$5 to $1k (my story)

Hey everyone, i've been a reader and poster every now and then on cards chat for a little while now (although not too much recently), so I have decided to share my story of grinding $5 into $1k.

Alright so this all begins mid last year when im searching the internet for ways to make money without getting a "real" job. I was a broke college student but wasn't ready to committ to a full time job and was considering things like working from home like web design or something along those lines. Then i stumbled accross someone saying a lot of students make sufficient money playing online poker... wow how perfect. There is nothing more that i would want to do is sit in my apartment and gamble to make money (honestly). I immediately recalled depositing $50 on party poker a few years back when i was in high school, blowing it quickly and also being a break even home game player with my friends every day after school, but haven't played in years.

So giving poker another shot, I install pokerstars immediately. I start by trying to deposit money and my credit card gets declined for gambling restrictions...there goes that idea. So pretty much giving up the idea of poker not being able to deposit any money I mess around on the play money tables for a little while. To make a long story short, I messed around with play money for a month or so and suddenly found $5.00 in my account! I was infatuated with the game at this point and call me arrogant, but had no greater thrill than outplaying and being smarter than my opponent, even at the play chips (i'm extremely competitive and hate losing, don't we all...). So now i have $5.00 (the most cherished $5 ever lol) and a hope.

So now starts my real money career. One thing that seperates me from MOST of the online players out there is that i was willing to learn as much as I could from the start. I know im very intelligent but by no means have a solid poker strategy. So what i suggest to EVERYONE just starting out is treat it like an investment, seriously. The very first thing i did was did some research on a good book to read. After narrowing it down and finally deciding on Harrington on Hold'em I started off reading studying more than I was playing, something I would strongly recommend. So i read through the book a little and was quickly able to turn the $5 into ~$20 playing $.10 360 man tourneys and the occasional $1.20 sng.

At this point I was starting to build myself a little bankroll and wanted to decide on one type of game to put all my focus into. The bigger tournaments were what built my roll from the start, but didnt particularly excite me. I considered cash games, but for some reason just wasnt too intrigued. So that left SnG's, which was by far a favorite for me, the single table structure and noticably soft opponents made it very tempting. So as before, i needed to study, and Colin Moshmans book "Sit 'n Go Strategy" was a no brainer because it was basically the only book devoted to single table tournaments at the time. What a find, this book is simply amazing to say the least. If you have a small bankroll, or any for that matter and are going back and forth between games, GET THIS BOOK and start playing SnGs. This book alone will make you a HUGE winner at the micro levels. I honestly cannot say enough about how huge this book is for your sng game if you have not read it yet.

So on we go, on to the $1 9 mans. There's not much to say here, other than after reading the book and clearly my opponents had not, i was slaughtering them. I think through my first couple hundred games at the micro stakes sng level i was sporting ~70-80% roi which is just absurd (i even made a thread about it: http://www.cardschat.com/f46/68-av-roi-sngs-131775/). So as you can see I was quickly up $100 or so, playing online poker i couldn't believe it.

So I'm sitting with a couple hundred from sngs and at this point i find cards chat and start lurking around the forum a lot. The very first thing i noticed is that most people are big into cash games. I start reading a lot and start leaning towards switching to cash games, i had the impression this is where the money is at. So i decide to make a switch to cash games starting out at 5nl. Everything starts out amazing and am pretty much killing it and quickly move up to 10nl. I win a little in my first few k hands there and then it stops... just break even forever, it just felt like i was spinning my wheels and not making much progress. Back to sngs we go!

