A journey - much delayed ($8 to $8888 or quitting poker)
Starting a poker journey diary here to keep myself accountable. Hope someone out there finds it interesting.
All currency in USD and All-In Adjusted wherever possible.
Poker background (AFAIR)
2001-2003 - what could've been
- Caught the NLHE bug while at university in NYC. Didn't have any means to deposit onto the websites
- Got small $ playing the freerolls. Built bankroll to just a tad under 2000 on Absolute Poker
- Accidentally sat at a 2000NL instead of my usual 50NL. My first (and only) hand
- BB dealt QQ. SB limp - I checked, fully ready to just fold / leave
- Flop dry Q72r
- Villain leads and I JAM
- Villain called 77 and hit quads
- I was crying shaking for a good few moments
- Until Absolute Poker went bankrupt, I still had ~$50 left on it (from another table I had running). Never logged back in since
- BB dealt QQ. SB limp - I checked, fully ready to just fold / leave
- For a few years I wondered how life would've been different
2005 - 2008 - oh this is as easy as I remember it
- Finished university. Moved back to HK, worked a job that was stress free but also with terrible pay (24K/year?)
- Deposited onto FullTilt $600 twice. Started winning after moving from SH to FR. Play 24 tables - very basic strategy
- I honestly don't know my Win Rate as I didn't study and didn't even have Poker Tracker until much later
2008 - 2011 - going semi pro - meeting the mega rich - Asia's decadent decade
- Quit my day job
- Switched to private tutoring (I am excellent at Math) and got a dream job at a tutoring center
- 3 days work week (2 mornings, 1 full day) @ 50K/year
- Owner was mega rich - wanted a tutoring center for her own kids
- Center was losing well over 1M / year (hiring French / Italian / Spanish teacher from Native country - and pay for their housing?! - Designed bags to parents for XMas?!)
- I had 4-8 hours of actual lesson time per week but often stay the entire day (entire room to myself, size of badminton court - designed for 1on1 lesson?!)
- 3 days work week (2 mornings, 1 full day) @ 50K/year
- I put in tons of hours played 24 tables - peaked at 400NL
- I was oh so very proud when I received my FullTilT Black Card (Equivalent to PS SuperNova)
2011 - 2021 - crushed
- Black Friday happened. I got locked out of $100k+. Just like 2003, my poker dream basically ended overnight
- I didn't miss online poker that much at first
- I would frequent Macau and that was very profitable
- My tutoring gig took off and I somehow ended up as the Go To guy for math tutoring on Quintessential (company specialized in helping the rich with daily tasks)
- Met tons of interesting families (Sony CEO / Fox Asia CFO / White Bear Capital Founder / etc etc etc) and was getting paid $100+/hour
- I would frequent Macau and that was very profitable
- Eventually FT came back and my fund was returned
- I could not beat the (much) tougher game anymore
- FR games weren't running and I moved back to SH and did not have the discipline to move down
- At least I had the self awareness to know I was a fish, 100k+ >> 80k. I withdrew all of it.
- Converted the remaining FT Points for roughly 10k, lost all of that.
- China cracked down on politicians / mega rich spending - the whales avoided Macau (so as to avoid probes by the govt)
- Along the way, I got married and have two lovely kids and created a startup (about break even).
- I play on GG(N8) infrequently, but I knew I was a losing player even at 25NL.
2021 - 2024 July - If you can't spot the fish ...
- Kids/ Startup took a majority of my time. Played poker as a -EV hobby. I would guess roughly -1k prior to 2021 on GG @25NL Rush
- In 2021, my deposit got rejected (BTC wild swings - deposit was delayed). I had $8 left in the account so I decided to spew around at 2NL
- It was fun to out think opponents (granted villains were not really thinking)
- It hit me real hard ... OMG at 25NL the others look / laugh at ME as THAT STUPID GUY. I didnt mind the money, but I sure mind looking stupid. Real sad / angry
- Decide to not play about my skill pay-grade.
- 2NL > 5NL > 5NL Rush > 10NL > 10NL Rush > 25NL > 25NL Rush. Finally reached my skill limit with bankroll about $1200
- 25NL Rush @-2.5bb/100, slightly +EV after bonuses.
- It was fun to out think opponents (granted villains were not really thinking)
2024 July - August
- Something prompted me to take my game more seriously (to be revealed later)
- A full month of grinding yielded no noticeable change
- Move back to FR after so many years
- 10NL Ante FR +6bb/100 over 10k hands
- 25NL Ante has been much tougher, back to -2.2bb/100 (slightly +EV after bonuses).
2024 August 29 - Now - poker journey 3.0
Decided to systemically improve my game. Started a new DB on PT4. All games played on GG 25NL Ante.
Week #1 2024 August 29: No task - just play and know my baseline.
- Hands: 17k
bb/100: -0.62
BR: In Game -180 | Bonus +180 | Weekly Change: 0
Note:
Week #2 2024 09 08: Track opponent play and develop notes for common villains.
