Hello everyone -

I'm starting a poker journey thread for all the reasons one would want to start a poker journey thread. With that said, my wife is going through a pre-medical program and will have very limited time to hangout over the next year, and one of the ways I'm going to spend my time is to play poker on ACR. Her and I just moved to Baltimore from the Midwest so everything is a whirlwind in our life at the moment, but in a good way. I've been playing poker for 20 years, never taken it seriously, and think this is the year I am ready to do so. Now that my extensive background and introduction is out of the way, let's get down to the nuts and bolts.

I started with $44 on ACR, which my collegiate math tells me is 22BI's for 2NL. I'd like to work my BR up to $100 before taking a shot at 5NL. My first goal was to be profitable after $10,000 hands, which was completed tonight. I'm up a whopping $14.60 after 10,000 which PT4 tells be is 7.29BB/100. Not bad. My goal as of right now is to play 10,000 hands a month, which took me 30 hrs. to complete, and I think is a reasonable starting point. Right now I am comfortable playing 4 tables at once, and will hopefully get comfortable with 6 in the future so my monthly hand total goals don't slog on.

If anyone that is following along has done something similar before, it would be great to hear how your journey went! Also I think it'd be cool to be the person who completed a similar journey and follow along to compare notes. I'll do my best to post hands as well as graphs at certain milestones, and also will be updating the thread with thoughts on the challenge and probably other life stuff as well.

Past Goal - Profitability after first 10,000 hands
Current Goal - Win $13.40 which would put me halfway to taking a shot at 50NL

Current Graph:



Lez go!

I played today for 2 hours and lost 4 BI's. Not great. Not the worst day of poker. I purchased Carrot Poker School and listened to the first lecture. For whatever reason whenever I study and try to implement what I learn, I tend to lose the next session. It's not an alarming leak, I just find it coincidental/frustrating that I tend to lose after studying. I'm trying not to focus too much on results, as I don't have a big sample size, but it is hard for me to think about losing at all in 2NL. I feel like to game should be so soft for me, after playing for 20 years, that it is frustrating not crushing at 15bb/100+. I definitely punted 1 to 1.5 stacks today, and lost a couple stacks in coolers. Also had some interesting spots where I was surprised I got called down.

Punt:
Yatahay Network - $0.02 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 148.5 BB
SB: 245.5 BB
Hero (BB): 100 BB
UTG: 140.5 BB
CO: 57 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 9 9

fold, fold, BTN raises to 3 BB, fold, Hero raises to 12 BB, BTN raises to 25 BB, Hero calls 13 BB

Flop: (50.5 BB, 2 players) 2 3 4
Hero checks, BTN bets 25 BB, Hero calls 25 BB

Turn: (100.5 BB, 2 players) Q
Hero checks, BTN bets 50 BB, Hero calls 50 BB and is all-in

River: (200.5 BB, 2 players) A
BTN cashed out 180.5 BB for a fee of 1.5 BB


Most Interesting Hand:
Yatahay Network - $0.02 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

CO: 134.5 BB
BTN: 121.5 BB
Hero (SB): 106 BB
BB: 105.5 BB
UTG: 101.5 BB

Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

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

UTG calls 1 BB, fold, BTN raises to 4 BB, Hero raises to 12 BB, fold, UTG calls 11 BB, BTN calls 8 BB

Flop: (37 BB, 3 players) T 5 6
Hero checks, UTG checks, BTN bets 18.5 BB, Hero raises to 42 BB, fold, BTN calls 23.5 BB

Turn: (121 BB, 2 players) 5
Hero bets 52 BB and is all-in, BTN calls 52 BB

River: (225 BB, 2 players) 7

Best Hand:
Yatahay Network - $0.02 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 131.5 BB
Hero (SB): 100 BB
BB: 100 BB
UTG: 54 BB
CO: 198 BB

Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has J 8

fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 3 BB, BB calls 2 BB

Flop: (6 BB, 2 players) 7 J 8
Hero bets 4.5 BB, BB calls 4.5 BB

Turn: (15 BB, 2 players) T
Hero bets 7.5 BB, BB calls 7.5 BB

River: (30 BB, 2 players) 6
Hero checks, BB bets 30 BB, Hero calls 30 BB

Thought about this one for awhile. Felt like I blocked a lot of straights, and just didn't believe the flush. Villain is also a competent player who I think would know to bluff in this spot.
I don't have a set time to play poker, and it feels -EV. I play during work hours, get interrupted, and also have been playing in the afternoon when I'm not sure when my wife will be home. I feel like being able to sit down knowing I have 3+ hours to play would be +EV. I'm going to try doing this going forward, but it maybe difficult to get volume in this way. We'll see.

