Thanks man appreciate it.

I'll look to post a nl25z graph soon and it won't be as nice as the nl10z graph that's for sure but I'm doing everything I can to achieve the highest win-rate possible. It's definitely a lot tougher than nl10z was (which is to be expected as lots have people have warned that it's a big jump), population tendencies changed quite a bit so I've tried to put in a lot of off table work to try and keep up.

Had a rough weekend at nl25z. Just couldn't get any momentum going for the most part. Definitely ran bad but I'm going to have to do a pretty in depth review to judge my overall play. I do feel as though I played pretty solid for the most part but yeah I'm not to happy especially when the games are known to be softer on the weekend. I'm still winning at the limit right now so I have no plans to move back to nl10z. Hopefully I'll get things back on track this week.

Also a side note I've played some nl25/nl50 reg tables on another site and I have to say if I wasn't trying to test myself in the zoom pool against the tough competition to improve I would be moving almost all my volume to other sites/reg tables. The nl50 reg tables were comparable to nl10z on stars and the rakeback is a million times better as chests are now giving essentially nothing as I'm sure most of you know. Anyways graph below:

Really kind of shell shocked after a morning session today. So I'm obviously on a downswing at nl25z as you can see from the graph above and here is today's session....



Set over set 4 times in a span of ~300 hands. The first three hurt for sure (as you can see with my EV when the money went in OTF in each case I was essentially drawing dead and then to top it off the last one I GII 3 ways with top set OTF and a king hits OTR to give villain a set of kings and the pot. Really at a loss for words and had to cut this session short.

Not trying to make this a bad beat thread but I want to show how gross variance can be in a single session. I ended up hitting the tables again last night and ended with the worst losing day by far since the start of this thread which included 5 sets over sets. Here's the graph:



And then I thought about taking some time away from the tables but in reality I feel ok about my game so I fired up some tables this morning and was playing my A game and then ran a set of jacks into queens and a set of 9s into jacks so 7 set over set situations in the past two days. Poker can be brutal lol.

Today's session:



Hopefully I can get out of this rut. Kind of thinking I should take some time off but at the same time don't feel like I'm tilting off buyins or anything so I'm not sure.

Felt like I needed this session:



Still hanging in there at nl25z. Trying to get better everyday.

Overall thread recap to date (Including all graphs below)

Just kind of wanted to summarize everything and maybe set new (much more ambitious) goals in the near future for the rest of 2018. So when I started this thread I was a breakeven at best nl5z player (my ~50,000 hands prior to the thread at nl5z I was actually losing). And while the volume of hands has not been great since starting the thread I have stuck to my plan of putting a large priority into studying as I don't need to build a bankroll I have the money to shot anything up to nl500z if I wanted to the issue is my game.. since as I stated I was only good enough to maybe break even at nl5z. This month I've really put in a substantial amount of time though playing nl25z with a few small shots at nl50z which has me extremely motivated.

Hours in April to date (as of 4/20) are as follows:
Work (actual job not poker): 135hrs
Poker playing: ~70hrs online ~10hrs live
Study: ~40hrs
Sleep: barely anything lol

It has been a bit frustrating as I'm currently on a substantial downswing but I do honestly believe I've run very bad at nl25z along with my nl50z shots but I'm much more concerned about my play which has been ok for the most part. (You'll see in my 50k hands @nl25z and a bit of nl50z mixed in I'm on about a 20BI downswing only about 7BI or 8BI though of EV). I see my game improving though and really feel I can beat nl25z for a decent clip, nl50z though I'm pretty certain I'd be a losing player currently.

But yeah here are the graphs I'll even include an nl5z graph of about 30k hands that I have on my database right before I made the thread and got really serious about daily improvement:

nl5z before the thread: (keep in mind I was purely focused on getting my preflop ranges together at this point and not focused at all postflop in this stretch)



START OF THREAD:

nl5z:



nl10z:



nl25z (w/a very small amount of nl50z):




*Plan is to continue to play nl25z for another ~50k hands and re-evaluate where I'm at then. I'll be sure to post throughout the process though if anyone is even still following this thread lol. Anyways cheers guys and gl at the tables.

Good luck - fellow Canadian here...u said if u weren’t trying to challenge ur self at zoom on stars u would move exclusively to the other sites where u played reg tables 25NL/50NL with better rb ...which sites are those? I only have played on stars and party the past 6-8 mths, but thinking of 888 maybe. Like u I do want to improve but winning is prob more enjoyable lol.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks man ! Nice to have you ITT sorry I didnt see this earlier. And well I dont want to get too specific on here with exact sites as its not like Ive played them all but as Canadians we have access to a lot of sites including some good Euro sites with solid rakeback. Doing a quick google search of all the sites Canadians have access to and compare rakeback deals/test out some of them and see what player pools you prefer is probably the best way to go about it. If money is your main goal its worth mixing in a few other sites for sure.

