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

[dranger7070]

Hey everybody, as I'm sure some of you have read nibbles started a blog about how he is starting with $5 and is trying to grind that up into something more useable. Coincidentally, I'm doing the same thing only im starting out with $10. I am playing 2nl until I get my BR up to $150 then move up to 5nl. I am using a 30 BI strategy with a 5 BI stop/loss. Its a little on the conservative side, but better safe than sorry IMO. I am also sprinkling in some .10 ($50 added) tourneys and some HU and $1 SnGs until my BR gets higher.

Started out last Thursday (11/13/08) with $10. By Friday I had already doubled my 'roll. Unfortunately, since then I have had it up to $26 only to have it crashing down on Saturday night to $14. =( O well nothing I can do about getting KK vs. AA and QQ vs. KK, etc. I realize that it is part of the game and its something I am going to have to get used to.

Good thing is though, yesterday i started out bright and early ready to jump back on the horse and played a 2.2o HU SnG which I won. Boosted me up to $16 and throughout the rest of the day i SLOWLY (card dead lol) ground my back up to $21.84 which is where I stopped for the day.

I just hope that variance doesn't take over again and I can keep building that up to a solid foundation. Hopefully I have a run of good cards and can get up to $25-$30 by tonight. My goal is to make 3 BI's per day (I buy in for 100xBB so $2). I know generally people say to BI for the full amount, but I want to get used to playing with a 100xBB stack and because my 'roll is to small to be risking 1/4 of it on one table.

The goal of this blog is to basically chronicle my steps up the microstakes ladder and post hands that give me problems or hands that i find interesting. Ill try not to complain about bad beats too much, but they DO happen and sometimes I'm going to need to vent. Ill try to post daily or at least on the days I play. (I do go to college after all.)

Anyways, wish me luck and comment on anything you think I'm doing wrong or things you think i should know. Thanks for reading![/b]

[nibbles]

Good luck Dranger! We're pressed up against it, being under rolled and all. But it can be done (I believe, as I haven't done it yet).

Luck, the good kind.

[Primus Sucks]

Good luck man. Just remember, ABC at 2NL.....you don't need any of that fancy stuff. BTW, are you playing full ring or 6-max?

[dranger7070]

Yea i know to just play straightforward poker (but it doesn't hurt to hear it), But i typically play 6-max, but every now and then i might throw in a FR but thats VERY rare. FR is too boring for me i think...lol. O well. How bout you?

Update for Day 5:

Made very little headway this morning. Got down 50 cents early on and didnt make much progress, but I clawed my way back up to around even despite being card dead. Before I took a break around 10am I doubled up to put me up to a $23.35 BR. I decided that was a good time to stop playing for a little while.
I just got out of class, but about an hour before I left I started up 2 $1.75 18-man turbo SnGs and figured I'd play them out. Finished 1st (WOOT) in one and placed 7th in the other. Net profit of $7.55 which was a decent boost to my 'roll. As it stands right now I have $31.36, or tripled my original $10 BI in 5 days. Lets see if I can keep that kind of progress going. I might start playing a few more $1.75 SnGs just for the simple fact that you only have to place 3rd 1 out of 3 times to make a small (like 15 cents) profit. Any higher than that and ur making bank :P. Wish me luck!

[Primus Sucks]

Yea i know to just play straightforward poker (but it doesn't hurt to hear it), But i typically play 6-max, but every now and then i might throw in a FR but thats VERY rare. FR is too boring for me i think...lol. O well. How bout you?

Well, I play live exclusively right now so I am all over the place. I will play full ring thru HU (most often closing my game down) in the same session. Although I think there is a bit more action 6-max I think people open up too far and that is exploitable.

If you think about it, 6-max is just full ring when UTG through UTG+3 fold and if you are playing 100BB stacks the blinds are so small that the increased frequency really does not make much of a difference. I do think that many players do see this as a big difference (ie. they need to steal more to "keep up with the blinds") and over compensate (much like people do with live staddles). I like 6-max because of this and played almost exclusively when I played online.

Sounds like you are on track, keep your nose to the grindstone and I'm sure you'll do fine.

[dranger7070]

Yea its pretty sick what some people will call down with at these levels lol. 3rd pair no kicker...god i love fish!!! But seriously I just sit and either use my positional advantage of BTN or CO and raise, or if I have a hand I am comfortable playing with OOP ill play. I love when the whole table limps to my BB and i make it .10 to go and everyone folds tho lol. Such a silly thing. And no matter how tight i play THEY NEVER BELIEVE YOU lol. For example, last night i went 6 ORBITS (6!!!) Without seeing a flop (excluding BB checks of course). And when i got KK and raised it 4xBB I got 3 callers LOL. Made a decent sum on that hand .

Anyways thanks for the encouragement and good luck at the tables.

[LuckySlevin]

Hey dranger best of luck with your grind out of the micros - there seems to be a few of us in FTR at the ultra micro stakes at the moment and it's good to know! I'll be keeping up with your blog, looking forward to seeing your BR grow. Good Luck!

[technician]

sounds like a decent plan dude. i know how much fun it is to see your BR grow and you havent risked much so .. not much risk? lol

im doing a similar thing. i was playing partypoker but cashed out of that about a week ago with about 30 profit on my initial deposit of 50. since then ive put 50 on stars am at about 75 bucks from play sng's.

have started playing micro limit ring games in the hopes of building a fortune lol. il be keeping an eye on ya thread man and will let you know how i get on also.

Luck.

[dranger7070]

Glad to see I have a few fans lol. And im REALLY happy to hear that there are more than just me and nibbles grinding the rock bottom micros. Hope we all do well. Getting ready to start my evening session in about a 1/2 hour or so. Ill post before I go to bed. Good luck everyone!

[dranger7070]

GOD I HATE LUCKTARDS!!! This woulda been a nice boost to my roll. Guy had been shoving literally every other hand. But naturally I have him dominated and...well ill let u watch the grossness unfold.

