Operation Get Back on the Horse (UPDATE: COMPLETED!!!)

I haven't posted here in quite a while, but I've decided to start getting back into playing online poker. I went busto, was playing some of those 375 FPP satelittes to the Sunday Million, won, and got T$215. I took this out, played a lot of smaller tournaments with it, and a few MTTs. I couldn't cash in any of the big tournaments, but did fairly well in $6.50 turbo SNGs and $11 HU SNGs.

after that I had about $200, and started grinding out $10NL 6-max. things went well there (22 buy-in upswing, w00t) and soon I was playing $25NL.

My operation is to get to playing $100NL as soon as possible, and not repeating former mistakes I've made playing online poker. currently, I have about $400 and playing $25NL (I know this is a little shy of usual bankroll requirements, but I figure having a willingness to drop down makes this ok) I just have to grind out the hands, study a lot, and make sure I always bring my A-game.

I don't want to set a time limit on this, as I never seem to be able to do well when I put pressure on myself. So, $400 into $2500 ASAP. let us gogogo.

end of the first day of this:

there were 3 mini-sessions today, a brief summary of each:

session 1: played 6 tables of stars $25NL, lost about 2 buy-ins. defiently was not playing my best game, and every single opponent i was in a big hand with having a set definetly did not help. There were a couple of big pots I played I feel I should have been able to get away from, but just couldn't. Micro-stakes is tricky like that; you know the people play poorly, and have to loosen up a bit to take advantage, but it can really bite you in the @$$ sometimes.

2. A good session. I feel focused, play well, and get my bankroll up to about $525. mainly turned around by one $80 pot where SB has overpair, UTG has TPTK, and I in the CO flop top set/ full house (88 on a 448 flop) and get paid off very nicely. I feel like I took a lot of bad beats today, but still came out on top. I've really learned that if I can avoid losing big pots more ( what I consider my biggest leak) I can do very well.

Session 3: Late on a Saturday night, and I am a lil' deerunk. play some HU SNGs, end up at $540.

tomorrow will be very busy, plus it is easter, so I may not be on. Next week will be a very busy work week as well, so it will be tough to get the hours in, especially during prime hours. I just got a new computer, so I have to get my Pokertracker and Pokerace re-situated, which I plan on doing soon. I am also going to look into more Bonus opprotunities to help this out. more to come late.r

good luck mate! keep the discipline and you'll be back in no time.

Day 2: today went well. grinded out about 2.5k hands, and played a few $22 HU SNGs, and finished the day at a little over $700, for about a 7-buy in upswing. The HU SNGs didn't go so well, so I may stop playing in those for a little while. I'm not the best tournament player anyways. I also played two of the 375 FPP 36-player turbo Sunday Million Qualifiers. people in these play so horribly, and I feel these really have to be a +EV way to spend FPPs. For now I don't plan on playing the Sunday Million when I win though, just taking the $T215, and either grinding it out through some small SNGs, or keep it to play in smaller MTTs and hope for a big cash.

I also took my first shot at 9-tabling, and it went well. I'll probably start doing that consistently.

my mini goal for day 3 to grind out another couple thousand hands of $25NL, hopefully get up to at least $800, then on Tuesday I'll start taking shots at $50NL. I'm hoping to be consistently playing $50NL and have a $1k bankroll by the end of the week.

Here was a fun hand from today as well; I manage to stack 3 players in one hand!:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (6 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

MP ($6.55)
CO ($15.35)
Button ($16.40)
SB ($31.65)
Hero ($24.70)
UTG ($7.90)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 7, 9.
UTG calls $0.25, MP calls $0.25, CO calls $0.25, Button calls $0.25, SB completes, Hero checks.

Flop: ($1.50) 5, 8, 6 (6 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $1, UTG calls $1, MP raises to $6.3, CO folds, Button calls $6.30, SB folds, Hero raises to $24.45, UTG calls $6.65 (All-In), Button calls $9.85 (All-In).

Turn: ($56.05) K (4 players, 2 all-in)

River: ($56.05) J (4 players, 2 all-in)

Final Pot: $56.05

Hopefully I'll have time to grind out some hands today, but Mondays is also when I go to my regular home game, so I'll be spending a few hours there. I'll try to update this again tonight.

day 3: sub-goal achieved! bankroll is sitting at $803 at the moment. I'm about to go have a pre-work session, playing 6 tables of $25NL, and 3 tables of $50NL. Also, should be getting pokertracker and pokerace back by the end of the day/early tomorrow, so horray for that!

