Hi all

My name is Ryan and I'm a young microstakes grinder that started recently to try and play poker more seriously.
I'm currently unemployed with money set aside and want to try to take a shot at poker for the next few months.
My first goal is to make a living, however small it is, then to make a comfortable living somewhere around 100NL and 200NL

I wanted to write a blog on 2+2 for some weeks but was lazy until today because I got crushed in my shot at 50z and I need to bounce back / to take it even more seriously.

Here is my graph lifetime, mainly playing 4 tables of zoom 10 but also some 2z, some 50z and some 5NL-10NL-20NL reg tables :

https://ibb.co/mCJvbdv

And here is my january month :

https://ibb.co/Wg0t6wG

Everything was going pretty well, until I dropped 600€ in my last 4 hours of playing 50z by an insane swing (insane for me at least lol) :

https://ibb.co/W3d96gS

My lifetime 50z is still okayish, I still feel like I'm clearly winning in the pool skill wise but I can't be sure that it is enough to beat it enough rake wise.

https://ibb.co/XJFMqpJ

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So, by writing this blog, I hope to find some renewed strength and purpose in my journey and to discuss and grow along the way.
I'm a zoom grinder at heart and I want to play the least amount of reg table that I can, even though I know that they are easier.

My goals for february are :

- 100k hands
- updating this blog at least once a week
- continue to study on PioSOLVER / GTOWizard
- exercising / meditation / eating well, etc

Thanks for reading so far and I'll see you soon, peace all

Best of luck to you. Im playing the same type of stakes. If you want to talk poker send me a dm!

100K hands/month is very high volume. I play against some players who do this and I actually think it makes them worse poker players. They play too nitty and make too many mistakes. 50k is probably a more reasonable target, and focus more time on the study.

My other advice is to skip zoom. Or at least do a very honest assessment of the player pool. If your goal is to make as much money as possible, game selection is going to be your biggest asset. It doesn't matter how much better you are than the other players in your pool, most of your money is going to come from the massive fish. That's just how it works. Zoom entices high volume players and tighter players who aren't going to be your main sources of profit. My take on the good regs who play 200+z is that maximizing profits isn't necessarily their goal. It's mostly a dick measuring contest to see whose pseudo GTO strategy can eek out the better winrate. No thank you.

Those types of downswings are going to happen. And probably worse. Just keep studying and grinding and you'll get there. But remember, focus on playing well, not high volume, and good game selection. It'll pay off.

Good luck.

Heya.

End of the week going neutral. We got bamboozled at the start then came back with luck on our side.

https://ibb.co/m6Gjp62

Nothing crazy so far, no really interesting hands.

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@Skullkid

Thanks man, I appreciate the words. I'll send you a DM I'd love to talk!

@Koss

Thanks for the advices. I see you joined 2+2 a long time ago so I'm really considering your opinion.
I changed my goals slightly for the month and probably will again in the future, but now I allow myself to "trade" 4k hands for 5h of intense studying / grinding on solvers. Right now I aim more for 30-60k hands this month but with a lot more studying.

For the long terms goals I'm a bit torned as I want to make some money, but I also want to play in competitive games against strong opposition. We'll see how it turns out. The year just started!

Winning is winning, so that's always good.

You'll see that itch to play in big games vs the best players a lot here. There's a real desire to be the endboss in this game, someone who is willing to take on and defeat all challengers. There's certainly nothing wrong with that. But the swings in this game are massive, and the closer you get in skill level to your opponents, even if you hold the edge, the worse it gets.

And while "being the best" vs "making the most money" aren't mutually exclusive, they do sometimes require different tactics. If you want to make a lot of money you'll need to study, both theory and exploits against your opponents, but putting in good volume and practicing good game selection will be key. If you want to go up against the best players in bigger games and win, well, you'll need money to do that, but you'll also need to be good. And that will require a lot more study than just being a successful grinder. You'll want to spend less time at the table and more time off it trying to plug every possible leak, learn how to perfect every spot, and how to spot the leaks your opponents may have. It's a different world.