Quest X: $30 to $300 to $3000 and beyond

[BullChip]

I deposited $30 to pokerroom.com on 9/11/04, which is odd now that I see it in writing because most of the world remembers that day as a tragedy. Nevertheless, I've gained some success in adopting a more T&A approach to the game after an unsuccessful attempt to play as many hands as I can and try to outplay all my opponents, live or online (i.e. Gus Hansen style). I've been playing since 2001, seriously since 2003, and recently grew accustomed to playing online after many months of trial and error online poker strategies.

As is addressed in my subject heading, I want to build a decent size roll from my initial $30 to mainly see if I have the skills, patience, and discipline to do it and to rocket-launch my pro career. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

9/11 - 9/18
started off playing .25/.50 NLHE full tables. Usually buy-in for $25, although I've been buying in for $15 these days. The play at these games are pretty bad. Typical table I play at ranges from 1-3 good players with the rest I consider fish. I'm no pro or expert and I'll be the first to say I got a lot to learn because the knowledge within the game is infinite. I hope to get lots of positive feedback from my entries, which I can then use to adjust my game and improve my results.

After much success in these low limit tables and $5-$20 SnGs, I've built my roll to $450.

I don't have much hand histories to post, as I realize that most people who post these quests seem to include. I'll post some hand histories from time to time, however, most of my posts will consist of psychological aspects of the game and playing different styles in different scenarios.

Most of my winning hands in big pots have been me being way ahead or chasing monster draws that hit if the price is right. Most of my losing hands have been me being way behind, slightly behind, chasing draws, and bad beats. So far I've been satisfied with my play, which gives a tremendous boost to my confidence after months of red ink in my records.

Position is key. Patience is a virtue.

I've read a lot of posts regarding "don't be results- oriented" and to have a "correct decision-making" mindset. Well, I've done that and I see what a noticeable difference that makes, especially in my account, which is what's most important right now besides the goal itself.

I'm not setting a timeline or anything. I plan to play a lot before school starts next Friday, then plan to cut back to about 20-30 hrs/week, along with my other "real" PT job at Bank of America.

I've also received an email from PP about the %50 deposit bonus up to $100 which I plan to use by Tuesday. I'll start a separate project on that site along with FullTilt, since they're offering a %100 matching bonus up to $600.

Again, I apologize for the little poker content and hope to improve my skills as a poker player, 2+2 poster, and an avid thinker as my hours at the tables increase.

Best,
Bop

[challenger84]

Quests must stop.

[BullChip]

I have a little over $3K now.

Details to follow...

I know this isn't much to a lot of people, however, I'm a poor starving college student and $3K is A LOT of money to me. I hope to keep this roll growing to the 5 figure range.

Thanks to all the 2+2'ers who have helped me grow as a player and a person.

[Blarg]

3k is plenty of money to most people.

Good luck on your quest!

[junkmail3]

[ QUOTE ]
Nevertheless, I've gained some success in adopting a more T&A approach to the game

[/ QUOTE ]

I play the game for fun and money, but I guess some T&A is a good benefit too.

[BullChip]

Quest X started on: September 11, 2004
Quest X ended on: October 16, 2004
Quest X starting BR: $30
Quest X ending BR: $3049.93 officially (Scroll to bottom for more details)

I started this project with $30 playing low stakes NLHE at PokerRoom.com. To my surprise I received a $6 bonus, increasing my BR by 20%. On September 12, I cashed out $50. Then, another $200 on September 21. I don’t have much else to report regarding PokerRoom.com besides the fact that their low stakes NLHE is very beatable playing an aggressive, patient game. I basically waited for my hands, picking my spots, and let my opponents bet my big hands for me while I trapped them. I also played some SnGs, which helped me build my roll. In 10 days, I made $220, not including the $6 bonus and a previous $30 deposit I made about a week earlier. This averaged to $22/day, which I wasn’t too unhappy about considering all the factors. I had a small BR, limited hours, small stakes game selection, and cheap buy-ins. I knew from the start that I had to be patient and willing to swallow some pride in order to build my roll slowly but surely. Sometimes it was frustrating buying in for $15 at a low stakes NLHE table only to double up a couple times and be up $30. Still, I completed my first mission, which was to make $200 so that I can transfer the money to PartyPoker and start getting a little more serious…