Don't know how many hands i'll be able to get in today, I have a lot of chores to do plus a 5-11 shift at work. still thinking I can sqeeze out 2k today though.

day 4: $50NL did not welcome me with open arms, dropped two buy-ins, had a few crazy hands. played about 300 hands of it, and about 1500 of $25NL, which was break even. Actually, for the number of sick beats I took today, I should be glad I'm only stuck $100. I'm going back to just $25NL for a little while longer, I'll probably wait until I'm up to $800 again to start taking some more shots.

Silver Linings today:
-- based on what I saw, $50NL is incredibly soft. I was a little worried the games would get tougher, but that is apparently not the case. There are a few hands below to support this hypothesis
--Got Pokertracker and PokerAce HUD back online today, although Pokerace wasn't working for some reason. I'll play around with it some more tomorrow and try to get it working.

And now, some hands from the day:
This one isn't so bad, I just couldn't believe this guy made this call:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (6 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

SB ($17.95)
BB ($13.30)
UTG ($17.35)
MP ($48.95)
Hero ($52.45)
Button ($55.60)

Preflop: Hero is CO with Q, A.
2 folds, Hero raises to $2, 1 fold, SB calls $1.75, BB calls $1.50.

Flop: ($6) 4, 6, A (3 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $3.5, SB calls $3.50, BB folds.

Turn: ($13) 7 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $46.95 (All-In), SB calls $12.45 (All-In).

River: ($72.40) T (2 players, 2 all-in)

Final Pot: $72.40

Results in white below:
SB has 6h Qd (flush, ace high).
Hero has Qh As (one pair, aces).
Outcome: SB wins $37.90. Hero wins $34.50.

Apparently to some people, blind defense = call with any two

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (5 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

MP ($58.85)
Button ($57.90)
Hero ($54.75)
BB ($16.80)
UTG ($53.25)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 5, A.
3 folds, Hero raises to $2, BB calls $1.50.

Flop: ($4) 4, 5, 2 (2 players)
Hero bets $2, BB calls $2.

Turn: ($8) A (2 players)
Hero bets $5, BB raises to $12.8, Hero calls $7.80.

River: ($33.60) T (2 players)

Final Pot: $33.60

Results in white below:
Hero has 5h Ac (two pair, aces and fives).
BB has 3h 5s (straight, five high).
Outcome: BB wins $33.60.

This hand was the hand I lost the most money on today, and runner up for my 'wtf are you thinking?' award for the day:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (5 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

BB ($34.60)
UTG ($40.05)
MP ($61.65)
Hero ($50.20)
SB ($48.60)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 2, 2.
UTG calls $0.50, MP calls $0.50, Hero raises to $2.5, 2 folds, UTG calls $2, MP folds.

Flop: ($6.25) 2, J, 3 (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $3.5, UTG calls $3.50.

Turn: ($13.25) Q (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $9, UTG raises to $20, Hero raises to $44.2, UTG calls $14.05 (All-In).

River: ($91.50) A (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $91.50

Results in white below:
UTG has Tc Kc (straight, ace high).
Hero has 2d 2c (three of a kind, twos).
Outcome: UTG wins $81.35. Hero wins $10.15.


And this one is the winner. I just cannot make sense out of what this guy was doing. and before anyone says anything, it retrospect, I should have folded this river.:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (5 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

MP ($27.80)
Button ($27.40)
Hero ($36.50)
BB ($37.20)
UTG ($39.50)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 9, A.
UTG calls $0.50, MP calls $0.50, 1 fold, Hero completes, BB checks.

Flop: ($2) A, 4, 5 (4 players)
Hero bets $1, BB folds, UTG calls $1, MP calls $1.

Turn: ($5) 8 (3 players)
Hero bets $3, UTG calls $3, MP calls $3.

River: ($14) 7 (3 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $5, MP calls $5, Hero calls $5.

Final Pot: $29

Results in white below:
UTG has Jh 6h (straight, eight high).
MP has 7s Ac (two pair, aces and sevens).
Hero has 9h Ah (one pair, aces).
Outcome: UTG wins $29.

Days 5-6: I wanted to keep up with updating this daily, so I thought I'd post a quickie: Had lots of non-poker things going on over the past couple days, and I haven't had the time/energy to get any hands in. I've already logged in about 5k of them this week, so it'll be ok. Tomorrow isn't looking much better, but i'll try to get some hands in on the weekend. Also, Tuesday-Thursday next week i'll be playing some live poker in Tampa, FL, so I probably won't be online then either. my next sub-goal is to get to SilverStar status, which I was hoping to knock out in a day, but it may have to be a weekend thing. Also, they are doing some work on the internet at my place, so I may be without it for a few days. we'll just have to see how things go. The dream lives on!

day 8: played about 2k hands, the day went well. played two tournaments: a 375FPP sat, which I lost, and a BBV private limit $5 tournament, which I won and got $30. the rest was just grinding out cash games. up above $800 again, so tomorrow I'm going to take a couple more shots at $50NL. maybe if I run good I can break $1k.

day 9: $50NL hates me apparently.

that is all.

