Awesome, and like I said I truly appreciate everyone's thoughts, ideas, and feedback. However, I have chosen this path and am focusing my attention on it, as opposed to second guessing and re-considering other options. I kind of regret telling you all that I have a fall back plan at all, it's better not to consider such things when ones mind is resolute.

Good luck man. Subbed..

Do you enjoy your weekly commute? Driving so much every week has got to suck

Have you thought about grinding 1/2 a little longer until you are into 5 figures and then take couple buyin shots at 2/5 and hope to get a little luck at that point? I definitely think it is good to be aggressive in trying to get up to 2/5 as soon as possible but it would probably increase your likelihood of success to take the slightly slower route.

Glad you cashed out at $900+, again, can't overstress the importance of booking solid wins early in our development.

As far as buying in. My advice is buy-in $400 - $500, typically early when I'm building a roll and am at $6k I bought in for $420 until I was up to $8k then I bought in to $500. Reason being, 85bb is deep enough to play poker, but at the same time buying in 100bb is fine as well. In the beginning, my advice is to pass on the high variance spots and to play a touch more on the snug side and get your money in good.

On its face that sounds like 'Be a nit" but that isn't quite what I'm saying. What I'm saying is pick good +EV spots... Be patient and let the donks and rec fish give you their money. Win 2 to 3 buy-ins, table change, rinse and repeat with the focus being to cash out for the day.

Get a string of winning days behind you, and in a week or so, your bankroll will take care of itself.

Oh God, you people are making $2/5 look yummy!

Must be nice. Nothing too good to say about the comps out here in Vegas. I was able to buy a bottle of overpriced water with my SC Boarding Pass the other day before a tourny. Ain't that the high life!

Hmm...maybe I should move back home (NY) and crush at Foxwoods. Also, it might be enjoyable being around people who can actually breathe and walk at the same time.

The comps at Foxwoods suck.. OP how are you getting rooms comped?

Yeah OP I am in a similar spot as you actually. On my second session of my PG&C, I'm in the game for 5k so I can cover the fish since I convinced myself its +EV... just realized how dumb that was after I finished the session, I had to pray for no cooler after every PFR or if I call with a PP or something. I think I'll give up max gains for now for a little saftey.. idk if thats the right thing but oh well.

Ya +1. ?????

Most tilting hand yet. $840 deep, btn covers, utg has $300. I open AQ in mp to $20, btn and utg limper call. Flop ($60) J98r. I cbet 40, call call. Turn ($180) 10, completing the rainbow. I bet $80, btn raise to 240, utg ships 251, I tank forever and fold. Btn tables KQ for the nuts, the river is a king. FML

You can't think of poker like this and expect to realize your full potential. You didn't even play the earlier streets correctly and yet you jump to tilt about a river that was out of your control. On 95.24% of rivers a king doesn't come and you should feel absolutely nothing — much like the 4.76% of the time a king does come on the river.

Easy there. I thought it was a funny runout, sharing that is not going to "kill my poker potential" I have no problem with my flop and turn play, although the turn is a very tight fold. Why criticize without saying anything useful?

+1 to everything DGI said.

I thought I had a decent approach to getting up when 20% or more of my BR was on the table, except one night when I was grinding in FL and was 4k deep with a few fish and up a decent % of my roll.

The final two hands before I planned to rack up I was deal QQs back to back and lost 2k in the blink of an eye. Thats a devastating hit for a growing br to take.

After that I immediately set strict guidelines as to when to pick up based on the size of my roll to avoid high risk situations. I know its tough when there are soft spots at the table that your deep with since your thinking how nice it would be to stack them and increase your roll by such a substantial amount, but the cooler situations do more harm that good can come from the situation.

also, +1 to the comped FW rooms! used to grind there last yr when I was in college and could never get any good deals.

To everyone asking about FW comps- I get 2 free nights per week Sunday-Thursday. Some months for all hotels and some months two trees only. I play solely 1/2 and 2/5nl, and do not play table games other than to use free bets and matchplays. I also have a black card which gives you 3 points an hour- cash equivalent when used at Foxwoods.

