Lies.

Depends on what "running above the mean" means. If it's just doing better than the average player, then duh. If you mean the cards are treating him kinder, I don't think that's very clear at all. He's busted his ass and started with a skill level much above the .10/.25 levels.

Congrats, aba.

Great story. If your biggest downswing in 300K hands is 8 buyins, I think you've been pretty lucky. This does NOT mean you are not a good player. Best of luck at the tables.

Defenitly. Put three 4 BI downswings sessions in a row and I easily have had a 12+ swing.

LOL

Aba,
What's so special about green tea??

I've tried grean tea and it tasted like [censored] IMO.

aba, I have a question too!

You've progressed very quickly. Could you tell us how you've learned the most? Books teach you only so much, and there weren't any good NL books around when you started. Did you often sit down away from the poker tables and think about fundamental concepts (like position, table image, etc.) or ask yourself questions like 'what would be the best strategy against player type X?' or did you get better by just playing and paying attention?

I would wager that his success is in no way "quick" - While it only took him a shorttime to move up, it seems that the amount of hands he played in that short time was gargantuan.

Green tea is just the baby tea leaf. When it's young, you pluck it.

That's it? That's it.

sweet read dude. 25c/50c in december to 25/50 in june?? damn thats hot.

I would say just playing. There is no quick answer. Poker has been my life for the past 6 months. I would say analyzing hands is very important. I am also a cardrunners, pokerxfactor, and just recently a stoxtrader member. I would recommend all these especially cardrunners if you are playing mid level NL cash games. But just because one style works for someone else doesn't mean it will work for you. I would use these sites for ideas but your style should develop on its own.

This is very true. It was by no means easy.

From my stats you can see I average ~3 tables at a time.

Would you say Breakfast in America has helped your game? I really like Supertramp and have several of their albums, but I don't think I've ever listened to them while playing.

Brian,

Feel good story of the year.

One-liner "oh you so stupid" replies aside, it really isn't. Moving up fast isn't a "clear" indication of running hot. It doesn't mean he hasn't. There's just no pure logical connection to support plowed-through-limits = ran uber-hot. If there is, I'd like to hear the thought process, because I could learn something. But it might just be that he's that good, had his fair share of bad luck, but still kicked ass and played enough hands to build his roll that big.

He studied a crap load, had a bunch of live experience pre-internet, and started WAY below his current skill level due to his doubts about online no-limit. Then he put in a ton of hands. So of course he was going to plow through .10/.25 - 2/4 or 3/6.

Congrats man!

Didnt you buy a house with an ocean view in SB off of poker winnings?

You are my hero.

He already addressed the moving up quickly by saying he was way overrolled for the smaller limits...that is probably what takes the most time in moving up (when you're earning $10 an hour at .10/.25).

maybe im just a giant pussy but i have a larger bankroll and losing 40k scares the crap out of me

btw you sound a lot like bruiser the way you talk about those swings. if he reads bbv maybe he will chime in.

also congrats on improving so fast. well done

wow I am shocked at the size of your roll. I feel that my roll is perfect for 50/100 and below. I feel total comfortable with 35 BI. Also when I was moving up I would take shots with 17 BI at the next level.

Dont underestimate how good focused 4-tabling shorthanded games can be for your game.

Please.

how do you feel after you drop 4 buyins? if you remain emotionally untouched by the swings then i guess you have what it takes to play those stakes. I don't because extended sessions of losing could force me to alter my lifestyle and i dont want that to happen. its so much less stressful to play at stakes like 5 10 and 10 20, plus it frees up a lot of money to invest. With 50/100 you prob have to keep most if not all of your roll online in order to have enough money spread out over several sites to play regularly.

Two questions:

1. Did/do you ever play at Chumash?

2. Is how much you're making actually enough to pay for your own place in IV? Do "own places" even exist there?

Well the games a much tougher online. Also live you can usually get a pretty good idea who is capable of making a move on you. I would say get a HUD and figure out which stats help you determine a players characteristics. Then have them on your display so you can make decisions based off of that.