PokerStars Game #22137321204: Hold'em No Limit ($0.01/$0.02) - 2008/11/17 22:36:25 ET
Table 'Mnesthus' 6-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: dranger7070 ($3.83 in chips)
Seat 2: poto1976 ($3.88 in chips)
Seat 3: iomfairy ($4.74 in chips)
Seat 4: Lucky_Rags07 ($15.98 in chips)
Seat 5: CAM997 ($5.08 in chips)
Seat 6: KorN_PonK ($9.56 in chips)
iomfairy: posts small blind $0.01
Lucky_Rags07: posts big blind $0.02
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to dranger7070 [Ad Qh]
CAM997: folds
KorN_PonK: calls $0.02
dranger7070: raises $0.08 to $0.10
poto1976: folds
iomfairy: raises $4.64 to $4.74 and is all-in
Lucky_Rags07: folds
KorN_PonK: folds
dranger7070: calls $3.73 and is all-in
Uncalled bet ($0.91) returned to iomfairy
*** FLOP *** [8h 7h 3s]
*** TURN *** [8h 7h 3s] [6s]
*** RIVER *** [8h 7h 3s 6s] [7s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
iomfairy: shows [4s Qs] (a flush, Queen high)
dranger7070: mucks hand
iomfairy collected $7.35 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $7.70 | Rake $0.35
Board [8h 7h 3s 6s 7s]
Seat 1: dranger7070 mucked [Ad Qh]
Seat 2: poto1976 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: iomfairy (small blind) showed [4s Qs] and won ($7.35) with a flush, Queen high
Seat 4: Lucky_Rags07 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: CAM997 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: KorN_PonK folded before Flop

[nibbles]

It seems you're having a good time while you play. That's not only good, but it's important. Post some hands so I can see how you play. I like lokking at posted hand histories here. It's great to see how other people play out different situations. I find them interesting.

In spite of my envy, I wish you good luck.

[dranger7070]

LOL look again my friend lol. But yea other than stupid hands like this I really do love this game, and yea ill start posting some HH's for you.

[dranger7070]

Ok so Im going to set up my blog a little differently now i think. Im going to keep track of what day it I am on like today is Day 5 and try to set little goals for myself for the day. If I don't reach them, fine. If I do, great! Not a big deal either way, just gives me a little something to shoot for every day.

Day 5 End of Session:

Logged probly 3 1/2 to 4 hours today tops.
Total profit for the day--> $12.66
Total profit to date--> $24.50

Current BR stands at--> $34.50 even. (Hows that for a nice round number?)

Review--> Today was an extremely good day! I mean how often am I going to make almost $13 in one day at .01/.02 stakes lol. Can't say I'm complaining about it. Now the goal is to not slip below $30 at any time. I think I played really good poker (at least by my standards.) Only $115.50 til I can move up to 5nl. So close I can almost taste it! I honestly didn't have any problem hands that I can think of. I'm sure there are some in there but I'll just have to dig through the hand histories to find them. I'll post some tomorrow bright and early if I find them.

Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables,

Dustin

[dranger7070]

Ok, so heres an interesting spot early on in the 18 man SnG. I raise preflop (for obvious reasons lol). Flop comes low so I bet a 3/4 cuz its unlikely they hit that flop very hard after calling my PF raise. I get a caller. Turn is a King. I thought about this a while and decided if I checked I gave the villain control of the pot. I've read that the best thing to do in this situation is put the pressure on ur opponent. Make him make the decision for all his chips. So I put him all in and he snap calls. Ill let you figure out the rest :P Wut do you think he had?

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1.50+$0.25 Tournament, 25/50 Blinds (8 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com



saw flop | saw showdown

UTG (t2400)
UTG+1 (t1265)
MP1 (t2625)
MP2 (t1150)
CO (t1325)
Button (t1065)
SB (t1265)
Hero (BB) (t2405)

Hero's M: 32.07



Preflop: Hero is BB with J, J
3 folds, MP2 calls t50, 2 folds, SB calls t25, Hero raises to t200, MP2 calls t150, SB calls t150

Flop: (t600) 3, 9, 5 (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets t450, MP2 calls t450, 1 fold

Turn: (t1500) K (2 players)
Hero bets t500, MP2 calls t500 (All-In)

River: (t2500) 3 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t2500

Results in white below:
Hero had J, J (two pair, Jacks and threes).
MP2 had 2, A (one pair, threes).
Outcome: Hero won t2500

[dranger7070]

Whoops sorry about posting results won't do it again or at least I'll try not too...lol

[dranger7070]

Here's one most people will probly think WTF??? y did you fold that. The reason why i folded is because this guy hasnt played a hand in about 18 friggin orbits so im going to give him credit for something. maybe I should have seen a flop, but my style is TAG on MY terms. Better safe than sorry. I don't like being in a pot where someone else is in control. Makes me feel used. So I folded and waited for a better spot.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (5 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

UTG ($6.43)
MP ($20.99)
Hero (Button) ($3.89)
SB ($5.16)
BB ($4.67)

Preflop: Hero is Button with K, Q
UTG raises to $0.18, 4 folds

Total pot: $0.05

Results in white below:
UTG didn't show
Outcome:

[dranger7070]

OK heres a hand thats kinda quirky in a way. Obviously I know reraise PF is correct for isolation/thin the field and to build a pot. Now the flop is obviously fantastic for us but there are a few turn cards that I wouldn't want to see. Like a diamond or a straight card. Someone bets into me and Im obviously ahead here so should i just flat raise like i did to get value? Hindsight says just flat and hope he bets again, but who knows? I think a lot of times I'm getting a diamond draw to call me right? or maybe a weaker Ax hand? I dont think a K will be able to call here, but you never know it IS 2nl lol.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (5 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($1.47)
SB ($21.33)
Hero (BB) ($3.89)
UTG ($5.15)
MP ($4.73)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A, A
2 folds, Button raises to $0.06, SB calls $0.05, Hero raises to $0.18, Button calls $0.12, SB calls $0.12

Flop: ($0.54) A, 4, K (3 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, Button bets $0.26, 1 fold, Hero raises to $0.68, 1 fold

Total pot: $1.06

Results in white below:
Hero didn't show A, A (nothing).
Outcome:

[Biglines]

With two diamonds on the board you always want to make something like a PSB on the flop. If the villain has the draw at 2nl they will often be coming along and you will be getting value.

Anyway, good luck with your op. I also started off with $10 and now have the roll up to $340. I would say that if you can afford it, deposit $50 when you hit $100 and move up to 5nl. There is not a big difference in the play, but at 5nl you will find your roll increasing a lot faster which is pretty satisfying.

[a500lbgorilla]

" Hindsight says just flat and hope he bets again, but who knows?"

I guess hindsight isn't always 20/20!

[dranger7070]

Day 7 (technically cuz its past 12am lol and i didnt play at all on turesday):

Beginning of Session:

Starting BR--> $34.50
Goal:--> Place in an 18 man SnG, hopefully take one down.

I'm going into this session pretty optimistic about how my progress has been going. I'm up almost 3 1/2 what i bought in for merely a week ago, and there's no sense in stopping now :P. Lets see if I can stay on this kind of heater the rest of the time. Alright so I'm gonna go get started. I'll update if I make a decent score in the SnG's tonight.

