Ok the intention of my last thread of poker talk was good. The delivery was lacking. Here goes again. Hopefully this catches on.

The intention of this thread is to have a place that beginners / first time posters and forum regulars can talk about the goals and progress on the journey up the poker ladder. There have been many bankroll build threads previously and they get to a point where they are full and long winded and stale. This one needs to be dynamic.

No thread savers.
No bad beats.
No whining
No trolling or putting down of posters.

This is like a dynamic group blog. Put in a goal talk about progress. Post graphs join in and back eachother up. It doesnt matter what stakes you play or what volume you have or how humble or grand a goal you have. It is your goal, it is important.

There may be a goals forum on 2+2 but it can be intimidating for newcomers to post a humble goal in there. This is the beginners forum where you can feel safe and protected. This is the place where we dont berate you if you bust we help you get back on the horse and improve.'

At the end of the month the thread drops of the radar and will be linked in the new months post with reviewed goals and enthusiasm so nothing gets stale.

With that ill repost what i posted in the failed thread to get things started again. Hopefully ive got the formula right this time.

So heres the deal.

I used to play on a 5 figure roll back in 06 on the ongame network. I had a lot of life happen and had to use the roll and give poker a break.

That roll was built from less than $100 with some sick determination. The games were a little softer back then but that doesnt mean i didnt have to make an effort to play well.

I used to be a regular in the US and Euro dailies. MTT is my love it is the cash games that pay for them. Last nights little effort finishing 5th out of a field of over 20k people was a sign i was getting back to old form with some new skills. Part of me says pity it was a freeroll and only netted me $137. The othe part says nice you navigated a field of 20k bingo playing freerollers and made good decisions the whole way to the last hand.

So the plan is pretty much as follows. Im gonna grind cash games. 1500- 2k hands a day. More if i feel good about my play that day.

Im a bankroll nit from hell i like 100 buy ins at a level. But i take shots at 40 buy ins and if it sticks then i grind at the new level. Today saw the start of 5nl 4 tabling and it seemed to go quite well.

I will set aside 20% of profits to play MTT and the rest to the roll build. No profit = No MTT

The time frame for getting back to 200nl + isnt set in stone yet as im really in the initial phase of settling back into the grind. But i do have reward goals set.

When the roll hits 5500 i will withdraw $500 to stick in the bank as a do what i like with it roll. Once i am over 10k I will make a 1k withdrawal for ever 5 k that comes in. again no profit no withdrawl.

Once the roll is back at the 5 figure level i will be setting my sights on taking a shot at SNE. But not just for the sake of getting it. I want it to be a profitable shot at SNE. Not just donking off 90k to make 100k.

Hopefully along the way i hit some qualifiers for live events and take down a few online tourneys to pad the BR. when i do get profitable i am known to stake people i trust for level shots in cash and online MTT that would otherwise cripple their roll. So its in my interest as well as some regs interests that i make this work.

Now ive put it in writing i may have to go and have a nap. It seems like a long road suddenly



Make your posts a positive reinforcement of your goals no matter how humble.

So can I post here and say "had a good day, won 8 buyins!" and "poker is bull****"? Thats what I was doing in the LC/NC thread. I like to post how Im gettign on without posting HH's and ting. Im interested to hear how the other BQ folks are getting on as well, cheer them on from the sidelines etc.

Losing and lighting money on fire is fun

I think I got it in with AA 3 times today OTF vs bottom 2 pair. (Lost each one Obv).

its a shame for you.

I find if I am very well rolled for the limit Im at that these beatings dont hurt anyway near as much. Same for everyone else?

My 5nl graph today looks like a heart attack. Lots of learning from it though. Noticed a leak atm is thinking i can get a calling station of any pair when scare cards hit. Higher limits this works but i need to remember 5 nl it wont. Nearly half of the tables are marked with yellow for the hardcore calling stations.

