[Closed] Starting from scratch on FL SnGs

Great start, keep it up!

Thanks fluffykiller!
Realised I didn't really introduce myself, my name's Adam and I'm 21 from England.
Been playing poker for about 4 years but I've only been playing profitably online since about March of this year. While I've always been a winning player in live poker playing with my friends, it's taken me a while to gain the self discipline and knowledge required to make steady profit online.

Up until now I've always been a NL player but I've never been able to manage my bankroll effectively and consistently. Every time I've built myself a bankroll I've managed to splurge it all away in one or two bad sessions.

My aim is to finally build myself a bankroll big enough to potentially earn a living from. I've built myself up to $200-$300 from under $10 3 or 4 times so I'm confident I can get that far. I just need to be careful to maintain correct BRM when I start to move up the levels.

Just done another 4 1/2 hours or so of FL SnGs, mostly FR. Not quite as good as this morning's session, I made the mistake of trying 8-tabling too soon so only made $9 profit over 17 SnGs. ROI of 31.25 so not too shabby.
Going to stick to 4-6 tables for the foreseeable future, got to head into town for now but I'll have a little read through some articles when I get in & start on it full time tomorrow.

If anyone could recommend which articles would be most helpful to read I'd appreciate it. Been reading bits & bobs from the FL section but that seems more focused on cash games and most of the SnG section appears to be more relevant to NL.

Enomai im JUSt like you, i took my $50 bankroll up to $750 and also lost it all in a couple tilt sessions. Except i do it weekly, the highest i got was $3743 FROM $50 AND I LOST EVERY SINGLE LAST CENT.

So if you get some advice please post it here, im gonna follow up daily.

Wow that sucks leanden! Hope you manage to lower that variance a bit!

Just been messing around for a couple of hours, played 3 $1 FL SnGs and only came 2nd in one so I made a loss of $0.90. I played about 250 hands of $0.02/$0.04 FL cash games as well, however, making a profit of $1.64.

So at the end of day 1 my account balance now stands at $43.63. Not bad considering I had $7 in the early hours of this morning ^^
Will start keeping strict track of everything I'm doing starting tomorrow, sticking purely to $1 SnGs for now.

I can already see there's a lot of room for improvement. My game's fairly solid but I'm making a lot of (in hindsight) pretty simple mistakes simply because I'm not used to FL. I'll work on expanding my FL knowledge over the coming week and hopefully cut out a lot of the rookie mistakes.

Aiming to play at least 200 SnGs this week. Not sure if that's a realistic goal as I'm used to grinding cash games, so I'm not sure what volume I'll be able to achieve, but if it proves too much or too little I'll adjust it later in the week.

Off to bed now, need a big sleep, got a long week of poker ahead ♦

My big sleep lasted a bit longer than I intended, and I didn't end up getting up until about 3pm. Started playing around 4pm and my friend came round shortly after, so I had a rather distracted afternoon playing poker on one monitor and watching last night's Family Guy etc. on the other.

Lost $1.20 over 13x $1.20 tournaments and also tried the daily $1.50 + $0.15 FL MTT but got taken out in 164th out of 360 with top set vs rivered straight.

I managed to break well into the black, however, by placing first in two $1.50 + $0.25 18-seat SnGs as well as taking $13.50 in a $3.00 + $0.40 SnG.

I'm currently up $18.85 over 19 tournaments with a ROI of 61.50. Probably play a few more 18-seaters since I'm playing a tighter game than everyone at these levels and it seems to give me an advantage. Pokerstars appears to be down at the moment though, can't get into the software or the web-site. Might have a little mess around with the change I have on Fortune Poker or Full Tilt.

Will update again later this evening.

Peace.

Edit: nvm, managed to log in to Pokerstars now. Accont balance currently stands at $62.48

Edit#2: scratch that, seems Pokerstars is crashing ;/

Had a really up & down evening, but I'm just about in profit for the session. Played 27 tournaments of various sizes & buy ins, with varying degrees of success.

Went slightly tilty for a couple of hours and played a few higher stakes tournaments but managed to recover my losses by winning a $5 9-seat FL SnG, and placing 3rd in a 45 seat SnG. Also won back a few buy ins on the $1 games later on in the session when I got back on my game and have finished the day on $64.03, after learning a lot of lessons.

I think my game's getting a lot stronger, I'm feeling a lot more confident with my developing style of play, and as long as I can take the bad beats in my stride I think I'll be ok.