I understand my challenge has probably been started by quite a few people and probably not very entertaining to follow someone slog through 2NL. With that said I somewhat expect 0 people to follow along, and therefore this thread will primarily serve as a way to gather my thoughts, lay out a road map, and keep myself accountable along the way. If people chime in to check progress, help out, provide insight that would be fun to see.

My wife starts her pre-med program tomorrow, and the long nights of class and hw will come with that, so I expect to have as much time as possible to dedicate to poker. Her and I were able to play golf and go out for pizza/Mexican before the year starts, so that was fun to do. I purchased Carrot Corner's Grade 1 and plan to go through that during my poker study periods. Right now I feel like my game is good enough to beat 2NL so I want to focus on volume over studying. Furthermore, I'm not 100% sure Carrot Poker School applies to 2NL, I feel like 2NL can be beat with basic fundamental strategy and volume. This will be determined at a later date. Right now I am beating it for 7bb/100 over 11,000 hands, and I feel like I've definitely left some money on the table. Also I'm sitting at the average on the LuckBell Graph for straights and sets, and am -1.7SD for flushes, so I expect to take advantage of better hands going forward.

I'd like to start posting stats that are helpful and meaningful. I don't love posting my BR update as I'd rather focus on EV and other stats that are more indicative of my play, but I think I'll leave it in there for now. And all of the people that are following (aka 0) will want to know if my BR is $68 or $72..

BR: $68 (includes rakeback)
All in EV: $18
My C Won: $15
Primary Goal: 20 BI for 5NL ($100)
Weekly Goal: Figure out 1 big leak and study to fix it. Also my goal is to post what my leak is, why it is a leak, and what I am going to do to address it.

I plan to follow the above format to keep a high level track of what I am doing. WIll adjust as needed.

*aka 1 as minimum

Heard a lot of good things about Carrot Corner and I think you are on the right way.

Let's find and fix leaks!

Good luck on your journey!

Happy to have you here! +1 for fixing leaks!

A month in review (May):

It's only been a week since I started this thread, but I'd like to do a "month in review" going forward in an attempt to pull my mindset out of the weeds and have consistent focus on macro goals of life and poker. Not really sure what a good format is for this, but I will likely tweak it, if needed, as we go.

Quick Stats:

- I have 15 BI's for 5 NL, so I think I'm going to take a 3 BI shot this weekend. This will also keep 30 BI's for my current level which is a comfortable spot for me.

Preflop/Flop/Turn LeakTracker:


- I think the biggest leak, according to the report, is I 3bet too frequently. When I started playing, I was 3b too often from the BU and CO, and after playing around with GTO Wizard, I am going to mix more calls in when UTG and HJ come in for a standard raise.
- I'm also folding to too many flop bets, which is wild, because I feel like I float MP/TP, draws, overcards, backdoor ops. etc. this is maybe something to look into.

River/Blinds/Aggression/Results LeakTracker:

- Possibly trying to steal too often from the SB. I don't think I'm going to adjust anything here.
- Possibly going to show down a little too light. This is likely playing into my winrate, and is something I would like to address, but am not going to make any monumental adaptions.
- From my time playing, I think paying off value bets on the river with made hands has been my biggest leak. Laying down a set to a large bet (Overbet, pot size shove) when there are a combination of straights/flushes/boats on the board is something I need to do with less frequency. My WSD stat is in line, but I think I can definitely improve here.

May Graph:

- Overall I am very happy with my play for the month. I've started challenges like this in the past, got extremely irritated with results, and the "challenge" was over within a few weeks. I think starting at 2NL, as opposed to 10NL Blitz, has helped me develop a better fundamental understanding of the game.

Misc. Notes
- I am not sure how much GTO Wizard practice helps with 2NL?
- I am not sure how the concepts from Carrot Corner Grade 1 helps with 2NL? Also not sure what level these concepts would no longer apply. Still seems like a good series and is helpful despite my losing sessions after good study sessions.
- Not sure how much to study at this point. Of course the more the better, but I also want to get volume in as I feel like my game is good enough to beat 2NL. Any suggestions on when to study, how often to study, and how to study, would be greatly appreciated!
- I think my study sessions will be focused on getting through CPS Grade 1 as I'm not too sure where to study based on LeakTracker, as there doesn't appear to be any glaring leaks. I of course have leaks, I'm just not sure how to identify them outside of Leaktracker.

