Just keep in mind that I used a word 'pro' more like a mental shortcut. I never advocate putting all of your eggs in one basket, poker or otherwise (and this is doubly true for poker due to its volatile nature). Have fun at the home game!

Home game was fun except the last 1-2h when I got really tired, sleepy and cards started to blur. Game wasn't that amazing, people very passive pf (standard for live games I guess?). I mean, everyone wanted to see a flop but 3bets very rare (I think I was the only one who unlocked 4bet level :D). They played 72 bonus (each pay 50 cents if you win with 72).. sooo, I played the most hilarious hand of night. I'm BU with 72o, MP opens 3bb, I 3bet to 9bb (75% of time I take it down here), BB ccals, MP folds. Flop A102r, BB checks. So now he has range of 88-QQ, AQ, AJ, AK, maybe KQ. I cbet 9bb in order to get free turn check, value if I bink trips or 7, and fold from 88,99,JJ,QQ. He calls. Turn blank goes x/x, river BANNNNG 7. He bets 25bb, I call. He asks "you got Ace?" No. He tables QQ and I show 27o and collect 5bb bonus, worth the risk Ended the night +2.25 EUR, lost a chunk when I bluffed on 104310Q board with call pre/flop, turn raise and river bomb IP. Guy stood up, called and tabled 84 like a boss!

Anyway, here is session from Yesterday I'm very proud of. I lost with flopped top set vs turned quads 3bp, 2nd set vs top set and monster draws bricked. 0 tilt and I climbed out of the hole tilt free.



I'm over 52k hands for month, getting drunk tonight, going to some sport fest tomorrow (and getting drunk at it). Can I make it over 60k for the first time ever? Gogogogoooooooooooooooooo

Hand confirmed hilarious. Good luck with hitting the 60k mark. Might be good for morale.

I CAN WIN PF AI TOOOO


Need to avg 2.65k in last 2 days of August.

GOGOGOGOGOOO

Fingers crossed for hitting that volume goal! As for the hand above... we all love to forget those spots and remember only the situations when our aces were cracked by queens etc. so it's good that you posted a little reminder for yourself

On track!

Aaaand, I made it! Gonna write up a summary later tonight or tomorrow (day off) and targets for September.

Boom! Congrats sir. People are hitting great volume goals left and right lately. Can't wait for the summary.

Boom! Congrats sir. People are hitting great volume goals left and right lately. Can't wait for the summary.

MY AUGUST



...No, I was not the hammer.




180h of play.

Although it might not seem like it, August was pure fucking grind. I ran bad for most of the month except last week or so, I did not get on any heater, apart from 1 +300e day, I didn't even reach any +200 days. If my mental game was as it was back in the days, I'd finish this month close to BE. What you guys can take away from this - if you don't go ape tilt and don't start spewing after Xth cooler of Yth day in a row, at the end you'll come on top anyway.

I really wanted to take NL100 shot, but came short. I have no doubt I'll become NL100 reg in September! (I'll write another post addressing Sep goals).
Wake up 8am - [ ] Waking up 9am and starting work at 10am. Gotta drop that 1h ffs!
60k hands - done! Was not easy. The thing is, 888 caps tables at 6, and as I don't play -EV tables, I often get just 1-3 tables or even 0 tables at all. My table ratio is just 3.78, therefore if that number was up to at least 5, I'm looking at like 80k hands with same play time.

Ehh, setting up the Chinese room tomorrow and it should help increasing table ratio + drop lower limits and get more NL50 tables.

Ok, enough for today. Gonna write up September goals tomorrow and also I've got tl;dr to say about what 'full time poker player' thing.

Nice work MG! Looking forward to September. I'd obviously be very happy with that result. On a scale of 1-10. What would you score it for yourself? And is it better, worse or as you expected it to be?

I have never understood why on earth you play at 888?? Surely I site like micro gaming with RB would be MILES more profitable!

Chasing rb over soft tables is a bad idea imo. Always go for the softer tables. GL next month!

Shows what can happen when you grind your dick off and play consistently. Great work buddy

Thanks! Really hard to rate myself like that. I played good, no tilt, so probably 7 I'd say. Sure I expected more, but it would be silly of me to complain about 1.5k eur month..

