Road to the Casinos

Day one:

Stake: NL2z
Total hands played: 4974
Starting bankroll: $24.13
Current bankroll: $43.28
Short-term goal: Reach $150 bankroll and move up to NL5z
Long-term goal: Reach $5k bankroll

Todays most profitable hand: 88 vs loose QJo (+$6.75)

Against a reg I would've maybe potted or gone for a slight overbet, but since this guy was a fish, there's a strong chance he'll pay me off with Qx. This is a spot where a lot of people overplay their hand, when they are chopping at best the majority of the time. For those wondering what's with the weird min-iso raise, this was actually a mistake - my standard open sizing is 2 BB, and I didn't notice somebody open limped, otherwise I would've raised to 4 BBs (3 + 1 for each limp).

Todays biggest losing hand: QQ vs KK vs AQs (-$2.92)

Not a massive lot to say about this hand - MP had pretty aggressive stats albeit from a small sample size, and when the SB cold calls my 3b, it's a great spot to 4b bluff as there is so much money in the pot. MP 4bets, I call, and then the SB jams. At this point, even if MP was bluffing, he's getting way too good a price to consider folding to the SB's jam (almost 10 to 1). Moving on to the flop, with such a low SPR we have to call. It's a low board anyway, and if he was bluffing with AJo, KQo, A2s - A5s etc, then all of his bluffs have missed. He showed up with KK which sucks, but I don't think I could have played this hand any better. Just one of those spots where you've gotta take the hit and move on.

I started out the session pretty card dead resulting in being a couple of buyins down for the first 2k hands - nevertheless, I soldiered on and didn't let this affect my performance. 3k hands later, and we are a whopping 10 BI's up from our starting roll!

I would upload my graph but since I'm a new member I'm not allowed to post links/images(?) - at some point when I have upgraded privileges I will edit this post to upload a screenie of todays graph.

That's all for now, I'm probably going to update this blog daily but if anybody has any questions then fire away, let's get some discussions going!

Regards,
Oriubix

Quick update - my bankroll is currently $74.26. Been mixing it up playing some $0.50 FR Turbo SnG's as well as 16-tabling regular NL2 FR. I'm back to playing 6-max NL2z now though, which is where I perform the best.

Does anybody know how to achieve bronze status on here without spending money? Unfortunately I didn't use the sites promotion code when I signed up years ago, so I can't collect any points on here without purchasing them with cash. Would be awesome to get bronze so I can start uploading photos to here!

Biggest issue of live is pretty obvious: One tabling and getting like maybe half amount of hands compared to normal table in online. So obviously edge need to be lot lot bigger to make any sense as main income.

Meaning that you need to play lot bigger game live to make same money. E.g. if you 10 table NL100 you probably get like 20x more hands compared to live. Maybe even more. So to beat that you likely need play at least NL1k live and not sure how fishy those live games tend to be on those limits.

Also rake is likely lot higher on average at live games and there is possible issue of travel times/expenses and such to take into account. Well obviously if plan is to grind at casino you probably want to find affordable and close location to it.

Lot bigger limit also might take away that smaller swing side but I doubt you would need 50bins to take shot there.

GL mate. I play live only in the US, where games are indeed x-soft. Don't know about here, except Germany, where there is not much going on.
Regarding the status, got the same problem, but for bronze it should be enough to keep posting in the forums

Originally posted by ghaleon
Biggest issue of live is pretty obvious: One tabling and getting like maybe half amount of hands compared to normal table in online. So obviously edge need to be lot lot bigger to make any sense as main income.

Meaning that you need to play lot bigger game live to make same money. E.g. if you 10 table NL100 you probably get like 20x more hands compared to live. Maybe even more. So to beat that you likely need play at least NL1k live and not sure how fishy those live games tend to be on those limits.

Also rake is likely lot higher on average at live games and there is possible issue of travel times/expenses and such to take into account. Well obviously if plan is to grind at casino you probably want to find affordable and close location to it.

Lot bigger limit also might take away that smaller swing side but I doubt you would need 50bins to take shot there.

I think the trade off is very soft games for much lower volume. If you wanted to be ultra-efficient (but also look like a dick) you could take a tablet and play online while you wait for hands. Not sure how that would sit with the house though - if I were rec and I saw somebody 10-tabling on a laptop/tablet while waiting for hands I would feel uncomfortable.

