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AAAgent poker run it up log! $50 to $10k by April

AAAgent

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I've recently been watching JCarverpoker on twitch.tv and he's motivated me to start playing poker again. I started off pretty decent with all the noobs winning tournaments against all my friends but as some people progressed, i didn't learn how to bet properly to keep people out of the pot. I learned all of this recently by watching this pro stream daily on twitch and fixed my betting mistakes and have started to win a lot more. Poker is a game that is heavily influenced by the image you portray at the table which is also very similar to fighting/confrontations. I used to get into a lot of street fights and it was rarely about who is stronger, it's about who is less afraid of the other person. Understanding how to leverage my table image to be threatening/serious/sometimes unpredictable was more or less natural for me so as long as I can bet enough to keep people out of the pot that shouldn't be in it, i figured i could be profitable again.

My goal is to run up $50 to $10,000 by April before the 18th. I will not rely on reloading my bankroll so this $50 is do or die. Will update on my performance and bankroll when i get a chance.
 

AAAgent

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I started off the first week really well. I was playing great and won 2/7 tournaments. I won a $1 tournament for $11 (out of 31 ppl) and I won a free-roll tournament (free tournament sponsored by wsop with real money) winning $35 out of 21 ppl. I cashed in 3 other tournaments, a $5 tournament losing in the final table going in big stack and ending up 6th with $45. I played a bunch of cash games at 1c/2c, 2c/4c, 5c/10c, and tilted a few times playing 10c/20c, and 25c/50c.

I closed out my first week at $128. Played well with a bit of luck.
 

AAAgent

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during Thanksgiving break i was pretty busy as I had a wedding to go to, job offers to accept/decline and was moving to a new apartment. I only played 2 days.

3 tournaments that i busted and did not play all that well.

I however got really lucky in cash games and ran it up from $128 to $230. I was not as disciplined and was playing larger games than my bankroll could handle and got good runs vs bad players. I was also rusty as I didn't play for 1 whole week.

-------

Starting playing this week to pick up after Thanksgiving. Have been playing really sh1tty, worse than the previous week but getting extremely lucky.

I managed to run it up getting a good run of cards from $230 to $315 in 2 days. At the end of Tuesday I had some big losses losing -$20, -$20, -$50, +10 and went on tilt and played 1 game of $1-$2 no limit with my entire bankroll of $200ish.

I had a bad run and was down to about $118 but managed to run it back up to $180. After about an hour, I had AQ and raised to $5. I was re-raised by the guy after me to $20 and I re-raised him $90.

I was on tilt so obviously that $90 bet wasn't correct, but i figured that i wanted an easy pot and was hoping he didn't have AA, KK, or AK. I figured he'd fold or push all in. Either of which i was willing to accept, having such a horrible night.

He pushes all in against my $90 dollar re-raise and I push all in as well. He has JJ, which I was somewhat relieved.

I don't really remember the cards too well but it was something like this in the following order:

K73TA

I got the ACE on the river and doubled up.

I'm currently bankrolled around $380 in about 10 days of play.
 

The_flying_dutchman

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I've been playing poker for years now as a form of secondary income.

I already make $85K per year which is damn good, but as you know, the more you make the more they take and I despise having to be taxed on the money I earn, then when I go grocery shopping I get taxed on the food I buy, and then I get taxed on my home every year....and I get taxed for the gas I pump in my car...

Taxes, taxes, and more taxes.... all of which goes to fund our wasteful incompetent government....

So I turned to playing cash games as a way to earn a little extra untaxed income on the side.....

Here's what I learned:

* Poker is a 95% a game of luck, the skill is knowing when you're lucky and who you can be lucky against... this means that if you're at a table and you're just not feeling it, move to a different table... just like in dating, if you're not getting the right feedback, move to greener pastures...

* Open up the range of hands you're willing to play, yes, I know this goes against all the advice pros give... but keep in mind that some of these pros like Hellmuth, Brunson, Cloutier got into poker years ago when the competition wasn't nearly as fierce, their advice isn't really applicable in todays games. Don't always wait for AA, KK, QQ,AK, AQ, KQ cause you'll be waiting a long time and bleed from the blinds....

* Don't play limit, it's a waste of time and money, only play no limit...

* Of course pocket AA, KK, QQ is an instant re-raise to any raise preflop... but also be willing to call a moderate pre-flop raise if you're holding any pocket pairs just in case you'd hit a set, if you don't then simply check and fold....

I live in L.A. and the poker action here is intense. You see the same guys in the casinos every night.

Fortunately, we have a fair number of casinos in the area so if I feel the action is getting a little too fierce I just switch tables or even drive to another casino...

Also fortunate is that I drive a Prius so gas expense doesn't make a huge cut into my winnings.

Unfortunately, online poker is illegal in CA...
 

AAAgent

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I do most of what you said already. Luckily, where i'm at, online poker is legal.
I also don't play limit since it's less skillful and pots are smaller.

