Finally was able to consolidate all my poker log excel spreadsheets dating back to my college days in NOLA with my PokerIncome iPhone app results to get some combined results for my casino action (no online results included):

Date Range (Feb 2006 to Present)
Total Profit: +$47,849
Total Hours: 1,954 (279 hrs/yr avg)
Hourly Win Rate: $24.48/hr

I was able to play more hours while in college (and before married) during 2006 and 2007 but once I graduated and got a real job it's been more like a profitable hobby. I'd say about 30% of these hours were at 1/2 at Harrah's New Orleans/LV, 60% were at 2/5 or 3/5, and 10% at 1/1 or 1/2 home games. This makes calculating a long term bb/hr rate more difficult since my stats from 2006-2010 aren't tagged with the blinds structure played (fail, I know but I was just starting to track results).

Your question is like asking which state develops the best football players.

I would probably go with one with most active player pool.

Look up Bravo and figure that out.

At 2/5, games are fairly soft/good in all these locations, but I would agree with this order. Not sure about 1/2, but Borgata's 2/5 is far from nitty.

its not because the games suck. its because the posters complaining about the games suck. if you cant win 40/hr playing 2/5 then you suck really bad

agreed
<3 borgata. but not so much without stan

I posted this in several PLO threads with no luck. I feel that I may be able to get an answer here. It has been said that in live NLH if you are beating the game for 10bb/hr you are crushing the game. How many bb's/hr can you expect to make if you are crushing a similar live PLO game?

You shouldn't even worry about it.

1/2 PLO plays bigger than 3/5 in most rooms, so I don't even know why you're asking such question.

How many buy-ins are needed for a bankroll to play 2-5 LLSNL? What is the largest downswing that you think we should expect to see before we need to really start looking at our game critically as it is most likely the problem?

Thanks for the information!

Here's a question for people that live in states where poker is not legal (I live in Texas). Would it still be profitable for me to fly to vegas to play $1/$2 for a week? Flight+hotel will cost me $300.

Take your hourly, multiply it by the # of hours you expect to play, and if that number is larger than 300+estimated food expenses, then the trip will be profitable.

I don't really know my winrate live or what an attainable one is. I was just wondering in general if anybody thinks it's possible to make any money playing $1/$2 if you have significant travel expenses.

If you can't beat 1/2 for $300 after playing a week, then you can't beat it...

Kind of straight forward, eh?

This trip will be profitable for a winning player. However, if you plan to grind 1-2 for a living with "significant travel expenses," I would say this is not going to be profitable. Shoot me a PM with more detail. How big your bankroll is and what you call significant travel expenses certainly makes or breaks the proposition.

I don't play poker for a living and really just wanting to play live poker recreational and eek out a decent profit without having to go to one of the shady underground casinos here in Austin. I only have a bankroll of $1500 that I'm willing to lose. Knowing that, do you think it would be worth if I flew to Vegas a few times a year (costing about $400 in total expenses) to grind 1/2 for about 50-60 hours during that week?

Well this month was pretty crappy, didn't get to play as many days as I wanted, had to go out of town for about a week. Because of the NBA playoffs I've also been starting my sessions later at night, usually around 9 PM after the games are over, which has resulted in shorter 3-5 hour sessions than I usually play. Ran pretty awful with all-in EV again this month, losing a number of hands on river 1-4 outers for pretty large pots, but what can you do....If I had won a few of those hands the month would look pretty good. Not horrible, not great, but any profitable month is a good thing. Did not play any 2/5 this month, only 1/2.

May results:

Total sessions: 20
Total winnings: $2,507
Average win per session: $125.35
Total winnings year-to-date: $23,231
Average win per session year-to-date: $178.70

You could win about $1200 a trip if you are a good player. A $1500 bankroll is likely cutting it thin though. You will feel pressured and unless you run good off the bat you may lose it all due to natural fluctuations in the game. Given that information you should be able to make a decision of whether it is worth your time to make these trips or not.

Well Done Sir!

It really is this simple...

So if you win $7/hr x 60 = $420, which is more than $400...

How much more straight forward can it be?

First full month using Poker Journal. All play is M-F between 9-6. Obviously running well, but have not had pleasure yet of playing on weekend, when games are even juicier.

5/10 is rarely worth playing. Hopped in on a day it was particularly juicy and ran well. Pretty sure that hourly is not sustainable... (Or any of them long-term).

Small sample size of course, but my Friday hourly is significantly higher than Mon-Thu. About 400 hours tracked since Feb, and hourly is over 20BBs. Am hoping to be able to start playing more hours in coming months...still just a part-time gig. Curious to see where it's at after 1k hours. I know the top top pros in card room make around 70-80. I'd consider myself among the top 5 regs. Guess time will tell.

God damn that must have been one juicy 5/10 game. That's a big fat cherry on top of a really good month. Congrats.

I just got an iPhone and have been using Poker Income. Is the general consensus that Poker Journal is the best results tracking app?

IMO it is the best hands down! It is clean and easy to use!

I would say you are definitely able to crush the game for more than 10bb/hr but less than 20bb/hr. Where you fall between those numbers no one can say as of now. 1000 hours will definitely be better. More than that will be better yet. The key is to keep your head in the game and keep playing your A game even if the cards turn on you. If you can do that I am confident in my statements. Keep crushing!

Thanks. It really was the cherry on top, since it happened late Friday evening (May 31st), and was the last session I played. About 1500 of it was boat over boat, and I was fortunate enough to be on the winning end.

I do think PokerJournal helps my play quite a bit, not just for the obvious reasons but also because it gives me a very accurate way to keep score. And as silly as it sound setting certain video game-esq goals and limits for myself forces me to play better. It brings out the best of my competitive nature and makes the grind a bit more fun.


That could be a problem. Pretty sure my game caps out at around B+.

LOL. I wish I ran that bad.

I've stopped tracking results temporarily. I could go back and input them, but I'm trying not to worry about wins/losses (even though I post them in my well).