Getting back into grind (180s, MTTs) after a year of soul searching
02-18-2014
, 12:56 PM
Hello, poker community! 
I'll tell you my story. My screen name on pokerstars is ISITFRACTAL?, I'm a 22 year old Latvian from our capital city Riga.
I first started to play poker with my friends when I was 17, 5 years ago, we played small cash games. There were a few guys in our circle of friends who had also started to play online, using those 50$ starting capitals and trying to grind it up. One of them was pretty successful to my understanding of that time, he had built a BR of some 500$. That seemed amazing to me. You see I'm coming from a family that has always tried to make ends meet, so I didn't have the luxury of many things, didn't even get money to eat at school often times. Had to pay for my addictions too - mainly cigarettes. And you know when you're addicted to smoking - cigarettes > food. Wasn't really taking care of myself. So poker seemed like a real chance of making some money for myself so that I could have more freedom in life.
First online experience was depositing 5$ on Pokerstars. Played some cash games a little bit there, but soon got my first 50$ free bankroll on Partypoker. Guess what - on the first day I won a 1$ turbo MTT for like 100$. I remember being crazy happy, it was almost unbelievable. I decided that there's a good chance to make some money in 1$ 9man sng's, but I slowly just burned the 150$ I had there and eventually went busto. At that time I was always playing 1 table and reading silly poker articles on the internet, didn't know about twoplustwo or any real grinding. Was a real fish so to speak.
Then I found out another place where there was the 50$ free bankroll offer, so I took it and started playing on Full Tilt. That was a roller coaster. I remember I went down to less than 5$, but oh well Universe decided to give me some luck and I was able to get out of that hole somehow. I remember I build my roll there by playing at first 27 man sng's and later 45 man sng's, also played some MTTs, finished 2nd in a 10$ turbo one day and won ~1600$. Oh I remember... That had me hooked, but how devastating it was to slowly lose what I had made with that bink. I was playing MTTs over my bankroll. But I got my lesson and slowly rebuilt. Anyways I spent around a year there on Full Tilt, made ~3k$. That was huge for me. Made a nice fixed gear bike from the money I made there and then got into collecting online betting bonuses/ free bets. One of my friends had done it and made ~1k like that and I wanted to try. So did that. Made some easy money.
After finishing high school, I started to study Economics in university. Had a state sponsored spot there because I had made a scientific research paper that won 1st place in the national competition of scientific research papers. Didn't really enjoy studying there, felt distant from other students and also got into that school because I had the free spot not because I'd really like that. At the same time continued to play poker like a fish, one table at a time. I remember I had heard stories of some acquaintance binking around 2k$ in a tournament and I guess that inspired me to find out how it's done. I found the story of a guy (known as FeelTh3Power now) that I was in the same primary school with, who had grinded turbo sngs and made like 5k or something. Contacted him to ask for tips, he introduced me to the idea of multi tabling and everything just popped into places and made sense after that. A plan was bubbling within me. I wanted to be like him - a real grinder.
I decided I'll leave university and become a professional poker player. It was the beginning of 2011. I remember I had something like 200$ on me at that time. I had the 5$ in Pokerstars, the first and only money I've ever deposited from my wallet and decided that I want to build my bankroll from that. I started with 10c 360mans, than 50c 45s, then 1$ 45s and 90s and so I easily built a BR of around 150$. I decided that I'm ready to move up to 2$ 180s if I deposit the extra money I had. That wasn't a good bankroll management at that time, but I got a little lucky again and never looked back. I remember that chilin_dude was a huge inspiration for me at that time, he had a thread "$300 to $100k profit & $50k Bankroll by 2012" which was awesome. I thought: "if he can do it, why couldn't I?"
