My Poker Story

CRStals

CRStals

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So I decided to share this tonight in the hopes of getting some feedback on my progress through 2016.

I got back into poker in December and dropped money on Stars. By April I had lost it & wanted to get more serious about my game. I deposited again at the end of April, and took steps to improve.

In May I began tracking my results and stats more manually. I started watching videos, but I also started watching twitch streams of higher stakes players and I even watched Stars tables live at higher limits.

In June I bought myself PokerTracker for my birthday which has opened my eyes to a wealth of information and analysis.

Since that last deposit, my bankroll is up 25% and my tournament play has turned from a loss to a profit - even excluding freerolls my MTT winnings are still in the green.

However I've noticed two oddities to my game and I'm curious to get insight as to what this might mean.

#1 - My profitable cash game is $0.05 NL 9 handed. I am in the red playing $0.05 NL 6 handed using a similar sample size more than I'm up playing 9 handed, and I'm just as bad from a BB/100 perspective playing $0.02 NL 6 handed, although the sample size is much smaller. I don't have enough hands playing $0.02 NL 9 handed to compare.

#2 - I'm a losing player from the blinds, although if you remove the money paid in the blinds I'm profitable at all positions. My two most profitable positions, in order from BB/100 hands are MP and BTN. Yes...I'm winning more from middle position than the button. I'm just above break even from the CO and UTG.
 
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UncleConRon

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My Opinion

Most say it isn't profitable playing poker for a living unless the blinds are at 5/10 dollars.
 
Zorba

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Widen your range 6 handed if you aren't already, and remember that the others are doing that also, raise your aggression when you need to also.

I'm not a cash game player much anymore, if I do it's usually Zoom

:)
 
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j t

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Thanks for sharing. I wish yuu luck!
 
hzrd123

hzrd123

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Most say it isn't profitable playing poker for a living unless the blinds are at 5/10 dollars.

im living for playing 0.1/0.2$, freerolls and low buy-in tourneys 1-5$, playing in offline poker room...
 
CRStals

CRStals

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Thanks Nick - I've definitely opened my range playing 6 handed and noticed that a fair number of players' ranges are much wider than I thought. Example:

I've seen multiple players three bet from the BTN or CO with as bad of hands as A5o.

I've seen one person three bet my BTN raise with 87s, and then proceeded to push all in for 100BB on a Q74 flop, no flush draws. Don't ask how my QQ ended up.

I've noticed that many players reach to a three bet like they do a raise - the limits aren't high enough to discourage the maniacs from calling with anything and hitting something on the flop. I even had one player tell me "It's $1 - let's gamble" as he pushed all in with 53o from the BB.

My bankroll on Stars has been relatively flat over the last 6 weeks, but 888 has had huge swings. Up $20, and then down $20 in a span of 3 weeks. The cash game play on 888 is much softer than Stars, but softer play = higher variance with crazy hands.

I did note and this is why I'm posting again - I reached up to play $10 NL on Stars to try out the Card Match game. I noticed the play much stronger pre-flop and the crappier hands didn't show as often. For those that play 10NL - is that indicative of the play overall or was my isolated view an anomaly?

FWIW - I play strictly Zoom / Snap. I'm not a fan of regular cash games anymore.

Widen your range 6 handed if you aren't already, and remember that the others are doing that also, raise your aggression when you need to also.

I'm not a cash game player much anymore, if I do it's usually Zoom

:)
 
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