Things started really clicking about this time last year. Thats when I started buying in for the 200bb max instead of 100bb, began crushing, and just had a ton of confidence.

Second question has no answer really, it varies a lot. No room is systematically fishier, just depends on which rooms are having tournaments and whats happening around town and where. Some people jump around and try to guess where the fish will be. Predicting this isn't always easy and imo the marginal benefit of doing so is more trouble than its worth. My preference is to reg it up at one room that I like, knowing that I'm not giving anything up since like I said, no room is systematically fishier and the consistency of going to the same place helps me to play better.

Thanks!

By all means read it. It has been a great thread.

Totally agree. When I first moved out here awhile ago, I was playing 5/10 consistently. Then, I started to recognize that 90% of the players I was playing with are regs. They are all at least decent, and like you said, I walked by a 5/10 table last night and recognized 8 of the players sitting there.

Silly question: In lower stake games, reg is not necessarily equal good. What percentage of 5/10 regs are actually good vs just players with more disposable cash?

true. majority of 2/5 players here are regs. while competent in that they don't just mega spew, they only play their hands face up.

Yea this is something I've talked about irt 2/5. Tons and tons of regs, very few good players.

At 5/10 the regs are much better on average, and there are way more that are actually very good, tough players. Yea some regs are just tight and easy to play against, but even those guys are tougher than their 2/5 equivalent. Some 5/10 regs can get spewy, but because they're aggro and fearless they're still difficult to play against, making it hard to capitalize on their mistakes. The level of play is just much higher from each player type; even fish are better than their 2/5 equivalent. So while reg =/ good even at 5/10, its not to the extent that it is at 2/5.

To echo what's already been said, the median 1/2 reg is really weak, the median 2/5 reg is meh, and the median 5/10 reg is decent.

Prior post only refers to Vegas games

Yes. This. 5/10 games in Vegas are NOT easy. Doesn't matter the season.

Hey guys, long time no update. I've been hanging around Bellagio and playing mostly 5/10. Since my last update its been going pretty well. Last week Tuesday I took a big loser but since then I've booked 6 winning sessions in a row at 5/10. I've been running well but its still been no cakewalk. The games are pretty tough and in the interest of getting in volume and improving, I've been much more willing to wait out marginal games until things pick up again. Every day I have at least 2-3 spots where I feel I've played sub-optimally. That just comes with the territory of playing a bigger game with better players so I'm trying not to let mistakes eat at me and crush my confidence. I'm good at identifying and learning from mistakes, but need to get better at subsequently letting go of them so I can play my A-game.

The only losing session I've had since that big loser last Tuesday was Thursday this week when the 5/10 games were so bad that I went to V and played 2/5. I would have stayed at B and played 2/5 but a 5/10 had gotten off at V so I decided to check it out. I also hadn't been there in a month so was kinda happy to switch it up. It was funny seeing Squid and some of the other regs and staff look at me like "hey, what are you doing here?/where have you been?". The 5/10 game was meh so I played 2/5. After playing 5/10 consistently for a month, 2/5 seemed much easier by comparison. My table wasn't that good for 2/5 but the same lineup at 5/10 would have been like a dream.

That being said, I still booked a loser of about 100bb. Part of this was just variance, but I also spent most of the session fighting off some mild entitlement tilt. Even though I know its ridiculous, I could sense myself getting frustrated faster because I wasn't winning and subconsciously thinking "how could this happen, I play 5/10 now I should crush this game". As soon as I sensed one of those thoughts creeping in I tried my hardest to fight it because the reality is that no matter how good I am, I still need to focus and play hard to win. And even if I do that, because variance is a thing I can still only expect to win 60-70 percent of sessions. I know those thoughts are absurd, so I did my best to curb them and respect the game I was playing. I think I did alright in that regard, but probably 20-30 percent of my loss was due to this tilt.

