here's your new plan.
[ ] work 10 extra hrs this week (assuming 10$/hr? thats min wage here but who knows, if it's 5$/hr work 20 hrs next two weeks)

[ ] deposit $100 you earned into poker

[ ] play 2NL like a tight nit with 4 tables for 10,000 hands

[ ] re-evaluate

I could be wrong but I think that if Americans weren't banned from Stars he'd immediately put more money on and play for higher stakes.

He deposited $100 and withdrew it as soon as he made 20 bucks.

Right - post Black Friday. As I said, I believe that if there were no restrictions on American players, he'd insta-deposit & play higher stakes.

yeah imagine you loose $100,- thats a whole day working for nothing, instead I rather make $3,- a month instead of $150 grinding NL2

Ok here's what happened. BF happened, I deposited $100 into Everleaf, made like $20 in a couple days and insta-withdrew it. Pre BF, I was mixing in $3-$5 SNGs and Full Ring 25nl over Stars and Full Tilt. If poker was legislated in the US, I'd have no problem just saving up some money and depositing like, $400 on a site. Getting CR/DC. Studying more. But the simple fact is, I'm not comfortable putting that much on a website that could get DOJ'd any day. Plus, Full Tilt still has about $500 of mine which is a huge chunk and would help me so much. But I've already kissed that money good-bye.

I think I'm going to stop with the SNGs. I've got a 20% ROI in them, but the real value was the SNG leaderboard because 20% of .11 or rarely, .22, is like $.02 a game. Multiply that by maybe 6 or 7 an hour, and that's not enough to warrant it. Plus, they're too far ahead on the leaderboard to be caught by me.

Which means I'll go back to focusing on cash games now, with the occassional MTT shoved in. It sucks giving it up, since the stats do show that I'm a better player than everyone else in the Top 10. But I have a life. They don't.

Today's an off day. Breakfast, ice cream, quick workout, lunch, work, out to the bar with the crush. Which is odd, because she hates bars. BR is something north of $33.

interesting and entertaining thread, more the life stuff than the poker really. Also try to play more as everybody is telling you!

Here's some unsolicited advice, and sorry for the tl;dr...$33 is not a bankroll, it's lunch money. I'm not saying that to insult you, rather I'm saying it to make you realize how silly this is. The guys who brag about their bankroll management skills when they deposit $50 and play penny poker for a zillion hours to make essentially no money are walking the line between absurdity and ridiculousness (it's a fine line, I know).

A while back someone wrote a great email to me that basically asked the question "why do you play poker?" He went on to say that if you ask most people why they play, they'll say "to make money" but if you look at how they go about it, actually making money is about the last thing that will happen. So if you're not playing poker to make money, why are you playing? That's the key to this exercise. Some play for fun, some play for other reasons.

Now I'll apply this to you. You say you want to move out of your mom's basement and want to use poker to do it. Well, you're never going to get anywhere grinding penny poker, and this thread has already proved it. Variance or not, if a good day is winning $2 and a bad day is losing $2, you're going to need years of this to try and get to anything meaningful. So I have to ask, why are you playing poker? Your posts don't sound like you're having fun and you certainly aren't making money, so what is it?

My recommendation: put together a quick budget. X amount for living expenses, Y amount for entertainment, and Z amount for poker, but keep in mind that Y and Z are really the same. Take your $33 and go play something with a real chance to make something worthwhile. Granted, can't really be done with only $33, but if you were to play $5 SNGs or just put the whole thing on a 10c/25c or 25c/50c table you'd have a much better chance of getting it to somewhere reasonable.

Figure out a number for a bankroll that is meaningful for you to where you can play something that is both fun and has a chance at making money, and set that as your goal. For example, my number is $2k, and if I have less than that I am likely to have it all in play until I do. If I go broke I deposit and do it over. Sure, I could have taken my $600 the other night to 5c/10c or whatever and grinded the **** out of it to end the night with $605, but that's no fun to me, so I donated it to this guy who owned my soul at $2/$4. It sucks losing it but it was fun.

