2005 Microquests Thread -- Post Your Progress, Setbacks

[k000k]

Let me add: I'd also like to get a rakeback deal in the very near future.

[Mike Z]

My Goal in One year is to:
1) 30k hands played at $.5/1 with >2.0BB/100
2) 30k hands played at $1/2 with >2.0BB/100
3) 30k hands played at $1/2 6max with >2.0BB/100
4) 30k hands played at $2/4 with >2.0BB/100
5) Have a Bonus Whore plan so I am always playing under a Reload.
6) Confidence to move up to $3/6

[Entity]

Well, I'm playing $5/10 6max now, so that's my first step.

Rob

[kenberman]

taxes suck.

otherwise I'm ahead of pace, and will soon be withdrawing most of BR.

[detruncate]

[ QUOTE ]

Here I want to ask what specific goals you've accomplished and what limits you are playing now and how you feel about it?

You may understand why I ask when you read my progress report.

Thanks

[/ QUOTE ]

I bought in intending to play 2/4, and lost most of my inadequate bankroll in my first week. It only amounted to a slide of~100 BB, but I recognized that I was in over my head and managed to drop down to .5/1 before things got to the disaster stage -- I had zero ability to reload if I busted and was feeling the pressure of time constraints... so it's really rather fortunate that I was able to turn things around.

I started out 1-tabling .5/1, and then moved to 2 once I began to feel more comfortable. I hadn't planned to play more than 2 until I made it back to 2/4.

I ran very well at .5/1 despite a couple big slides, and decided to give 1/2 full a run with a 500+ BB bankroll. That went badly. The tables seemed super tight, and I had a lot of trouble finding avg pots anywhere close to what I was used to (in terms of BB). I had been really optimistic given my .5/1 success, and planned a short stint in 1/2 full + some 6-max to pop me over the 300 BB mark for 2/4... but I was losing big and winning small, and it began to freak me out.

62.5 BB was about all I was willing to sacrifice to the cause given that I didn't want to have to spend precious time rebuilding for another shot. I dropped down to .5/1 and decided to learn to 4-table instead. That went really well for a while, and I was having no real trouble "maintaining my winrate". I also achieved my minimum monthly financial goal for the first time. It never occurred to me that I would be able to do so at .5/1, and this knowledge has been a great comfort to me ever since.

Then the fun started: an extended (20K+ hand) stretch at < 1 BB/100 that featured 3 x -100 BB swings in about 2 weeks. My confidence was shattered, and I was starting to feel some financial pressure, necessitating a withdrawal. Long story short, I learned a lot about what it takes to consistently play winning poker and eventually (of course) pulled out of it.

Not too long after things turned around, I decided to take a few shots at 2/4. It felt good to be back, but I was short rolled (200 BB) and only prepared to lose 50 BB. It seemed like a good investment. Worst case scenario, I put my progress back a week or so. Best case, I go on a good run and save myself some significant time. I don't think I ever dropped to -50, but I only ended up playing a handful of sessions before deciding to just put my head down and rededicate myself to the program.

Then the Empire 500 bonus thingy rolled around. I was at 77,000 hands or so and had never gotten a single non-signup bonus. I had only ever played at Party, and without a rakeback deal. It hadn't occurred to me that there was another way to make money playing poker other than actually winning it at the table. I poked my nose into the zoo for the first time thanks to a "heads-up guys" post in Micro, and started my foray into the world of bonuses and rakeback.

I managed to clear $350 in about a week, and started 6-tabling .5/1 in a big push to finally pop myself over 300 BB for 2/4. It worked. I committed to 2/4 with 400 BB, prepared to lose 200 BB. I didn't quite get there... but I did drop about 120 BB in my first 2500 hands -- 10 sessions of 1- or 2- tabling. It was partially offset by my first rakeback payment, and I managed to climb out of it with my confidence intact. I dropped down to .5/1 during bonus clearances that month, but the move stuck. I was officially a 2/4 player.

I ran well for a while and managed to convince myself once again that I was finally starting to "get it". This has always been the precursor to a bad run -- as soon as I start to feel secure in my ability to achieve things outside of my control (i.e., a short term winrate), my expectations increase... leading to a feeling of entitlement... leading to tilty badness. The good news was that I was easily achieving my financial goals, and played a full month or so entirely at 2/4. The not so good news was that I wasn't dealing well with what seemed like marginal success, and was burning out from 8+ months of 12-16 hour days (play + study + review + forum).

My bankroll continued to grow despite some significant withdrawals, my financial situation stabilized, and then actually started to look good for the first time in too many years (thanks in part to a little contract work on the side to help out some friends). <aside> My lifestyle has been pared down to the bare essentials in recent years, so don't take this to mean that I was/am actually making what most people would consider significant $ </aside>. I was back to clearing bonuses at .5/1 sometimes, but it was largely a matter of not wanting to risk losing too much of the bonus + the prospect of playing less than my best at a limit that could hurt my bankroll.

