So after playing online poker for almost a year, I have nothing but a major dint in my bank account.

This is my story:

Since I turned 18, my friend introduced me to Crown Casino, or the cas as we call it, in Melbourne, Australia. For the next 6 months or so, Roulette was my game of choice. I vividly remember a night where my band was paid $60 for a gig in Brunswick. One of our band goals was to record an EP at Hothouse Studios, St. Kilda. As we drove to our show, our bass player jokingly suggested that we should put it all on black on the roulette tables, twice in a row and keep doubling up our money. After the show, you guessed it, we went to crown but taking a more conservative approach, we played Roulette. Everything was working well, we hit a hot streak and doubled our money at one point before losing it all. Feeling drained and bursting with sorrow, we kept repeating to ourselves 'Why didnt we stop when we were ahead?'. But just the thought of knowing that we were ahead was a big enough thrill to keep me coming back for more. The seed was planted.

I started being a reg at the $2.50 roulette tables when a group of my friends all got into the world of gambling. One session I was up over $120 and I felt like the world was mine. Of course, I inevitably lost it all and then some (about $250) over the next few months. On one of my last roulette sessions, I spoke to a dealer and we talked about ways of beating the games. He said to me, the only game that can be beaten is Poker because you are playing against other players, not the house. Most of my friends who I went to the cas with also dabbled a bit in PokerPro (an electronic touch screen version of poker with a minimum $20 buy in), one night I gave it ago. I had little knowledge of poker but somehow managed to win $10. I couldn't believe it. I started reading about the game on the internet, and learned a very basic strategy. Basically I was a nit. Somehow it worked against the recreational players and I won about $10 to $20 each time. I would always stop at those winnings for fear of losing it all and I felt like it was a decent return percentage wise. After a few months of playing pokerpro, I won $30 on it and decided to take the plunge into the $1/2 tables. My first hand was Jx, I hit a jack on the flop and took the $12 pot down. It was awesome.

Around February of 2010, one of the people I gambled with introduced me to online poker. I deposited $20 on stars, played 50NL and lost it all. The next day I redeposited $10, worked it up to $20, then lost it again. This kept repeating until I decided to take online poker a little more seriously. I got sick of losing on stars and played on FT for a bit. This was going alright. I worked my first $50 deposit up to about $150 playing mainly microstakes HU SNGs but lost most of it on tilt, moving up levels to win back losses. I shouldn't have touched the superturbos... Back then, you started with 300 chips so it was like playing roulette. Here's my FT SS graph:



After I learned about rakeback, I decided to switch over back to stars.

Here's my stars SS graph:



As you can see from the first major dip, I accidentally played a $75 tourney because of a misclick, i felt sick when I realised what had happened!

Currently, I mainly play micro stakes 45-man turbo SNGs. Its going alright so far as you can see on my HEM graph:



And heres my Stars cash game graph from when I got HEM:



The swings are from shots at HU 50NL, another thing I shouldn've done.


The purpose with this thread is to document how I go from being a losing player to a winning player. I hope to learn as much as possible from posting hand histories and asking for opinions. I want to become the best possible poker player that I can be. Since the start of this year I have been putting in a lot more volume than last, about 40 games a day which is a lot for me.




Long story short, I just wanna win.

hey dude, reading your story makes me think of my start in poker. like yourself, i'm from Victoria, Australia and got my start through trialing poker at Crown.

are you just gonna focus on SUG's?

have you got specific goals ? I found that specifying my goals helped my development, although my game is 5CD.

good luck!!!

Haha nice, definitely do it. Poker is a lifestyle, it feels good.

My focus is SNGs, starting at the $1.10 45 man level, then hopefully moving up as my bankroll allows. Its tough though, currently I'm switching to the 0.55 45 mans because I'm on a downswing. My long term goal is to becoming a winning player, something I am not. My short term goal is to crush the $150 mark. I'm currently at $123.

Thanks for the reply!

