50$ to 5K online challenge as a college student, lets bring back the good ol days.

Best of luck! Will be following!

Note** GG ev graphs are PRE RAKE!

This is my EV graph on GG for the first 10,000 hands on 1c/2c NL.
16.69bb/100 over 10k hands.
all in EV 10.01bb/100 over 10k hands.

Looking for a true Winrate after GG rake??

some other things gg offers for context on my play

** I play 9 max full ring ante.

This may be the most important information to criticize my play.
I play a 27/16.
I like to call with small PP to try and hit a set if we are deep. I 3 bet preflop when i am IP with strong hands. and then when i am oop i may just call with my relatively strong hands.
I feel like the reason why i make most of my money is because i am not afraid to fold and i am a strong post flop player. I know when i am beat and i know when i am beating someone. I make most of my money by making a strong hand post flop and just constantly betting. It seems like all these players at this stake just call call and call. so when i make a strong hand i just bet bet bet.

I like to play 9 max because I can exploit "rich" fish. 9max ante games on GG are 200bb deep but only 6max is 100bb max.
I like to play 4 tables and 6max with 4 tables might be to fast for me, i could adjust.
also i dont like 6 max... i like full ring alot more. i think 9 handed lets my big hands get paid off more than 6 max.

I like your idea on going big, i do raise big and the fish at these low stakes dont get it, i will rfi 5-7x bb and still get plenty of callers from oop and IP with marginal hands that i just milk for value. I do disagree however in being polar at this low stake. there is no reason to have a polar range when there are calling stations all over the place, i just value bet the top of my range huge and they always call. Thats why i table select so much. i wont play on tables without 2-3 fish min playing 50/5 40/6 etc.

I will be agressive in moving up. Yes i can beat 2NL but i am also getting my feet wet. t

thank you for the advice 😃

Well if you're playing 200bb deep most of the time then any advantage of 3 betting larger may be lost, some think the deeper the ef stack the larger you 3 bet, which may be true ip but oop the opposite is true, oop a more linear range with smaller sizings may work best. I do think they are advantages to 6 max however, you're forced to play more hands and play more aggressively, if you have an edge on your opponents playing more hands against them is obviously good. For me personally 9 max a little slow and boring, i like to battle it out, that may just be my style however. If you feel comfortable at 9 max and it's working for you then keep at it. GL

Get Hand2Note4 its free and very good(I use it)

hello, a little update on my bankroll challenge as of 6/14
yesterday was a rollercoaster of a day..
i started thursday morning with 72$!! so i thought i would play my usual 4 tables at 9max 1c/2c on GG.
once i loaded on, the coolers and badbeats came flooding in, dont let me bore you with my bad beat stories, flush over flush set over set KK into AA. Okay lets just chop it up to variance and reload right? i mean i have a couple more hours to play. so i go to my cashier account and low and behold i have 32$ remaining :( i lost half my roll in one day. But i was not going to go out like this!! i decided to sit my butt in the chair and grind because i knew i was a better player than these FISH. I took pride in winning many small pots and fighting an uphill battle. Long story short i ended the day with 63$ in my account! Never count me out.
I want to shot take 2c/5c.. i may go for 1 bullet of 10$ and see what happens. The games on friday night are extra soft so maybe i can get lucky.
I will update you guys after the weekend is over.
GLGL to the wsop players in vegas and all the sharks online this weekend.

I just logged in today and I guess I won 32$ overnight from a GG free roll tournament!!!!
This is a huge jumpstart to the bankroll challenge.

87.20 bankroll end of 6/14

i took one shot at 2c/5c and lost it. next time i get my account to over 100 i will shot take again.

107.7 morning of 6/15

I did it!! I got the bankroll over 100$$$$!!

Well this is the first big milestone in the bankroll challenge, we doubled are roll.

Goal as of now, shot take 2c/5c, try and break out of 1c/2c asap!!

I want to get out of 2nl asap because it is rake trap so I want to move to 5nl as quickly as possible.

107$ would give me 10.7 buy ins, so I may just play one table and really try and play good.

On 2nl, I started playing 6 tables, it felt comfortable but it was a bit confusing following the action. I do want to increase my stakes and my tables.

6/21/24 update.
current balance of 226$
I am 6 tabling 5nl, I only really play against fish, i usually leave regs alone. I use a color system to easily mark fish and regs.
If anyone has any tips on how to exploit regs please let me know.

SUMMER GOAL:
Grind 2nl all the way to 25 or 50nl, Then once i have a proper bankroll and a ton of reps on the online tables, go to local casino and shot take live 1/2. The time frame is (june 1st) evaluate bankroll and play, and see if i have enough money/ confidence to shot take live.

