Back Once Again

Background

I used to play some NLHE online back in the day (circa 2011 / Black Friday). I was a fairly active poster here on a now long lost account. I twice ground up a small initial deposit (<$100) to a roll to play 50NL+.

In the first instance I’d just finished uni and had a lot of time to dedicate to the game. I’d considered the option of pursuing poker as a primary source of income (i.e. going pro) but ultimately decided that I wouldn’t enjoy it as a job and would most likely have better earning potential following a more traditional career path. If I recall correctly I played a sample of about 250k hands in this period before cashing out, with a win rate somewhere in the region of 7bb/100 (mostly at 25N and 50NL).

Second time around I had a job and the very active social life of a 20-something year old earning a decent salary, and I treated poker more as a side hobby. The games were still really soft but I lacked the energy and interest, and I ultimately got bored and cashed out after making a couple of thousand dollars.

Fast forward 10 years and I’ve found myself drawn back to the game once again. I have a renewed passion for it following such a long hiatus, and it’s interesting to see how perspectives on what constitutes “correct” play have evolved so much.

I deposited a couple of hundred dollars a few months ago and I’ve been playing fairly consistently since then. I believe I’m at a point where my game will plateau without focused effort to improve outside of just playing (e.g. study, hand reviews, strategy discussion). Unfortunately my time outside of life commitments (work, etc.) is still very limited. This means it’s easy for me to lack the discipline to do these things instead of just playing (a.k.a the fun part). However I’m also competitive and enjoy getting better at things so the thought of stagnating and playing within my ability frustrates me. That’s where this blog comes in. I’m hoping that defining my goals here will give me the motivation and accountability I need to pursue a more structured and disciplined approach to improving my game.

Results to Date

I’ve played ~60k hands since placing my $200 deposit and in that time I’ve built a roll of just under $2k including earnings from rakeback. I’ve moved my roll around a couple of sites before settling on one I liked. Graphs for all 3 are shared below. I’m currently playing a mix of 25NL and 50NL but have been transitioning over to mostly playing 50NL recently. I have an all-in adjusted win-rate of 12.12 BB/100 over a sample of ~50k hands on my current site.

Site 1

Site 2

Site 3 (main site)

Goals

I don’t have any aspirations that this will ever be more than a hobby for me. On most weeks I’ll have between 7 and 14 hours to commit to playing and improving. Given these constraints there will clearly be a ceiling on how far I can progress. I simply want to be the best player that I can be given the time I have to commit, and I’m setting the following goals with this in mind.

Long Term Achievement Goal:

Move to 100NL and establish myself as a winning player (before rakeback) in those games

Discipline:

• 1. For every hour spent playing, spend an hour working on my game outside of playing
  
• 2. Spend at least 25% of my playing time playing either 1 or 2 tables and actively thinking about every decision no matter how straight forward
  
• 3. Play a maximum of 4 tables at any given time
  

Studying the Game:

• 1. Complete Phil Galfond’s Foundations course
  
• 2. Post at least one hand per week for discussion on the online NLHE forum complete with a detailed breakdown of my own thoughts to prompt discussion
  

Update Schedule

I’ll aim to post weekly updates on goals and a profit update every 5000 hands.

TL;DR

Back to crush on a limited schedule. Watch out.