I deposited $200 into my PartyPoker account on September 26. I didn’t want to start by playing NL $25, so I jumped right into NL $100 buying in for about $50 each time. My first tournament was a single table $20 + $2 SnG, which I won and got back $100. After a successful first day, I ended my sessions with $414.73. WOW! I more than doubled my roll on day 1! I was happy. However, I transferred $55 into my friends account because I owed him some money. So my ending day 1 was $359.73. +$159.73, after counting money transferred.

During my next session, I was able to buy in for the max at the NL $100, which made me feel more comfortable. I wasn’t forced to pick a hand and go with it but rather play a more aggressive game. I played a number of tables and ended 9/29 with $906.83. I played a lot on 9/28 and 9/29. It seemed like I was running good so I took advantage of this psychologically and hoped to carry this winning streak as far as I could. On one table I took $100 and turned it into $600 in 4 hours. However, I lost $100 on another table and $33 on a 3 - Table tournament. I kept playing every chance I got and now that I look back, I realize I played from 9/28 7:40PM until 5:30AM the next day! WOW! I guess I was feeling it or something because I rarely do that without losing a big chunk of money. Things were looking good; after all, I was up over $700 in 3 days! I ended week 1 at $1366.38. I was playing a lot of NL $100 and although I didn’t keep records at PT, Excel, or anything of that nature, my account summary shows that I either lost small or won pretty big in relation to my buy-in. I usually tried to double up once and break small stacks after that. I was cautious to other big stacks and played my game. When I lost, I would lose 1 buy-in and either go to another table or quit for the day. I had a good week mixed with good cards and got really lucky. There’s no way that this could be consistent I thought but was happy with my week 1 profits.
Week 2 was continued rapid success as I ended with $2676.36 in my account for a healthy +$1309.98. At this rate, I was considering going pro. LOL! However, I think I was playing as a semi-pro, right? I have no other means of income besides Financial Aid and Grants from school but that doesn’t really count as income although it helps me live. I couldn’t really believe the success I had, especially at the rate I was going. I thought making $500 a week was going to be plausible but $1300? This was insane and I didn’t know how to handle it. I knew I was running good and couldn’t imagine the swings. I stuck to my game plan and continued to work the games I was playing, mostly NL $100 and small buy-in single table SnGs. One thing I want to report is I played a quick session of 15-30. I played for 45 min. and bought in for $500. I turned that into $971. I think I played a total of 2 hands or something, excluding my BB. I sat at a table where a raise was standard PF and hardly got a chance to limp in with suited connectors or small-medium pocket pairs. Something I wasn’t use to but had to adjust rather quickly. I got some good cards which held up and I felt good about my little run. I lost $32 in 30 min. at my other 15-30 game and left rather quickly because I wasn’t really feeling the table all too much. I know this is a small sample and I’m not saying I can beat this game for $X or $XXXXXXXXX. I’m just saying I had fun while it lasted and thankful I showed a profit.

One of my biggest wins that week came from 2 hours of work at NL $100. I showed a profit of $293.95. I also booked a nice win from a separate 2 hour session earlier where I showed a profit of $269.10. I was beginning to feel very lucky for nothing seemed this easy in my poker career. Maybe I was getting better or maybe I was getting lucky, whatever it was I liked it! My BR kept increasing by the minute and I can’t recall if I ever had a losing session since my Party project started. If I did, it was small compared to my wins so I didn’t really notice. I might have had some losing sessions but nothing compared to what I won so at the end of each day I was very, very happy with where my BR was going. I thought I was playing better than I ever was which helped me tremendously psychologically. I felt like I could beat the games whenever I sat down to play.

Well, after such a long time winning every possible way with either good cards or bad, I hit a wall. Yesterday was the WORST day since the start of my project. I tilted away a lot of money after I made some bad plays, bad bluffs, and bad cards. It was just bad. I felt like shooting myself at one time. What made it even worse was that I continued to keep playing and played some more after I decided I wasn’t going to. I’m such as idiot sometimes. I wanted to make back what I lost initially, which wasn’t even that much compared to how much I was winning. In 23 min. I lost $189.65 playing NL $100. After that it was downhill.

