So I’ve been playing poker for over a year now and wanted to keep a record of my progress and be more a part of the poker community.

I have mostly been playing cash games from 2nl – 10nl zoom and have so far built a $650 roll on Pokerstars.

I would ideally love to play poker professionally but that is a long way off now. I have recently started messing around in the spin and go games and have been doing fairly well there so I am tempted to switch formats, but don’t want to completely give up cash just yet. So this blog will chronical my journey from current stakes of 5nl zoom and $1 spin and gos upwards.

I usually play 4 tables of zoom and 1-2 tables of spin and gos. I aim to play at least 25 hour a week and study for a significant number of hours also. I will post my graphs and goals as I achieve them.

Here is a graph of my first 100 sit and gos, will try moving upto $3 spins tomorrow. Will post more graphs as I progress.

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Hi, generally you want to chose one format and stick with it.
1$ Spin and go's are widely different in both strategy and player level than 5NL zoom.
Your cash game should build you a steady bankroll if you are able to beat it at 2bb/100 over a large sample (>100k monthly at least). While spin and go's will give you a lot of variance headaches, that being said, all variance is offset by volume, so if you are able to get in a decent volume (like 300 spin and go's daily) you shouldn't worry too much about variance.

Hi jbarry, imagoat

Thanks for the advice amapro. I understand you should usually stick to one format to specialise in but I've had several failed shots at 10nl so far and feel I am not improving as much as I was at first, so wanted to try something new for a while. I have played about 100 HU hypers lifetime before this so have a vague idea of how different the game is. I don't mind putting in the extra study work to catch up with players already playing spins and so far the study I have done seems to be paying off.

As for the volume, maybe Ill be able to play 300 spins in a day somepoint in the future but realistically I am 1-2 tabling atm so its closer to 50-100 a day. But I am prepared for 100bi+ downswings and the like so will be playing with 200bis BR.


I have played a bit today but not as much as I'd like. Running pretty well I at the moment, but got to remind myself I am playing in weekend traffic so the games will probably get a lot less soft during the week.

Good luck op. Should be interesting. Just keep in mind your sample size in spin and go's means nothing so far. I think a couple of thousand games in these you would need to get some sort of idea of winrate.

Thank Darchas. I am definitely running hot atm, but pretty sure I will be beating this level over a decent sample. Will hopefully get an idea of my winrate over the first month.

Played another 65 today 1 to 2 tabling again. My heads up play definitely needs improvement. Made no profit today despite having a fairly decent chip ev.

Have played a bit past few days, however most my free time has been spent studying.

4k hands in cash ran 4 BIs below ev and was mostly card dead and played pretty well and didn't tilt which I am happy about. I usually only tilt when I play bad or think I am playing bad.



Been playing okay in the spin and go's and running good in EV and card distribution. My heads up play really is only slightly above average at moment though (been doing a lot of studying), so will need to improve on that a lot. Also want to get comfortable 2 tabling these as have mostly been 1 tabling. The dips in the graph have often come when I multi-tabled.

You should be playing 3 dollar imo. Lower rake and you have the roll for it.

Yeah I have moved upto the $3 now, thanks for the advice though.

Played 300 spins now at $3.

Graph looking good. You can move up to 5$ level when you have 500$

Sadly no $5 spin and gos anymore. Will have to move to $7s. Think I will move up once I get $1050 or $1400 with a 20bi shot. Cleared some rakeback recently so at $800 right now.

Looks fine by now. Keep up the hard work.

Good luck

Looking good, hope your run good continues. Best of luck!

Thanks. I will do my best!

Thanks man. Me too


Had some more run good and have been improving gradually. Made some mistakes the last 60 games or so but think I know where I made the mistakes, so hopefully will have growing chip ev next 100 games.



Also trying to not get too rusty in cash games so have been playing a bit of 2nl. Not sure it counts as valuable practice but I was definitely playing/running well. Will try and practice at 5nl zoom next time, even if my winrate won't be as satisfying.

Well done mate. Looking good so far!

Thanks mate.



Running super good in the spins atm. Been winning in a lot of big multipliers, also $100 above ev atm, so 30+ buyins. Scary how much variance there is in spins could easily be break-even if the swing went the other way.




Have made some major strategic adjustments in the cash games which is starting to pay off as well, look forward to testing it at 10nl. I am gonna continue to play cash games especially at the weekends as games are so soft. Also in terms of long term profit there seems a higher ceiling in cash than spin and gos.



I definitely need to put in more volume going forward, seem to spend more time studying than i do playing atm- will do my best to fix it.

Good luck ! Crush crush crush !

Thanks man.

Made a new schedule which involves 39 hours of playing per week, mostly on friday, saturday and sunday. Hope I can stick to it.
Graph so far for this month for mixture of 2nl, 5nl and some 10nl towards the end.