Since I've played 44 SnGs today and a total of 74 in the 2 days I've been going, I'm going to up my goal to 300 SnGs played by the end of the week.
I'm also setting myself another goal of reaching the top 100 on the battle of the planets leaderboard by the end of the month.

Off to bed now, gonna try & be up a little earlier tomorrow. I'll leave you with my graph & stats so far for this little endeavour. Any comments/suggestions/advice would be appreciated

Just for clarity, it says 3 days played because I have my days set to start at 6am & I started playing at about 4am yesterday

Got up quite late again today so haven't played much, although I was playing 'til 4am this morning.

Not a great day today, but I think I've been playing well. BRM hasn't been amazing and I lost $4.80 over three $3.00 + $0.40 SnGs, and $3.50 on a couple of 18-seaters.

Wishing I'd stuck to my BRM though, as I've made a $6 profit over seven $1 SnGs, cashing in 6 of the 7 games. Due to some bad beats and suckouts, 4 of these cashes were third place, with only one 1st and one 2nd.

Currently down $2.30 for the day, bankroll standing at $61.73
Have to go out now but should play some more when I get in.

Gonna start posting up a few hands for analysis as I'm still unsure about the way I'm playing. Marked one for review today and forgot to do any more but I'll be sure to mark any I'm unsure of from now on.

I was gutted when I saw the river after making this fold, but I was sure the guy to my left had the Ace. Was it a correct fold or should I have stayed in to see the river?

PokerStars Limit Hold'em, 3.4 Tournament, 20/40 Blinds (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero's M: 21.67

Preflop: Hero is SB with K, K
1 fold, UTG+1 calls, 1 fold, MP2 calls, MP3 raises, 1 fold, Button calls, Hero 3-bets, BB caps, 1 fold, MP2 calls, MP3 calls, Button calls, Hero calls

Flop: (21 SB) 9, A, 8 (5 players)
Hero bets, BB raises, MP2 calls, MP3 3-bets, 1 fold, Hero calls, BB caps, MP2 calls, MP3 calls, Hero calls

Turn: (18.5 BB) J (4 players)
Hero checks, BB bets, MP2 calls, MP3 raises, Hero folds, BB 3-bets, MP2 calls, MP3 calls

River: (27.5 BB) K (3 players)
BB bets, 1 fold, MP3 calls

Total pot: t1180 (29.5 BB)

Results below:
BB had A, 5 (one pair, Aces).
MP3 mucked K, Q (one pair, Kings).
Outcome: BB won t1180

Only down $0.50 for the day now, just thought I'd play a quick heads up whilst waiting for a lift and won it in 1 hand lol!

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 2.2 Tournament, 10/20 Blinds (2 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (SB) (t1500)
BB (t1500)

Hero's M: 50.00

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, 5
Hero bets t40, BB calls t20

Flop: (t80) 2, 2, 5 (2 players)
BB bets t120, Hero raises to t300, BB raises to t1460 (All-In), Hero calls t1160 (All-In)

Turn: (t3000) A (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: (t3000) A (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: t3000

Results below:
Hero had A, 5 (full house, Aces over fives).
BB had 5, 6 (two pair, Aces and fives).
Outcome: Hero won t3000

Hey Enomai

GL with the FL SnGs!

That hand with KK IMO is a fold flop after you get a raise, call and 3 Bet. You aren't winning this hand often enough.

Thanks for the feedback Waiboy! Now you say that it does seem pretty obvious, KK is always a difficult lay down though. I'm still fairly happy I folded when I did, up until now I'd have seen it to the river in most situations so at least it's progress and I didn't make a horrible suckout!

Gonna have a quick 6-table session before bed & try to get in profit for the day. If anyone fancies joining or observing to see how I'm getting on I'm registered to the next five $1 + $0.20 FL SnGs on Pokerstars.

Next update soon.

Didn't do amazing on that little session, cashed in 3 out of 6 tourneys but only took 3rd in each one so ended up down another $1.80.

Account balance is now at $61.73. Can't be arsed to go into any more detail than that for tonight, sorry, got an early morning tomorrow, so I'm straight off to bed.

Slow start again today, had an appointment in town this morning so I started late and my friend came over to watch the new Heroes so only been playing a couple of games at a time. Up $1.50 over 7 tourneys so far, so no complaints.

What sort of ROI should I be aiming for with these games? Obviously the level of play isn't great here but I'm not a seasoned SnG player so I've know idea what to realistically expect as far as win rates go. I'm assuming for ITM value anything better than 33.3% is good for 9 seat games.