Hope that helps a bit

Hey man! Good to see you still around! I thought this thread had died.

Your results look great! Nice to see you moving up quickly. I just moved to 5nlz myself after a couple months of MTTs and it's good so far, similar to my old reg 5nl tables.

How are you enjoying The Big Cat's comeback? I think he looks great. Obviously his iron's were poor at Augusta but he looked great at Valspar and API. I think if he can hit fairways consistently he will win this season, and I think he has a good shot at TPC Sawgrass.

Thanks brother. And nice if you ever want to talk about hands feel freem to PM me. And Im loving it man. I really believe if Tiger stays healthy all year he'll win at least one tournament. Its crazy how far he's still hitting the ball after all the surgeries. I definitely agree with the fairways comment and yeah TPC should go well

Hey man, How are you?

I was reading yours posts, congrats for the results, I really appreciate who play a good cash game.

My name is Eduardo, 27 an I am a brazilian guy that will move to Canada, to Toronto anf after 6 months to London, probably in september, 2018. Actually I am playng SNGs MTT and some MTTs online on PS and Party Poker.

I would like to know a little more about the poker scene in Canada, about legislations, if exist any risk about the poker online, like in USA, and all sites close their doors.

And how is the best way to make withdraws in canada?

Tks

Thanks man, I still have a long way to go.

And oh nice well I'm sure you'll enjoy living in Canada I'm probably not the best person to talk to about all of the regulations with regards to poker but for the most part we as Canadians have things pretty good. We have access to a lot of sites including quite a few Euro poker sites that have fairly soft competition and decent rakeback. As far as any risk of Canada following the US with regards to poker legislation my answer would be most likely that won't be the case but then again anything is possible. Lastly as far as withdraws just set up a direct deposit method with your bank that you set up here in Canada and there should be no issues. Also if you have any questions about the live scene once you're here feel free to let me know.

Also guys just a bit of a play update. I'm heading to the WSOP in June for 1-2 weeks. Just kind of want to be in the atmosphere as I think it will be really motivating for the rest of 2018. I'll play a lot of cash games maybe fire one or two 1-2k buyin tourneys. So since my last online post I've been getting back to more live play than usual just to kind of prep in a way for all of the live play I'll be doing in Vegas.

From what I've seen in 2018 with regards to live low stakes play:

- I don't like it anywhere close to as much as I like online (although it is more profitable for me)

- You can run horrible for what feels like an eternity live (as a ton of 2+2 posters have said) with the extremely low volume of hands - and it feels even worse when the players are very bad at the low stakes games I play).

- nl5z (and nl10-nl25reg tables depending on the site you play online) is without a doubt tougher than nl200 (1/2) and nl300 (1/3) live. Put up a good sample of hands at nl5z online with a reasonable winrate and it's pretty much impossible long term to be a loser at the smallest live stakes - although I'm not stating you'd be a crusher just there's almost no way you'd be losing (a few minor adjustments may need to be made but still)

Hey guys just wanted to say I know I haven't been doing any updates for a while. Just studying and prepping for vegas. If anyone wants to meet up for some beers and is going to be there mid June feel free to shoot me a PM! I'll be sure to post a detailed update of the trip (10 days) and get back to posting my online results after that.

Hey guys just wanted to ask those of you reading the thread who have experience playing in vegas where the best cash games are for someone like me whos looking to play the majority of my volume at 2/5. Also any tournament reccomendations would be much appreciated. Currently I'm thinking about playing a few events in the Venetian deepstack series. If anyone could help me out I'd really appreciate it.

Vegas Summary:

Just at the airport now heading home from my 10 nights in Vegas (although there were only 9 days for me to play poker as I arrived at 11pm on the 10th and checked out early today - the 20th)

Results:

Tournaments: $-850, 12hrs played

Only played the Venetian $600 1m gauranteed and one of the $250 WSOP daily deepstack events. Te Venetian I busted level 6 KK < AA AIP which is fine the one that was more frustrating was the $250 deepstack where I was about 1.5x avg stack a level or two away from the money:

Crazy aggro UTG [table chip lead] raises 4x, I 3b w/KhKs from MP, another loose aggro player [2nd in table chips] (who certainly though I was raising light) jams from the SB, UTG folds I snap call, SB shows 88 and hits an 8 OTF and I'm gone. Felt as though I was playing great in this one so super frustrating since it would have put me 3-3.5x avg stack moving into the money. Anyways it is what it is.

