I quit my job to play 50nl??
Hello,
A few weeks ago, I made a big decision to quit my job. Why? Some minor health issues that, while not life-threatening, have been impacting my life enough so that something has to be done.
I decided to take the time off work to explore physical therapy, exercising and a better diet, putting some real effort into that before exploring other options. So far I’m already feeling a lot better, though I suspect a big part of that is stress relief. But, relying on poker as only income will come with it's own kind of stress I'm sure.
Poker:
I've played recreationally this year maybe 150k hands of 100z on pokerstars but with a 1bb winrate lol, I played there for convenience just to fire up a quick game but realized it's probably not the best option money wise, also I don't think my brain can handle playing zoom every day for long hours.
So 14th of August I switched to a Euro site instead, one without HUD but you can download hands afterwords so you get some stats on your own game.
Started off at 100nl staight away but after 2weeks of breakeven and needed to make withdrawals I decided to drop down to 50nl for now and put some more effort into studying, analizing the pool and coming up with a better structure for myself to handle the daily grind.
I will write more about what I have found hard playing full time, adjustments I make along the way and update with results etc as we go.
Results so far are not the best, but I'm hopefull and think I'm playing better for every week.
5bb winrate, yellow line is including rakeback.
What site are you playing on?
How much RB?
What's your BR?
What happens if you don't profit in a month?
What site are you playing on? - Not gonna say exact site now but it's a regulated eu site at leastHow much RB? - From my calculations I got about 25% in august so thats what I put in in holdemmanager, but should be maybe 35% in september, I will manually write down during this month to that we can see in the end.What's your BR? - Like 1,500EUR 😃 What happens if you don't profi
Valid questions 😀
Best of luck man!
Thank you!
First 2 weeks I did about 1h per day studying spots in gtow, drilling the most common spots and reviewing hands in breaks/ the day after. It sure helped to brush up the general gameplan but I have loads more to do. I feel I play the worst in BvB bad from the SB in SRPs.
I noticed in hand reviews I make some big punts and feel unsure when the pots get big, so for now I kinda simplified my strategy playing smaller bets and a bit more defensive until I have the spot better figured out. I think this is fine and propably perform better then me making big punts on the river.
For this week I have shifted my focus a bit away from theory, I still do 15-20min of drilling before I start playing for the day but other then that I have focused soly on exploiting the fish, being more aware in the session watching hands I'm not involved in and using that information to get the full stacks in with light value, or inducing the aggro fish to bluff off stacks and I think this has made big impact and should be the main focus.
I'm having fun playing now, being creative at the tables and will try to add in a little 100nl during the weekend now as I'm having a good week.
Graph to come after sunday 😀
Weekly recap
22k hands
10bb winrate
Table winnings: 1260 EUR
Rakeback: 270 EUR (30%)
Total: +1530 EUR
I'm very happy with volume and results, 90% was at 50nl. I did however at some occasions play too much, forced myself to keep going when I'm super tired just for some extra leaderboard/rb money while loosing way more at the tables instead, I will try to give myself some more freedom and just enjoy already having done a good days work and spend the extra time on other recreational activities / excercising etc instead of pushing too hard.
Goals for next week:
15k hands
25% of volume at 100nl
5h studying
5 hands tagged and reviewed per day
1 day completely off
Avg 10k steps per day
4 gym session
Thank you!
I'm happy to say that I did follow my own advice I wrote down after last week, maybe a bit to the extreme but I don't mind. I played very little volume so far, but been playing when games have been good at 100nl and I have been exited, curious during the sessions, screenshotting a lot of spots that I have been going over afterwords and spend more time doing drilling exercises.
Of course not a sustainable winrate, but I have been spending more time with my girlfriend these days going out for lunch/drinks/walks etc so it has been a nice change of pace. Will try later in the week to post some hands or spots that I find interessting as well.
Got busy with some other things so missed to update, didn't play at all last week but now we're back at it again.
These we're the goals I set for week 2:
15k hands (fail, 7k hands)
25% of volume at 100nl (pass, 90%)
5h studying (pass, around 6h)
5 hands tagged and reviewed per day (passed, 20+ hands per day)
1 day completely off (pass)
Avg 10k steps per day (fail, 8k avg)
4 gym session (pass, 4)
Goals didn't go to well, but results were good and girlfriend happy that more time was spent with her so I'm fine with that.
2nd week results:
Table winnings: 1260 EUR
Rakeback: 285 EUR (65%)
Total: 1545 EUR
3rd week: 0 hands
As we have been slacking a bit it's time to make up for lost time this final week, not gonna set up too much goals but aiming to play 50-60h or so and grinding some extra leaderboard money to finish strong and do more frequent updates.
