I've had some interest and played poker for around a decade now on and off (with some breaks from poker of a couple years at a time).

My first experience with Poker was one day when my boyfriend at the time was watching some tournament on tv. I was amazed by how much money they were playing with (I later found out that it was chip counts, but still the buyins and the top prizes were huge!) and decided I wanted to give it a try! I made a small deposit of around $10 on pokerstars which I quickly lost, and for a week or two I kept making small deposits and losing it over and over. I was down about $100 in total.

I started reading a little and watching some training videos, I think it was DeucesCracked I was watching back then with their free trial, and decided to have another try, this time with actual bankroll management. I made another small deposit onto pokerstars of around $20 and over the next couple of months I managed to grind it up to around $200, playing mainly NL2 FR and then some NL5 FR after I got past $100.

I was a student at the time, money was a bit tight and so I ended up cashing out the money. This happened quite a few times. I'd make a small deposit, grind it up into a quite nice amount and then the money seemed more real and I felt there were more important things to spend it on.

My worst experience with Poker was probably about 5 years ago. I felt confident, I'd beaten NL2, NL5 and NL10 and was ready to set my sights higher. I had no money on pokerstars at the time. It was yet another time I'd cashed out the money for something more important. I had a little bit of spare money so made a much larger deposit than usual. I deposited $200 and decided to take a shot at NL25, even though I didn't have the bankroll for it and $200 was a lot of money for me.

Things went well at first. I was playing great, the cards were all coming, and in around a month I was up to almost $1000. It felt great. I felt unstoppable and it was inevitable that I'd soon be moving up even higher and perhaps Poker could be an income for me. That's when things changed.

There's one hand in particular that sticks in my mind as the start of the downward spiral. I don't remember all the cards now (I'm sure I have the hand saved somewhere but would take some time to find), but there was a player on my table who was in every pot, losing stack after stack with awful hands and I wanted a piece of it. I got AK and got into a 3bet pot with him. There was a K on the flop and I knew it was my turn to get his stack. I bet large because he would always find his way to the river. The turn came and we got the rest of the chips in. I saw his hand. K8 vs my AK and I was way ahead. He only had 3 outs and I was waiting for the chips to come my way. The river came and I saw an 8. He took my stack and quickly left the table. I felt very frustrated. I felt like I was supposed to have that money and now the guy practically giving away money had run off with my stack.

Things only got worse from there. I continued playing, knowing I was tilted but didn't want to finish a session being down. I was lucky that almost all my sessions up to that point I had been in profit by the end of them, so a big red number in HM2 was the last thing I wanted. I kept playing trying to win back what I'd lost and the losses only got bigger. Over the next few days I'd lost my confidence, kept trying to chase the losses and by the end of it I only had $100 left in my stars account. It was then I decided it's time to move back down and I went from NL25 down to NL5 and felt humiliated. Over the next few weeks I managed to grind it back up to my initial deposit but my confidence was gone and I withdrew the money and stopped playing for a while.

I did come back a few years ago and started grinding SnG's. Ever since my experience with NL25 I've gone off cash games. I did well in the SnG's but after grinding my way up to from the $0.25 45 mans to the $1.50 45 mans and having a small losing streak I decided to cash out again with a small profit.

And here we go again. I don't know how things will end this time, but I feel like I'm ready to get back to the grind and just see what happens. I don't expect I'll ever be a top pro. I imagine I'll stay a recreational player forever, but I'd like to be a recreational player that wins, even if it is just small amounts.

I'm starting again with $0.25 45 man SnG's with an initial deposit of $40.

My bankroll currently stands at: $41.35.

I've played a little NL2 cash and some slightly higher buyin MTT/SnG's, so although I have a profit of $5.97 currently in the $0.25 SnG's I'm only slightly above my deposit with the other losses.

I'm mainly planning to use this thread to track my progress and help motivate myself to play more. I'll post results in here regularly







My goals for the next few days:

• Try to play 30 $0.25 45 man SnG's per day (Maybe not every day if I have other things to do that day)
• Remember to mark hands that I feel I played badly and review them
• No more MTT's apart from maybe the $0.55 and $0.11 Women's MTT's on stars (Since they're small fields and it's fun playing a tournament with only women!)

Managed to get my 30 SnG's done today (+ an entry into the $0.11 Women's MTT)! Took longer than I expected so I'm not sure if I'll be able to manage it every day, but I'll try.

The session went well. I was only doing slightly better than break-even for most of it, but a win in my 2nd to last SnG left me up a total of $3.29 for the day.

I'll probably try play at another time of day in future because towards the end of the session it was taking a long time for the next SnG to start and at one point after busting a few SnG's I only had 3 tables active out of the 6 I usually play at once.

I also remembered to mark some hands that I felt a bit unsure of, or felt that I made a mistake in. I'll not review them right now but I'll take a look through them before my next session and maybe post some hands here and hopefully someone will have some input for me.

I also got a ticket to the $5k weekly freeroll on PokerStars out of the chest I earned today, so I'll play that and who knows, maybe I'll get lucky!

