Operation: Grinding up to $500

My goal is to start a bankroll from freerolls and grind it up playing a mix of NLHE, sit n go's, and FL Omaha, Ocasional MTT's, and maybe even FL Badugi if my bankroll can support it. I just finished past a field of 2,000 players (about half of them were sitting out) and came in third place to win $9 (I know it's nothing). My goal is to grind that up and add on winnings from future freerolls to make $500. I just won a ticket to the Weekly Round 2 on pokerstars playing FL Stud, and if I can go deap in that it will help my bankroll a lot. So this is just a place I will post all my hands that I want evaluation on to help me make the right decisions.

first : good luck
second : don't put decimal points in your banner . just round it to the nearest number.
third : Pick one game and learn how to play it. Jumping about like you are will mean you learn nothing about everything.
fourth : use one of the free money promotions I linked you to in another thread . Learn how to play using someone elses free money. And if you get to cash it out eventually thats a bonus. Trying to grind a roll on freerolls is stupid if you can start with a ready made roll. Avoid a Full tilt one though as you'll lose rakeback and first deposit bonus.

First: thanks
Second: ok, I'll change it
thid: I'm going to mainly do Hold'em, ocassionally I'll mix it up though
fourth: I play on pokerstars, I don't think a pokerstars bonus is offered

they are FIRST DEPOSIT bonuses and are the easiest you get to clear. On stars deposit 50$ and you have 6 months to get 500fpps to clear it frokm the time of your first deposit.
At 2 nl you'll have to play a crazy number of hands in order to get the fpps.
At 5nl you need to be playing a fair number of hands to clear it
at 10 nl you clear it pretty quickly, but you need a 250$ roll to be safe .
if you don't deposit you don't get the bonus until you do deposit.

Sounds good. I' actually decided to try start doing bankroll manegment today, i have 0$ and 0fpp, but i will start with the daily eight grand freeroll and try to get some bucks. Then i think i will try, like you, to get to 500$.. :)

Good luck with your mission.

Btw., the box with your bankroll stats and so, how can i have it same way like yours?

don't now where golfguy is but these might be of benefit to you both.
http://www.flopturnriver.com/reviews...er-VCPoker.php
http://www.flopturnriver.com/reviews...RoomSchool.php

Keith_MM i dont like play other sites then PokerStars, really. I have tried to change or just create an account on Titan, but i hate the skins and so, so i just stayed at Stars.
What limits do you play Keith? And do u play cashgame, SnG or MTT?

currently at 10NL on stars . Still there whilst I'm silver star to make the most of my bonuses and to get my roll up hopefully to 25NL . Then will probably be moving to william hill where i've got about 170$ from their cryptologic days and I can put extra into the sports betting side where the money currently is and then when it transfers in to the poker side it then gets a ipoker first deposit bonus but I think i'm really going to need to be at 25 nl to make it work. Notice I said probably , I may try an alternative site first with an easy to clear bonus it all depends what I find.

Anyway , this is sidetracking Golfguy's OP. Just wanted to point out that there are options out there for starting a roll or learning to play cash games without risking your own money or trying to start from freerolls to build a roll. I've done the roll from freeroll route , the big difference was I was playing freerolls as entertainment in the evenings, I wasn't 'serious' about trying to make money at it and found that over time I got better , then started cashing , then started final tabling , then started winning some of them. Did it get me playing good poker.....NO .....I'm learning how to really play poker now at cash , before I was good at playing freerolls but with so many misconceptions and incorrect ideas that it was only when i was actually standing to lose money that they actually meant something.

I just had my winningist session yet! I played for only 30 minutes (110 hands) and won $6.40. I 4-tabled for 100BB each at $2 NL and just couldn't lose. Every time I got my money in I had thebest of it except one time. I had KK and the other guy had AA. We were all in preflop and I flopped a set. Anyway, i'm excited because I now i have over $20. Since I started playing cash games (4 days ago), I'm averaging $3.60 a day!

