I wanted to start a thread for my journey into the poker world again. First I will give some background on myself. Mid thirties gent here who has been really tired of grinding away at office jobs for the past 15 years. I left my previous company after 10 years and have been with my current company for 3 years now. It seems like everything gets worse every day and especially since the company was bought out and a big name is taking over and changing everything. have pretty much been miserable the entire durations.

I use to play online poker when I was in college and after during the boom then the whole thing happened to everyone at the same time. I did play casino's occasionally throughout time there but up until a month ago I hadn't played online or in person for about 6 years or so. Last month I decided I would go play all day at Foxwoods in CT since I was going to a show there and oh boy did I have a blast and somewhat felt inner peace being away from work and from family (no kids) and all of life's other things.

I then did some research and found out there are a couple online options still for people here in America and I have been dabbling in stuff over the past month while slowly learning the very basics of the game again. I started playing freerolls and have grinded up 0.00 to a current balance of $29.29. My goal with online is to simply play poker, get in the practice reps and grind up from absolutely nothing. I might in the future and probably will make a deposit somewhere, but I much rather go sit at a live game and grind all day.

Challenge 1:
-Grind online and see how much I can turn 0.00 into

This brings us to the main challenge which is starting at 1/2 live poker. Ive been reading a ton of other goals and progress threads and have found some motivation to start grinding up some cash games. Although I can easily set myself up to be fully rolled at at least 1/2 (or higher), I took $600 with me to that first Foxwoods trip in April and labeled that my ok to lose fund for a trip. It was a solid trip. I was able to play about 6 hours during the day and was up $120 at a pretty tight game of 1/2. I went to the show and after the show played again for another 3 hours or so until the room closed. I lost my first buy in when AA held over my pocket QQ, but 2nd buy in I ran it back up to exactly the initial amount lost so I was even in that session totaling a +120 trip for the day. I took that now $720 and stashed it away for the next trip. I also added $280 to make it an even $1000 for the next trip.

Fast forward to yesterday and I went to my local poker room that I am about 25 mins from and had never even stepped foot in because of life which is MGM springfield (MA). I was not expecting it but the action was crazy all day long. $5 straddles every hand. $500 max buy in. Since I only came with a set amount I would love to max buy in but I started with $250 instead and thats all I needed to get going. I quickly ran it up and at the end of the day played for 8.5 hours and was up $895. It would have been more but I punted 200 after going back into casino after I couldn't leave the parking garage because graduations. I sat in line to get out for 1 hour with 0 movement so i pulled back into my spot and said id go in and wait a few hours. I ran into a $200 cooler after I flopped a pair of Jack's with ace kicker and one of the crazy stacks at the table went all in with 43 off suit on the flop with just a gutter and he hit it on the turn. I had good cards and played smart all day so it was no biggie. I did have QQ and AA back to back hands twice during the day so two QQ which held in a row and AA twice in a row which held. Crazy big bets with middle pairs and draws all day long by players.

So my stash away fund now sits at $1895 for live poker.. My ultimate goal or challenge would be to establish a pretty respectable hourly rate over XXX amount of hours and see if anything like 1/2 or 2/5 live is a sustainable means to make some extra cash. I am committed to my 45 hour a week job right now (until i possibly get laid off will see) so while I learn and study more and play I can maybe play 2-3 all day sessions a month on weekends. My lovely fiancé has given me the green light to play as mush as I want to pursue this if I ever so choose to.

Might be heading to foxwoods next Sat the 18th since there is a show I could catch as well there (mudvayne/pod) nothing I would go out of my way to see but it is always an added bonus to a trip.

Challenge 2:
-Grind 1/2 nl live and establish a bankroll (min I would say is 4k-10k)
-Take a shot at 2/5 maybe around the top end plus of that bankroll will see
-Main goal is a solid hourly rate at 1/2 (at least $16+/HR)

Starting live Bank/Amount I add: $880
Current live Bank: $1895
Current Hourly Rate: $58
Hours Played: 17.5 (2 sessions)


I will updated occasionally as I got and play so follow along if you would like. Maybe get into some hand discussions ect.

Best of luck on your journey!
I'll be following.

Thank you. Im heading to foxwoods in CT this weekend for a day of 1/2 and a metal concert in the evening bright and early start tomorrow.