Honestly, the games here are so soft you could easily get away with taking a shot with 10 buyins.

Originally posted by bigdog63
GL mate. I play live only in the US, where games are indeed x-soft. Don't know about here, except Germany, where there is not much going on.
Regarding the status, got the same problem, but for bronze it should be enough to keep posting in the forums

Cheers mate! One of my long term goals is to visit Vegas for the WSOP, very exciting place

whats the rake at the £1/£1 you want to play? often its 10% capped at £5. Thats really hard to beat tbh, so i would recommend shotting 1/2 for 5% rake if you got that near you.

1/2 is nearly always as soft as 1/1 and plays often sit a lot deeper which is also a bonus. Anyway gl with the goals maybe see you in a live game sometime soon

Haven't done a full update for some time, so I guess it's due:

Day 2, 3 & 4:

Stake: NL2z, NL2z FR, NL2 FR, $0.50 FR turbos, $1.10 MicroMillions
Total hands played: 16856
Starting bankroll: $24.13
Current bankroll: $81.18
Short term goal: reach $150 and move up to 5NLz
Long term goal: $5000

Wow, I've come a pretty long way from $24.13 in just four days! Very pleased with my results so far, averaging 12.82 BB/100 over all my cash games. This will probably balance itsself out over the course of the next 30k hands however, and drop a couple of BB/100. I tested out NL2z FR and it's incredibly soft, regularly getting 5+ recreational players on each table. I even considered moving back to FR full time until I discovered PokerStars only has a full ring zoom lobby for NL2 but for now, it's a nice change of dynamics from 6-max so I will continue playing there for a little while!

On the subject of a change in dynamics, I played some $0.50 9, 45, 90, and 180 turbos to switch it up, and ended up placing 2nd in a 45 profiting around $4. Was on the final table in the 90 but busted at 7th. MTT's are very thrilling, I might start playing them alongside cash games to keep things interesting. Only thing I discovered about them was that the rake is sickeningly high, so I don't know whether to wait until my roll can handle $1.50 turbos as the difference in rake is significant.

Haven't played many interesting hands except this one:

At the micros, I've folded KK in hands against very tight passive preflop opponents, but this was a spot where I don't have a large enough sample to fold KK. BTN vs SB he can have a lot of bluffs, and I didn't want to scare him off the pot so I simply called his 4b, instead of shoving and only getting called by AA which happens all too often in the microstakes.
Flop was very irrelevant considering it was a 4b pot (unless he has A5s), expecting him to range bet here. I x/call flop - don't want to x/raise and scare him off any bluffs like AJo, AK, A2-4s etc. Turn was also a brick, and I x/call his jam. He showed up with AA but I expect a lot of opponents to turn up with bluffs here sometimes. Unavoidable situation, was guaranteed to lose the max and I did. But this raises a very interesting point - do we always want to 5b jam KK versus "okay" opponents? What do we expect to get called by? Can we just call his 4b OOP? Because I rarely get called by anything I beat which is why I've adopted a different approach with KK, playing it as a bluff-catcher. With the SPR so low in these 4b pots, bad flops are basically non existant except maybe some monotone flops where we don't hold a club, or A-high flops. But on A-high flops we can comfortably fold our hand expecting a huge portion of villains range to be Ax.

Originally posted by jmackenzie
whats the rake at the £1/£1 you want to play? often its 10% capped at £5. Thats really hard to beat tbh, so i would recommend shotting 1/2 for 5% rake if you got that near you.

1/2 is nearly always as soft as 1/1 and plays often sit a lot deeper which is also a bonus. Anyway gl with the goals maybe see you in a live game sometime soon
At all the grosvenor casinos in my hometown it's 10%, but at the genting it's 5% which is okay for 1/1. Cheers man! You from the UK?

Originally posted by Oriubix
Quick update - my bankroll is currently $74.26. Been mixing it up playing some $0.50 FR Turbo SnG's as well as 16-tabling regular NL2 FR. I'm back to playing 6-max NL2z now though, which is where I perform the best.

