What was the initial deposit/roll that you ran up into your current roll and at what stakes did you start? How long ago was that?

Gl, London is super fun to be, and the live games are generally really good (vic casino always has decently high PLO).

In terms of banks, never heard anything bad happen here in regards to poker aside from temporary freezes on accounts when depositing large amounts (as standard for like fraud check etc). So as long as you go for a big one should be fine IMO.

I was a losing player a microstakes nl for a few months then after $800 or so I started to run up a roll online at 4nl then 10nl then 25nl and by the time I was a winner at 25nl, I had been playing 1/2 home games that became a better avenue for my poker. So I started playing underage at a casino in its smallest game and playing a bunch of home games while still grinding online to improve. I switched to PLO about 3 years ago and started about 4.5 years ago. I started at micro plo online and ran it up with a couple hurdles and adventures in between while playing bigger live NL with some investment.
If you're asking to find out how to follow a path that succeeded etc my advice would be -- don't. I would not get started in poker today knowing what I know. You're just too late sorry as by the time you get to midstakes online it'll be 2.5-4 years from now (if ever) and the landscape will necessarily be much worse aka not worth it.

Thanks I've played some at the vic, the 2/5 plo is incredible and same with bigger. I don't have much liquid pounds and it's much better for me to play online hourly-wise so I'm going to avoid it for a while. But good looks thanks for the heads up.
Banks-wise I see. I have heard bad things about HSBC and Barclays, I am investigating Lloyds presently.

Okay I'm about to start my grind for the day. I played my instrument, took a shower, cleaned up the apartment a little. I got to sleep under my duvet for the first time last night which feels good. Spirits are hesitant but high. I'm going to play my A game and if I don't I will take a break for a bit and come back later this evening.

I won't be stopped

My personal experience with Barclays and gambling was fine. But I have heard poor things online, same with HSBC. Heard good things about Lloyds and personally I bank with Natwest and I've not had any problems. Probably a little different if your doing regular cash deposits over a significant value but otherwise you should be relatively okay. Not sure if this is a concern as a professional but gambling transactions can be a pain when it comes to Mortgages. It might be worth having two accounts.

Thank you for the input. I am following up with lloyds currently although tbh it's a low priority because for online purchases i'm just eating juice on the exchange rate and buying things through my US bank account. If lloyds doesn't work out I will check out Natwest.

So i'm 8 hours into my sessions today and today has been an absolute nightmare, hands-wise. Just a really really tough day. But I didn't hit my volume target yesterday because of my negative reactions to a similar streak. Today I do not feel negatively inside, I am just grinding and playing my best. This is a big deal and something I need to maintain for future days like this. They are necessary for me to overcome as I cannot avoid the downswing aspects of PLO. I'm becoming more and more at peace with them.. although 500plz is an entirely different animal as there are many deep pots that occur which consequently jacks up your variance and the speed at which hands occur means the swings occur more quickly too.

Here is a pic of my stacks from my latest session:


I still have a few hours to play (to catch up on missed volume from yesterday) until my monitors arrive in the morning, then I'm going to pass out and sleep for so long.

Here is a LOL hand history from my most recent session that made me chuckle

In retrospect maybe I should have shoved river but my double float ended up getting showdown value... I don't think he plays AA this way tho so I didn't shove in game. It's good to see that my play would have worked tho if I hadn't binked the 6.

Ok I just finished a 10:24 long series of sessions. I went out to a pub for a few beers with a friend midway thru so getting this volume in while having that distraction/performance obstacle (having to sober up etc) makes me quite happy.

I played.... maybe a 7 or 8/10. There are definitely quite a few spots that I messed up that I am working on fixing. Every day my game is improving a great deal, it's really quite satisfying. Just from shoring up leaks I find while playing thousands of hands not counting the studying.
My monitors are arriving in 1-2 hours so I'm going to sit tight till they come and then pass out and play friday night.

Btw this was my first 10k day at 500plz.... partly due to being 5k over EV. I'm PROUD to be a sunrunner

What a hand. Yea your double float is sort of hopeful on him not playing AAxx that way so when he checks river gives you less of a reason to bet.

Yeah so i played like 2 hours and lost 5.5k. got tilted pretty bad so went out for drinks tonight. I'll play more later tonight when the games are soft and i sobered up. I woke up at 6pm or so, so no worries getting in volume later tonight. Going to hang out with friends after getting back from bars and then continue when they've left. I will. not. buckle. Yeah I felt crushed today BUT I DONT CARE I WILL PERSEVERE. These regs won't know what hit them.

