Bitcoin Forum

Hello!

I want to start a self-challenge playing online poker to give me more motivation to play more hands and climb the stakes.  This challenge will start on June 13, 2016 and will end when I have reached 50nl with 30 buy ins (1500 USD).

Mission:  To climb the stakes from the micros (2nl) to low stakes online (50nl).

Games:  The games I'm planning to play are NLHE and PLO.  I'm more adept at NLHE, but my PLO game is fundamentally ok.

Bankroll Management Plan:  I'm going to play a certain stake if I have at least 30 buyins for it.  I know due to the difficulty of the games today that I might need more.  But for this challenge I need only 30 so that I could move up as fast as possible.

My Poker Background:  I started playing seriously back in April, 2006 starting with a 100 USD bankroll.  I climbed the stakes and ran that up to over 50,000 USD just over a year later.  I started playing 5nl then I became a 200nl and 400nl reg around July, 2007.  I would like to note that the games were really soft back then.  Playing robotic, ABC poker was like printing money.  Ah...  I miss those days...

I quit playing poker seriously on 2010 due to the difficult games and I wasn't winning anymore.  I also started throwing things when I lost.  So yeah...  I still play from time to time though.  But for fun.

Current Poker Climate:  Not good.  In fact, it's the worst it has ever been.  People are better at playing poker all the way down to the micros due to all the poker strategy info available online.  There are still some newbies at the micros though.  So that's good.

Starting Bankroll:  130 USD.

Others:  I will be playing an average of 25,000 hands a month, playing 6 tables for around 2 - 3 hours a day.  I will update my bankroll amount every week, but I will be posting here from time to time to share my thoughts and discuss some of the hands I played.

That said, if we finish the challenge then we might go on and keep climbing the stakes until we reach midstakes.

Wish me luck!  

After a long time not playing poker there some things maybe missing from your skills playing poker :D

Good luck broo!

PLO is high variance. I've known a completely legitimate pro player at PLO go absolutely bust just because of bad luck. I'd say stick to NLHE because even with 100 buyins you could easily bust at PLO IF YOU ARE A PRO. And you say your are just ok. So really I think it's a bad idea on that game.

True, and I am aware.  But my plan is to play all NLHE from 2nl to 10nl.  Then start mixing some PLO tables starting at 25PLO when I have at least 30 buy ins for it.  25NLHE is just so tight these days.

Hey guys.  Just dropping by for a little update.  So far so good, I'm up 6.5 buy ins after three 1500 (more or less) hand sessions in 2nl.  Games are fishy and that's expected at these stakes.

I've been playing mostly TAG (tight and aggressive), nothing fancy.  I just do the standard play mostly except for a couple of spots like this one where I wanted sashka1789, who's really spazzy, in the pot instead of 4-betting the min 3-bet, thereby blowing him off.  I wanted him to 4-bet himself so we could go over the top preflop or call, see a flop and play poker...


I will be posting more hand histories from time to time so feel free to critique my play, tell me where I went wrong, what the better play is, etc... etc...  

Thanks!

Good luck buddy, but as you know you have a huge uphill battle ahead of you.
If you need any support send me a pm and I'll be your friend to cry to.

Hahaha.  Ok, I will do that.

And yes, I'm very much aware that the odds are stacked against me.  But I like the challenge.  Call me a masochist.  Lol.  ;D

My biggest pot of the night!  :)

In this hand, I felt iffy 3-betting this out of position.  Also 45GARPUN45 is on the tight side, so I would hate getting 4-bet and getting it in vs AA or KK preflop, which is definitely in his range.

When AceKikr999 3-bet from the big blind, being a tight-passive player that he is, I knew for sure he had the AA.  So easy call and set mine.  Luckily I run good and binked my Q on the flop.  The rest pretty much played itself.  45GARPUN45 had 67s for trips and AceKikr999 had AA.  

What a hand!! Bravo!! Wish I could have seen it happening live. You should consider recording these hands and posting the videos. That would be great.

