Background and Philosophy:

I have created quite a few PG&C threads in the past, and I was almost not going to create this one (but rather just update my previous one). But my thoughts and goals about poker going forward are different enough that I really believe creating a new thread is better. I need a fresh start, and I think this is the best way to go about that. No matter how many times I have failed in the past, I will continue to get up and try again. Hopefully this is the time I will succeed.

As some of you may know, I had joined coaching for profits at BPC last year. I had done reasonably well at NL2 and NL5 (6-max) under them, but struggled at NL10. Unfortunately, time ran out for me and life got in the way of me continuing down that path. Since then, I've had more fun with the game on a more part-time basis, experimenting with ideas. But now, fun with poker will mean making money lol. I've rejoined BPC with their Academy program, and am ready to start fresh again from the ground up.

My BRM will revolve around constantly making (and cashing out) money. I have a detailed plan for BRM that I will post below in a bit. But it involves spending a big chunk of my poker time grinding the highest stake that I've proven I can beat for income that I can (and will) cash out. The rest of the time that I'm playing, I'm building/taking shots at the next level, so that eventually that level can take over as my "grinding" level.

So why am I spending more time cashing out money, and less time trying to take shots and move up stakes quicker? By constantly cashing out money (for the most part, every two weeks), I will be more motivated to do well and put in hours. The best poker players are the ones who make the most money, and I've wasted a lot of time in the past wiping out profits with shot-taking. By following this slower approach, I will be making money while shot-taking, even if the shot-taking fails. This will help to create a more positive mindset.

The downside is that it will take me a lot longer to move up in stakes. However, it's been almost a year since I left the CFP program, and I still haven't moved up in stakes since then. So it can't get any worse lol. Plus, by taking things a bit slower, it will give me more time to study and work on my game. Which will mean it should become easier to move up.

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Goals:

My first goal is to make $10k profit. It's a nice milestone type of number, and achieving this will be a big stepping-stone into succeeding as a poker player. My plan is to update this thread every week or two (depending on which step of my BRM plan I'm in), and update with what my bankroll is at, how much I've cashed out up to that point, and total profit so far. And also to update how many hours I've spent on poker during that time, and what I've spent those hours doing. And of course posting graphs.

I don't plan on posting hands here for learning, but rather just for entertainment from time to time. That's not to say I won't ever post any trouble hands though. My main goal with this thread is to have a place to keep track of my goals/progress, and hopefully inspire some of you if I do well.

That's about it for now, I'm currently on Step 1 of my plan (which will be posted below). I'm going through the first set of learning materials right now. Some I've seen before, but I'm going through them all again anyway. Won't really be much to update until I'm a week into Step 2 and have some hands played. Hopefully that won't take too long.

Starting Bankroll: $300

Current Step: 1
Total Cashed Out: $0
Bankroll: $300
Total Profit: $0

So here is my plan for BRM (for the first several steps). I currently work about 55 hours a week, so I've chosen to try and allocate 25 hours a week to poker. If I spend more than 25 hours on poker, I can choose to use them in any way I see fit.

Step 1: Going through intro materials & re-learning default ranges/lines

25 hours/week: Study

End of each day:

Move to Step 2:
--[if basic preflop & postflop lines complete]


Step 2: Becoming comfortable once again with default ranges/lines

25 hours/week: Play NL2

End of each week:

Move to Step 3:
--[if 100k hands at NL2 with profit]


Step 3: Getting experience at NL5 & building up Main Bankroll

25 hours/week: Play NL5

End of each week:

Move to Step 4:
--[if 100k hands at NL5 with profit]
--[if $500 BR - this will be the Main BR]
--Withdraw anything over $500


Step 4: Grinding NL5 for income, and building NL10 shot

20 hours/week: Play NL5 (for Main BR)
5 hours/week: Study

End of each 2 weeks:

