Here's my session stats from a 1 hr session from last night and one from earlier today:





Current Bankroll: $5623

I actually work in the mortgage department of the Bank I work at. I think you may be confusing documenting income via pay stubs versus cash reserves. I just have to have the cash in my savings account for a few months to clear underwriting. Now the money my dad would loan me for the other half of the down payment is called a bridge loan. Those are fairly common.

Thanks for the support. Much appreciated.

Thanks.

Just want to make sure everyone can see the images I've posted so far. I can see them but I just noticed when I was in imgur that it says my images are not 'public'.

I wish you the best of luck.

What kind of App is that? how are you getting this info onto this app?

Thanks, Jesse. It's called Poker Income Pro Bankroll Tracker. Each session i input my starting bankroll and starting time and then finishing bankroll and finish time.

Hey Urban Surfer!

I'm only a 10NL player, but if you don't mind do you think we could perhaps study the game together? I've been taking this a lot more seriously as of late, but most of the replies I get here are so negative. It would be great to have someone to talk poker and God with!

And don't let those "Christians" get to you, playing poker is not a sin. Maybe one could argue bluffing is bearing false witness but even then, if you play a TAG game and only semibluff you're good :P

But keep your faith in the Lord and everything will work out! God says that if you don't hide your talents, love the Lord with all your heart and soul, and work with your hands you will be successful at anything you do! Anyway, I sent you a PM. Look forward to hopefully chatting with you soon!

I was in the same boat as you man, had feelings about being Christian but it just wasn't all there. The secret is reading your bible. Think of scripture as food for the Holy Spirit in your body. Much like our physical bodies need to eat every day the Holy Spirit needs its daily dose of scripture!

I'd love to answer all of your questions though, and any more you might have if you'd like Sorry if it's a wall of text though DX

You see a relationship with the Lord is kind of like a marriage. It just isn't something that can be forced and if you try to you'll just end up being miserable and hating the person you're married to. However if you met this person through your own experiences and developed a personal relationship with this person you'll obviously grow to love and cherish them.

A lot of people have it mixed up with the commandments and Jesus. There is the Old Testament and the New Testament. Back in the Old Testament days you were stoned for any sin. The reason for this was because the Israelies (descendants of Israel, who was a descendant of Abraham who came from Adam) lived in God's promised land and were God's chosen people. Because this land was God's land and God's people, they had to remain pure because God cannot endorse something that isn't pure. So when sin was committed in the Old Testament you had to go through a ton of different rituals to "cleanse" the body and soul. The main thing was you would place your hand on a sacrificial animal (lamb or goat usually) and essentially transfer the sin to this lamb before you sacrifice it to God. This should sound familiar because that is essentially what Christ is about, he is literally the Lamb of God because we can all put our hands on Christ and transfer our sins to Him so that we can remain pure in the eyes of the Lord.

I know that seems like a tangent but I bring it up because simply following the commandments isn't enough. You have to accept Christ as your Lord and savior, believe he died for your sins, then confess your sins to him. That is all you need to do for eternal life. You see, the Old Testament is about God's chosen people entering into the promised land as well as what happens once they get to the promised land. However along the way the Israelies are the most ungrateful and disrespectful people you could read about. They **** up so many times but God still shows them his grace by giving them plenty of chances. Many people died in the Old Testament because they would just sin all the time. But eventually God realized that sin is human nature, we're literally born with it. He realized that no matter how many prophets he sent, people were just innate to sin. So He sent down his begotten Son to cleanse all of us for our sins, past, present, and future! Praise the Lord!

