Small update:

Went to vegas for a family vacation these past 4 nights and just got back. Wanted to make sure I didn't make the family trip about only poker so I just played one session +419 and one tournament (Venetian Series $250 1 day 20,000 gaurantee) but didn't cash. The play though in the tournament was some of the worst I've ever seen in my life. Had 4 spots to knock players out getting it all in ahead and lost every one which was frustrating but such is tournament poker.

Anyways, back to the nl50z grind.

I wish I could play more on the weekends the games are good but this weekend I needed to work 12hrs/day Fri-Sun (I work in supply chain so although it's unfortunate to work on weekends it is what it is). I guess it's partly my fault though because even when I don't work I go out so i think what I need to try and do is get in as many weekend-daytime hours as I possibly can moving forward.

I did manage to play about 1000 hands/day and ran above EV which was really nice (although still running ~2bb/100 under EV so far at nl50z):



*Also I'm not sure if I want to continue much with this thread. I know it's probably not all that exciting for you guys reading as I don't post hands etc. I guess I'll take some time and see how I feel about it. Anyways, as always if you have any questions feel free to ask.

lol dude. I used to feel the same way, but PStars zoom is the softest most reliable place to play online cash right now.

all the other sites with rakeback like Party and ACR for example are filled with bots and tight regs. stick to zoom man. no rakeback sucks and the rake is very high, but atleast youre getting a fair shake on Stars against lots of fish.

6.5evbb at 50z is a good winrate man. if you can 3 or 4 table at that winrate you'll have a decent hourly man. nice work!

pstars zoom is not even close to being soft in comparisson to the euro sites/reg 6max tables on pstars but as far as reliability goes I agree it's great. I know the other sites you mentioned may have some issues but I mean there are euro sites with very good rakeback and games that play significantly softer. It's wierd because when I started this thread I thought if I ever got to nl25z & nl50z I'd be satisfied and move the majority of volume to other sites move up a bit in stakes and be happy making reasonable money, but in reality now that I'm playing nl50z as my main stake I realize I can still improve a ton, I honestly want to compete at the highest level I can push myself to and I honestly believe it's not nl50z. I'm thinking of some really big goals for 2019 and for the time being I'm staying in zoom where I feel like I progress the most with the competition/get the most hands in.

I really appreciate the post man, thank you.

No prob man. Youre right, Stars zoom is tougher than reg tables but the higher hands per hour Im almost positive makes up for the higher edge you'd have at reg tables.

Keep it up man it looks like youre grinding hard balancing online, live and a FT job. What are your poker goals? To play full time?

Yeah true very good points about the hands per hour also not having to table select / keep the lobby open looking for spots is nice too although the euro sites do have soft play at the majority of tables so looking for spots is not as hard. And thanks man as far as my poker goals go I definitely don't ever plan to play full-time I enjoy getting a solid paycheck and having benefits through work. It's a lot nicer to play poker knowing I don't have to win to support myself. I do however always want to be in a job where I can get more vacation than average as I'd like to be at vegas for the WSOP most years/playground poker club in montreal for some events along with going on other trips as I love to travel. What poker does/ I want it to do for me though in the future is as follows though:

1) Poker gives me an outlet to really learn and grow and do something I'm really passionate about which I don't get at all really at my job. It fills the void that sports used to provide me.
2) I want poker to lead me to an early retirement. I have the idea that I want to get into real estate/other investments as much as I possibly can and I think combining my full time job with some income from poker (hopefully if I can keep improving) can get me to that point.

Mon 8/20-Fri 8/24

Happy with volume considering I worked quite a bit this week. Was extremely disappointed with my play on Tuesday just two or three big errors that cost me but I think I played decent the rest of the week. My best day focus and play wise (not $ wise) was today lost two big pots getting it in with ~90% both times and still think I played solid the entire session so that was the bright spot of the week. Still know I can be a lot better. Going out tonight and Sat so not sure how many more hands I'll get in this week. I think I'll try to play sat afternoon/sun afternoon but it all depends on how hungover I am.

Daytime session today. nl50z is testing my patience this weekend 5 times AI with ~90% and losing all 5 starts to get slightly frustrating but what can you do I guess.

These two beautiful hands happened simultaneously on different tables to cap off my session:

Hand 1.. lol nice hand bro



Hand 2.. GII vs. fish and hope for a hold with 98%



Updated nl50z graph:



Going out now. Might just study tomorrow and take the day off playing but I do love to play so I'll most likely still end up getting some hands in.

Decided to play today, even mixed in some nl100z. Here's all you need to know:





The only consolation is that I only ended the day down $200 thanks to somehow playing my A game all session (although there was one spot vs a nit where I wanted to fold KK so badly pre but couldn't bring myself to do it). I honestly think from how crazy nitty some of these players are it has to be a fold in some spots. After a day like this it makes me miss PLO.

lol wow thts an absolutely disgusting session man, unlucky

just a small thing oop 3b sizing to 7bb from a 2.1 open seems small

Yeah was not a fun session at all man but it happens. Such is poker lol.

