I made my first deposit of $50 in late 2009. Back then I hadn't read any basic strategy and had no idea about bankroll management. Needless to say I lost the money rather quickly. I didn't give up though and deposited again, only to lose it again. Around then I started looking around for some advice and basic strategy for NL Hold'Em, and found 2+2, along with some other great sites. I now had a basic idea how to play, and decided to try again.

Following a rule of 20 buy-ins, I started in 2NL, and had a success there. After playing for a while my BR was close to being ready for 5NL, and I moved up. I found 5NL no harder than 2NL, and got impatient and moved too quickly to 10NL and 25NL, which was my downfall. I believe my BR peak was around $250, but got rather tilted after losing several buy-ins at 25NL, and lost quite a big of a chunk of my bankroll. Then I withdrew the remaining money I had left in my Pokerstars account, and took a break of around two months.

Recently I deposited $50 again, and have now my grown bankroll to $226, playing some 2NL 6max, and the rest 5NL FR. I'll soon be moving to 10NL FR, but I'm not rushing, taking my time. I hope I'll not need to deposit again, and I can keep growing my bankroll as large as I can. I've set my first goal to $1000 though, and I'll be quite happy should I reach that.

I'll update this thread whenever I have something worth mentioning, for myself and for anyone who might be interested in reading this.



Let's leave this to wait for X

[ ] $1000 bankroll achieved

That's a good and realistic goal. GL, keep updating.

good goal, but why the jump str8 to 25nl??.. bankroll management and patience is what makes you reach your goals...

My advice: if you despise nut pedalling (like me) then stay faaaaaaaaaaar away from full ring

I guess you could call it "taking a shot", but obviously it didn't really make sense. While I knew of bankroll management back then, I wasn't following it enough, and so on. I believe I know better to stay within by bankroll this time, and I generally have a much better mindset to keep my play in check.

I've played most of my hands at FR. At 6max 2NL and 5NL, I think I've around 20k hands played, with a solid winrate in that (small) sample. I'm currently thinking back and forth between FR and 6max. There are things that appeal to me in both of them, and I'll see which one I end up playing more in the future. Nothing of course stopping me from playing both.

gl man, thats how i started out too. sounds like you have some realistic goals, not like you wanna make 5 milli or something crazy.

study the game a ton, spend time on 2+2, play a bunch. and dont get disheartened about shortcomings. you have a losing day or week or whatever, dont let it decimate your entire roll like i did about 6 times. patience is a virtue.

GL

Finally someone with a realistic goal. And an achievable one. I did the same thing as you OP. I deposited $50 and through some basic discipline I have grown it to $875. Just keep BRM front and center and you will never have to redeposit again. Oh a when the downswings happen and they will. Just stay focused. I just went trhrough a 3 month breakeven/down span and it sucked but kept at it and now am moving up again.

I've decided to play 6max instead on FR, I think I will learn more and improve my skills better there rather than playing 12/10 at FR, which although works fine at least in micros, will not present too many challenging situations, and I don't think it will help me in the long run. I have the BR for 10NL 6max, but as I'm new to the 6max game I'm playing 5NL first a bit to get the feeling for the game.

I've also downloaded and quickly read through the Ryan Fee's 6 Max NL Strategy Guide. Many of the things mentioned in the book are not necessary in lower limits, and applying them in micros would most likely be -EV. Still, I've found the book very helpful.

Good job so far OP, and good call in my opinion switching to 6-max.

Give this thread a read too, if you want. It's pretty basic, but really applies to your levels 2-10 (and some 25)NL. Good uNL guide!

Best of luck, I'll be following your progress

Thanks for the link, I actually remember reading that thread when I found 2+2 and started playing FR. Never hurts to read it again though, lots of good info and tips there :)

Started playing 10NL 6max 40-100bb -tables this morning. I only played 1000 hands, so can't say anything whether I can beat the limit or not. Still, made about two buy-ins. I'll post a graph once I reach 10k hands or so.

I was a bit busy/distracted for a few days with my graduation, but anyhow I passed the exams, and will graduate in a few weeks

Now that the graduation is not on my mind anymore, I can concentrate more on playing poker. I've a full year now before I continue my studies (Can always dream on becoming poker pro before that ) . I'm planning to use a lot of that time to improve my skills in poker, as I feel really motivated to do so, and I don't really have much else to spend that time on.

Anyway, bankroll is at the moment around $250.

GL, good goal