Hello everyone,

This is my first post here at 2+2, and it seemed appropriate to kick things off with a bankroll build thread. I'll be posting a separate, more detailed, blog on the side, but I hope to keep this running with occasional updates.

I'll be running a bankroll build with my favorite game, full ring FLHE. You know, the variant featured on all the big televised tournaments and cash games. It's the game where I first learned to play poker, the game I've had the most success at, and the one I keep coming back to, so it seemed only natural to make it the focus of a bankroll build coming into the New Year. I also noticed that there's not a lot of love or attention to the format (it's really tapered off over the years), so screw it, fixed limit it is. The build starts with $80 on Bovada, playing $0.05/$0.10, and hopefully, with a lot of patience and determination, I can get up to some "real money" within the year.

I'll post some more details as I go, but I just wanted to get things kicked off.

Onwards and upwards (*fingers crossed*)...

Cheers ~

So far, I'm pretty stocked about the start. Started with the original $80, and I'm currently sitting at $117.54.

The biggest thing I'm tinkering with from the get go is getting a feel for "stats" (I feel, um "rusty", despite running well and having a feel for things). Blitzed right on through $0.05/$0.10 (soft!!!) and started playing $0.10/$0.25 once I hit $100.

Bovada has a "delay" on downloading hands, so the stats I have are behind.

2,742 hands

14.95 VPIP
6.49 PFR
2.36 AF
8.41 RFI
3.86 3Bet
82.47 CB
27.71 WTSD
69.23 WMSD

BB/100 : 9.7
Won/100 : $1.16
Total Won : $31.75


I like how things are going, but I can't tell if I'm just running good, or just running into a lot of players who are willing to pay me off despite playing (what I feel) is too tight.

Some strange things (probably just sample size) :

I make almost twice as much from the CO as the Button. That seems weird.

I'm in the positive on the SB. That's really weird. (They keep open-limping in the CO or Button though, which is just terrible).

I feel like I'm not raising enough, in comparison to how much I'm coming in, but there's just so many pots where there'll be something like five limpers in front of me, and it just makes sense to join the party and limp in (but not raise) with stuff like 86s. Too passive, or is that just a symptom of microstakes limit?

Oh well, either way, thrilled with the start, and hopefully I can get some interesting hands in on here once I get a chance to go through some more of them.

~ Cheers

super nit lol

the gap between vp & pfr is way to big

Oh, I will be the first to agree with you. Basically, my assessment is that I'm not playing near enough hands, but I'm still winning because people aren't paying any attention and paying me off to a ridiculous degree when I do come in and hit.

I'm spending a lot of time right now trying to figure out where to widen but not go too far with it. I'm playing less passively than my opponents (their average is something like 40/6), but I'll have to fix it or get smashed higher up.

Some results from January (which was mostly sort of a "test run" of things) :

Overall winnings : +$53.09 ($133.09 bankroll)

$20.13 at $0.05/$0.10
$32.96 at $0.10/$0.25

Hands played : 5,013 (not a lot, kind of being lazy so far)

2,803 at $0.05/$0.10 (7.18 BB/100 hands)
2,210 at $0.10/$0.25 (5.97 BB/100 hands)




Hoping to get a lot a lot more volume in for February, and start really focusing on "holes" that aren't really a problem now, but probably definitely will be once I start moving up higher.

Cheers ~

I also only play fixed limit hold'em. I play live and not on-line. Good luck. If there are limpers in front, you limping in with hands similar to 8s 6s, is fine. My general rule is that if there are two limpers in front of me I will limp in with small suited connectors and one gappers.

The fixed limit people are still out there, hangin' on.

I personally prefer it live myself. That's how I got into playing it much more than NLHE - I think the "table environment" tends to be more casual/fun.

Suited connectors with a bunch of limpers in front have led to some of my favorite hands. There's seemingly no shortage of people who will overplay their UTG A9o and utterly fail to read the board.

Hey JJSKIDZ. I just stumbled upon your thread.
How's it going with the BR Challenge?

Oh, hey!