I don't agree that poker is 95% luck but I do believe there is a lot of luck involved like any card game, but it also takes a lot of skills to be able to price people out of the pot, play to your outs, and many times bluff people out.

I'll play all the power hands obviously, pocket pairs, suited connectors every now and then, and sometimes just raise on nothing if i think my table image is good. If I did have a decent hand preflop like KJss, and flop comes out AQ, i might also bluff as well given the players image and my own image.
 

AAAgent

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Social_Leper said:
Interesting thread.

Subscribed.

Would you reccomend reading "The theory of Poker" for those wanting to get into the game?
I recommend playing atleast fake money poker to get a feel of the game and it's mechanics (it's not a good way to learn to play to make money, more so just learn HOW to play).

then i'd tune in on twitch.tv and watch this pro WSOP bracelet winner Jason Sommerville stream his daily poker online games with play by play commentary online. He even answers your questions in chat for free. www.twitch.tv/jcarverpoker


Twitch.tv is an online streaming platform for the gaming community where professionals and amateurs stream in real time their games they're playing as well as videofeed of their actual face/voice. So you see these guys play starcraft 2, LoL, Dota, Poker, etc. live and can even chat with them through their chat system while they are playing. It's very similar to what Cam girls do, except you also see them playing games. Funny thing is, a lot of cam girls now have switched to playing LoL and wearing low cut shirts and they make more money from people watching them play LoL than they did from Cam-ing.
------update

$let my friend play a bit to check out wsop to get him back into online poker. we colletively lost $20.

I later lost another $10. Then bought in at 50c/$1 for $100 and was holding my own for a good 3 minutes when I get:

AQ unsuited

3 people call BB and it falls to me and I raise it to $6. 2 fold and 1 person calls me.

flop is Ace 7 3

I raise a little over half pot and he calls.

Turn come a 5

Ace 7 3 5 (suits are not relevant for flush, only for flush draw)

I bet half pot again and he re-raises..........

I'm thinking maybe he has AK, KK, TT (unlikely as they wouldn't have limped) or he has a pocket pair. Maybe he has an Ace with a worse kicker.

I'm thinking it's unlikely he has AK, TT, KK or anything that dominates me so I push all in on him. He calls.

The douch has 3 5 suited and just landed 2 pair on the turn. He takes my $100.
---

I tilt a bit and hope into with most of what i have left, $1/$2 table for $200.

I play really well and stay calm for 1.5 hours and manage to make back everything i lost +$3.

currently sitting at $392.
 
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AAAgent

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I always recommend doing things/playing or whatever it is before actually reading on theory. It will make a whole lot more sense once you've played/trained for a bit and then read some theory books on improving, because then the context is a lot more understandable and you can envision applying the theory to your style.

I use this method for lifting, sports, etc. I also pick up form and technique pretty well as i'm good at copying.
 

The_flying_dutchman

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The first few years I started playing poker, I was sure that it was a game of skill. Over time however, I began to see that luck plays a bigger role than skill, which is how I arrived at my personal belief that poker is 95% luck and 5% skill...

Ironically, it was only after I accepted that poker is 95% luck that my profits became more consistent. This was because I was:

* No longer wasting time and effort trying to outplay someone
* I learned how to spot a sucker at the tables and isolate that particular player
* I learned the subtle art of game selection ie knowing which games were soft and which games were too much trouble.
* I learned that winning any particular hand or pot is irrelevant, it's about long term profitability.
* I learned how to know when I'm going to be lucky and when I'm not going to be lucky

As I matured my approach to the game changed: I didn't care about proving that I was good, I didn't care about outplaying any particular player -- I only cared about money..

There's an old saying that goes something like this: the fastest lion only needs to run faster than the slowest gazelle.... basically, this means go for the easy prey....it's a guarenteed meal.... which is what I do... I pick the weakest table with the weakest players I take as much money as I can from them and leave... it usually only takes about an hour or 1.5 hours to make a decent profit then I just leave and go home or hit the gym....

I consistently make about $60 - $100 profit each time I play, and I play about 5 days of the week, which translates to about $500 of untaxed income each week on top of my salary from my regular day job...

Could I win more? Probably, but that would require a greater time investment and possibly involve more up/down swings which I don't like, I like consistency....

I approach poker the same way i would approach an investment and I weigh the risks and rewards. If I take a loss, oh well, that's just the cost of doing business. But over time I learned how to minimize risks and make my profits consistent.
 

AAAgent

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well, my run is up……. played in a $10 tourney last night including rebus's and add-ons i spent $50 and only made 80/250.

Tilted all day today and lost my entire bankroll. As i've mentioned, i have not been playing well. i went from $400 to down to $16.

My goal is not to rebuy but it will also be many times harder than my first run to build my bankroll back up. debating on next steps but seems like grinding it out in 1c/2c games and free roll/$1-$5 tournaments is where i'm at.
 