Really rough first day back, main issue was loosing flips but I also was a bit of a calling station on the river and had to be reminded that they just have it even if repping very thin 😃
At the bottom I switched to 50nl as roll was getting light, and will mainly play 50 today but mix in 100 if good tables while getting back into the groove. Posting a few hands from the day as well.
Hand 1: In game I thought we need some checks with these suits, I was wrong it's such a strong board for us that we can rangebet pretty big. But as played I like it.
PokerStars - €1 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 4 players
Hand converted by Holdem Manager 3
BTN: €112.31 (112.3 bb)
SB: €153.51 (153.5 bb)
Hero (BB): €210.61 (210.6 bb)
CO: €104.87 (104.9 bb)
SB posts €0.50, Hero posts BB €1.00
Pre Flop: (pot: €1.50) Hero has Q
A
CO raises to €2.50, 2 folds, Hero raises to €10.00, CO calls €7.50
Flop: (€20.50, 2 players) J
5
2
Hero checks, CO checks
Turn: (€20.50, 2 players) J
Hero bets €22.00, CO calls €22.00
River: (€64.50, 2 players) K
Hero bets €178.61 and is all-in, fold
Results: €64.50 pot (€3.00 rake)
Final Board: J
5
2
J
K
Hero wins €61.50
Hand 2: Should not be a call on turn normally, but I thought he would bet more AK, AQ, AJ type of hands then he should, and I would be able to bluff on the river often enough. Did not expect to see this tho 😃
PokerStars - €1 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 4 players
Hand converted by Holdem Manager 3
Hero (BTN): €110.24 (110.2 bb)
SB: €132.71 (132.7 bb)
BB: €103.90 (103.9 bb)
CO: €219.97 (220 bb)
SB posts €0.50, BB posts €1.00
Pre Flop: (pot: €1.50) Hero has K
Q
fold, Hero raises to €2.50, SB raises to €10.00, fold, Hero calls €7.50
Flop: (€21.00, 2 players) T
7
9
SB bets €10.50, Hero calls €10.50
Turn: (€42.00, 2 players) 7
SB bets €21.00, Hero calls €21.00
River: (€84.00, 2 players) J
SB bets €91.21 and is all-in, Hero calls €68.74 and is all-in
Results: €221.48 pot (€3.00 rake)
Final Board: T
7
9
7
J
Hero shows K
Q
: (Straight, King High)
(Pre 72%, Flop 84%, Turn 93%)
SB shows 5
Q
: (One Pair, Sevens)
(Pre 28%, Flop 16%, Turn 7%)
Hero wins €218.48
Something I forgot yesterday was to have a focus area for the day, I do think it helps to note down something you did sub par yesterday and trying to focus extra on that topic for the next.
So todays focus will be:
- Open extra wide on the button
- Look for river raise spots, bluffs and value
Yesterdays focus points:
Avg BTN RFI: 42.7
Yesterday: 47
Avg River Raise: 20.0%
Yesterday: 28.2%
It was another long grind, was pretty tired and noticed I was overfolding to cbets a lot in the end. But overall pretty happy with performance and managed to get a 215eur bonus on top, so a +350eur day.
Hand vs fish, you dont expect even fish to check an overpair on the river right?
He should mostly be very capped to Tx so in my mind ripping 2x pot must have the highest ev and pretty likely to get hero'd by Tx, 8x, 99 or other random pairs.
PokerStars - €1 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by Holdem Manager 3
BTN: €100.00 (100 bb)
SB: €109.64 (109.6 bb)
BB: €104.27 (104.3 bb)
UTG: €352.64 (352.6 bb)
Hero (CO): €122.84 (122.8 bb)
SB posts €0.50, BB posts €1.00
Pre Flop: (pot: €1.50) Hero has 8
T
fold, Hero raises to €2.20, 2 folds, BB raises to €6.12, Hero calls €3.92
Flop: (€12.74, 2 players) 5
3
T
BB bets €6.37, Hero calls €6.37
Turn: (€25.48, 2 players) 3
BB bets €12.74, Hero calls €12.74
River: (€50.96, 2 players) 8
BB checks, Hero bets €97.61 and is all-in, BB calls €79.04 and is all-in
Results: €209.04 pot (€3.00 rake)
Final Board: 5
3
T
3
8
BB shows J
J
: (Two Pair, Jacks and Threes)
(Pre 81%, Flop 78%, Turn 95%)
Hero shows 8
T
: (Two Pair, Tens and Eights)
(Pre 19%, Flop 22%, Turn 5%)
BB wins €206.04
A river raise spot I would not have found if I was not focusing on it:
PokerStars - €1 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 3 players
Hand converted by Holdem Manager 3
BTN: €106.50 (106.5 bb)
Hero (SB): €211.98 (212 bb)
BB: €105.01 (105 bb)
Hero posts SB €0.50, BB posts €1.00
Pre Flop: (pot: €1.50) Hero has 8
8
fold, Hero raises to €3.00, BB raises to €9.00, Hero calls €6.00
Flop: (€18.00, 2 players) 7
3
Q
Hero checks, BB bets €6.50, Hero calls €6.50
Turn: (€31.00, 2 players) 4
Hero checks, BB checks
River: (€31.00, 2 players) K
Hero checks, BB bets €14.88, Hero raises to €196.48 and is all-in, fold
Results: €60.76 pot (€1.50 rake)
Final Board: 7
3
Q
4
K
Hero wins €59.26
Almost forgot, focus points for today:
- Dont overfold to flop cbet
- Check raise more flop
- Be more focused and creative
Redemption day!