I like your graphs

GL

thanks mclovin

sounds like you're doing pretty well there dude!

when i started online, the hardest thing i found was to stay disiplined enough to not chase losses at different levels or in unfamilar games - had to learn to keep the focus the short term goals through strict game choices (found that my BR and game became less swingy after a while).

keep working at tho, all sounds great!

GL Sir

So I had a 500 sng breakeven stretch followed by a downswing and I've had enough of the 45 man SNGs. You all know how downswings are so i won't be describing the nature of mine. Bankroll dropped to $96 from $130.

For the last month I've been 24 tabling 2NL I almost went busto on tilt. With $96 I played about an hour and a half of 2NL, ran bad dropped down to $90. I got sick of it and played 50NL heads up with $20 and lost it too. I was hoping to run good and win about $100 again but it never works out when you want it too. With $70 left I played 2 $5.25 HU SNGs and won both bringing me up to $80. Since then I have been grinding 2NL again, bankroll is currently at $107.96 including a $10 stellar rewards bonus. This might sound crazy but everytime a stellar reward bonus gets credited I always have bad sessions straight after.

So heres my 2NL graph, I'm running a bit below EV:



Thanks for the support.

Hey man your heart is definately in the right place. I can relate to a lot of what you've written. You seem to know when to move down which is almost unfathomable to a lot of players, so that's excellent. To become a winning player is the dream, but it is possible, That's what keeps it so exciting. Stay focused and on track, by the sounds of it you should be able to crush no problem.

I've always wanted to go to the Crown. Here in Adelaide it's extremely rare to get a PLO table going, how is it there?

And thanks for your post on my thread, awesome to see an Aussie enjoying it

Hey man thanks for your support. Well I'm only 19 so I pretty much can't afford to go bust haha. You should defs come down to crown when you get the chance, PLO tables are always going as well as tournaments.

Just played a 1hr 40min session at 2NL and won $9.23 which is massive for me!



Bankroll: $119.82

Hey OP,

you playing 6max or fullring?

GL!

Playing FR, its tough! Definitely not as easy to crush as people say it is imo.

Played a 1hr 20min session and lost $2.88. Its discouraging to have a winning session of $9+ then go on to lose again. Two crucial hands made this a losing session.

Is there anyway I could've played these differently?

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.02(BB) Replayer
Hero ($2.57)
BB ($3)
UTG ($5.55)
UTG+1 ($3.83)
UTG+2 ($1.14)
CO ($2)
BTN ($1.05)

Dealt to Hero Q J

fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero calls $0.01, BB checks

FLOP ($0.04) 7 2 J

Hero bets $0.06, BB calls $0.06

TURN ($0.16) 7 2 J J

Hero bets $0.10, BB raises to $0.24, Hero calls $0.14

RIVER ($0.64) 7 2 J J T

Hero checks, BB bets $0.74, Hero calls $0.74

Hero shows Q J
(Pre 62%, Flop 67.0%, Turn 84.1%)

BB shows 3 5
(Pre 38%, Flop 33.0%, Turn 15.9%)

BB wins $2.02



Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.02(BB) Replayer
SB ($1.64)
BB ($2.03)
UTG ($1.05)
UTG+1 ($5.90)
UTG+2 ($2.26)
Hero ($2.38)
MP2 ($4.73)
CO ($1.49)
BTN ($6.26)

Dealt to Hero Q Q

fold, fold, UTG+2 calls $0.02, Hero raises to $0.08, fold, fold, fold, SB calls $0.07, fold, UTG+2 calls $0.06

FLOP ($0.26) J 4 A

SB checks, UTG+2 checks, Hero checks

TURN ($0.26) J 4 A Q

SB folds, UTG+2 checks, Hero bets $0.06, UTG+2 raises to $0.12, Hero calls $0.06

RIVER ($0.50) J 4 A Q 5

UTG+2 bets $0.58, Hero calls $0.58

UTG+2 shows T K
(Pre 29%, Flop 18.7%, Turn 77.3%)

Hero shows Q Q
(Pre 71%, Flop 81.3%, Turn 22.7%)

UTG+2 wins $1.58

Both of those are pretty butchered I think.