And you may have read the hand wrong I was actually in postion on the BTN in the hand I 3b to 7bb

Have you spoke about what your job is? Are you playing any live games or are you just focusing on online? If you’re looking to try and maximise earnings do you think it’d worth mixing both? Do stakes above 2/5 run where you live?

Sorry that I'm a few days late replying to this but I'll try my best to give a detailed answer.

I work for a large company in the supply chain department as a coordination manager. And as of right now I just play online with the sporadic live session here and there. It's starting to become a really tough decision for me though moving forward. To start, I do believe with my limited free time that I have gone about things in the best possible way that I could this year as I put a large emphasis on studying. To me just putting in hands with sub-par study habits is a waste of time. I'll almost always study by looking a certain spots through filters, reviewing hands, watching video and talking with players that I know between sessions. Just grinding out hands I think is pointless if you're not constantly improving in today's poker environment with lack of rakeback, harder games etc (unless you are at a high enough stake and just printing). But even the guys printing at higher stakes are always improving as that's how they got there and that's how they stay on top.


Also very good question about the live play to max earnings I'm going to go over a few things and then kind of break down a final answer. I have thought a ton about it recently and I really don't know what's best moving forward. When I play zoom I play 2-3 tables (usually 3) and get in about 220hands/table per hour so between 440-660 hands which may be slightly low but I routinely watch hands develop that I'm not a part of to see how certain villains play and review what they do and why they do it. At my currently skill level I would say I definitely beat nl25z and in terms of nl50z I may be a slight winner but I don't know. I routinely struggle in certain spots and although my results are fine now over about 50,000 hands it just doesn't truly feel like I'm for sure a reasonable winner at the stake when at previous stakes I felt as though I was substantially better than the pool.

So lets say I continue to grind and improve and get to nl100z at a 4bb/100 win rate (which is extremely difficult I know but just for numbers sake). With my hands per hour and essentially no rakeback I'd be looking at $16-$24/hour. This kind of frustrates me. One it's less than I make at my job (which is not the main thing that bothers me as this is supplemental income) but I can also make a higher hourly at 1/3 live (if not higher than almost certainly the same) and even with the commute as long as I log reasonably long sessions even including gas my hourly will most likely be higher.

And last and most important: deep 2/5 $1000 max buyin and deep 5/T $2500 max buyin run regularly at the casino less than an hour away where I'm sure win rates easily top online nl100z. So I just don't know. I like online more it's more engaging and way more convenient but I figure if I continue to beat nl50z and get to nl100z certainly I'd win at a decent clip in the deep 2/5 game for a better hourly.

So I've got a lot to think about for 2019. As for 2018 the goal will still remain the same: improvement comes first money doesn't matter.

1) Online vs Live hour breakdown
2) PLO (I still have an urge to get back into it as I love the game)

* I have zero regrets about how I've focused on improvement over money for all of 2018 as the long-term value is what I'm focused on with regards to poker to supplement my income, that's what's important. Had I grinded 1/3 everyday and not improved it would have been a huge waste even though I would have certainly made more money this year I'd be in a way worse spot moving forward.

Also here's my graph since starting the thread in bb (stakes nl5z - nl100z. Note: nl100z is only about 4,000 hands) usually I post graphs in $ today was actually the first time that I've ever checked my graph in bb.



Hope that answers your question man !

~1 year thread Update:

Haven't posted in a while so feel like it's time for an update.

On the online front I haven't played all that much. I think it's a combination of starting to doubt my abilities at nl50z and starting to realize that the easiest money comes from playing live. The only issue is live poker just is so mind numbing compared to online as I've said in this thread before so it's always been a back and forth with me. Since my last post I transitioned almost all my volume to sites other than PSTARS and am playing nl50/nl100 which has been going ok but not as well as I want it to be going as I don't think I'm adapting well to the games. I also had a short poker trip to Playground Poker Club in Montreal in September and won ~2k in a week - 70hrs of play (so just under 30/hr). I've also played 3 live sessions in Oct: +$258, +$412, -$148.

As far as what I'm thinking moving forward is as follows: My heart has always wanted to be a top online player it's just I really feel stuck in a sense at nl50z and that even though my results were ok I didn't feel great or that I was progressing and I don't want to be forever grinding/not improving when there is much easier money to be made live and on other sites. If I give PSTARS my 100% effort moving forward and in 2019 I'm pretty sure I will look for private coaching. I need to elevate my game to the next level and getting coaching from a player much better than me and whom I can trust is how I think I need to go about things.

Anyways I'll be sure to try and update every so often.

Recap: Starting this thread I was playing nl5z and nl200 live. I now play nl50z/nl50/nl100 online and nl500 live with some nl300 still mixed in and am up around 17k (~13k live, ~4k online). *This is while working an avg of 45hrs a week. Study = Play for me all year. In 2019 I'll probably play somewhere around 80% and study only 20% though.

