How Should I Approach This? (BR management and game type)

As a New Jersey resident, I play on a regulated site. The disadvantage of this is the lack of action. I'm currently playing $2NL and my roll is large enough to support some $4NL. There are usually 2 full ring games at $2NL, 3-4 tables of 6-max $10NL, and no action at all for $4NL.

I usually get myself on 2 tables of $2NL full ring and try to establish a 3rd table. Over the last few days it has been trying to create action at $4NL by sitting at an empty table. This works at times, but more often than not it's heads up, and heads up is a coin toss for me right now. I don't really feel like risking that much playing 2 handed. I would prefer 4-6, but most times that's not a possibility.

I estimate it will take me 75k-150k hands of $2NL to build a bankroll that I feel is stable enough for $10NL*. This could take anywhere between 7 and 18 months. I can see myself hitting a wall mentally since the jump is 5x as opposed to the usual 2-2.5x. So I've been mulling is over, and I have a few options that I've come up with:

1. Just grind it out. While I will certainly fight bouts of boredom, as long as I am improving my fundamentals at a consistent rate, it will serve me well in the long run

2. Take my lumps playing short handed at $4NL while playing $2NL. Variance is a cold hearted bitch, and no one is immune from it. The swings will be more erratic. However, I could hit an upswing, getting to my goals faster. As long as I practice tight BRM, I should be fine.

3. Loosen my standards. I could drop from 50BI to 30-40BI. This would allow me to start taking shots sooner. Possibly gaining a foothold at $10NL. I can always tighten up later.

I have a long way to go before I can realistically think about playing $10NL. I'm mainly trying to figure out the path I should take.

*When I deposited I told myself 50BI to play a level. It's very nitty, but my goal is to have a self sustaining hobby.

I like your options in the order you listed them, but ultimately you'll have to make decisions based on what you think is best.

Best of luck to you regardless of what you decide and let us know how it turns out. :)

4. Play tournaments

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Originally Posted by spoonitnow

4. Play tournaments

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Tournaments are sparse on the site. You'll get action for the daily guaranteed R&As, but SnGs are close to non-existent. I feel I have better odds climbing the ladder in the cash games.

I'm about a week away from my 10k update, but I want to get everyone up to speed on what I've been doing since my last post (2.8k hands).

I started out by opening a full ring $2nl and a 6-max $4nl hoping to create action at the higher stakes. I was fortunate enough to get some passive opponents playing heads up and short handed $4nl. After roughly 800 hands I was up about $10. Since I hit it quickly, I decided to take a 1 buy in stab at 10nl just to get a feel for it. Ended up coolering myself on a hand I should have let go (JJ). I was mad at the way I played the hand, but not too upset at losing the buy in because I intended to lose it. What I didn't intend was the short downswing combined with getting some more aggressive opponents at $4nl. Playing very shorthanded at $4nl has also hurt my $2nl play. The hands come so fast playing 2-4 handed that I find it very difficult to pay attention to the other table unless I'm in the hand. This is something I need to rectify, but it may not be an issue because...

With it being a holiday weekend I assumed there would be quite a bit of action and the games would be soft. So I got frisky and attempted a 5BI shot at $10nl. I ended up being correct and at the same time hit a disgusting upswing. It helps when your loose opponents stack off on you with a flush draw when you are holding top pair. I played 554 hands today with a winrate of 95bb/100 (47.5ptbb/100). So now I'm sitting at 21BI for $10nl. I think I am going to allow myself 2BI before I drop back down, unless the upswing continues.

More to come in about a week...

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It helps when your loose opponents stack off on you with a flush draw when you are holding top pair.

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I'm curious about this. Are you generally stacking off on flop with top pair, or did you have a good idea in this instance that your opponent was willing to stack off with worse?

The silence before the train wreck.

Good luck OP.

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Originally Posted by OngBonga

I'm curious about this. Are you generally stacking off on flop with top pair, or did you have a good idea in this instance that your opponent was willing to stack off with worse?

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No, I don't usually stack off with top pair. In this case I had my pointer over the fold button. I had a feeling I had the best hand at that moment, but I wasn't sure if it would hold up at showdown. Going over the hand, I probably should have folded preflop, but his shove seemed odd to me. Chalk it up to fish intuition.

Hand Information
No Limit, 0.1 BB (6 handed).
Hand History converter courtesy of pokerhandreplays.com

Table Information
Seat: 1 Player 1 ($8.81)
Seat: 2 Hero ($10.99)
Seat: 4 Player 4 ($3.6)
Seat: 6 Player 6 ($10) Dealer
Seat: 7 Player 7 ($10.47) Small Blind
Seat: 9 Player 9 ($13.51) Big Blind
Dealt to Hero
http://www.pokerhandreplays.com/imag...r_image/8S.png http://www.pokerhandreplays.com/imag...r_image/JS.png

Preflop (Pot:0.15)
Player 1 FOLD
Hero CALL $0.1
Player 4 RAISE $0.45
Player 6 CALL $0.45
Player 7 FOLD
Player 9 CALL $0.35
Hero CALL $0.35

Flop(Pot: $1.85)
http://www.pokerhandreplays.com/imag...r_image/6C.png http://www.pokerhandreplays.com/imag...r_image/5H.png http://www.pokerhandreplays.com/imag...r_image/JC.png

Player 9 CHECK
Hero CHECK
Player 4 CHECK
Player 6 BET $1.28
Player 9 FOLD
Hero RAISE $2.84
Player 4 FOLD
Player 6 RAISE $9.55
Hero CALL $6.71