2000 hands so far today and only $1.65 up. At least it is up. Still grinding though because im not tilting

Edit: Taking a little break to study now. 1.5 buy ins down after 2k hands is more than acceptable variance. Tilting over someone getting it all in pre with 67o and cracking kings is however not acceptable. Its yet another sign im aware of emotion affecting my play. I dont want to fall into the trap of chasing a loss desperately or going on a revenge tilt against the guy that made a call that would usually be +EV for me. Walk it of. Have a snack. review. Get back to it. That line has to head north eventually.

are you 100BB deep or 250? When I first started out back in August, I was 250BB from the get go. This time round I sat in with 100BB but would top up to 250 if a fish sat in 250bb deep (or if a fish doubled up) so I COULD STACK THEM. errr caps are GREAT!

Exactly what the thread needs mate.

sitting 100 deep. Im on 4 tables at a time and ive set the auto buyin / seat/ refill so i can just plug in and grind. Im trying to avoid flips as much as possible atm. It seems i grind 300 hands to get a buy in up and then lose it on a flip or getting cracked when im ahead. Funniest today was winning a flip for 100BI in one table and losing the flip for 100BI at the table next to it. Even i had to laugh.

dont avoid flips, embrace the variance! if you have 54% every time, you will win a LOT of money

Yeah i dont want to avoid flips all the time. I guess its the same as every level change i go through. I like to get in there and get comfortable and watch a steady rise in profit from stealing blinds and pots and being ahead in a hand. As i get into a little profitability i dont mind taking the flips cuz its where the money is at. Its just a little hard to embrace the variance on the start of the new level though. Im not really avoiding flips they are the reason my graph looks like a heart attack. I suppose it is just hard to look at a breakeven graph after nearly 10k hands and see that if you had won a coule more flips you would be in profit solidly.

Its just getting the level sorted. another 10k hands and i should be seeing an upward trend

I feel cheated at times when I lose a flip or to a bad beat, but it doesnt affect me mentally.

It would if I wasnt bankrolled for the limits I play.
If it hurt me then I know I need to move down.

Well, since I only ever played 3k hands in my life, my goal is the same as last month - to learn, but hopefully not to lose too much while I'm doing it.
Can only manage about 100 hands a day, 2 tabling.
So don't expect to be $$$ up by the end of the month, but hopefully not bust.
Bought in for £15 at Party 1st January. If I'd have read about BR management first, would have made it £30.
Currently about £19, might deposit again at the end of the month.
Will update.

Oh yeah, playing 2NL.

I'm on 888 and Stars.

Mainly playing on 888 MTTs and Stars cash whenever I feel like it.

Roll stands at:
- $41 @ 888 (starting from 25)
- $59 @ Stars (starting from 55)

Had to withdraw my 200 roll from 888 to pay a few things and unfortunately had to force myself back down to grind up again rather than having the option to move up

I eventually want to get to $100 @ 888 and move to cash games. I follow a 50BI BRM for MTT and 25BI for Cash.

Currently playing on 888 grinding the 40 man 96c MTTs and dabbling in the big fields a couple times a day under KralexFB. If anyone is looking for a BR boost and knows how to play MTT's, definitely have a look into 888's 40 Mans (just not when I'm playing :P)

US player here that finally deposited 25 bucks on Lock yesterday to try to build a roll instead of depositing one that would allow me to play higher. So I guess I will have to earn it this time.

So far in 2 weeks

.02/.04NL--- 3400 hand up $10.15 3.72bb/100

Had a horrible day yesterday losing 3 buys in ahead in every hand and getting smashed on the river

but also throwing in some MTTs every now and then and won the $1.10 $300 deepstack yesterday for $103.30, starting to feel good again about MTTs since I stopped playing online post BF.

Ultimate goal is to just stay fresh and play correct leading up to summer series.

Poker Stars $2.00 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 1634399
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

Hero (BTN): $2.24
SB: $1.58
BB: $1.83
UTG: $1.09
MP: $2.59
CO: $2.32

Pre Flop: ($0.03) Hero is BTN with T T
UTG calls $0.02, MP calls $0.02, 1 fold, Hero raises to $0.11, SB raises to $0.20, 3 folds, Hero calls $0.09

Flop: ($0.46) J T T (2 players)
SB bets $0.12, Hero calls $0.12

Turn: ($0.70) 3 (2 players)
SB bets $0.10, Hero raises to $0.35, SB calls $0.25

River: ($1.40) A (2 players)
SB bets $0.91, Hero calls $0.91

Why no raise/shove on the river? You already have his 0.91

Misclick

ahhh yes, i have a few of those that haunt me as well

nh though

Lucky i only missed out on like 0.15.