In the Book of Matthew people ask Jesus "What is required to get into Heaven?" and do you know what he said? "Love the Lord with all of your heart and soul, and love thy neighbor as you love yourself". That is all you have to do. You see, we're sinners by nature. It's sad but true. But by the grace of God we have Jesus to take our sins for us. All we have to do is accept Christ as our savior and love God with all our heart and soul as well as show kindness to everyone. Jesus didn't mean our literal neighbors, when you think about it everyone in the world is your neighbor in a way. What's more is that what Jesus says is that loving God and treating your neighbor right pretty much covers all of the commandments. Your faith in the Lord and Christ is what matters, your faith counts as righteousness. This is even preached in the Old Testament when God tells Abraham his faith counts as righteousness. Abraham slept with his daughters, he sinned greatly but God still loved him because of how righteous he was. King David nailed this dude's wife and knocked her up. After failing to pin the pregnancy on the woman's life he sends this poor man to the front lines where he of course dies. David immediately married her and tries to play it off. But God sees all and he was quite wroth with David for what he did. But David repented and felt truly sorry for what he did. But more important, he always put God first even when he sinned. This is why God loved David so much. What David did was ****ed up and cruel, but God still loved him.

You can rest easy though because playing poker is not a sin. In fact, I see my ability to play poker as a God given talent and thank Him for it every day. You see, playing poker requires a lot of important character traits. You need to be patient enough to put in volume. You have to be realistic and admit your mistakes. You have to learn how to take a bad beat. You need to calculate odds in your head. Most people struggle with just one of these things, let alone all of them. We should be thankful that God gave us the brains to be good at something we love! And by the way, gambling isn't against the Ten Commandments Playing poker isn't bad, hell even gambling isn't the worst thing ever. There are few things God hates and that is Satan and sin! You can be forgiven for any and all sins. As for which ones are worse than the others? Idol worship/worshipping false gods is pretty much the worst thing you can do. What's scary is that more people do it than you realize. How many people worship celebrities and rock stars? Hell, you have groupies that give themselves up to these rockstars. What's scary is it's almost like a sacrifice, these women are putting their bodies up as sacrifices to these false idols that they worship! God hates this because these idols drive people away from God. God says that if you walk away from him that He will also walk away from you. But He also says that if you run toward Him that He will also run toward you.

I can't explain it, but you will feel Jesus surrounding you when you develop a relationship with him. You will feel fearless. The Bible says that once you know God you'll have the courage of a lion and boy do I feel like I do! As for how to gain a relationship with him? It's the same as any other relationship! See what he's all about! If you have the spare cash, I would highly recommend the King James Study Bible. You can read the Book of John or Matthew to get to know what Jesus is all about and what he has to offer. Then you can get into the Old Testament and see what God is about. Eventually all the pieces start to fit. If you have any questions shoot me a PM my man. I love talking about the Lord!

I used to be agnostic before I found God. I decided I wanted a Bible to study so I picked up the King James Study Bible. Your question is a very good one though. The definition of sin is "an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law". Forgive me if this isn't quite the answer you were hoping for but I personally believe that you are still considered to have sinned.

If someone doesn't believe in God and they sin, they won't believe it's a sin because they don't respect God let alone his laws. But this is why I believe having God is so important. Humanity is corrupt to its very core. When we put ourselves in charge instead of God things go wrong very quickly. For example, how many people do you know that try to justify their wrongdoings? I've done it plenty of times in my life. I stole/pawned something from someone and I managed to use my hate against this person to justify this act. People justify cheating, murder, etc all the time. But with God, there is no justifying it. You sinned, period. With God, it's black and white. Either you sinned or you didn't. With humans, it's a gray area. Yeah, you sinned but you had a goodish reason to, right? This is why God is so important, when you fear God you don't justify your sin. In fact, that fear of God justifies avoiding the situation even more so! :P

The way most "Christians" refer to sin is insane, and the way most "Christians" act disgusts me. Sure sin is a terrible thing, but God doesn't hate you or anyone for it. God only hates sin. God would never hate you for sinning. That is why he sent Jesus Christ to absorb all of our sins. We can't go to heaven if we're corrupt because it's a pure place that cannot be corrupted. This is why we need to constantly confess to Christ, this way we are pure when we die and meet God. That is what John 3:16 is all about. God so loved the world that he sent his one begotten son to die for our sins.