^^ This does not sound like a good game plan

Yes... I think it was fine for a few days but I am going to take it easier and only put in a few hours a day, like 6 or so. I have averaged 7.5evbb/100 over my first 25k hands so it's not that I was losing loads of ev by pushing myself too hard. I was just setting my sights too high for starting out right off the bat. I'm configuring my second monitor now then I'll play some later tonight.

Okay i've given it some more thought. Shooting for 120k hands this month etc as a volume goal is a really bad idea. I got strung out and that is very counter productive.

I thought about hours, hands, and $$ or buyin targets as different kinds of goals and I've decided i'm going to make a very broad mid-term target for having accrued 100k on stars by the end of April. This is, in my humble opinion, VERY achievable. It works out to being +90k as I got 10k transferred to me at the start. In my posts I'm going to note my hours played, results, my progress, any commentary, and some hands as I've been doing so far.

Today is going very well although it always feels like Jnandez and another reg are targeting me like I do to the weaker regs which is weird because I think I've shored up most of my leaks. Anyway I'll update when i'm done grinding tonight

Alright I may do more later tonight after chilling for a bit but i'm tentatively done for the day. I put in 8:15 and am up 10.5k over 4.2k hands. I had a nice time going out last night to a few bars and having an afterparty at my place till late. I didn't play any more after I came home. Today food-wise I tried out uber eats for the first time and had some pretty quality pad thai with some pad see ew on deck for tomorrow's lunch.

My stars is currently at 30.5k/100k.

I found myself losing focus in the last hour nitting it up more than I ought to and zoning out so I stopped. The night games are much better tho so I'll probably do some relaxation and jump back in.

For my second monitor a hdmi 2.0->displayport cable didn't work as it wouldn't detect signal so I ordered a hdmi -> hdmi cable that is arriving tomorrow. Hopefully it functions smoothly and then my grinding setup will be all done. I've got 2 4k 28" monitors connected to my laptop (a maxed dell xps 15 9550) so it's definitely a pleasure to use.

I skipped out on going out socializing tonight partly because the party at hand was really weird last week and I am not trying to go back to that environment (uk grunge with lots of drugs in a brick corner room with dim lights and loud music). I think i'll stick to one outing per weekend but I'm going to try and make sure it doesn't get reduced to 0 no matter how good the games are.

I don't think I'll fire any mtts on stars tomorrow.... haven't fully made up my mind tho.

Oh I forgot some hands:

Probably shouldn't fire river but I just can't help myself:


Vs the same spot ten hands later:


Quite possibly the whaliest whale I've played with so far:



Doing weird things vs an AA only range:



Blockers aren't everything they're chalked up to be:

I've been living life a decent amount, going out to socialize, a date, spending time with my roommate and his friends. Poker has been up and down, 4:16 two days ago and 2:36 so far today although I'll get more volume in later tonight.
Down a little bit on some b sites and stars is at 30.914/100k. I shotted some 5/10 on b sites and it didn't go too well.. the games are much much softer than 500plz tho so like.... how bad an idea can it be.

Finished up at 4:06 and 34.897/100k. It's safe to say that I move chips around these swings are ridiculous.

Possibly just x/c turn? I am bad



Weird weird hand idk what's going on what is going on what do i have what does he have this makes no sense why did a good reg limp the button ugh a set. I thought I was pushing equity vs his draws and not many sets, doing fine vs top two


Guy opens the button 90% and doesn't fold to 3bets sooooooo


I got owned in this hand. I thought he was bluffing (obv) but wasn't doing it with AcA...................... value called turn and got owned but still won thx plo?

Don’t hate the checkjam. Turn sizing makes me think he’s protecting some weak 2p. That said, would prefer a random pair (for a higher equity checkraise, block some bet/calling & 2p outs) or a less nutty draw to jam with.



He played it like a set. Yea no clue why he limp called this pre. Maybe he doesnt want to call a 3bet and prefers l/c to open folding.

Hmm not sure about river. I expect his Jx to checkback and or play a prior street differently so its pretty much Qx or nothing. AKT or something we beat and if he’s super wide pre he should have a decent amount of air (though perhaps some of his air that he chooses to bluff with would be as a flop raise, idk).