Cash Games: $+5123, 90hrs 15mins

56.76/hr ~76 CND/hr one of the times it's nice our dollar is performing so poorly against the USD

Was really happy with my volume getting in 100+hrs of live poker in 9 days. Playing Zoom (nl50z currently) has helped immensely with these results. Bet sizing is such a massive part of a live poker win rate and I feel the zoom games were perfect prep. My volume was spread across 1/2- a bit, 1/3- rarely and 2/5 (usually the 1/2 was always played as 1/2/5 or 1/2 w/BTN straddle to $5 or $10 - and being a smaller game this was what I was playing when I was drinking quite a bit - 2 nights, although I did socially drink essentially every day at the tables just not excessively).

Side Notes: I took some hand notes in vegas so I'll be sure to post them in the upcoming days.

Also within the next few days I'll post some new goals for the remainder of the year. It's nice to think 8 months ago when I started this thread I was losing at nl5z and not comfortable with a lot of spots at 1/2 and 1/3 live to now playing nl50z and feeling extremely comfortable at 1/2 and 1/3 along with feeling comfortable at 2/5. If anyone has any questions for me about my trip or just in general about my thread feel free to ask. I know my thread is no where close to as entertaining as a thread such as 6bet me but I do enjoy keeping this thread as a journal of my progress and I guess hopefully trying to show that keeping the poker dream alive while working full-time is possible.

Overall recap of Vegas trip would be sweet, any hh's pics etc.

Okay sure thing I'll post a few hands now and then I'll upload some pics and get them on here. I stayed at the Park MGM and was wishing the Vegas Golden Knights were going to make it to game 7 of the stanley cup final since the hotel is right beside the arena and it would have been crazy and would have made for some real good pics for this thread.

Hand 1: 2/5

Hero BTN 57

Two limps to me on the BTN I decide to overlimp, the SB then raises to $20(seems like a fairly competent player who's been running well although from what I've seen has some big sizing tells as he raises $30-$35 pre with his big premium hands and smaller with solid hands but not the top of his range). EP folds, CO calls and I call.

Flop: 46T

SB continues for $30, CO folds I call.

Turn: 7

SB bets $60. I mean I feel like the large majority of his hands are Tx here and he almost never has an overpair or a set (unless it's a set of T's) It's an easy spot for a raise I have a pair and am open ended and almost certainly the worst hand after he's bet two streets. I also have sets of 4s 6s and 7s in my range here.
Hero raises to $150. SB tanks for a while before folding and showing a T.

Hand 2: 1/2 [playing as a 1/2/5] (I was drinking a decent amount so always stuck to playing lower when drinking)

Hero BTN AJ

EP raises to $17, folds to me I decide to just flat. BB calls.

Flop: AK6

checks to me I bet $35 BB folds EP calls.

Turn: 2

Checks to me I'm either thinking he's trying to slowplay something which so many players seemed to do in vegas or is on a heart FD or maybe worse Ax. Anyways I now have top pair with the nut flush draw to the diamonds I bet $70 EP calls.

River: 9

EP leads into me for $125... lol. I jam for $260, $135 more and EP calls and is pissed to see his AK lose to my flush... lol wp buddy.

Any feedback on these hands is always appreciated! I'll post more in the upcoming days.

Updated Goals for the remainder of 2018:

Ok so if anyone has been following my thread from the start I started out around the beginning of Oct (9 months ago) playing nl5z and 1/2 live. The plan after discussing with some of you on 2+2 was to keep my focus on online play to improve which I also believed was best specifically zoom where the competition is hard and it all comes down to win rate as rakeback is essentially zero. I also wanted to look to move to other sites once I was beating nl25z which I have done and since my last 50,000 hands at nl25z update the majority of my volume has been on other sites/live. But I feel as though I want to move back to the competition on stars and push my game even further. I can see after vegas just how much my studying and online play paid off in live cash games so I feel as though if I can reach a higher level online then live 5/T will be a definite possibility in the future.

New Goals (by the end of 2018): keep in mind I do work full time 40-50hrs/week outside of poker.

- Reach nl100z (along with some volume at nl100 and nl200 on other sites)
- When I do play live I want it to be exclusively 2/5 with shots at 5/T
- Minimum 30,000 hands/month (I want to set a higher goal here but I feel like 1000 hands/day at a minimum is a fair goal with my other commitments. I will however be pushing for 50,000+ hands/month for the remainder of 2018).

*Right now I am playing a mix of nl25z and nl50z. I just need a much bigger sample at nl50z to see if I am even winning at the level.

nl25z fairly large sample is 4.5EVbb/100.

If all goes according to plan I'll be setting some very big goals for myself in 2019.

And since everyone enjoys monetary results so far in 2018 I'm up about ~$10,000 live (vegas obviously being a large chunk of live winnings) and ~$2,000 online.

