Ain't no party like a DKB party
Greetings Everyone,
Plan is simple but hard to achieve 10k€ in the bank+bankroll and ~+2k$ income/monthly from poker.
After unexpected success in my first blog, where I succeed in making 1k$ profit in a month playing 25nl.
Wanted to continue keep myself accountable and have a good place for reflection.
In this blog I will be posting:
-Weekly updates (Result Graph,Sessions,RB,Interesting HH)
-Weekly goals and plans (upfront)
-Monthly updates
-Monthly goals and plans (upfront)
About me, I'm 26 year old male from Latvian and currently working full-time job(15days a month, 12h shifts). For now I'm playing 25nl PartyPoker Regular/Zoom tables and have a rakeback ~25%. In future might look into other options but for now I'm satisfied with 25nl pool of PartyPoker. Will be using aggressive bankroll management 20bi up with 2bi shots.
P.S. Will not end this blog until I achieve my goal, for how ever long it takes.
Thanks for reading.
Any feedback about how I played or thinks I could do better is much appreciated.
Completely missed the gutter to the T high straight, call makes sense now.
I get the value in 3-betting a wide range against the rec, but doesn't a lot of the value of 87s come from fold equity that we're unlikey to get from a such a player? I would have thought it better to pad your 3-bet range out with all the offsuit broadways and Axs hands, maybe some Kxs too depending on how wild you want to go. I guess I'm making assumptions about how the rec plays post flop. If they're fit-fold or very passive I see the value in just going bananas with our 3-bets, but even then we have to worry about other regs. I'd expect to get cold 4B fairly frequently if I'm 3-betting 20% every time this player opens. Maybe I'm missing something though. Interested to hear your thoughts if you care to share them.
Overall, very confused on how good are my KK MW, because Cold 4B ranges should be very tight, but this is not the standard cold 4B spot because of the fish.
Being 3-way hurts the equity of your overpair, but I think you're being a bit overly cautious here and missing getting value from the rec (unlesss you have a read he'll blast of with bluffs if you check). BTN doesn't have many combos that beat you on the turn and might call another bet with QQ/JJ. Even with your small flop bet BTN has less than a pot size bet left on the turn, so you have to ask yourself if the money is every not going in if he does have you beat. Meanwhile recreational probably has loads of Tx and worse pairs that they might stack off with, and maybe even some AK, AQ, AJ type hands that are too pretty to fold.
Personally I'd bet 1/2 pot on flop and shove turn, accepting that occasionally you'll run into a better hand.
I get the value in 3-betting a wide range against the rec, but doesn't a lot of the value of 87s come from fold equity that we're unlikey to get from a such a player? I would have thought it better to pad your 3-bet range out with all the offsuit broadways and Axs hands, maybe some Kxs too depending on how wild you want to go. I guess I'm making assumptions about how the rec plays post flop. If they're fit-fold or very passive I see the value in just going bananas with our 3-bets, but even then
People in these games are just not 4betting enough so I dont worry about that too much and just try and get into pots HU in pos vs fish as much as possible cause the mistakes they make post flop helps us print.
Of course If I start noticing a reg 4b bluffing me more we can just start flatting these hands vs them
KK play seems really nitty, especially with a rec in the pot. I don't mind the turn check at all but we should either shove the river or check shove, fish can easily call JJ/QQ here.
Week 12 & 13 Recap
Greetings,
Week 12 I had 3 work days in a row and then trip to Prague, did manage to sneak in 3k hands. In Prague play decent amount of live cash. Learned a lot about live and that it's not as fun as I thought it would be, hardest part was battling my lack of patience. After punting ~250$ in first session (200bb), managed to win it back in 2nd and 3rd session and ended up break-even.
Week 13 came back from Prague and brought with me Covid, so was able to stay at home and play a lot of poker (which went really well). Also tried 100nl but failed as I have failed many times before (4 or 5), I think it's some sort of mental block as I do think 100nl is something I looked as I made it stake. Will figure it out and build my bankroll larger to not be afraid to play 100nl. Other then one day that I tried playing 100nl week was fantastic and really happy with results.
Next week I will keep grinding 50nl, still semi-sick and free from work.