[dranger7070]

OK POKER IS OFFICIALLY SET AGAINST ME!!!! I lost with the BEST HAND PF every *bleeping* time today so far. Just look at this grossness. Makes me sick to my stomach that someone would play this bad:



PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (6 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG ($3.18)
MP ($6.08)
CO ($10.39)
Button ($0.64)
Hero (SB) ($3.26)
BB ($1.14)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, A
UTG raises to $0.08, 3 folds, Hero raises to $0.16, 1 fold, UTG calls $0.08

Flop: ($0.34) K, J, 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $3.02 (All-In), Hero calls $3.02

Turn: ($6.38) 10 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($6.38) 4 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $6.38 | Rake: $0.30


So yea...guy bluffs allin with a gutshot and i call with AA and i get screwed...typical luck for me . I know this is a bad peat post, and frankly i dont really care. I think this warrants a post. I am so sick of losing my big pairs to retards like this who are frickin shove happy on a bluff and CATCH. I can honestly say that I didn't hesitate to press the call button there. I knew he didnt have KJ. I put him on a flush draw at best. Unfortunately, as is often the case, I'm wrong and Pokerstars glady rubs my face in it.

End of morning session for Day 7:

Current BR--> $28.91
Loss/Profit for session--> -$5.59 (Needless to say I RAN BAD!!!)
Sick of poker right now?--> YES I WANT TO GO KICK SMALL ANIMALS RIGHT NOW THIS IS DISGUSTING!!!

Hopefully tonights session will be better. At least I'm having enough control to NOT move up to a higher limit thinking "i can win it back with just ONE hand."

[dranger7070]

OK POKER IS OFFICIALLY SET AGAINST ME!!!! I lost with the BEST HAND PF every *bleeping* time today so far. Just look at this grossness. Makes me sick to my stomach that someone would play this bad:



PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (6 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG ($3.18)
MP ($6.08)
CO ($10.39)
Button ($0.64)
Hero (SB) ($3.26)
BB ($1.14)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, A
UTG raises to $0.08, 3 folds, Hero raises to $0.16, 1 fold, UTG calls $0.08

Flop: ($0.34) K, J, 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $3.02 (All-In), Hero calls $3.02

Turn: ($6.38) 10 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($6.38) 4 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $6.38 | Rake: $0.30


So yea...guy bluffs allin with a gutshot and i call with AA and i get screwed...typical luck for me . I know this is a bad peat post, and frankly i dont really care. I think this warrants a post. I am so sick of losing my big pairs to retards like this who are frickin shove happy on a bluff and CATCH. I can honestly say that I didn't hesitate to press the call button there. I knew he didnt have KJ. I put him on a flush draw at best. Unfortunately, as is often the case, I'm wrong and Pokerstars glady rubs my face in it.

O BTW: Guy had Q9. EPIC lol Should have heard him ragging on me calling me a donk and what not...PRICELESS. I'm proud of myself that I held my tongue and let him talk. Told him it was a "ballsy play" and "i couldnt have done it." Five hands later i get KK and he flops a set on me to stack me again lol JUSTICE IS SERVED!!! <---(sarcasm) Anyways... good luck at the tables everyone cuz it sure aint with me today.

End of morning session for Day 7:

Current BR--> $28.91
Loss/Profit for session--> -$5.59 (Needless to say I RAN BAD!!!)
Sick of poker right now?--> YES I WANT TO GO KICK SMALL ANIMALS RIGHT NOW THIS IS DISGUSTING!!!

Hopefully tonights session will be better. At least I'm having enough control to NOT move up to a higher limit thinking "i can win it back with just ONE hand."

[Erpel]

Here you go:
http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...you-t8530.html

[Stacks]

http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...th-t78154.html

Variance happens. And until you are playing incredibly solid poker, your first step should be to analyze your play rather than attribute it to bad luck, variance, or poker being set against you. You have not reached the point where you are playing solid poker yet, so take a look back at your AA hand and see if you could have made a better decision anywhere. (Hint: It comes in the form of your 3bet size preflop.)

*And no I'm not saying that I wouldn't stack off on this flop given the action. I'm just saying that you likely didn't make the best possible decision on every street, and you should be much more concerned with that, then the fact that you lost the hand.

[dranger7070]

Yea i know i shouldn't be complaining about the hand but sometimes you just gotta vent you know lol? Looking back (HEY RILLA HINDSIGHT IS 20/20 LOL) I should have made my 3-bet size at least triple wut he bet, but still I know that I shouldn't have posted my complaints on here, but what else is a blog for? Anyways I've had some time to cool off now and tonight I'll be back on the horse grindin' away some more. Thanks for the links though. I appreciate the input.

Good luck at the tables,

Dustin

[dranger7070]

Ok so End of Session for Wednesday Day 6:

Starting BR--> $28.91
Ending BR--> $36.95

I don't know how I do it lol. I play crap poker ALL morning, I don't put my opponent on a range or anything. Then at night after I take a shower change into comfies (gym shorts and a t-shirt) I all of a sudden play great poker. Makes no sense lol. But anyways, I sat down tonight with my ultimate goal being get back up to even if possible. I was card dead on the only table I was playing (I usually only 1 table) so I decided to add another one to spice things up. Lo and behold that was the secret to my success lol. I'm going to start multi-tabling more often now. Probly just 2 at a time for now til i get used to it, but I was still able to pay attention to both a fair amount so that's a good sign.

From now on I need to set some rules for myself so I don't lose 3 BI's and try to blame on it something other than myself:

1.) After every 1 hour or 1 1/2 hours take at least a 5 minute break. No matter how good or bad I am doing. This is so I can clear my head and get my mind of poker for a lil bit.

2.) Any more than 2 BI's lost in a session on bad plays due to lack of reads or bluffing away my chips I will immediately end current session, and not play until I think I can do so profitably.

3.) Testicles. That is all. LOL (Family Guy)

Anyways, goals for tomorrow are to get to $40 minimum.
PLAY SOLID POKER
PUT OPPONENTS ON RANGES
NO BLUFFING AT 2NL. THAT IS EXTREMELY -EV LOL

[dranger7070]

Been a while since I've updated. Didn't play over the weekend. On Thursday night went on tilt and dropped BR down to about 32ish. Regrouped Friday and ground it back up to $44. Now I'm still sitting on about that. Will update later on tonight after I get out of class.