First 10,000 hands at nl50z... safe to say things are off to a good start (I know this WR is not even close to being sustainable but I really like how I'm handling things so far in this pool)



As always feel free to ask any questions. I know I don't post all that frequently but I'll always be sure to talk to whoever writes ITT. Feels good to finally be playing online at PS at a stake where essentially there is some meaningful money to made here and hopefully moving up going forward. If I can sustain a positive WR over 50k hands I'll be moving to nl100z along with moving volume once again to nl100 and nl200 tables on other sites with actual RB. My winrate of ~4.5bb/100 at nl25z included a 16BI downswing and some general run bad so I do beleive a positive winrate after 50,000 hands in doable especially considering I have gotten a lot better since then. Also it's worth noting my redline at nl25z was pretty horrible but after a good amount of review I feel a lot more confident now and it's showing in my redline so far since the move up in stakes.

Just dropped 5 BI in less than 1000 hands and don't feel like I made a single glaring mistake and I even think I made some pretty good tough folds (graph below). Was hoping to put in more volume even when I was down 3-4BIs but then GII preflop BTN vs BB AsKs vs AcKc and he hit the flush so I just knew it wasn't my day and I needed to get away for a bit and clear my head/come back fresh. Super gross. But I guess to be expected after the hot start. I also had a 10BI downswing right after the 10k hands I posted and I'm still not even at 20k hands @nl50z yet... Still grinding away though. Just want to be transparent in case it seems like its all sunshine and rainbows ITT.

Alright so just an extremely disappointing month volume wise and maybe even more frustrating was my lack of study as well. Played ~20k hands all month and even though I was busy at work it's pathetic. Another issue (although I don't see it changing in the near future) is I enjoy going out with friends on weekends and drinking (usually quite a bit). But I do it because I enjoy it and all work no play would leave me frustrated so maybe it's not really an issue I just need to manage my time better throughout the week.

Anyways, samples are so small they're meaningless but I'll post the graphs regardless since I know that's probably all people care about ITT. Lastly I'm currently feeling as though I'm not improving like I want to be but that's most certainly due to my lack of studying these past few months. I always said I'd get PIO once I confidently knew I was beating nl50z so maybe that will help if I can start cranking out some more hands in August.

nl50z: Had a 10BI downswing in there and lost 5BI's in the span of 300 hands as per my last post but I think it's all pretty standard.



nl100z: I honestly shouldn't be playing a single hand at this stake atm but I just enjoy the competition so much and my bankroll is fine so I threw in some hands throughout the month usually very short sessions and max 2 tables.



Combined nl50z & nl100z:

Frustrating weekend in terms of $ made at nl50z. Ran poorly vs. a fairly weak weekend pool which I'm not all that used to (I'm used to playing the majority of my hands on weekdays as I'm usually out on weekends) but after a lackluster July in terms of study I've been putting in a lot of time off the tables this month so far and I'm already feeling better in a lot of spots and recognizing patterns in the pool which I feel as though I'm exploiting when possible which I'm happy about. Think I'm going to play 100k hands at nl50z (not sure how long it'll take though) and then evaluate where I'm at. Hopefully I'll be wining at the limit and can make that move to nl100z as my main stake. Anyways graph below:

Weird day today in a sense that my red line got smashed but a very nice one in terms of volume/hitting hands and getting paid off since I feel pretty balanced in most spots (obv still playing exploitable vs fis/regs who I perceive as weak though to max the WR). The majority of the decrease in red line was just having to make some big folds since I was getting some very good hands but so many gross run-outs where I just had to accept that I was beat. Nonetheless was a great day at the tables. Felt super comfortable for the most part, still have some marked hands though I'll need to go over. May need to remove the red line from my graphs though I don't like thinking about it at all. Just want to play my best poker if it goes up and I'm picking spots that's nice but I just should be looking at the green and yellow lines on the graph as at the end of the day that's what matters.

Today's graph:



Overall nl50z:



As you can see the pretty crazy dip in red line. Honestly it does get to me sometimes in my session but if anything I should be happy that I was able to lay down some monsters when needed and stay focused. The MGOP books have been a big help for sure.

I think I'm going to have to stop posting after a solid session couldnt sleep so I just fired up a session and played ~1000 hands and got absolutely wrecked lol. Set over set nut flush over second nut flush right away it wasn't pretty. I did however get it AIP with AK vs. QQ and won which felt nice. Anyways 25k hands completed at nl50z with an EV~6.5bb/100 is something I'm really happy about. Hopefully after 50k and 100k hands I'll still be a winning player and moving up.


25k hands @ nl50z:




*** I will say though I looked at my rake paid through 25k hands for the first time and it's gross. The appeal of playing other sites with rakeback and a softer pool is pretty high not going to lie.