Made 30k in 2011 and 85k in 2012. Then lost the passion for the game in 2013, had burned myself out and started slacking really heavily. Moved to Amsterdam with my girlfriend, smoked best pot all day every day for half a year, at that time tried to transition to playing morning sessions of MTTs, that way burned big part of my bankroll, because I wasn't studying and have never been too good at regular speed MTTs that are the majority in the mornings, didn't move down fast enough too. But still had great time in Amsterdam: started to focus on health, became vegan, even tried to be raw vegan for a month, went to yoga, rode with bike, longboarded, smoked pot a lot, got into and out of conspiracy theories, into spirituality, thought a lot about what can I do with my life to soothe the terrible situation we have on the Planet now environmentally and to raise consciousness about the problems we are facing. I've fallen in love with ideas of intentional communities, ecovillages, natural building, permaculture, sustainable business and that's what I want to do with my life. As time went by my desire to play poker had subsided more and more and I knew that my only motivation would be to play when I really need to get the money/ there is no other way. I've hoped that somehow a way opens up for me without the need to play poker, but it hasn't happened, because the feeling that I can't go after my dreams, hoping that it will all work out anyway without taking care of my financial situation, isn't leaving me. So I've decided that I need to grind out some money to feel safe financially and then I'll let my life lead me to my dreams.
So I'm through the time period where I'm thinking about what I want to do with my life and I'm going in the doing mode. A little bit more than a week ago me and my girlfriend that I was together with for 5 years parted our ways, since then I've quit porn, masturbation and reduced my cannabis intake to weekends only. I'm in love with life more than I've been for a long time.
My challanges:
- get back into regular poker playing and studying
- rebuild confidence in my game
- remember about other life goals and actively work towards them
- keep a healthy balance, remember to have fun
- take just as much as I need, don't get greedy
- love and respect myself, others, our Mother Nature and Father Sky
- move from absorbing outer truths to hearing my own inner truth
- don't forget to do yoga, running, cycling, longboarding
- and again... Love Life. <3
Lifetime graph:
So my plan is to start low and safe at $2.5 180s to regain confidence, remember/ relearn push-fold and gradually move to higher 180s, add turbo MTTs from Pokerstars and other sites and eventually maybe even get into regular speeds again. But I'd be fine with grinding turbos all over the place aswell. Oh and my life roll is around 10k$ now.
I want to keep this thread interesting so you will also find poker unrelated stuff here.
Good luck to us all! See you at the tables!
I'll tell you my story. My screen name on pokerstars is ISITFRACTAL?, I'm a 22 year old Latvian from our capital city Riga.
I first started to play poker with my friends when I was 17, 5 years ago, we played small cash games. There were a few guys in our circle of friends who had also started to play online, using those 50$ starting capitals and trying to grind it up. One of them was pretty successful to my understanding of that time, he had built a BR of some 500$. That seemed amazing to me. You see I'm coming from a family that has always tried to make ends meet, so I didn't have the luxury of many things, didn't even get money to eat at school often times. Had to pay for my addictions too - mainly cigarettes. And you know when you're addicted to smoking - cigarettes > food. Wasn't really taking care of myself. So poker seemed like a real chance of making some money for myself so that I could have more freedom in life.
First online experience was depositing 5$ on Pokerstars. Played some cash games a little bit there, but soon got my first 50$ free bankroll on Partypoker. Guess what - on the first day I won a 1$ turbo MTT for like 100$. I remember being crazy happy, it was almost unbelievable. I decided that there's a good chance to make some money in 1$ 9man sng's, but I slowly just burned the 150$ I had there and eventually went busto. At that time I was always playing 1 table and reading silly poker articles on the internet, didn't know about twoplustwo or any real grinding. Was a real fish so to speak.
Then I found out another place where there was the 50$ free bankroll offer, so I took it and started playing on Full Tilt. That was a roller coaster. I remember I went down to less than 5$, but oh well Universe decided to give me some luck and I was able to get out of that hole somehow. I remember I build my roll there by playing at first 27 man sng's and later 45 man sng's, also played some MTTs, finished 2nd in a 10$ turbo one day and won ~1600$. Oh I remember... That had me hooked, but how devastating it was to slowly lose what I had made with that bink. I was playing MTTs over my bankroll. But I got my lesson and slowly rebuilt. Anyways I spent around a year there on Full Tilt, made ~3k$. That was huge for me. Made a nice fixed gear bike from the money I made there and then got into collecting online betting bonuses/ free bets. One of my friends had done it and made ~1k like that and I wanted to try. So did that. Made some easy money.
