I just came back to my home country after being out for a long time and I decided to go on my old pokerstars IT account again, where I started a few years back.
I've always been able to make some decent money playing 10 and 25NL on most EU sites, binking a tourney every now and then, only to degen most of it one way or another, but I like to think I've grown out of that mindset now.

So I put in 100e and went directly on 10NL, ready to redeposit anyway.
Went up to 200 in about a day (4 zoom and 2 reg tables), with some lucky 25PLO hands and just generally a very soft pool in 10NL, so I withdrew some to buy a birthday present.
Then I saw there's a challenge now where with some 2.5k points of rake you get 200e bonus, I thought **** yea put in volume and double up quickly the BR
Fast forward two days, got it back to about 100 and the 25PLO idea starts coming back. I decide to be smart about it and directly go on 50PLO with just over 2 buy ins, at first I run it up to over 200e on just one table only to lose it in two hands and be left with 30e overall.

I think to myself, ok whatever I need to focus on my studies anyway I'm not even gonna withdraw, just play some hands of PLO until a tourney starts, reg in that and as the song goes, che sarÃ*, sarÃ*.

I manage to not lose all the 30e before the morning on stars 15e entry tourney, in fact I had to get back to it by playing Spin n gos but that's just how that morning went.

Anyway, I get into a weird spot with a certain hand towards the beginning of the tourney and decide to make a post on reddit about it.
5 hours later, I win the tourney for around 650.

The italian poker dream is back.

I played a few hands at 25NL zoom in the evening, but I more or less stayed even.
Then, this morning I decided to download the trial for Holdem manager and started some 25NL zoom again, no PLO no other stuff, just 4 zoom tables.

Here is the graph for today:

GRAPH (image upload doesn't seem to work)

Some interesting hands here and there. Had some major coolers in the beginning but I worked my way back.
Now I'm at 800 euros even, with the help of some bonuses, and closing in the 200e bonus.

I'm gonna update this thread, and post some of the more interesting hands, and maybe something else. The objective for now is to reach a bankroll for 100NL, which is going to be at least 3.5k I'd say, to stay on the safe side.

NL25z eh? ci si vede lì allora.

Daje, sono sicuro di averti già visto ai tavoli oggi, il mio nick su PS è Mrksn. Certo che alcuni lì stanno più fuori di testa di 10NL, other than the regs most people are just throwing money away.
I also saw your post now, gl with your challenge man.

Very swingy short session last night. Lots of coolers against unusual hands in a 3bet pot, but sort of managed to keep it together by the end.

GRAPH

This morning another short 25NL zoom sesh went pretty well (I'll post today's graph later on), with a 3BI in the plus but I decided to put on the side a 50NL reg table. It was ok at first, then some interesting spots came about with a very aggro player who kept three betting and shoving.

PokerStars - €0.50 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 3 players
Hand converted by Holdem Manager 3 : http://www.holdemmanager.com

BTN: €22.44 (44.9 bb)
Hero (SB): €54.50 (109 bb)
BB: €61.35 (122.7 bb)

Hero posts SB €0.25, BB posts €0.50

Pre Flop: (pot: €0.75) Hero has Qc Ks
fold, Hero raises to €1.50, BB raises to €5.00, Hero calls €3.50

Flop: (€10.00, 2 players) 8d 7d Qs
Hero checks, BB checks

Turn: (€10.00, 2 players) 8s
Hero bets €4.73, BB calls €4.73

River: (€19.46, 2 players) 6c
Hero checks, BB bets €51.62 and is all-in, Hero folds

Results: €19.46 pot (€1.07 rake)
Final Board: 8d 7d Qs 8s 6c

BB wins €18.39


I was very tempted to call here, I admit I definitely should have checked the turn to not get me in this spot, but I wasn't expecting this kind of player.
It seemed like a missed flush of spades, or pocket 10s.
Considering some hands earlier I feel like I should have called his (possible) bluff or just pay him off to see what he had, but I guess I didn't want to lose all I made in zoom in the past hour.

The 50NL shot definitely didn't go as planned, I would've been happier if it was just about the skill level but instead I kept getting insane coolers like set over set, oppo hitting a second pair on the river... So I lost a few buy ins there, but I'm happy to say that I feel like I'm doing pretty well on 25NL. This is the GRAPH from this morning, and relative STATS.
The big losses weren't too interesting, here's the main ones:

PokerStars - €0.25 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 4 players
Hand converted by Holdem Manager 3

BTN: €16.65 (66.6 bb)
SB: €10.47 (41.9 bb)
Hero (BB): €33.22 (132.9 bb)
CO: €25.78 (103.1 bb)

SB posts €0.10, Hero posts BB €0.25

Pre Flop: (pot: €0.35) Hero has A A
CO raises to €0.62, 2 folds, Hero raises to €2.50, CO calls €1.88

Flop: (€5.10, 2 players) 5 3 K
Hero bets €2.41, CO calls €2.41

Turn: (€9.92, 2 players) 2
Hero bets €7.32, CO raises to €20.87 and is all-in, Hero calls €13.55

