Hi everyone, I made a similar post about 2 days ago, but after reading a few on here I wanted to give a bit more detail to you all and I couldn't work out how to edit so I'll start fresh!

Ok, so firstly I've been playing since January 2019 on and off, back then I knew nothing except only which hand beats which, I didn't know about position or anything so I've had to learn from scratch completely. I work quite long hours usually and me and the Mrs had a newborn in October so the poker has been on and off since the beginning, I love the tournament aspect and eventually want to become a tournament player but right now whilst time is limited I've decided to stick with cash games, mainly so I can log off when I like and of course there's less variance.

Since covid19 has been around I decided this was the perfect time to get stuck in and try give it a real shot to try and escape the micros and actually play for decent money, rather than mess around with literally pennies which is what I've been doing for too long and am still doing! My aim right now is not to make serious money because I can't imagine how long that'll take but it'll be nice to earn a few quid here and there when I'm not working, and also have a bit of fun along the way.

I've been playing mostly cash lately and am currently playing 5NL on stars, so here are my goals for the future. (I have a full time job so BR management is kind of non existent whilst I'm down here playing for peanuts.) My BR right now is a measly $40

So this is my plan...

5NL to $100 (10BI for 10NL)
10NL to $240 (15BI for 16NL)
16NL to $500 (20BI for 25NL)

If I lose 3BI at any level I'll move down and try again.

The reason I've done it like this is so we have a chance of progressing faster and also by the time we break the micros we have our 20BI, I feel like this is the best thing to do. (25NL on PS is considered low stakes, so if we can make it there I'll be pretty happy)

Last of all I'll be using the RIO training site to help me progress. I've almost finished FTGU and after I'll be working my way through the essential package. If anyone knows if there's any 'must watch' videos let me know, if not I'll probably watch in order.

Thanks all for reading, I'll try to post updates as much as I can on here, maybe every 5k hands or so, I've posted an image of my graph so far. If you'd like to follow my journey much closely I've made a twitter account Kartcab_Poker, feel free to give me a follow, here I'll post after every session.

GL with your challenge.

I like the Henry Lister content on RIO and also the stuff in the learning paths section. Maybe you could invest in GTO+ at some stage down the line?

I thought 25NL was still considered micros?

Nice one mate I’ll take a look at that. I haven’t looked at GTO+ Before but just did google it, is this a very basic solver or something as I saw it’s just $70?

Not sure about the 25NL then but anywhere around that kind of limit would be better than the 5NL I’m currently at!

GL buddy, +1 for Henry Lister content (even though he calls me erratic and spewy during one of hids vids lol) I also recomend Cameroun Couch (dated but still excellent approach) and Javier Carballo (same thing)

I suggest sticking to one form of poker, to drive your focus mainly through one source of learning and not split your learning in half. That's what I'd do anyway. If you want to choose either cash or tourneys, I suggest writing down the pros and cons of both games and deciding afterwards.

I’m not 100% sure why GTO+ is priced how it is compared to Pio Solver for instance, but i do know it’s considered the best value for money. You also get CardrunnersEV.

Thanks mate! I'll check those out as my first lot of videos, as time is precious I want to prioritise the most important stuff first. My aim is to study cash games and try make that my bread and butter and my main focus. Tournaments is more like a bit of fun for me right now, for example tonight I played around 600 hands of 5NL, run pretty good with $20 profit but had a $1.10 Micro millions tournament on the side which I didn't really focus on, but these special event tournaments I like to have a little go, plus it mixes things up a bit.

It looks good and for $70 it's not going to break the bank! However with covid19 around I'm currently out of work so I'll put it on hold just for now, I still have TONNES to get through on RIO so I'll keep watching training videos for now. But thanks for the insight as I never knew it even existed!!

Make sure you keep a distance of at least 2 meters from GTO+ during and after the download, due to COVID19 spreading.

Fair comment mate. I only play 2 regular tables so there is a fair bit of time between hands sometimes but I get your point...

GL man, will be sweating!

Hi everyone, so I've had a few more sessions lately, not played a tonne of hands, just made it over the 5K mark, seem to be doing pretty well at 5NL though (with the small sample I have). The BR is currently at around $70 so just need to win about 6 more BI's and then I'll take a few shots at 10NL which I'm looking forward too.

Below is a picture of how the graph currently looks. Next I'll post at 10k hands or once I reach $100 for 10NL, whichever comes first, stay safe everyone.

On a completely unrelated note, should a winning players red line go up and up and up, or is it just healthy to keep it above $0?

Looks like you’re doing pretty good so far. In terms of BRM, what stop loss are you going to use once you move up? I’m more inclined to grind up to 20buyins before i move up, and move down if i lose 5. But each to their own.

GL

This was my plan originally and I think that’s what I’m going to stick with, I have a full time job so if I lost the whole $100 (10BI’s) it’s not the end of the world but obviously the more money I start playing for the stricter I want to become that’s why I’ve done it this way then eventually keep my BR at 20-25 at all times

Yeah, sorry I missed that part of the thread.

I used to be a massive bankroll nit, but since I started playing again I'm working on moving up at 20buyins.

Yeah I think if poker is full time and you have no other income you have to be strict, but if you have a full time job and you’re playing well within your means I don’t see it being a problem at micro/low stakes.

