The manic obsession with short term results also strikes me as problematic.

Biggest stack I've ever had in my life

Lol just when I thought I was beginning to downswing: boom! I turn $500 into $3586 at 2/5. This is the first time I've ever sat on a poker table with a 3k+ stack.

I flopped two sets and won around $500 each time. I also stacked off with a flush draw + gutshot on the turn against a set and managed to river the flush for another $600 profit. And I won a huge pot this hand:

$2500 effective with Indian reg. He's been playing fairly well so far and has shown the ability to lay down hands like top pair against big river bets.

Blinds are $2/$5
UTG blind raises to $10
UTG+1 blind reraises to $15 (it was one of those kinds of tables lol)
Folds to me
I open BTN to $45 with Q5cc
Indian Reg calls $45 BB
UTG+2 calls $45

Flop ($132, 3ways) is 432r

Indian reg leads out $75
UTG+2 calls $75
Hero calls $75 (I strongly considered raising here)

Turn ($357) is 4327 with club draw

Indian Reg bets $160
UTG+2 folds
Hero calls $160 (I strongly considered raising here too, especially after improving to a combo draw)

River ($677) is 43276 and flush misses

Indian Reg bets $350
Hero raises to $900 (I didn't think he was spewy enough to call a $1000+ raise with a worse hand when it's the most obvious straight in the world)
Indian Reg thinks for 20 seconds then calls $900
He mucks and claims he had a set of 4s

So ended up making over 3k profit this 2/5 session. Recovered my losses at the 1/3 and the tourney.

Total yearly live profit: +$9620 (almost there!)
Total yearly online profit: -$850

Sick run. Tell me you have some chip stack pics for it. Keep it up!

Thanks man. Here's a pic I took of a 3.5k stack.

Black chips = $100
Green chips = $25
Red chips = $5
White chips = $1



Edit: image doesn't seem to be working...

Edit2: the link to view the image is: https://ibb.co/jj3nGx
Could someone please convert this link into an image?

I wouldn't describe it as a manic obsession, but I do like to record at the end of every session how much I've won or lost, since I'm trying to keep accurate records.

And this is a PG&C thread. The whole point of the thread is to show people how I'm progressing towards my goals, and my goals are monetary goals. That's why I update it frequently with daily results and hand histories, as well as just journal and lifestyle type posts.

You may be progressing towards your monetary goal right now but you are NOT progressing towards getting better at poker. Im sure if feels like you are right now but that's the danger of not understanding the difference between when you are running hot and when you are playing well.

I'm going to pin this post up on my wall at home so that when I'm a successful pro in a few months time, worth 5 figures and crushing 2/5 and 5/5/10 NL for $50+/hr, I can look back on this and laugh at all the people who doubted me.

And no, I'm nothing like those degenerates that play the slot machines. They're superstitious and I'm not. They have no plan and I do have a plan. They don't understand EV and variance like I do. They have no skills except the ability to push buttons, whereas I have strong poker skills. We're completely different people who just happen to be in the same casino at the same time.

This is exactly proving my point. Your entire thought process is short term what’s right in front of your face missing the forest for the trees.

A successful pro’s timeline is not measured in months, it’s measured in years having weathered multiple rides along the variance rollercoaster through good times and bad which you have clearly not experienced.

A few months ago you didn’t know what to do with AJo and KQo facing a raise, now you’re just a few short months away from being a successful pro with a “massive” 10k bankroll?

Cmon man.

Oof, OP is delusional. It seems to be self parody and yet it’s not.

Dude you’re in trouble and you really need to wake up before it’s too late for you.

Yep, I see where this is going. OP is super high right now because he has a few good sessions under his belt and somehow built up a 3.5k stack for the first time in his life.

W/e though, most people have to learn the hard way.

I/Many other around me learnt the hard way too many damns times.

Successful pro? OP is just taking the piss out of us now. A couple of lucky sessions doesn't make anyone a pro.

Why are there so many bitter people on this forum?

Like I swear that 80% of the people in this thread want me to fail. They're just dying to see me lose my bankroll so they can laugh and say "hahaha I told you so! It brings me so much happiness to see you in misery."

It's a classic example of Tall Poppy Syndrome. You'd rather spend your energy bringing me down than growing yourselves upwards. It's like the dropout kid that wants to see other people fail, just so that they don't have to feel as bad in comparison.

If you don't want to support me on my dreams of becoming a professional poker player then fine, you don't have to. But why are you cheering to see me fail?

I can only guess right off the bat from my intuition: youre repeateadly displayed arrogance,the total lack of having your feet on the ground a little bit, lack of listening to very experienced poker players that is trying to give you genuine advice (instead going into defense mode and strike back mode everytime), and a kind of "i know everything already" attitude that doesent compute at all with the lack of knowledge,skills and experience you are showing us.

People are telling you in no uncertain terms what you are doing wrong. You refuse to listen to the advice that could set you on a much better path to success. If you get good advice and refuse to listen, then people are most certainly going to say "I told you so" when you fail.