Hi guys, just a small update.  

Sadly, I had a couple of bad sessions.  I kept getting bad beats and coolers, it's tilting.  Yes, even at .01/.02.  It's just not about the money, it's losing that's frustrating.

But what can we do, except to keep going and chalk it all up to variance.  Here are some hand histories...

Hand 1:  "Top two pair!  YES!  Time to go all in!"


Hand 2:  "4-bet preflop and he just calls...?  Hmmm...  He must have AK!  Now will bet all 3 streets for value!  I'm excited!"


Hand 3:  "This guy has been going all in 3 hands in a row preflop.  KQs???  All in all day vs him...  YES!!!  HE ONLY HAS T8o!  I can't wait to get his money!"


I hope you enjoyed these.  ;D

Bankroll update:  Starting BR = $130.00
                        Profit/Loss (week 1) = + $16.34
                        Current BR = $146.34

https://i.imgur.com/ZeP10hP.png

Even with a couple of bad sessions, I think we still did ok overall.  So for today and tomorrow, I'm just going to relax and enjoy my weekend.

Cheers!  ;)

Dude, what does this have to do with crypto currencies? Shouldn't this just belong on twoplustwo forum?

Try your strategy on Betcoin.ag, who are paying you for the sig campaign, then add those earnings to your roll as you go. Or try your strategy at Bovada, which recently added BTC withdrawals. Seriously ... a lot of us play poker, and we've seen all this before. If you are doing it on a btc site, however, it would be much more interesting, and relevant to this forum.

To my defense, what do the other threads like the EPL thread and soccer transfer threads, or the 'is gambling a sin?' thread have to do with BTC?


Yup, I thought about that, and I am planning to switch to a BTC poker site.  But there's no ETA as of now. 

I'm also planning on making a BTC poker site user review thread, where I play in a site for 2 - 3 days and write a review.  Maybe make a video even.

Cheers!

tokeweed don't listen to any criticism, if your thread is out of bounds then mods will remove it, it's not normal postes job to do that.

You are a braver man than me with this challenge though, I suck at poker. Good luck with it all though.

I'll agree with this. This is a gambling sub forum so anything to do with gambling is allowed here, not just things with Bitcoin. I'm positive there is no rule for "Bitcoin only" posts to be made. About the PLO, I'm glad you decide to do it after you build up a big bank roll. 25NL is probably pretty tight these days haha from so many people who most likely know at least a little bit about hand probability. Do you have a poker tracker so that you can identify their pre flop raises and other statistics? Should go a long way at even the low levels. Good to see you profit for the week ;D

I never said the thread should be 'banned' or somehow prohibited. I just think it has glaring problems:

A.  He's getting paid by a btc poker site to advertise their game and brand on a crytocurrency forum ... and he creates a thread and dedicates a lot of time on a competitor site that itself has until now rejected the bitcoin poker players.

B. OP wants to make money and build his roll, but he chooses the tougher games. I think many of us have found, and all evidence confirms, that the action at places like Nitrogen Sports, FortuneJack, Bovada, and perhaps even Betcoin are MUCH softer than games he will currently, consistently, find on Pokerstars.

I'm only suggesting he do one of two things: recast his thread to be more relevant to Bitcoin-based Poker, or take it to http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/ where he's certainly spent some time and where we all know we can find these threads when we are interested.


OP - please play on the bitcoin poker sites, share with us your experience and bankroll progression, talk about service levels, whether you find the games difficult or soft, etc. Lots of us would find that much more interesting. Who knows, some of us might even bump into you and make a crying-call donation, lol.

Thanks for the support guys.  But thinking about it, he has a point.  I have plans to transfer to play in a BTC poker site sooner or later for poker challenges.  And that has to be betcoin.ag.  But I can't give any ETA for now.  The best I can do is not post the name of the site I'm playing at in the future in respect of the BTC poker sites.