Withdraw 75% of anything over $500 in Main BR
The other 25% goes into NL10 BR

Move to Step 5:
--[if $100 NL10 BR]
--Withdraw anything over $100 in NL10 BR


Step 5: Grinding NL5 for income, and taking shot at NL10

15 hours/week: Play NL5 (for Main BR)
5 hours/week: Play NL10 (for NL10 BR) - If NL10 BR is $0, play NL5 instead for main BR
5 hours/week: Study

End of each 2 weeks:

Withdraw anything over $500 in Main BR

Move to Step 4:
--[if NL10 BR is $0]

Move to Step 6:
--[if 100k hands at NL10 with profit]
--[if $500 Main BR (Top up from NL10 BR if under $500)]
--[if $1000 NL10 BR (after topping up Main BR)]
--Withdraw anything over $1000 in NL10 BR
--NL10 BR is now added to Main BR

Step 6: Grinding NL10 for income, and building NL25 shot

20 hours/week: Play NL10 (for Main BR)
5 hours/week: Study

End of each 2 weeks:

Withdraw 75% of anything over $1500 in Main BR
The other 25% goes into NL25 BR

Move to Step 7:
--[if $250 NL25 BR]
--Withdraw anything over $250 in NL25 BR


Step 7: Grinding NL10 for income, and taking shot at NL25

15 hours/week: Play NL10 (for Main BR)
5 hours/week: Play NL25 (for NL25 BR) - If NL25 BR is $0, play NL10 instead for Main BR
5 hours/week: Study

End of each 2 weeks:

Withdraw anything over $1500 in Main BR

Move to Step 6:
--[if NL25 BR is $0]

Move to Step 8:
--[if 100k hands at NL25 with profit]
--[if $1500 Main BR (Top up from NL25 BR if under $1500)]
--[if $2500 NL25 BR (after topping up Main BR)]
--Withdraw anything over $2500 in NL25 BR
--NL25 BR is now added to Main BR


Step 8: Grinding NL25 for income, and building NL50 shot

20 hours/week: Play NL25 (for Main BR)
5 hours/week: Study

End of each 2 weeks:

Withdraw 75% of anything over $4000 in Main BR
The other 25% goes into NL50 BR

Move to Step 9:
--[if $500 NL50 BR]
--Withdraw anything over $500 in NL50 BR


Step 9: Grinding NL25 for income, and taking shot at NL50

15 hours/week: Play NL25 (for Main BR)
5 hours/week: Play NL50 (for NL50 BR) - If NL50 BR is $0, play NL25 instead for Main BR
5 hours/week: Study

End of each 2 weeks:

Withdraw anything over $4000 in Main BR

Move to Step 6:
--[if NL50 BR is $0]

Move to Step 10:
--[if 100k hands at NL50 with profit]
--[if $4000 Main BR (Top up from NL50 BR if under $4000)]
--[if $5000 NL50 BR (after topping up Main BR)]
--Withdraw anything over $5000 in NL50 BR
--NL50 BR is now added to Main BR


Step 10: Grinding NL50 for income, and building NL100 shot

20 hours/week: Play NL50 (for Main BR)
5 hours/week: Study

End of each 2 weeks:

Withdraw 75% of anything over $9000 in Main BR
The other 25% goes into NL100 BR

Move to Step 11:
--[if $1000 NL100 BR]
--Withdraw anything over $1000 in NL100 BR

Don't plan too far in advance. You really need to get confident at the lowest stakes before moving up. Good luck!

Thanks Arty, they're just general guidelines for how I plan to approach shot-taking, moving up, and cashing out. But I agree with you. Hope to start getting some playing hours in at NL2 tonight, as I'm close to finishing step 1. Will probably spend a few hours just re-familiarizing myself with the ranges while only playing a few tables. Once I'm comfortable with that, will likely bump up the volume to 10-12 tables until I finish the first 100k hands.

Week 1 (Jan. 4 - 10):

Study: 9.5 hours
NL2: 12.25 hours
Total: 21.75 hours (-3.25 hours to time bank)

Hands Played: 7780
Profit: +$17.53



I started off 3-4 tabling to get the hang of things again. Went up to 6 tables after, and ended the week 10 tabling. Next week will try to be 12 tabling.