- Hands: 17k
bb/100: -12.94
BR: In Game -620| Bonus +670 | Weekly Change: +50
Note: A rare $285 GGCare Flip out saved a terrible week
Note2: Over reliant on notes from small sample size >> bad play >> tilt >> worse play
Week #3 2024 09 15: Track opponent play and develop numerical stats for common villains. Table select - avoid regs. I had never table select before
- Hands: 19k
bb/100: +1.06
BR: In Game +50| Bonus +380| Weekly Change: +430
Note: Very time consuming process off the table. OMG +1bb/100
Note: Took MORE time to identify +EV / -EV regs to even better table select
No sure if it's True, this happened 2 minutes ago. Just misclicked Fold red Tens to PF3B [and called with T9dd on another table]... rabbit hunt came ATT. I told the guy I hope he didnt have AA because I misclicked TT, he swears he had AA. Immediately shut down tables and go for ice cream.
=_____=. Tilting week just got worse.
(-$50): AA < TT [T76][6] [4BP, CB, T JAM right into the nuts]
(-$50): KK < AA [AK2][6] [4BP, C off v CB, T JAM]
(-$50): AA < A5 [K55][J] [3BP, CB75% got 2 callers, Villain open JAM T]... at the moment I said to myself this is a fold.
Looked again and convinced myself into a bad crying call with these reasons (completely ignoring that there's still another player to act from the SB)
- All A5s are blocked
KK / JJ might 4B at some frequency
so I am losing to 45s | 65s, which might not be in his UTG opening range
maybe he turned TTP or maybe TP+FD
I thought I was playing pretty well, but these hands in quick succession reset me back to negative for the session
Finally things started turning, at least a little bit
(+$50): AKs > AA [K72] [SRP, villain flats AA, 2B overbet JAM 150bb into 40, I call off w TPTK + nFD] suckout =)
(+$50): 77 > 66 [762][9][2] [SRP, I donk lead 100%, CB100% and overbet JAM R] cooler for me
(+$30): 55 > ?? [KQ3][3][4] [4BP by villain, X, C v delay CB25%, 2BJAM v small RB] I think I made a good play
(+$50): 77 > QQ [J77][6][2][SRP, villain didnt believe my xR, CB, OBJAM] cooler for me?
(+$25): 33 > KQs [973][2][9][SRP, CB50%, xC, xC v OBJAM] villain punted, maybe he saw I was shutting down on the turns alot
(+$50): TT > A5s [943][9][3BP Villain F to CB12% so I decided I was never bluffing the F, CB100% c v his xR, C TCB JAM] exploited villain tendency
NOT GOING TO BE EASY, ANOTHER GOOD SESSION AND WE CAN MAKE IT EVEN FOR THE WEEK (BANK ROLL WISE, IG EV Prob Not)
how did you amass so many C$?
I never use them and they accumulated over time.
Rough estimate of C$ per playing day (2.5k hands @ 25NL Ante 200bb deep)
GG Care: $15 [ITM ~50% of the time, usually top 1-3 stack at table depending on balancing mechanism. max received $250, mostly $12 - $20]
Leaderboard: $8 [mostly just make the money $5-$6, got top 3 maybe two or three times?]
Mystery Drop: $10 [fairly consistent, roughly $1 / 250 hands] (but it's dropped onto your stack, so unless you cash out, you wouldn't see it in the cashier as C$)
eg. Today I'll get $20 from GGCare | $6 for Ladder | $4 for mystery drop
PT4 has me at -20bb/100 for this week (it was -infinity after first two days).
I thought I was playing above average after first two days and just running into the nuts.
Numbers don't lie, maybe I am delusional.
Today's highlight (-$100, a whopping 1000bb pot)
88 SB P3 vs UTG, BB cold call, UTG call.
[875] 2 tone. xC v UTG Stab, BB OBJAM 400BB?!?!?, UTG CALL
I basically snapped, thinking I must be up against some combinations of 77, 55, 66??, A6s??? A9s??? 99??? QQ+???
BB shows 46o, ran it once and stacked 88 and 77.
Managed to refocus had some run good, fought back to +$50 for the session. Quite happy about that at least.
"Let's get back to even for the week" ... not even 10 minutes into the session (didn't even get up to 8 tables yet) ... became
"Whap, looks like a long grind back"
(-$40): AKs < AA This was very much a punt, got distracted setting up tables and didnt notice villain has 3% 3B =____=
(-$20): A2s < JJ [K92][T][T] [SRP, blasted off, villain made good C on R], maybe not the right R to blast
(-$25): TT < QTs [987] [3BP (Villain), BvB. Villain JAM over my donk bet, Turn=Q]
(-$30): AK < AQ [752][A][2] [3BP, monotone. Both T TP w Good FD. Villain R the Nuts and lead 100%, of course I call / lose]
