Hello 2+2! Welcome to my PGC. My goals for this thread are to write about poker and life while taking my shot at becoming a Live $2/$5NL Pro. I was inspired to write this from reading Matt Moore, Mike Wolfe, and Rob Farha's extremely good blogs. I am hoping to provide some value and entertainment, and learn from everyone in the community as I take my shot.

Background: I Graduated College in May of this year. Have been grinding live low stakes since then. I've made some good friends who are excellent poker players and also play full-time. Taken a couple poker-funded trips to Atlantic City and Vegas, while playing primarily in CT. I have minimal expenses, eating casino-comped food and living in casino-comped hotel rooms while sometimes splitting rooms with friends for cheap $$.

Goal: Achieve a Comfortable lifestyle playing Live $2/$5 NL. Travel a lot and see the world, work on other pursuits, etc. only after I get there. Pretty much looking to design a life of freedom with enough discretionary income to not have to worry about $$. Until I reach the goal facets below it's all about the grind, no extra expenses.

Goal Facets:

1. Build a 30 BI, $15,000 Poker Roll
Start Date: 10/9/2013
Completion Date Goal: 12/1/2013
Benchmarks: $7500, $10,000, $12,500, $15,000
Current Status: $5,700

2. Build up 6 months living expenses savings account, $6,000
Start Date: 10/9/2013
Completion Date Goal:1/12/2013
Benchmarks: ~$1,000 weekly December-Jan for 6 weeks, to be completed after Poker Roll is established
Current Status: $0

3. Deposit $4,000 Into a Roth IRA Retirement Account
Start Date: 10/9/2013
Completion Date Goal:4/1/2013
Benchmarks: $1,000 invested per month Jan-Apr 15. To be completed after Living Expenses Account is established

4. Establish a Live $2/$5NL winrate of >$30/hr over 1000 hours
Start Date: 10/9/2013
Completion Date Goal: 3/1/2013
Benchmarks: Calculate winrate for each 100 hour segment of play, and running winrate every 100 hours.
Current Status: N/A 30 Hours lifetime at 2/5

Plan: Build roll from $5,700 by playing 2/5 50+ hours per week. Minimize expenses, everything possible goes back into the roll. If I hit a downswing and shrink my bankroll to $2,500, I will play $1/$2 70+ hours per week until built back up to $5,000.

Off to Foxwoods Tomorrow Morning and then Maryland Live for the week to start of the grind! Looking forward to becoming a part of this community.

sounds like a good thread, how often will you be playing and posting? foxwoods going to be your main casino?

Thanks man! I'll be playing 5-6 days per week to get 50+ hours in. Posting here as often as I can, with longer updates at least once a week. Foxwoods is my main casino for now, however the action at Maryland Live is looking promising from the bravo app. I am taking a roadtrip down with some friends leaving tomorrow night

gl man, hope you get some run good at the beginning.

GL. Do you usually put in 50hr weeks? I tried doing fewer and still can't put in he volume

Thanks man! me too, I will feel a lot more comfortable once I build up to around $10k.

I've averaged 41 since the beginning of September, but I was in Vegas for a while and Sick for a couple of days. Averaged 54.5 over the last 2 weeks, during which I have really been trying to put the volume in.

I have a 2 hour drive to the nearest casino from my house, so I end up staying at the casino 4-5 nights out of the week. sleeping in comped rooms, friends rooms, and occasionally my car. There are logistical problems with playing long 10-14 hour days; It is difficult to find time to do much else.

I find that meditation, weight lifting, studying poker, reading outside material, and socializing are daily activities that I consider important which can easily get neglected. I often end up "catching up" on these activities by taking 1-2 days off of poker per week, however I am working on integrating them in to a typical day at the casino.

Also I have no responsibilities other than typical bills and college loans.

Good luck man! Make goals based on volume not results and make sure to keep calm while playing. Monitoring your heart rate and eating healthy will really pay off on the tables !

I've always been torn over the question of whether monetary goals made sense in poker... I set these ones in regard to the amounts of capital I think I'll need to play professionally without going busto. Geared towards the place that I want to reach monetarily. The date timeline that I set out is a huge estimation, mother variance probably has very different plans (in either direction).

Eating healthy is the nuts! got to cut back on Burger King and other bad food. It's easy to slip into bad patterns when you are exhausted from putting in large daily volume. Could you explain what you mean by monitoring your heart rate? Any tips for keeping chill in stressful spots at the table?

Do you have a lot of living expenses? Where did you go to college? What kind of degree did you get and do you plan on looking for a job if things don't work out?