After finishing high school, I started to study Economics in university. Had a state sponsored spot there because I had made a scientific research paper that won 1st place in the national competition of scientific research papers. Didn't really enjoy studying there, felt distant from other students and also got into that school because I had the free spot not because I'd really like that. At the same time continued to play poker like a fish, one table at a time. I remember I had heard stories of some acquaintance binking around 2k$ in a tournament and I guess that inspired me to find out how it's done. I found the story of a guy (known as FeelTh3Power now) that I was in the same primary school with, who had grinded turbo sngs and made like 5k or something. Contacted him to ask for tips, he introduced me to the idea of multi tabling and everything just popped into places and made sense after that. A plan was bubbling within me. I wanted to be like him - a real grinder.
I decided I'll leave university and become a professional poker player. It was the beginning of 2011. I remember I had something like 200$ on me at that time. I had the 5$ in Pokerstars, the first and only money I've ever deposited from my wallet and decided that I want to build my bankroll from that. I started with 10c 360mans, than 50c 45s, then 1$ 45s and 90s and so I easily built a BR of around 150$. I decided that I'm ready to move up to 2$ 180s if I deposit the extra money I had. That wasn't a good bankroll management at that time, but I got a little lucky again and never looked back. I remember that chilin_dude was a huge inspiration for me at that time, he had a thread "$300 to $100k profit & $50k Bankroll by 2012" which was awesome. I thought: "if he can do it, why couldn't I?"
Made 30k in 2011 and 85k in 2012. Then lost the passion for the game in 2013, had burned myself out and started slacking really heavily. Moved to Amsterdam with my girlfriend, smoked best pot all day every day for half a year, at that time tried to transition to playing morning sessions of MTTs, that way burned big part of my bankroll, because I wasn't studying and have never been too good at regular speed MTTs that are the majority in the mornings, didn't move down fast enough too. But still had great time in Amsterdam: started to focus on health, became vegan, even tried to be raw vegan for a month, went to yoga, rode with bike, longboarded, smoked pot a lot, got into and out of conspiracy theories, into spirituality, thought a lot about what can I do with my life to soothe the terrible situation we have on the Planet now environmentally and to raise consciousness about the problems we are facing. I've fallen in love with ideas of intentional communities, ecovillages, natural building, permaculture, sustainable business and that's what I want to do with my life. As time went by my desire to play poker had subsided more and more and I knew that my only motivation would be to play when I really need to get the money/ there is no other way. I've hoped that somehow a way opens up for me without the need to play poker, but it hasn't happened, because the feeling that I can't go after my dreams, hoping that it will all work out anyway without taking care of my financial situation, isn't leaving me. So I've decided that I need to grind out some money to feel safe financially and then I'll let my life lead me to my dreams.
So I'm through the time period where I'm thinking about what I want to do with my life and I'm going in the doing mode. A little bit more than a week ago me and my girlfriend that I was together with for 5 years parted our ways, since then I've quit porn, masturbation and reduced my cannabis intake to weekends only. I'm in love with life more than I've been for a long time.
My challanges:
- get back into regular poker playing and studying
- rebuild confidence in my game
- remember about other life goals and actively work towards them
- keep a healthy balance, remember to have fun
- take just as much as I need, don't get greedy
- love and respect myself, others, our Mother Nature and Father Sky
- move from absorbing outer truths to hearing my own inner truth
- don't forget to do yoga, running, cycling, longboarding
- and again... Love Life. <3
Lifetime graph:
So my plan is to start low and safe at $2.5 180s to regain confidence, remember/ relearn push-fold and gradually move to higher 180s, add turbo MTTs from Pokerstars and other sites and eventually maybe even get into regular speeds again. But I'd be fine with grinding turbos all over the place aswell.