Felt good. I had some bad stretches (luck-wise), but I think I played pretty well through them. Good to be back putting in more volume, and looking forward to seeing my results after step 2 is complete.

Totals:

Current Step: 2
Time Bank: -3.25 hours

Bankroll: $317.53
Total Cashed Out: $0
Total Profit: $17.53


The time bank is an idea I thought up. My goal for now (as shown in my BRM plan) is 25 hours per week of poker. If I don't get that many hours in any week, then my time bank goes down. If I put more hours than that in any week, I add the surplus hours to the time bank. If my time bank is negative, that means I need to put in that many extra hours in the next week(s) to bring it back to zero. If my time bank is positive, meaning I've played extra hours in previous weeks, then I can use the time bank to take time off in future weeks (until it reaches 0).

Week 2 (Jan. 11 - 17):

Study: 0 hours
NL2: 12 hours
Total: 12 hours (-13 hours to time bank)

Hands Played: 10,553
Profit: +$28.36

NL2 (since the start):


Stuck to the plan, and played 12 tables most of the week. Disappointed in my volume though. Been sick over the last several days, and still sick now. I took a few days off poker to rest up a bit, but it's been tough since I've still been working lots. Will just try to play through it this week, and hopefully it won't last too much longer.

Will have my work cut out for me to bring my time bank into the positive, but will try to clear that over the next few weeks.

Totals:

Current Step: 2
Time Bank: -16.25 hours

Bankroll: $345.89
Total Cashed Out: $0
Total Profit: $45.89

Just some notable hands.

Biggest pot won.



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Biggest pot lost.



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Biggest WTF hand lol.

did not read past the title. starting out at 2NL and goal #1 being 10k is setting yourself up for failure. make intermediary goals. goal #1 should be win 50 bucks if you are playing 2NL. you are likely to get burnt out before going anywhere trying to play 2NL. the burn out is real.

ok i just scanned up a bit and saw the hand where you have QQ and you just call a MP raise to 6cents. you should 3bet QQ 100% of the time at 2NL and you should make your sizing big. people are there to throw away money and have fun. seems like you are playing scared.

good luck, i wouldnt try to make money playing poker if i were you just try to have fun with it. i feel like you are setting yourself for frustration. there is a very good chance you wont be winning poker player im sorry.

also read a little more and trying to cash out every two weeks is another bad idea. especially playing 2NL. if you need money time to get a job buddy.

With $300 just start at NL5 for 10-20k hands. Shot taking NL10 when your up a bit.

@Rich Checkmaker: Thanks for posting. I prefer to set a goal that will mean something once reached. I don't see the point in setting a goal like making $50 at nl2; it's too trivial. I do kind of have "intermediary goals" in reaching each new step in my plan.

Regarding the QQ hand, I'm in BPC Academy. Right now, I'm sticking to the ranges/lines given to us, to the best of my ability.

I don't know what grounds you have to say I won't be a winning poker player. Being a winning poker player is about winning more money against players worse than you than you lose to players better than you (and the rake). If you carefully looked through my plan in the first few posts, it's clearly designed to do just that. By following that plan, there's almost no chance I won't be a winning poker player.

Cashing out every two weeks is a way to have another income stream. I work about 55 hours a week as it is, however, I'm pretty much just covering bills. Having a little extra money flowing through would be very beneficial. I also have some thoughts about how I might use some of that money. Be it playing live poker at the local casinos, or maybe using some to re-join BPC CFP program (albeit maybe their crusher program this time). Or just building my life roll and maybe allowing me to work less hours each week.

@Dizzy Fuzz: Thanks for chiming in. Nothing's set in stone, so things could change. But I really like the plan I came up with here, and want to stick to it for now (partly because it will allow me to withdraw money to use for those ideas mentioned above). It should only take about 2 months to get through steps 2 & 3 (100k hands each at nl2 and nl5) before I start building my nl10 shots. Two months is nothing in the bigger picture.