Bottom line is that losing $33 isn't going to kill your plans, but grinding out penny poker during all your free time will, because you're never going to get there. If you lose the $33 playing somewhat less than "optimal bankroll management" levels, then deposit what you've budgeted out and do it again. If you hit your goal of a reasonable number, THEN you can put in place all of the rules that you know and follow for BRM and will actually have a reasonable shot at accomplishing your goal.

Morphy

OP there's really good advice in this thread, and it would really be a waste of everyone's time, yours included, if you didn't carefully read this.

In fact, I will put it out there. You will never move out of your mom's basement, you will never have a successful relationship, and you will never be a winning poker player without following some of the advice in this thread at some point.

Who are you to say that $33 is not a bankroll? If that's what you currently have to play with then that's your bankroll, period! In my current run on Stars I started with basically only FPP's. I was thrilled to hit $30 cuz than $40 was next which meant $50 was right the corner. Now I'm close to $200 which means $500 and $1000, here we come! (And it ain't takin' years).

-Terrible advice bankroll management wise.

Yes it will, cuz his plans as outlined in this thread are to grind up roll from $30 and move out with said roll! (BTW nothing against you, I'm just getting into the spirit of the thread).

I'm not sure if OP has the discipline to complete his goal (will he find his way game-selction wise or forever flip-flop?) but the size of his starting roll is a non-issue where this challenge is concerned.

You missed the entire point of my post. He's not playing for a living. The $33 isn't his last money on the planet. He has a job, and I have to imagine it pays slightly more than $33. The point of my post was that because he has a job and a way to replenish his "roll", losing $33 isn't detrimental to his goals. However, sitting there every day grinding out penny games for what has been literally pennies a day profit since he started is detrimental to his goals.

You may call my post "terrible brm advice", but I say that $33 isn't a bankroll, it's barely a decent meal.

Morphy

The problem with starting by depositing a large amount of money is that it's much harder to know if you actually beat the stakes you play before it's too late, and the shame that comes if you do lose it. Also, most people that start low do a lot of degen/dumb stuff down there, and hopefully get some sort of shock big enough that they don't fail at BRM again. By grinding up from micro/lower stakes, you get reasonable samples and become decent/good before you get to the higher stakes.

Optimally what OP should do is grind his job for a few months and deposit a proper bankroll, for sure. What I'd suggest is, like XaQ says, depositing a medium to large amount and still start out grinding micro/small stakes, but move up quickly if you have a positive winrate.. as long as you use a high number of buyins AND move down when you must it's no problem to start a bit higher. The problem is, atm, OP probably sucks pretty hard at poker(no offense), so moving up too high could be a big mistake.

Despite what it may actually seem like, I am reading every post and every piece of advice that has been posted in this thread.

-The $33 bankroll? If I bust that, meh no lost cause. I just stop playing online poker until its regulated. But depositing more money in would be a very bad thing. I'm not sure how long us U.S players will be able to play online. So why take the risk of depositing more money? My goal is to not bust that $33 and climb up. I think that once I get this cash game thing going, you'll see a noticeable improvement on this thread.

-The advice about moving to full time. I really have thought about it a little more over the past few weeks. I'm really debating it. I don't have the offer anymore, but I'm sure that if I ask and push hard about it that I can get it again. It'd be a significant pay increase and I could almost instantaneously move out. The bad part about it, however, is that I'd have an increase in responsibility and less time.

-The whole relationship thing. I've seen that some of you are hating on me for sticking with the girl I like. But why? I'm not desperate for a girl. I don't need a girl like other people might. I'm willing to wait until she's comfortable enough to date again, because her ex messed her up pretty badly.

I'm going to play sometime today. I try to refrain from saying "grind", because if you say that something is a grind, then psychologically it won't be as fun. But it may be a bit delayed. Because....