The big swing towards the end, been a long time since I've been 1 outed:

PokerStars - $0.10 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 475.1 BB (VPIP: 39.66, PFR: 20.69, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 59)
Hero (SB): 120.7 BB
BB: 100.5 BB (VPIP: 27.17, PFR: 19.57, 3Bet Preflop: 7.89, Hands: 94)
UTG: 94.2 BB
MP: 321 BB (VPIP: 57.14, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 14)
CO: 106.8 BB

Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has A A

fold, MP calls 1 BB, fold, fold, Hero raises to 4.5 BB, fold, MP calls 3.5 BB

Flop: (10 BB, 2 players) K A 9
Hero checks, MP bets 6 BB, Hero raises to 18 BB, MP raises to 316.5 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 98.2 BB and is all-in

Turn: (242.4 BB, 2 players) J

River: (242.4 BB, 2 players) K

Hero shows A A (Full House, Aces full of Kings)
(Pre 82%, Flop 96%, Turn 98%)
MP shows K K (Four of a Kind, Kings)
(Pre 18%, Flop 4%, Turn 2%)
MP wins 231.5 BB



Drop at the end of the graph. Think this is the best way to play turn with plan to call twice or bet river if it checks through. Think he is PP heavy once he calls flop as I block A high. Don't think there is any value in raising river once he bets, had sick feeling once he bet so small though, but I am not good enough to hero fold here:

PokerStars - $0.10 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 840.4 BB (VPIP: 50.00, PFR: 50.00, 3Bet Preflop: 100.00, Hands: 2)
Hero (SB): 139.2 BB
BB: 103.8 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: -, Hands: 2)
UTG: 55.4 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: -, Hands: 1)
MP: 41.7 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 4)
CO: 146.7 BB (VPIP: 33.33, PFR: 16.67, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 6)

Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has A A

fold, fold, fold, BTN raises to 2.5 BB, Hero raises to 9 BB, fold, BTN calls 6.5 BB

Flop: (19 BB, 2 players) 2 9 4
Hero bets 11 BB, BTN calls 11 BB

Turn: (41 BB, 2 players) Q
Hero checks, BTN bets 21.9 BB, Hero calls 21.9 BB

River: (84.8 BB, 2 players) 3
Hero checks, BTN bets 36.5 BB, Hero calls 36.5 BB

BTN shows 3 3 (Three of a Kind, Threes)
(Pre 18%, Flop 10%, Turn 5%)
Hero mucks A A (One Pair, Aces)
(Pre 82%, Flop 90%, Turn 95%)
BTN wins 150.7 BB

IMO Stick with either just spins or just cash, the games play super differently and it's important to optimise everything in spins, at the higher levels the edges get pretty thin and every chip you win counts for a lot.

GL!

In terms of profit ceiling for spins there are tons of players making 200k+ after rakeback at 60s/100s, so I wouldn't let profit potential be a huge factor in your decision.

Thanks for the advice. Its a really tough decision to chose one to give up. I really enjoy playing spins even though I am much better at cash. I have a game plan when it comes to most spots in cash, and have a lot of the basic spots down to unconscious competence. Spins on the hand I have to think through a lot of spots. As a result I've not been able to put in super long sessions in spins yet and have often had to switch to cash half way through a session due to mental fatigue. That being said my study time at the moment has been spent on spins (where there is a lot less material than cash games).

Its good to know there is profit potential in spins. I think I will try to focus on spins primarily because I also enjoy the format the most.




In terms of recent progress I took an early shot at the $7 spins, seemed to play badly and get pretty unlucky in a few spot and hit my stop-loss after 2 hours for the first time since I started playing spins (shows how good i've been running). Also hit and lost my second 10x and first 25x. So spent the rest of the day studying.

Today is a day off from playing poker. Have instead spent it studying. Started by reading the first 5 chapters of Will Tipton's first book. Didn't really get stuck into it when it came to the heavy maths, but it has given me a couple of little nuggets which has changed my thinking in a couple of spots. Also have watched a few videos on HU hypers play vs fish, seems I have definitely been playing too passive vs donks when encountering them for the first time HU. Also will be investing some of bankroll into getting coaching in spins soon.

My plan tomorrow is to continue playing the $3 spins, but experiment by increasing the number of tables I play to 4. The reason I had not been doing it previously is because I had my ranges written down in a word document I needed to have open. I now mostly have the core ranges memorized. I am use to playing 4 tables of zoom, so I should be able to keep up.

Will post next graph tomorrow.

Hit stop loss pretty fast today. 4 tables plays a lot harder than I thought, people play a lot faster in spins that they do in cash so its hard to keep up. I also realized the ranges I look up most frequently are my push/fold ranges, which I don't have memorized yet so I think I will have to do some more work off the tables before I start playing again (or at least 4 tabling). Also took out some of bankroll and payed for a coach so I expect the ranges I will be using will change quite a lot.


Anyway the most recent graph is not that great imo breakeven over last 150 games and very poor chip ev (20). Definitely ran bad, definitely made some mistakes. Its too small a sample to draw any conclusions on though but I will definitely be working hard to keep on improving.

Had first session with coach today and it was suggested I switch to Hyper turbos starting at the $1.50 level and really get good at heads-up play before I move over to spins. So for the next week or two at least I will be playing Hypers.

I started today and one tabled the $1.50s and managed 50 games in 3 hours 20 minutes. I tried to always get rematches vs competent players to build my experience but seems most players play once and decline a rematch at these stakes.

Swingy graph:



Volume goal for tomorrow 75 hypers and two hours studying hands.

Should also mention that so far I have not cashed out of my bankroll except to pay for this coaching but recently read an article on strategies to cashing out. It seems the best method is to reward yourself for volume you play not the amount you win and only cash out about ~half your expected ROI at the end of each month and the rest going towards increasing your bankroll for moving up and taking shots. This way you stay at a level which is profitable for you, still test yourself at higher limits but not spend all your money won on taking shots. I will be using this method going forward.