I found my motivation flagging, and decided to prep for a move to 3/6. This involved minimizing my table time so I could focus on learning -- seemed to fit well since I was hardly playing at this point anyway. It also necessitated some 6-max work -- I ended up opting for a combination of 1/2 and 2/4 short. My roll was healthy thanks to an earlier realization that barring honest-to-murgatroyd emergency, I couldn't afford to ever let my bankroll drop below 1000 BB -- I'm generally risk-averse by nature, but am simply not prepared to allow a potentially devastating hit (psychologically, financially).

At the beginning of April, I moved to 3/6. An unexpected trip (family related) derailed the schedule, but I felt comfortable that I could hold my own in the time I spent there. A few distractions aside (CHUMP not least among them), I've spent the last few weeks trying to get things back on track, playing a combination of 2/4 and 3/6 full and short. I plan to get back to a reasonable schedule as soon as I can bring myself to put in the hours. Slowing down reminded me of some of the reasons I wanted to do this in the first place, and I'm having a tough time putting all that on hold again to make the kind of push that will take things to the next level (and another baby step down the road to achieving my medium term goals). It should be an interesting year.

[handsome]

1. Win >3bb/100 over 10k hands at 1/2 (currently @ 4.5bb/100 over 5k hands) by early July
2. Win >2bb/100 over 10k hands at 1/2 6-max (currently @ -1.58bb/100 over 4k hands) by early July
3. Win >2bb/100 over 10k hands at 2/4 by early August
4. Win >1bb/100 over 10k hands at 3/6 by early September
5. Continue the process til I get to 15/30 by January 2006.

BR goal: 30k by January 2006 (currently at 13k).

[Isura]

[ QUOTE ]
I missed the first run through of this thread, so here goes.

Immediate Goals (3 months):
-Continue to improve at 1/2 full ring and build up 500BB at this limit. Done.
-Learn microlevel (.5/1, 1/2) limit 6 max. Maybe add a 6 max table to the regular rotation if I can manage it. Almost 20k hands at 1/2 6 max. Got the bankroll but not the stones to play 2/4 6 max full time yet. My blinds play still sucks. Only play 2/4 SH at Stars, UB, Pokerroom for bonuses ATM.
-Continue to improve NL tourney play and get it 1-2 tourneys a weekend. Slacking off, although I did buy (and read) HoH and TPFAP. Only play 1-2 SNG's a week, and rarely any MTT's these days.

Long term: (1 year)
- Have the bankroll and skill to beat Party 3/6 consistently. Change of plans. Plan to head over to the Party 5/10 6 max after a good stint at Stars 2/4 (20k+ hands) and 3/6 (not very long). Short-handed poker is just too much fun.
- Beat Party 1/2 6 max. I guess you could say I'm beating it..
- Consistently place in the money in the Stars 5+.5,10+1 NL tourneys. Not happening any time soon. But I still enjoy tourney play, still a nice change of pace to play 1-2 a week. I've heard beating the $30 level buyin tourneys isn't that much more difficult than tht $5, so something to think about when the bankroll grows.

- Make effort to respond to more strategy posts. I'm happy about this.



[/ QUOTE ]

[IPSC]

1) Fix my leaks: emmotional tilt, calling down a passive player's turn raise and river bet, playing overcards incorrectly in small pots, and not paying enough mental attention during my game to give me reads on my opponents.

** Any ideas for my tilting problem? I've increased my bankroll to 525 BB (mostly by bonus playing) and am hoping this will help me avoid tilt. **

2) Study more by responding to hands, reading SSH, and reading some topics in Hold'em Poker for Advanced Players.

3) Make the move to 1/2 by the end of the summer.

4) Build a separate bankroll to learn 1/2 SH play.

[dozer]

On Dec 27th 2004, I decided to try online poker. I played the play money NL games at this one site for a week and decided to deposit at Paradise Poker after researching which sites were good. I deposited $200 and sat down at 2/4 limit hold'em [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] and thought since casinos lowest limit is 2/4 then I should be playing 2/4 also, anything lower is for suckers. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] Well I forgot how many hours it took, but eventually my $200 was gone. I then deposited another $300 and started playing only in multi-table and SNG tournaments, because I felt that limit hold’em can't be beat. I started with $5 SNG and after having some success I jumped quickly to $20 SNGs (<-- big mistake), by Mid January I was down to $25. That’s when I found 2+2 and bought HPFAP, TOP, and SSHE. I was mainly lurking on this site and only until recently I started posting more.

I read advice on here to bonus whore and build your Bankroll starting from micro limits, so that’s what I did. Right now I have $800 bankroll not including the bonus money earned.
So my goals are:
- Play 1/2 full ring until I have 300 BB for 2/4
- Then after 10k hands at 2/4, play 1/2 6-max until I feel comfortable at it and am beating it.
- Then when my bankroll is big enough, play 3/6.
- Then 5/10.
- Also start playing in more live games and live tournaments.
- win my first multi-table tournament.

[toss]

Beat 2/4 for at least 2BB/100. I'll see how the next 10k hands go.