Still playing 2NL but doing better:)

Hi guys

I started a tread over a month ago where I asked how long it would take to beat the micro stakes and move up from 2NL.

https://www.cardschat.com/forum/cash-games-11/how-long-beat-micro-stakes-211061/

In order to put down in words my ambitions and plans (this is suppose to be good ive heard )Im posting this tread.

I got some good advice and encouragement and I think I am finally starting to be a winning player. So far this month I have played 2500 hands and have won an average of 12BB/100. I only have 32$ in by BR but that's coming back from being down to around 8$ and building it back up so Im very happy with that.

I dont have to much time to play so I have set a goal of playing 1000 hands every week, but I will try and make more time and increase this to 1500. I mostly like to play only one or two tables and feel I win more this way, but I will try and play 4 for a couple of hours every week to build up my multi tabling experience and get more hands under my belt.

At my work I can quite often sit and read so Im not worried about not getting enough studying done. I can however not watch training videos or analyse past play with PTon job so I will aim to spend 2-3 hours a week doing this at home.

I hope to be able to build up my BR to 70-80$ before I start taking shots at 5NL and to do this within a couple of months.

The more long term goal is to win enough money so I can reduse my hours at work and there by increase my hours dealing with poker and hopefully start a positive spiral of less work and more poker. My work is agency work so I can basically work as much or little as I wont so in that respect it is perfect.

Cheers for a very good poker forum and all the stuff you guys post and may the poker winds blow hurricanes of $$ into our accounts

Good luck!

It can be done quickly, 2nl is easily beatable for a winrate of 10+BB/100.

Good luck

Cheers guys

I would like to do it quicker and I released a bonus of 5$ yesterday and won 3.5$ so it might go quicker than a couple of months. But I don't have time to play much more than 1000-1500 hands a week so we'll see

Ah with so few hands it will take a while.. maybe try opening up another table or two?

Before you set any goals in your mind about replacing work hours with poker, take a look at what your hourly win rate has to be and what you'd have to do to achieve it. I'm not saying this to discourage you, but rather because I've seen so many people over the years, including a number i this forum, who don't do this and who end up thinking it will be much easier than it actually is.

For example, let's say your target is $10 per hour. This seems humble enough, and thus achievable. But let's break it down using these assumptions:
- 50 hands per table per hour
- 4-tabling
- win rate of 5 big blinds per 100
- bb = $1 so probably $100 buyin tables

This works out to $10 per hour. To play at $100 tables, if we assume a roll of 30 buyins, that's $3k. Of course, you can change the numbers; e.g 8-tabling at $50 also generates $10 per hour. The main point here isn't the specific numbers. It's simply this: does it look as easy as it did before?

And we've been talking about $10 per hour. If your work pays more, your target hourly win rate is higher and thus harder to reach.

I wanted to say what Arj said, but without sounding like a bastard like i would. It's not going to be easy to do in a few months if you're only playing like 2k hands a week imo. Doable yeah but like said, work it out, your hourly will probably be like $0.50 an hour or something i'd hesitate a guess at... maybe $1 but i'm not sure, i highly doubt it'll be much more.

Lol, yes Acky you are right about my hourly rate being that low and know it will take a long time before my hourly rate at poker will similate my working rate.

I just wanted to say it out loud as if to manifest it to the univers kind of thing and also commit to it by sharing it.

I dont say i will stop working any time soon, but as soon as i can take 150$ out a month I can work one night less a month and focus that more on poker if that makes sense.

Now you guys can maybe realistcally advice me on how long that might take to achieve? Also, what do other players do regarding cashing out. I imagine you wanna keep as much in you BR as possible in order to keep progressing but you also wanna take some money out at least to spend on poker related purchases, software, new laptops etc.
What is the most normal thing that pokerplayer do? Take out a certain percentage of profit?
And when do you start taking money out: when you feel you have reached you limit of how far up you can go and you just throw money away taking shots at higher level?
Or have you guys taken money out as you were moving up?

I know these last questions are premature for me but im curious.

Lol, yes Acky you are right about my hourly rate being that low and I know it will take a long time before my hourly rate at poker will similate my working rate.

I just wanted to say it out loud as if to manifest it to the univers kind of thing (yes yes i believe in strange things and also commit to it by sharing it.

I dont say i will stop working any time soon, but as soon as i can take 150$ out a month I can work one night less a month and focus that more on poker if that makes sense.

Now you guys can maybe realistcally advice me on how long that might take to achieve, i. e. being able to cash out 150$ pr month? Also, what do other players do regarding cashing out. I imagine you wanna keep as much in you BR as possible in order to keep progressing but you also wanna take some money out at least to spend on poker related purchases, software, new laptops etc.
What is the most normal thing that pokerplayer do? Take out a certain percentage of profit?
And when do you start taking money out: when you feel you have reached you limit of how far up you can go and you just throw money away taking shots at higher level?
Or have you guys taken money out as you were moving up?

I know these last questions are premature for me but im curious.

Arj, I see what you meen. It will take me a while before I play 50-100NL so a bit discuraging, but also a target to aim for

You don't have to work your way up to NL50 or 100. Some people prefer to play more tables at lower buyins, even 30+ in some cases. The point isn't the specific numbers. It's that no combination is easy that produces an hourly win rate comparable to even a modest salary. Not for most people anyway.

Also, if you don't look at hourly rates, you may not give yourself a full picture. For instance, if you get to where you can count on being able to withdraw $150 per month, is it worth working one less night if it takes you 50 hours to win that $150? 30 hours? Btw, there's no universally right answer; it's up to you. And it's not simply a matter of getting your win rate to match your salary. It's fine if you prefer more hours of poker than work to end up with the same amount of money. What I'm saying is to make decision that are as well- and fully-informed as possible.

I see what you are saying Arj and it has made me think more realistcally about what to aim fore. I suppose its a dream which potentially can come true and thats what is exiting i think.

I would be willing to play poker at a lot smaller pay rate than work if I felt that i could still progress and increase the rate and potentially work less and play more. Or at least thats how i think at the moment and i know things change......


You say that very few people manage to progress to a level where their hourly rate matches a decent wage. That makes me think who are they and what sets them apart? talen, hours of play experinence, study experience, willingness to invest time and/or money in training. Im sure there are other things and some aspects will be more important than others, but its a very interesting question that maybe i should start a new tread with.
Is there an older tread about this that anyone knows of?

Grindabod said:

You say that very few people manage to progress to a level where their hourly rate matches a decent wage. That makes me think who are they and what sets them apart? talen, hours of play experinence, study experience, willingness to invest time and/or money in training. Im sure there are other things and some aspects will be more important than others, but its a very interesting question that maybe i should start a new tread with.
Is there an older tread about this that anyone knows of?

Click to expand...

I'm saying only a small percentage of players win enough to replace regular work with poker.

As to what sets them apart, I think it's a combination of things, but with different weights for different people. For example, someone with a prodigious amount of talent is likely to advance faster with the same amount of study and experience than another person who has less natural aptitude.