Turn(Pot: $22.23)
http://www.pokerhandreplays.com/imag...r_image/6C.png http://www.pokerhandreplays.com/imag...r_image/5H.png http://www.pokerhandreplays.com/imag...r_image/JC.png http://www.pokerhandreplays.com/imag...r_image/2H.png


River(Pot: $22.23)
http://www.pokerhandreplays.com/imag...r_image/6C.png http://www.pokerhandreplays.com/imag...r_image/5H.png http://www.pokerhandreplays.com/imag...r_image/JC.png http://www.pokerhandreplays.com/imag...r_image/2H.png http://www.pokerhandreplays.com/imag...r_image/4S.png

Showdown:
Hero SHOWS
http://www.pokerhandreplays.com/imag...r_image/8S.png http://www.pokerhandreplays.com/imag...r_image/JS.png
Player 6 SHOWS
http://www.pokerhandreplays.com/imag...r_image/TC.png http://www.pokerhandreplays.com/imag...r_image/KC.png
Hero wins the pot: $22.23

OMG

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Originally Posted by jyms

OMG

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Agree.

So you've been a member since 2005, yet here you are in 2014 limp/calling junk out of position and playing top pair shit kicker like it's the nuts.

You need to step down to 2nl, and post big pot hands, both ones you win and ones you lose. People will tell you why you suck at poker, and hopefully you get better. Or maybe you don't care and you're happy to continue to play freerolls for cheeseburgers.

I could find 6 things wrong with this hand before the flop at least.

I don't think I can get bored watching your avatar jyms.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OngBonga

So you've been a member since 2005, yet here you are in 2014 limp/calling junk out of position and playing top pair shit kicker like it's the nuts.

You need to step down to 2nl, and post big pot hands, both ones you win and ones you lose. People will tell you why you suck at poker, and hopefully you get better. Or maybe you don't care and you're happy to continue to play freerolls for cheeseburgers.

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While I registered in 2005, I have play roughly 25k hands with money on the table in my life. Before this past month, the last time I played poker was in 2010, and I only played for about a month and a half (Full Tilt closed to US players and I was on a free bankroll). I understand the basics and sort of know what I'm supposed to do. I lack discipline, and my post flop play isn't that great. If I didn't care about getting better, I wouldn't be here, and I wouldn't have spent $100 on Poker Tracker and another $40 on books.

You are right about not playing $10nl. I know I don't belong there yet. It's that lack of discipline combined with a good run of cards that made me think I could hack it. I lost one last buy in at $10nl when I ran a full house into 4 of a kind. I have since set up my lobby to only show me $2 and $4nl.

I will post some hands when I do my 10k update. How should I go about posting the hand histories? Putting them all in one post will make for a very long post, and I don't want to flood the forum with 10 posts.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OngBonga

I don't think I can get bored watching your avatar jyms.

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My 10-year-olds make me open Jim's "Qualified Members" thread EVERY time they have a friend over just so they can all laugh their asses off at his avatar.

They even talk about it in class and have some sort of inside joke where they mockingly bang their hands on their desks after a teacher assigns homework... true story.

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Originally Posted by ledfut

While I registered in 2005, I have play roughly 25k hands with money on the table in my life. Before this past month, the last time I played poker was in 2010, and I only played for about a month and a half (Full Tilt closed to US players and I was on a free bankroll). I understand the basics and sort of know what I'm supposed to do. I lack discipline, and my post flop play isn't that great. If I didn't care about getting better, I wouldn't be here, and I wouldn't have spent $100 on Poker Tracker and another $40 on books.

You are right about not playing $10nl. I know I don't belong there yet. It's that lack of discipline combined with a good run of cards that made me think I could hack it. I lost one last buy in at $10nl when I ran a full house into 4 of a kind. I have since set up my lobby to only show me $2 and $4nl.

I will post some hands when I do my 10k update. How should I go about posting the hand histories? Putting them all in one post will make for a very long post, and I don't want to flood the forum with 10 posts.

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I'm new on these forums, too so I certainly don't want to be a dick to you but ....come on, dude. You've been around the game for years and you've been playing 25k+ hands. That right there is enough to prevent you from open limping with J8s from UTG. You open limped, called a raise, called a reraise, and then continued this behavior post flop. There is NO WAY you could do that after being around the game for as long as you have. That's why these guys are posting "omg" and what not. The hand you posted is probably the worst played hand I've ever seen on this forum. I'm new but I've been an on and off reader for several months.

Trust me, you're lucky you're playing on one of Jersey's networks with the rest of the fish. If you were playing on the offshore sites like WPN you would be getting absolutely killed for 6+ buyins every time you sat down to play 2nl.

ledfut's response actually comes across as someone who is here for the right reasons, so I apologise for the tone of my post to you.

As for posting hands, take a look at other threads started by people and see how they go about it. Generally it's better to have a thread for each hand you want feedback on, you'll get better replies, but yeah try to avoid posting ten different threads at the same time.

Here's a link to a digest of the best articles for beginners - http://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...re-196912.html

Important articles - putting your opponent on a range is probably the most important. That and bankroll management. Read through some of these articles, and hopefully you'll begin to understand why the hand you post here is awful.

The limp/call pre, the c/r on the flop, it's all very bad and will lose you more money than you'll win. You were fortunate that you ran into a flush draw here, but even then you lose this hand around 35% of the time, and that's when villain has the only thing you beat that he calls your raise with. Usually he's going to have one of AJ KJ QJ 55 66, and we're in much worse shape against these hands than a flush draw is against J8.