Noticed a few silly leaks in my game that tend to slip out when I'm not really paying attention, Cbetting all 3 streets with air vs. calling stations, playing too aggressively when sneaky draws come out, the list goes on. Gonna try playing a little less aggressively, especially when ITM with 3 players left. I've gone from being chip leader to getting knocked out in 3rd quite a few times simply due to bad bluffs & not letting hands go. Really need to get a handle on this.

Over the next couple of days I'm gonna work on some of these leaks, and really try to improve my game post-bubble. I'm making the money about 45% of the time but losing so much 1st/2nd prize money making silly mistakes, I really feel this is one of my biggest leaks.

If anyone has had similar problems and/or can offer any advice, it'd be much appreciated.

Hi enomai, nice blog an interesting read. Just to reply to the problem you have, i found that once you become aware of the mistakes you are making make sure you dont do it again. Keep reading articles and with experience your game will only improve. Make sure you dont tilt too much and as soon as you think your not playing your A game stop playing.

Hi Swire, thanks for the advice. Played another session on Wednesday after my previous post and ended up losing $3.90, so I finished the day down $2.40.

I feel overall I was playing a lot better in this session, and I managed to cash in 2nd in three out of ten tourneys. Not a great session, but I still felt my play had improved. I think I'm starting to get more of a feel for the style of play needed for FL. Up until now my strategy has been playing tight and relentlessly aggressive, which has obviously lost me a fair few big pots vs. calling stations. Started playing a lot more carefully and I think it's working, so far.

Didn't end up playing at all yesterday as I unexpectedly had a day's work. Spent 12 hours standing in the middle of a dual carriageway asking people where they were going and why, then spent the rest of the evening in the pub. ♦

Currently nursing a pretty filthy hangover and about to find out if I can play profitably while everything's still a bit wobbly. Will update you on my inevitable failure later this evening.

Just finished my session, and I'm really happy with my play. I played a lot less aggressively and was far more successful as a result. Only played 7 tourneys, but I cashed in 6 of them, making a profit of $8.70
Took first place in one, second in four, and came third once as well.

Still unsure about what line to take in certain situations though, I'm sure I'm losing a lot of value with some hands. This hand, for example, I was really unsure about.

PokerStars Limit Hold'em, 1.2 Tournament, 20/40 Blinds (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero's M: 24.83

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with J, Q
1 fold, UTG+1 calls, Hero calls, 1 fold, MP3 raises, 1 fold, Button calls, 1 fold, BB calls, UTG+1 calls, Hero calls

Flop: (10.5 SB) 10, A, 3 (5 players)
BB checks, UTG+1 checks, Hero bets, MP3 raises, 2 folds, UTG+1 calls, Hero calls

Turn: (8.25 BB) 8 (3 players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero checks, MP3 bets, UTG+1 calls, Hero raises, MP3 3-bets, UTG+1 calls, Hero caps, MP3 calls, UTG+1 calls

River: (20.25 BB) 8 (3 players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero bets, MP3 raises, UTG+1 calls, Hero calls

Total pot: t1050 (26.25 BB)

Results below:
UTG+1 had Q, 10 (two pair, tens and eights).
Hero had J, Q (flush, Ace high).
MP3 had 4, 4 (two pair, eights and fours).
Outcome: Hero won t1050

There were a couple of spots where I could have got more money in but, as mentioned, I've been playing a lot more carefully and these idiots really could have had anything. Was I playing too scared or was I right to be so cautious?

This one I just found amusing. Villain is a complete station, pretty much only bets the nuts and calls everything else to the river if nothing really scares him off.

PokerStars Limit Hold'em, 1.2 Tournament, 150/300 Blinds (5 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero's M: 7.77

Preflop: Hero is SB with 10, 10
1 fold, MP raises, 1 fold, Hero 3-bets, 1 fold, MP calls

Flop: (7 SB) 10, 6, 2 (2 players)
Hero bets, MP calls

Turn: (4.5 BB) 6 (2 players)
Hero bets, MP calls

River: (6.5 BB) 10 (2 players)
Hero bets, MP calls

Total pot: t2550 (8.5 BB)

Results below:
Hero had 10, 10 (four of a kind, tens).
MP mucked K, A (two pair, tens and sixes).
Outcome: Hero won t2550

Hehe. It's been a good day! ♦

Current account balance: $68.03

;c

Played 7 tournaments over the course of today and ended up $6 up. Of the four I played this evening I managed to cash in all of them, taking three 2nds and a 1st.

Account balance is now at $75.53, gonna move up to the $3 games tomorrow. ♦
Time for a good kip.