I hope I was able to answer your question sufficiently though.

I know this wasn't directed at me, but I hope you don't mind me answering in the hopes it helps in anyway?

What makes me so passionate about God is how passionate his is about me, about all of us! God loves us. There are a lot of negative things in the Bible yes, but despite all of this God shows us his grace and mercy constantly! People can be cruel, hate filled, spiteful, and negative. But God is unconditional love. I have no reason to be ashamed of myself because God loves me. People's insults no longer phase me because the Lord thinks nothing but the best of me! With that in mind, how could anyone's negativity bring me down? God gave us all life to do amazing things! The Bible makes me want to live my life to the fullest! When I didn't believe in God there was no point in living. Now I want to live my life to the fullest so I can please the Lord as much as possible before my time is over.

Thanks, bro. Yeah a lot of people seem to equate bluffing with lying. But in reality, bluffing is just trying to get your opponent to fold their hand. You are betting that their hand isn't strong enough to call your bet or raise.

And then some people say that poker involves deception and is therefore sinful. This is also a reach because then you could say the same for virtually every major sport. Disguising blitzes and fake handoffs in football, throwing a curve ball or a change-up in baseball, etc.

I'd be happy to talk strategy with you no matter what your stake. One of my direct reports plays NL10 on Bovada too and we talk about some of our hands all the time. Since I don't have a ton of experience playing NL10 I am not sure how much my advice will help but I can try.

Will check your PM.

Heres the last couple of sessions:

<iframe class='imgur-album' width='100%' height='550' frameborder='0' src='http://imgur.com/a/Gy8ba/embed'></iframe>

Gl, hope not to see u at the 200nl tables.

There weren't any good 1/2 tables while my boy was napping so I just played .50/1. Another break even session.

Lol. Thanks. I think...

Today I am working from Starbucks while putting in some hands. Will post the stats from my last sessions soon

Last two days worth of sessions:





In the middle of another session right now. Not looking good. Got it all in on the turn with a set of tens against a gutter ball and well u can guess what happened next. About 120 BB's.

Hopefully will turn it around.

Just wanted to say thanks for your reply to my post near the top of the thread and to say that I'm enjoying the thread. GL.

Thanks, hopefully I can string together some wins for you guys. Not exactly riveting entertainment watching break even poker. Although last night I actually finished down a couple buyins. Ran pretty bad but there were some spots I felt I misplayed. I got a couple "gifts" in my previous session as well. Gotta make sure I really focus and manage my emotions which is my biggest struggle and enemy to playing optimally.

Current Bankroll: $5,135

Urban! I'm just a little bit curious. How many tables do you play at a time optimally? How long is your average session? Would you be down to skyping to review hand histories?

I'm a .5/1 player on ACR. Started doubting myself after being down for 3 sessions. Average length of each session is 3 hours. Probably because I played too many tables (6) and relied on the HUD while playing 6. I seem to have more time to observe when I play 4 tables. However, prior to this downswing, I was up 10 BIs playing 6 tables optimally. Average session is 1:30 hours. Any comments would be appreciated! Thanks

I play up to the max Bovada allows which is four. But I only play on tables that have 35% average players seeing the flop. So sometimes I am only playing on a couple. But most of the time I am able to find four eventually.

I always keep an eye out for new tables to open up that meet that criteria and also keep an eye on the tables I am on to make sure they don't dip down below that. If they do then I almost always get off as soon as it is my big blind. Exception: if there is a mega fish at the table.

Average is about 2-3 hours. I have found that I personally am more profitable the shorter the sessions I play. But u have to play long enough to make money obviously.

I would be happy to but I just honestly don't have the time right now. Between a full time job, doing all my house chores when I get home, spending time with my wife and son, and then putting in about 2-3 hours a night I have about 6 hours to sleep haha.