My brother had a mediation hearing yesterday for his kid with bitch mom. He "won", so to say. As in he now legally has him (my nephew) for half the week. And she legally cannot have him for more than half of the week without consent. Otherwise, its a crime against her. So he's here today, although him and my mom are out right now while I'm writing this. So obviously, spending time with him>>>>>>>poker. Or much else, for that matter.

This is going to be an interesting session. I've done it when it was warm outside. But I'm taking my laptop outside. Here in Columbus, in the shade, it feels like about 45 degrees. At 7pm in the middle of september. Something's not right, but maybe the cold....and a peppermint mocha...will jumpstart this session!

Ok, just finished the session. It was quick, but not because it's too cold out here. The city website says its 59 degrees out here. You can kill me brutally if it's 59 degrees where I am sitting right now, because I can literally see my breath. I quit because I got sucked out on a few times and it was just ugh. But I was right; the cold really jump started my brain.

It was great too. On one 4 handed table, I was playing a guy who literally could not fold. And when he bet, he always bet the minimum and it was always with a pair. And he played every hand. Here's some hands from that encounter, first being the one I'm stunningly puzzled about (and my read was right, I was on fire with hand reading today).

He is 69/5 through 40 hands with a WTSD of 60%, winning 40% of those. Here, I know A2 is a borderline hand. But I know he stays in with junk, nothing, 3rd pair, etc. But on the river, his betsizing at the time alarmed me. This guy normally min bets; why is he 4xbb betting? I was fairly certain he didn't have an A FWIW, and even him would have raised me with sets. So OTR, we should just call this even though it deviates from his entire betting history, right?


Everleaf - $0.02 NL - Holdem - 2 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

Hero (SB): $2.94
BB: $0.62

Hero posts SB $0.01, BB posts BB $0.02

Pre Flop: ($0.03) Hero has 2 A

Hero raises to $0.06, BB calls $0.04

Flop: ($0.12, 2 players) A 8 7
BB bets $0.02, Hero raises to $0.10, BB calls $0.08

Turn: ($0.32, 2 players) 4
BB checks, Hero bets $0.20, BB calls $0.20

River: ($0.72, 2 players) J
BB bets $0.08, Hero ???




Everleaf - $0.02 NL - Holdem - 2 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

Hero (SB): $2.67
BB: $0.84

Hero posts SB $0.01, BB posts BB $0.02

Pre Flop: ($0.03) Hero has K 9

Hero raises to $0.06, BB calls $0.04

Flop: ($0.12, 2 players) Q J K
BB checks, Hero bets $0.12, BB calls $0.12

Turn: ($0.36, 2 players) 4
BB checks, Hero bets $0.22, BB calls $0.22

River: ($0.80, 2 players) 3
BB bets $0.02, Hero calls $0.02

BB shows J 5 (One Pair, Jacks) (PreFlop 36%, Flop 17%, Turn 11%)
Hero shows K 9 (One Pair, Kings) (PreFlop 64%, Flop 83%, Turn 89%)
Hero wins $0.80


Everleaf - $0.02 NL - Holdem - 2 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

Hero (SB): $2.57
BB: $1.02

Hero posts SB $0.01, BB posts BB $0.02

Pre Flop: ($0.03) Hero has K Q

Hero raises to $0.06, BB calls $0.04

Flop: ($0.12, 2 players) 9 3 A
BB bets $0.02, Hero calls $0.02

Turn: ($0.16, 2 players) K
BB bets $0.02, Hero calls $0.02

River: ($0.20, 2 players) K
BB bets $0.02, Hero raises to $0.26, BB calls $0.24

Hero shows K Q (Three of a Kind, Kings)
Hero wins $0.69

^^He had Q9 IIRC, Everleaf doesn't show opponent's hands (hence PT3 doesn't either) in HH except for the instant replay.

