1/2 NL Grinder

[EvilDruidNE]

everywhere ive played in at AC is at least 300$ cap. i dunno what theyre supposed to cap at in borgata but i commonly see people buy in with more than 300

[AlexisBelle]

Set schedule every week. M,T,W - I live in Philly so I hop the 1 hour and 30 minute bus ride to AC. Usually start playing at 10a.m. and play for 10 hours. I avoid weekends at all cost. I avoid Borgata and the Trop. I seem to always find the casual player buying in at the Hilton, Bally's, and Ceaser's, so I usually head there. The average players I find at these places are SUPER passive and I'm content picking off a few 60 dollar pots throughout the day without having to take many big shots. I usually recognize one or two guys at the table and we usually end up avoiding each other for the most part. I usually set a goal of 400 per day, but obviously I can't live by that rule so whatever happens, so be it.

[AlexisBelle]

Some places the max is 200, some 300

[atrainpsu]

Congrats on your success thusfar as a 1-2 grinder. Good to hear you are enjoying it. In my experience, it was not always minimal stress. I have logged over 1000 hours of 1-2 in AC and even this very easy game can be stressful. Once you go 9 or 10 sessions without winning, suddenly losing $2000-3000, can really bring down your psyche. I eventually grinded through my big downswing and was back making some descent cash. Eventually I got burned out and tried to get a job working for the man. I have made trips down to AC every few weeks and I enjoy the game like I used to. Now Whenever I come home, I wish I was there doing something fun for a living.

Some other notes for you:
1) Many people will say that you are running good and that your $1200/week isnt attainable. Over the summer the games tend to be better and some 1-2 games play very big, so under optimal conditions a 1-2 game can have an EV of $40/hr or so. It's likely though, that you are eventually going to get games, where your EV is in $20something/hr range.

2) As for moving up to 2-5. Your up $14000 or so and after expenses plus your intitial bankroll, your bankroll should now be $10000+. This is fairly ample for a 2-5 bankroll. Right now your winrate is $1200/week at 1-2. What would your thoughts be if your winrate was $700-800/week? I don't recommend moving up, especially since you seem very comfortable playing 1-2, but I would reevaluate this situation giving yourself $700-800/week and decide if that would be ample money to live with.

3) Family, girlfriends, and friends opinions matter in this situation. If you have a serious girlfriend, having a variable income makes it difficult, and they probably won't understand that winning $3000 in a week doesnt mean that you have $3000 to blow on her.

Anyway, I tried to touch upon everything I can think of. BTW, where do you play? Are these games 300 max? Care to share a little about your style of play? PM me if you want.

[Brad1970]

[ QUOTE ]
Some places the max is 200, some 300

[/ QUOTE ]

Where NicksDad & I play, it's uncapped.

[sweetjazz]

I think you need to seriously consider moving up to 2/5 at some point if you want this grinding gig to last long term. If you're not capable of beating the 2/5 games for a good amount, it's unlikely you're going to make $40/hr long term in the 1/2 game. I don't know about NJ, but here in Louisiana, the 2/5 game actually plays LOOSER than the 1/2 game (though more aggressive). So there will be higher variance, but good players can make a lot more in these games.

At this point, you might consider taking a shot at 2/5 when the games look really juicy. Or if you prefer to be more structured, you might start by deciding to play 2/5 every other Wednesday or some such to start a transition in.

Of course, you have to be willing to drop down to 1/2 if you run bad initially at 2/5. And you may have growing pains transititioning to a more aggressive game.

But as much as I think your story is great so far, it's pretty unlikely you will earn $40/hr long term at 1/2 because (1) that true winrate may not be achievable (depending on game quality and your skill set) and (2) even if that long term rate is achievable, you will likely go for long stretches earning much less when you run bad.

Good luck!

[AlexisBelle]

Great post atrainpsu.

In all honesty, I expect this profit per week to take a dip at some point and I'm OK with that. My girlfriend and I both live a very minimalist type lifestyle. Going out to dinner and buying some nice imported beer or wine is about the only thing we splurge on. With that said, my rent is only 400 bucks a week. The only goal I set for myself starting this was to be able to make rent with only 1 weeks worth of play. I've exceeded that, which is great, but if it were to happen that I took a swing and started to only make 600-800 a week, I'd still be extremely happy. I get high anxiety working in offices and grinding 9-5 jobs so it's a blessing for me to be able to pay all expenses playing a game on my own time. I don't get greedy, save all my money so my roll is WELL padded for the inevitable downswing that is poker.

[AlexisBelle]

Good points. For right now my mindset is if it's not broken don't fix it blah blah. Will definitely keep what you said in mind though. Playing 2-5NL every third day seems like a great idea.

[atrainpsu]

Just saw your last post and you pretty much answered my last 3 questions.

Your set schedule thing, worries me. Are you a very even-keeled player? If you lose 2 big pots and are down 2 buyins, do you still play optimally? I can probably think of 10 - 15 times where I lost alot real quick and didn't want to play anymore. Living in the area, gave me the liberty to just call it a day. It also gave me the liberty to play 15-20 hours if the table was a gold mine.

[AlexisBelle]

The set schedule is needed because that's really the only structure I have in life. Everything else I usually just play by spur of the moment. My girlfriend loves the schedule because she knows when I'll be coming home and she deserves at least that. I bring down 400 a day, leave the credit card at home. If I lose that, I'm quitting for the day. Sometimes if I have a rough week, I'll play a 4th day to try to reach some sort of goal. I don't tilt live, always tilted online. If I lose live, I've learned to accept that it's just the nature of the beast and move on.