Thanks man! You know what - I probably just didn't play that well, had a couple bad spots etc.

Never going to run it twice or take insurance though

I’m back again and this time I’m starting off with a bit of self reflection. I have tried and failed countless times over the years to become a winning poker player online, even at the micros. Time and time again I have had a decent start at 2nl, tried to move up and just got relentlessly put back in my place.

I’m going to be honest, I’m pretty embarrassed that this is the case having played the game for 12 years. It’s also embarrassing that I’m writing this post again. I’ve never thought I don’t have the aptitude to beat the game but I’ve never put in the work to make the progress, simply hiding behind the fact that I can beat the live games that I play.

I don’t believe I’m going to reach a high level of the game but I am determined to prove to myself that I can beat the micros. Starting in October I have been playing on Stars, starting at 2nl and I’ve worked up to playing 10nl. I don’t have a bankroll per se, when I feel ready to move up I will.





I’m happy with my results so far and the volume. I have to fit poker in between work, family and my dog so I tend to play shorter sessions, early in the morning or late at night. I have started following and subscribed to a few Twitch channels, players that are playing 10-50nl cash games on stars. I’m trying to get more involved in the micro community but I definitely need to do more. Shipnickles thread has been awesome, I’m working through it and trying to absorb as much as possible. I’m in a couple of Discord channels but nothing very active at the moment, if anyone has any suggestions please let me know!

I imagine that I will be stuck at 10nl for a while, this is usually the level that gets me, I don’t think I have ever legitimately moved up to 25nl so that will be uncharted territory for me. I’ll post results like this every month, if I manage to keep playing. So often I have started well but ended up failing, I hope that it isn’t the case this time and I'm actively working to make sure it doesn't happen. If there is interest I’ll post some hands and what I’m trying differently this time around.

Followed your thread b4 and posted too occasionally (different un back then)

Been there, done that, got the tee-shirt

Why? To prove to yourself that you can? Trust me, it's not an IQ thing. You are playing a game of notoriously tiny edges (you've been playing long enough to know that as a fact). You're playing on site with huge rake (esp at at the level you are playing) next to zero rakeback and indundated with eastern european regbots, armed with solvers/RTA etc.

OK...Covid has changed things a wee bit at micro levels, but its not going to last.

It's not IQ you need. It's the dedication, motivation and commitment to weld yourself to a keyboard and become one of your villains.

You don't have to do this because, like me, you have something much better...

...it's called a life

Don't know why you stopped the live game???? Moved away or something?? But if poker is a recreational thing for you live>>>>>>>online an it is not even close.

Trying to beat online micro NLHE in 2020 to prove something to yourself is a fools errand (no offence meant at all ). Not because it is not do-able, but simply because it is not worthwhile for anybody that has better things to do with their time.

And I'm guessing you do.

tl/dr

Play live, or, if you must, play online for poops and giggles and don't track squat.

Afterthought

Don't know how long it took you to play close to 30K hands, but in strict monetary terms you won approximately my monthly Nespresso bill.

My point...your time has value (and is limited). The money you (might) win at the micros is derisory even if you achieve your goal.

Don't strive to feed your ego...tell it to go **** itself

Thank you for the thoughyt out reply, appreciate it.

I moved away from live purely due to COVID, once the casinos are back I'll be back there again but hopefully with a better fundamental understanding of the game.

Poker is very much what I do when I have nothing else on, I wouldn't move around my social life to play poker etc. I might get an hour in or two a day at most on the days that I play.

I compeltely agree about the monetary amounts - I don't think I'll ever make enough money out of poker for it to affect my day to day life, it's as much a video game as anything to me. I look at the different stakes as levels and I want to work my way though. I'm lucky in my work outside of poker that poker will always just be fun for me, therefore winning $200 isn't about the money, it's like getting a new high score in a video game or something.

I agree that going out to beat the micros is a fools errand but as I enjoy trying to do it I don't mind. We're going back into Lockdown here so my partying/eating out etc is going to be severely hampered, it's a chance to build a little more fundamental ability into my poker game before the casinos are open again.

Once again, thanks for the thought out reply - I'll try to get some more content in here from non-poker stuff too, I have a couple of start ups potentially launching soon which I'm really excited about.

You're welcome.

Always enjoyed your posts. Reality is sometimes scarce on here.

Makes perfect sense and if I had access to decent casino action, I'd do exactly the same. Alas, I don't.

Forgot to post this but took this position yesterday morning:



I don't think he is going to win but thought it was decent value. Seems like we're on a bit of a knife edge at the moment, potentially Trump doing better than expected.

2,000 Post!