Everleaf - $0.02 NL - Holdem - 2 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

Hero (BB): $2.88
SB: $0.68

SB posts SB $0.01, Hero posts BB $0.02

Pre Flop: ($0.03) Hero has 9 3

SB calls $0.01, Hero checks

Flop: ($0.04, 2 players) 3 A 5
Hero bets $0.04, SB calls $0.04

Turn: ($0.12, 2 players) T
Hero checks, SB checks

River: ($0.12, 2 players) 6
Hero checks, SB checks

Hero shows 9 3 (One Pair, Threes)
Hero wins $0.12

He had Q8^^

Everleaf - $0.02 NL - Holdem - 2 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

Hero (BB): $3.01
SB: $0.46

SB posts SB $0.01, Hero posts BB $0.02

Pre Flop: ($0.03) Hero has 9 9

SB raises to $0.04, Hero raises to $0.48, SB calls $0.42

Flop: ($0.92, 2 players) Q 8 6

Turn: ($0.92, 2 players) Q

River: ($0.92, 2 players) J

Hero shows 9 9 (Two Pair, Queens and Nines) (PreFlop 68%, Flop 7%, Turn 5%)
SB shows 3 Q (Flush, Queen High) (PreFlop 32%, Flop 93%, Turn 95%)
SB wins $0.88

Only table I lost at really pissed me the **** off. I was HU with a SS (6 player table) for a good majority of the time. She was passive pre, but aggressive post. 70/5 with a 5 AF at the time of this hand. Not sure if I should raise this PF. And I figure, hey, I can rep a K. And even if she pushes me AI, I have flush outs and possibly A outs should she have a pair. Meh???

Everleaf - €0.02 NL - Holdem - 2 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

Hero (BB): €2.38
SB: €0.40

SB posts SB €0.01, Hero posts BB €0.02

Pre Flop: (€0.03) Hero has A 6

SB calls €0.01, Hero checks

Flop: (€0.04, 2 players) K 5 K
Hero checks, SB bets €0.02, Hero calls €0.02

Turn: (€0.08, 2 players) 7
Hero checks, SB bets €0.08, Hero raises to €0.28, SB raises to €0.36, Hero calls €0.08

River: (€0.80, 2 players) T

Hero shows A 6 (One Pair, Kings) (PreFlop 31%, Flop 16%, Turn 23%)
SB shows Q Q (Two Pair, Kings and Queens) (PreFlop 69%, Flop 84%, Turn 77%)
SB wins €0.76

(That hand was right after I AA>KK her)

Same table, this one got my blood boiling. But gotta receive beats if....
Everleaf - €0.02 NL - Holdem - 4 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

SB: €0.69
Hero (BB): €2.06
UTG: €0.62
BTN: €0.92

SB posts SB €0.01, Hero posts BB €0.02

Pre Flop: (€0.03) Hero has A A

UTG raises to €0.06, fold, fold, Hero raises to €0.18, UTG calls €0.12

Flop: (€0.37, 2 players) 7 8 J
Hero bets €0.44, UTG calls €0.44

Turn: (€1.25, 2 players) T

River: (€1.25, 2 players) T

Hero shows A A (Two Pair, Aces and Tens) (PreFlop 83%, Flop 67%, Turn 23%)
UTG shows J T (Full House, Tens full of Jacks) (PreFlop 17%, Flop 33%, Turn 77%)
UTG wins €1.19


I'm going to give out beats.
(In all seriousness, I don't think this is much of a beat. In fact, I calculated that I was either a slight dog or slight favorite putting the chips in OTF)
Everleaf - €0.02 NL - Holdem - 4 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

Hero (UTG): €2.00
BTN: €4.08
SB: €0.51
BB: €0.63

SB posts SB €0.01, BB posts BB €0.02

Pre Flop: (€0.03) Hero has K T

Hero raises to €0.06, BTN calls €0.06, SB calls €0.05, BB calls €0.04

Flop: (€0.24, 4 players) J 9 7
SB bets €0.24, fold, Hero raises to €0.48, fold, SB calls €0.21

Turn: (€1.14, 2 players) 5

River: (€1.14, 2 players) 6

Hero shows K T (Flush, King High) (PreFlop 68%, Flop 49%, Turn 100%)
SB shows 8 T (Straight, Jack High) (PreFlop 32%, Flop 51%, Turn 0%)
Hero wins €1.09

And then gotta receive more beats for that one.