[dranger7070]

Wow...just got done looking at all my previous posts and I gotta say that I have been EXTREMELY fortunate to be at the BR I'm at. Yea, I've had some negative variance come my way, but I've managed to handle it reasonably well. (Getting a lil + variance every now and then doesn't hurt lol.) To date I'm up over $30 over a week and a half. Playing exclusively 2nl I don't think thats too bad. Hopefully it's my AMAZING (lol) poker skill/knowledge and not just positive variance. Let's hope I don't hit a major downswing and am able to keep my BR going up.

[dranger7070]

Hey guys... been a WHILE since I've updated. God I really don't want to post this lol. Ok so one night about a week ago I was in a 6-max tournament on Pokerstars. At first i was doing good and had worked my stack up to about 4500ish and it was just after the first break when i started hitting a TERRIBLE run or cards right? (No this isn't a tilt post just bear with me) Anyways, so all my hands would start losing, my sets would get flushed away, same with straights, my flushes would get boated. That kind of stuff. It took maybe 15 minutes and my 4500 above average chip stack was down below 1500. So i went on oober mega tilt (lol) and said screw it. Started just throwing my chips in the middle til i was out. After that I took $25 (pretty much most of my BR at that point) and took it to a 25nl table. Got raped cuz i was playing over my head of course and lost it all. I stopped playing for a couple days after that. Only had like $5 left in my account. After being up over $40 i was pretty pissed at myself the next day lol. Anywho, i took that $5 and took it 2nl and i lost it down to $3.85. So last night I decided I was going to do that 6-max tournament again as a last ditch effort to resurrect my BR. Well, long story short I finished 36th out of 1700 ppl. I'm kind of disappointed that I wasn't more aggressive towards the end to keep my stack from blinding away but o well. Anyways cashed for $12.57. So no complaints. My BR was just over $14 after that and I decided to hop on a couple 2nl tables. Ran hot for a lil bit and finished at $23.11 last night. Somehow i managed to gain $20 last night over the course of 5 1/2 hours. (The majority of that time was spent in the tourney.)

Moral of the story is I'm pissed at myself for tilting away pretty much entire BR, however I'm also proud of myself for being able to get it back to $23. Now I just have to work on that discipline thing lol. Hopefully I can keep this going and not get all pissy about nothing but a lil negative variance. I'll try to start posting regularly here again.

Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables!

[ryokan]

sorry to hear about the tilt, but seems like things didnt work out too bad this time. Its happened to u now and thats experience and you'll be a little bit tougher. good luck at the tables.

[nibbles]

25NL??? Damn dude! WTF, over! WOW. I could see 5nl, or even 10nl, but 25nl? Good thing is you've recovered. If you are really gonna grind your mini bankroll you have to PRETEND that your roll is all you have. Sure in real life it's nothing, but here in the poker rooms it is our scorecard. Don't look at the actual dollar amount of your profit. Look at it percentage wise. I turned $5 into $36. I don't see $31 profit, I see 600% profit. We aren't playing for pennies, we're playing for chips.

Keep grinding. I'm rooting for ya!

[dranger7070]

LOL at ur reaction nibbles. Yea trust me dude. I had ground my way to over $40 and then to just blow it all away in an hour or so just makes me sick. Ah well, like ryokan said, I've learned my lesson and that is going to make me a better player for feeling that loss and I know that I am EXTREMELY fortunate to be able to have a roll again. That tourney last night saved my operation.

[dranger7070]

OK MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH the last 2 days, especially this morning around midnight. Anyways, a friend finally convinced me to 4-table. I've been doing only 1 table at a time so this was kinda new to me. I LOVED IT. Running good helps a lot too, but I can see where the profitz are at now. I made $10 in 2 hours playing 2nl lol. Hopefully that keeps up to where I can take a shot a 5nl soon.

Roll currently stands at $31.33. Probly gonna go to bed. No more insomnia session tonight. Probly wake up around noonish and play for a bit b4 work at 3. Wish me luck! And to all the micro grinders out there: IT IS DOABLE! Trust me! I haven't reached my goal YET, however, I feel if I can avoid going on tilt like I tend to do I'll be there by early spring. See you guys at the midstakes!

Later~

Dustin

[daguksta]

Dude, so many people like me here on the forums. Haha, dude I grinded my way to $60 bucks and then BOOM, everything was gone in like 15 minutes. I played a lot of big tournaments with huge buy-ins...really bad idea, trust me...lol

[BankItDrew]

GL bud

bankroll management is the most important thing. add in playing a lot of hands consistently and you will have success

[chadherczeg]

I know everyone wants to do the small bankroll up to a huge bankroll thing, but to do that for that much effort for such little gain when the effort is better put towards a larger monetary gain, if you have the discipline and ability to do so. Now i understand the trying to freeroll into a bankroll, because that alone proves you have what it takes. But the small bankroll thing is just not practical if you have the funds and ability to do otherwise. Now if you only have 5 extra bucks to your name and the ability, then work with what you have, but i think you should reconsider wasting the time that could have been made making you hundreds to thousands of dollars instead of the 10's to hundreds of dollars. This is just my oppinion. No matter which route you go, good luck to you.

[dranger7070]

Grinding the $10 into something useful isn't ALL for the monetary gains (although that DOES provide some incentive) chadherczeg. I want to do because that is how some REALLY good online players got started. Its kind of a pride thing you know? Being able to turn an intial $10 into THOUSANDS would be pretty sweet IMO.

Thanks for the support BankItDrew, and yea I know that Bankroll Management is the best way to grind up. And I actually HAVE been doing it except for that one lapse. I just have to maintain my composure at the tables and I'll be fine.

[nibbles]

For me it's all about stacking chips, or units. The dollar value of the unit is irrelevant. I've heard a number of the big poker pros say they had to stop caring about money to become great at poker. Of course, that's easy when you have millions, but that's the beauty of internet poker. You don't have to risk thousands of dollars to become good. You can develop a sound game on the cheap. That is my goal, to become good. I used to play online because I like the game and I could pick up a little cash ($50) for a few 6 packs and a dime bag every now and then . Money won is so sweet. Now I actually want to improve and develop a sound game. That is why I decided not to cash out anything until I have a functional monster bankroll. The type of roll where I can withdraw $1000 and still be properly rolled for my stake of play. Now, when I lose 3 bucks, it's not the money I'm upset about, but the loss of units. Right now the money is just a scorecard. At least that is my approach. Get good on the cheap.