Week 12
Cash: +41,08$
Mtt: 0
RB: +37,5$
Total: +78,58$
Week 13
Cash: +907,2$
Mtt: -7,5$
RB: +210$
Total: +1109,7$
Cash Graph Week 12:
Cash Graph Week 13:
Results/Stats:
Sessions:
Rakeback:
Some interesting hands:
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Biggest Win:
HH1: Vs whale and fish, was pretty confident I would get paid if I hit...but not this confident
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Biggest Loss:
HH2: Vs Unknown reg, weird spot but I think I beat some value A5s etc but unsure if he does goes all-in with those
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Luckiest:
HH3: vs Fish, getting X/R all-in by the fish felt super nutted, but did decide to run it. In case he thinks A9 is nuts here or random spews.
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Unluckiest:
HH4: Vs Fish, the way he played was afraid of the K OTF
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Luckiest Nr2:
HH5: Vs reg, I think it's only fair to hit the flush on 2nd run if I didn't hit it one the first one
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Biggest Bluff:
HH6: Vs reg, love to blast off when flush draw completes
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Biggest Bluff Nr2:
HH7: Vs reg and fish, when they check river I was pretty sure they dont have 9x and it looks as I could easily have 9
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Failed Bluff:
HH8: Vs fish and after hand made note not to bluff him again
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Bluff-Catch:
HH9: Vs fish, I do love to bluff-catch, working with myself to stop bluff-catching
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Funny Hand:
HH10: Vs Maniac, missclick lead to me losing decent amount
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Unsure:
HH11: Vs Nit-reg, really unsure about this call
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Thanks for reading.
Any feedback about how I played or things I could do better is much appreciated.
Week 14 Recap
Greetings,
Decent week all things considered, was getting f***ed by variance Monday and by myself Sunday shot talking 100nl. Been struggling a lot playing 100nl and mentally feel as the only way to win at 100nl is if I get lucky, that leads me to make sub-optimal decisions. So for August will leave 100nl to rest and build my BR at 50nl also will read MGOP (but I hate reading).
Happy that I had the chance to play so much poker and spend quality time with gf, only had work on Friday.
Next week won't be able to grind that much poker as I have 4 working days (46h).
Cash: +393,5$
Mtt: 0
RB: +210$
Total: +603,5$
Cash Graph:
Results/Stats:
Sessions:
Rakeback:
Some interesting hands:
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Biggest Win:
HH1: Vs Whale, calling T6s pre vs 3B is not the best idea but being 200bb deep IP I was good enough reason for me
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Biggest Loss:
HH2: vs reg/unknown, I knew that by that river either I was already losing or he got there and now I'm losing... making these kinda calls at 100nl are regular to me
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Luckiest:
HH3: Vs decent reg, set over set in my is always welcomed
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Unluckiest:
HH4: Vs unknown, even tho it's part of the game and there where many worse bad beat during last week... This one hurts the most when I'm already struggling at 100nl
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Max Greed:
HH5: vs Fish and reg (folded), decided to go for all of it
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Biggest Hero Call:
HH6: Vs reg, did not believe that 2x raise OTF, even tho still feels like a punt call (can't help myself)
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Funny hand:
HH7: Vs aggro fish, flop miss-click kinda capped him and made him blast off
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Super Weird spot:
HH8: Vs Maniac and Whale, The guy that B200 was maniac... OTT did not expect this sizing and if I call expected to get all-in against at least one of opponents, was not getting direct odds but I was sure implied odds where enough to call (12 outs =24% and maybe not all outs are clean)
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Biggest Bluff:
HH9: Vs reg, was planning to donk jam hearts or spades and I know that I can raise Turn but decided against that because I felt as he is too strong here. Biggest problem about this hand is that for whatever reason thought that I have all the AK and he has none.
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Biggest Punt:
HH10: Vs fish, calling OTR is one of the biggest punt I did in a while. Was mentally in bad spot during this hand and made a "maybe he over value straight call" and "**** it" call.
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Thanks for reading.
Any feedback about how I played or things I could do better is much appreciated.
