My background:

In college I began with a $100 deposit on full tilt and lost it quickly. This repeated for 3 months until I was down about $800 and started to wonder why I was losing. I started reading, trying different games, styles etc., and finally learned how to manage a modest bankroll. After my first 15 months playing I had deposited $2000 and built that up to $7300. Black Friday occurred and I fiddled around on sites like Bovada and Carbon for awhile but didn't fully trust it. I ended up graduating college and got a decent job. In 2011 in live games (2/5 and 5/10) I played 332 hours and made $27.96 per hour (about $9300) but didn't take it too seriously. In 2012 I decided to set a goal: to make an average of $1000 per month playing poker. (I played mostly 2/5) wasn't able to put enough volume in however due to getting promoted and moving job locations: and only played 187 hours in 2012, making $44.86 per hour (about $8400).

2013

I somewhat abandoned poker in 2013. I played only a handful of times from January through October. One night while paying my bills I looked at my student loans: $29000 remaining. I then decided to dedicate myself to playing poker again with the intent of using poker and only poker to pay off my student loans: my goal was to make $30,000 over the next 12 months which I believe is attainable.


So I broke it down:

-I began with a bankroll of $5000.

-Play a minimum of 50 hours per month from November 2013 to November 2014.

-Make $50 per hour.

-If I play 600 hours (which would be 50 hours a month at $50 an hour, I make $30000

So in November I began my modest quest. I'm going to use this thread to update my progress and talk about my journey. Needless to say I am ahead of schedule! I hope to continue to run well. If you read all this, thanks for reading

Any and all input/advice is welcome!

Good luck. I have similar goals in poker. To not 100% rely on it's income but rather take poker trips once a month or so to try and generate additional income. So far it's been going great. Good luck to you sir!

Its hard not to think about money when you are playing poker but I think you are on the right track if you start focusing on how many hours you are playing rather than how much money you are making. From an Angelino, best of luck and I hope you reach your goals: student loans are the worst.

GL!

Gl! Post lots of HH, subbed

GL. Sub'ed.

Played two sessions since my initial post, one went pretty bad and the other went pretty well.

Session 1: played 5/10 NLHE. I bought in for $500 and was relatively shortstacked. I ended up getting nutted over second nuts for the first bullet, then I reloaded for $1000. After 4 hours I had $1300 then got felted by a pretty bad cooler.

I had A J in middle position and bet $30. SB calls and BB calls. Flop comes:

10 Q K

SB bets $100, BB makes it $300, I had numerous options here but I just decided to call. SB also called. Turn came:

10 Q K 3

SB checks, BB goes all in for $500, I go all in for around $970. SB tanks for 3-4 minutes and calls (he has me covered). River comes:

10 Q K 3 Q

SB flips up 10 10

It was just one of those WTF moments, so I just laughed, said nice hand, and left. -$1500 session

Session 2: Played the same game, ended up in for $800 and ended up cashing out for $1800. It was mostly just a 6 hour grindfest. There was one notable hand:

I had A K in the BB. Crazy drunk guy on the button has about $700. There were no limpers, and he makes it $40. SB folds, I call. Flop comes:

K K 2

I check, he bets $50. I call. Turn:

K K 2 2

Drunk guy bets $50 again. I call. River comes:

K K 2 2 A

I tank for a minute or so and check. He bets $50 again. LOL....I tank again for about a minute and said, "I'm all in." He snap calls and flips over KQ.

So overall I lost $500 over the past two sessions. Floating around +$5600 since the beginning of November. I'll put in another sesh tomorrow.

GL OP. I assume that you are playing in the Los Angeles area?

C'mon you gotta give us more hands than this, put that smartphone to work!

I do, but maybe once a month. I've been grinding a private game and the Indian Casinos more. And thanks man!

Update: played another session (5/5)and went completely card dead. Ended up leaving after 4 hours. I had to lay down AA twice, took a couple tough beats, ended up walking out feeling pretty good I only lost about 370.

First time I had AcAd I was in the cutoff with 2 limpers in front of me. I bet $30, BB called, both limpers called.

Flop: 10s 10c Ks

BB checks, limper1 bets $125, limper2 makes it $300. One of them was a nit, so I just folded, BB folds.

Turn: 10s 10c Ks Qs

Limper 1 checks, Limper 2 shoves for $370, Limper 1 calls.

River: 10s 10c Ks Qs 3h

Limper 1 shows Qh10h, Limper 2 shows As9s.

I get AsAc two rounds later in the BB, 3 limped to the button and the button made it $35, SB folds to me and I made it $110. Everybody folds to button and he calls. (He's a hyper aggro ******).

Flop: 7d 8d 9d

I bet $200 (had 650 left) and villain puts me all in. We have a lot of history and I figured that he had a ton of hands in his range that beat me. I folded face up and he said "good lay down" and turned over 7s7c. Meh....