Okay so i switch back to sng's...but not 9 mans. I am not completely sure what i want to do at this point so i play a few HU sngs. I come to find out that these games are extremely soft. If you are looking to build a bankroll through the micros definitely give these a look and you should be able to kill them with some basic strategy. After playing a few hundred heads up games the same thing happened that happened in my cash game experience, variance kicked in and i started running b/e. I didnt really feel like grinding through this break even stretch so i decided to switch it up a tad and try pretty much the only thing i havent played yet, 6 man sngs. And wow what a surprise! I really had a de ja vu of my HU sng experience just finding a super fishy game and extremely profittable. I started at $6 turbos, flew through that, on to $13 turbos and started out pretty hot in that as well. Then, shocker, here comes the variance. Yet ANOTHER b/e stretch, boy am i tired of these... You can blatantly see my upswings and b/e stretches on my ss (which i'll post at the end). But this time i decide to grind it out just because the 6 man game is so soft even at the $25 level which im playing now. So, I keep grinding, and bad beat after bad beat (im sure everyone has had one of these stretches) I am just taking blows left and right. But honestly, the game is so bad, i still b/e and never really go on a huge downswing. So i finally battle through it and start running normal again and i absolutely take off on a heater (which i'm still on now) and keep moving up through the limits. So this past week after coming off my break even stretch i finally ran good and hit 1k. I decided to write a little story when i did hit it so here we are!

Now, if i could have gone back and known what I do now, then getting to this point would have been effortless. So i'm gonna take some time and share what I think that you need to know if you are starting where i was or somewhere along the way.

Variance, variance, variance. Im sure everyone knows what it is, and probably hates it, but it truly is a good thing. If there wasnt any variance in this game, the fish that you make your money off of simply wouldnt be playing. That one time in a billion (although it seems like 1 out of 2, lol) they call your shove with 75o against your AA and crack you keeps them coming back for more! Things like this makes them think that they can make this play profittably and these are the things that will make you money! So what has helped me extremly when getting beat by a pitiful hand is just telling myself after the hand, is that is what makes poker profittable. I cant stand when people complain about fish, "I cant stand playing against these fish!" I'm like what?! would you rather have a table full of solid players? Thats just crazy, NEVER complain about the fish.

Upswings and Downswings. This is what makes poker the most rigged game ever or the best thing in the whole wide world. There are going to be times during massive downswings when you seriously question if you are a good player. I know i have myself, I have made hundreds of dollars and am carrying a sick ROI and still ask if i got lucky through the first several hundred games. Just know that you are making smart moves and keep grinding away.

Multi tabling. One of the most important things in online poker is multi tabling. One of the reasons i carried such a high ROI through my first few hundred games, other than playing micro stakes, is that I played non turbo, one table at a time. I would play dollar stakes games that would last over an hour. If i could go back and do anything it would be to start multi tabling early, even if its only two tables. If you are playing two tables you are getting twice as many games in (obv)! This means that you only have to have half of your ROI to be making the same amount of money. And let me tell you, moving to two tables will not cut your ROI in half. The same goes for four tables, you only need to have a quarter of your ROI of one table to be making the same on four! Seriously, do it. Let me say this though, by no means should you take my advice as concrete and follow every word, make your own style, i would not recommend going higher than 4-6 tables at first. I play poker to make money (obv). So how do i maximize this? By playing higher stakes. To play higher stakes you have to learn more and more as you go up! By playing 62 tables (exagerration) you will not learn much, instead only make automated moves all the time. When playing four tables i find it optimum to maximize your earnings and LEARN how your opponents play at the same time. If you play 16 tables at the $10 level and make a few thousand dollars, you will most likely fail at the higher levels if you try to move up because you most likely haven't learned much. Although, if you want to play a ton of tables at lower stakes and never move up, thats your style, and im not telling you not to do it. But i know my goals arent to be playing $10 tourneys for ever, i want to get to the high stakes baby!

Tools. As i said before, i treated poker like an investment, I knew i would come out ahead in the long run. So what I did was bought a program like poker tracker very early. I was using it at something insane like $3 sngs or something. But instead of waiting until i had a few hundred to spend some of my winnings on it, i made a decision to invest some of my own money knowing that i would make the money back faster than in i didnt have the program. So most would probably not suggest this at an early level, but if you have any extra money, it really couldnt hurt. Also i would suggest a video training site, these are definitely best if you want to learn the game. Although if you are a sng player, it is pretty tough to find content on them, i would suggest sitngogrinders. The last tool that i would suggest to you is a program called SnG wiz (for sng players only), this will drastically help your push/folding ranges when you get to the late game.

Bankroll management. I know its probably getting redundant to you, but its a key part of your game. Me, im a little aggressive with mine only because i am perfectly comfortable moving down in limits. I usually move up as soon as i hit 30 buy ins, and move down if i hit 20-25 which seems to be pretty fail free and allows you to take shots at the higher limits.