My bankroll now stands at: $44.64

Today's session:

Hey this is good to see. Someone starting at the bottom and working their way up. Good luck and I look forward to reading more soon!


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Thanks for the reply! Nice to see someone has some interest in it. I didn't expect it'd get much interest from anyone being such tiny stakes. I mainly just planned to make the thread as a way to track my progress and to motivate myself to play more. Hopefully things will go well and I'll be able to keep you interested!

So in my last session, I remembered to mark some of the hands for review. After going through them, some of them were either clearly a bad decision or in some cases i felt like the decision was ok if not great.

There were a couple hands however that I'm still very uncertain of and would love if anyone could give me their opinion:

Hand 1:



This hand was played near to the end of the SnG which makes me think even more that I played badly (Even if the results suggest otherwise). At the time I believe myself and the villain were 1st and 2nd in chips

On the flop when I got min reraised by him, I decided to call getting such a good price to the hit the gutshot and possibly a Q would be good too. The J came on the turn completing my straight, but also the flush got there. I guess a flush is something he could have. I see people minraise a flop bet a lot with a flush draw. On the turn after completing my straight I think I was forced to call. The river is where I think I should have folded. He was representing a good hand and my straight at this point felt nothing more than a bluff catcher.


Having problems trying to convert the 2nd hand with the hand history converter so I'm not sure if it's limited to 1 hand per post. I'll try put the 2nd hand in another post just after this one.

Still wouldn't work but I found a website that would convert the hand for me.

Hand 2:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 0.25 Tournament, 200/400 Blinds 25 Ante (8 handed) - Converted at http://www.handhistoryconverter.com/

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 0.25 Tournament, 200/400 Blinds 25 Ante (8 handed) - Converted at http://www.handhistoryconverter.com/

UTG (t8,582)
UTG+1 (t8,929)
MP1 (t10,886)
MP2 (t6,133)
CO (t7,478)
Hero (Button) (t16,471)
SB (t7,070)
BB (t1,951)

Hero's M: 20.59

Preflop: Hero is Button with J, J
2 folds, MP1 raises to t1,200, MP2 calls t1,200, 1 fold, Hero raises to t16,446 (All-In), 2 folds, MP1 calls t9,661 (All-In), 1 fold

Flop: (t23,722) 7, 4, 2 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: (t23,722) 4 (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: (t23,722) 6 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: t23,722

Results:[spoiler]
Hero had J, J (two pair, Jacks and fours).
MP1 had A, A (two pair, Aces and fours).
Outcome: MP1 won t23,722[/spoiler]

I think the chips were going in regardless being 27bb effective. I'm just uncertain about my shove. I figured with the raise and flat I'd prefer to just take down the money in the middle. If I 3bet and get called, flops can be so tricky to play with JJ, especially with a higher card.


Thank you for anyone who reads the thread and if anyone could share their opinion on these hands I'd really appreciate it!

Q8 isn't an iso raise unless they're playing 75%+ hands where they'll have hands like 87/6/5o in their range, otherwise you're generally raising into similar holdings that have position on you.

JJ is fine, if people were deep behind you a 3b would be better as it would give you space if let's say both SB and BB jammed 25+ bigs as you would know someone has to have QQ+, but everyone is so short and they 3xed it it's 100% fine.

Thank you for the advice. My reasoning for raising is because often I'll miss the flop and end up having to check fold in a limped pot. I decided to raise since it was suited and then I wanted to be the raiser so I can cbet it. I'll keep what you said in mind though and maybe try look at my ranges for raising in that situation and see what I could be doing differently

Another 30 SnG's done and another successful session! There were of course hands I think I played badly, but I'm sure everyone else in the $0.25 SnG's are also making mistakes! Early on in my session I made 2 very stupid calls that I should have just folded. I knew it was a fold but sometimes it's so difficult! I don't see much point posting those hands here since I know they were bad, and know what I did wrong. If someone is interested in it though I could post them.

So today's session I made $6.39 profit, and also back in profit overall in tournaments, since I did spend a little playing some $1.10's and $0.50's a week or so ago.

My total profit in just the $0.25 SnG's is now: $15.76 after 117 games.

My bankroll now stands at: $51.03

It may be time to move up to the $0.50 45 man's soon. I'm probably going to wait a little bit longer though, I'd like at least a $60 bankroll before moving up and then take a $10 shot at it and move back down again if I lose that. Depending on how quickly I get to $60 I may wait a little longer though. I'd like to consistently be winning over at least 250 - 300 SnG's at the $0.25's before I move up.


Today's results:





Overall results (Back in profit in tournaments!):

Another day of profit! Think I was playing better generally. There was only 1 hand where I think I made a big mistake in. I accidentally called someone's bet thinking he'd checked and I was checking. When the flush was made on the turn I decided to shove over his bet to try represent it but it was him who had the flush!

I also played the $5k weekly freeroll using the ticket I got out of a box a couple days ago. I came 847/8312 for $1.35. A nice little free boost to my bankroll. On top of that, I also earned another box on stars and got $0.50 tournament $ so that was a couple free buyins too!