Is it possible to earn FPPs at $2 NL? How big does the pot have to get in order to get one?

congrats on the wins. You need an 8$ pot to get fpps (but stars are currently trialling a different system which should start to give micro players fractional points at 6 max). so you'll either need 4 to go all in or 2 players with 200bb stacks all in .
Take your time building up the number of tables . 2 should be plenty to start with so that you can observe how other people are playing .Learn what typical betting lines represent , take lots of notes on your opponents. I played 1 table for a month or so , 2 tables for at least a month, 3 tables for about 3 months and just started playing 4 tables at 10NL.

OK, thanks for the help Keith! I will start taking more notes and hopefully get some more big winning sessions in.

About the FPPs, I only play full ring because I am not profitable at 6-max, is the fractional points available in that too?

I'm not sure about 2nl FR but it should be at 6max . I think the change is scheduled to kick in in august with a few trial tables currently running at 50NL and up.

I'm not saying that you can't play more tables , I just spent an awful lot of time in BC reading the strategy posts , trying to lay through other peoples posted hands to try and learn how to play. I'm not claiming to be a genius , I've still got an awfull lot of stuff to sort out but at least i'm making money.I'm posting hands and getting feedback , I'm also now reading other peoples ops as theres a wealth of information there from people who have been through the same problems and found solutions.

Here is a hand from today. I need help making adecision on.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (8 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB ($2.96)
BB ($1)
UTG ($6.60)
UTG+1 ($0.98)
MP1 ($1.40)
MP2 ($2.10)
CO ($3.16)
Hero (Button) ($2.60)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 10http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...iles/heart.gif, 10http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...miles/club.gif
4 folds, CO bets $0.12, Hero calls $0.12, 2 folds

Flop: ($0.27) 5http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...iles/spade.gif, 9http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...es/diamond.gif, 4http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...iles/heart.gif (2 players)
CO bets $0.12, Hero raises to $0.24, CO raises to $0.80,Hero ???

His preflop raising range is probably something like:

A9+
44+
KJ+

After the flop, I can't seem to put him on anything but an overpair better than mine, or maybe even a set. The only hand in his range that I beat is A9.

What are your thoughts?

do you have any reads on him . What are his stats ? does he always cbet his preflop raises i.e cbet=100% 2/3 of the time he's betting with air cbet %<45 he betting with a hand . Does he play most of his Aces ? i.e A2 and A3 both give him a gutshot, and depending how aggressive he is he may be doing this with AK AQ thinking the flop will have missed you and that he most likely still has the best cards.
I think with your particular bankroll restrictions that without reads I'd probably fold as this guy looks like hes willing to stack off and I'd be looking to see a cheap showdown as we might not even have top pair.
Another thing you want to be looking out for is your opponents betting patterns. Does he normally pot his good hands to try and build a pot or half pot them to get people to carry on. Or does he bet pot when he has nothing and half pot when he has a hand. These are things you'll start to pick up on by playing less tables initially and then as you get more experienced you'll subconsciously start to pick up on these details and associate different styles to people automatically purely by experience and gut feel . The gut feel though comes from actually having put the time in looking whats happening by playing less tables. You can also pick these traits up by going through your showdown historys in a database like PT or HEM which when you log a large number of hands on a player gets you a good read on how they play .

This was the first hand I've played with him since I sat down so I didn't really know if he c-bet's a lot or what. I don't have his stats because I don't know how to get them.... Can you tell me how? I haven't really payed attention to things like how much he bets when, because a good majority of the time, I never see his cards get to showdown.

Oh, and xXStacksXx, please stop rating my topics 1/5. Thanks

EDIT: I just got 2 FPPs credited to my account and didn't play any tournaments or anything... I didn't participate in any HUGE pots with $0.40 + rake so I guess I must be getting fractional points. CHEERS!

does anyone know how to track players stats FOR FREE? I dont want to pay anything but I would like the program. I had a hand today where it would have come in handy.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP2 ($4.55)
MP3 ($1.15)
CO ($5.96)
Button ($2.07)
Hero (SB) ($1.98)
BB ($1.44)
UTG ($0.86)
UTG+1 ($4.87)
MP1 ($6.20)

Preflop: Hero is SB with Qhttp://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...miles/club.gif, Qhttp://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...es/diamond.gif
3 folds, MP2 calls $0.02, MP3 bets $0.12, 1 fold, Button calls $0.12, Hero raises to $0.32, 2 folds, MP3 raises to $1.15 (All-In), Button calls $1.03, Hero ???