Don't worry, 50NL hates me too.

day 10 (or really early day 11): well, $50NL was nicer today, at least I'm a small winner at that limit over about 3k hands, albiet a small one. Didn't have a lot of time to play today, but my bankroll is over 4 digits for the first time in a while, which is nice. I'm going on a trip to play some live poker for a few days, so I won't be able to get any time in online.

I thought $50NL would play the same as $25NL, but there are definetly some differences. Players seem to be more aggressive overall, so I've been slowplaying a bit more. Players also seem to be able to lay down more hands on the turn and river, so I've also been 2 and 3-barrelling a bit more. (I'm pretty sure I never 3-barrell bluffed at $25NL, actually) hopefully as I play more hands, I'll get more comfortable and find a style to really crush these games. They are definetly beatable, and there is definetly lots of $$$ to be won here. I think if I have the time to get the hours in, I could finish this goal by the end of the month, and definetly by the end of May.

day 18: haven't updated in a while, have been very busy lately. my uncle wanted to get back into online poker, so while on my live poker trip(which I finished about even overall) he offered me a $240 MTT buy-in for $120 pokerstars cash. so even though my bankroll is about where it was, I am up a small amount. beating $50NL for 5PTBB/100, which is still unsatisfactory in my book, but at least I'm beating the game, and I (hopefully) won't be going broke while I try to perfect my game here.

I'm also starting to play some $10 MTTs now, hoping for a big score. I feel my bankroll is at the point now where I can afford to make small investments and hope for big returns.

my new sub-goal is to get to GoldStar status before the end of the month cut-off. I have about 1,000 VIP points to go, and If I can find the time to play, it shouldn't be that hard. hopefully I can hit PlatniumStar before the end of may. I'm still debating what to do with my player points. there are some very easy satelittes that I can get T$ from, which are +EV, but these take up time and there is a lot of variance involved. I'm also considering the cash bonus option, even though you get a lower value for you points for it. I could also take Sunday Million seats for 13.5k, and hope I can run deep and get a big cash. or maybe I'll just say up and buy some cool stuff from the store, we'll see.

day 21: bleh. had to withdraw $200 for some unexpected expenses, plus I wanted to drop back down to $25NL to work on my game a bit. played 3k hands today and dropped $60. It was an incredibly frustrating day. seemed like I was getting 3-bet every hand, except when I actually had a hand, and then it was folded around. Every draw hit except mine. ugh....

on the plus side, I'm only about 100 VIP points away from goldstar at least. I'm gonna try and buckle down and get more hands in over the next couple weeks, so hopefully things will pick up.

day 27: I haven't updated this as much lately, but there hasn't been much to report. I've been break-even over about 10k hands now. I've been going over my PT stats and hand histories, looking for leaks. I definetly some improvment to my turn and river play, it would seem. I always try to keep in mind that no matter what, there is always something you can improve on. It hasn't been the calm kind of break even either. actually, looking over my stats I'm up 2 buy-ins since my last post, winning at about 2PTBB/100. At least I'm narrowly beating the game, but I know I can do a lot better.

I was able to get Goldstar before the end of the month, but I think I'm going to try to set up some kind of money transfer method (epassporte most likely) and go over to Full Tilt, where I can get rakeback. looking over my PT stats, I realize it a substansial amount of money, even at low stakes. probably because I get in so many hands (shooting for at least 30k in May) I think it would be well worth it to move.

day 31: after a long break even stretch, I've been refining my play a bit, got a decent winrate back, and am having a good month so far. my bankroll is back to a little over $700ish, and i'm going to start taking some shots @ $50NL again. hopefully I'll be able to do better that 1PTBB/100 this time.

day 32: back @ $50NL for good, hopefully. I am very glad I dropped back to $25NL for a while and worked on my game. now I've had a much easier time in these games.

today I decided to try to break my record for most hands in a day. I got to 3,900 hands of $50NL, and won $338 in the process! it's actually 10% of the hands I've played in this whole operation. I'll probably take tomorrow off after this.

