It has been a very long time since I've played poker with any regularity. I'll play occasionally on business trips, or make a rare trip down to Foxwoods or Mohegan. I miss taking the game seriously, and this thread is my attempt to hold myself accountable for my play. Stealing some of what's below from another thread.

My Plan

$1,000 starting bankroll. I know this is too small for $1/2 NLHE, but I'm able and willing to replenish early. As my bankroll (hopefully) grows, I'll adapt my bankroll requirements to be more protective.

$1/2 NLHE and $1/3 NLHE may be played. If bankroll falls below $1,000 at any point, $1/3 NLHE must be discontinued until bankroll recovers to $2,500.

When bankroll reaches $5,000, $2/5 NLHE may be played. If bankroll falls below $4,000 at any point, $2/5 NLHE must be discontinued until bankroll recovers to $5,000.

When bankroll reaches $15,000 $5/10 NLHE may be played. If bankroll falls below $10,000 at any point, $5/10 NLHE must be discontinued until bankroll recovers to $15,000.

Tournament Stakes:

Bankroll <$5,000 - Single Buy-In Maximum of 10% of Bankroll or $150 (Whichever is Greater)
Bankroll $5,000 - $10,000 - Single Buy-In Maximum of 7.5% of Bankroll
Bankroll $10,000 - $25,000 - Single Buy-In Maximum of 5% of Bankroll
Bankroll >$25,000 - Single Buy-In Maximum of 3% of Bankroll

Some General Rules

[ ] Absolutely no casino/pit games. Ever.
[ ] Stop-loss for live cash games - 4 buy-ins

I'm hoping to find myself on 9/19/18 having achieved the following:

[ ] Played 500 hours live cash games
[ ] Played 10 live MTTs
[ ] Total bankroll $20,000

I happen to have a day off tomorrow, so I'm planning to start with a session at Foxwoods playing $1/2. Hoping to get things started on the right foot. Thanks for reading.

Gl subbed

gl

Welp, getting back to it. My day off last month didn't end up happening, and I haven't had a chance to play since. Fortunately, I have some downtime while in DC this week, so I'm going to hit the new MGM National Harbor room. Probably going to need to adjust the bankroll in the OP, since their smallest game is $1/3, and it's a pretty deep buy-in. I'll be back to update on Thursday.

Looking through my calendar for the next month or so, and it looks like I'll actually get a decent amount of play in.

Looks like I'll have some downtime in DC, Cleveland, and Tampa. I may also try to swing down to Foxwoods for a session or two. If I can get 50 hours of play in before the end of November, I'll be pretty happy.

Happy to say that my flights ran on time, and I'm now comfortably seated at a $1/3 game at MGM. I'll update later tonight. Planning to play 3-4 hours.

First session is in the books. There aren't many things sweeter than some run good in a great game. Happy to have a little padding for the miniature starting bankroll.



I probably won't have a chance to play again until next week in Cleveland. Hoping to get 6-8 hours in over a couple nights.

Current Bankroll: $2134
Profit/Loss To Date: +$1134

Awesome thread man, I'm on a similar path. Do you prefer Mohegan or Foxwoods? I am a huge fan of Mohegan's room. Do you find that there are more tourists, beginner type players at Mohegan? I feel like Foxwoods brings the best players from all around and is usually a lower profit for me.

Mohegan is quite awful for poker other then $1/2 and even then the games are much better at Foxwoods for sure. Although the Mohegan poker room & chairs are MUCH better at Mohegan for profitability Foxwoods is the way to go IMO.

I don't know that I have played enough hours at either to make a judgment. The Mohegan room is much nicer, in terms of amenities. Probably very similar at $1/2, and then Foxwoods starts to shine at $2/5 and above.

I will say that the couple of times I've played bigger at Mohegan (above $2/5), there seems to be a more "fun" atmosphere at Mohegan. YMMV.

Both seem decent from my limited experience. I do 90% of my play at Foxwoods, but Mohegan seems much less depressing. Haha.

This week's travel schedule has firmed up, and it looks like it will include some more poker action! JACK Casino Cleveland ($1/3 NL) mid-week, where I should be able to play another 3-4 hours, and then Foxwoods later in the week. Might be able to play a longer session there, but we'll see. Crossing the 10 hour threshold for this thread would make me happy. #volumegoals

Change of Plans

I've been reading a bunch of LLSNL and PG&C threads, and I think my situation might warrant a little bit of a change to my overall strategy. Considering my situation (regular job, limited time to play, no real worries about busting my bankroll), I think I'm going to try to work in some of the approach that dgiharris used in his PG&C thread.

