Background
I’ve played 2-5 NL since 2007 and mostly 5-10 NL since 2010. I’m a rec player with a good job that pays for my nut and allowed me to play poker without worrying about keeping records or having a separate bankroll. However, after a summer of getting beat up in 10/20+ games and losing a ton, I’ve decided to require myself to take the financial aspect of the game more seriously by keeping a separate BR and tracking results.


Games I will play
5-5 NL with a 500 max buy-in
5-5 NL deep stack with a 1500 max buy-in
5-10 NL with a 2500 max buy-in
5-10 NL with a 1k min, no max buy-in

The 5-5 game with a 500 max buy-in is ridiculously soft, filled with professionals who will gladly blow off a buy-in or two before going home to the wife. I’d say the game is juicy at least 75% of the time it is running.

5-5 deep stack and the 5-10 games are hit or miss; there can be a lot of pros, a lot of whales, or both. I've become a good game selector and realize there may often be more money in a capped 5-5 game than an uncapped 5-10 game and game select accordingly.


Goals
Make $50,000 at 5/5 and 5/10 in 100 hours
Update thread at least once a week
Post chip porn once a month


Reasons for this thread
Maintain a separate poker bankroll and track results
Avoid big games (10/20+) until I've built a sizable roll
Long-term goal should help me mentally through bad sessions and downswings.


Shoutouts for helping inspire me to make this thread go out to

Aesah: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/17...poker-1182301/

cl0r0x70: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/17...hours-1303643/

Sensational1: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/11...5-5nl-1186868/

You need to fix your goals list, it says 100 hours instead of 500 hours like the title says. Looking forward to following. Best of luck!

That's not remotely possible, just do the math. But keeping records is a good start-- shoot for being a winning player first.

Yeah, that was a typo. 50k in 500 hours is the goal

I hope your cynical attitude is towards the 50k in 100 hours, not the 50k in 500 hours, because if you look through the threads I linked to, my "not remotely possible" goal is definitely attainable. It won't be easy, but that's why it's called a "goal and challenge", my micro-stakes grinding friend.


First Checkpoint

These are all my sessions since the end of the summer

+1700
+1100
+240
+1354
+570
-414
+773


Total: +5323 in 46.25 hours.
Current hourly: $115/hr

If that isn't all from run good that's pretty sick

Second Checkpoint: September report

Total: +8454 in 64.75 hours.
Current hourly: $130.56/hr

Most of my hours are at 5/5 against a pool of fish. I hope to integrate more 5/5 deep stack and 5/10 when the conditions are right; not in a rush to leave an insanely profitable game for one where variance is 5x greater unless there are more fish than pros at the table. I do believe a significant part of my run good has been good game selection and playing at the right times, and I hope to improve in these areas.

Last five sessions
-1253
+3277
+831
-237
+513

I played worse during the two losing sessions due to long stretches of cold cards, leading me to unnecessarily losing a buy-in each time. I need to accept that this is the norm in live poker and do something to alleviate my boredom and ensure that I continue to play well. The -1253 session I made two really bad river calls with top pair and an overpair when the action/board made it obvious I was crushed both times. The -237 session I punted away a buy-in by making a bad read/4-betting to an amount that committed me to calling a shove, a terrible combo.

Graph

Yes, I use Excel to track my results....I've tried two session logging apps, and the interfaces in both were pretty awful. Plus, I'm just used to Excel and feel it can do more than an app.



October goals
Play at least 50 hours
Play more after midnight (best time imo)
Play deep stack and 5/10 on Fridays

good luck. i suggest posting the hands in more detail both for yourself to revisit and for others to give feedback

sweet! what city you playing in?

Subbed/yeah where do you play? GL

Thanks for the support! I cannot deny your suggestion, so here goes

Hand 1:
5/5, 120 BB deep

Villain has been seen hollywooding heavily and has raised ~8 out of the last 20 hands I've been at the table.

1 limper, villain raises to 20. I'm next to act and 3-bet to 65. Folds to villain, who insta-shoves in a $100 stack to make it 120. I call.

Villain bets 50 in the dark

Flop (300): 447hh
I call. Villain bets 100 in the dark

Turn (400): 2x
I call. Villain bets 100 in the dark

River (500): 9
While tanking, villain sighs and grimaces. I call.




Hand 2:
5/5, 150 BBs deep. My image is aggressive, possibly spazzy.

3 limpers to me and I overlimp with KJo on button, BB, who is aggro preflop but tight/solid postflop, raises to 35. All three limpers call, I call, SB folds.

Flop (210): J75r
Checks to me, I bet 125. PFR calls, action player (spewy but half decent) calls

Turn (585): 8x
Checks to me, I debate shoving, but check back

River (585): 2x
PFR leads 300, action player calls all-in for 215, I call.




Hand 3:
5/5, 100 BB deep. Villain and I are the most aggro players at the table.

Folds to me in cutoff, I open to 20 with 99. Villain 3-bets to 80, I 4-bet to 280, Villain shoves, I sigh and call.

I've decided not to out my playing location. It's a huge reverse information freeroll to any 2p2ers in the same games as me to know who I am when I don't have the same info on them, nor do I expect anyone with that info to tell me. Aesah made a recent post where he got called down light in a good bluffing spot for him by a 2p2er/friend of a 2p2er, and I'd rather not have that happen to me, even if it is one time per 100 hours. There's also the matter of attracting other 2p2ers to come play in these games temporarily/permanently, as remote as that may be. If you can convince me otherwise, I'm pretty open minded, but it seems like a +EV decision to stay as under the radar as a person with a PGC thread can be.

Good logic. Whatever allows you to sleep well and run even better

So I managed to play eight sessions in the first five days of the month. Five of these sessions that were between 30 and 90 minutes because I played temporarily while waiting to get into a bigger game or the game broke. For example, I played four sessions Friday/Saturday, as I played a marathon session and kept moving to the best available game.

Third Checkpoint: October Madness

1850
-76
-20
5910
845
-1905
2049
-1500

I'm running well at 5/10 and pretty cold at 5/5. I've won at least 1k in each of my five sessions at 5/10, and I had two big sessions this week playing 3 handed with two huge fish each time. I ran well but also played my A game most of my time and really believe I earned those big wins. Plus, I am only playing in the game when there are huge fish in it.

Total Results by stake
5/5: 54 hours, -1001 profit, -18.53/hr
5/5 deep stack: 9.5 hours, 2168 profit, +228.21/hr
5/10: 29 hours, 14440 profit, +497.93/hr

Total Results:
92.5 hours
15,607 profit
$168.72/hr

So far so good

What were your cards in Hand #1? What was villains position in hand #3?

Cool thread Will be following