Life Update:
My wife has officially started classes so finding time to hangout is going to be a challenge, but I think we'll figure it out. Baltimore is a much better city than I gave it credit for. Decent food scene, not terribly busy, people so far have been very nice, and decent golf courses around here. I've wanted to beat poker for a decent clip my entire life, and I am very excited to have the time to put into the game. I am also working out 5-6 days a week so I'm balancing my time at a computer sitting around pretty well between that and golf. I've also been watching the Hustler Casino Live Million Dollar game, and enjoyed every minute that I watched. Those bluffs by Rampage and "that other guy" were just straight gangster.

That's all for now.

Maybe you need to work on the flop raising ranges. This will also help you reduce your folding frequency.

Wide styles with SB are fine for micro. Players at these stakes don't defend the blinds well.

GTO Wizard provides balanced solver versus solver solutions.
Indeed, this should not be used for playing at micro, low limits.
But it can help you understand range formation. How the solver fills his ranges with value and bluffs in different sizings.
Perhaps this is not worth doing at the current stage.

Keep learning the theory you have. Implement it into the game and move on to the next step.
The difference between nl2 and nl5 is not big enough for your results to change drastically. Accumulate BR and move on.

The Theory:Practice ratio is an individual thing.
Someone can spend hours on theory and absorb information well, for someone it is more difficult.

If you want to increase the volume of the game, then a ratio of 1 theory : 2 practice will be ok.

Could you expand a little further on what you mean by this, please?

As far as I understand you have this course?


Explore these concepts.
Check your database to see if you are actually following them while playing.
If everything is OK, move on to the next theory.

Yes, that's the one. And will do. Thanks for the advice!

Goodluck man! Sent you a dm ))))

I want more Compton2014

Huge development this past week has caused me to slow down on posting. I plan to keep this thread going, with a wild update in the next week or so.

Hi! I am also a CPS student and had joined the discord,the discord community is a helpful and if you have some question about the course and homework,coaches are willing to answer and explain it.Sometimes carroter would answer student's question(he had answered me about a gto trainer result and explain it very detail,then point out my thoughts' problem)

Then, cash injection in carroter corner is a good course for learning exploitative skill and open your mind(GTO action line isn't the best especially against population),his youtube channel update very frequently that you can learn tons of thing from him.

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/1...tacks-1809429/
Also and I want to show you my poker journal to you and I think we are on the same way,just keen on!I had been lost for near half years,after studying hard is much more better now(but still not good enough.....)

I'm targeting(Pete hates someone who bet for targeting villain's part of range but makes a target/goal is fine,silly joke,hahaa) for BB/100(NL5 zoom) for 7BB!

Good Luck and studying for not to make mistake again!

Thanks for stopping by! My thread will likely be quiet for about a week or so, and then I plan on getting back into things. Good luck on your journey and I will follow along.

Never mind!I will follow on your journey also,and I am doing some hand review recently(with GTO wizard or write down some exploitative reason,is pretty fun and improve my thoughts process.

Waiting for your back!I'm a goddamn kid just spend my time on my job,friends,parents and poker only,hope poker can bring you a relax and funny time to you that can get rid of the busy day.Also,I think you are a cool man even if you have a lot of stuff in your daily but you don't give up on being a better poker player!

In an attempt to keep my thread going, for the people that are following, I feel like I owe you all an update. I came across an opportunity to get some coaching from a proven high stakes player (with massive results) and that is why I have taken a step back from the tables. In conjunction with the coaching, I am getting a solver for free, and therefore I wanted to get coached/study with a solver before coming back to the tables. With that said, I have put in a tiny amount of volume into 10NL Blitz, per direction of my coach, with the intent to tag hands I have questions on, and then to review them in the solver at a later time.

I stepped into the deep-end (10NL Blitz - wow look at me Mom I can swim!) with my bankroll of $100, playing just 1 table for 300 hands a few days ago. Unfortunately, a few coolers happened while I was playing, and I dropped 3BI's, which caused by bankroll to drop by 30%. Despite the losses, I have enjoyed playing 10NL Blitz, and feel like I have a decent grasp on player pool tendencies (I have about 40k hands from two years ago at this stake.) On top of the hands I have played, I am watching a Youtube series where the content creator is trying to grind $500 into $25k, and is currently playing 10NL Blitz on ACR, and this has helped my game to some capacity.