I can't play wherever I want. I need to VPN to play on MG, BV doesn't allow it, SJ said it's ok but snap closed my account anyway iPoker is an option, played on Betfair quite a bit. Yet again, need to VPN, and I can't mix it with 888 as 888 doesn't allow it. TonyBet works (I played there before anyone else when they had rake free games and no Russians yet - was pure printing back then), Unibet works, and apparently Chinese room works. And yeah, one of reasons I left iPoker was that almost every reg was BE RB grinder. I didn't want to be a RB grinder.

Thanks! You did quite well yourself this month!

Consistency is the key here. Thanks man!

Ahh ok apologies I didn't realise you were restricted in your Country!

What it actually means to be a full time poker player?

It sounds pretty good - you've got no boss, you can work whenever you want, it is possible to make loads of cash in short time. But is it that simple? What should one consider before going "all in" poker and why you (probably) shouldn't do it.

First, you lose job experience EV which might or might not be very high depending your country and your abilities. You can earn shit in first 5 years or so, but in 15 years you can become really good at what you do and even aim for CEO and fat paycheck. Can't do that in poker. Especially when you're college dropout to play full time.

This is a big reason why "living comfortably of poker" does not really work. I can make 2x what my friends make, but at the end of the race I'll be fucked. Simple. Therefore, one MUST make it BIG. If you can make 4-5x your alternative 8-5 and you can save up relatively large sum, well, then poker can be +EV decision. This is why I'm eager to leave NL50 asap. NL100-200 is threshold where it becomes BIG for me. Note 850 eur post tax avg salary here in Latvia (now run the numbers in your head for your country..)

How long will you play poker? If you're playing full time 5+ years and still grinding same micro/low stakes, well, you might want to reconsider your life decisions.

I don't get social benefits, health insurance. No payments for my pension fund. Reason why poker will work out for me is combination of my country, my family background (read - no inherited wealthiness) and my IQ. I'm no genius, but my intelligence is way wayyyy above average. I went through school, gymnasium and even Uni (while I was attending it) as top of my class without a sweat and any effort.

Also, you need a plan what to do after poker. SNAP worldwide Black Friday. What now? Do you have exit plan what to do after poker? What I hope to achieve is roll of 50k-100k, end move to trading. Even if I BE first year, 15% ROI 2nd year, I will become really good and achieve 50-100% ROI in 5 years time just because I'm good. And then I'm set for life before I'm 30. This is my plan and I will achieve it.

So, keeping this all in mind, If you live in 1st world country, why would one ever gamble in poker world? If you come from East block or 3rd world country, then yes, poker can be +EV decision. You can say that guy like Fedor made millions in poker and he's Austrian, but he'd make the same and much more in private business or finance marked just because he's extraordinary smart. If you can make it to NL200+, you probably have skill set to get a very well paid job in 1st world country where you make more than from poker.

I want to add that there is nothing wrong living paycheck to paycheck. We sleep in different beds but the sleep is the same. Just that poker will never miraculously bring the monies that one could imagine.

I've learnt so much from playing poker full time. I don't mean game theory. I mean mental game, risk taking, coping with all the beats, managing my bank roll, managing my time, balancing poker / life, creating sustainable daily routine etc etc. I would never get that much practical knowledge in any business school and I'm grateful for that.


I hope someone will find this useful. I probably missed / skipped a lot as I think faster than I write.

-------------------------------------
September goals

1) Nl100 shot(s);
2) Start studying again. I just ground my way back from near busto, but now I need to work to sustain (create) edge over regs. Especially my HU game has gotten weak. I haven't decided on specifics, but I think I'll spend like 30 min each day or 1h every 2nd day. I'll start by going deep in Russian bot ring analysis. Atm I'm afraid of them but I want to own them.
3) WAKE UP 8AM, START WORK 9AM --- MUST ACHIEVE!!!!!!
4) As there is no tracking in Chinese site, keeping up with volume goals will become hard. 50k+ again.
5) PLO?

GOGOGOO