Oh and my life roll is around 10k$ now.I want to keep this thread interesting so you will also find poker unrelated stuff here.
Good luck to us all! See you at the tables!
Last edited by klkr; 02-18-2014 at 01:26 PM.
02-18-2014
, 06:56 PM
Thank you and good luck to you too bralukas!
Tyty
You can't profit that much from $2.5s. I left out the part of the story that was about how I made that much monies. I'll describe it shortly, after grinding 2.5s for a while, i gradually started to add $7 180s (now we have $8), then $3 rebuy 180s and then 15s 180s. I also started to add turbo MTTs when I moved up from $2.5s, eventually playing up to 100$ turbos and regular speeds and drowning money in Sunday majors. So no you can't make that much playing $2.5 180s (well actually you can if you put in monstrous volume), but it's a good learning platform for higher buy in games.
Played a 4 hour session, had 27-28 tables at a time comfortably which I was surprised of myself. Played 93 games and won $159, run really well, made a lot of final tables. I like a good start! Felt uncomfortable with pre-ante push/fold, I will take a look at some spots tomorrow.
Won't be playing tomorrow, going to see Bonobo! Weeee. Check him out if you don't know who he is: https://soundcloud.com/bonobo
Tyty
So no you can't make that much playing $2.5 180s (well actually you can if you put in monstrous volume), but it's a good learning platform for higher buy in games.Played a 4 hour session, had 27-28 tables at a time comfortably which I was surprised of myself. Played 93 games and won $159, run really well, made a lot of final tables. I like a good start! Felt uncomfortable with pre-ante push/fold, I will take a look at some spots tomorrow.
Won't be playing tomorrow, going to see Bonobo! Weeee. Check him out if you don't know who he is: https://soundcloud.com/bonobo
Last edited by klkr; 02-18-2014 at 07:02 PM.
02-18-2014
, 07:20 PM
Hey man, gl on your journey. Subscribed.
I've been grinding the 2.50 180's for a couple months generally with the same goals. Add me on skype: Teepee1992 If you ever wanna talk strat, icmizer review or do tournament reviews.
Oh and as a Canadian, I apologize in advance for how bad Canada is gonna beat Latvia tomorrow in hockey,
I've been grinding the 2.50 180's for a couple months generally with the same goals. Add me on skype: Teepee1992 If you ever wanna talk strat, icmizer review or do tournament reviews.
Oh and as a Canadian, I apologize in advance for how bad Canada is gonna beat Latvia tomorrow in hockey,
Last edited by KnightShift92; 02-18-2014 at 07:33 PM.
12-07-2014
, 09:34 PM
Well life happens and I haven't posted in this thread. But the time has come to update it.
Let's start right away with the graphs. Love graphs.
Year to date:
December:
My predictions about myself were correct. The real motivation to grind comes right when I put myself in a position where I really have no other choice than to get into grinding. Long story short - spent quite a bit money last month.
Getting back confidence at $2.5 180s happened veeery fast, also had a bink @ps.fr so moved up to $8 and $3.5r 180s. Just couldn't hold myself to play 2.5s. Seemed like a waste of time. Basically my schedule this year has been 180s + mtts @ ps, ps.fr and 888. For the first 1-2h of the session I'm also registering for regular speed mtts, but after that only turbos. I feel quite comfortable playing 24-25 tables now. When I get to 22-23, I'm registering only for $3.5rs. Playing ~7-8h sessions mostly. I'm pretty happy with my schedule now, but can't wait to get to play higher buyin mtts and will see, when the time comes, I might adjust the time frame I'm playing to get the juiciest games in.
Sadly I have to say that I'm not very stoked about my results. Well I'm happy that I can still earn monies, but I realized that I miss the feeling of crushing. I miss it soooo bad!
December has been awesome. Have been grinding for 6 days straight. Something like that hadn't happened for me for yeears now lol. And I just want to continue! It's awesome to get a grasp of the games and I find that I can do that better when I grind haard. And it's just so fun to put in the volume.