Quote:

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Originally Posted by golfguy37

Oh, and xXStacksXx, please stop rating my topics 1/5. Thanks

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Yeah Stacks. Seriously.

wtf I was doing great having consitant winning sessions until yesterday I was losing then today I lost a bit too. Is this normal? It's starting to make me a little upset. Should I take a 24 hour break and come back or what?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by golfguy37

wtf I was doing great having consitant winning sessions until yesterday I was losing then today I lost a bit too. Is this normal? It's starting to make me a little upset. Should I take a 24 hour break and come back or what?

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You expect to win EVERY session?

And if you're upset and it's going to affect your game...yes, take a break.

Cash games haven't been treating me nice lately so I decided to switch to $1.00 + $0.15 10 player double-or-nothing sit'n'gos. They have treated me pretty nicely so far. I have grinded up to almost $35 and have a pretty successful win rate. I just played 8 at a time and cashed in 7 of them so that was pretty good. Hopefully I can keep this up and build a bankroll!

IMO playing cash will increase your BR faster than DON's....
Also, don't stop playing FR cash b/c you have a couple of bad sessions... If you jump around constantly you will not improve solidly in any one game. Eventually you'll play a session of DON's and bust out of 6/8 and get pissed and switch back to FR....just stick to one for a bit and learn it.
Don't do this operation just to build your roll ASAP.....do this to get better, learn and get to $500...

GL!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by golfguy37

Cash games haven't been treating me nice lately so I decided to switch to $1.00 + $0.15 10 player double-or-nothing sit'n'gos. They have treated me pretty nicely so far. I have grinded up to almost $35 and have a pretty successful win rate. I just played 8 at a time and cashed in 7 of them so that was pretty good. Hopefully I can keep this up and build a bankroll!

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Taking some time off to clear your mind and be productive elsewhere will be far more useful than switching games. Stick to cash games, go do your laundry.

Back in cash games and got my bankroll up to $59 today. Here is a hand I think I should share with everyone.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (8 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG ($3.41)
UTG+1 ($5.50)
MP1 ($0.49)
MP2 ($5.10)
CO ($3.02)
Button ($2.87)
Hero (SB) ($1.98)
BB ($5)

Preflop: Hero is SB with Ahttp://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...iles/spade.gif, Ahttp://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...iles/heart.gif
UTG bets $0.04, UTG+1 raises to $0.12, 2 folds, CO calls $0.12, 1 fold, Hero raises to $0.50, 1 fold, UTG calls $0.46, UTG+1 calls $0.38, CO raises to $3.02 (All-In), Hero calls $1.48 (All-In), UTG raises to $3.41 (All-In), 1 fold

Flop: ($8.54) 9http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...iles/spade.gif, 5http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...iles/spade.gif, 9http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...es/diamond.gif (3 players, 3 all-in)

Turn: ($8.54) Khttp://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...iles/heart.gif (3 players, 3 all-in)

River: ($8.54) 3http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...miles/club.gif (3 players, 3 all-in)

Total pot: $8.54 | Rake: $0.40

Results:
Hero had Ahttp://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...iles/spade.gif, Ahttp://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...iles/heart.gif (two pair, Aces and nines).
UTG had Qhttp://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...iles/heart.gif, Qhttp://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...miles/club.gif (two pair, Queens and nines).
CO mucked Jhttp://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...iles/heart.gif, Jhttp://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...es/diamond.gif (two pair, Jacks and nines).
Outcome: Hero won $6.16, UTG won $1.98

LOL.. I'm sorry golfguy, but I don't have the fucking time to go around rating all of your threads a 1. I surely would because you bitch and moan like a little kid; however, I'm not, so get over yourself.