I ended with a profit of $6.30 for the day. Towards the end of the session things weren't going as well. I don't think I was doing anything massively wrong (For the micro stakes anyway!). Had a few coolers, lost some flips, etc.

I didn't do any hand reviews before today's session, so tomorrow before I play, I plan to review the hands I've marked from today and yesterday.

I've also decided to set myself a new goal. I don't know if I'll achieve it or not, but I think it's good to set my sights high! My new goal is to try get to a bankroll of $500 before July. I was looking up the micro millions last night and saw that last year it took place in July, so I'm guessing it'll be the same this year. Most the buyins are $5.50 and under so if I can get to a $500 bankroll I intend to play a lot of the events. If I'm in profit overall through micro millions I may also enter the main event which was $22 last year (so guessing the same this year), even though I wouldn't be bankrolled for it. It'd just be a one off.

My bankroll is now: $57.82

Today's session:

So I've just finished my hand review. Again there's some hands that after looking at them again, I think my decision was fine, and others where I think I clearly made a mistake, and others still where I'm really not sure so would love any insight from you guys since most of you are much more experienced players than me.

The first hand was a shove preflop for quite a large amount. There was a UTG 2x raise followed by 4 calls in the very early stages of the tournament. I had TT on the button. I considered doing a 3bet to maybe 300 - 400 chips (I imagine probably closer to 400 considering the size of the pot). If I got a call, it'd only leave me with a pot size shove on the flop. I decided to just shove all in preflop with the TT in the hopes of getting folds, or hopefully be flipping if I am called. I'm really not sure though if shoving was a good choice. Apart from a 3bet, the other option would be to just flat and take a flop and hope I hit a set with it. I don't really like that with a hand as big as TT though. I'd really love it if someone could give me their opinion of the hand.




The next hand was a shove on the bubble. 8 players remaining, 2 with tiny stacks and only 7 paid. I had 33 in the bb as the big stack on the table. 27 bb stack opens so I decide to shove on him with the 33. I don't think I'd usually shove that hand for such a large amount but the bubble with 2 tiny stacks was part of me reasoning for doing so.




The next hand was heads up, which is probably one of the weakest parts of my game. The villain was open shoving a lot with our stacks 30bb+ effective. I decided to make the call because of this. I'm really not sure though if it was right to make the call as we had such large stacks at the time.




There are more hands that I'm uncertain about my decision in, but I'll leave it at just these 3 for now. I don't want to post like 10 hands at once as I'm asking here for advice and wouldn't want to overwhelm people with work looking through so many hands!


Planning to start today's session in the next couple hours. Decided to wait for a different time of day so the SnG's fill a bit quicker. I'll post my results after the session. I think I'm ready to move up to the $0.50 45 mans soon. I'll still wait until I complete 250 of the $0.25 ones first though. If I filter out the other tournaments I played and just look at the results from $0.25 then the graph looks quite impressive.

So this session didn't go too well. I played 34 SnG's today and ended with a profit of $4.04 but until very close to the end I was down a few $.

I don't feel like I was playing any differently to usual. Had a fair few coolers, still though after this bad session I'd kind of like to look at my games in more depth. I've decided I wont play tomorrow and probably Wednesday too.

Tomorrow I plan to go through all the hands from the SnG's I've played today and see if I can spot bad mistakes I've made today. Wednesday I have an appointment in the morning and then will spend a few hours later in the day practising my push fold game with SitNGo Wizard. I still have just under 2 weeks of the trial left so need to make good use of it. I can't really justify buying it right now with my bankroll being so low.

Profit today: $4.04

My bankroll is now: $62.35


Today's session

Well I looked though about half a dozen of the SnG's this morning and couldn't find any huge mistakes, but maybe I just dont notice the mistakes I am making. After looking through them I decided to do a session today, which like yesterday didn't go well.

I'm really not sure what I'm doing wrong, or if I am even doing anything wrong (Well I'm sure I'm making mistakes, but I mainly mean huge mistakes). Was planning to move up to the $0.50's at 250 SnG's but I think I'll wait a bit longer. I feel like I've lost a little confidence these last 2 days so need to get that back before I do move up.

Maybe I've been playing too much. Think I'll spend tomorrow going through all of today's and yesterdays SnG's as I'd planned to do today, then SitNGo Wizard later that day if I have time, or the following day. Will probably take a day or 2 break from poker too. Maybe it'll do me some good to spend a couple days doing something completely unrelated. Got a ton of games on Steam I haven't played, so maybe I can find one I'd like to play through.

Profit (Loss) today: -$3.39

My bankroll is now: $58.96


Today's session

Great job with the post!

Very good read i will be following and rooting for you the whole way, you seem to have the right mindset so im sure you will be successful.

Just caught up on the last few posts. You seem like you are able to look at mistakes and learn! That will take you far. Take a day off and play some games. Always helps me after several days of grinding. Cheers!


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