Alright so yesterday I made a trip to Foxwwods and ended up playing for 8 hours and catching a show. Pretty bad day all around but feel like I could have lost more than I did. (plus show was bad really disappointed in Mudvayne's performance) Poker i was down 360 for that 8 hour session, so lost just over initial buy in. I was fully expecting a down session because of the natural variance laws. I will say I played pretty bad, early in the day it was very Nitty with tons of limped pots and I broke a cardinal rule of no limping. When things open up'd a little bit i was getting 3-4 callers on every initial raise of mine and failed a ton with c-bets., but also had some c-bets that worked, I did not hit any flops really all day. I got alot of AQ/AJ type hands and didnt hit any of them. I also had a lot of small pocket pair hands (i think i had 55 like 6 times) and never hit one flop with a set. One big pot I was in I lost a Jack high flush to a queen high flush.

Starting live Bank/Amount I add: $880
Current live Bank: $1535
Current Hourly Rate: $25.69
Hours Played: 25.5 (3 sessions)

Side note i played a tiny bit online one day this week and my online bankroll is now $29.43...cashed a min amount in a Global Poker freeroll (i like playing those very weak fields, I want to play at global more and move up stakes) and donk'd some balance at a bitcoin site SwC was running bad in cash there and carried over to my live session.

Next live trip I am planning for June 1, 2 and then another trip mid june when I have some time off work so I am setting a goal of playing 24 hours in June.....might end up playing during memorial day weekend if I get bored doing stuff around the house or playing playstation lol

Another side note ive done decently well with sports wagering for NBA/NHL playoffs (did take a hit with OKC losing the series to dallas) so I might have some decent money from that coming into the poker bankroll. I don't like keeping much in sports as I am known to donk it away pretty easily. Ive been up about 1K these playoffs so far. Need denver nuggets and knicks to close out series today as well as edmonton to win their game 7 against vancouver. I have bigger bets on Celtics to win the nba title, nuggets to win the west, and NYR/Dallas stars to win stanly cup. I will also be taking the rangers and likely stars in the next series (I am a bruins/rangers fan so will be cheering for rangers to win it all)

Hope everyone has a great week this week.

Variance can be tough to navigate, especially in poker, but maintaining a level head is key.

Best of luck with your upcoming trips in June!

Thank you good luck to you as well. Might go to the local room this weekend on a 3-day weekend but also spend some time with family.

Also i cashed out $400 in my sports account that will go right into the poker bankroll. Currently at $1,935 for live. Deposit/start amount: $1,280.

GL! will follow!

Got one last session in for May, and sorry to report a couple losing sessions in a row. Ill try to be brief but i couldn’t recover after a tough first hand set me back. We were 6-way to start and i had JJ in a late position. The person to my right open raised the pot and I 3-bet. The flop came 9-7-9, and it checked around. The turn came a rag and then i called his bet. River was insignificant and i called a bet again and he showed down pocket 9’s for the flopped quads. Only cost me $100 roughly of my $200 initial buy but set the tone for the day.

I added on $100 and after a couple hours of some small winning and losing pots i lost my approx $300 stack as i called a big river bet with pocket 9’s and an all lower paired board. Lost to a full house he had flopped a set and then river paired but i was already behind.

I bought in for another $200 and ultimately cashed out $290 after a 10 hour session netting me a loss of -210.

I know i made some bad decisions but i am still early in my resurgence back into poker. Im just trying to get as many hours as i can get in and continue to learn and study.


Setting some goals for the month of june. I will smash my hours played goal as i do have dome time off this month and its looking like i could end up playing 4-6 sessions this month which should get me 36-50 hours of play. Im looking forward to a fathers day promo where if you have a spade flush you win $100 and if you get a spade straight flush you win $2024.

I also want to firm down opening ranges for myself in regards to position pre,position to raisers ect. There are a number of small basics im looking to firm up in my play before looking at more advanced things. I also want to set a goal of studying and reading maybe 4-5 hours a week or so will see.

Current Bankroll: $1,725
Amount Invested: $1,280
Result: +$445
Hourly Rate: $12.54
Hours: 35.5
Session win rate: 40%

No play next week so 2nd weekend in june i will be playing again


Online Bankroll: $36.64
Did not play much online this week only thing i played was a on demand 0.55 SNG at ACR and finished 1/23 for 4.65 in profit.