I'm also starting to play around with GTO Wizard, and the preflop ranges they provide for 50NL, in hopes to have a better fundamental understanding of the game. I definitely think this will help in the long run, but I still don't know how to adjust to certain players very well, which is a key element to winning poker.

I put in another 350 hands or so today in 10NL Blitz, was up 1 BI, basically from allowing villain to bluff river, so I'm relatively happy with that result - I want hands/data at this point. I think next week sometime I'll hopefully be up and running with a solver, reload by bankroll for 20 bigs at 10NL, and be off to the races!

Thanks for following along, and when things get off and running I will make sure to update more!

Did the coach say 5NL was a waste of time?

From my understanding of what he said, is that 5NL-50NL plays very similar, and that micros are very difficult to beat over a large sample given the rake is roughly 8bb/100. So I guess, it is a waste of time in the long run, but imo is a good way to learn the fundamentals of poker.

Super annoyed. Lost 9 BI's at 10NL in the past few days. Literally lost all the money I grinded from 2NL/5NL for the simple reason of trying to get hands to evaluate in a solver. On top of that, my luck bell graph looks like this, which is very ****ing tilting.



I don't have the bankroll to sustain bad luck and am pretty frustrated at losing all the progress I made playing 2NL/5NL.

I'm going to have to reload, in one way or another, in order to keep this challenge going. My wife isn't too keen on playing poker online, so I might have to be become a door dash driver to keep my hopes alive.

The next time you move up a limit, pre-determine stop losses at which you return to a lower limit.

Taking a step back is uncomfortable, but it's part of poker and you just have to get through it.

GL!

Well, I can think of a few reasons why playing all limits and following a reasonable BRM is a good idea:

- Teaches discipline and patience
- The lowest you go, the higher the concentration of bad recreationals, and playing a lot vs them and extracting the maximum from recreationals having the opportunity is the #1 factor in achieving crushing winrates. The nanos 2nl and 5nl are the best training schools for this.
- A reasonable BRM leads to less emotional, subconscious bad or non-optimal decisions when playing

The bad reason for playing all limits no matter how low is risk aversion. With a stdev of 100 bb/100 and even a reasonably solid true ev winrate of 5 bb/100, you will lose over 10k hands 30.85% of the time, which is huge. Over 100k hands, which might mean almost 6 months for a reg player, more if you´re playing part time, you'll lose 5.7% of the time, which is not huge but is more often than most would like I assume. Good luck keeping your true winrate constant when running bad over 100k hands lol.

But using too nitty of a BRM for the above reasoning is bad, because it doesn´t attack the actual issue: losing for big stretches and seeing absurd beats is part of the game, and if you don´t like it, quit and go play chess. Emotions are overrated, especially when they are illogical. Think a lot about your BRM plan, and after you formulate a good one for yourself, don´t ever change it no matter what people say, what coaches say, or what your mind say to you next time you sunrun and feel invincible. Don´t make it too comfortable, 30-50 BIs with 5-10 stop losses is a good one at least to me, but always move down if you reach the stop.

5nl and 50nl can´t be the same btw, even when regs at 50 have similar abilities to the 5nl counterpart, and fish is fish. The % of fish changes how the game plays, regs play differently with fish on the tables etc etc. 5nl way softer compared even to 25nl, ainec.

I think posting here implictly indicates I´m interested in your progress, wish good luck and will follow your journey, but if it´s not clear:

GLGL, sub'd

GL on this, clearly dedicated to learning the game.

Do you mind me asking if you paid the £299.99 for the carrot course grade 1 - as seems like a lot of money on a course considering your BR? It is worth it?

Definitely routing for you!

Thanks for the comment, and I completely agree about stop losses. I was trying to put in volume at 10NL Blitz, which is the lowest form of 'fast' poker on ACR, with the intent of finding multiple study spots for when I get a solver. This was the direction I was given by someone who I believe knows what they are talking about. I forewent my initial bankroll management strategy by listening to said person's advice, and quite frankly I don't believe was bad advice at all, it just so happened I ran pretty poor while trying to accomplish a volume goal. I'll figure things out going forward, will hopefully be able to adhere to a standard BRM. At least now I have quite a few spots to run in a solver