Hey PG&G.

Background

Been a live low/mid-stakes NLH grinder for a little over a year. I've been "pro" for about 8months. I've played somewhere around 1000 hours of live poker in my life, and logged most of it but lost some of the records. I have spent most of my "career" traveling and playing poker in europe. I actually did another thread called Pay for a euro-trip playing poker where I successfully traveled Europe for 6months+ and paid for all my expenses grinding live poker for <20hours/wk.

I have limited experience with online poker. I started off on FT as a newb playing NHL MTTs and SnGs. I was a super small winner when I was learning the game. 2000 games, Average stake of $10, ROI of 7%, $2024 total profit. I didn't know what a HUD was.. had no idea that 2+2 existed. I played a bit more, experimented with HEM/HUD free trials, and played on websites purely to clear bonuses. I was a bit more profitable than my FT days, but certainly nothing to brag about.

I am currently living in the Philippines and grinding live low/mid stakes live. Soon I will be moving to Cebu with a couple online pros and I intend on joining the pack and getting into online poker myself. The most logical game to transition to would be NL online.. but I want to mix things up, you know-- balance my portfolio.

Goals

Learn the rules of O8 (I have to use 2 cards in my hand, wtfz?)
Crush .01/.02 6max over 2.5k hands
Crush .02/.05 6max over 5k hands
Crush .05/.10 6max over 10k hands
Crush .10/.25 6max over 20k hands
Crush .25/.5 6max over 40k hands
Crush .5/1 6max over 60k hands

Strategies

Podcasts/articles/2+2 forums. I will spend a lot of my time reading in the beginning

I plan on getting software to analyze my play. I will probably figure out a way to get HEM2.

Bankroll management is something I will address once I understand the variance of O8/online pokers. I will likely deposit something like $100 and use that to begin. I shouldn't run into BR issues until .25/.50.

Lastly, I will use this thread as a source of motivation to complete my goals.

GL HF DD~~

Your Euro trip thread was great, best of luck with your online venture. Will be following

good luck

thx!

Thx, trip of my life!


Today I leave for Cebu to check out the scene. I will be reading the rules of O8/basic strategy in the airport and on the plane.

I hope to start grinding .01/.02 by Monday pending the ability to deposit on stars.

Ok so I subscribed, I will following your journey through the hilo rac(k)e .

Beware though, I will give you constructive criticism, but for your own good .

subscribed, GLHF!

sup tyler lol GL man!

real life updates are cool, gl!

So, bad news today.

like 50%+ of all O8 traffic is on Pokerstars, so I am trying to activate my account on pokerstars. However.. about 4 years ago I had a pokerstars account that I used to play on with a friend from the same IP. turns out my friend has been hardcore colluding and got perm-banned from pokerstars.

I was associated with him, so my account got locked. I recently sent ID to try and unlock my acct so I could grind micros. However, I got this email this morning;

"Hello Tyler,

Due to your close association with barred account 'adrienne10' we
have concluded that it is not in the best interest of our players
to allow you to continue to play on PokerStars. We cannot take
the risk that they could gain access to our tables via your
account. It is unfortunate that you have become yet another
victim of unfair action by them.

Please understand that this decision has been made in the
interest of protecting the integrity of our games. Any further
accounts that you create will be closed without warning, and the
funds therein seized to compensate the victims of illicit
activity on PokerStars.

You are no longer welcome to play on PokerStars.

Regards,

Dave
PokerStars Game Security Team"

So, basically got megaowned. I will follow up/beg to Dave, but I suspect it will not work. life-banned from pokerstars..

It looks like #2 for O8 traffic is Bodog. I will give bodog a shot, but they don't spread .01/.02 so I'll have to take a shot at .02/.04.

I suspect issues depositing on bodog because Canadian credit card companies/banks block gambling websites. I hope to find someone that can transfer to me. If you have a bodog acct, PM ME!!

So tough to play online pokerz these days.

Also, played RedKings $.10/.10 O8 for an hour. Up $7. Yeah!!

Okay, all set up on bodog, and I have some money on Ongame. I have to play a mix of .02/.04 .05/.10 and .10/.10 due to traffic issues at Ongame/bodog. This will obviously effect my goals in the OP, and I will update accordingly.

So far I've played 4 short sessions. 154 hands. Most of it was .02/.04. Profit = +$13.14

I got PT3 which works with bodog and ongame. I have a 60 day trial. I will have to pirate or purchase after the 60 days. I've configured my HUD to have some pretty basic stats. I wont be focusing on it too much in the short term. I still need to learn the basics of O8. I feel like 25% optimal on starting hand selection. Not sure when to raise or limp, call opens, ect..

I'm going to start reviewing hands and trying to figure out obvious leaks. I think I made at least 3 10bb+ mistakes in my first 154 hands.

subbed GL!

Sorry to hear about you being banned from Pokerstars, that's one of the worst things that can happen to any serious poker player

Put in another session today. $.02/.05 6max PLO8

265 hands total, +$18.75. Won a monster 3-way 300bb pot with the nuts vs second nuts/air.

I still feel like a newb, but better than the entire table. Weird feeling.. maybe like live NHL pre 2006? Everyone at micro O8 is pretty ****ty, me included.

Gonna watch a deucescracked video, check some hand history, then check out the island of Cebu.

gl man!

Played a long 4-table session today. I am starting to get the hang of O8. It's a fun game actually. I pulled off a few bluffs this session which all ended up working. The micros are very loose/passive. I expect .10/.20 and .20/.20 will still be fairly easy to beat.