With this hand I think raising pre is better, just take it down there. As played you have to find a raise on the turn; you essentially have the nuts, better jacks likely pop you pre as does 77 so his value range which beats your hand is super narrow. By raising you can get value out of the majority of his range which would be weak made hands like 7x and draws. River is also iffy, his bet is super polarizing; 2nlers likely arent thinking hard enough to try and get thin value out of hands worse than a jack via overbetting so I think if he has any showdown value worse than a flush hes just checking, so maybe its a fold but I'd likely station it up as well.

So over the last two days I've had some really interesting sessions. The first session I played, I lost $10.72, it was my worst session this year. I ran so bad. Kings into Aces, Aces cracked by Kings, sets against straights, you know how it goes. Bankroll dropped from $119.82 to around $110. This put me on emotional tilt and i resorted to HU SNGs to try and win it back. It didn't work out at first, I lost 2 in a row. Played one more 4 player shoot out HU SNG, won it which took be back to like $112.

But I ran good after that and won all of it back and then some.

My graph over the last 2 days:



This years graph:




I'm adding a new goal, in addition to becoming a winning cash game player, i want to win back my cash game losses online. Currently, I am down $199. Also, I have 4077FPPs, when i get to 4500 I am going to buy the $50 instant cash reward from the vip store. That should take my bankroll to $190 (including a $10 stellar rewards bonus that I'll clear). When I get there, I don't know if I should continue grinding on pokerstars or take my roll to another site with a first deposit bonus. Suggestions are welcome people!

Bankroll: $130.08

Best of luck.I am kinda in same boat as yourself play mainly in Stars and looking now to grind cash on another site but dont think options are that good.Hopefully someone will reply to advise a decent site with half decent rakeback.

Alot of your shot taking seems to be the result of boredom/frustration. While I think that's natural for many players it's very self destructive. That said, shot taking if done properly is a good thing and will help you move up much faster. I didn't read the thread in detail so I don't know how many tables you're playing but if you're playing say about 8, perhaps you should take a shot of 1 or 2 tables at 10nl with a $20 or so stoploss, stopping immediately if you get stacked and aren't 100% happy with how the hand went down.

For stakes up to including 25nl, I think taking a shot when you have around 15 BI is not a bad plan. Taking shots at tourneys when your cash games are going really well ( and they seem to be going ok, or taking shots at multiple stakes higher or on a HU table is really burning cash.

As for playing on stars, the vpp bonus system sucks for you and rakeback will be much better. PM me if you want to talk about what sites may be the best w/ #tables 6max/fr and if you have HEM.

Hi oblongata, I too live in Melbourne, and have been playing on FT for the past year, but only playing the $2.40 or $5.50 SitnGos (mainly $2.40 ones) 9man's. I started with $50 and have a profit of $163 at the moment 9%ROI..
Before FT I was playing on Everest, started with $30 and profited $308, plaing mainly $1 SitnGos 18%ROI (probably shouldn't have switched over, but needed to up the stake and as they don't have any from $2-6 sitngos).
I've tried to get a big score playing in $10/$11 type tourneys, but haven't had any luck when it matters the most, will have to keep at it.
Cheers and keep at it buddy.

Thanks guys. I have considered shot taking before, but I have a really low emotional tilt threshold. If I lose more than 3-4 buyins, I usually play HU SNG and if that doesnt work, I'll end up busto. This is why I play 24 tables of 2NL, buying in for less than 2% of my roll. But according to my winrate which is about 4bb/100 for around 70k hands, I'm beating 2NL. Should I loosen my buy in to 5% of my roll? Or move up to 5NL?

Just took a shot at 5nl. I ran bad and lost $10, taking me down to $127.81 I dropped down to 2NL and played for an hour and twenty minutes, ran bad and lost a buy in. I definitely crossed threshold for running bad and tilted.