Looks like its off to a decent start man good luck. I wouldn't be too concerned when people say 'you should 100% of the time do x' tends not to be independently considered advice. For working 55hrs a week I'm impressed at the volume you plan to fit in!

Thanks Andy. Although I'm starting to think maybe 20 hours a week of poker (on top of the 55 hours of work) is more reasonable. I'll keep going for 25 hours for now, but may change that depending on how the next couple weeks go.

playing QQ passively is not a good strategy in my book. what is the BPC academy reasoning for flatting 3x opens with QQ in position? if you cant tell me why you are doing it and instead saying thats what ive been told to do than i dont have to explain why i think you might not end up being a winning poker player. do you play QQ like this all the time? you should be 3betting QQ something like 70% of the time and at 2NL i think you could do it 100%. calling in the blinds isn't as bad as calling in position. do you only 3bet KK, AA?

Flatting QQ/AK versus a tight EP range is pretty standard as part of a polar range. You wouldn't only be 3 betting KK, AA as you would be 3betting your 3bet bluff combos as well. 3 betting a tight EP range with QQ/AK is problematic as you are getting crushed by villians continuance range, whilst crushing his folding range.

3 betting QQ/AK as part of a linear range in a exploitive, unbalanced spot is of course entirely standard.

Your Welcome.

lol thanks Fatboy. And Rich, I'm not entirely sure, but I believe it's to keep things simpler. The (beginner) strategy is designed to keep us from getting into too much trouble. I think QQ is a flat in those positions to avoid more complicated situations postflop. I could be wrong, but I think I remember hearing something like that.

Week 2 (Jan. 18 - 24):

Study: 0 hours
NL2: 13.25 hours
Total: 13.25 hours

Hands Played: 13,835
Profit: +$36.55

NL2 (since the start):


Sorry, update was a bit late this week. Still sick this week; just starting to feel a bit better today. But just didn't have much energy this past week, and my playing time suffered.

I've had thoughts of playing some live poker this week on my day off (Saturday). If I did, I don't know how to include that in this thread. Would probably add it as a separate bankroll, and update both my online and live results. But, I'm unsure if I should combine the two when it comes to total profit. On the one hand, they'd both be poker profits. But might want to keep live and online results separate, to see how well I do in both. Or maybe I should just keep this thread mostly to my online poker journey. Anyone have any ideas/thoughts about this? That's of course assuming I actually do end up going to the casino.

I would only want to go if I can bring 2-3BI (at 1-2 or 1-3NL) that I can afford to lose. I've got to go over my finances to figure that out. I probably wouldn't want to go if I only have 1 BI though, as I'd prefer to have more of a cushion so I can top up when I'm below 100bb. But I was thinking of taking 1BI from my online roll if I need a bit extra. If I have a winning session, I'd return that BI to my online roll. If not, I'd spend a bit more time at nl2/nl5 to grind that money back.

But it would be nice to keep two bankrolls going (live and online). Playing one day a week live, and the rest online. I really miss playing live, and there is more immediate potential for me to make more money live. I do have some experience live; I've played 726 hours, averaging $8.90/hour. That includes a lot of spewing though. I can't tell you how many times I've tried unsuccessfully bluffing, especially on the river. I mean, there were some good spots I picked, but I know so much more now, that I'm sure my hourly would be better than that. Haven't played live in a little over a year though.

Again, haven't decided for sure one way or the other yet, but just considering it now, as going on a Saturday would be a good chance to take a shot. I never seem to have my day off work on a weekend lol, so it's a rarity this week. Otherwise, I might wait until I get to the point where I'm starting to cash out online.

Anyway, will keep you updated, and will probably spend tomorrow studying for playing live in the case that I do go.