I've been posting in this thread for just over 6 years now and if I could tell ymself back then where I'd be now I would never have believed it. (Apart from still being stuck at the micros in online cash, I guess I could have seen that coming). Apologies for those who've had the mistfortune of dipping in and out of this thread seeing a lot of the same cycles going round and round. I hope that although the poker content will continue to be pretty dull, I can at least bring something a little different to the forum as things ramp up around here.

For my 2k post I went back and skimmed through the thread and put some very brief cliffs here.

• 2014 - Working as a Recruitment Consultant in the City a year after graduating from university, beginning to get disillusioned with my job. Donking around in both online and live poker as well as a couple live tournaments. Generally partying too much, bit of pit gambling and generally being a fish.
• 2015 - Played online staked for a while, helicopter travels, drank a lot, got staked for live and put my highest ever volume in and had my best results, got offered a job at PwC and accepted but unfortunately had to end my backing deal. Back on online micros, yawn.
• 2016 - Get murdered at work. Start ACA exams. Micro cash online, some live cash. Staked for mtts. More drinking and travelling.
• 2017 - Get murdered at work. More ACA exams. Move in with GF. Slightly less drinking, slightly more travelling. Same old micros story, win some, get battered, give up.
• 2018 - Got married, , ACA qualified, quit my job, new apartment, binked a small 3k score in a £275 mtt at the Vic. Job hunting. More travelling including Russia. Dubai.
• 2019 - Barely posted here, was out of poker apart from the odd live session. Took a Private Equity job but left during my probation period as I couldn’t work with my boss. Took a job with a better work life balance to focus on some new ventures
• First half 2020 - Fitness, hate new job, COVID, 6+ on GG, some travel, bought a house.
• Now - looking to launch new ventures, trying to actually learn poker for the first time and produce actual results, still very much as a hobby though!

I also saw going back through the thread how many great people I've met through the forums, BenaBadBeat, Grim, Acidhaus etc. I've had great laughs either being staked by you, playing live with you or just generally getting up to no good. In addition, all the great advice and responses over the years have all been massively appreciated. I'm definitely not interesting enough for a full AMA but if anyone has any questions always happy to answer.

All the best,

Parsons Grinder

If I've read that right you're on your fourth job in 6 years and you currently hate the job you're in.

That kinda suggests you're working in the wrong industry; or you would better working for yourself (like a contractor or consultant) or a bit a both.

Yeah, I think that is a fair assessment. I have got a couple of things that are hopefully going to kick off relatively soon which will let me step away from employment into working for myself. I feel I have had a couple bad breaks so far in my career but I want to take things into my own hands now.

Quick hand from my session this evening, sometimes the stars just align...

PokerStars - $0.10 Ante $0.01 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 134 BB
SB: 215.7 BB
BB: 104.1 BB
UTG: 106.1 BB
MP: 101.1 BB
Hero (CO): 129.8 BB

6 players post ante of 0.1 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.1 BB)

fold, fold, Hero raises to 3 BB, fold, SB raises to 7 BB, BB calls 6 BB, Hero calls 4 BB

Flop: (21.6 BB, 3 players) 9 Q K
SB bets 11.3 BB, BB calls 11.3 BB, Hero calls 11.3 BB

Turn: (55.5 BB, 3 players) 2
SB bets 29.2 BB, BB calls 29.2 BB, Hero calls 29.2 BB

River: (143.1 BB, 3 players) 7
SB bets 75.2 BB, BB calls 56.5 BB and is all-in, Hero raises to 82.2 BB and is all-in, fold

Non-Poker Update

As I mentioned above we recently bought a new place in London, moving in just before the first lockdown. Our plan had been to rent it out for a few years and move in once we had started a family but given that lockdowns were starting and we had no idea how long we'd be inside for we decided to take the extra space now and settle in. We weren't able to get any work done for ages but slowly things are coming together. Small things like fitted wardrobes going in has been great as we can unpack more boxes but now we're starting on the bigger work.

This week we're starting on the new kitchen, everything got ripped out last week giving us a blank canvas to fill:



The only thing we're keeping is the fridge. First step will be to move the fridge outside and pull up the floors, we're going to swap from a wood floor to a stone one. The new kitchen that is going in is currently in a billion pieces in our front room where we're also going to knock down the small entry hall to open up the room.

Hopefully all of this will be completed by the end of the month but who knows what going to happen these days.

We did find this little bastard who I've been chasing for the last couple of weeks under the floorboards, I managed to catch 2-3 of his siblings, this guy held out until the bitter end.

Business

I am very excited about this!