Lastly I received a PM asking me what advice I would have for someone in the micros who's stuck and wants to move up and here's the only piece of advice I have and I can almost guarantee will work to some extent.

Learn something with regards to poker everyday (and by everyday I mean if you schedule poker 6days/week with one day completely off poker- which is smart, learn something all 6 of your poker days). Even one small thing. It can be about in game strategy, mental game whatever but learn something. Small gains will add up. If you can honestly sit down and say you learned something everyday for a year with regards to poker you'll see results it really is that simple. If you do it and don't see results feel free to come back to my thread and call me a liar .

Anyways to anyone reading this gl at the tables for the rest of 2018.

Back to playing nl50z on stars. Put in a huge volume this weekend and played my A game. Had some disgusting bad beats which made the grind a bit tough although I really felt as though I was in control of the pool for the most part. Looked at my database and I'm currently 31BI (3100bb) under EV over 120k hands between nl25z & nl50z which is slightly frustrating but my game feels really good so hopefully some big news in the future.

... 5 months later

In light of Tiger taking down the Masters it reminded me of my screen name and this thread. Not sure if Im going to re ignite it moving forward or not as I felt as though I was talking to no one in my thread a lot lol. Since I've been inactive in 2+2 I had some breaks, but I'd say I put in about ~75-90hrs/week into my job and poker study/play so I'm giving it all I have. As far as my goals for the year: Have a solid WSOP (I'l be there for 2 weeks in June - primary focus on cash but I'll be in a few tourneys most likely ($1500 6 Max is the only one I know I for sure want to play as of now) And my main focus for the year is to have taken a shot or two at the game I routinely questioned if I'd ever be able to play when this all began (500z Stars) by the end of 2019. I always thought I'd switch sites as I climbed stakes but I've realized just how much I want to be the best and compete/ learn from better players so I'm going to stick with whats been working.

Hope the start to everyone year has been a good one.

Gl at the tables.

gl OP. Is your sn public?

Thanks man. And as of now no. I don't really feel that I want or need to. In the future I have thought if I get to a level that I am satisfied with and have the knowledge I would consider coaching and then obviously I would out my SN and all graphs etc. Although I work in Business right now I always had a desire to be either a teacher (and coach sports teams at whatever school I would work at) or just a full-time sports coach (I did coach golf for multiple years to aspiring Division 1 athletes which I enjoyed). So something like coaching poker I feel as though I would really enjoy - watching the people you teach develop and move up would definitely be gratifying/I genuinely feel as though I could structure sessions that are extremely effective in getting students to move up fairly quickly since I have a solid understanding of what it takes to beat the zoom pools from nl5z to nl100z and what types of leaks hurt the WR most at each level (hopefully nl200z will be added to this soon and in the future 500z - although I don't know if I'll ever compete or beat that level since those guys are beasts). But yeah right now my focus is purely on study/play. I'm always trying to find the right balance to develop as fast as I can.

- And that ends my rant from a simple SN question lol

I was expecting a simple yes or no, but rants are more than welcome

Do u play much golf yourself? If so is it at a high level? Im a pretty avid golfer myself. I think there are a bunch of similarities between golf and poker from a mental game perspective!

Haha alright good to know. And yeah I don't play competitive golf anymore unfortunately. I was a between a +2 and +3 (for those who don't know golf too well +2 or +3 actually means below 0 in terms of handicap which seems weird to most) when I had offers to play Division 1 in the states. At that time I was playing in the biggest Amateur events in Canada/some in the states (Ontario Amateur, Canadian Amateur etc.). I've played golf with some of the Canadian guys that are on both PGA Tour and Web.com tour which is cool to see that they continued to put in the work and it paid off in a big way for them.

And to answer your question I completely agree and I've touched on it a bit ITT, golf and poker share an unbelievable amount of similarities with regards to the mental game - competing and staying composed through good and bad times, never getting too high or too low, and always reminding yourself to stay present (Jared Tendler also points out the similarities between the two in The Mental Game of Poker) and I think it's why I love both of the games so much. I'm sure you must feel the same being an avid golfer along with a twoplustwo member

Wow thats super impressive. And yes, I do feel the same

Good to see you're still doing well mate.

Here's to winning the next one at Bethpage.

Great thread. I wouldn't say you are talking to no one here. I have been reading this thread since almost the beginning, when I was underage.

Just saw this message now. Thanks man I honestly really do appreciate that. If you have any questions about the thread or what not feel free to ask or PM me. I know I'm not posting here all that much anymore, although I don't think I'll completely abandon the thread. As far as what I'm up to now so far in May I've shifted the majority of my play live as kind of a WSOP prep. I know as far as improvement goes online is still the best (by far) but I do believe it will help me to play a bunch of live cash/maybe the odd live tourney to get back into the flow of the live environment before heading to Vegas.

Missed this, thanks man ! How's poker been treating you lately ?