Good focus all day until the last 1-2h, I guess inevitable when playing 10+h.
Forgot to write down one of the focus points which was cold calling BB more, I have been a bit stuck in looking at the 50nl gto ranges which are pretty tight but in reality I should be able to call a lot more, even vs regs as they use smaller cbet sizes on flop, dont barell enough low eq hands on the turn and dont blast the river with bluffs letting us realise more eq.
I played great, ran great and found a couple really fun players.
Statcheck:
Flop fold to cbet: 49% (very high even tho I focused on it, I don't have an issue overfolding on other sites or while doing drills, all close spots I checked we're pure folds in theory as well so not sure about this, might be skewed cause there is a lot of multiway pots I guess)
Turn fold to cbet: 31% (this one I'm happy with)
Check Raise Flop: 15%
River raise: 27%
Cold call BB: 29%
Super satisfied with everything except for the flop folds, must be something I'm missing here I'll keep investigate. My increased cold calling will affect the stat most likely as well as I'm calling "too wide"
I'll post some hands later on, time to go out food shopping and prepare for the grind 😀
Hehe, let's hope so!
Not sure still how well this will work, but I needed to quit my job either way and thought that I couple probably match the missing salary with poker if I put the effort in, and who know's maybe it could turn in to something more 😀
Today was though, played really poor overall. I've been having trouble sleeping after these long grind hours, I'm kinda wired up still when I'm finished so last night I only got 3h sleep so I was not functioning properly while playing, many time I found myself on the river, forgot what happened and just "I don't think he has anything, I jam" in spots that made absolutely no sense.
I will continue rest of month to play these 10-12h days, but if I feel as tired as today I should take a break and then make up for it later if needed. I've done the calculations and this will net me a lot of extra bonus/leaderboard money + higher rb for the upcoming months as well so should be worth it. Just never played this much before, but hey, embrace the challenge 😃
Repping royal?
PokerStars - €1 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by Holdem Manager 3
BTN: €165.26 (165.3 bb)
SB: €86.12 (86.1 bb)
Hero (BB): €232.98 (233 bb)
UTG: €118.38 (118.4 bb)
MP: €101.50 (101.5 bb)
CO: €100.00 (100 bb)
SB posts €0.50, Hero posts BB €1.00
Pre Flop: (pot: €1.50) Hero has J
T
3 folds, BTN raises to €2.50, fold, Hero calls €1.50
Flop: (€5.50, 2 players) Q
3
4
Hero checks, BTN bets €1.82, Hero calls €1.82
Turn: (€9.14, 2 players) K
Hero checks, BTN bets €10.50, Hero calls €10.50
River: (€30.14, 2 players) J
Hero checks, BTN bets €22.61, Hero raises to €218.16 and is all-in, fold
Results: €75.36 pot (€3.00 rake)
Final Board: Q
3
4
K
J
Hero wins €72.36
Such a good flop/turn to make me look like I'm just full of it
PokerStars - €1 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by Holdem Manager 3
BTN: €226.54 (226.5 bb)
SB: €109.25 (109.3 bb)
BB: €125.46 (125.5 bb)
UTG: €100.00 (100 bb)
Hero (CO): €143.71 (143.7 bb)
SB posts €0.50, BB posts €1.00
Pre Flop: (pot: €1.50) Hero has Q
Q
UTG calls €1.00, Hero raises to €4.00, BTN raises to €14.00, 3 folds, Hero calls €10.00
Flop: (€30.50, 2 players) 5
6
5
Hero checks, BTN bets €13.00, Hero raises to €32.41, BTN calls €19.41
Turn: (€95.32, 2 players) 6
Hero bets €32.86, BTN raises to €180.13 and is all-in, Hero calls €64.44 and is all-in
River: (€289.92, 2 players) T
Results: €289.92 pot (€3.00 rake)
Final Board: 5
6
5
6
T
Hero shows Q
Q
: (Two Pair, Queens and Sixes)
(Pre 81%, Flop 90%, Turn 95%)
BTN shows 9
9
: (Two Pair, Nines and Sixes)
(Pre 19%, Flop 10%, Turn 5%)
Hero wins €286.92
Puntosaurus!