Wow super light turn call. Would be interested in your thought process behind the turn float.

Sup steve yeah in the last hand I thought I actually had the best hand (i'm a fish) I wasn't floating.

Today has been smooth so far. A few hours of reg battling that went so-so and then an hour or two of the pool being very soft... I am still fixing many parts of my game. Although of all the days so far I have made the most adjustments from yesterday to today. My game now looks very similar (at least frequency-wise) to the two players I perceive to be the top regs in the pool. I'm learning a lot about 6max plo that I didn't even know existed before I made this trip. It's definitely humbling but I'm coming at it with a level of effort that I know these other pros aren't putting in.

I have played 6 hours so far and stars is at 40.261/100k.

Here are two hands from today:


punting it off has its benefits


I'll probably play a bit more tonight altho i'm going to go study for a bit first.

8743ss > 8543ss winning in that fashion is gold

That turn call with the AQJ7 quite ambitious. He must think most of your strong FDs bet flop and also you are likely to checkback river a decent amount. But even your air will have straight draws and decent equity vs his hand. Altho his AAdd KKdd and Qxdd will almost all bet flop as his rundowns will have equity to barrel - so he's capped af

Yeah the 8743ss was quite funny so I posted it.

I wrapped up some studying and a little more playing (41.402/100k) and I'm restless. I've been constantly evaluating where I'm at and where I'm headed. 500plz is my crucible.. this is functionally the first game I'm trying to conquer while being full time and it is quite tough. There are a few regs (that play 5kpl too) that give me quite a bit of trouble and my solutions right now are not adequate. I recognize that and am daily trying to catch up as quickly as I can. I'm really happy with where I'm at-- set up in London with plenty of buyins and no obligations firing off as much plo as I can muster. With that said I think that cutting back from 5khands/day to something closer to 3k (~6 hours) is much more sustainable. Although the initial momentum I got from that first week of hardcore grinding is definitely something to be thankful for as I don't see myself busting my stars account at 2/5.

I was scoping out the bigger games that were running in the regular speed lobby and they seemed softer than 500plz. As long as I can put in good volume at zoom I see myself sitting at least the 2kpl games by the summer. I could conceivably start regging the 1kpl games on b sites but i'm not sure if it's worth it to take away from my zoom grind. Each extra table beyond 4 zoom entries really detracts from my game. I'll wait to decide on this till I've tried out a few sessions.

I'm really excited to be honest! At 500plz 6max I've put in ~39k hands so far and am ripping along at a little over 9evbb/100. Although I am definitely heatering both in allin-ev and card distribution so I'm waiting for a much larger sample before drawing any conclusions about long-term rates.
Given that this blog is public and some 500plz regs might be reading it, I post certain hands and not others. As time goes on I may post less hands but I'll try to keep up with updating my progress as that is important to me. I'll put out my graph on march 4th for my first month of exclusively 500plz 6max. Here's to not going broke before then

Well today was great! New sleep schedule worked out just fine, woke up around 5pm to the doorbell of some movers bringing us furniture for our living room. And then I got to play since then along with getting a little shopping done. I've been playing for the most part pretty well. In my last 5k hands or so I can only think of <5 hands that I butchered so hey that's progress. The zoom pool was popping today and I got to put in some good volume, although I'm around 6k under ev for the past 24 hours and stars is still at 40.394/100k. I put in 6:42 since I got up so I could stop for the day. I'm going to unwind for a bit and check the zoom pool afterwards tho.

Just one hand today, I think I should have checked river despite usually opting for value vs non-regs:

Epic thread so far. Enjoying the read and the hand histories are good. keep it up and crush it!

Thanks dude.

This is my favorite kind of graph no doubt:


First time i've ever seen this hand show up as a limp re-raise from a spot

If you check this hand otr, what hands do you bet?

yeah the l/rr actually puts you in a gross spot w/ the KK76ss pre. That said if he's spewing this hard post flop seems like a fine spot.

I think the idea is that weaker plays will struggle to find bluffs otr and are more likely to call a bet than bet when checked to, so betting is preferred.

Vs regs tho I think a river check may make sense since its hard to come up with bluffs for hero (what bets flop & turn that now needs to bluff? and if VIllian has hearts then we really cant be bluffing), and by checking river we look like AQ and can induce.