800hrs/4 Years, Now 800hrs/8 Months
05-10-2018
, 05:27 AM
Hey peeps
Background
I got interested in poker in 2013 when I was living outside of Nashville. I put $50 on a poker site and had some success, but I didn't enjoy it as much as the live poker I was watching. I gave in and started driving the 2 and a half hours clear across Kentucky to play at a terrible river boat casino in Illinois. Thus began my on again/off again love affair with poker.
I have around 800 hours logged from 2014 to present. Consistency in playing hasn't been a thing in my poker repertoire, which I'm hoping to change. 175 hours in 2014, less than 60 hours in 2015, etc. Up until 2017 I was ending every year with around $1500 in profit. Really rec level stuff.
In 2017 I took a more serious stab at poker. After around 130 hours logged and dropping $2k in two nights back-to-back I decided to drop the poker playing and focus on the other side of my life which was school. Later in the year I decided to start playing again but this time play at casino I'd had more luck at in the past despite it being an extra hours drive. It was also a casino in sweet USD as opposed to the Canadian cash I was losing previously so it had that going for it too.
I managed to start a comeback and make a little over $6k in 180 hours all at 1/3. Still a laughable amount of hours but I was happy to book a win for the year despite failing on what I felt was giving poker a serious shot. The most important thing for me in the end was that I gained a lot of confidence in myself and my game. This was largely due in part to more rigorously studying and the change to the different casino.
Current Situation
At the beginning of 2018 I was burnt out on life and poker fell to the wayside. i played my first game in March and since then have only played 10 sessions total. My session lengths are usually around 10 hours or more because of the travel involved so I've already logged over 100 hours. In that time I've been on a decent heater with over $7k in profit thanks to three separate $2k wins. All my hours are at 1/3 with a 100bb buyin cap.
With my profit and leftover cash from last year I'm sitting on an $8k bankroll. I'm playing predominantly 1/3 with the only other options being 3/5 with a 200bb buyin cap or learning and playing limit Omaha that can be lucrative in my area. I'm hoping to be taking shots at 3/5 in the coming future and eventually moving up.
Speaking of my area, that term I may be using a little loosely. I'm technically 30 minutes from a casino with 5 tables that spreads 1/3 that has renowned 2+2 players like GG and an hour away from two other casinos with poker, one that actually has 2/5 which is rare. I've played at all these casinos a decent amount and the bottom line in my view is this: the rake is high, they're all reg infested, and there's no incentive from management. With all this in mind and other caveats like wanting USD compared to CAN, I've been exclusively playing at casinos that are between an hour and a half away to two and a half hours away.
I'm currently a promo chaser which leads to me playing during the day. The closest casino to me, an hour and a half away, has their best promos Wed as it's $500 high hand every 30 min. The player pool is good with lots of senior folk and bad regs but can be not a lot of action. 1 table of 3/5 at night is standard. There's another casino 2 hours away with $400 high hands every 30 min on Saturday. My final choice and new favorite is a cardroom two and half hours away, kill me, but has $250 high hands every 15 min and has a good player pool.
Goals
A big part of the reason I'm setting up this PGC thread is to push myself to play more. I have time available so there's no excuse. I'd like to reach 1,000 hours this year which doesn't seem out of hand. I know that probably sounds absurd, I'd need to grind over 800 hours in 8 months which at my past rate 800 hrs/4 years lol, but, at a modest 115 hours a month I'd hit it without much fuss. This summer I have only one commitment and its on Mondays so I have the opportunity to fit in a lot of poker. Something like Wed-Sat/Sun seems reasonable. I almost always want to play on Wednesday but i'd also like to start grinding the lucrative weekend night games. Wed-Sat/Sun is the plan right now.
I obviously want to end with a profit as this is the first step in seeing how much of a side income poker can be. Over my 800 hours I have made ~$22/hr and more recently was at $35/hr last year and am at $70/hr this year. I read a lot about never being able to know your true winrate even with 1,000 hours logged but I'd like to believe I can beat the 1/3 for 10bb/hr. As such I'd like to end this year with a profit of $30,000. I'd also like to take shots at 3/5 while my bankroll is over 20 buy ins and proceed appropriately.
Lastly, I need to study more. As I alluded to previously I've been playing poker on and off again for awhile. I've read around 20 poker books in total and have sporadically tried to keep my game sharp. Last year I was nearly religious with keeping my head in the game with reading poker books, watching videos, doing poker practices, and reading 2+2. This year has been a bit different. I've become lazy to put it simply and mostly just rely on 2+2 and some videos for my "studying." I need to develop a good away from the table studying routine.
* $30,000 profit
* 1,000 hours
* 5 hours minimum of study per week
TL;DR
Basically I'll be using this thread to post write ups on sessions, certain hands, and epiphanies in life as I grind towards my goal. I'm a decent ABC player with aspirations of becoming a TAG crusher on my road to 1,000 hours. I'd love to dream big and say by page 3 I'll be posting predominantly 3/5 hands and recaps but I suspect that won't be the case.
I started logging my sessions in an app called Poker Tracker in 2017 and have continued into this year. I'll post the giraffes. What I also did in 2017 and in the past but stopped doing was keeping a semi poker journal. Basically a paragraph or two after a session describing hands and my feelings. I think starting that up again in this thread to be able to get those thoughts out and also have it as a point of reference in the future will be a big help to me.