so, after the new 4,500 hands I've played of $50NL total, I have a winrate of 9.5PTBB/100. not sure if this is sustainable, probably not, but at least I'm a much stronger winner there now. hopefully I'll be taking NL100 shots in no time!

graph of the day:

My sister once fell of a horse and had to get stitches in her chin. Chew on that for a minute.

thanks, red, i'll keep that in mind.

day 35: another good day. I'm really enjoying pokerstars's double fpp/vip special they have going. I'll probably be able to hit platnium this month now!

was break even for a couple days, lost 2 buy-ins before work, but won 7 afterwards. best single session I've had thus far. I'm up about $1k for the month now, and I still believe I can finish this by June. Hopefully I'll be taking shots at $100NL by the end of the week.

day 36: 8 buy-ins @ $50NL today, woohoo! excellent night session today. decided to take a shot at $100NL, lost about $60, it's a limit that will definetly take some getting used too. a LOT more aggression than $50NL it would seem. the ol' roll is coming along nicely, at this pace I'll finish this operation soon. *knocks on wood*

I figure the adjustment to $100NL will be pretty much just like the adjustment to $50NL. at first, $50NL seemed like a lot of money, and I played a little scared, and got more tight and passive. I figure I'll continue to take shots at $100NL, and try to learn the patterns of the players there. once I get more comfortable, I'll be fine.

day 38:



great day today. still getting used to $100NL, but it's getting a little better. have tomorrow off work, I'll probably try to grind out about 3k hands, and if I run ok, I may be able to reach my goal tomorrow. also getting pretty close to hitting platniumstar for the month (7k and counting) woohoo!

day 39: SUCCESSS!!!!! weeeeeeeeeeee!
another +$400 day to put me over the top of this! I'm so excited. probably taking the rest of the day off to celebrate. I feel like I've learned a ton and improved my game a great deal.

So where do I go from here? I'm still gonna grind away, at least until I hit Platnium Star. $3,000 for the month of May certainly seems doable. Also, I'd like to start playing MTTs and work on my tournament game, as I feel there is a lot of money to be made there, and it's always good to diversify your game. so, in addition to playing NL$100, I'm going to start playing some $20+2 180s, and any other big $10-$30 MTTs that happen to be running. I'll probably start a blog or something soon, if anyone is curious as to how this turns out.

some stats:
$25NL
Hands Played: 26,152
winrate: 6.16PTBB/100
total winnings: $805.30

$50NL
Hands Played: 19,817
winrate: 7.02PTBB/100
total winnings: $1,391.55

$100NL
Hands played: 1,661
winrate: 18.04PTBB/100
total winnings: $599.40

overall
Hands Played: 47,630
winrate: 6.93PTBB/100
total winnings: $2,796.25
total hours: 64.28
avg. hourly: $43.50

If anyone has any questions or anything, I'd be more than happy to answer them. see you all at the tables!

I enjoyed this operation a lot.

Well done man!

How many tables do you play at once and (if more than 4 as I assume it is) how do you manage to play so many without timing out often?

great job! and btw, there is MUCH more money in cash games than in donkaments, but they are fun to play.

well done congratz

Originally Posted by Bode-ist

great job! and btw, there is MUCH more money in cash games than in donkaments, but they are fun to play.

You're very wrong

NH sir....

gingerwizard,
I usually play 9 tables, and I've never really had a hard time with timing out. I use auto-fold as much as possible, I guess.

Bode-ist,
I know that I can make more in cash games, at least in a $/hr sense, but part of it is also just wanted to expand my play. I definetly want to take some of my FPPs and buy a couple of Sunday Million seats at some point, but I want to practice some before that. I'll probably start with both the $20/180s and the new $27 turbo 45s. I used to play the $11 45s and do pretty well.

everyone else, thanks for the congrats!
update now: br is about 3k, been running hot and have about 10PTBB/100 at $NL100, and I'll be a Platniumstar by the end of the day.

congrats on achieving your goal. what was your BR at when you starting taking shots at 100 nl? from the thread im guessing around 12-1300, is that about right? im thinking about moving up to it soon and my BR right now is 1060. i set a goal of 1500 before i try to move up. any thoughts?

PapalRage,
It all depends on your comfort level. I'd usually take shot when I had 30 buy-ins for my current level. but for $100NL I think I waited until I had $1700 before I started taking shots. this was because I figured $100NL would be a little tougher, so I wanted 25 buy-ins instead of 20, so I waited a little longer on shot taking. I'll probably do the same with $200NL. I want 30 buy-ins to move up there, so I probably won't take shot until I have around $4500.

i am a little confused by your math, do you not buy in for the full amount?