Volume. This is overall my biggest problem. I simply don't get enough games in to actually make some good money. I have a huge problem in going up a lot of money in a session and stopping right after that and not wanting to play more out of fear that i will just lose it. On the contrary, i don't like to have a losing day so the more i lose, the more i play. The best counter for this is to set a volume goal. If i set my volume to 40 games a day and play that many no matter what (unless on tilt) then you will make more money in the long run. Volume is hard for me sometimes as I am a full time student but will hopefully be able to get a ton of games in this summer vacation.

Dont withdraw. This is so huge. If at all possible, do not withdraw your money. Your overall goal should be to play high stakes and you simply cannot do this if you withdraw what you profit. I have to this day yet to withdraw and am set on building a big bankroll and keep it building until i feel i cannot go up in limits anymore.

Wow that was a lot. I didn't make this post as a brag or anything of that sort. But i really wanted to show you that it is so feasible to get somewhere from nothing in a relatively short amount of time. All you have to do is put in some time and effort. Thats all for now, if i think of anything i forgot to put on here ill add it and if you have any questions just ask!

Great advice D, I'm actually gonna go out and buy that book. I'm actually 1/10 of the way there. Do you mind telling us what your VP%/PR/AF is at SNG's, Cash, and MTT?

Just curious to see if I'm where I need to be to get to where you're at. I should be fine with the BR management...I'm using Chris Ferguson's system.

yeah no prob

for sngs im 29/24/2.9 although it might be a little skewed b/c i think there is some HU sngs in there mixed with mostly 6 max

and for cash its 21/14/2.6 (all 6 max btw)

Very good story, I hope to have one similar in the future, but to do that I will need to start winning more than I am losing!

You mention the book (Colin Moshmans book "Sit 'n Go Strategy"). Do you still think this is the best starting book for SNG's, or do you know of a better one that has come out lately?

I only know of one more that has come out, Phil Shaw "Secrets of Sngs" and have read through it, but think that moshmans book is by far the superior choice. Reading this book really will have you crushing the micros, you will quickly notice how soft the competition is when you get a solid sng strategy.

Nice story and good luck in the future!

I find it hard to move down in levels after a cold steak and keep the same focus. That skill alone will put you ahead of the curb, good luck, unless of course you are playing against me

your pokertracker graph would be nice to show everybody the nice line from $5 to $1k dude

that what you call an upswing?

lol sick upswing for the last part dude, nice little run there bro keep it going now to 2k IMO!

Thats a great story. I appreciate your advice and recommendations. I am very early into my quest for 10k and it started with a gift $5 from Bodog. I hope to have something like your results, but I expect a much flatter curve due to playing time constraints.

Nuggets I take:

• Treat it as an investment
• Reading list
• Multi-table early (this is a big one for me as I cannot play often)

Advice back to you:

• Roll on brother
• Dont' quit school

Sounds awesome, nice job!, and multi-tabling is always fun! Well, almost always

Very nice story and post! IMO be weary of a downswing soon though, from the couple hundred thousand hands i've played at Micro ring, if there is any comparison it will come. I know you had the crazy amounts of variance where you were mainly B/E but from my personal experience there will be a downswing where B/E is not an option. Keep up the good work though, your miles ahead of me right now !

nice and ty im gonna go get that book now

I'm honestly surprised this is a legit thread, and not some donk that used horrible bankroll management.

Well played sir.

Nice Job!

Some genuinely straighforward advice that is always worth learning or hearing again.

Just don't blow it up.

I went from zero to 800 at Cake but blew it up in a few months by switching from tourneys and .50/1 PL ring games to 2/4 PL & 1/2 NL Omaha Hi/Lo (which I became addicted to). Seeing the Huge pots I was bringing more and more to the table and losing Big chunks of my bankroll. I refused to step back down to lower limits or just focus on tournaments as I felt I could Beat the level. All I did was Donk away more on Tilt without sticking to any Bankroll management.

Stick to what has been Working for you!
Good Luck and Good Games!
And finish school!