If you want to send me PM's then i'd be happy to respond when I have a free moment. I usually can respond within a day.

Hang in there. The good news is, that's a really short downswing so much that I wouldn't even call it a downswing. So pretty impressive if that's the long string of losing sessions you've had. The bad news is, at some point you will have longer dry spells than that. So learn how to manage your emotions through this and you'll emerge from other longer ones much faster than you would.

Some things I do is to look at my history of several wining sessions in a row. Look at my overall win rate. Look at my lifetime winnings. If you don't have any of that to use find something positive and cling to that. And if you or anyone who hasn't honestly been a long term winning player, stop playing and get coaching and/or watch training videos. Both of those are much more productive than reading books (which is still better than nothing). Pay $30 for a month on a training video site. Or if you have the extra cash then pay someone who has been successful at your stake the $30 -60 per hour or whatever they charge. Pay for a couple hours. It sounds trite but knowledge is power in poker. Those who seek it out the most are rewarded.

You've hit on a fairly obvious point and I think are just looking for confirmation that if you find yourself on a downswing then decrease the number of tables you are playing. Sometimes i decrease the number to zero (I.e. I stop playing) if the downswing is bad enough or if I find myself making more mistakes than I normally do. I take a week or two off. I have even taken a month off. Each time I come back more focused and hungrier to play the game optimally.

Don't let your pride or greed dictate anything in poker. I fight back the urge to feel like I have to play more tables or longer sessions if I am in a downswing and do the opposite. Play less often and for shorter. Book a win. Even if you only okay for 30 min and are up a dollar. Book it. It will help your confidence. And confidence is the second most important thing (only to knowledge) to playing optimal poker.


Similar to the commentary I gave about the three BI downswing, this is good but still relatively small in the world of poker. I have finished up 13 BI's in a single night before on NL100 and thought it was only a matter of time before I would be playing nosebleeds. I have also finished down 6 BI's in a single session and thought I was the worst poker player in the world. Neither are great examples of managing my emotions. So I am talking to myself as much as you. Really glad you posted these. Exactly the type of thing I needed to remind myself when in a break even stint like I am right now.

Hopes that helps.

Decided to take my own advice tonight and play a short session. It was really two hour long sessions but since I only took like a five min break in between I lumped them together. Finished up a buy in. Progress.

very nice. i enjoy reading your long thought out post and i appreciate them very much! dont ever feel like they are going unnoticed

Lol thanks for the feedback. I never realize how long they are until after I hit send and notice the "more" option on most of them.

Brevity was never my strong suit.

So the wife reminded me about searching for a new job. I had taken a break from searching the last couple weeks because i was getting a little tired of sending out resume after resume and cover letter after cover letter (tweaking each one based on the position). I also had a couple people saying they had an open position at their company and could probably get me on but those never panned out. Also had some head hunters say they would meet with me to discuss potential career paths with me but could never find a time where we could both meet.

I am looking for a new job for two reasons:

1) To get a substantial raise (at least 10%)

2) Because I am bored, complacent, and unchallenged in my current role.

Looking for something in mortgage technology, which is where all my experience lies (8 years, including 4 as a manager). Considering positions like Business Analyst, Operations Analyst, Service Delivery Manager, Project Manager, or even some like my current role as AVP Help Desk Manager as long as it pays more.

I have found out that my bank drastically underpays compared to others so the 10% or more raise goal is reasonable. For instance, one of my former direct reports left the company a year ago to do the same role (help desk analyst) and he now makes more than i do as a manager.

I hate change and love the people i work with but need to make more money for my family and the new house. Our company does have 3 months *paid* paternity leave so it is hard to even consider leaving right now while we are trying for a second child. You can send hate mail to UrbanSurfer@luckbox.com

Didn't end up playing any last night. Watched the Survivor finale with the wife. Love that show.

Don't want to derail this thread, but thanks for the awesome response