In 2012 a friend of mine started a ski clothing company in the Alps after working as a bootfitter for a couple of seasons. Over the next three years he grew the business, focusing on affordable non-technical ski wear for seasonaires and holidaymakers. I worked with him in the UK and France promoting and selling the brand at trade shows and events in the Alps. He had a great eye for design and is a natural salesman for this kind of product. He has been the target market himself and has a huge range of contacts on both the production and sales side.

Unfortunately, like a good poker player who fails due to life leaks, the business begun to falter as the foundations it was built on weren't as solid as they should have been. Looking at the administrative side of the business genuinely always worried me and in 2017 the company was dissolved (fully solvent and all debts paid). I was always frustrated that such a good fundamental business didn't succeed and always wanted to be more involved.

We have remained very good friends and I'm really excited to say we are working on relaunching the brand. He has reached out to a lot of his production contacts and the feedback we're getting is all positive, people are happy to work with us again to relaunch the brand. I'm going to be leaving the creative and production side of the brand to my friend, that is where he has always excelled. I'm going to be funding the business myself and running the actual business side of things; accounts, filings, generally keeping control of things and making sure the same issues don't happen again.

I'm fully aware I could get burned with this project but the capital required is not huge and we have a lot of the infrastructure already in place. We have a website, social media channels and all of our contact from the previous iteration. At the moment we are registering a new company, working on initial designs/product ranges and continuing to reach out to old partners in the supply chain to establish what we need.

We will each be taking a 50% equity share in the new venture and running it alongside our current jobs, with a view to not taking any money out of the business for the first few years. If the first year is a success I will put a bit more money into the business to develop some technical apparel designs we are working on. The core of the current business wil remain very similar to what we produced before but the stuff we have planned further down the line, we haven't seen anything similar on the mountain.

I can't share too much just yet but I'm hoping to update on this as we go down this path. Target launch date for the brand is 1st September 2021!

Good luck with the business mate!

Sounds exciting and wish you the best of luck!

Good Luck!

Thanks guys! It's going to be a bit of a grind getting it all up and running but whatever the outcome, it's something I'm going to enjoy doing with a good friend of mine.

Quick I'd like to post, I have been experiementing with some smaller bet sizes but find that I'm not winning big enough pots and also I'm giving people a price to come along with me.

PokerStars - $0.10 Ante $0.01 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 136.4 BB
SB: 258.7 BB
BB: 389.2 BB
UTG: 110.1 BB
Hero (MP): 105.6 BB
CO: 62.5 BB

6 players post ante of 0.1 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.1 BB) Hero has A A

UTG raises to 2.5 BB, Hero raises to 9.3 BB, CO calls 9.3 BB, BTN calls 9.3 BB, fold, fold, UTG calls 6.8 BB

Not great having 3 villains come to the flop with me but if we can thin the field on the flop we have an easier time getting stacks in on a later street if we have a decent run out.

Flop: (39.3 BB, 4 players) 4 7 4
UTG checks, Hero bets 14 BB, fold, BTN calls 14 BB, UTG calls 14 BB

Probably one of the better flops for us. I cbet small to keep in as many pairs as possible but maybe a larger bet would be a good idea to thin the field.

Turn: (81.3 BB, 3 players) 3
UTG checks, Hero bets 28 BB, BTN calls 28 BB, UTG raises to 86.7 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 54.2 BB and is all-in, fold

We get another low card and I bet small again. I'm targetting value from 99-JJ, maybe an 87s kind of card. When we get raised I think we have an easy enough call here but maybe I'm wrong in the long run? Let me know what you think? I want to make sure I get as much value as possible but should I be betting bigger to thin the field?

Taking the leap

I've pulled the pin and handed in my resignation from my job. I think I've known for a long time that I'm in the wrong career and as mentioned above by a poster, I have been looking at other options going forward. I've already mentioned that a friend and I are starting a business together, this is going to turbocharge that plan. There is a lot for us to get done before our anticipated launch date on the 1st September 2021.

Aside from this we have some income from rental properties and if Bitcoin would like to keep on ripping then I'm not going to complain. I'm sure I'm going to be able to keep myself busy enough without a traditional 9-5, at least for a while. Being able to travel more for family reasons is another big driver to transitioning to working for myself.

If this all fails I have a strong CV to fall back on and I can always go back to work as a contractor.

For now I have 3 months of notice period to work through while getting everything in line for our launch next year. There is another potential opportunity coming up next year but I think that will be a more passive investment, although for a bigger amount. Right now I'm looking at just pulling together as many different potential income streams as I can reasonably manage and see how it goes.

Huge gl's moving forward jake - couldn't have been an easy decision to take the leap.