Totals:

Current Step: 2

Bankroll: $382.44
Total Cashed Out: $0
Total Profit: $82.44

Week 3 (Jan. 25 - 31):

Study: 0.5 hours
NL2: 0 hours
Live $1-3: 12.75 hours
Total: 13.25 hours

Hands Played: 0
Online Profit: $0
Live Profit: -$91.00

Ok, so I slacked off this week with regards to online play since I was so excited about going back to the casino to play live. I didn't touch online this week, but I'll be looking to get back to that next week. The plan is to play live on my day off work, and play online when I have time on the other days. I still have to see how this all will work out, and how I'm going to restructure this thread. I definitely want to keep the same plan for the online part. As for live play, I'll probably keep separate results for now.

Obviously, I still want to continue my journey to climb the online stakes. Shifting part of my focus to live play doesn't change that. One reason why I'm taking another shot at live play is because of the higher hourly. If I can make enough live, then I can reduce my work hours a bit, which will free up more time for online play.

Totals:

Current Step: 2

Bankroll: $382.44
Total Cashed Out: $0
Total Online Profit: $82.44
Total Live Profit: -$91.00

It's not weekly update time, but just a smaller update on my live play, plus a topic I was thinking about last couple days. Played a couple more sessions at the casino, and pretty much broke even (+$600 session followed by a -$600 session). For the losing session, I felt I played pretty well, but was card dead most of the night. Felt I was just folding 95% of my cards for hours. And the few times I managed to flop some nice draws, none of them hit. So I do feel like I could do well playing live, but I'm thinking it might be best to wait until I have a bit more of a bankroll for live before continuing down that road. So back to online for now. If I'm feeling brave, I still might go back again though.

Last couple days, I started thinking about range-splitting preflop (for online play), into different raise sizes. Do any of you do that, or have any of you experimented with that? I'm not just talking about raising bigger with aces (for example). I'm talking about having balanced ranges for various bet sizes. So, raising bigger with aces, and with a "bad" hand (for example). And raising smaller with some of the more marginal preflop holdings that are more likely to get you in trouble postflop.

Maybe that's just complicating things too much. But I'm just trying to think of ways to increase my edges, and thus my winrate. Getting more money in with hands that want to build bigger pots preflop, and getting less money in with hands that are less likely to be successful postflop. Just curious to hear thoughts on the topic. This isn't stuff that's done in the BPC program btw. Just me thinking more lol.

Week 4 (Feb. 1 - 7):

NL2: 0 hours
Total: 0 hours

Hands Played: 0
Profit: $0

Ok, I got lazy about updating last week cause I focused on live, and had nothing to post for online. So for week 4, I played somewhere around 20 hours live I think, and pretty much broke even. In total, I lost around $50 playing live. A lot of running bad or being card dead in there, but I thought I played pretty well. Anyway, I don't think I'll be going back to live for awhile, and I think this thread will just be focused on my online journey.

Week 5 (Feb. 8 - 14):

NL10: 5 hours
Total: 5 hours

Hands Played: 1,158
Profit: -$32.33
StarCoins Bonus: +$10.00

NL10


Was really sick most of the last week. I ended up doing more studying than playing. Since I wasn't feeling well, I wanted to have some fun. So I explored the idea I mentioned in the last post. I created a full set of preflop ranges based on the idea of using different raise sizes. So I subdivided each range into 2-4 subranges with varying raise sizes. And I worked to balance each subrange.

I decided to try this out at nl10. I know I can win at nl2 and nl5 using ranges from BPC. And I have a big enough bankroll to take a shot at nl10. So the idea is to try this out at nl10 and see how it goes. If successful, I will continue at nl10 and modify the first part of my BRM plan. If not, then I will go back to the original plan.

As I said, it was all about having a bit of fun while I wasn't feeling well. I'm starting to recover and feel a bit better today. I was willing to take a 10BI shot at nl10, so if I lose those 10BIs, I'll drop back to nl2 and continue down that path. While using these new ranges, I'm currently only 3-tabling, as I'm needing more decision time preflop. Not only do I have to know which hands to raise in a situation, but I now need to know what raise size to use. But I should be able to add more tables when I start getting more used to it. And I'm having fun with this, so that's the main point (as well as hopefully the potential for a higher winrate lol).

