Operation: $50 to 8k

The Goal: This Operation Is To Go From Playing $0.02/$0.05 NL To Playing $1/$2 NL With Only Making A $50 Deposit.

About Myself: I have Been Playing Online Poker For Many Years Now. I Have A Lot Of Table Experience, Also I have A Great Understanding Of The Game. Some May Consider My Style Of Play Unorthodox At Times, But It Gets The Job Done.

My Play: I am able to execute many different playing Styles depending on how the table or certain players are playing. I Have A Wide Verity Of Weapons At The Poker Table & I Am Not Afraid To Use Them.

Site: PokerStars, The Reason Why I Choose To Do This Operation On Stars Is Because Stars Is The Best. There Support Is Top Notch, If I Ever Had To E-mail Support About Anything They Always Responded Back To Me Fast Within 1-3 Hours. Also There Payouts Are Ultra Fast Which Is A Huge Plus. When I Want A Payout, I Want It ASAP And Stars Does That. Also They Have Over 200k+ Players On Peak Times, So Plenty Of Fish To Go Around.

Game: NLHE 6-Max, I Just Like Playing At The 6-Max Tables. I like To Grind Them Out. But They Always Offer Fast Action So You Are Never To Board Playing Them.

Tables: 1, I Want To Focus On Trying To Maximize My Profit By Having More Focus On Each Table. There Is No Way You As A Player Can Pick Up Every Little Read And Style Playing 15 Tables At Once. (You Can Get Close With Software Like PT3 If You Set It Up Right, But You Still Give Up A Little Something) Also I Will Put Enough Volume In Hand Wise To Where I Won't Have To Play More Then One Table.

Software: I Will Not Be Using Any Software For The Start Of This Operation, I just Do Not Find It Necessary For Me To Have It At The Smaller Limits. I Will However Invest In A PT3 Or Something Later On In This Operation Around 0.25/0.50 Or The 0.50/1.00 At The 1/2 For Sure. (Do Not Get Me Wrong, Software Can Help The Player That Is Just Starting Out Review There Games, And Find Leaks Or Areas To Improve On. etc..) But Like I Said, For The Smaller Stakes, I Myself Just Do Not Need To Use It.

LEVELS (The Levels That Are Bold Will Indicate Complete)

Level 1: $0.02/$0.05xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx$250.00
Level 2: $0.05/$0.10xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx$500.00
Level 3: $0.10/$0.25xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx$1500.00
Level 4: $0.25/$0.50xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx$4000.00
Level 5: $0.50/$1.00xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx$8000.00

Plan Of Action: I Am Just Going To Play The Strongest Poker I Can Play. Once I Reach Level 3 I Fell Real Confident That This Goal Will Be Reached. I May Jump Levels Every Now & Again, Just To Reach The Goal In A Decent Amount Of Time. (Like If I Have 3 Strong Sessions At $0.05/$0.10 And Make $100.00, My Next Session I May Decide To Invest $25 And Play Some $0.10/0.25)

Keep An Eye On This Thread Since I Will Be Updating My Progress Often. Also I Will Set Up An IM Within The Next Couple Weeks. So If Any FTR Member Would Like To Shadow Me For A Session Or Two During This Operation They Can.

Whats your history? You talk about having played a lot of online and being a winning player, but you're starting your op with a $50 deposit? Did you withdraw a bunch?

How Long Did It Take You To Capitalize Every Word Of That Post?

Originally Posted by XxStacksxX

How Long Did It Take You To Capitalize Every Word Of That Post?

More importantly, why did you choose to not do this for one sentence? It definitely stood out. If your post was an article for a college class I'd make sure to star the one you didn't capitalize every word. So sneaky!

Originally Posted by bjsaust

Whats your history? You talk about having played a lot of online and being a winning player, but you're starting your op with a $50 deposit? Did you withdraw a bunch?

The little bit of history I wrote about myself would be in the About Myself & My Play in the OP. Yes I have played online a lot, that's correct. At no point in the OP do I see myself talking about being a winning player, but if I do finish this I guess that would make me a winning player.

The $50 depo was just something I wanted to do for this operation. It's not the last $50 to my name. Sure I have made cashouts before.

Originally Posted by XxStacksxX

How Long Did It Take You To Capitalize Every Word Of That Post?

Not to long lol.

Originally Posted by kmind

More importantly, why did you choose to not do this for one sentence? It definitely stood out. If your post was an article for a college class I'd make sure to star the one you didn't capitalize every word. So sneaky!

I just wanted the whole post to stand out.