The rake in micro O8 is terri-bad. I have paid roughly 30bb/100 in rake, and more than half the pots I only win the hi or the lo. Essentially the rake rapes you in this game. In addition to that, I don't get rakeback. I am on bodog and ongame which both have below-average VIP schemes.. so I expect I will see <10% of that back in the form of cashback/rewards.

New/adjusted goal
Crush 5O5/10O8 6max/fr (.02/.05, .05/.10, .10/.10) over 5k hands
Crush 20O8/25O8 6max/fr (.20/.20, .10/.25) over 10k hands
Crush 50O8 6max/fr (.25/.5, .5/.5) over 20k hands

Stats update:
Bodog;
747 hands
$40.29 profit
62.18BB/100

Ongame;
154 hands
$5.42 profit
17.48BB/100

Ugh.. pretty tilted right now. Few major pissoffs..

First hand

Okay, keep in mind that I am still getting use to HUD and I didnt know you could move the HUD stats. On my 5th hand my HUD stats pop up, and I adjust the tables so I can play properly. However, it so happens that I got a big hand on the 5th hand and didnt have time to move the HDU stats. On the river I had the nut low. However, I couldnt click on bet or raise because the HUD stats were blocking the buttons. I was timed out of a 3way $12 pot on the river with the nut low, villains would have called my allin for $5 more, and I would have taken the low pot. Instead, I timed out, villian insta-allin'ed and I was auto-folded from the hand. So instead of winning $8.50, I lost -$4 (112.5BBs). ****ing HUD has cost me more than its earned me so far.

2nd hand-- Got a 3-way allin for 300bb with 45% equity on a flop. I had the nut low with one insurance card, and a backdoor flush draw. They both had a set for the high pot and one player at a backdoor low draw. Came runner counterfeit runner counterfeit, and villain hit his backdoor low draw. I lost $10 when I was 99.28% (12% x 6%) to win $15, 3% to win $30. Argh!!1`~!~

wow, that's super tilting.
Cool to hear that you're crushing the games so soon after starting them.
gl!

So, I got invited back to play a pokerstars. Not sure why.. but to celebrate I played a 850hand session and won a grand total of $1.

I have a few major leaks.. one is I am still iffy on reading the low which has cost me a few pots where I called expecting to win and then had mis-read my hand.. gg.

Other major leak (which has cost me much more) is calling a bet or c/r with a strong hand on a paired board on the river. Its rarely a bluff. I pick off 1 bluff for every 5 calls I make. def -EV.

Okay, so off for tonight. Gonna have to do some reading tomorrow.

Stats update soon.

Stats update;

Pokerstars:
-11.86 over 1023 hands

Ongame:
-9.82 over 617 hands

Bodog:
+59.98 over 1193

Overall: +$38.30 over 2833 hands ~19BB/100.

Running $25 below all-in EV on stars, but $25 above all-in EV on bodog.

Overall I'm not that pleased with my results thus far. 2.8k hands is a small sample size, and I'm certainly improving, but I think I should be beating these stakes for more than 30BB/100 hands.

In other news, I have been growing a beard until I complete 5k hands. I've been growing it since conception of this O8 idea (approx. 20 days). The beard is gross and disgusting. I'll have to grind hard and hopefully be clean shaven in 2 days.

keep the beard, def +EV , beard crew in cebu ftw.

doh I just realized you're playing Pot Limit Omaha 8. The version I'm playing is Fixed Limit Omaha 8

Good call.

I heard LO8 is beatable for 1BB+/100 even at the highest levels (20/40 and 30/60). So It seems like its more more profitable than PLO8 which runs as high as 2/4 and 3/6 where you need to crush for 10BB+/100 to be comparable

I left Cebu and landed in Singapore this morning. Didn't get any sleep last night, so no grinding today. Gonna nap soon, grind tomorrow.

Managed to drop over 4BIs in 126 hands this morning. Experienced my first dose of terri-bad variance, which managed to put me on tilt.

Made some bad plays after getting sucked out on multiple times. Spewed at least 1BI in -EV river calls over 126 hands... massive leak. I have to figure out a way to eliminate this from my game completely if I'm going to move up stakes.

I'm almost at 5k hands, but I am not comfortable moving up stakes yet. I have a few leaks that need working on. I will continue playing .02/.05 for another 2-3k+ hands until I feel like I can crush the game comfortably.

Things that need to improve;
-No more hero river calls
-Lower cont bet %
-No tilt
-Stop calling pre with hands like 23kj
-Be more observant of table dynamics
-Be more observant of players betting tendencies (particularly those prone to potting with the nuts in one direction)

I'm going to get in the habit of opening one table at a time instead of firing up 3 at the same time. Give myself 25 hands at a table before I open another. This should help me get a feel for table dynamics and player tendencies.

Working on leaks in above post.

I should be able to move up soon. One or two more winning sessions and I'll hit 10PLO8. I would prefer to move up after 1 or 2 winning sessions. I think moving up stakes with confidence should be habit I adopt..

In other news, forgot I had $260CDN on Betfair. It was back from my hold'em bonus whoring days. Money is semi-trapped because I can't get it off the site, but I will still be able to enjoy some Ongame softness for 10PLO8. Unfortunately I have bonus whored most of the poker world and can't seem to find any rakeback.

Stats update;
PLO8 $.02/.05
hands: 6195
profit: +$77.72 (excluding bonus' of ~$30)
BB/100: 25.09

Doesn't Stars display your hand value for card games other than HE on the bottom-right of the table display, just above the bet slider? I'm almost certain it does display at least your low hand if you have one.