On another note I just finished a session and run very well, my BR is about $92 now, so another session of 5NL and then hopefully I can take shots at 10NL which I’m looking forward too, I think I’ll just start by playing 1 table at first to get a feel for things.

Hi everyone, I’ve managed to grind my BR up to about $107 playing 5NL then also got a $5 cash in a chest which was nice. So as per my original post I decided tonight to take a shot at 10NL, there’s still tonnes of fish in there so it didn’t feel all that different. I just tried to avoid the reg looking players.

I was limited with time and only managed around 300 hands as I play 2 regular tables, within 19 hands I was up around 1.5BI which gave me a bit of a confidence boost, I then ran AA into a set of kings (which I knew I should of folded but I couldn’t help myself) and lost 1BI, made a few silly calls and ended up with only $2 by the end of my session. I knew in the back of my head I was on a time limit this evening so I felt rushed to make profit which is never good, I usually play and just finish when I’ve had enough so I don’t normally get that feeling.

The 10NL pool seems pretty similar to 5NL so I’m going to give it another go and I think I’ll be able to make a steady profit (especially whilst covid19 is around as it’s attracting some terrible players).

Anyway, moral of the story, I’ve moved up in stakes and I think it’s very beatable for me, I’ll post again soon maybe when I’ve played 5K hands at 10NL and we’ll see where we’re at then, thanks all.

Any updates?

Hi everyone, another update here, only played 13k hands in total so far as I'm still playing regular tables, however I have added another table (3 in total now) and I'm slowly getting more comfortable with the faster action. I'm still studying little and often and playing around 16-20 hours a week of poker at the moment.

I started playing 10nl which I mentioned in a previous post, it took me a while to get comfortable as I was trying different strategies, trying to bluff quite a bit, 3betting to wide etc and I seemed to be just losing cash most of the time. Thankfully there's still plenty of terrible players in there so I was able to make some money back. I've a friend who plays high stakes poker and he has helped me with RFI, 3betting and 4betting ranges, however I did tighten them slightly because I don't think you need balance at the micros personally.

My BR is around $270 now so when I reach $320 I'll start taking shots at 16nl. This wasn't my original plan but with the good run I've been on lately I think it makes sense, then I've got myself a 20BI BR.

Below I've posted my graph of my progress so far, stay safe.

Looks like you’re doing very well so far. Hope the 16nl shot goes very well for you!

Thanks mate much appreciated! I’ll do another update in 5k hands or if I reach my 20BI limit and about to take on 16nl, whichever comes first!

Crushing it brother.. Keep it up, GL.

Hello everyone, just a little update. I've been trying to play as much as possible lately, I've played about another 5-6k hands since the last graph and things are still moving in the right direction. I had one evening where I fancied playing a few tournaments just as a change of scenery, turns out I'm absolutely shocking, didn't cash any and wasted around $50, so I've just said to myself that I wont be playing any others in the near future, just sticking to cash games as that's what I've been studying and I seem to be making profit there. I've made enough profit to take shots at 16nl now but due to the wasted tournament money I'm a bit behind where I should be BR wise. I need around $35 then I'll be taking shot at 16nl and hopefully we can continue to make profit there also. Stay safe all, I'll update again soon

Hi all, so currently playing 16nl now. I've only played 1.3k hands so far, was up around 2.5BI but lost a huge hand which I'll post below along with my graph now, I think I'm now breaking even (16nl only) but I feel the stake is definitely beatable, I look forward to putting in more volume and seeing what results I get. Similar to when I moved to 10nl it took me a while to find my feet, still plenty of fish in the pool so that's good.



Please tell me what you think on the hand below. This guy was a pure maniac who I'd been watching, shoving all in with gutshots, 3betting 32%, just very aggressive overall.

PokerStars - $0.16 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 93.5 BB
SB: 353.81 BB
BB: 119.88 BB (103 hands VPIP 35/RFI 32/3B PF 32)
UTG: 107.88 BB
Hero (CO): 366.94 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

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

fold, Hero raises to 3 BB, BTN calls 3 BB, SB calls 2.5 BB, BB raises to 17.5 BB, Hero calls 14.5 BB, BTN calls 14.5 BB, SB calls 14.5 BB

I know he raised big but due to his 3b stat that's why I called.

Flop: (70 BB, 4 players) T K 6
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets 50 BB, fold, SB calls 50 BB, BB raises to 102.38 BB and is all-in, Hero raises to 349.44 BB and is all-in, fold

I feel like my play on the flop is reasonable? We only lose to KK here and I wanted to get money in before the board got any scarier, Yes he shoved all in but I feel like the way he way playing he could over done that with JJ, QQ, AA or AK.

Turn: (324.75 BB, 2 players) 4

River: (324.75 BB, 2 players) 2

BB shows K K (Three of a Kind, Kings)
(Pre 81%, Flop 96%, Turn 98%)
Hero shows T T (Three of a Kind, Tens)
(Pre 19%, Flop 4%, Turn 2%)
BB wins 315.38 BB

Is this just massively misplayed or just a standard cooler?

Squeezing is not exactly the same as a std 3bet, so I would tighten up a little bit. Don´t think it was a huge problem tho, with big recreationals involved and whatever. I would still fold pre.

Flop I´d go smaller. Other than that, can´t really consider folding after the raise. Go broke and hope he shows up with AK or AA or random spew.

Thanks mate, do you mind me asking why you’d go smaller OTF?