Does anybody know how to achieve bronze status on here without spending money? Unfortunately I didn't use the sites promotion code when I signed up years ago, so I can't collect any points on here without purchasing them with cash. Would be awesome to get bronze so I can start uploading photos to here!

hi u get 5 points when you answer in Poker Strategy and Hand Discussions next day you have 5 points gl hope you understand

Originally posted by Thiamtan

Originally posted by Oriubix
Quick update - my bankroll is currently $74.26. Been mixing it up playing some $0.50 FR Turbo SnG's as well as 16-tabling regular NL2 FR. I'm back to playing 6-max NL2z now though, which is where I perform the best.

Does anybody know how to achieve bronze status on here without spending money? Unfortunately I didn't use the sites promotion code when I signed up years ago, so I can't collect any points on here without purchasing them with cash. Would be awesome to get bronze so I can start uploading photos to here!

hi u get 5 points when you answer in Poker Strategy and Hand Discussions next day you have 5 points gl hope you understand

I posted on some strategy threads and I'm still waiting for bronze I think you have to be at least bronze to earn points for posting on strategy threads.

Mini update - today has been pretty swingy on NL2z - had KK vs AA four times, jammed turn with a set only for villain to find a bigger set on the river, and all kinds of run bad. Clawed my way back though, just over break even! Played a PKO tournament and pretty much min-cashed along with some bounties.

And the most interesting of all - I played a $1.10 satellite to gain entry to the $109 Sunday Million and won! Wish me luck guys

EDIT: Just busted out of the Sunday Million... sickest hand ever. I'll leave it with you guys. To win entry to this tournament and get busted out like this is sickening!

Week One Progress Update:
Hands played: 27,761
SnG/MTT's played: 49
Total profit: $88.00
Starting bankroll: $24.13
Current bankroll: $112.13

Hey, it's a very nice profit for 1 week. Congratz! Keep us updated.
Best of luck

Hi, so how has been your journey so far?

Originally posted by mjez1
Hey, it's a very nice profit for 1 week. Congratz! Keep us updated.
Best of luck

Originally posted by SanityCheck
Hi, so how has been your journey so far?

Hey, I disbanded this challenge as the blog wasn't getting a lot of traffic or generating much discussion. I intend to start a new challenge at some point, likely making my starting point NL10z/NL25z. I don't think people are interested in microstakes discussion as much as small stakes discussion, as the microstakes are very straightforward to beat.

well, don't be like that. you document things not only for others, but also for yourself... and if you do happen to be successful, it would be interesting to have the full account.

Originally posted by Tomaloc
well, don't be like that. you document things not only for others, but also for yourself... and if you do happen to be successful, it would be interesting to have the full account.

I got burned out constantly playing NL2z. I didn't want to demonstrate shitty bankroll management by moving up to NL5z with only 20 BI's (which would've been almost a guaranteed disaster), but I also didn't feel like grinding another 20 - 30k hands before moving up.

I saw a comment on another thread stating that they would waste away mentally if they played 100k hands at NL2z, knowing they could have achieved similar or slightly lower EV at NL10, NL25 etc, and since then I've had no motivation to continue this challenge.

I hope this doesn't dissuade anybody else who's considering doing a challenge starting with a small bankroll, because it is truly an awesome feat to start with virtually nothing and turn it into something, and awesome to witness. It's something I've done a few times in my poker career, but for now I will probably wait until I can fund a challenge starting with a higher bankroll.

I'm looking forward to your update

Hope your grind goes well!

Hi all,

I've decided to relaunch the challenge, but this time starting at $250. I won't be playing as much this time around, so I'll be sticking to one or two updates a week. Might post a few interesting hands here and there too.

The goal is to move up in stakes every time I have 50 BI's for the next stake, and move back down if I drop below 40 BI's. Right now, I'm playing at NL5z, and hope to move up within the next month.

Starting BR: $250.00
Current: $256.25

Goals:

• Work on balancing preflop 3b/4b ranges
• Study postflop GTO solutions (speaking of which, if anybody knows about any software out there which can help with that, please let me know!)
• Incorporate randomizer into my game more often to help balance my decisions

Regarding the last two goals, all advice would be hugely appreciated.

Cheers,
Oriubix

Sounds like Ramond Number Generator will make things more difficult for yu. In order to use it efficiently, vast knowledge of Game Theory Optimal is required in the first place.