River: (€51.66, 2 players) 9

Results: €51.66 pot (€1.50 rake)
Final Board: 5 3 K 2 9

Hero shows A A: (One Pair, Aces)
(Pre 79%, Flop 68%, Turn 16%)

CO shows 8 9: (Flush, King High)
(Pre 22%, Flop 32%, Turn 84%)

CO wins €50.16


PokerStars - €0.25 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by Holdem Manager 3

BTN: €25.52 (102.1 bb)
Hero (SB): €28.70 (114.8 bb)
BB: €20.33 (81.3 bb)
UTG: €52.31 (209.2 bb)
MP: €34.68 (138.7 bb)
CO: €29.21 (116.8 bb)

Hero posts SB €0.10, BB posts €0.25

Pre Flop: (pot: €0.35) Hero has A K
fold, MP raises to €0.75, 2 folds, Hero raises to €3.00, fold, MP calls €2.25

Flop: (€6.25, 2 players) 8 A J
Hero bets €2.01, MP raises to €31.68 and is all-in, Hero calls 23.69 and is all-in

Turn: (€57.65, 2 players) 3

River: (€57.65, 2 players) K

Results: €57.65 pot (€2.00 rake)
Final Board: 8 A J 3 K

Hero shows A K: (Two Pair, Aces and Kings)
(Pre 48%, Flop 4%, Turn 0%)

MP shows 8 8: (Three of a Kind, Eights)
(Pre 52%, Flop 96%, Turn 100%)

MP wins €55.65

For now I'm sitting on about 750e, closing in on a 150+ bonus so I guess I'll reach 1k by tomorrow or Monday since I have an important assignment for my thesis to complete by next week.
Also, on the 25th the ICOOP will start so I'm hoping to get in some substantial wins but mainly I need to not get carried away and throw away half my bankroll in 50 or 100e BI tournaments.

I'm still considering whether I should buy HM or not, I didn't find particularly useful on the Italian pool since it isn't even comparable to EU in terms of size, it isn't very hard to recognise names and how much they 3bet/Cbet or fold, who's a reg and who is just playing to lose. The useful part is hand reviewing and graphs, but I can get that from some free softwares too...
What stats should I put in the HUD that would actually make it worth it in a pretty small pool?

Also, i'm considering splitting the roll once I reach 1k and move part of it on 888.it, I played on it before and I remember reaching 1000BB on 20NL multiple times, issue is the pool there is really small and no fast tables. Not sure if I should just use it for tourneys maybe and put in only 100 or so instead of splitting evenly, but honestly it doesn't seem very convenient.

Ciao. Come è il field su 888? non ci ho mai giocato, è piu facile di stars ai micro? Ci sono bot / colluders?

Posso parlare solo di un paio d'anni fa quindi prendilo con le pinze, ma io ricordo fosse abbastanza facile seppur un field davvero ristretto, parlo di 3/4 tavoli per stake nei momenti con più traffico. Un gran bel pro è che puoi scegliere il tavolo in cui sederti, quindi puoi benissimo andare su quello che pensi sia migliore, anche perchè mi sembra che SNAP (la loro versione di zoom) sia quasi inesistente.
I tornei hanno dei GTD abbastanza bassi ma con molte meno persone non è troppo difficile finire in alto alla classifica (penso lì ci sia stato uno dei primi tornei che io abbia vinto, tipo un PKO con si e no 500 GTD).
Ci farò un deposito a breve per provare com'è ora, ma in questo momento PS e suoi bonus hanno tutta la mia attenzione.

SESSIONE DI IERI SERA After some sessions under EV (I'm talking 150e under the yellow line) and getting horribly coolered whenever I moved up to 50NL I managed to slide in some tricks to increase the winrate (and this is not including the 200e bonus, for which I still have ten days so I'll try to get it at least twice), maybe it was just drunk people on a saturday night playing online poker but I can't complain.

Morning graph



Decent run today except for a few coolers, currently sitting on 919e and 200e bonus coming tomorrow probably.

I will play a few tourneys today too unless I'm stopped by a greater force (girlfriend) and have to go out for dinner. I have a 30PKO in mind, a 10e buy in with 15k GTD and a 10e sat to a 100 sunday special 100k GTD, though the latter is unlikely cause I'm planning on going out in the evening almost for sure.

I need to keep everything in line and not start spewing on pointless stuff like a 100e buy in tourney, I know the 30 is already steep but I wanna give it a try and have done well in the past, though I am more used to higher buy in for bounties (SCOOP 109PKO paid my rent for a few months).

Yeah go out man, Conte will put us in coprifuoco sooner or later.

I took a bit of a break due to the very nice weather here.
As an update, I'm thinking of just taking it all out and giving it up for now. I reached 1k pretty easily, and to make more rake for this challenge PS is offering I went up on 50NLz on two tables again.
I've had one of the worst runs of my life, I got flush over flush twice in half an hour, 3 outers getting rivered, straight vs set turned into a full house by the river... The kind of stuff that if I were any dumber I'd say it's rigged. But it's alright.
I had to take some money out to buy some new things from IKEA, and a nice speaker + headphones so whatever I'm glad anyway even though I didn't reach 1kNL.
Now I really don't want to move back down to 10NL, though BR wise I guess I should, I'll grind a bit and as soon I lose a couple of buy ins I'll consider moving down.
I'll play a chill 10e tourney today while working on my thesis and see how that goes.