[dranger7070]

The hand that saved my session. Before this hand I was down about $1.20. Also the minraise i agree is pretty stupid. I should have just shoved turn but in this case maybe it saved the hand, and made the pot big enough for him to shove at it. The check on the flop was because after my 3 bet PF hes probly putting me on a big Ace (if hes putting me on anything) and i wanted to get a lot of value out of this hand and i dont think i could have (at least not as much) if i had c-bet. Rest of my update is after the hand.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (5 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB ($2.41)
BB ($4.43)
UTG ($3.41)
MP ($3.96)
Hero (Button) ($2.90)

Preflop: Hero is Button with ,
1 fold, MP raises to $0.08, Hero raises to $0.24, 2 folds, MP calls $0.16

Flop: ($0.51) , , (2 players)
MP checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($0.51) (2 players)
MP bets $0.54, Hero raises to $1.08, MP calls $0.54

River: ($2.67) (2 players)
MP bets $2.64 (All-In), Hero calls $1.58 (All-In)

Total pot: $5.83 | Rake: $0.25

Results in white below:
Hero had K, A (two pair, Aces and Kings).
MP had A, 3 (one pair, Aces).
Outcome: Hero won $5.58


Today marks a pretty big milestone for me i think. I played more hands today than ive EVER played before. I played over 1400 hands today four tabling. That is an ass ton for me lol, but i didnt have anything to do today so i figured id play poker... A LOT lol. Unfortunately ive only had minimal gains for the day. As it stands im only up 1.5 BI's. But thats ok because this day ALMOST ended with a loss. Still could i guess being that im still playing, but thats beside the point. Ill update further after session is complete.

[dranger7070]

Did i make a good fold here? Seriously i have NO clue where i was at with this hand. I was REALLY leaning toward busted flush but i wouldnt bet my entire stack on it.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (6 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP ($5.77)
CO ($2.79)
Button ($5)
SB ($11.08)
BB ($3.87)
Hero (UTG) ($6.19)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with ,
Hero raises to $0.08, 2 folds, Button raises to $0.24, 2 folds, Hero calls $0.16

Flop: ($0.51) , , (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $0.30, Hero calls $0.30

Turn: ($1.11) (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $0.50, Hero calls $0.50

River: ($2.11) (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $3.96 (All-In), Hero folds

Total pot: $2.11 | Rake: $0.10

[dranger7070]

WARNING: THIS IS A VENT POST!!! JUST SKIP OVER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO HEAR ME COMPLAIN ABOUT STUPID HANDS!!!

So far today my KK has been cracked by QQ on the river. There goes a stack. My QQ was dominated by AA, nother stack gone. YEEEHAWWW!!!
I RUN SO GOOT!!! Ive only played about 200 hands today. Have yet to stack anyone with any REAL size to there stacks. $1 at most. And yet im losing my BI's like crazy... Don't know wut to do.... Im not doing anything wrong, I know that but sometimes i get frustrated as HELL when this happens.

[dranger7070]

GOOD NEWS!!! No more venting (at least not in this post):

I quit playing for a while until a 25 cent tourney started. I made it to 2nd level payouts but was busted with 88 vs. JJ. Ah well doubled my BI WOOT lol. After that a frined convinced me to try 6-tabling for a while. I did it for about an hour and a half. It was a LITTLE hectic, but the result was AMAZING. I ran a tight ship of 17/14. I netted $8.70 profit in that 1 1/2 hours. It was sick. I was hitting everything lol. I know it was probly just good variance but ill take wut i can get. I MIGHT try 6-tabling more often.

Well thats it for now. Ive had this size BR b4 and donked it away, but NOT THIS TIME!!!


BR= $40.31

I started with $10 online so I hope you have the same level success as I do or more!

[dranger7070]

Thanks iopq! Thats crazy to look at your op banner and see that you have a 2.3K BR now after starting with $10, but seeing that makes me even more determined to get there myself! A friend of mine and I are both doing this except he started with $5 and hes already at $208 lol. But he's been doing it for about a month longer than me and i donked my roll down to $1.85 at one point so I guess i cant complain! Hope to see you at the midstakes one day!

[nibbles]

No need to apologize for the vent. Outside of this forum no one cares about you losing a few bucks. But here, I feel your pain. I can relate. You KNOW I do it. But now you get to look back and see on the 7th you were sinking, then on the 8th you were swimming again. All part of the game. Keep rollin'.

[dranger7070]

Well my day went fairly well i think. Played a lil over 1k hands i think 4 tabling. I was at $49.10 for a BR at one point when I finally made a donk shove into an extremely tight player. I had an over pair on the board and he called with a bigger one lol. Go figure right? Ah well. I only had 100bb stack so not anything too huge in loss.

After that hand session started to deteriorate. So i decided to call it quits. Had a friend sweating me this session using TeamViewer. He said i played really well except for that one hand.

BR is currently at $45.92 so can't complain about a $4 something profit. Getting closer to the ever elusive $50. Might start putting a 5nl table with 3 2nl tables from now on. Just try to ease myself into it. Ah well. Good times. Later all!

[dranger7070]

Ok so I'm having a problem folding my big PP's preflop. Obvioulsy im never folding AA preflop, but twice in this session i got stacked with QQ vs. AA. TWICE lol. I'm pleased to announce that I'm surprisingly not mad about that at all though. Even though both times something in the back of my head was telling me that I was beat. I ALWAYS get QQ+ in PF if i can, and often times QQ leads me to a shake of the head and a lost stack.

I AM getting better at not going on tilt which is good. The first time I had QQ was early on in the session. Got stacked. Kept my cool. Turned it around into a $3.50-4.00 profit session. Then right before I was about to quit when this hand came up. I think me pushing here is probably break even at best. I think i should have either flatted or 3-bet to 3x to make him define his range a little more, but that would pot commit me no matter what came on the flop so i think im stuck here. Just wondering if any of the regs here would fold this here? I just got a lil shove happy, i think.



PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (6 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

CO ($1.16)
Button ($4.99)
SB ($0.99)
Hero (BB) ($2)
UTG ($2.19)
MP ($5.14)

Preflop: Hero is BB with ,
1 fold, MP raises to $0.08, 1 fold, Button raises to $0.32, SB calls $0.31, Hero raises to $2 (All-In), MP calls $1.92, Button raises to $4.92, SB calls $0.67 (All-In), MP calls $2.92

Flop: ($12.83) , , (4 players, 2 all-in)
MP bets $0.22 (All-In), Button calls $0.07 (All-In)

Turn: ($12.97) (4 players, 4 all-in)

River: ($12.97) (4 players, 4 all-in)

Total pot: $12.97 | Rake: $0.60

Results in white below:
Button had A, A (one pair, Aces).
SB mucked A, J (high card, Ace).
Hero mucked Q, Q (one pair, Queens).
MP had K, J (one pair, Kings).
Outcome: Button won $12.37

[dranger7070]

This hand was about midway through the session. My question here is: Do you check this turn card? Or was I right leading into it? If I WAS right about leading, was my bet sizing good? Should i bet more or less here?

