol. Ah well, its not gonna stop my grind. And it might make me move up to 10nl with a bigger BR becuz I want at least 15-20k hands at 5nl before I move up to make sure I'm winning consistently.

Thanks for the read!

sounds like you're making really good progress. keep it up dude. and there is nothing wrong with wanting to make sure you can beat a limit decently before moving up if it makes you feel more comfortable. what BR are you planning on having before you move to 10nl?

Before I was planning on between $200 and $250 before taking my first shot now I'll probably wait until $250-$300 just to give myself a little extra cushion. I think this will actually help me out more than anything, tbh. I kind of like the idea of having a deeper BR before moving up, and before I was all stressing about having to move up NOW, but idk now it just seems like, its ok, I can relax a little now.

yeah definately. badgers (i think) posted in my blog saying somethign along the lines of this:

dont be afraid to lose a little when you move up,
if it means you're learning how to make more.

i think its a good point, and it emphasises the benefits of moving up with a deeper roll. theres no point moving up and then feeling like you want to / have to drop back down if you lose 2 or 3 buy ins.

gl dude.

Ok this hand might be SUPER standard, but god damn I feel good for laying it down, it just shows me how much I have grown as a player since I started. It used to be I wouldn't even think about it and I would continue .


BTN is 25/9/1.75 over 65 hands
SB is something like 74/8 over 65 hands.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.05 BB (5 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB ($5)
UTG ($8.51)
Hero (MP) ($7.41)
Button ($11.51)
SB ($1.51)

Preflop: Hero is MP with ,
1 fold, Hero bets $0.20, Button calls $0.20, SB calls $0.18, 1 fold

Flop: ($0.65) , , (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $0.50, Button calls $0.50, SB calls $0.50

Turn: ($2.15) (3 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, Button bets $0.50, SB calls $0.50, Hero folds

River: ($3.15) (2 players)
SB checks, Button bets $0.31, SB calls $0.31 (All-In)

Total pot: $3.77 | Rake: $0.15

Just finished a decent little 280 hand session. Ran pretty well I think, made a few good laydowns (for me, that is) and finished up $9.53 so almost 2 BI's.

I'm feeling really good about my game today for some reason. It seems like I'm putting my opponents on hand ranges more and more accurately, which is allowing me to value bet a LOT more effectively, lay down some hands that I probably normally wouldn't, etc.

Its kind of funny too being that I'm sick and all that I just start playing my best poker, and tbh, I think that a lot of it has to do with that extra $50 sitting in my BR right now. I guess there was still some pressure on me to not fall below $100 again, which, I think its safe to say, shouldn't happen unless I go on a MAJOR cooler streak.

Once I get up to 10nl I'm definitely going to be doing a lot more studying and posting hands on here. I just don't find too many hands where I don't know the "right" move. I mean sure there are a couple of questionable spots where I make a move that I probably shouldn't have, but I recognize it instantly, so I don't feel the need to post them. Its just that the level I'm playing at now is just too easy for me to be posting every questionable hand, and I really don't feel like I'm playing poorly (even though I probably am ).

So thats it for now, I'll probably throw in another session before I leave for Spring Break tonight. I won't be posting (more than likely) until the 15th unless I'm not drinking lol.

BR $183.68

Alright folks, just finished a short 150 hand session. Ended up a BI so pretty much 3 BI's up for the day.

Roll currently stands at $187.55

Not a bad note to leave on for Spring Break. Time to go get FUCKED UP for a week straight .

Later everyone!

Originally Posted by dranger7070

Lol thanks for letting me catch up nibbles . I'll take that action on the race to $200 though!

Uh, just so you know, the race is off! Wit' yo cheatin' ass.

How is I cheating? I just happen to have people that either 1.) Owe me money and are finally paying it back or 2.) Having people donate lol, not that kettle was technically donating, it was more incentive for him to play more hands.

Either way, $50 of that WAS technically already in my roll since I lent it out while doing this op.

God damn. Being sick + hang over + puke covered couch = a not good morning after a bad ass party lol.

Seriously, possibly single handedly the best party I've ever been to and I barely remember any of it.

We tapped the keg at 6:30 (lol) That fucker was finished by 11. We killed 2 30's of Busch Light, a 24 of Coors and a 24 of miller lite. Also, a fifth of absinth (worst tasting shit I've EVER had, but damn does it fuck you up) was downed early on, 2 fifths of vodka and a fifth of captain.

Not bad for only starting out with like 10-15 people (by the time it really got going though there was probably 40ish there.) Fucking crazy though. I played like 8 or 9 games of beer pong and won 2 of them cuz I suck at life, got to see like 4 chicks do a naked lap cuz they got skunked () and watched some chick with huge boobs puke all over my buddies couch lol.

Next morning wasn't such a treat unfortunately. Had to clean all that shit up and tell people I've never met to get the fuck out lol. After that was done I went to the casino in town and played some 1/2 for a couple hours for $16 profit. Tbh though, I played fucking awful poker. I'm probly not gonna go back to the casino until I'm through coughing up a fucking lung and wiping my damn nose every 5 seconds. I wasn't able to focus on the game properly, wasn't making good bets, calling down when I should have been betting/folding, etc.

It really makes me happy though that I played about as bad as I can yesterday and I still managed to walk out ahead. This really sucks being sick on spring break. I was planning on getting fucked up damn near every day or playing poker at the casino and making profitz, but it looks like I'll have to hold off til at least monday.

Thats all for now folks, time to pop some meds and die for 6-10 hours.

Whoops forgot I wanted to put something in that last post pertaining to the casino. I realized while waiting for a table to open that I am a fucking money nit when it comes to any other casino game.

I walked over to a craps table because I recognized one of the dealers and she likes to flirt and shit, so I figured what the hell. So I get over there throw a $20 down (I know baller right? ) and throw a $5 chip on the pass line, and start chatting her up, and the roller 7's out and I was watched the $5 chip slide away I got kinda pissy, then I just busted out laughing because I'm willing to throw out PF raises and c-bets with air that are double that without blinking at the 1/2 I'm about to go play.

It's the weirdest thing though. I am averse to putting any amount of money (even like $1) on any other casino game because I know I can't win in the long run, but in poker I feel I have an edge over the average local so I don't feel bad about losing a $100+ on a single hand because I know I own his soul in the long run lol.

Strange world innit?