Like wtf am I doing, secondly I don't think AK or other bluffs would ever bet this under 20% sizeing scrolling down to 9.5bb, this is like a super induce in my experience. So that fact that I did not see that + should never jam either way is clear evidence of my tiredness.
PokerStars - €1 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by Holdem Manager 3
BTN: €282.05 (282.1 bb)
SB: €100.00 (100 bb)
Hero (BB): €119.51 (119.5 bb)
UTG: €125.15 (125.2 bb)
CO: €114.82 (114.8 bb)
SB posts €0.50, Hero posts BB €1.00
Pre Flop: (pot: €1.50) Hero has A
Q
2 folds, BTN raises to €2.50, fold, Hero raises to €11.00, BTN raises to €24.00, Hero calls €13.00
Flop: (€48.50, 2 players) 8
T
5
Hero checks, BTN bets €9.50, Hero raises to €95.51 and is all-in, BTN calls €86.01
Turn: (€239.52, 2 players) J
River: (€239.52, 2 players) 4
Results: €239.52 pot (€3.00 rake)
Final Board: 8
T
5
J
4
BTN shows K
K
: (One Pair, Kings)
(Pre 68%, Flop 82%, Turn 84%)
Hero shows A
Q
: (High Card, Ace)
(Pre 32%, Flop 18%, Turn 16%)
BTN wins €236.52
Got a decent night sleep which compleltely changed my mood, result wise the day started as a disaster but I still enjoyed playing, was very creative at the tables and eventually it turned around.
Not much more to say atm, gonna keep it simple during the weekend and just try to have fun playing.
Too tired to come up with anything to write, just waiting for the month to be over 😃
Might take a shorter day today, go out for a couple beers and hopefully a better nights sleep, I'm a bit ahead of schedule, should be fine.
Week 4:
38k hands (30k at 100nl)
85 hours played
5bb winrate
Table winnings: 1785 EUR
Rakeback/leabderbards: 620 EUR
Total: 2405 EUR
Further more, on track to hit my rake requirement and another 500-600 in bonus before closing the month, so tired now tho, luckily I can chill a bit more last 2 days.
(will add RB to holdemmanager at months end)
Solid!
GLGL
You played 85 hours of poker in a week? How??
Haha yes, I barely played anything week 2 and 3 of the month so had to make up for it, and I saw that if I managed I would earn about 1k extra in bonuses and reach very high vip status which will greatly increasy my rakeback the upcoming months. So I strapped in and played 12h per per day and didn't do much else, was fun to begin with but it drove me crazy in the end.
Now it's finally over!
Extremely happy with the result as this is the first full month of grinding, excited about the future as unemployed 😀
September:
76k hands
65% at 100nl , rest 50nl
7.6bb winrate
Table winnings: 4,740 EUR
Rakeback/leaderboards: 1,835 EUR
Total: +6,575 EUR
With my new vip status I will from now get minumum 45% rakeback not incleading leadeboards.
Will chill a bit now this week and only play when I feel like it / the games are good, so much this last week I've been forced to reg battle after already played for 8+h and I'm greatful that is over, takes so much mental power.
First 2 days of easing in to the new month, got my sleep back on track and put some quality time into relaxing, eating well and having some drinks out.
I can tell that people have gotten their paycheck / reset of deposit limts so will put a bit more volume in over the weekend and from tomorrow will mix in a little bit of 200nl shots if games are looking nice, giving it a 5bi shot.
Glad to hear 😀
I might still just be running good, but I do think I am playing a lot better now after I decided to do this full time and I'll try to give an overview of what I have done.
Earlier this year I've done a decent amount of drilling spots in gtow, was helpful to build a baseline and get some cool ideas. But at the tables I was a bit frustrated that the "correct" bluffs or calldowns didn't seem to work very well, so I have tried to adjust to what happens in reality at the tables.
Now I screenshot 20-30 spots per day while playing which I will go over in breaks or the day after, not just big pots it can be tiny one's as well. When I found something interessting, let's give an example:
We call the turn in a SRP oop with top pair and a flush draw and hit the flush on the river, the solver donks pot with this hand but checks most other flushes. Why? Probably cause as we are holding the top pair as well we block many of his river bets (sets/2pairs) and therefore he will check back too much if checked too.
Cool, this must apply to other situations as well. Let's look at some!
And then realizing that the human checks back rivers more then the solver, so donking rivers should perform even better in practice. Let's put a note on my focus list for tomorrow and see if we can try implementing this.
That and overall keeping a list of things that work or not work in practice, things that I found unclear or should "research" more, or personal mental notes on things to improve on.
That's kinda the daily routine, keeping notes/lists and exploring new ideas. I recently bought an extra vertical monitor just to fit my notes 😃
Big balls to quit ya Job. Best of Luck.