Colin Moshmans book "Sit 'n Go Strategy"
hhhhmmm will have to seek this book out. Sounds like it might just help my bankroll. And my bankroll could definitely use a little milk to make it stronger.
Nice work.
See you at the felt.

what an amazig post! Thank you very much.

I am playing Sngs only these days. Let's see If I get better.

Cheers!

Moshmann's book is theee best!! It is considered to be "The Bible Of SNG's" by the 2+2 forum.

Great story of your journey here. I also invested a TON of time studying & reading up on the game. And I too posted in some forums to find out what was the best of the best as far as poker books go.. and for where my game was at.... and for where I wanted to take it to. Can't stress this enough to newer players.... read the books... it will improve your winrate tremendously!!

GL on your path.

So how long this whole journey? Great job though man!

Nice work! I've basically started doing the same thing as you. You got any brief strategy tips? Can't afford the book yet.

Me again...I actually bought Moshman's book. I actually started taking a big beating after that on the $4-$6 SNG's on FT and PS so like a fool I went to $10 on Pokerstars and my BR went from $60 to $214 in 24 hours. I'm gonna keep playing FT with BR management and keep going for it with PS. Hopefully I can get to 30 buyins (2 more wins on PS at 9-handed) and I'll take the occasional shots at higher buy-ins while grinding on FT.

Just ran across this thread. I think posting this is a worthy bump. Nice Run DKnight

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Yep Collin Moshman's book is the best there is for SnG play.
An yep your grinding is awesome.
I myself think that if i knew one year ago what i know now i would be playing for higher stakes and not bust 5-6 bankrolls won with freerols or no deposit bonuses.

BUt there is an year from now on to make some profit
GL man an i hope you will tell us another storty when you will hit the 10k barrier.

That's pretty sick, great job. I've heard a lot of Moshman's book, but just ignored it mostly since I read scott fishman's book and did pretty well by his strategy, but I'm gonna read Moshman's now. Thanks for the inspiration.

Definitely a worthy bump, excellent original post and i'm pleased he has done so well for himself

Agreed - well bumped and exactly the kind of story I'd like for myself. Do you have any update dknight?

for a short while pokerstars gave people 5$ for free, in the same time DKnight got his 5$ i got my 5$ and here i am showing 1k in profit myself, my story is a little different but the idea is that is very possible with patience to turn 5$ in 1k in a few months. (considering you start playing poker at this point, if i get 5$ now on pokerstars i would turn it to 1k a lot faster due to experience)

Yes... BUT.. wouldn't be just as likely to go busto on that $5?
Oh... I guess Stars does have those 10cent sng's (360's?) so I suppose someone wouldn't have to play $1+.20 stt/sng or $1.10 Turbo 45's

sorry i don't understand what you are asking, the 10c MTTs are still there, if that's what you are asking, yes i would be likely to go bust, not saying i wasn't lucky when i made it out of the 5$, so why are you asking if someone would have to play 1,2$ sng? he can also play 25c sngs, or shortstack 2nl, i really think i don't understand the question.

U can grind from 5 dollars to 50 playing the smallest buy-in Sng there are. But u have to be patient like hell.
Recently i start to play the fun steps at carbon. I made 4 dollars in a week but i is boring like hell (u rarely have the opportunity to play a hand). Untill u get the Step 3 ticket u play 3-4 hands. U can lose if u have bad luck but usualy u get the ticket without doing nothing cose the donks kick each others butt.

U can play this for a mounth and get a nice bankroll of 20-25 dollars or so if you put your mind to it.
And i have to say after aquiring some dollars on carbon u can play the 60cents buyin 10 ppl SNg and grow even faster cose the field is weak . Verry weak. Then there are the bounty SNG where you can grow even faster.

Very nice post that got me pumped up again!
Funny though he experienced his 1st real downswing some 400$ after he opened the thread and it was not a break even one ...Always wondered how people recover from those and still believe they are good players and still do play good :s?!

Grah, still havent read Moshmann's book... I need to do so while I'm on break from university in the next few weeks... along with reading a few other things that I've been meaning to read like Cowboys Full - James McManus and Every Hand Revealed - Gus Hanson.

I was pretty disappointed with Hanson's book.