My first session at nl10 didn't go too well, but mainly because I was on the wrong end of some coolers. Will post some hands in another post in a few minutes.


Totals:

Current Step: ?? (Current BRM plan put on hold)

Bankroll: $360.11
Total Cashed Out: $0
Total Profit: $60.11

Cooler



---------------------------

Don't know if there's much I can do here postflop. Preflop, KK is part of my smaller squeeze size subrange vs an UTG open. Just saying that cause I know if I get a comment about this hand, it'll be to raise bigger preflop.



---------------------------

I have some range sizings that might seem a bit crazy, but again, I worked on balancing these ranges. So I think this is ok as played.



--------------------

Hand history convertor doesn't seem to be working for the next hand, so I'll create another post (or try editing this one first to see if I can add more)

More hands. Sorry for the extra post, couldn't seem to post more hands in the previous post.

--------------

My biggest winning hand (only 63bb )



------------------------------------------

Turning my mid pair into a bluff like a boss. I only had 70 hands on him, but he was a 7/6 nit from that sample. So I think his range is mostly (or only) large pairs. I floated the flop, cause I knew if he checked the turn, I could probably steal it with an overbet bluff. Cause I could easily have an ace, and he would probably be too scared of the ace to call.

Ok, I'm disappointed in myself for playing around at nl10 and veering from the plan I laid out in the first few posts. I wasted about $100 of my bankroll doing this, and wasted a lot of my time as well. No more of this for me.

I am determined to stick with the plan, and start making money again. I just have to bear with it and grind those 100k hands at nl2, and then again at nl5, before I can begin to start grinding for a real shot at nl10.

As far as the results go, I will include these 'experimentation' hands in my profit totals, but I will not include them in any future graphs (as they have no bearing on how I actually "normally" play).

Week 5 (Feb. 15 - 21):

NL2: 6.5 hours
NL10: 10.75 hours
Total: 17.25 hours

Hands Played (NL2): 5769
Profit (NL2): -$3.40
Hands Played (NL10): 3587
Profit (NL10): -$80.37
Total Profit: -$83.77

NL2 (since the start):


I'm having solid results at nl2, don't know why I felt the need to experiment at nl10. I just hope that's out of my system now.

Anyway, starting to feel good about things again. I'm gonna have to work hard to get those lost profits back, but I will. Hopefully I'll have made the jump to step 3 (and playing nl5) by mid-March.

Totals:

Current Step: 2

Bankroll: $276.66
Total Cashed Out: $0
Total Profit: -$23.34

Week 6 (Feb. 22 - 28):

NL2: 17.25 hours
Total: 17.25 hours

Hands Played (NL2): 17,512
Profit (NL2): +$69.35
StarCoins Bonus: +$10.00

NL2 (this week):


NL2 (from the start):


I'm much happier with this past week. Got back on track grinding nl2, and playing more solid than ever I think. Not quite satisfied with the hours though, but will continue to work on that.


Totals:

Current Step: 2

Bankroll: $355.62
Total Cashed Out: $0
Total Profit: +$55.62

A few hands from this week:

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Vs a 73/9 fish. Only 22 hands on him, but those stats combined with the fact he's not full-stacked, are pretty good evidence of him being a fish.

I mis-clicked the turn; I'd usually bet again here. But as played, faced a large river shove. I don't usually make huge hero calls against overbets with only one pair. But I chose to here because of the villain, and the line he took.



-------------------------

Biggest winning hand. Not sure if I should have shoved the flop, or just called. BTN is 74/25, SB is 25/17. I'm a small favourite against most hands, and with the bet and raise ahead of me, thought it best at the time to get the money in while I'm likely ahead. SB flop raise could be looser value against a fish. Again, not sure if calling is better. Probably doesn't make too much difference here.



-------------------------

Villain was 85/26 with 15% 3Bet (6/40). Don't know if I might have overplayed this one. I think I probably played it alright though.