Originally Posted by kmind

Originally Posted by XxStacksxX

How Long Did It Take You To Capitalize Every Word Of That Post?

More importantly, why did you choose to not do this for one sentence? It definitely stood out. If your post was an article for a college class I'd make sure to star the one you didn't capitalize every word. So sneaky!

Because the sentence says -

"I am able to execute many different playing Styles depending on how the table or certain players are playing."

So talking about different styles so its typed in a different style?

GL on the op; you must be going to put in big hours doing it on 1 table!

Originally Posted by Seasider

Because the sentence says -

"I am able to execute many different playing Styles depending on how the table or certain players are playing."

So talking about different styles so its typed in a different style?

GL on the op; you must be going to put in big hours doing it on 1 table!

Thanks for wishing me Good Luck, I don't think it will be that bad doing it on one table. I am going to be putting some time in on each session. How much time will all depend, I am in no rush. But at the same time I do want to finish this in a decent amount of time.

Day 1
6/4/09
Starting Roll $50.00
End: $65.92
Hands Played: 130

Day 1: Well I started playing late so got no where close to the Volume that I wanted to put in for a session. But the end result was fine.

Today I felt good with my play. I was playing solid just grinding it out, I also had some real nice reads of other players on the table. I started with a $5.00 Buy-in on the $0.02/$0.05 6max table. The players at the table were real playing real loose and wild at first, then things calmed down. The only thing that was not so good today was my total number of hands played. I wanted to play more volume each session, but no big deal maybe my next session.

Some Hands of the day:

This hand was good, I was playing a tight style, I noticed the SB in this hand doing a few position raises from the button, also he hit my BB and SB a couple times before. I noticed him fold a few times when someone did a re-pop, the strange thing was he never folded if he got re-raised pre-flop. Now for the most part I would hit this type of player pre-flop, but since I knew he did not fold much pre flop I wanted to take him after flop

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

Button ($2.19)
SB ($3.52)
Hero (BB) ($5.10)
UTG ($5.62)
MP ($5.13)
CO ($8.27)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 2, 4
4 folds, SB bets $0.10, Hero calls $0.05


Flop: ($0.20) 4, A, 6 (2 players)
SB bets $0.10, Hero calls $0.10 The SB did a standard C-bet, I just decided to call here to show him that I was strong, of course I was not strong but what did he know. I wanted him to bet another 0.10 at least on the turn, then I was going to re-raise him and take it down. Before it's asked, yes I knew he did not hit the Ace. The couple times I seen him hit the flop strong, he played hard by betting strong right away. He just was not the slow playing type

Turn: ($0.40) K (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $0.15, 1 fold He did not make that extra 0.10 wager that I was looking for, but the SB shows some standard weakness with a check in this position, a small wager was enough to take it down. I was a little upset that I did not get to show him my re-raise, I wanted to prove a point to him, but I did later on.

Total pot: $0.40 | Rake: $0
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Ok this hand was at the same table, I was on the same table the whole time for the whole session. I have no clue What was up with the SB in this hand. He sat down and for the last 5 hands in a row this guy raises pre-flop to 0.50 and shoves after flop if he is called. Now since I am grinding it out I don't want to be in hands like this to often, just for the fact that if this guy gets lucky he can kill what work you have done already. I did not do much at this point and I did not want to really mess with this wild bill type of guy.

So with that being said why was I in the hand??? I just felt so strong that the Q 9 suited was better then anything he was holding. I just knew for the last 5 hands he did not have AA, KK etc..

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

UTG ($5)
MP ($4.13)
Hero (Button) ($5.46)
SB ($4.84)
BB ($5)

Preflop: Hero is Button with Q, 9
UTG (poster) checks, MP calls $0.05, Hero calls $0.05, SB bets $0.50, 3 folds, Hero raises to $1.15, SB calls $0.65 I just had to see if I did a re-raise which nobody did try yet at the table would he let the hand go, of course he did not, he called.

Flop: ($2.45) 8, Q, 5 (2 players)
SB bets $3.69 (All-In), Hero calls $3.69 Not really to much to say here, he pushed and I figured I flopped the best had.

Turn: ($9.83) 6 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($9.83) K (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $9.83 | Rake: $0.45 He showed down 5s 3h and I took it down.
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The rest of the hands played in this session where kind of the same, just me picking up on a few things like the first hand I posted, and players just handing there chips over, like in that last hand I posted. I mixed in a few well timed position steals, and called a few people down for cheap just to see what they were playing, that was it.

I hope next session brings some better hands to post. I am not the type of player that will just post good hands that I played, if I get out played on a hand I will post it as well so others can learn from mistakes made. I may in the future record some of my play and post it during this operation, so stay tuned.