Well, that's basically it. If you've read all this you have my appreciation. Here's to a successful 2018!
Background
I got interested in poker in 2013 when I was living outside of Nashville. I put $50 on a poker site and had some success, but I didn't enjoy it as much as the live poker I was watching. I gave in and started driving the 2 and a half hours clear across Kentucky to play at a terrible river boat casino in Illinois. Thus began my on again/off again love affair with poker.
I have around 800 hours logged from 2014 to present. Consistency in playing hasn't been a thing in my poker repertoire, which I'm hoping to change. 175 hours in 2014, less than 60 hours in 2015, etc. Up until 2017 I was ending every year with around $1500 in profit. Really rec level stuff.
In 2017 I took a more serious stab at poker. After around 130 hours logged and dropping $2k in two nights back-to-back I decided to drop the poker playing and focus on the other side of my life which was school. Later in the year I decided to start playing again but this time play at casino I'd had more luck at in the past despite it being an extra hours drive. It was also a casino in sweet USD as opposed to the Canadian cash I was losing previously so it had that going for it too.
I managed to start a comeback and make a little over $6k in 180 hours all at 1/3. Still a laughable amount of hours but I was happy to book a win for the year despite failing on what I felt was giving poker a serious shot. The most important thing for me in the end was that I gained a lot of confidence in myself and my game. This was largely due in part to more rigorously studying and the change to the different casino.
Current Situation
At the beginning of 2018 I was burnt out on life and poker fell to the wayside. i played my first game in March and since then have only played 10 sessions total. My session lengths are usually around 10 hours or more because of the travel involved so I've already logged over 100 hours. In that time I've been on a decent heater with over $7k in profit thanks to three separate $2k wins. All my hours are at 1/3 with a 100bb buyin cap.
With my profit and leftover cash from last year I'm sitting on an $8k bankroll. I'm playing predominantly 1/3 with the only other options being 3/5 with a 200bb buyin cap or learning and playing limit Omaha that can be lucrative in my area. I'm hoping to be taking shots at 3/5 in the coming future and eventually moving up.
Speaking of my area, that term I may be using a little loosely. I'm technically 30 minutes from a casino with 5 tables that spreads 1/3 that has renowned 2+2 players like GG and an hour away from two other casinos with poker, one that actually has 2/5 which is rare. I've played at all these casinos a decent amount and the bottom line in my view is this: the rake is high, they're all reg infested, and there's no incentive from management. With all this in mind and other caveats like wanting USD compared to CAN, I've been exclusively playing at casinos that are between an hour and a half away to two and a half hours away.
I'm currently a promo chaser which leads to me playing during the day. The closest casino to me, an hour and a half away, has their best promos Wed as it's $500 high hand every 30 min. The player pool is good with lots of senior folk and bad regs but can be not a lot of action. 1 table of 3/5 at night is standard. There's another casino 2 hours away with $400 high hands every 30 min on Saturday. My final choice and new favorite is a cardroom two and half hours away, kill me, but has $250 high hands every 15 min and has a good player pool.
Goals
A big part of the reason I'm setting up this PGC thread is to push myself to play more. I have time available so there's no excuse. I'd like to reach 1,000 hours this year which doesn't seem out of hand. I know that probably sounds absurd, I'd need to grind over 800 hours in 8 months which at my past rate 800 hrs/4 years lol, but, at a modest 115 hours a month I'd hit it without much fuss. This summer I have only one commitment and its on Mondays so I have the opportunity to fit in a lot of poker. Something like Wed-Sat/Sun seems reasonable. I almost always want to play on Wednesday but i'd also like to start grinding the lucrative weekend night games. Wed-Sat/Sun is the plan right now.
I obviously want to end with a profit as this is the first step in seeing how much of a side income poker can be. Over my 800 hours I have made ~$22/hr and more recently was at $35/hr last year and am at $70/hr this year. I read a lot about never being able to know your true winrate even with 1,000 hours logged but I'd like to believe I can beat the 1/3 for 10bb/hr. As such I'd like to end this year with a profit of $30,000. I'd also like to take shots at 3/5 while my bankroll is over 20 buy ins and proceed appropriately.
Lastly, I need to study more. As I alluded to previously I've been playing poker on and off again for awhile. I've read around 20 poker books in total and have sporadically tried to keep my game sharp. Last year I was nearly religious with keeping my head in the game with reading poker books, watching videos, doing poker practices, and reading 2+2. This year has been a bit different. I've become lazy to put it simply and mostly just rely on 2+2 and some videos for my "studying." I need to develop a good away from the table studying routine.
* $30,000 profit
* 1,000 hours
* 5 hours minimum of study per week
TL;DR
Basically I'll be using this thread to post write ups on sessions, certain hands, and epiphanies in life as I grind towards my goal. I'm a decent ABC player with aspirations of becoming a TAG crusher on my road to 1,000 hours. I'd love to dream big and say by page 3 I'll be posting predominantly 3/5 hands and recaps but I suspect that won't be the case.
I started logging my sessions in an app called Poker Tracker in 2017 and have continued into this year. I'll post the giraffes. What I also did in 2017 and in the past but stopped doing was keeping a semi poker journal. Basically a paragraph or two after a session describing hands and my feelings. I think starting that up again in this thread to be able to get those thoughts out and also have it as a point of reference in the future will be a big help to me.
Well, that's basically it. If you've read all this you have my appreciation. Here's to a successful 2018!