Everleaf - €0.02 NL - Holdem - 3 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

Hero (BTN): €2.83
SB: €0.35
BB: €1.31

SB posts SB €0.01, BB posts BB €0.02

Pre Flop: (€0.03) Hero has K T

Hero raises to €0.06, SB calls €0.05, fold

Flop: (€0.14, 2 players) T 2 8
SB checks, Hero bets €0.10, SB calls €0.10

Turn: (€0.34, 2 players) 9
SB checks, Hero bets €0.20, SB calls €0.19

River: (€0.72, 2 players) A

Hero shows K T (One Pair, Tens) (PreFlop 41%, Flop 84%, Turn 77%)
SB shows A 3 (One Pair, Aces) (PreFlop 59%, Flop 16%, Turn 23%)
SB wins €0.69

But in all fairness, I did cooler her earlier with this hand. Used up all my time OTR because every draw got there OTT. IDT this is a snap call at all.

Everleaf - €0.02 NL - Holdem - 2 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

Hero (BB): €2.31
SB: €0.55

SB posts SB €0.01, Hero posts BB €0.02

Pre Flop: (€0.03) Hero has 9 J

SB calls €0.01, Hero checks

Flop: (€0.04, 2 players) J 4 9
Hero bets €0.04, SB calls €0.04

Turn: (€0.12, 2 players) 8
Hero checks, SB bets €0.12, Hero calls €0.12

River: (€0.36, 2 players) 6
Hero checks, SB bets €0.36, Hero calls €0.36

SB shows 8 9 (Two Pair, Nines and Eights) (PreFlop 28%, Flop 4%, Turn 5%)
Hero shows 9 J (Two Pair, Jacks and Nines) (PreFlop 72%, Flop 96%, Turn 95%)
Hero wins €1.03

So I played good in my first "full" session back to the cash grind. The numbers just don't show it. Meh. PT3 says I won a whopping $.39; Everleaf says I won $.36.

Go figure.

Update time. I didn't play yesterday. I was going to after work, but they asked me to work 8 1/2 hours instead of my scheduled 5 1/2. $25>playing an hour or so of micro poker. And I was going to go out last night, but got cancelled on. It's strange. Whenever I make plans more than a day away, they always get cancelled, and that's so frustrating. But a lot of the times I can find impromptu things to do. Not last night though :/.

I played a session late thursday night, after posting that post above this one. Cliffs:

It was a crock of ****.

3bet AKo to 40% of my stack pre HU, hit the best non A or K flop (5T5), shove, guy called 40% of his stack pre w T8o. :0.

6 handed, 40/20 fish PFR A7o UTG. Me and another player call, me in BB with KQ. Flop: 7Q7. You can guess where that one went to.

Make nut straight HU T9s on QJ3sss8x board, river is 9s and he has second nuts to my 3rd nuts.

Lost a PF flip AQ<33 to a 20bb SS.

Oh, and I still wasn't hitting any flops. Sigh. So the BR is slightly south of $30, although it could be much worse if I didn't grind it back up that night. Oh well.

Plan for the day: About to work out while watching Auburn-Clemson (because my TV in the basement only gets the first 10 cable channels), then me and my friend could be going out, then out to a bar to watch OSU-Miami (no getting drunk, I have early work tomorrow morning ). However, I'll probably get some hands in today.

GO BUCKS!!!!!!

+22

Sorry I haven't posted since Saturday morning. I've been busy with work, football, life, everything except poker. I also bought a new game, and as luck would have it, it's been gray and cool and miserable the past few days....well, since Saturday night at least.