Originally Posted by XxStacksxX

How Long Did It Take You To Capitalize Every Word Of That Post?

The Whole Thing Is A Title, Stacks. A Very Long Title.

To The OP, I'm Not Sure You Have a Great Understanding Of The Game Or Are Getting The Job Done If You Are Not A Winning Player. I Am Not Saying This To Belittle You, Only To Help You Understand That Only After You Realize That You Suck And Just Where You Suck Can You Get Better.

Originally Posted by BennyLaRue

Originally Posted by XxStacksxX

How Long Did It Take You To Capitalize Every Word Of That Post?

The Whole Thing Is A Title, Stacks. A Very Long Title.

To The OP, I'm Not Sure You Have a Great Understanding Of The Game Or Are Getting The Job Done If You Are Not A Winning Player. I Am Not Saying This To Belittle You, Only To Help You Understand That Only After You Realize That You Suck And Just Where You Suck Can You Get Better.

Never said I was a player that lost. I am not doing this operation to prove if I was a winning or losing player before in my poker career. I am doing this operation to complete it. Also I hope forum members of FTR can learn from it & take something out of it to better there game. Also I want to show members of FTR that are playing some of the micro stakes, that something like this can be done. & FYI, my understanding of the game is just fine.

Day 2
6/5/09
Starting Roll $65.92
End: $67.66
Hands Played: 139
$0.02/$0.05 6-max

Day 2: Again not the big session that I wanted to get in, nothing really to interesting hand wise happened today, so I will not post any hands.

As far as my play went I was a little un happy with it today, I was not really as focused as I was on day 1, I also was playing a little loose. Not much action at all except for just grinding it out.

I hope day 3 a bigger session will be played with some nice hands to post. The Roll did go up a little today so nothing really to be to upset about.

Day 3
6/6/09
Starting Roll $67.66
End: $73.65
Hands Played: 165
$0.02/$0.05

Day 3: Well I got a little more hands in then I have in my past two sessions, I started out this session by dropping one $5.00 Buy-in. I did not let it get to me. The river was just not being kind a few times. For the most part I did have the best hand until that last card hit.

I did make a few adjustments at that point, and decided to re-buy for another $5.00. The changes I made at that point did help. The biggest thing is when you drop a buy-in just understand that it's part of the game, the second you let something like that tilt you is the second you can kill a good size portion of your roll.

Some Hands Of The Day:

This first hand is a case of me not being able to get a fold from the BB. In this situation I had a decent table image at this time. Mostly tight to TAG. But at this point I would have to say more tight. No Idea why I could not get the BB to fold pre & after the flop. However maybe I played it to tight on the turn. I had some Idea of how he was playing but nothing in stone yet.

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

BB ($5.79)
UTG ($5.45)
MP ($5)
Hero (CO) ($5.02)
Button ($2.85)
SB ($2.65)

Preflop: Hero is CO with 9, 9
2 folds, Hero bets $0.20, 2 folds, BB calls $0.15 The $0.20 bet should have been enough to get the BB to fold at this point, his hand was not strong & my table image was tight.

Flop: ($0.42) 8, 10, 10 (2 players)
BB bets $0.15, Hero raises to $0.50, BB calls $0.35 At this point I did not feel he hit that 10 on the flop. I felt he would have bet it stronger if he had, even though most of the table tends to be on a slow playing kick. He did not. So I decide to re-raise him $0.35 with hopes to take it down right here. I was happy with the raise amount.

Turn: ($1.42) Q (2 players)
BB bets $0.15, Hero calls $0.15 Now at this point I am a little mad at myself for not trying to re-raise and fire one more time trying to play it off like I had the 10, but after looking at this hand close I doubt he was going to let it go here. I slowed down at this point because that Q was a scare card. But I still was going to call this hand down if it was cheap enough to do so. I wanted to know what he had.

River: ($1.72) 7 (2 players)
BB bets $0.15, Hero calls $0.15 Standard call for me here, the $0.15 was cheap enough for me to find out what he had. he had Qd 7d and took it down.

Total pot: $2.02 | Rake: $0.05 That crap should have been folded pre-flop, but you really can't expect that to happen in this level, he was just playing any 2 suited cards trying to hit. you will see some players at this level with good after flop play sometimes. He should have let this go after flop, but no biggie. I took a player note and moved on. One last thought, the other player prob thought the same way I did, he felt that I did not hit that 10 on the flop.
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This hand is a sample of how the River was not being so kind to me. This is how I lost a buy-in. I went through a few hands like this. Most of the time I had the best of it up until the river. This hand was just me having a good read on how the other player wagered when he hit the flop.