Yeah not a bad week. I realy love to play poker. I played before longtime at Texas Hold'em and Europacasino.
I am looking for a reliable site where I can easily deposit or withdraw. Your suggestion will be appreciated.
By the way best luck for your Poker Challenge. :)

And the bad run and coolers continue.  But there's no other way but to keep playing the best as you can and just go through the variance.

Sometimes poker is a cruel game.  :(

Moving on up!  Despite the bad beats, we managed to reach over 30 buy ins for 5nl.  Our bankroll is now at $154.69.  

https://i.imgur.com/MrTzN3G.png

I will be taking a 5 - 10 buy in shot to the next level, 5nl.

Also playing extra aggressive has been paying off lately.  I keep getting called or tried to be bluffed on when I have good/decent hands.  So that's always good.  Let's hope they keep doing that.  ;)

Here are some hand histories.

I love staying up to date on this thread. Its really one of the more exciting threads on this forum.
But only $150. I was hoping to see you over $240 by now.

just noticed your thread and I really love poker challenges , I mainly play SNGs in Betcoin
you should try to play SNGs especially STT , at these games it's easy to build a bankroll and to move up quickly and since you are playing in Stars games should fill up quick
good luck anyways

I hate to say it, but I'm not that good of a player. But I like the challenge and I love playing poker.  :)

Also thanks for the support.  I really appreciate it.

I'll keep that in mind.  But for this challenge, it will be cash games only.  I'm thinking about doing another challenge playing exclusively SNGs though.  Maybe after this challenge, I'll start doing that.  The way we're going...  Maybe in 1 year?  Haha.  ;D

Hello.  I need a little help figuring out the best move for this hand.


Let me first point out that Deimos2006 is a really really tight player.  He's a rock and doesn't go out of line much.  When he bets strong, he usually has the nuts or close to it.  But then again, he could use his tight image to his advantage.

Our image is somewhat loose and aggressive preflop as he have been reraising with weak hands in certain spots preflop and check raising with air when we think someone is trying to steal the pot.


Standard call preflop from the big blind vs a small blind raise.  


On the flop we have a small flush draw, he bet we call.  If he has a straight or KK, QQ, TT then we could get stacks in.


On the turn we hit the flush and yet our tight opponent still bets strong.  I am having second thoughts raising here as he could now have a bigger flush in his range.  But he still has straights and sets to go along with it.  With our loose image he could still be thinking he's betting his hand for value.  So I opted to just call.


The river, he bets strong again.  Now I'm thinking there's a chance we're beat as this means he has a higher flush.  But he could also be value owning himself and could be thinking that his straight or sets (KK, QQ or TT) could be still good since we just called the turn representing only a pair and a draw.  And if he is indeed thinking that, then we can raise here for value.  Or we could play it safe and just call.

I think it's close.  What do you guys think?  Do we fold, call, or raise all in?

It is not even close for me.

He has broadway cards: most likely a big pair, AK, AQ, KQ ... maybe JJ but less likely

As such, the odds of him also having 2 clubs are extremely low. My guess is AA or AK with the Ace of clubs.

I try to get as much in as I can on the river, knowing he might fold Aces to a shove. Thus depending on stacks & pot, I might reraise rather than shove. Regardless, I definitely want a call. I don't want to see a re-raise, but I have to call if it comes. He'll beat me with a bigger flush sometimes ... but I try to play the long game and not worry too much about it.

True, but coming from a really tight player, this looks really strong.  Especially by the turn.  Looking at it now, yeah it's not close.  In the heat of the moment, it felt really close and I was second guessing myself.


I agree.  This should be an easy decision for 100bb.  If stacks were deeper, it would be a different situation.

Not a good start for the week.  :(  I'm down 4 buy ins playing 5nl just today.  I have been playing fairly ok I guess, but I just couldn't book a win for the past couple of days.  Oh well.  I think I'm not going play for a day or two. 

Current bankroll is:  $141.17

https://i.imgur.com/jVCTRQP.png

Dont give up dude and in that other hand I would have pushed him all in. Either he has the ace or he's folding.