Mental Game of Poker audiobook might be good alternative to reading, especially if you can have headphones in during work
Great point, somehow did not think about it myself
Week 15 Recap
Greetings,
Week was OK, did not play my best. Unhappy with not being able to put as much volume as I did last 2 weeks, but not much I can do when I have full-time work. Listen to decent amount of MGOP which I'm happy about and will be analyzing it in depth as I discovered many mental leaks of mine.
Did write this blog update week late (My bad), so will have two blogs back to back.
Cash: +166,1$
Mtt: 0
RB: +75$
Total: +241,1$
Cash Graph:
Results/Stats:
Sessions:
Rakeback:
Some interesting hands:
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Biggest Win:
HH1: Vs Mega Whale, glad that I was the one who was able to receive this donation.
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Biggest Loss:
HH2: Vs Aggro-fish, If there is ever a time to fold KK pre, It's against non all-in 5B. Did consider fold, but him being aggro-fish(No crazy all-ins tho) decide to run it.
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Luckiest:
HH3: Vs Fish, I have no respect for Call/All-in and in my experience is BS. Happy that my single FD won against his double FD.
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Slow-play:
HH4: Vs Reg, feels to thin from Villains side, I can be slow playing and not too many worst hands call.
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Slow-play:
HH5: Vs Aggro-fish, wanted to let him catch-up or start blasting.
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Thin Value:
HH6: Vs Aggro-fish, main reason for going all-in OTR was his snap check OTR, which excludes many strong hands (other wise would check-back).
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Punt:
HH7: Vs Reg, decided that he might have weaker 4B because of the whale iso, but did overthink and punted stack.
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Thanks for reading.
Any feedback about how I played or things I could do better is much appreciated.
Week 16 Recap
Greetings,
Week was Meh, did not play my best(again). Getting tilted more often and making bad decision in game. Listen to full MGOP which I'm happy about, still making small summery about it. Using newly learned information will work to figure out my mental flaws and prevent them from losing money at the tables. Currently not dealing the best with small variance I'm facing but I'm well aware of it.
Next week will have 4 free days from work, even though did not reach my RB goals previous week with same amount of free days this upcoming week feel better about it.
Cash: +90,73$
Mtt: 0
RB: +75$
Total: +165,73$
Cash Graph:
Results/Stats:
Sessions:
Rakeback:
Some interesting hands:
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Biggest Win:
HH1: Vs Aggro-Fish, felt thin but with Qd feels just about right, if he calls AJo pre then even better all-in
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Biggest Loss/Punt:
HH2: Vs decent Reg, was losing and tilting before this hand, reason why I 3B/called pre and tried to increase variance. Need to cut hands like these out of my game.
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Luckiest:
HH3: Vs Fish, even tho 3B is smaller imo fish do this with stronger overall range, did proceed with caution.
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Unluckiest:
HH4: Vs Fish, he just did broke under pressure and tried to give it to me.
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Unluckiest Nr2:
HH5: Vs Aggro-Fish, imo if his this brave Limp/calling cold 4B and floating OTF then X/R all-in he deserves it WP.
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Not my week:
HH6: Vs Whale, had a note that he is wide preflop.
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Blunder:
HH7: Vs Aggro Reg, should be one and done OTT, but blocking most logical folds decided to punt shove. At least I unblock hearths.
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Biggest Bluff:
HH8: Vs S***-Reg, was pretty sure he will fold river as his range is mostly 55-TT OTR, knowing him sets raise and only worried about 56s or A5s which might even not be in preflop range
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Biggest Hero-Call:
HH9: Vs Fish, was done with the hand but it's always coming 7, felt as a desperation bluff incoming.
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Slowplay:
HH10: Vs Aggro-Reg, don't think calling AA OOP in 4B pot is a thing, but with table dynamic felt about right. Also feels kinda thin from villain side.
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Thanks for reading.
Any feedback about how I played or things I could do better is much appreciated.