Also, I was going to give my thoughts on the TT hand on the 9xx board; however, because of your bitching I have decided you wont use my advice at all, so I'll save my time. GL.

Dude, I don't care anymore so get over it.

Ehh...you did moan about it a lot. Why would it be Stacks that got over it?

Also, what was it that I even did that made you think it was me?

Like did I call you a retard or something early on, so you assumed it was me? I mean if that's the case, then it can't be me. If I went around rating every thread that belonged to someone I called a retard, I would never have time to post :(.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by golfguy37

does anyone know how to track players stats FOR FREE? I dont want to pay anything but I would like the program.

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I am assuming u have already used you free trial of Poker Tracker 3, so the only other free software (for long term use) I am aware of is Realtime HUD. It is only a HUD though.

http://www.holdemranger.com/realtime.html

Good job on the grind. Keep up the good work. Also, there is nothing wrong with occasionally playing different games. There were times I got burned out NLHE and played other games for a while until I got the urge to play NLHE again. I would play 7 card stud or PLO. Just make sure you only play the smallest limits. Don't burn yourself out. At these stakes it is extremely important to keep poker fun. GL

Quote:

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Ehh...you did moan about it a lot. Why would it be Stacks that got over it?

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Ok fair enough. I did moan about but now I honestly dont care anymore.

Quote:

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Also, what was it that I even did that made you think it was me?

Like did I call you a retard or something early on, so you assumed it was me? I mean if that's the case, then it can't be me. If I went around rating every thread that belonged to someone I called a retard, I would never have time to post .

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I sent you a whole PM about it so we wouldn't have to make this a big deal... I guess you didn't read it. I'm not saying we have to get along, just stop making posts on my topics if your not going to write something helpful.

Lets end this discussion now please

Quote:

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golfguy37 wrote:
does anyone know how to track players stats FOR FREE? I dont want to pay anything but I would like the program.


I am assuming u have already used you free trial of Poker Tracker 3, so the only other free software (for long term use) I am aware of is Realtime HUD. It is only a HUD though.

http://www.holdemranger.com/realtime.html

Good job on the grind. Keep up the good work. Also, there is nothing wrong with occasionally playing different games. There were times I got burned out NLHE and played other games for a while until I got the urge to play NLHE again. I would play 7 card stud or PLO. Just make sure you only play the smallest limits. Don't burn yourself out. At these stakes it is extremely important to keep poker fun. GL

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Thank you very much.[/quote]

Quote:

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Ehh...you did moan about it a lot. Why would it be Stacks that got over it?

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Ok fair enough. I did moan about but now I honestly dont care anymore.

Quote:

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Also, what was it that I even did that made you think it was me?

Like did I call you a retard or something early on, so you assumed it was me? I mean if that's the case, then it can't be me. If I went around rating every thread that belonged to someone I called a retard, I would never have time to post .

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I sent you a whole PM about it so we wouldn't have to make this a big deal... I guess you didn't read it. I'm not saying we have to get along, just stop making posts on my topics if your not going to write something helpful.

Lets end this discussion now please

Quote:

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Quote:

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golfguy37 wrote:
does anyone know how to track players stats FOR FREE? I dont want to pay anything but I would like the program.

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I am assuming u have already used you free trial of Poker Tracker 3, so the only other free software (for long term use) I am aware of is Realtime HUD. It is only a HUD though.

http://www.holdemranger.com/realtime.html

Good job on the grind. Keep up the good work. Also, there is nothing wrong with occasionally playing different games. There were times I got burned out NLHE and played other games for a while until I got the urge to play NLHE again. I would play 7 card stud or PLO. Just make sure you only play the smallest limits. Don't burn yourself out. At these stakes it is extremely important to keep poker fun. GL

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[/quote]

Thank you very much.

http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/7041/28228578.jpg

http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/3503/59246089.jpg

All of my other winnings are from DONs, HU, and even a $0.10 360-man SnG where I placed 2nd for $6. I think you should be able to tell when I made the switch :wink: