Hey guys, my name is Rodagii and I am a 23 year old grinder from NJ. I started playing Poker in November 2014, my junior year of college, and in January 2015 I made it my goal to be able to turn $20 into a profit. I worked at the game and played a little over 100k hands by August 2015 with my BR at $800. I withdrew my BR so I could focus on my last year at school as I would often let Poker get in the way of my studies. I finished school in May and had some down time so I threw on $10 to my account and by July I had grinded to $700. I had a similar bankroll grind PG&C thread a couple months ago documenting some of this, but I had to stop Poker for a bit to take care of some things outside of the game. I have the time to play again so I threw on $10 and I am currently at $70.

I want to document my Poker journey in this thread as I do not intend to stop and would like to see how far I can take the game. Because I've built a substantial bankroll from the bottom twice, I am confident Poker can serve as a viable side income for me. I mainly built both my Bankrolls through cash games, but this time around I will be mixing in MTTs as well. I mainly play NLHE and PLO.

Besides poker, I enjoy programming (studied IT in college) and am seeking to build a career as a web developer. I would like to build some sort of brand for myself and see where I can take it. I am obviously inspired by entrepreneurs, especially some in the Poker community like Liqqa, Chicago Joey, and now Doug Polk. So in this thread I would like to document my progress in programming, building my brand, and the ideas I come up with.


Hopefully some of you have similar goals to mine and will follow along here! It would be nice to talk to some like minded people.

I appreciate if you have made it this far into my post and I hope you leave a comment. I will be posting graphs soon, but probably not many hand histories until I move up to stakes the will provide my interesting play.

Hey! I follow you. I like programming too and playing plo

Good luck there!

Thanks for the follow Mindead! What areas of programming are you working in right now?

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As for the blog -
Today went ok for me, I had profit at the cash games but was only able to min cash 1 out of the 10 tourneys I played today. I decided to shortstack some 10nl PLO and ran up a few buy ins so now I'm sitting at $104. I wish the site I was playing on had tourneys more frequently because I feel the key to profiting from those is just putting in volume.

Nothing. I am just starting my degree and learning the basics. But I am sure soon or later, programming will be my ace in the hole besides poker. I am not much a people person, then both suites me perfectly

Programmers make great money, it's a good career choice if you like it.

Binked two tourneys today. Played a $4 deep stack turbo and at one point I had < 1BB and was able to run it all the way back up to first...chip and a chair! Second tourney I just played well and everything went my way. The final table was fun because three of us went all in and I took it down without having to play HU. Bank Roll now at $186 after starting at $15 last week!



3 Way All In:
888 Poker - $2.70+$0.30|500/1000 Ante 125 NL - Holdem - 3 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (SB): 72.78 BB
BB: 18.62 BB (VPIP: 23.00, PFR: 9.09, 3Bet Preflop: 6.45, Hands: 100)
BTN: 40.6 BB (VPIP: 38.30, PFR: 5.15, 3Bet Preflop: 1.89, Hands: 142)

3 players post ante of 0.13 BB, Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.88 BB) Hero has A Q

BTN raises to 2 BB, Hero raises to 6 BB, BB raises to 18.5 BB and is all-in, BTN calls 16.5 BB, Hero raises to 72.65 BB and is all-in, BTN calls 21.98 BB and is all-in

Flop: (99.82 BB, 3 players) 5 Q 9

Turn: (99.82 BB, 3 players) 9

River: (99.82 BB, 3 players) J

Hero shows A Q (Two Pair, Queens and Nines)

Main Pot [55.87 BB]: (Pre 34%, Flop 85%, Turn 95%)
Side Pot#1 [43.95 BB]: (Pre 74%, Flop 96%, Turn 100%)

BB shows 7 7 (Two Pair, Nines and Sevens)

Main Pot [55.87 BB]: (Pre 46%, Flop 11%, Turn 5%)

BTN shows A J (Two Pair, Jacks and Nines)

Main Pot [55.87 BB]: (Pre 21%, Flop 4%, Turn 0%)
Side Pot#1 [43.95 BB]: (Pre 26%, Flop 4%, Turn 0%)

Hero wins 55.87 BB
Hero wins 43.95 BB

I was expecting BB to shove on me so it was an easy call with AQ, especially because he was a pretty weak player. BTN was just terrible and limp folding a lot. I considered folding after BTN flats BB but then I decided I would probably be in good shape to win if I call.

Chip and a Chair

888 Poker - $3.60+$0.40|800/1600 Ante 200 NL - Holdem - 4 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (BTN): 0.28 BB
SB: 20.64 BB (VPIP: 23.53, PFR: 15.38, 3Bet Preflop: 50.00, Hands: 17)
BB: 10.49 BB (VPIP: 43.75, PFR: 42.86, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 17)
CO: 13.82 BB (VPIP: 22.58, PFR: 10.00, 3Bet Preflop: 4.55, Hands: 64)

4 players post ante of 0.13 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2 BB) Hero has Q 2

fold, Hero calls 0.15 BB and is all-in, SB calls 0.5 BB, BB checks

Flop: (2.65 BB, 3 players) J Q Q
SB checks, BB checks

Turn: (2.65 BB, 3 players) 9
SB checks, BB checks

River: (2.65 BB, 3 players) A
SB checks, BB checks

SB shows Q 7 (Three of a Kind, Queens)
(Pre 33%, Flop 50%, Turn 48%)
BB mucks 4 4 (Two Pair, Queens and Fours)
(Pre 54%, Flop 7%, Turn 5%)
Hero shows Q 2 (Three of a Kind, Queens)
(Pre 13%, Flop 43%, Turn 48%)
SB wins 0.48 BB
Hero wins 0.48 BB
SB wins 1.7 BB

888 Poker - $3.60+$0.40|800/1600 Ante 200 NL - Holdem - 4 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (CO): 0.48 BB
BTN: 21.69 BB (VPIP: 27.78, PFR: 14.29, 3Bet Preflop: 50.00, Hands: 18)
SB: 9.37 BB (VPIP: 41.18, PFR: 40.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 18)
BB: 13.69 BB (VPIP: 22.22, PFR: 9.84, 3Bet Preflop: 4.55, Hands: 65)

4 players post ante of 0.13 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2 BB) Hero has K 8

Hero calls 0.35 BB and is all-in, fold, fold

Flop: (1.85 BB, 2 players) Q 4 J

Turn: (1.85 BB, 2 players) 9

River: (1.85 BB, 2 players) T

Hero shows K 8 (Straight, King High)
(Pre 53%, Flop 35%, Turn 7%)
BB shows T 9 (Two Pair, Tens and Nines)
(Pre 47%, Flop 65%, Turn 93%)
Hero wins 1.55 BB
BB wins 0.8 BB

888 Poker - $3.60+$0.40|800/1600 Ante 200 NL - Holdem - 4 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (BB): 1.55 BB
CO: 21.56 BB (VPIP: 26.32, PFR: 13.33, 3Bet Preflop: 50.00, Hands: 19)
BTN: 8.74 BB (VPIP: 38.89, PFR: 37.50, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 19)
SB: 13.36 BB (VPIP: 22.22, PFR: 9.84, 3Bet Preflop: 4.55, Hands: 66)

4 players post ante of 0.13 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2 BB) Hero has K 3

fold, fold, SB raises to 3 BB, Hero calls 0.43 BB and is all-in

Flop: (3.35 BB, 2 players) 6 2 5

Turn: (3.35 BB, 2 players) K

River: (3.35 BB, 2 players) J

Hero shows K 3 (One Pair, Kings)
(Pre 74%, Flop 25%, Turn 91%)
SB shows 3 2 (One Pair, Twos)
(Pre 26%, Flop 75%, Turn 9%)
Hero wins 3.35 BB

888 Poker - $3.60+$0.40|800/1600 Ante 200 NL - Holdem - 4 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (BTN): 4.73 BB
SB: 20.31 BB (VPIP: 23.81, PFR: 12.50, 3Bet Preflop: 50.00, Hands: 21)
BB: 8.49 BB (VPIP: 35.00, PFR: 33.33, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 21)
CO: 11.69 BB (VPIP: 23.08, PFR: 11.11, 3Bet Preflop: 4.55, Hands: 68)

4 players post ante of 0.13 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2 BB) Hero has 9 A

fold, Hero raises to 4.6 BB and is all-in, SB calls 4.1 BB, fold

Flop: (10.71 BB, 2 players) 8 6 Q

Turn: (10.71 BB, 2 players) 4

River: (10.71 BB, 2 players) A

Hero shows 9 A (One Pair, Aces)
(Pre 58%, Flop 76%, Turn 86%)
SB shows J K (High Card, Ace)
(Pre 42%, Flop 24%, Turn 14%)
Hero wins 10.71 BB

888 Poker - $3.60+$0.40|800/1600 Ante 200 NL - Holdem - 4 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (CO): 10.71 BB
BTN: 15.59 BB (VPIP: 27.27, PFR: 11.76, 3Bet Preflop: 40.00, Hands: 22)
SB: 7.37 BB (VPIP: 33.33, PFR: 31.58, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 22)
BB: 11.56 BB (VPIP: 22.73, PFR: 10.94, 3Bet Preflop: 4.55, Hands: 69)

4 players post ante of 0.13 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2 BB) Hero has T A

Hero raises to 10.58 BB and is all-in, fold, fold, BB calls 9.58 BB

Flop: (22.17 BB, 2 players) 5 6 Q

Turn: (22.17 BB, 2 players) K

River: (22.17 BB, 2 players) J

Hero shows T A (Flush, Ace High)
(Pre 56%, Flop 77%, Turn 32%)
BB shows J K (Two Pair, Kings and Jacks)
(Pre 44%, Flop 23%, Turn 68%)
Hero wins 22.17 BB

So it's been a slow week of Poker for me- didn't get to play that much. Cash games have been going well but I was having trouble winning some MTTs during the week. Luckily I had this whole day to commit to Poker and I ended up placing 1st in 3 MTTs and had a good cash game session as well. I see some crazy **** in these micro MTTs and it amazes me how some of these guys are winning players. Not getting a ton of volume as you can all see - I'm not sure if I have the time but at least things are going well. Bankroll is now sitting at $214. I'm thinking about just throwing 1k or 2k onto my account (the amount I have made from Poker total) and hopping into bigger stakes. I must have 60k hands logged at 2nl by now, I'm probably wasting my time grinding from the bottom like this over and over again. I've never deposited more than $20 onto a Poker site though so I don't know how comfortable I am doing this.

Outside of Poker I'm still looking for a full time job. It's a lot more difficult to get an entry Web Developer job than I imagined it to be. Hopefully something turns up soon. I need to spend more time working on my programming skills so I will probably be skipping days of Poker. I'm trying to trim the fat from my life and really dedicate my time to what I want. I distract myself with too many things when I have real tangible goals I should be pursing. I've been watching some Gary Vaynerchuk videos and he is inspiring me to become more regimented. It's a bit ridiculous how I can waste so much time on mundane things when there are real life goals I desire to achieve.

Experienced my first real down swing today in a while. Started off playing some 10PLO and ran bad/played bad. Dropped about 4BI. Then I played some 20PLO and played ok, ran bad and lost 3 more BI. So that was about $90 dumped right there and half my BR.

Then I opened up some 10nl. Last night I had a great session 8 tabling and in 3k hands I had a 10BI up swing. Well today the complete opposite happened and I had a 10 BI downswing. It's ok though because I feel that I generally did nothing much wrong. Some big pots are as follows:
-Nut Flush rivered by full house at 400bb deep.
-KK vs AK all in pre, I get rivered by the Ace
-KK vs AA all in pre, I was the sucker with KK

-This one I could have gotten away from because I'm not beating anything except for Q9
888 Poker - $0.10 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 4 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 106.2 BB (VPIP: 29.55, PFR: 17.05, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 91)
SB: 99.1 BB (VPIP: 16.97, PFR: 4.24, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 168)
BB: 102.5 BB (VPIP: 57.89, PFR: 10.53, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 57)
Hero (CO): 225.4 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

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

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

Flop: (7.5 BB, 2 players) A T J
Hero bets 5.6 BB, BTN calls 5.6 BB

Turn: (18.7 BB, 2 players) 5
Hero bets 14 BB, BTN calls 14 BB

River: (46.7 BB, 2 players) A
Hero bets 30 BB, BTN raises to 83.6 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 53.6 BB

BTN shows A J (Full House, Aces full of Jacks)
(Pre 25%, Flop 70%, Turn 66%)
Hero shows K A (Three of a Kind, Aces)
(Pre 75%, Flop 30%, Turn 34%)
BTN wins 203.9 BB

And then a bunch of bluffs that were called.

I thought this guy was pretty easy to read. I figure he's opening a lot PPs and broadways utg. Decide to flat button because I think he'll give up a lot of hands post flop. When he checks, pretty easy bet for me consider I'm blocking some straight hands he could have and I can pick up equity on the turn.

I like the 5h on the turn, picked up a little more equity and I plan on jamming a heart on the river.

Terrible card for me on the river. At this point I'm pretty convinced villain got here with AT+ or a low pocket pair. I know if I check I'm losing showdown so all in is my only move. I guess if he called down this far with Ace high, he is never folding anyway. And another thing I should have considered is that a lot of lower PPs he has will be sets. AT is never really folding either I guess. AK is definitely a strange hand for him to be floating twice OOP, but this is good because now I know I can flat him IP and value bet very thinly.

888 Poker - $0.10 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

CO: 96.1 BB (VPIP: 44.76, PFR: 4.90, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 292)
Hero (BTN): 113.1 BB
SB: 159.8 BB (VPIP: 27.43, PFR: 17.71, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 182)
BB: 215.2 BB (VPIP: 14.77, PFR: 11.36, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 88)
UTG: 133.3 BB (VPIP: 33.63, PFR: 18.58, 3Bet Preflop: 7.14, Hands: 114)

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

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

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

Flop: (7.5 BB, 2 players) 7 8 T
UTG checks, Hero bets 5.6 BB, UTG calls 5.6 BB

Turn: (18.7 BB, 2 players) 5
UTG checks, Hero bets 10.3 BB, UTG calls 10.3 BB

River: (39.3 BB, 2 players) A
UTG bets 29.4 BB, Hero raises to 94.2 BB and is all-in, UTG calls 64.8 BB

Hero shows A 9 (One Pair, Aces)
(Pre 26%, Flop 41%, Turn 25%)
UTG shows A K (One Pair, Aces)
(Pre 74%, Flop 59%, Turn 75%)
UTG wins 215.1 BB

Back on an upswing from yesterdays session. Started off with some 10PLO and won around 10 BI which felt good since I've lost a large percent of my bankroll taking shots at PLO games I'm not rolled for.

Then I had a pretty sick NL session - stacked people with quads twice and had multiple set over set situations in my favor. Felt really good since I haven't been on the bad side of a set over set in over 50k hands probably which seems pretty insane to me.

888 Poker - $0.10 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

SB: 20.9 BB (VPIP: 44.31, PFR: 13.17, 3Bet Preflop: 1.96, Hands: 169)
Hero (BB): 106.5 BB
UTG: 161.7 BB (VPIP: 10.00, PFR: 1.67, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 63)
CO: 45.6 BB (VPIP: 34.13, PFR: 2.70, 3Bet Preflop: 2.02, Hands: 340)
BTN: 138.7 BB (VPIP: 42.11, PFR: 15.04, 3Bet Preflop: 11.63, Hands: 136)

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

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

fold, fold, BTN raises to 3.5 BB, fold, Hero raises to 10 BB, BTN calls 6.5 BB

Flop: (20.5 BB, 2 players) 4 3 A
Hero checks, BTN checks

Turn: (20.5 BB, 2 players) A
Hero checks, BTN checks

River: (20.5 BB, 2 players) 5
Hero bets 15.3 BB, BTN raises to 128.7 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 81.2 BB and is all-in

Hero shows A A (Four of a Kind, Aces)
(Pre 80%, Flop 85%, Turn 100%)
BTN shows 5 5 (Full House, Fives full of Aces)
(Pre 20%, Flop 15%, Turn 0%)
Hero wins 201.7 BB


888 Poker - $0.10 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

CO: 83.1 BB (VPIP: 52.00, PFR: 20.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 27)
BTN: 116.5 BB (VPIP: 21.21, PFR: 14.90, 3Bet Preflop: 2.04, Hands: 407)
SB: 160.2 BB (VPIP: 25.75, PFR: 21.17, 3Bet Preflop: 10.37, Hands: 1,151)
BB: 96.5 BB (VPIP: 34.64, PFR: 11.32, 3Bet Preflop: 2.34, Hands: 448)
Hero (UTG): 156.6 BB
MP: 227.2 BB (VPIP: 24.81, PFR: 5.56, 3Bet Preflop: 2.17, Hands: 273)

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

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

Hero raises to 4 BB, fold, CO calls 4 BB, fold, fold, fold

Flop: (9.5 BB, 2 players) 4 Q 5
Hero checks, CO bets 4.7 BB, Hero calls 4.7 BB

Turn: (18.9 BB, 2 players) A
Hero checks, CO bets 14.1 BB, Hero calls 14.1 BB

River: (47.1 BB, 2 players) Q
Hero checks, CO bets 23.5 BB, Hero raises to 133.8 BB and is all-in, CO calls 36.8 BB and is all-in

CO shows 4 4 (Full House, Fours full of Queens)
(Pre 18%, Flop 4%, Turn 2%)
Hero shows Q Q (Four of a Kind, Queens)
(Pre 82%, Flop 96%, Turn 98%)
Hero wins 158.4 BB