Other than that it was whole lot of folding and bet-folding...check folding etc.

OP, what job do you do if you don't mind me asking?

I was in a similar situation to you, although since recording my sessions religiously I've clocked nearly 1000 hours at £26 per hour (roughly $42) playing 1/3 - 5/10.

I'm a 27 yo Army Officer and due to leave in Aug 14. I'm facing the biggest decision point of my life:

1. Play poker full time? Opportunity cost = well paid banking/finance job
2. Work in banking/finance? Opportunity cost = lifestyle

Have you ever considered full time poker? What is stopping you from pulling the trigger? Thanks.

I've considered pulling the trigger, I really have. I am a supply chain manager at a Fortune 500 company. I make decent money, nothing special. What is holding me back is the opportunity for advancement and making some serious money. I make around $80k plus retirement, +benefits, +I get to expense fuel and food to the company. The next level up is around $100,000 - $150,000 with a company car, stock options etc. It just would not make sense for me to leave a guaranteed good job and play poker.

I could see doing it maybe if my situation was a lot different and I didn't have a decent job, but I'll never end up playing primarily for a living.

Love the thread. I play similar stakes 2/5 NLHE or equivalent of other games, have a job that pays the same amount of money, and my school loans are 25k! The only difference, I live on the east coast. Subbed!

1. Great results man! I am impressed that you're able to work full time and crush at poker

2. As someone who is also working, has loans, and playing (although not depending on it as a source of income); I agree that it would NOT make sense to leave your job. Unless you absolutely LOVE poker, CRUSH at poker, and HATE your job I don't think I would even consider leaving if I was in your position. Thinking long term, it would be hard to start a family and you might get sick of poker after awhile.

sub'd gl OP!

Thanks for the support guys! I've actually factored in the having a family, guaranteed income etc. That's the main reason I'd never leave my job for poker. It would be just too much of a risk for me when it would come time to have a family, which I actually do see in the near future. My girlfriend would support me no matter what, but I just couldn't give up a guaranteed decent paycheck with plenty of perks for poker.

Running bad my last two sessions but I'm not too worried about it. It is such a small sample size, I know it won't continue to happen forever.

Played two sessions since my last update and lost around $1500.

1st session I ended up grinding a tough game for 5 hours or so and I had about $900 in play (I was in for $500) in a 2/5 game. We're playing short-handed and there was a super aggressive degen who is actually quite talented but lacks patience. He was stuck thousands and started playing like a maniac.

I decided to trap the guy and was UTG with K K and made the decision to limp, anticipating his raise. He was on the button and raised to $40 and everybody folded until the action came back to me. I re-raised to $160. He tanked, and shoved all in (He had me covered). I snap called and he ended up having 10 10 and he hit a set. I reloaded and grinded about $100 bucks back and ended up leaving down $415.

The next session was terrible. I got into a hand with a known nit where I had 2 3 and raised the button into his BB and he flatted with Q Q

Flop came: 2 3 Q

Of course, he check raised me on the flop and I called. Turn came a 3 and I stacked off against him.

Another hand I get A Q and 3 bet an aggro donk from the SB, flop comes: 10 K 4 I check raised him on the flop and he shoved with K Q and I called and bricked all of my outs.

The very next hand I get J J and I'm now on the button. he bet $20 and I re-raised to $100. He called me with 7 8 and the flop came: 5x 9x Jx

I bet $200 (and then only had $200 left as I just reloaded) and he put me all in for the other 200 and hit the straight and the board didn't pair. Nothing I could do but laugh

Anyways: this is what I'm looking like since November:



Going to put in a sesh tomorrow hoping to get back on track!

Played a mini sesh tonight but was forced to leave because I had to take care of a work issue. I played for only 2 1/2 hours and managed to win $600 after getting felted the first round!

A new 5/5 table starts and the 3rd hand I get Ks Qh in the BB. I was facing a $25 raise with 2 callers in front of me and called.

Flop: Qs Jc 4s

I checked, original raiser bets $85 (I've never seen him not C-bet) and he was called by the button, I called.

Turn: Qs Jc 4s 4d

I bet out $200, original raiser shuts it down, other player calls.

River: Qs Jc 4s 4d 10d

Well, I now only had about $ 170 left but I decided to check anyway. I had this guy on a flush draw the entire hand. I figured there was no point in betting because he's only going to call me with better. I check and he ends up tanking and shoving. I called with my last $170 and the guy flips 8x 9x

I reloaded for $500 (the max, it's dumb) and shortly after got 4x 4x in mid position. I limped, CO bets 25, BB bets 50, a limper in mid position called, I called, CO calls.

Flop: 10x 4x 2x

BB bets $100, I call, CO goes all in for $430 (Jx Jx), BB goes all in for $450 (Ax Ax) I called and they bricked.

Back on track! Wish I didn't have to leave early as the game was really juicy.