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (6 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB ($0.37)
BB ($3.25)
Hero (UTG) ($2)
MP ($1.70)
CO ($3.54)
Button ($5.50)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with ,
Hero raises to $0.08, MP calls $0.08, 2 folds, SB calls $0.07, 1 fold

Flop: ($0.26) , , (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $0.24, MP calls $0.24, 1 fold

Turn: ($0.74) (2 players)
Hero bets $0.30, MP raises to $1.38 (All-In), Hero folds

Total pot: $1.34 | Rake: $0.05

Results in white below:
MP didn't show
Outcome: MP won $1.29

[dranger7070]

All in all, it wasn't a BAD session, just wasnt a particularly GREAT one. I played close to 300 hands and lost about 30 cents. Can't complain with some i suppose it could have been A LOT worse. I'll play later on. Going to work out with my roommate here in a little bit, then gettin' some chow, shower then poker. Later!


BR: $45.62

[HarleyGuy13]

. I ALWAYS get QQ+ in PF if i can, and often times QQ leads me to a shake of the head and a lost stack.

Dranger first let me say you're doing well as you have built you BR from $10 upto 40ish and that is good!

But now lets consider your play with QQ. Why would you ALWAYS want to get in PF. The only people who are going to go up against your are KK & AA. Nobody except the real morons would call with anything less would they? So you are more likely than not loosing value by over playing when you run off the smaller PP's and as you already said often you end up shaking your head and wondering Wat Da Fuk.
Slow down with the ladies and you will over all reap more benefits IMO.

Keep up the grind my friend!

[dranger7070]

Yea me and a friend of mine were discussing my play with QQ earlier today. My biggest problem is, ill bet 4xbb+1bb per limper as is standard. Then someone 3-bets me. I get so frickin excited cuz i got a big PP that I want to get my money is ASAP without even looking at flop. Idk... I need to work on not getting so attached to a hand. Which i believe I HAVE been doing a better job, despite recent results lol. It takes A LOT more for me to go on tilt now, so that is a HUGE plus. Thanks for the advice Harely.

[dranger7070]

Upate for blog:

A friend convinced me to play 5nl today, and although I do have only 9 BI's I decided to give it a shot. I have played at that level before and the competition is MUCH softer IMO. Everyone in 5nl is trying to get so fancy disguising there hands that they GIVE IT AWAY 90% of the time lol.

For example:
Villain checks, I bet, villain tanks for about 15 seconds, then raises. I mean come the fuck on lol. What does that tell me? Hmm... not sure i have best so i'll... RAISE lol. I love these guys.

Anyways for the session. Only played 300 hands. (I one tabled 5nl today to ease into it). Few hands into session I pick up KK. Myself and 2 other opponents get it all in PF. Result was one had QQ (hit his set on turn lol). Other guy had KQs (great right?) NOPE. He hit his flush on river lol. So i got raped every way you look at it on that hand lol. Anyways that kinda rattled me, so I sat back the next couple of orbits and let my head get back on straight.

Little bit later, I pick up a few good sized pots. I bring my stack back to where i started, and from there on out it just continued to climb. By the time I finished section I was up $13.41!!! That's the most I've made in one day (i think) since I've started this op. And yes, my bb/100 was 104 (yea im braggin so what lol? I KNOW its not sustainable, but a man can dream cant he?).

After that i figured id dink around with a 1.20 27 man SnG. Cashed 5th place (barely past bubble.) Made a bad play against a weak/tight player in BB when it was folded around to me in SB. I had KQ he had AQ. Didn't end well lol. Anywho. So that put me up another $1 for the day. I think thats about it for now...

BR: $57.82 (w00t cracked the $50 barrier!!!)

[nibbles]

Good luck Dranger. Hope it goes well. Keep in mind the things you told me when I made this move. I made the decision to stay at 2NL until I have $75, and you know I'm just itching for 5NL. I learned my lesson last time I moved up. In one session I ran into a bunch of sets and crippled my bankroll (has to happen eventually). Took me a while to recover. Doesn't have to happen to you and I hope it doesn't. Bright side is at least you didn't jump up to 25NL again.

Good luck.

[dranger7070]

Yes, I know the danger of moving up a little too early is that it could damage my BR, HOWEVER, you moved up when you had like $25 in your BR if I recall. I have $56. I have a 2 BI stop/loss. If I drop down to $45 for my BR than I am moving back down to 2nl. I am going to keep playing at 5nl until I run into either horrendous variance, or I make it so I don't have to drop down. Either way, there is only a small % of my BR at risk here.

Ive gotten a lot better at controlling my tilt, so I don't think I have to worry about losing a stack while playing now. Thanks for the post and the warning. Good luck at the tables!

Dustin Ranger

[dranger7070]

Well I was up to $57 as my maximum for 5nl. Then it seems like I take 3 steps forward and 2 steps back. I hit $57, GREAT. Next day I didn't play very much so stayed about the same. Last night however, hit some BAD variance. I had JJ, I raise it up. 2 callers. Flop a Jack with some under cards. I bet small, guy raises, I shove. Turn and river more small cards. Guy hit a GUTSHOT straight draw. (Judging from his cards thats the ONLY thing he was drawing at too.) So there was one BI down for the night. Then my AA was cracked by 44. Nother BI down.

I decide I'll take a break from 5nl, and play a couple tourneys. Both I played I got busted out earlier with pocket Q's losing to something GOD AWFUL like J4 or 10-2. So i decide I'll play a $3.40 nonturbo 9 man sng. Busted out early in that with KK vs. AQ. Round and round we go.

Total losses for the night ended up being around $20. This is what I mean about 2 steps forward 3 steps back. That is how my BR goes it seems. I am currently sitting on a little over $31. Which is still a healthy BR for 2nl, but GOD i just want to quit grinding 2nl. After playing 5nl its SO boring.

Ah well, next time when i move up I will just have to have more in the old BR. Maybe I'll wait til $65+. Wish me luck. I'm just glad I didn't spew away ALL my BR last night.

BTW I switched over to doing SnG's and tourneys because I figure I could limit my losses at the very least. I wouldn't be losing $5+ on a single hand. I don't know if I'll be playing too many more sngs for a while. I'll just stick to 2nl *sigh*

Good luck at the tables everybody. Hopefully you don't run into the same problem I had last night

Dustin Ranger

[dranger7070]

Whoops sorry. I lied about my BR I guess. I'm at $33.61 so not as bad as I thought w00t!!! I just checked it on Pokerstars to be sure I had the number right. That seriously makes me a LOT happier for some reason lol. I have no idea why that would make me feel better, but i don't know it just does . Can't be too upset when you find an extra BI in your BR the next day lol.