Well, I'm riding the rollercoaster at the moment.

Decided I'd had enough of Stars so desposited on Everleaf mid Dec and was 20 BIs up within a couple of weeks playing 20nl, then went on a mega downswing over a few days and lost 20 BIs (thank God for rakeback/bonuses!)

Been doing ok since then, trying to get back to my A game. Mainly get frustrated with myself as I know I'm capable of making the right plays/reads, I just need to learn to do it in every hand, every time I sit down to play.

Still find it funny how poker affects your emotions. Lost 6 BIs yesterday after losing all in multiway with AK v AJ and J2, of course a J on the flop and there goes one BI. After that went on spew-tilt on another table and only got away 5 BIs later! Suffice to say, I was grumpy. However, logged back in this morning, played my A game and won back 5 BIs. It's like yesterday is all forgotten

Anyway, my learning for this month (other than play better) is to take breaks. I noticed I play longer sessions when losing than I do when I'm winning. I know I can play well for about an hour at a time, and after that i start auto-piloting and making marginal decisions I don't need to, or trying to bluff fish! I'm now using a timer on my phone while I play, and will be taking a break every hour. Hope it works!

Why so?

Got into a HU game with some guy. Was ****ing carnage. Every single hand we played past pre flop he had me outkicked culminating in a $120 pot with my KQ on a KXXXX board vs his AK. I dont mind dropping the $80 to him so much as I am ****ed off with the $20 rake to stars. That actually hurts. 20% of my loss to rake? Never again will I sit at a HU table.

Had been playing 25nl before I knew anything about br management, or the game in general really, and so when i started learning more I moved down to 10nl.

Just found there were so many grinders and bumhunters at that level. Got so annoying waiting nearly the full time bank every decision because of the player 24 tabling, or that a game broke immediately when the mark at the table got busted or left. Just got fed up with it tbh.

I'm ony a recreational player, allbeit I'm trying to up the volume and learn from the bottom and move up properly when my bankroll and I are ready.

Then came on 2+2 and heard others talking about sites that were softer, had more recreational players and that gave rakeback, so i signed up to Everleaf. Did well on there as there are sooo many fish, but signed up to 888 aswell as traffic on Everleaf can be limited, so best of both worlds really.

I liked the Stars software, but 20nl on Everleaf is like 5nl on Stars, so I'm making more moniez this way

This doesn't help tho.

Villain was Italian aggro monkey! He'd been check shoving any pair so presumed I had a fair chance of being good.....little did I know!

oh did I mention in my HU sesh that the guy open folded 4 times only in a hundred = hands. Those times I had AA, KK, QQ and AK. It was like he could see my cards. lets hope not !

15 minutes into sunday storm


Poker Stars No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t20.00/t40.00 Blinds - 9 players - View hand 1634909
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

Hero (UTG): t6500.00 162.50 BBs
UTG+1: t10071.00 251.78 BBs
UTG+2: t6652.00 166.30 BBs
MP1: t5080.00 127 BBs
MP2: t10000.00 250 BBs
CO: t4121.00 103.03 BBs
BTN: t6257.00 156.43 BBs
SB: t3001.00 75.03 BBs
BB: t5430.00 135.75 BBs

Pre Flop: (t60) Hero is UTG with 9 9
Hero raises to t140, 3 folds, MP2 calls t140, 4 folds

Flop: (t340) 9 9 6 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP2 checks

Turn: (t340) 5 (2 players)
Hero bets t200.00, MP2 raises to t400, Hero raises to t700, MP2 calls t300

River: (t1740) 2 (2 players)
Hero bets t1400.00, MP2 raises to t9160, Hero calls t4260 all in

Final Pot: t13060
Hero shows 9 9
MP2 shows 6 6
Hero wins t13060.00