A quick update:

Here's my stats after two months in:



So I'm a little behind hourly wise, but I'm on pace to make $32178 for the year because I put in a little more volume. I've been running pretty bad the last few weeks, just a matter of time before it turns around.

This thread is pretty dead but here's another update. I'm +$8238 good for just about $50/hr. I've been running a bit better.

I've gotten into quite a few notable hands. One that stands out the most was a 3 bet preflop where 5 people called, I had 44 in middle position and the flop came 10 7 4....ended up being a set over set over set. Luckily I was super deep and going up against 2 other deep stacks so I ended up calling a $250 raise before another player made it $1000, and then the original raiser shoved for $1700. I knew I was beat so I folded and lost the bare minimum.

The biggest pot I've won as of late I had Ad 8d on the button. 2 players limped and I made it $30, BB nit smooth called with AA, and the two limpers called.

Flop came: Ac 8c 3d. Nit with AA bets $75, both limp-callers called with club draws, I knew the Nit wouldn't do this with out at least AK, so I decided just to call.

Turn: Ac 8c 3d 9d

Nit shoves for his remaining 300. One of the limpers had Kc 9c. He called. Other limper had 10c Jc and shoved for $700, I had $1100 left so I shoved (was only worried about Nit and if someone had 33 etc oh well) and Kc 9c had me covered and called!

River: a beautiful Ac 8c 3d 9d 7d

Send it!

This thread has basically turned into a journal!

Anyways, I put in another sesh last night that lasted about 2 hours. My gf was shopping and after the first 3 hours of shopping I had enough. There was a casino close by so I headed over there after we had dinner.

2 hours, +375. No notable hands really....I did soul read a guy when I had 77 on a board of K K J 3 5...he bet half pot every street and I check called him all the way down and he had a busted straight draw.

Some guy short bought for $100 and got 10 J against me on a 789 board when I had 56...he then proceeded to sing "started from the bottom now we here" and then lost it all and three more short buys over the next half hour...that was funny.

Hoping to put in another sess Monday or Tuesday. On pace to make $39,794.24 on the year after the first 79 days, running ahead of schedule.

Another journal entry:

Had 2 sessions: one was about +1k and one was about -1k. Took two sick beats by the same guy last session. One hand I had about $600 when I got QQ, huge donk with massive stack raised 40 into my BB, I made it 160 and he called without even thinking about it. Flop came A Q 4. I checked, he bet 250 and I went all in. He said "please don't counterfeit me" and I thought wtf? Turn came an A and he said "oh I got it" and flipped over A 4 :/

Few rounds later I got A A and was in the BB again. He made it 40 again, I raised to 160 again, he insta called again.

Flop came J 8 4 rainbow. I bet out $220 (had 200 left) and he shoved. I called and he flipped over 8 4 off. So sick.

Anyways, I'll be back at it again tonight.

Total profit since 11/1/13: $8573

Hourly profit: 45.87/hr

Per session: 219.82

Running. Like. ****!!!!!

Going through a classic run bad. Putting my money in good, getting blasted. 3 straight terrible sessions. My profit is all the way down to $6800 from almost $10k a few weeks ago. It happens, just frustrating. I'm going to take a week or so off and regroup mentally, then I plan on putting in some major volume.

Notable hands:

Playing 3 handed late in the morning, I'm playing against an ultra aggro competent opponent. I get 8c 10c on the button with aggro player in SB. I raise to $25, he makes it $75. I have about 800 behind and he has me covered. I call.

Flop: 7x 9x Jh

He leads out for $150. I called.

Turn: 7x 9x Jh 4h

Guy shoves, I snap call with the nuts.

River: 7x 9x Jh 4h Qh

He screams "Send it!!!!" And shows Ah Kh....sickening.

Another brutal one: I get Jx 8x in the BB and 5 players limp, I check.

Flop: Ax Jh 8h

SB leads out for $40, I reraise to $140, everybody folds back to SB, he calls.

Turn: Ax Jh 8h Jx

SB checks, I bet $250. SB calls.

River: Ax Jh 8h Jx 7h.

SB shoves for remaining $400. I call, he shows 9h 10h for a straightflush...

Worst one:

I'm in the cutoff with Qc Jc. I raise to $30. SB calls.

Flop: Qs Qh Js

Player is good and knows my game, knows I could reraise here with a marginal hand. He leads out for $50, to throw him off I came over the top to $200. It worked. He thought about it and shoved for $600ish. I called and he said, "I have a royal flush draw."

Turn/river: Qs Qh Js Ah Ac

He turns over As Ks.....runner runner. Absolutely sick!!!!!

This downswing has my total stats since 11/1/13:

Profit: $6783

Hourly: $33.44

Session: $165.44

Not going to let it get me down though, the grind continues!

OP can you PM what Indian Casino you play at?

Also, Good luck!!! RUN GOOD!

Sent!