I managed to play in 2 single table $100 + $9 SnGs. I placed in one getting back $300. The other one I could’ve placed as well if I hadn’t gotten so much bad luck. I lost with the best hand twice, which hurt my stack and was forced to go all in and got beat again. I also played in 2 single table $200 + $15 SnG, placing 3rd in one getting back $400. I had about 5X the BB with 44 in the BB. Button, who has me covered, goes all-in for his whole stack and SB folds. He’s been raising almost every button he gets and I feel it’s a coin flip and take the chance. He has KQ spades. Q on the flop, another one on the turn, and I’m finished. Oh well, I read him right and got a little unlucky. It happens. I was so happy, party because I finished in the money in one and partly because I thought I played really well. The other one I went out with 88 all-in PF against TT and KK. I was pretty much short-stacked 5 handed and TT raises from EP and I push in LP. KK in one of the blinds goes in and I know I’m dead to at least him. Turns out I have the worst hand but things look good when a beautiful 8 falls on the turn. However, a dreadful T rivers and the best hand, KK, turns out to be the worst hand. I’m out a short time later when my KJ runs into AT and I get no help. I’m down $30 overall in these 2 high SnGs and hopefully will be able to play more of these in the future. I played these out of tilt and got lucky it worked out in one.

My peak BR was at $3747.43 on October 15 around 8:30 PM. I withdrew $500 last night as well. I money transferred a total of $155 to 2 of my friends because I owed them some money so that leaves me with $45 out of the initial $200 I have invested into my account. At the moment, my account stands at $2394.93 because I withdrew $500 last night after I lost $852.50. I should’ve limited my losses when I was down about $200 but was pissed off at the way I went bust and jumped into bigger games to recover my losses. I should’ve never played because after I ate dinner I was planning to go out with some friends but logged back on to play some more after I book a nice win earlier that day. What a bad decision. I titled away a lot of the money I lost. I lost $400 in 17 min. playing NL $200. I played so bad I deserved to lose. However, losing this much money in 17 min. really got me steaming. I should’ve quit here again but didn’t. I made $144 after that idiotic session to recover 36% of that loss but it still hurts as I type this up. I really need to control my emotions more as I’m still working on detaching my emotional involvement and increasing my mental involvement. I know I can beat the NL $100 games pretty easily if I’m patient enough. I got a little too cocky averaging over $1100/week at one point and thought I should move up. I know I was wrong but did it anyway.

One more thing about losing the $852.50 is that the money means a lot to me. So I’m not going to go any higher than NL $100 until the money is irrelevant. I need to start thinking of all this money as the number of chips/units I have. So instead of thinking I have about $2400 sitting in my Party account, I should start thinking about having 2400 units. It’s easier to deal with losses mentally, which makes 200 or 300 units not so bad compared to 853 units. I could’ve prevented that 600 unit loss by controlling myself and accepting a defeat but chose to fight back and chase bad money with good. Cardinal Sin. I knew better too. That’s what irritates me the most. Oh well, got to shrug it off if I want to continue to succeed.

I’m still happy. After calculating everything, I’m showing a profit of $2849.93. Not bad for 3 weeks worth of work (2394.93 + 500 + 155 – 200). Actually, personally, this is way more than I can ask for and I’m very, very grateful to be so lucky. I’m a starving college student in my last year graduating in June 2005 and if I can keep this up, who knows where I can go from here. Hopefully, I’m going all the way.

[tripdad]

[ QUOTE ]
I have no other means of income besides Financial Aid and Grants from school but that doesn’t really count as income although it helps me live.

[/ QUOTE ]

what happened to Bank of America?

[ QUOTE ]
for nothing seemed this easy in my poker career.

[/ QUOTE ]

What happened to college? aren't you moving a bit too quickly?

[ QUOTE ]
I lost with the best hand twice

[/ QUOTE ]

unless there is a MAJOR software problem i am unaware of, this is simply impossible.

cheers!