Going to school everyday convincing myself that i have a passion for, coding, attending classes, going to football games and enjoying nights out with best friends. From an outside perspective, that sounds like a beautiful life. For me, I feel unfulfilled, every day there is a thought in the back of my mind about wanted to drop out and play poker. I suppress that thought and feeling everyday so that i can go to school. Its been to long, it is eating at me. I have to prove to my self that I can succeed at this.

This summer i had 5 classes i needed to take, i dropped them all. Its time for me to answer one simple question, Can i be happy playing poker for the rest of my life. School will always be there for me, but if i go through it in a distracted haze, how much can i truly get out of it? If the answer i find, is that i love to play and grind, then that is what i will do. If i find out i actually HATE the grind, then i will go back to school happy and with this past me.

To answer this question it will take a true grind. the deadline in middle of august, before i have to go back to class roughly ~ 14 weeks from today. 60 hours minimum a week 75 hours is my goal, for time at the tables. I will be playing microstakes online, on GG poker, 2 nl 9 handed. Grind through the stakes and just learn and put the time in. I will hold myself accountable for every action i take and try and document most of it. This will be like my daily reflection journal. I need to write things down on paper to help my mind, i will discuss. Tilt and mental game. Bankroll and goals. Hands and opponents. Things i need to study and learn (to do list). And my plan for this summer.

There needs to be a unrelentless form of discipline and personal awareness this summer. Sometimes in the moment you don't know that you are tilting until you wake up the next day and say to yourself " wow, i tilted off 4 buy ins yesterday because i got set over set" but in the moment, you don't feel it. Im not going to lie, i believe i am running bad.( i have played for a week at 2nl) i played roughly 11k hands and down -10bb/100. but i am playing bad too. I sprinted into this too quickly, i had small success last summer so i thought a year break wouldn't be too bad, boy was i wrong. I play to many tables, i got back to 8 tables in 3 days, WAY to fast. Next time i play i want to play 3 tables max until i am winning again. I got stuck early on last week from bad beats so i increased my volume thinking it will even out my winrate. NO, it just compounded my week results, all my flaws, all my mental game issues, and all my bad plays. I will play 3 tables, i will win. This may be a slow grind at the start, like a train, but once i get started and get some momentum, hopefully in weeks 2-4 i will be flying down the tracks.

TODO list:
learn everything i can about PT4
read as much 2p2 as possible
work on emotional control ( read my mental game of poker book)
build a daily playing schdule
Discipline.

Poker reminds me of the time that in my life when i trained for my first marathon. you set a goal, to finish 26.2 miles, on a specific date. Every single day up to race day you train, you may not be running everyday but you are training. You are eating as clean as possible, doing yoga / stretching, learning about ice baths and saunas, implementing vitamins and minerals, focusing on recovery, And of course putting the miles in and Running. You start out small, the first week you are running 4 miles total then the next you gradually increase until that magical 26.2 marker. Then once you win the race you can truly look back and say, wow running isn't as hard as i thought. However, if you start out trying to just put miles on the pavement and running with no plan, YOU WILL FAIL, you cant just say the first day i will run 10 miles and think itll work out. You will get hurt, or quit, or get physically sick of running.

In poker, the running portion is sitting your ass in the chair and putting the hours in. However the best players understand that time away from the table is just as important. Study habits that sharpen your game. Eating clean and working out to stay physically fit and mentally sharp. Taking time away from the table to think through hands and revealing the mistakes you make. Its hard to see the mistakes your making in the moment, its really easy to see looking back. This is what i plan to do, set up a lifestyle that fosters the growth of a aspiring poker pro. I will focus on quality over quantity. My goal is to see how much i can get out of a game by august.

I am reading The Mental Game Of Poker by Jared Tendler, it is a very good book that helps me understand that my weakest parts of my game are holding me back the most. I will work on my Tilt issue, i do have one. When i run bad i play bad, coincidence right?? but it compounds like an avalanche to me bleeding money on the tables. So somethings have helped me. YOGA, doing yoga before my sessions have improved my mental stamina, i am stretched out and relaxed. another important thing i have implemented, is meditation. THIS is the biggest factor. Deep breathing and meditation have helped me not go on tilt. Now i do not know what to do when i do go on tilt, possibly quit early. I will try that.

Poker is going well though, i made it through 1c/2c now i am on 2c/5c. I am taking strict bankroll management into account, so i am shot taking the next stake when i have minimum 20 BI. When i run hot i play well, it brings confidence into my game.