AAAgent

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Bank roll at is worst was down to $6.38

I'm currently back up to $19. Down from my all time high of $392. My original starting bank roll was $50. I'm not rebuying and will try to run it up again.

What i've noticed is that the low stake players are pretty bad and I never really noticed since I started at low stakes and did well and then when i moved to higher stakes I was getting really lucky in big hands. I mentioned before i knew I wasn't playing well, but I just kept winning so I kept being more loose with my bankroll. The luck and increase in bankroll to 8x starting in less than 3 weeks I think boosted my ego and I wasn't disciplined enough to maintain patience.

This is my first time back seriously playing poker in over 5 years so will need to work on discipline.
 

AAAgent

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at lower level tables you can easily identify fish….. some idiot called my 3 bet of his raise. He had KQ off suit and I had Aces. i All in on the turn and he needs a river 9 or A to get his straight…..he calls my all-in and wins.

There was also another guy after watching for a good 15 minutes just raises almost all the time. I got into a flop with mid pair and he check raises me. I push all-in and he folds……mentally this bully was probably pissed. So a few hands later, the bully like all bully's tries to bully someone else out. He pushes all in with nothing against trip J's and also a flush. He loses. I send out an LOL because he had nothing. He comes back in and I flop K kicker and open ended straight draw…. 678. I had K5. I push on flop and got a bit lucky and hit my 9 on the turn and another pair 5. he loses.

That's how I ran my bankroll from $6-$19.
 

The_flying_dutchman

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Bruh, I would recommend learning to play PLO or NL Omaha H/L, this is the only variant of poker where noobs won't even have a prayer of winning because luck is so minimal that it's inconsequential. Suckouts might happen once in a blue moon, whereas in holdem suckouts happens too often.

Holdem is 95% luck and 5% skill..

PLO/NL Omaha H/L is 95% skill and 5% luck.

Omaha is a better way to earn money than holdem. The only downside is that it's harder to get a game going because most people don't have a clue how to play it.

Online, it's easier to find a game. But live games in the casinos are really hard to find. Even at a casino like Commerce, which is the largest poker room in the world, has only one table for PLO...
 

AAAgent

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I've seen PLO played online but not really sure how to play it well. PLO also isn't as popular online as holdem so the games tend to be few and for relatively larger stakes at like 50c/$1, 1/2, 2/4, or higher. I play on WSOP which only limits my play in Jersey, with only Jersey players which makes the pool smaller.

I think in holdem, in the long run, skill plays into effect because if you are playing at 1/20th your bank roll, the noobs who call you and get lucky will lose those calls in the long run and you'll also hit your draws in the long run. Once again, i think I got really lucky to run it up to $400 so quickly from $50 without busting my bankroll significantly once.

I'll see if i can run my poker bankroll back up and if i can get it back to $100, i'll set some aside for PLO.
 

AAAgent

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So I just started my new job and I just realized how much having a full-time job takes a toll on my play.

My $19 bank roll dwindled down to $6 due to my lack of patience and playing hands and betting when I shouldn't have. I've grinded it hack up to around $12.

I realized in order to play well, i need to first establish a strong image at the table. I do that by calling good hands and raising great hands. If i get a pocket pair of AA, KK, or AK i'll normally raise it to 3-4x bb (depending if there are more callers). if i get a re-raise, i'll 3-4x bet and they usually fold. I make sure for the good first 30 minutes, i only play good hands and show down reasonable calls/bets.

Establishing a good image makes it easier for me to bluff later. So after my image is established and i'm in a hand that i raised and i don't hit anything, and i also don't believe my opponent has anything good or i want to make him think i have better, i'll bet flop to see how he acts, if he calls, i'll generally do one more bet on the turn 1/2 or 3/4 pot. If he calls again, I will need to evaluate his image. If he's loose, i'll generally do a POT size bet and always fold to anyone who re-raises.
 

AAAgent

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I ended up busting the remainder of my bankroll this week.

I still think I have the skills to do well and make money, but will need to work on patience. When i first started playing, i wasn't working and made a decent amount. Having a new job that is pretty stressful, makes it very difficult to stay focused and play well for long. I get tired, frustrated a lot easier and therefore will call things i shouldn't or push when i shouldn't.

Things i've learned so far outside of skills:

Poker is stressful and a game of patience. It's optimal to not play while stressed or short on time. Being short on time will make you more likely to play hands you shouldn't as you won't want to wait for decent hands to play. Being under stress can also frustrate you and make you play hands or make decisions that aren't the best. You can make 8 good decisions and 2 very bad decisions and negate those 8 good decisions and much more.

To do well at poker you need to make sure all your decisions are good decisions and also need a bit of luck.


----

Initial buy-in $50
busted 1 month in
highest bankroll moment, 2.5 weeks $392.00
 
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