People aren't rooting for you to fail. They are just predicting that you fail if you dont change your ways....and people like to be right.

Nah, I mean, there will always be some people in the interwebz that wants to witness other people fail - such is human nature at an immature and juvenile level -, but I think you are mistaken the advice people are bringing you with contempt... I am personally rooting for you to succeed and I - like a few other posters ITT from what I can tell - have gone through the swings, the ups and downs of playing professionally, the original delusions of exceedingly high goals etc.

If you named your thread something like "YOLO, running it up" or "Degen trying his luck" or something, then the comments would be more like "GL bro ", "cool thread friend, let's do this" or whatever, but you seem to actually want to play professionally and speak candidy of your goals, bankroll management etc. I do concur that the tone has been harsh at times towards you ITT, but there is A LOT of good advice that you have seemingly frowned upon…

On a more general note, when I originally took my shot at becoming pro, nobody believed I could and it is that stubborn attitude of “F**k all yall, I’ll do this” that made me succeed. So it might be hard further down the road to learn humility (albeit I am humble by nature), improve on your game, move up the stakes, as that “I did it man and am crushing my local casino for 50$/h” thought is always in the background of our minds when we obviously have so much to learn and a ton of leaks…. Just a thought and my 2cents.

GL bro

Inb4 busto

A plan that you don't stick to is as useless as no plan.

Loses 4 buy ins, calls thread "really bad downswing". Sorry son, you have no concept of variance.

Should I point to the A9s limpraise thread that you call "standard"?

At first you were young and inexperienced but could show potential, then you got dismissive and arrogant and now you're just a full blown askhole setting himself up to go down. I never wanted you to fail but frankly I no longer even care.

I find it so interesting to see how there's literally no other way to get the message across other than for OP to go broke or lose like half his BR.

Why do we get so blinded and deluded? How does OP not realise sincere advice is given derived from experiencing the whole rollercoaster before?

Why do we have to see first ourselves, before we come to senses?

I admit that my previous post was written rather in a negative tone. I thought maybe this way the message would get across better, since genuine advice and positive tones don't work either.

I expected OP to either come to senses (5% chance prob or less), or to be very defensive and hostile. This is exactly why these situations are so hard to manage with people that won't take advice.

OP, one last time, if people wanted you to go broke, they would do the exact opposite of what is happening right now. They would encourage playing higher stakes to increase risk of ruin, to keep spending and living in the moment etc.

I suggest you book a vacation for one week or two weeks. Think about the critique that hurt you the most and think why did I get so offended by that?

The reality is that there is no easy way to become a professional quickly. The process is boring and takes time and effort. Focus on the process, not the goal. Monetary goals are also very bad goals. Do some research on proper goal setting and Fixed and Growth Mindsets.

The only reason why I am writing this and am involved in this thread is because I hope that I can help you avoid possible disaster by sharing what I have experienced in my poker career. In other words, if I can help you not to make the same mistakes as I did, maybe my mistakes were good for something after all.

I have gone broke about 4 times with rolls over 40k$, BR all-time high at 88K$, purely because bad habits like no BRM, very bad mental game, bad health routines etc.
You literally can't imagine how that feels. Ofcourse losing the money hurts, but the feeling of being a loser as a person as a result of your own mistakes, is even worse.

Please consider that this might be your only and last shot at it, considering your age and other options you have with regards to making money.

You are doing ok. If you maintain consistency, you will hit your 10k target sometime before winter. The trick is to be consistent year-in year-out, decade-in, decade-out. Not many can do this.

Balance is everything. It's all long season. All you can do is chip away and keep nailing your targets. Inside should always permeate outside; but never the other way around.

Ran into AA 3 times in 20 mins. Same player too.

$1/$3, 7-handed

In every example, villain is a 20s Asian guy sitting to my direct right with a 1k+ stack. I only just sat down and have no reads.

Hand 1: Hero is dealt KK in SB with $300 stack
2 limpers
V raises $20 BTN
H 3bets $65 SB
Only V flats
Flop ($130) is Q53r
H bets $40
V flats $40
Turn ($210) is Q535 with FD
H checks
V bets $60
H jams $195
V snap calls with AA and holds

Hand 2: Hero has QJcc on BTN
2 limpers
V raises $20 CO
H flats $20 BTN
Everyone else folds
Flop ($40) is Qs 8c 7s
V checks
H bets $25
V raises $55 (I know he has a made hand here)
H flats $55 (just trying to improve to FD, 2pr or trips)
Turn ($140) is Qs 8c 7s Ts
V bets $100
H folds
V shows AA no spade

Hand 3:
Hero has KK in BB
1 limper
V raises $15 SB
H 3bets $45 BB
V 4bets $110 SB
H 5bet jams $320
V snap calls with AA and holds

Just one of those days lol. I actually took it pretty well though. I think I tilt a lot more when I'm either underrolled or when I made a bad decision. But the fact that they were basically unavoidable coolers, combined with the fact that I have a 6k bankroll now and this was just $1/$3, allowed me to handle it so much better.