I swear 50z on .it is a ***** lol, I always run like a sad PoS there too.

Our first proper hands AA vs AK and full house over full house, all balanced.
I made some weird decisions today, got this bonus but I kept running like **** in zoom, some of it was bad play also, can't deny that, and instead of taking a break I decided to play heads up. Started off with 50 HUz, really enjoyable and I started winning a lot so I moved up directly to 100 thinking if I lose one hand I won't feel like ****, I won some and lost a beautiful all in pre with KK vs 10 10 who rivered a straight.
Moved up to bigger stakes, 200 NL to see what it was like. It was way more fun, not only in a gamblers prospective (I have all in BB so it takes two secs to forget how much it's all worth) but for the level of play. I think I spent a couple of hours or so just playing against this guy this evening, I started short stacked at 60BB and I left with 180 or so, all the while going up and down trying to understand his playing style..
I'm gonna slow down on 6 max zoom for now, only have a few few tables open and play more heads up (now I'll be more BR conscious), and hopefully be rolled soon to play on 200NL.
I want to share the last hand, how to turn a smile into a frown real fast. Sorry about the Italian parts

Posto 1: Hero (€199 chips)
Posto 2: Vil (€200 chips)
Hero: versa il piccolo buio €1
Vil: versa il grande buio €2
*** CARTE COPERTE ***
Distribuite a Hero [Tc Th]
HERO: rilancia €4 fino a €6
VIL: chiama €4
*** FLOP *** [4s 6d Td]
VIL fa check
HERO: fa check
*** TURN *** [4s 6d Td] [7d]
VIL: punta €8.51
HERO: chiama €8.51
*** RIVER *** [4s 6d Td 7d] [7h]
VIL: punta €22
HERO: rilancia €162.49 fino a €184.49 ed è all-in
VIL: chiama €162.49
*** SHOW DOWN ***
HERO: mostra [Tc Th] (un full di Dieci con Sette)
VIL: mostra [7s 6h] (un full di Sette con Sei)
HERO ha raccolto €397 dal piatto
*** RIASSUNTO ***
Piatto totale €398 | Rake €1

Only 1e rake is insane for a pot like that.

Does Italy have live poker for decent stakes?

I honestly don't know much about live poker here, I know it's very regulated so there aren't a lot of clubs, there are some casinos in the north near the border with Switzerland, and in Sanremo.
I heard of a few clubs in Rome but personally I've never been there and I don't think it's high stakes, probably more like 50/100 euro buy in tournaments max. There surely is something more going on underground but I don't know, the law can be pretty strict, and if you're found out gambling or hosting games without permission it can turn out pretty expensive for everyone in the game. At this point it'd be better to just go to Malta.

Update. I lost a hundred euros this morning in a pot, but worse still I got a letter from the country I was in before about some taxes which amounts to almost 500e. So I decided to just take out everything and buy something nice with the leftover from the taxes. The Italian poker dream is on hold until I get my goddamn deposit back from my old place (bastards, it's been a month and they're taking out 200 for some bullshit) and have some expendable money to invest.

I couldn't resist in the end, with ICOOP going on and all the new players these days with the semi-lockdown going on it just seemed like losing money not to try to play at least a bit. The plan was to put down around 500 and go directly to 25NL, but I decided instead to play with just 33e to start off, 6 buyins for 5NL.
At first I just wanted to play some tourneys but it's a shitshow like i've never seen so I just went cash with one or two MTT's to try my luck.

These have been the (very lucky) results of the first couple of days.



As usual PLO is just horrible, sometimes I run great sometimes I lose half my roll. Definitely not going for it anytime soon, too swingy.
I'll try to stick to 10NLz + reg at least until I reach 300, took some shots now just to build a base quicker.
BR now 124e (It didn't count a 10e tourney entry today and 1euro won from a freeroll)

Back on the poker grind again. Once again, some withdrawing had to be done, not for any particular reasons but jobs are scarce even with a math degree... Seems like a masters nowadays is almost a must, and this covid situation isn't helping at all.

I've been thinking a lot about how much poker has helped me through my studies, even if it was just 10 or 5NL or some lucky MTT wins. Being able to afford going out to a dinner, offering some drinks, often even pretty much paying rent just through it without having to worry about money too much. The bad beats hit hard, but they do teach every time to get better and to keep a cool mind.
Anyway, it's easy to talk when you're running like this

I think I got a lot better than even only a month or so ago, I studied some interesting spots and changed strategy here and there, but we'll see how it'll continue, of course 29BB/100 is not sustainable.

I hope to keep updating this thread and going up stakes.

Little downswing in the beginning full of tilting hands, noticed some leaks in my play as I didn't concentrate, everything seemed to go wrong and I was in a terrible mood to begin with due to some issues I'm having. I decided to call it for an hour and get back to it later on.
I did get back to it and it paid off, detaching all real world negativity from my poker plays.
Lost a shove in the last hand so I will have to scratch the itch and get it back up later in the day.