I've noticed lately that I'm a little too attached to winning at times. At times I can't lose and keep my head straight. For example, today a reg made in my opinion a ridiculous play and it got me tilted for like 20 mins. Not really tilted, I just go into autopilot mode and feel grumpy about what happened, but still I go into autopilot and lose the flow. So that sucks a little bit, but I feel how with playing more, you get less attached to whatever craziness happens on the tables.
I'm relearning poker. That's how I'd describe where I'm at now.
Yeah, but my results could be better. I remember though that I wasn't too motivated to play most of the year, so I would surf the internet a lot while playing. That's why I'd like to believe that partly my results are very average because of that - mostly autopiloting. Things are starting to change though, I feel like I'm regaining some passion for the game, I feel like I want to crush, I want to get better, I want to build a decent bankroll. I realize that I have to find ways to improve my game. I think I'll start with watching some videos. If someone reading has some good videos in their minds - that has helped them to improve their turbo game, I'd appreciate if they shared.
What else?
Man I love this game again! It's awesome. Can't wait to put in the work and see where it takes me! I wanna goo up, up, upp! But first - gotta crush this level where I'm at, yo! Getting real goood ar 3.5r is a must.
Gl everyone! And don't forget to dream!
Threadsaver:
Let's start right away with the graphs. Love graphs.
Year to date:
December:
My predictions about myself were correct. The real motivation to grind comes right when I put myself in a position where I really have no other choice than to get into grinding. Long story short - spent quite a bit money last month.
Getting back confidence at $2.5 180s happened veeery fast, also had a bink @ps.fr so moved up to $8 and $3.5r 180s. Just couldn't hold myself to play 2.5s. Seemed like a waste of time. Basically my schedule this year has been 180s + mtts @ ps, ps.fr and 888. For the first 1-2h of the session I'm also registering for regular speed mtts, but after that only turbos. I feel quite comfortable playing 24-25 tables now. When I get to 22-23, I'm registering only for $3.5rs. Playing ~7-8h sessions mostly. I'm pretty happy with my schedule now, but can't wait to get to play higher buyin mtts and will see, when the time comes, I might adjust the time frame I'm playing to get the juiciest games in.
Sadly I have to say that I'm not very stoked about my results. Well I'm happy that I can still earn monies, but I realized that I miss the feeling of crushing. I miss it soooo bad!
December has been awesome. Have been grinding for 6 days straight. Something like that hadn't happened for me for yeears now lol. And I just want to continue! It's awesome to get a grasp of the games and I find that I can do that better when I grind haard. And it's just so fun to put in the volume.
I've noticed lately that I'm a little too attached to winning at times. At times I can't lose and keep my head straight. For example, today a reg made in my opinion a ridiculous play and it got me tilted for like 20 mins. Not really tilted, I just go into autopilot mode and feel grumpy about what happened, but still I go into autopilot and lose the flow. So that sucks a little bit, but I feel how with playing more, you get less attached to whatever craziness happens on the tables.
I'm relearning poker. That's how I'd describe where I'm at now.
Yeah, but my results could be better. I remember though that I wasn't too motivated to play most of the year, so I would surf the internet a lot while playing. That's why I'd like to believe that partly my results are very average because of that - mostly autopiloting. Things are starting to change though, I feel like I'm regaining some passion for the game, I feel like I want to crush, I want to get better, I want to build a decent bankroll. I realize that I have to find ways to improve my game. I think I'll start with watching some videos. If someone reading has some good videos in their minds - that has helped them to improve their turbo game, I'd appreciate if they shared.
What else?
Man I love this game again!
It's awesome. Can't wait to put in the work and see where it takes me! I wanna goo up, up, upp! But first - gotta crush this level where I'm at, yo! Getting real goood ar 3.5r is a must.Gl everyone! And don't forget to dream!
Threadsaver:
Spoiler:
Last edited by klkr; 12-07-2014 at 10:03 PM.
see ya at the tables