Yea, thats a pretty terrible headspace to be in while playing.
Even if you have a huge skill edge being scared money is going to slash your edge in the game big time.




Yea, I'll be following the 20% guideline dgi talked about in his post from now on. Playing 2/5 with 8k has a high risk of ruin already, so it makes sense to rein in the risk at some point.

A doctor, a lawyer, and an engineer are all found guilty of various crimes and are sentenced to death by guillotine.

The doctor is first. He lays down on the guillotine, looks up at the blade, the executioner releases the blade but nothing happens. The people say God must want him to live so they pardon him.

Next is the lawyer. He lays down, looks up at the blade, the executioner releases the blade but nothing happens. The people say God must want him to live so they pardon him.

Finally it's the engineer's turn. He lays down, looks up at the blade, points and says, "oh there's your problem right there."

Lmao, good one trob888!

Reading the part where you said you were close to being homeless makes me cringe. If it can happen to you it can happen to anybody .

If you ever posted the poker journey of digiharris, I would be very interested in reading it.

As for this thread goes,
ECGrinder reminds me of Mike McDermott and you remind me of Knish haha.

Yo EC,

I also graduated in May of this year but I choose to enter the working world while playing part time. I admire how you are taking a shot at being a poker pro and I wish you the best of luck.

-BenzY

haha, very nice

Congrats on graduating! Entering the working world and playing on the side is the most sensible thing to do if you can find reasonable employment that you enjoy. Thanks for the good luck!

Congratulations to my good friend Brad for Winning the 600NL Sunday Tournament at Foxwoods.

Week 2: Foxwoods Grinding and Sleeping in my Car

Week 2! Put in 43 hours on the felt from Last Thursday - Yesterday (Monday) I slept in my car 2/4 nights. It's not the best arrangement, but its free and could certainly be worse. I lost (-$64) this week. Its frustrating putting in that many hours and being in the red, but that's just the way that poker goes, and is another challenge in this life.

Tom Dwan said that the difference between good winning players and the nosebleed stakes legends is that the best players consistently make slightly better decisions and occasionally make much better decisions.

Money comes and goes - beyond our control to an extent, but skill at the game and ability to make good decisions lasts for a lifetime. I've been thinking a lot about the importance of getting better, rising to the top and not beating the game; crushing it.

Concentration
Every moment on the felt needs to be utilized to improve your game. Its so easy to sit there, folding through being card dead and thinking about other aspects of life while neglecting to pay attention to the hands that you aren't in. Even if you already have a solid understanding of the other players in the game, you can improve your skill at hand reading, picking up bet-sizing and physical tells, etc. by simply paying attention. The "problem" is that this takes a HUGE amount of mental energy.

Concentration while on the felt is going to be my main focus for next week. I'll take breaks every two hours, hell every couple orbits if that is what I need to stay focused every second that I'm at the table. It can only get easier with practice. I'm not trying to get good, I'm trying to become a legend at this game.

I just hit 100 hours of 2/5 NL. Winrate: $34/hour so far, ridiculously small sample size of course but the numbers are looking good so far.





I'll be back on that grind tomorrow, Wednesday-next Wednesday. Goals for for the week: 9 hours/day (63 total) hours of high quality time on the felt. Meditate 5min/day, read Taleb's book 1hr/day, read poker strategy 1hr/day (any suggestions for what poker strategy to read people?). Run/Weight lift 3 times over the week.

I'm also going to start recording interesting hands during my sessions and posting them here + LLSNL to get some strategy advice from you all! Going to try to post on LLSNL more frequently also.

The Sky is the Limit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyEtmfQCxbY

As a 29 year old now attempting to finish my degree while working 50 hours a week as a welder, I greatly approve of you chasing your dream. I wish I had done what you are now doing. Now, I have too many responsibilities and such to "just go for it." Subscribed and good luck.

He plays $2/5? I'm a $1/2 player who hasn't played at Foxwoods in months and I still get offered 2 free rooms a week.

Will be following this thread. GLGL

What's the tracking program you are using? I like the look vs. pokerjournal which I've used forever...