MY C game is just terrible, its common to play a C game, c is average. my C game is a losing strategy, and by alot. I have to minimize my loses even break even during the long C game stretches. When I do not get the cards, i play really bad. this leads to me going on tilt, not monkey, just tilt. I get bored when the cards dont come, i cannot think through big pots or important decisions, my game goes to robot mode. And my robot mode is losing.
When im truly on my A game, i make long thoughtful decisions, I take time in analyzing my opponents hand/ hand reading. I play the right cards pre, and my post flop play is wonderful. I fold Alot.

C game looks like me getting bored, not thinking through hands enough. JUST PLAYING MY TWO CARDS, rather than playing villians range. I call down to often.

how to not get bored, but stay focused? maybe music, helps a bit.. focus on long term goals to bring motivation to my game! lets try that.

I know how to fix hand reading, i just must do it. slow down take thought out decisions and play villians range rather than my hand.

Okay i have some mental game leaks to fix. lets tighten this up.

Today was a rough day monetarily, however i dont know by how much. I have decided to not look at my balance, i am a winning player over the long run and have BRM so i should be fine.
It has helped me deal with tilt, if i dont know the balance i cant tilt lol. thats just the short version summed up. But seriously, not looking at the graph/balance after every session is huge to my mental game.

I am playing very well, i truly am. I ran into many coolers today. you guys dont need to hear the bad beat stories, who even likes those? no one. but i probobly lost 7 ~ 8 buy ins. This is the first day that i lost yet didnt go on tilt and am actually happy at the way i played, I CANT CONTROL HOW THE CARDS FALL, I CAN ONLY CONTROL HOW I PLAY. As long as i am making positive long run ev decisions i am happy with my play no matter my online bankroll. in the grand scheme of things it really doesnt matter, im playing 5 NL, so 7 buy ins is 70$. i make that at my day job. and its just a swing.

If i focus and play with discipline the money will follow. not having a monetary goal offers me the freedom to grow in my poker journey.

I will crush tom online and will update again, it feels good to let my thoughts out.

My graph after 15k hands at nl 5. Full ring 0.02/0.05 (0.02) ante. 10 max buy. on GG poker.
Vpip 20.6, Pfr 13.78, 3bet pfr 7.68

Pre rake 5.66 bb/100, all-in Adj 10.7 bb/100
Post rake -17.37 bb/100, all-in Adj -9.91 bb/100

I did some calculations, it seems like GG rake is 23 bb/100. That is absurdly high.

The rake may be absurdly high at GG, however they have great rakeback programs and other incentives.
I am +60$ in my account. So after rakeback, leaderboard, jackpot promotions, I am winning an avg of ~~ 8 bb/100 over 15k hands at 5 nl.

The problem with asking yourself this question is that you will never be able to know the actual answer to it until it's too late. Of course you're going to be happy/passionate/driven/focused playing poker in the near future...it's the new fun thing that's filled with endless possibilities. It's both fun and profitable so it's all you want to do.

The issue will come 10-15 years down the road. While poker does have a theoretical uncapped potential, in reality it's pretty limiting. You'll find yourself playing the same games with similar winrates (if you maintain your study enough) year after year. Soon your friends from college will graduate, get jobs, move away. They can't go out at 2am anymore and you can't go out at 6pm with them because you have to grind a primetime schedule to pay the bills. Finding a partner that's comfortable with the poker lifestyle is difficult, but not impossible. Same with all of the other life events, being in a situation where you have no "time off", no sick days, no vacation time, no company match retirement or pension funds, no insurance, the only way you can make money to pay bills is by sitting down and grinding out hours while you are focused and playing your A game. And a lot of times even then you'll still lose money. It grates on you over time and the more responsibilities you pick up, the harder it gets. Nothing is impossible...it's just more difficult. And that difficulty takes the thing that was fun and fresh and grinds it down to something that more closely resembles a burden.

So after 10 years you decide it's not for you anymore. Cool. College will always be there, right? Except you have bills and responsibilities. So now you'll have to finish college (and pay for it), while still grinding your daily/weekly poker schedule. And at the end of that process where you'll be going to school full time and grinding poker full time, your reward will be...a job hunt. Where the best case scenario is you'll get a job with a starting salary. 10 years behind your peers in experience, 10 years behind in knowledge, in networking, in skills, and in salary.

Everyone is different and have different goals and ambitions. I made the decision to play poker full time when I was probably around your age and am not unhappy with that decision even today. But from the hundreds of people like me I've known through my career, I'm confident in saying I'm an outlier. And with the benefit of hindsight, I can see that there were ways I could have made my life MUCH easier, and most of them involve finishing a degree and finding some easy full time job where I could grind poker nights and weekends and still have it be kind of a fresh and fun dual income stream instead of the primary one.