I played a $2.20 HU SNG (like I always do when I'm on tilt) and lost that too. That set me off completely. I turned into a primative beast. I played two 4 player HU SNG shootouts and very fortunately won both for a $12 profit. Both matches were full of suckouts, that had me filling up with rage within milliseconds turning into sweet jubilation and vice versa.

It just goes to show you how the turn of a card can really affect your psyche. Had I lost those HUSNGs my bankroll would've been a mere $119, completely undoing all the late nights of grinding I spent 24 tabling 2NL.

I don't want this to ever happen again. I got lucky this time, next time I won't be.


Bankroll: $135.86

Had my best session on 2NL, winning $12.52. I managed to get max juice from my nuts. It feels good to finally have a solid winning session.

Here are some of my biggest winning hands:

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.02(BB) Replayer
SB ($2.03)
BB ($0.95)
UTG ($2.02)
UTG+1 ($2.03)
Hero ($6.61)
MP1 ($1.07)
CO ($1.58)
BTN ($6.32)

Dealt to Hero K K

fold, fold, Hero raises to $0.04, fold, fold, BTN calls $0.04, SB calls $0.03, fold

FLOP ($0.14) J 7 K

SB checks, Hero bets $0.06, BTN calls $0.06, SB folds

TURN ($0.26) J 7 K 4

Hero bets $0.20, BTN raises to $0.46, Hero raises to $6.51 (AI), BTN calls $5.76 (AI)

RIVER ($12.70) J 7 K 4 3

Hero shows K K
(Pre 81%, Flop 99.9%, Turn 97.7%)

BTN shows 4 4
(Pre 19%, Flop 0.1%, Turn 2.3%)

Hero wins $12.07



Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.02(BB) Replayer
SB ($5.01)
BB ($3.92)
UTG ($0.80)
UTG+1 ($2.20)
Hero ($3.74)
MP1 ($3.21)
MP2 ($4.77)
CO ($4.03)
BTN ($2)

Dealt to Hero 9 9

fold, fold, Hero raises to $0.06, MP1 calls $0.06, fold, fold, fold, fold, fold

FLOP ($0.15) 8 9 6

Hero bets $0.08, MP1 calls $0.08

TURN ($0.31) 8 9 6 7

Hero checks, MP1 bets $0.26, Hero calls $0.26

RIVER ($0.83) 8 9 6 7 7

Hero bets $3.34 (AI), MP1 calls $2.81 (AI)

Hero shows 9 9
(Pre 56%, Flop 63.3%, Turn 23.9%)

MP1 shows T A
(Pre 44%, Flop 36.7%, Turn 76.1%)

Hero wins $6.13


Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.02(BB) Replayer
SB ($1.54)
Hero ($2.36)
UTG ($2.42)
UTG+1 ($1.73)
UTG+2 ($3.50)
MP1 ($2.96)
CO ($3.64)
BTN ($5)

Dealt to Hero 9 A

fold, fold, fold, MP1 calls $0.02, fold, fold, SB calls $0.01, Hero checks

FLOP ($0.06) Q 7 T

SB checks, Hero checks, MP1 bets $0.02, SB calls $0.02, Hero raises to $0.05, MP1 calls $0.03, SB folds

TURN ($0.18) Q 7 T A

Hero bets $0.05, MP1 raises to $0.20, Hero raises to $2.29 (AI), MP1 calls $2.09

RIVER ($4.76) Q 7 T A 7

Hero shows 9 A
(Pre 60%, Flop 100.0%, Turn 100.0%)

MP1 shows K J
(Pre 40%, Flop 0.0%, Turn 0.0%)

Hero wins $4.53


I am also now only 50fpps from a $50 bonus which is beautiful.

My overall graph now looks like this:



Bankroll: $146.45

My short term goal of reaching $200 playing 2NL has been completed today, thanks to a good run and a $50 bonus. I will re-evaluate my options and see where to go from here, most likely I will move up to 5nl.