H1: I'd personally go larger otf/ott, and think river vbet is good vs. fish, you can x river more vs. anyone that isn't a fish if you think they'd have turn floats/possible bluffs
H2: If there are raises here I sort of doubt they'd go for your sizing. It's likely just a click if you want raises here in 4bp... personally I'd just call on the flop as played, but I would have likely either flatted pre (with fish in blinds) or defaulted to a fold preflop. The 3b isn't necessarily inherently bad--you just need some justification any number of things can sway you in one direction or another. As for facing the 4B I'd likely just pure fold vs. 95% of players --- 130bb deep here certainly makes it a bit closer, but I'd want just a little bit more stack depth or atleast some more information from you to make the call (again not necessarily inherently bad). Call off seems close with rake, seems ok
H1: I'd personally go larger otf/ott, and think river vbet is good vs. fish, you can x river more vs. anyone that isn't a fish if you think they'd have turn floats/possible bluffs
H2: If there are raises here I sort of doubt they'd go for your sizing. It's likely just a click if you want raises here in 4bp... personally I'd just call on the flop as played, but I would have likely either flatted pre (with fish in blinds) or defaulted to a fold preflop. The 3b isn't necessarily inherently bad--you
Thanks for the feedback much appreciated!
About HH2, in my right mind I would have stayed away from this spot but when my thought process is to have revenge some one will punt.
Thanks for the feedback much appreciated!
About HH2, in my right mind I would have stayed away from this spot but when my thought process is to have revenge some one will punt.
If you're playing hands in such a way that you have the mindset, "I want revenge" rather than just picking highest EV action, then it's probably best to take a break and do some self reflection.
^ not sure if I interpreted what you said correctly, though.
You understood it correctly, soon after this hand I did take a break.
If you have that mindset leak, just try to be aware of it so that when it starts happening next time you can stop yourself before you continue playing. Take it as a learning experience and good job on taking a break immediately afterwards.
Week 17 Recap
Greetings,
Week started pretty badly, as I was running bad and making bad plays as a result of me being too much results oriented. After bad start figured out that most likely I have *Hate Losing tilt* and being more aware of this helped me preformed better during weekend. Had a lot of free time and decided to go for larger RB during Saturday Sunday (GF was out of town). Saturday was easy and I did 3 x 3h sessions. But Sunday felt as a grind, and with 100$ rake needed to get from 125$ to 180$ RB (25% to 30%) question if its worth it to grind it out. Decided to go for it as next week I have a lot of work 4/7 days and wont be able to play much volume, did make the RB jump with 7min left to go (opening extra tables and forcing variance), not something I plan to do in future.
So for the next week will have a lot of work and in free days will do some shoping for GF University and also looking for new monitor in order to go from 4-5 tables to 6-12 tables.
Cash: +279,5$
Mtt: 0
RB: +180$
Total: +459,5$
Cash Graph:
Results/Stats:
Sessions:
Rakeback:
Some interesting hands:
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Biggest Win:
HH1: Vs Fish and Whale, Fish took the cash-out and this also messes with my All-in EV as it shows 0$ all-in diff.
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Biggest Loss/Punt:
HH2: Vs Aggro pre, Tight postflop REG, should fold 100% of my bluff-catchers here.
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Luckiest:
HH3: Vs reg, not a fan of my turn check as there are still a lot of hands that would call me, would not change the outcome nevertheless.
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Unlukiest:
HH4: Vs Mega Whale, top pair is top pair as they say.
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Bluff-catching:
HH5: vs aggro capable reg, decided OTT that I will check call this down on most runouts.
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Bluff-catching Nr2:
HH6: Vs aggro-reg, have a read that he goes for similar plays and vs most of the pool would have easy fold.
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Nice Flop:
HH7: Vs Passive Whale, when he called OTR was happy that I gottem lol.
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Biggest Bluff:
HH8: Vs Decent Reg, decided to go for it here as opponent is more feel type of player and thought I look very strong here and some bluff get there OTR.
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Weird One:
HH9: Vs Decent Reg, tbh felt thin OTR. Also not that good at deeper stack depth. Not sure, but happy to win it.
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Set Up:
HH10: Vs decent reg, no getting away from this one.
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Thanks for reading.
Any feedback about how I played or things I could do better is much appreciated.
Like
Week 18 Recap
Greetings,
Decent week played small volume so I'm pleased with results. Upgraded my poker set-up from 15inch laptop to 27inch monitor. Still trying to get used to new set-up. Not much else to tell about.