Anyways just thought I'd share the good news lol.

[LuckySlevin]

. I ALWAYS get QQ+ in PF if i can, and often times QQ leads me to a shake of the head and a lost stack.

Nobody except the real morons would call with anything less would they? So you are more likely than not loosing value by over playing!

My biggest problem is, ill bet 4xbb+1bb per limper as is standard. Then someone 3-bets me. I get so frickin excited cuz i got a big PP that I want to get my money is ASAP without even looking at flop. Idk... I need to work on not getting so attached to a hand.

There are a whole load of 'real morons' at this limit. Nothing wrong with getting it all in with QQ pf (unless you're both 200bb+ deep), as long as you don't just shove it from the off because then you are losing value. Only exception is if you have a read that you are playing a standard tagg player/Tight weak player. Generally you'll be hard pushed to find more than 2 tight players at any one table.

[LuckySlevin]

have $56. I have a 2 BI stop/loss. If I drop down to $45 for my BR than I am moving back down to 2nl.

This would have saved a chunk of your BR man, try to stick to it next time you take a shot. GLGL!

[dranger7070]

have $56. I have a 2 BI stop/loss. If I drop down to $45 for my BR than I am moving back down to 2nl.

This would have saved a chunk of your BR man, try to stick to it next time you take a shot. GLGL!

See slevin I DID stick to my plan. I lost those two BI's so I stopped playing 5nl. Decided cash wasn't working for me, so I decided to try out a few sngs and tourneys. Thats where the rest of my BR went to. I didnt keep playing 5nl after I lost those 2 BI's.

[LuckySlevin]

My advice Dranger would be that when your stop loss kicks in, you go back to the stake that you came from, otherwise it's not really a stop loss, you're nowhere near rolled for those 3.40 sngs. Trust me it's just backwards steps in the longterm, however alluring the first place cash might be.

[dranger7070]

Yea i get that advice. It was the 1st place money that allured me lol. It was just wanting to try something different for a change. Idk. But I'm going to be done with my lil "grind" for a while. A lot is going on in my personal life that is SERIOUSLY affecting my poker play. My barn at home just burnt down with thousands of $$$ worth of MY hunting equipment in it along with my stepdads truck. I got finals for college this week. I owe over $500 in hospital bills at the end of this month. I got Christmas still to buy. Life is just really hectic right now, and I hope sometime i can hopefully come back, but i don't know when that will be or IF it will happen. I will continue to check in on u guys here at FTR. U have all helped my game immensely and ill try to return the favor to the newer players if/when i can.

Good luck everyone!

Dustin Ranger

[nibbles]

Sorry to hear about your tough times. I hope things work out for the best. I've been using poker to get me through my tough times. Broke up with my girl end of October (saving money there), and playing poker occupies me so I don't go out so much (saving money there). Hopefully I have my credit cards paid off by summer. Pales in comparison to your woes with the barn and all, but you know what's best for you. Again, I hope things work out and good luck. Take care!

[dranger7070]

Well, can't stay away for long lol. God it's been what, 2 or 3 days since I posted that last one saying I don't know when I'll be back? God I'm addicted (kidding, but seriously lol :P)

Anyways, I'm already back on the horse. When I was at work the other day I was just kinda sitting around and decided to type a list of short term and long term goals I want to gain from poker. It is quite a long list especially on the long term side, but since writing it it has put a lot of things into perspective for me.

For example: Poker has been an outlet for me for the last few months, and I would like that to continue in the coming years. Sure things are getting rough in my life right now, but honestly I shouldn't be stressing about most of the things. Home Owner's insurance should cover most of the damages from the fire. I have a job that will pay enough to cover the hospital expenses (and if not I can stall long enough until next month) and college finals are only ONE week. Besides, I like to think I'm a reasonably smart kid and I know most of the material so no reason to stress.

So with all that in mind I decided to play, actually PLAY for the first time in a couple days. Taking a couple days break after a month and a half of straight grinding REALLY helped me out too, i think. I hopped onto a couple 2nl tables hungry to play again. I was getting solid reads on opponents and folding marginal hands when out of position. Made a couple of good laydowns PF. I folded pocket 10's after I opened UTG and one player reraised and another tight player called. Both showed down KK and JJ respectively.

Only played a couple hundred hands, but finished up close to a buy in so all in all not a bad session to come back on. Let's just hope this momentum can keep up and I can back to seriously grinding again!

Good to be back!

Dustin Ranger

[HarleyGuy13]

Glad you are back! Sounds like you are putting things into perspective and realizing it could be much worse. I wake up everyday kick the blankets off my feet, look down and god damn it if there is not a tag hanging off one of my toes I know it's going to be a decent day. After all I guarantee you there are many who were not so lucky.
Believe me when I tell you have I have been through TOTAL hell over the last couple years, IE: Lost my dream career, almost lost my 25 year marriage, my father shot himself...I could go on. So with the right attitude you can go on. But you do need an outlet and poker will do the job as long as you keep it fun!
NOW GRIND YOUR ASS OFF!

[dranger7070]

Haha thanks for the support Harley. I just let all the little things get to me I think. Now, like you said, I put things into perspective and that should help me get back on track. Now I'm off to GRIND MY ASS OFF!

[nibbles]

Where u at Dranger? Are you still sick or what? Too sick to play online poker is hella sick. Get well soon and get to grinding the coinage.

[dranger7070]

Hey nibbles, yea I'm still here. Not sick anymore, but I'm at home where I don't get that good of internet connection. I've tried playing a couple times, but every time it kicks me off the server so i gotta wait until January 7th til I can go back to college. After that I'm gonna start playing like mad again lol. I'm going CRAZY without poker lol.

[dranger7070]

Holy dogpiss...

I just read over my blog, and DAMN! I must say that I have been a whiney, spewy, not know how to play poker, lil BITCH! I mean fuck! How on Earth I managed to NOT be at higher than $40 right now is beyond me lol.

I got off to a great start. I was $40 like 2-3 weeks into this, and yet here I am lol. That is in large part due to the fact that I donked most of my roll at 25nl that night, and that I didn't stick to my stop/loss when I moved up to 5nl.

SO on that note:

-It's a new year, time for some new goals:
1.) Get to 5nl by end of January.
2.) Start saving up for a laptop that runs Windows and buy HEM for it.
3.) Get to 10nl by middle of March.
4.) Implement a new BI strategy: (spoonitnow's BI strategy)
5.) When I get back from boot camp grind my roll up to $1500+ then transfer it over to FT and grind 50nl while clearing bonus there.
6.) Play good pokers! (DUH lol)

I get to go back to college on Thursday the 7th. I will be leaving my house at about 11pm on Wednesday night to go to work. I work midnight-8am. After work head straight to the dorms, go to sleep until probly early afternoon (1:30-2:00pm), get up and GRIND BABY GRIND!!!

