Hi,

I am currently 28 and about 2 or 3 years ago I used to grind £1/£2 live no limit hold em and 25/50p round of each (no limit hold em and PLO). The £1/£2 game did not play huge. Most people would buy in between 20-100bb with the occasional bigger stack. The round of each played quite large with a lot of gambling and straddles but none of the players were good at PLO. I was consistently profitable and found the games extremely easy to navigate. A lot of passive players, random drunks buying in short and the usual local card room superstars who were actually superfish. There was one or two players who earned a very healthy living in these games instead of working a job.

I used to grind every weekend and found I was making far more per hour than I was in my job although I did not grind enough hours and the games did not run enough to consider doing it full time. I also could not hold onto my bankroll. I had good bankroll management in poker however I could not stop myself losing heaps sports betting. Because of that I ended up not being rolled to play and slowly fell away from the game. I have not been involved in the live poker scene for the past few years.

I have had my love of the game renewed recently by watching live Twitch streams. I have stopped sports betting and I am considering giving it another run. I played a local weekly live tournament recently which was a £40 buy in freeze out deepstack. I noticed the game seems to have moved on a lot in the past few years. The general standard seems better. Players have become tighter with less crazy **** going down. You still have a handful of fun players ready to stack in hilarious spots but in general it seems the fish have improved slightly. I would still say they are beatable of course with the game play being straight forward.

I did not sit at the cash game as there were no free seats going but I did stand on the rail and spectate for around an hour after I busted with a few beers while my friend continued on in the tournament. I could obviously not see anyone's cards but again the £1/£2 game did seem to be playing reasonably.

What is your opinion on the expected win rate nowadays for a reasonably solid competent player.

1. What would you expect the bb per hour to be in 2017 vs what the win rate would of been in 2015 at live £1/£2?

2. Is there anything in particular that you feel is the reason change in EV whether up or down?

3. Do you think it is possible to still earn an easy wage in these games or is this now only a reasonable expectation at higher stakes?

Steve