Thanks for the support.  But I'm really in a rut.  I must really suck in this game as I can't beat the micros consistently.  LOL

Anyway I'm not playing for a week or so and give poker a break.  Sometimes it gets really frustrating even in the micros because you want to get out of there as fast as possible.

I tried poker once..... I got cleaned out completely, no wonder people were so friendly with me lol they loved winning my money.  ;)
Hope you the best of luck.  :D 

Hey guys just a little update...  I haven't been playing for a week.  I've been enjoying my time away from work, following the Euros and sporting events that interest me overall.  As for poker, I am going to pivot to heads up sit and goes.  I actually tried it today and played 4 matches which I have won all of them (luckbox lol).  So this encourages me to play more of these as I am getting bored with 6 max cash games.  

Haha, I know the variance is greater in hu sng's so be prepared for a lot of whining from me.  ;D

Our bankroll as of now is $153.49.  Let's hope we run good!

https://i.imgur.com/GGVeBd0.png

Good luck. I'm still watching and got your back.

Awww, thanks man!  But sadly, I haven't been playing at all after that last session.  But I will be playing all HU SNG's when I do the challenge again starting from the $3.50 buyins.

Thanks again for the support!  :D

good luck for you bro. btw, is this update thread with your journey? i hope you can win some and be in the top fighter  ;)

i am not playing poker, just know the game.

Some luck is in your favor on those hands. I think you need to raise more preflop to get better vantage points on other players. Mix it up so you know your strengths.

When you planin on starting again.

Hello!  I had a little motivation to start playing again but this time in a different format.  I tried playing NLHE 6 max cash tables and I'm really bored with it, it seems.  So yeah, it's all HU SNG's for me for the time being.

Anyway I have a question for you guys.  In general what do you think of my bluff?  Yes or no and why?

Lol ... a guy named 'tokeweed' found a little motivation. Hmmm ... good luck with this. Hope to find you at a table.

If you want to move up in poker, you have to find a format that interests you, and then grind the shit out of it while studying a ton so that you can grow your skill while you grow your bankroll.

You also have to grind smart, not necessarily hard.  Right now, you're choosing to play in the toughest player pool in the world.  Why?  There's no need, especially in the micros where the goal is just to grind out hands and bank money.

Here's my graph from playing a little on Betcoin last week:

https://i.imgur.com/tSG1c7w.jpg

Obv in mB, not $.  Plus another ~300mB in rakeback.  Just for having a table or two up waiting for players while I'm grinding MTTs on other sites.  If you actually commit some real time to it, you can just steady print.

For your hands, they were both played sub-optimally.  The rivered flush is an easy call.  He has so many hands in his range that you crush.  Raising is as bad as folding, though, as he's easily folding every hand that doesn't beat you.  The A9 bluff is bad also, you just aren't representing anything.  4x c/r at some point, 5x and 6x utilize some pot control on the turn or river and don't continue to barrel.  Overbetting is bad because you aren't getting anything to fold that would have called smaller bets.  So if you think bluffing is the best option (it isn't), a 400 chips bet is going to accomplish the same thing as a 1k chip bet.

If you are serious about HU sngs, you should sub to husng.com, it's a very strong resource for that format.

Really?

Thanks for the advice.  And nice graph!  That certainly give me some motivation.  I've been really lazy, the motivation I had playing this game is gone.  Maybe that's because I can't consistently win anymore.  Even in the micros.  Meh.

Anyway let me ask you this, do you think this is a call on the river?  It really feels like a call as his line doesn't make sense unless this is a bluff.

So how much is your bankroll at now? Ever consider taking on a poker playing partner because i could be interested in this with you.

I took a break and I will not be playing for a while.  I'm going back to work soon and I will not have enough time to play a lot and get hands in.  Locking this thread now.  Thanks for the support.

The next time I play, it will be in a Bitcoin poker site.  

Cheers!