High stakes HU beer pong. Training for the ‘21 Champs, see you in Vegas.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

November Results

No hiding it, this was a really poor month for me online. A combination of low volume and poor play really hit the bottom line. I came into the month on a downward trajectory and I never managed to turn it around. In monetary terms I salvaged the month winning a shorthanded live £50 SNG for £200 profit and a £1k Peleton bet but given that I'm trying to win online these don't really count.

November Results and Stakes:





YTD:





Things have to improve, hopefully with less pressure on at work I'll be able to put in some more volume. I'm considering moving to one table but I don't really think that is the main issue, I'm playing 2 at the moment, I'll monitor how things go this month. I've also taken advantage of some black friday deals and have an annual subscription to a coaching site. I may even look into some one on one coaching. One bad month is not going to stop me!

Few hands from my morning session

1)

PokerStars - $0.10 Ante $0.01 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 183.8 BB
SB: 104.4 BB
BB: 101 BB
UTG: 100 BB
Hero (MP): 110.1 BB
CO: 97.1 BB

6 players post ante of 0.1 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.1 BB) Hero has 9 A

fold, Hero raises to 3 BB, CO calls 3 BB, fold, fold, fold

This is a standard open for me.

Flop: (8.1 BB, 2 players) A Q 4
Hero bets 3.9 BB, CO calls 3.9 BB

Standard cbet for me here with top pair and the nut flush draw

Turn: (15.9 BB, 2 players) 6
Hero checks, CO bets 14 BB, Hero calls 14 BB

When villain calls here I'm looking to get two streets of value, I don't think this is a three streets hand. Given that IU'm drawing to the nuts maybe I want to take two streets on flop and turn and give myself a chance to get three streets if we hit the nuts?

River: (43.9 BB, 2 players) 4
Hero bets 17 BB, CO raises to 76.1 BB and is all-in

I go for my second street of value here and get raised. I am pretty sure I should fold here but I'm struggling to put him on a hand. I think AQ, QQ should be raising me preflop, there is only one combination of 44 left, I think 66 folds on the flop and I'm not sure that A4 or A6 is calling pre. Any thoughts would be appreciated.




Some bonus hands for fun:

No idea how I didn't lose more here...

PokerStars - $0.10 Ante $0.01 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 108 BB
SB: 415.3 BB
Hero (BB): 269.9 BB
UTG: 100 BB
MP: 100 BB
CO: 130.5 BB

6 players post ante of 0.1 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.1 BB) Hero has K K

fold, MP raises to 3 BB, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 11 BB, MP raises to 27 BB, Hero calls 16 BB

Flop: (55.1 BB, 2 players) A J T
Hero checks, MP checks

Turn: (55.1 BB, 2 players) K
Hero checks, MP checks

River: (55.1 BB, 2 players) 9
Hero bets 20 BB, MP calls 20 BB

Hero shows K K (Three of a Kind, Kings)
(Pre 17%, Flop 13%, Turn 7%)
MP shows A A (Three of a Kind, Aces)
(Pre 83%, Flop 87%, Turn 93%)
MP wins 90.8 BB





If you're going to suck out, do it in style:

PokerStars - $0.10 Ante $0.01 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 238.4 BB
Hero (SB): 223.5 BB
BB: 223.1 BB
UTG: 128.2 BB
MP: 65.4 BB
CO: 122.3 BB

6 players post ante of 0.1 BB, Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.1 BB) Hero has Q Q

fold, MP raises to 4 BB, fold, fold, Hero raises to 13 BB, fold, MP raises to 65.3 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 52.3 BB

Flop: (132.2 BB, 2 players) 2 Q K

Turn: (132.2 BB, 2 players) 9

River: (132.2 BB, 2 players) Q

MP cashed out 101.9 BB for a fee of 1 BB

Hero shows Q Q (Four of a Kind, Queens)
(Pre 18%, Flop 86%, Turn 77%)
MP shows A A (Two Pair, Aces and Queens)
(Pre 82%, Flop 14%, Turn 23%)
Hero wins 126.3 BB

Hand 1 - you should be betting the turn, he has a bunch of worse hands/draws which call a turn bet. As played I’d most likely lean towards c/f as we block a bunch of his flush draws which miss. I’d rather call the top pair hands which doesn’t include a club in our hand.

Hand 2 - I’d honestly be shoving pre at these stakes, having a balanced range in a 4bet pot at these stack depths is unnecessary.

Thanks for the advice.

I think we can all agree I've butchered Hand 1, I've had some feedback from others and I can only agree.

Hand 2 - The reason I call here is because I find I am able to get people to stack off with TT-QQ on lower boards. I imagine that this is flawed thinking and just getting it in is the optimal play.

Hand 1 is fine until the river. Just check-decide river. Betting the turn is not good!

hand 2 is fine too but shoving probably preferred.

glgl man