Here's another lil interesting tidbit. My stepdad is going to give me $500 from the insurance money (from the fire) to do with what I will. Now I'm debating to putting it online (totally negating the fact that I'm starting with $10) OR put it towards buying a new laptop. The third option would be to put about $100-$150 online then put the remaining money in the bank for the laptop... I want to deposit SOME of the money, but damn it, it almost seems like cheating my op lol. Any opinions?

Oober long post, I know. Try to update later on in the week when I get back to college w00t!

Dustin

[nibbles]

Pad your roll with the $100. You will be properly rolled for 5NL and can get to ballin'.

[dranger7070]

That IS probably what I'll end up doing, but it still seems like cheating lol. It's going to be a couple weeks before I get the check, so I'll have time to grind on 2nl for a little while longer and see if I wanna just tough it out there, or if I want to just deposit the $100 and "skip" a step.

That's the only reason why I'm kind of leery about moving up, because I'm pretty positive that I can beat 5nl almost as good as I've been beating 2nl, but I don't want to move up before my BR is ready, and I want it to be because I made it come up from $10, not $110. I don't know, like I said I got some time to think about it. I'll let you guys know what I decide to do.

Dustin

[Jason]

Meh. You admit you moved up when you shouldn't, didn't stick to your rules, and were losing too much money in one post and then in the next post, you consider putting more money in. Why not stick to the limit you're rolled for and move up once you've legitimately beat that level and have the money to prove it?

I also wouldn't recommend playing 5NL or any level until you have 30 buyins. But, good luck with whatever route you choose.

[dranger7070]

Meh. You admit you moved up when you shouldn't, didn't stick to your rules, and were losing too much money in one post and then in the next post, you consider putting more money in. Why not stick to the limit you're rolled for and move up once you've legitimately beat that level and have the money to prove it?

I also wouldn't recommend playing 5NL or any level until you have 30 buyins. But, good luck with whatever route you choose.

Ok... apparently you can't read because in the last post I put up I said I was hesitant to put more money on because the whole point of this blog is for me to build a solid roll off of $10, not $110. And like I also said in that last post, I have a couple more weeks to think about it and that gives me a little more time to play 2nl.

Sorry if that comes off a little harsh, but the fact is I'm not like, "ZOMG!!! I have money!?!?!? I better deposit that on Pokerstars NOW!!!" Dude I've been grinding 2nl for the last 1 1/2 months and I've been beating it pretty handily.

The only reason I don't have more is, like you said, I moved up when my ROLL couldn't handle the downswings. I can beat 5nl almost as good as 2nl, it's just that my BR on Pokerstars couldn't sustain the downswing I hit. That's the only reason why I moved back down. I'm waiting until I have $100 before I move up to 5nl this time, that way I can hang around and actually get the ball rolling.

Dustin

[Jason]

I thought I did read your post, but feel free to point out where I went wrong. You were "considering" putting in more money. That's why I responded that you shouldn't based on where you've been and where you are. It seems like you're now saying that you were only hesitant, but when you talked about having extra money and someone responded that you put in $100 more, you said

That IS probably what I'll end up doing

Whether you're hesitant or probably going to or probably not or whatever, I'm just letting you know I don't think you should.

If you can beat 2NL, then stick with it and get your roll to where you can play @ 5 NL because you made the money from 2 NL, not because you happen to have extra money to deposit. Then, follow the same rules from 5 NL to 10 NL and so on. You get to the next level by beating the level you're @, not by making a deposit. That way you prove you can not only beat the level, but also have the discipline to stick to bankroll management. Because you've played outside your roll AND because you have recently considered "skipping" levels by adding more money, it seems apparent to me that that's an area you definitely want to work on and prove you can follow.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

[dranger7070]

Ok, it's been a while since I updated blog. Roll sits at $40.05. Haven't really felt the urge to play until tonight. Only played a half hour session til I went out a kicked back a few with a couple buddies. Anyways, here's a hand where I could have potentially made quite a bit.

Do you think I could peel a turn card with this board? Villain had been pretty aggro, raising every other hand and c-betting most flops. I timed it down for a about 10-15 seconds before I decided to pass. I was thinking he might do it with any PP, a 10 was in his range, or maybe just a couple of big cards. Ah well...

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (6 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (CO) ($2)
Button ($2.42)
SB ($4.99)
BB ($3.29)
UTG ($5.09)
MP ($3.68)

Preflop: Hero is CO with ,
UTG calls $0.02, MP raises to $0.06, Hero calls $0.06, Button calls $0.06, 2 folds, UTG calls $0.04

Flop: ($0.27) , , (4 players)
UTG checks, MP bets $0.10, Hero folds, Button calls $0.10, UTG calls $0.10

Turn: ($0.57) (3 players)
UTG checks, MP bets $0.10, Button calls $0.10, 1 fold

River: ($0.77) (2 players)
MP bets $0.10, Button calls $0.10

Total pot: $0.97 | Rake: $0

[dranger7070]

Sorry I've been MIA the last couple weeks, but I haven't gotten the chance to play much poker. Just been hovering at $40 for the longest time. Finally, tonight SUCCESS!!! I sat down at 2 tables (I've been cutting back, trying to focus on the tables a little more closely) and just took it easy for a while.

No real big hands, but ground up to $2.50 on one table (I start out with $2). Guy has been really aggro sitting to my left. I pick up AKs UTG. I pop it up to 5x. He calls. CO calls. Folds around. Flop AJ9. I bet pot they both call. Turn 3. I open shove. MP calls, CO folds. River 7. He shows down Q10s for openended straight and flush draws, so i dodged some outs .

Anyways, that put me up a nice amount for the session. Played a couple hundred more hands. Nothing else really happened. Never got all in again. Couple of big pots that put me up another BI or so, but those were few and far between. So i decided to call it quits after 350 hands. Ended up $5.50 WOOT.

First big win I've had on a session in a while. Feels good to finally take home close to 3 BI's after a long BE stretch. I'll try to post a little more regularly now that I'm back in the dorms.

Speaking of which, classes started yesterday. I'm taking 4 classes for like 14 credit hours or some crap. Only one class has got a bunch of cute chicas in it, but there are A LOT, so it totally makes up for it...

MINIOP- Get at least 3 numbers from some of those girls

Good luck at the tables everybody,

Dustin