I just logged onto here for the first time in months. I had basically become distracted by some other things (I had been focused on moving and job stuff, managed to get severely injured, and poker fell by the wayside).

I'm looking at resurrecting the build. I ended up getting up to $150.00 exactly, just playing a few hours here and there.

It's funny that you wrote on this thread. I had been watching your 6Max videos from a different site, trying to figure out the transition, because it's hard to find consistent 9Max, especially above the micros.

I will be "relaunching" a build starting with July (today).

OK...

...so, reboot time on this guy.

I mentioned in the previous post that I had pretty much let this bankroll build fall by the wayside. I was pretty tied up with an effort to relocate/settle to a new city, which itself was blown up by a pretty nasty freak accident involving my own clumsiness and a glass window (74 stitches and all the blood you could want!).

I'm currently sitting at $150.00 even, and it's July 1st. My left arm is still recovering and I'm trying to piece some things back together in my personal life, so I have plenty of spare time to try to grind up my bankroll. Time to make some magic happen?

I'll mostly be focusing on 9Max FLHE still (it's still the variant I'm best at, and I think it's the most fun), with some ventures into 6Max once I get some more studying on that format in. Hopefully this works out this time, because fixed limit doesn't get a lot of love. I still have exactly half the year left, so away we go (again). I'll try to crossover and post in the FLHE subforums too, because I noticed those are kinda... ...well, dead-ish.

Cheers ~

Hey man.

Yeah I think transition to 6Max is really really important. FR games are almost non-existent beyond micros, so you'll have to switch eventually anyway. And players that you are searching for love action and they'll be playing short-handed games. It's not that different that you might think. It's basically just slashing first three positions at the table

Also get well soon and GL!

This^ leave the nit ring.

Oh, I agree wholeheartedly.

It's not a matter of not wanting to. My experiences playing up until now were mostly live, playing 9Max. I've literally played 45 minutes total of 6Max in my entire life, so I've just been taking time to work out some things on paper and watch some videos and tables before I go flying into it.

I'll be posting again soon with the "first awkward forays" into 6Max included.

I find myself in quite the quandry, after playing for only mere hours at 6Max.

Playing 6Max, I have never *hated* playing a poker format so much in my life, despite doing OK at it. I made some money at it, but all I could think the entire time was, "This is horrible. It makes me angry that this has become the dominant online format." I thought I hated NL, but, blehhhhh... ...zero interest in playing high-variance bingo.

At this point, surveying online, I'm leaning heavily towards cashing out, and going back to playing live full ring.

Where is it you live? Are there sufficient fixed limit games available and what stakes??

haha it isn't if you know what you are doing.
but if it isn't feeling right just stick to 9max.

and with correct brm variance isn't the problem.

I live in Ohio... ...so... ...it depends on how you look at it. Not too many years ago, casinos were introduced here in the major cities, and there's typically a $4/$8 or $5/$10 game running at any one of them. The rake is quite difficult to overcome at that level, but Ohio isn't exactly an epicenter for poker (the games are softish). If you know people and pay attention, you can find some $10-$20 and skip the raketrap, though it's kind of "random" to find those.

I recently lived in New Orleans, and I'm considering moving back. The play down there was "interesting" for FLHE. Same sort of stakes, with occasional bigger games (randomly). A mix of some of the best players I had ever run into and some of the absolute worst (I easily set a personal record during the week leading up to Mardi Gras - hooray drunk tourists!).

I definitely think you're asking the right questions. With the rake factored in, I think $5/$10 and above is beatable (maaaaaybe $4/$8, if you find the right table and room). Current location, I think I'm kind of on the cusp where you could toy with playing to make actual money instead of "break-even recreationally".

I'm not too worried about the BRM and variance relationship. I play with a base of 500BB for 9Max, and planned on using a higher amount for 6Max. FLHE is a high variance game anyway (higher than NLHE, I believe), but being put in situation after situation where I have to gamble it up or get run over is tiresome.

I just found the experience deeply aggravating. Getting into constant whipsaw battles with multiple maniacs is not my idea of a good time. Those players appear in full ring games too, of course, but I think they find it much harder to have any success with that approach when facing 8 players than with 5.