You mentioned meditation so I assume you're familiar with at least some techniques of it. Just do the simplest one! Breathe in for 4 seconds, out for 4 seconds.

How does Foxwoods 2/5 compare to Vegas 2/5?

Foxwoods 2-5 is pretty soft from my experience. I would compare it a lot to the Bellagio 2-5 as to how big it plays but the level of play is lower at FW.

Rough start towards this quest... 4 hour -$700 2/5 session at foxwoods. JJ no good on AQJ board in a 3way raised pot, short stack decided to limp call KT with 50bbs. Its all going in. Got dealt a bunch of baby pairs and folded the flop as I couldn't find a set. Opened some Broadway and bricked.

Last hand- called $25 3way in position preflop with $320 effective behind, My 88s connect to a ($75) Qs8s3h flop. Check, Preflop raiser leads $50, I call, SB calls. ($225) turn 10c. Only J9 gets there. Check, pfr announces all in $270 to me. I call all in, fold behind, and I am far ahead of his KK. River is the case king.

BR = $5,000. Off to Maryland Live to make some money back!

I have an engineering degree from umass lowell. My $5,000 roll is it for poker. If I bust I go
home for a few weeks and move away to get an engineering job, marry Jewish girl, etc.

Pretty minimal expenses until school loan payments in December.




Can't say as I played 1/3 in Vegas and am new to Foxwoods 2/5. Its $500max whereas some Vegas games play at $1000

I know some people who went to Lowell even in the engineering program. The name Alex Solon ring any bells or matt Sullivan... Goes by sully?

Tried to PM you this but you can't yet.

Man that's a rough start. Work ethic, goals, bankroll, it sounds like you have a good shot at pulling this off! Good luck! I'm looking forward to the rest of the thread.

Looking forward to this thread. I wish you luck and I think 50hrs a week is definitely doable. Just make sure that you are playing your A game on a good table and not just squeezing out some hrs to hit an hrs target.

If you go down to 70hrs at $1/2nl if your bankroll drops, I recommend not doing 70hrs as it will hurt your desire for poker.

Make sure even with 50hrs of poker, you find something to balance your life. Make sure to have non poker friends and hobbies or you will burn out within 3-6 months.

25% of life roll on the felt. Good times in Maryland! The cocktail waitresses are astounding. Distracting me from my game. I gave the cutest one the damaged 8 of clubs. She gave me a red bull. Didnt bring my laptop down here, will type up a full update and some cool hands when I get back.

Thanks buddy!
short bankroll which seconds as my entire liferoll though haha.




Thanks man. All eyes on the grind right now. But I workout, reqd philosophy meet girls and drink in my spare time

Nice thread, play well. I agree with mrducks, 70 hrs a week is going to suck esspecially after a downswing at 2/5. I think it is better to take a little time away from poker doing other hobbies then coming back with a clear head.

I am assuming goals 2-4 you are trying to achieve in 2014? All are good targets, you can do anything you set your mind to.

2 is as soon as I get enough buy ins to not fear going broke. 3 has to be by April 15 to beat tax season. 4 is as soon as possible. Should hit 1000 hours in March. Time away and a balanced life are very very important, but I am consciously un-balancing my life to try to achieve something difficult in the short term.

Cool man, determination is key. There's nothing wrong with going full steam ahead for awhile. I'm sure you realize that poker gets repetitive and monotonous if you overdo it.

It doesn't become monotonous, just switch your play style up if you get bored. Start playing any two for bets/raises regardless of position/opponents pre flop...

Haha.

Balancing is key. Don't worry about burnout and if you miss a goal. Not saying to not take your guidelines seriously/strictly but if you underperform somewhere don't spiral out of control. Always check yourself mentally. Horse with blinders focus on your goal. Then take blinders off and enjoy other aspects as you mentioned.

Your success and failure is on you, build confidence, build your game, lifestyle, and be positive!

My two pennies. Good luck enjoy subbed!

+$2370 playing 2/5 in Maryland. Had my biggest 2/5 session yet yesterday, booking $1500 profit in 6 hours. Drank some beers with jamie and brad in a sports bar last night and caught the end of the epic red Sox comeback. Driving to Philli now to play at Parx.

parx 2/5 is pretty awesome. plays deep too although that might not be the best thing for your short roll. how were the games in maryland? gl at parx!

Thanks man!
Maryland live was good. 2/5 Games were significantly softer than Foxwoods and the field was bigger. The poker tables are packed together pretty tightly and the room was always crowded. You can call in for 2/5+ which is a necessity with the huge waitlists. Be at parx in about an hour