Returning to world of poker

Good luck and maybe the https://forums.pokerstrategy.com/forum/thread.php?threadid=523971 is interesing for you.
What kind of poker format and limits are you going to play?

Cheers,
SDK1987

Cheers! Will check it out. I started with about 20 euros but added some tens to be able to cope with aof variance. I guess $500 would be a nice first goal.

Yeah the spin&go variance is quite high, but I've been doing ok and its fun, so maybe i'll keep at it for a while to hone my skills. Otherwise I think the Rush&Cash and bigger tournaments seem nice too. I guess currently I'll play at the minimum stakes.

I won $T20 in the Pokerstrategy freeroll! That's a nice boost.

This is what I'm hoping for:

Another play with tens of games nets -$1. Variance is definitely huge, my AA AJs QQ etc. experienced some hefty bad beats, but of course I also had some miracle saves myself. Getting reads gets very important. I will need to start writing more notes. There are very many same people on the tables.

I'm wondering about the rakeback system. It seems at such low stakes the requirements for levels is quite high and even if the average rakeback is better than the flat 20% . There's a notable chance to lose out on rakeback with a bad spin: 39 % of either worse or better cashback than 20 %. But I guess its still +EV to keep on the levels but the variance might get me good at these levels.

Spin&golds were a bit nervewracking. The progress is quite low. Tried my hand at MTT's. I was not very lucky, and lost many and only got ITM on couple of the lowest buyins.

Luckily I then started playing some Rush&Cash, and I have to say that I really like that format. I made some steady gains and one $8 pot ($2 buyin table). Might be that Rush&Gold is the direction to go for me. Especially because the waiting around can get quite jarring in the tournaments.

What do you think?

Have had some ups and downs. Spin&Gold's are somewhat break even, but I've realised it is maybe a bit too volatile for me at times. I tried a couple of MTT's with varying unsuccess, but I dont really have time for them I think. One day I was quite close to money in a MTT with $5.5 buyin, but I had to run some errands and the blinds ate through my okayish stackand I died a few spots before ITM.

I think I've found my way in the Rush&Cash. Can get to the action more quickly while being tight at the same time. The minimum stakes 0.01/0.02 with $1 buyin are a bit wacko though, cant really bluff and coin tosses abound. But already at 0.02/0.05 with $2 buyin it seems that with aggressive and tight play you can reach high pots. People've folded $5 pots to me with bluffs or paid through my AA with nothing but paired 8 on the table.

Bankroll has taken some hit from the MTT's. So I'm back to about $30. Honeymoon rewards are closing in to $20 award and I've accumulated $10 rake, so it seems okayish direction, although not ideal.

Rush & Cash at $0.02/0.05 blinds, $2 buyin really seem to work for me. I haven't progressed in terms of BR, but it feels like I'm making correct decisions and being profitable in the long run. S&G or lower stake is too slow and varied.

I like to use minimum buyin to work as a variance-curb, but one challenge is the 1-hour time limit. But seems like larger stacks could also minimize variance: I feel with low stack I'm being called and pushed allin more frequently.

Short stack strategy cannot be recommended in high rake games as that rake is just going to eat away most of your potential edge. As GG is very high rake on all stakes(?) it sounds really bad idea to use.

Actually form here it shows GGPoker is one of the best ones in terms of rake for "fast fold": https://www.primedope.com/online-poker-rake-comparison-rake-calculator/ . Although its the first time I realised that 3-betting preflop activates rake, so I guess thats a big factor.

I usually start with $2 and then keep on the higher stack if I climb up or double. Is that at all feasible or is it better to buyin with $5 straight away so I'm not missing out on value hands? Just yesterday I won a $10 pot from a guy with JJ who kept calling with an ace on the table. If I hadnt climbed up before that, I would have made much less.

Nice result in the freeroll
Not sure I could handle the swings in those spin & Go type of games. It's mental 1 of the tougher games I think.

Ugh. Had to do another one of those "Play 300 hands of AoF" challenges and the results are horrible. Luckily I bounced back a bit in Rush&Cash. The big pot was AA shoving into me with AQ when I had straight on the turn.

The overall Rush&Cash EV chart is looking like this, so I think I'm doing correct things now:

Hole Cards:

AQs is interesting, I think I've had multiple hands where I was dominated with AK.

Ugh, what a session. Got a nice play 500 hands of Rush&Cash for my $20 honeymoon award challenge. I was doing great and was looking at a large boost to my bankroll. Then I got beat two times with my AQs: First against AJs doing two runs of the whole table and then against 33 on the flop with nut flush draw (win% was 60 %).

Quite a bummer, but what're you gonna do, you can see the two hands in question:

Honeymoon is optional, you don't have to play each one. You won't clear them all anyway so best to pick your battles.

Lol, this was so stupid that I'm not even mad. I got the honeymoon reward $50 ticket to $1M guaranteed day 1. I had reserved up the whole evening to play the tournament as good as I can..

First hand, I flop pair and read correctly the the other one has nothing and bet him and we end up allin and he outdraws me on the river. Welp I guess that's that then ♦ I had assumed $50 buyins would be a bit tighter than shoving with A high with no draws postflop, but I guess there are other honeymoon ticket winners there.

Had some down and upswings, but got the T50$ reward and have been turning that into $ with spin&golds. I checked how well I'm doing at the same time and it's quite clearly 50/50 currently, maybe with leaderboard and rakeback it could be slightly profitable, but meh quite low progress, but a good way to transform T$ into $.

Currently at $75.58 if counting in the T$'s.

Protip from me to myself, is that dont play when tired/tilted.

Did 500 hands of AoF challenge. This time I really paid attention to the ranges of the opponents and adjusted my range accordingly.

But the results are just laughable. It is just gambling essentially. And even though it shows +$10 profit, my bankroll doesnt see that amount: I had $76.69 after the session, so only $1 in profit. Yikes!

With claiming rakeback, I have $81.63 now.

Pokerstrategy should put up a big disclaimer in the GGPoker page, that do not play AoF and if you need to for the challenges, here is a strategy to minimize your losses!

Originally posted by Broddis
Protip from me to myself, is that dont play when tired/tilted.

Good tip. If I tilt I close app and punish myself to look 2 series from Finnish soapy-serie Salatut Elämät (Secret Lives). So I really try to avoid tilting:rage:

Guess I'm done with the honeymoon, since the 26th challenge is to finish 1st in a bounty tournament ♦

Back to normal grinding it is.

Good luck in your journey ! All the best hands win ♦