Next week will have 4 days off work and plan to grind good amount, will also be much easier to hit RB goals with my new monitor.
Cash: +262,4$
RB: +50$
Total: +312,4$
Cash Graph:
Results/Stats:
Sessions:
Rakeback:
Some interesting hands:
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Biggest Win:
HH1: Vs Maniac that just lost big pot and was tilted.
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Biggest Loss:
HH2: Vs aggro-fish, was not happy with the spot, but he was aggro/spewy and might even value bet KQo w/club.
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Luckiest:
HH3: Vs Fish, was kinda happy to stack off vs him.
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Unluckiest:
HH4: Vs Aggro-Reg, that just lost big pot and was tilted.
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Biggest Hero:
HH5: Vs the same guy from HH4 only this hand happened 5min before HH4, expected him to overbluff here and even though my combos is not ideal this happy to call.
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Biggest Bluff:
HH6: Vs S***-Reg, even though I checked OTT and OTR I felt as I still can have all the stronger hands went for it.
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Biggest Punt:
HH7: Vs Unknown-Fish, was tilted a bit and decides that maybe he can have combo draw (doubt) and donated a stack.
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Also have been putting in the work in my chat game:
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1. Maniac from HH1 (this was before HH1)
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2. Vs Aggro-Reg from HH4 and HH5 this was after HH5 and before HH4 (last msg was after HH4)
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Got myself new monitor so I can go from 5 tables max to 6-12 tables:
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Thanks for reading.
Any feedback about how I played or things I could do better is much appreciated.
FWIW party just capped all rakeback to 20% today, no more boosts. Seems like it’s part of your strategy so it’s worth considering
Greetings Everyone,
P.S. Will not end this blog until I achieve my goal, for how ever long it takes.
That's a great mindset. Good luck!
Just my opinion but if you want to treat poker seriously, and have a long term mindset that is displayed above, don't set short term financial goals of making $X over Y period (weeks, months). Just improve consistently and continue moving up, especially when you're grinding micros, that should be your sole focus bc the $ isn't made in the micros.
Bankroll management - 20bi before moving up is fine if you have steady income coming in to replenish your roll but once you go pro, you'll need to be a lot more conservative. Even as a crusher of 8bb crusher, you will very likely suffer a 20bi downer if you grind 400k-500k hands a year as a pro. Also, set aside $ for your life expenses, keep it separate from your bankroll. Give your liferoll to your parents or your girlfriend or someone you trust if you have degenerate or self-sabotage tendencies is also a consideration.
That's a great mindset. Good luck!
Just my opinion but if you want to treat poker seriously, and have a long term mindset that is displayed above, don't set short term financial goals of making $X over Y period (weeks, months). Just improve consistently and continue moving up, especially when you're grinding micros, that should be your sole focus bc the $ isn't made in the micros.
Bankroll management - 20bi before moving up is fine if you have steady income coming in to replenish your roll but o
Thanks for your advise!
I had experimented with making short term money goals F.E. make 250$ in a week, but they all crashes down together with my mental in that week, so lesson learned.
20 buyins roll was always my go to, but as I failed at 100nl (money scared or smth, still working to resolve it) Im comfortably playing at 50nl with bigger roll.
Been slowly putting money in account that Im not touching. Girlfriend is also very good with money management, if I do fail myself.
In perfect world Im leaving my job before Winter to play full time. Even tough it's risky. I'm not losing career as I almost have entry type job. Been winning more in poker compared to my job in last few months ( and there are so much more to learn and ways to improve).
Previous still on google because it hasn't crawled the page yet:
Not sure about your info, because PartyPoker website is blocked in Latvia and I can access only Skin of PartyPoker website Optibet.lv .
For now I'm trying to hit 30% every week and hopefully noting in RB changes anytime soon. Made my account way back and didn't know about extra rakeback(sadly).
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Sorry for thinking your a troll, maybe its a deal that PartyPoker offers to your country.
Its definitely changed to 20% max here in the UK as is shown on the Website
Sorry to hear that!
Rip to all the UK PartyPoker grinders.
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