I am actually so glad I had to work Sunday morning. Saturday night, I went out with my best friend, an old (hot) friend, and her boyfriend. The old (hot) friend wanted to go out with me to the bars after the OSU-Miami game. I so wanted to, but I had to be up at 7am the next morning for work. Plus, it'd take half an hour just to get home after anything. So I just couldn't do it. It's a good thing I did work, because we got our asses kicked. It was so miserable and horrific to watch as a life long Buckeye fan. We all left that night feeling absolutely depressed. No doubt, knowing my luck, I would have went to the bar with my old (hot) friend and a combination of two things would have happened.

1) We would have gotten so drunk that we would have made whoopie. She has a boyfriend.

2) We (or maybe just I) would have hit a sobriety checkpoint, got caught drunk, and gotten a DUI.

So, unintentionally, work saved me. To show you how much Ohio State football means to 90% of the city of Columbus...my best friend had tears in her eyes after the game, outside while smoking (I don't smoke). Driving past late night stores, late night restaurants, the parking lots were empty. It's a Saturday night, those places are always packed. My facebook news feed looked like a war zone hit it. The next morning, at work, every customer was crabby and angry and hungover. That usually doesn't happen, because I work in a place surrounded by rich, well-established adults.

Anyways, I'm going to try and play a little bit tonight. Good luck all!

How come #3, be a responsible human being and don't drive drunk, didn't make your list?

$50 says you don't break $100 in your current poker quest.

Morphy

Booo the non-poker stuff only works really well if you also play poker!

This is why I haven't played poker in a long time. (This guy the previous hand called a pot sized bet with a gutshot and hit) Wake up early in the morning to play some poker and get this from an absolute donkey.

(In fact, I calculated this stat over the weekend and I'm 5 BIs under EV with AQo. In under 2,000 hands this month. Ridiculous.)


Everleaf - €0.02 NL - Holdem - 3 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

BB: €1.00
Hero (BTN): €2.00
SB: €1.24

SB posts SB €0.01, BB posts BB €0.02

Pre Flop: (€0.03) Hero has Q A

Hero raises to €0.06, SB calls €0.05, BB calls €0.04

Flop: (€0.18, 3 players) 4 7 A
SB bets €1.18, fold, Hero calls €1.18

Turn: (€2.54, 2 players) 2

River: (€2.54, 2 players) 3

Hero shows Q A (One Pair, Aces) (PreFlop 71%, Flop 82%, Turn 84%)
SB shows 5 A (Straight, Five High) (PreFlop 29%, Flop 18%, Turn 16%)
SB wins €2.42

Dude, dont let your employer give you a depressed feeling when you go home. You should just laugh him in the face (or just behind the corner in case you want to stay working there). A long time ago I used to have a very bossy boss as well, always when he started screaming/yelling at me I just stand over relax watching him while rolling a cigarette and ask him: "Are you finished now? Was that it?" Yes, okay then I continue with my work. I guess it helped I had a fixed contract there so he couldnt get rid of me so easily

With my collegau's we always made jokes about our boss temper cause we could all hear him through the whole building

Dude, you live in your mom's basement and you're posting bad beat whines in a penny game. You don't deserve to call other people donkeys when it comes to poker.

My offer stands. I'll bet you $50 that you don't break $100 playing poker with your current plan by the end of 2011. We can put the money in escrow if you'd feel safer. Or you can just send it to me. Either way.

Morphy

I'd love to take the bet, and I know I'll pass $100. But I don't bet on anything except petty little things with my friends. Such as "The sun is like, 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit." And I wasn't depressed about my work. I was depressed about the Ohio State-Miami game, and how badly we played.

I haven't always played penny stakes. In fact, it's been over a year since I did. I was at 25nl and $5 SNGs before black friday.

I realized I forgot to fully update this after my session. After being down, once again, over a BI, I grinded it back. I just need to stop playing AQo all the time. BR is at $29.33, and I'm now motivated more than ever.

I also finally got around to emailing colleges again today. Trying to get back, as I said, for Winter quarter. It feels good to be productive .

But now I gotta go back to working out. It's my weights + running day, IE super long workout day before work.

Going from $29 to $100 over the course of 3+ months isn't petty?

Morphy