So, how things will change is as follows:

- If I'm up more than 150 BB for the next level game, I will allow myself to take a 100 BB shot at the higher game, either on the same day or during the next session. If I lose those 100 BB, the session/day is over.

So, in practice, here's what that might look like (assuming I'm at a place with $1/2, $2/5, and $5/10 NL games):

- Let's say I'm playing $1/2 NL, and find myself up $750. I can take $500 and play $2/5 NL. The $250 additional is locked up as profit.
- If I bust that $500, my session is over. If I find myself up $1500 in the $2/5 game, I can take $1000 and play $5/10 NL. The $500 additional is added to the $250 that was previously locked up, and I'm now playing with $1000 at $5/10 with $750 locked up as profit for the day.
- Shot-taking based on this structure can only occur within 3 days of the original win. So, if I play $1/2 on Tuesday, win $750, and want to take a shot at $2/5, I can't wait two weeks or something to do it. Once 72 hours pass, my shot-taking chance is gone.
- For tournaments, I can play a tournament with a buy-in up to 30% of my previous three sessions' total profit. So, if my previous three sessions are +$500, -$150, +$650, I can play a tournament up to $300 total buy-in. No time factor here.

I think this approach, while more risky, will work well. Here's why:

[ ] No taking poker profits to the pit to try to make a big score.
[ ] No moving up when losing or running bad.
[ ] Opportunity to make the most of running good, playing well, etc.
[ ] Opportunity to play some larger tournaments when things are going well.

Anyway, that's the plan. In about 36 hours, I should be seated at a $1/3 table in Cleveland. Looking forward to the next session.

Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.

On the plane. Turning what is normally a 90 minute flight to Cleveland into 5 hours of Delta pain by flying through ATL. Almost the end of the year, and I’m about 10,000 miles behind where I need to be.

Anyway, JACK Cleveland tonight, and Foxwoods tomorrow. Update coming later!

Had the chance to play a few hours last night. Amazing, amazing game, but wasn’t able to get anything going. Ended up +$50. Looking forward to getting back to the tables tonight at Foxwoods.



Current Bankroll: $2184
Since Last Update: +$50

Foxwoods $1/2 session in the books.



Current Bankroll: $2378
Since Last Update: +$194

The shot take structure looks really cool. I like how you get to lock money up still because that's what's important --> putting money away for moving up but with a less aggressive approach.

The only thing I don't like about it is that you could find yourself moving between stakes with some frequency. All this means is that you might be playing against unknown players and could potentially be sacrificing a really good 2/5 table to play higher simply because your BRM allows for it. Remember that a good 2/5 is INFINITELY better for your bottom line than a bad or even okay 5/10.

Thanks for this post. You're 100% correct, and it's a piece of the puzzle that I hadn't considered. Generally, if you're crushing a game by playing well, running well, and playing against relatively poor players, it would make zero sense to leave that game to move up.

Considering that, I'm thinking it will usually make more sense to save moving up a limit for the next session, unless game conditions change. We'll see how it goes.

Was able to put in a pretty good session after catching an earlier flight home this week. Won’t get to play again until midweek, but should be able to put in about 10-15 hours. May also jump in a tournament.



Current Bankroll: $2440
Since Last Update: +$62

Just a quick update:

- I deposited $500 into ACR. I'll probably play some MTTs and some NL/PLO cash games. Thinking I'll start from $0.25/0.50 or so, and keep my MTTs under $30 for the time being.
- Will be putting in my next session tomorrow. Looking forward to getting back to the tables.

GL, what's the name of that app? ty in advance

Hi there! It's called RunGood.

The Next Two Weeks

The next couple weeks should be pretty interesting. I have a bunch of trips, and some of them have pretty substantial amounts of downtime between meetings, etc.

Here's what I'm hoping/expecting:

Today, 11/7 - $120 MTT and $1/2 NL Cash
Tomorrow, 11/8 - $120 MTT and $1/2 NL Cash
Tuesday, 11/14 - $207 MTT and $1/3 NL Cash
Thursday, 11/16 - $5-500 Spread Limit (Not sure if they have anything smaller)

Some run good would be excellent. Just looking forward to being able to put in some hours.

On another note, in my last update, I mentioned putting $500 on ACR so I could work in some online play. After a couple days of doing a few MTTs from home (and doing pretty well), I think I'm going to have to look at stopping. The reality is that when I'm home, I need to be home. ****ty idea. I'll probably leave the money on there for occasional play, but I don't think I can justify the time on a regular basis.

Last thing. I bought two books. Kill Everyone for MTTs and Pot-Limit Omaha Poker for PLO. Going to be doing some reading on my flights. I could see PLO becoming a pretty substantial part of my overall play down the line, but I have some serious learning to do there.