The thing I'm happiest about this week is my volume. I played 35.5 hours, which is the most I've done in a week in a while. I'll need to maintain that pace to reach my volume goals for the year. Now that I've gotten back on track with my grind schedule, I'm confident that goal will be achieved.

There have been and will be more growing pains, but a combination of the positive traction I've gotten recently and knowing I still have a long way to go has me motivated to keep working on my game and getting better. It feels really good to be getting back my motivation and confidence.

35.5 hours sounds really light no? i work a full time 10 hour a day job and pull more then that in poker on the side i think...

Don't take this the wrong way, but play full time for a while and get back to me on whether thats light. Everyone thinks they can do 40+ hours before they start but almost no one can for more than a few months. Since you said you "think" you get that much on the side I'm assuming you don't keep track of your hours. If you start I'd bet that you get significantly less that 35 hours a week if you work 10 hour days at a normal job.

Other full time grinders occasionally ask me how many hours I get in per week. When I say 30-35 most say something like "wow, thats a lot". The only guys I know playing more than that are doing so because financially they have to.

Not to mention, that 35.5 hours is just playing time and doesn't count time spent with training material or doing hand reviews, which also counts as "work".

1. no

2. I think not

Agree with cush that 35 hours/week is indeed more than most pros play.

I had 447 hrs in 12 weeks including weekends. I track all my hrs and breaks.

Sent from my GT-N7100 using 2+2 Forums

Yep, anything over 30 hrs in a week of just playing is pretty high.

"I can still only expect to win 60-70 percent of sessions"

that is quite a lot, if you aren't playing very tight. Do you know your accurate winning session frequency? FWIW, my frequency in Germany is just short of 60% (still doing good, if your avg win exceeds your avg loss ofc).

Most of my info has been lost since Poker Journal wasn't updated for ios7 so I can't check exactly. In holdem I was right at 60% iirc but thats because that data included a lot of short sessions. Play style has an effect on this number too, but no matter your style, the longer your average session, the higher your win % will be.

I don't ever take anything the wrong way.
I do keep detailed records of my playing... but i had never looked at it really in terms of hours per week.
Given I have a full time career I have always thought of it in terms of $/hr... essentially is playing this game worth my time... being it is, if I do play... great... bonus $ for me... if not, no biggie.

However I sat down and figured it out and, yes, im playing less then 35 hours per week... I was surprised to see that I was only playing 22 hours per week... however the casino where I play in blackhawk, colorado is 45 mins each way from where I live in Denver so I am spending 5.5 hours a week driving two and from there on average in a week... taking me pretty close to 27.5 hours a week in draining poker activity.... on top of a more then full time job.

My current work schedule is 6am-4pm Mon-Fri in a high stress high demand job in finance (sales trading).

I think given my career choices and the work load I am already doing... I think that if I chose poker full time 35 hours per week would be light for me

Poker is no fun playing for a living .

Kudos to you if you can work that much but I don't think I could nor do I want to. Thats part of why I like playing poker for a living. It allows me to make my own schedule, work enough to make the money I "need", and then have free time whenever I want it.


Of course its not as fun when you play 30-40 hours a week as it is when you first start playing. Anything is gonna start to get boring if you do it full time. However, if you do it right, poker is a lot better than most full time jobs imo.

Poker can be fun if you allow it to be. Robfarha has a great time win or lose.

Show up with a positive mindset and it can really take you a long way. Downswings hurt less when you enjoy yourself and don't take every pot too seriously.

I'm far from financially secure and losing rarely bothers me.

that's sort of the point i was making. a lot of poker pros don't want to (couldn't?) fit into a normal (or rigorous) work environment.

i think not having to win makes poker much more enjoyable for me personally.

also, given my experience playing in Florida this past weekend... idk why you moved from florida to vegas to play professionally... people there were so so bad.

I moved here from Wisconsin, never lived in Florida.

Phil Hellmuth came from Wisconsin too. Hence the greatest player to ever come form Wisconsin is cushlash.