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

Button ($5.91)
SB ($6.55)
BB ($5)
Hero (UTG) ($4.02)
MP ($2.85)
CO ($2.63)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with A, K
Hero bets $0.20, 1 fold, CO calls $0.20, Button calls $0.20, 1 fold, BB calls $0.15 Again, I feel this was a good bet UTG with this hand, so I am happy with the play here.

Flop: ($0.82) 3, 7, 9 (4 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $0.35, CO calls $0.35, 2 folds Not a great flop that hit the board, so I fire here trying to take it down.

Turn: ($1.52) 6 (2 players)
Hero bets $0.50, CO calls $0.50 At this point we are the only two in the hand, maybe I should have wagered more with $1.52 in the pot. But I thought I fired out a decent bet for this player.

River: ($2.52) 10 (2 players)
Hero bets $1, CO calls $1 I had to try one more time.

Total pot: $4.52 | Rake: $0.20 He takes it down with Kd 10h. Not really much I can say here, he should have never been hanging on to that hand until the river. I maybe should have wagered a little stronger to get him off his hand.
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This was a nice little pot I picked up. In this hand a little River luck played for my side. But hey I will take it after the way the River was trying to beat me down early in the session.

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

UTG ($2.14)
MP ($10.58)
Button ($8.91)
SB ($5.32)
Hero (BB) ($4.27)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 2, 10
UTG calls $0.05, 1 fold, Button calls $0.05, 1 fold, Hero checks, just was checking my BB here with a some what weak hand.

Flop: ($0.17) 10, 4, J (3 players)
Hero checks, UTG checks, Button checks, Here I did not want to lead out to see where I stood, I look at this is some what of a mistake on my part.

Turn: ($0.17) 5 (3 players)
Hero bets $0.10, 1 fold, Button raises to $0.50, Hero calls $0.40 Right here I wanted to lead out to see where I was at, the button re-raised me but I felt that my hand just improved a little with that 5d. Just figured I had more outs in case he hit that Jd on the flop.

River: ($1.17) 9 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $3.95, Hero calls $3.72 (All-In) The money card hit's me, and no doubt at this point I know I have the best hand. I check it, and the button makes it so easy for me by pushing me all in. (Now if I did not improve in this hand it would have been an easy lay down for me.)

Total pot: $8.61 | Rake: $0.40 This is what you wait for in poker. Big Hand Vs. Big Hand. The players that have the best of this situation are the winners in this game. This is where all the patients, scooping those small pots, and position steals payoff. Sometimes this won't happen in a whole session. Sometimes it will happen a few times in a session. But this is what you wait for, and the players that learn to wait for this get rewarded.
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Day 3 was not that bad, after 3 small sessions and being +$23.65 is not to bad. I hope to keep it up with longer sessions. It would be nice to have the $0.02/$0.05 level complete by the end of June. So that is something I will be shooting for.

Day 4
6/8/09
Starting Roll $73.65
End: $85.71
Hands Played 87
$0.02/$0.05

Day 4: Well I played a mini session early on, so I may add another session later in the day just to get more hands in. I wanted to stay at this table longer and roll up a real session, but I had other things that came up that needed my attention.

I was happy with my play for the most part, and players seemed to be giving away chips at this table. I did my normal $5.00 buy-in for this level. I was getting nice hands and it was like I was able to do no wrong. Like I said I wish I was able to keep playing, this had the start of one of those sessions where at the end your 10+ Buy-in's.

Here is a hand that shows you how great this could have been, and most players were playing like this.

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

BB ($13.81)
UTG ($9.93)
MP ($6.03)
CO ($2)
Button ($7.34)
Hero (SB) ($17.15)

Preflop: Hero is SB with J, J
4 folds, Hero bets $0.10, BB calls $0.05

Flop: ($0.20) 5, 5, 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets $0.16, Hero calls $0.16

Turn: ($0.52) 3 (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets $0.42, Hero calls $0.42

River: ($1.36) K (2 players)
Hero checks, BB checks I was trying to get him to take 1 more stab at the pot. (also I wanted to see if he hit the King on the river) I really should have bet, maybe I could have got an extra $0.40 if I did.

Total pot: $1.36 | Rake: $0.05 The BB had pocket 9's, I think I would have gotten payed if anything lower then a 9 hit that river card.

Day 4: Had a good start, I may have a day 4 part 2 later. If I really want to clear the $0.02/$0.05 by the end of June I have to put in some longer sessions.