These hands really highlight the importance of bankroll management and sticking to stakes where you can afford to run your KK into AA multiple times, hand over your money, have a laugh with the rest of the table and rebuy with the peace of mind that you're not financially screwed because of those coolers.

Good thing that you are starting to realise that it doesn't hurt so much if youre rolled.

Imagine that run at 5/10 or higher when ur underrolled. Next to hurting your BR, it also hurts your pokergame as you start tilting and not caring about the smaller stakes anymore because those numbers don't phase you anymore.

Keep up the good work, avoid the tilt and you will get there eventually. It feels so much better knowing you reached your goal through effort and skill, instead of getting lucky by irresponsible shot taking. You can ofc def take shots, but only if the games are juicy and implement a stoploss.

GL OP stay on the right track!

Thanks man. I ended up staying at the same table for about 5hrs afterwards and I slowly grinded back $400 of the $700 I lost. If I'd allowed those hands to tilt me, then I would've played undisciplined and, instead of making a recovery, I would've dug myself a bigger hole. So I'm proud of that.

I'm also proud of myself for calling it a night when I was still $300 down, rather than insisting on chasing my losses just so that I could "book a win". I heard a story of one player that was winning 80% of their sessions but still losing money overall, since their winnings would be small (eg. +$50), but their losses would be catastrophic (eg. -$2000). They had an obsession with booking a win and would refuse to leave until they'd made back their losses. I don't ever want to have this kind of mentality. My overall wins/losses are far more important than my wins/losses over a single session.

Overall $9088 up at live poker now for 2018.

Thank you for your kind explanation.

Might I ask how you busted a $40k+ roll? What stakes were you playing? Was it live or online? And did it all happen in a day during a huge tilt session, or did your bankroll slowly diminish over a few weeks/months?

Combination of both. Some huge losses as a result of shot taking, playing HU 25 50 and 50 100. Losing 30%+ of my BR in single sessions. Subconsious tilt as a result, declined motivation to improve my game, playing B game for weeks after such a session and running very bad as well. 95K under EV at one point.

Spending big on life and gambling also helps to destroy your roll. Playing high as a kite, drunk etc.

One advantage of playing live vs online is that you can't go monkey tilt and play HU vs regulars on very high stakes. Plus rebuying is more difficult and you play fewer hands per hour. Online it can go very very quick.

I would go as far to argue that shot taking is almost never profitable in the long run, considering the very large downside of: Needing time to process mentally, going on subconsious tilt, playing B game, finding your normal stakes boring and not thrilling or fun, risk of chasing losses, the list goes on.

Also, if it does go right a few times, you will be inclined to take even bigger shots or widen your view of what is shotworthy, which will eventually make you end up in the downward cycle again as described above.

Some giga whale in Vegas once said smt along the lines of: ''I lost 100$ in the casino and I spent 300mil to win it back''

By being honest with yourself and knowing your flaws, you can beat the biggest enemy, that is yourself. However, personality is incredibly hard to change if not almost impossible, but you can implement rules like stoplosses and focus on improving on those lesser aspects of your personality, in order to avoid disaster.

This process of improving yourself will feel incredibly uncomfortable at first, but gets better overtime as your mind starts to gradually respect the process more than the outcome. Focus on the things you CAN control.

Played a bad session? No problem, if you made sure to analyse honestly what went wrong, if you implemented your stoploss and did your workout that day or ate healthier and managed to keep your spendings on dumb things to a min.

For us poker players variance can easily start to influence everything in our lives. Mental and physical state, health, routines and social interactions. Focus on improving other aspects of your life as well, and you will experience how one positive thing leads to another, just like one negative thing leads to another. The cycle works both ways and the opportunities will multiply if you persist.
For example: You stuck to your BRM for a few months, you started working out a couple of times a week, improved your game and watched some videos on mental life game in general. You feel more energized, look better and are more fun socially, when all of sudden one of the whales you played before invites you to his 5/10 home game with his friends only, because you were the only ''fun'' guy at the boring and unfriendly 1/3 table. I know this might sound like a long shot ofc, but this is just an example to sketch how one thing leads to another. You never know how crazy life can get. But the thing is, if it happens, you better be ready and able to seize the opportunity.

I went broke just before the cryptoboom. One of my close friends, was in the position where he could follow advice from early adapters and invest. I wanted to join, but there I was with no money. At that time I had some crypto already, but I had to sell as otherwise I wouldn't have had money to live from.
1 week later the market exploded which was very very lucrative for my friend and I was very happy for him, knowing how much work he had put in in order to reach the position where he could invest that sort of money.
However, hearing the stories at my university and hometown of random guys having portfolios of 20K and even 90K, while starting with like 1k, was pretty hard to swallow, as I missed the boat because of my own mistakes and am now less worth than some random guys, while I have dedicated 3 years of my life to poker.

Again, I understand that this particular event was almost historic and unlikely to happen again in this form, but the truth is we never know what will be next. I hope these stories make it more tangible for you.