Real real money

Things are going well at $0.05/$0.10 limit. I've reached my goal of winning 100 BB. My win rate was a brisk 13.3 BB/100 hands. That's likely not sustainable, and the sample size is too small to be meaningful.

Still I have the bankroll to take a 100 BB shot at the next level up $0.10/$0.20. Given my success at the lower levels I feel I should be able to at least be break even at this level.

Over on 2+2, the 2c/4c and 5c/10c levels are considered pretty much joke levels, not much different than play money. From playing in them I won't argue with that. There are a lot of bad players, varying from loose passive, to loose aggressive, to weak tight. It's not hard to find a soft table.

Maybe people at these levels don't care because the stakes are so low. Maybe they're just playing for fun with no real desire to win. Maybe they just don't have a clue about how to play well.

Now 10c/20c is considered the first "real money" level. The thing about 2c/4c and 5c/10c is that the minimum $50 deposit on PokerStars gives you an enormous bankroll where you can play badly pretty much indefinitely (certainly for several months single tabling a few hours a week) and lose money very slowly if at all. At 10c/20c a minimum $50 deposit is only 250 BB, so you have to play well or go bust or move down.

So hopefully the next level will be more challenging, but still beatable. I don't want to have to go back to 5c/10c.

Didn't quite quit

Well I meant to quit but I didn't quite. I did get that other project started so I'll continue to try to advance that while playing as little poker as I can take, which is tough.

I took my free shot at that ridiculous Moneymaker Millionaire freeroll. I finised around 1100 out of 6500 in the first round qualifier. The top 50 advanced to the next round. I was actually pretty happy with how my first MTT turned out. I'll want to do some more in the future when time permits.

5c/10c limit is going pretty well. A recent upswing with my first $2 winning session (LOL) leaves me at around +10BB/100 through around 650 hands, as usual a too small sample size, sigh. I've been lucky to get paid off very well off some monster hands like these.


Flopped Full House

PokerStars 0.05/0.10 Hold'em (9 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from http://www.flopturnriver.comFlopTurnRiver.com (Format: Plain Text)

Preflop: Hero is CO with Td, Ts. Hero posts a blind of $0.05.
4 folds, MP3 calls, Hero (poster) raises, 1 fold, SB 3-bets, 1 fold, MP3 calls, Hero calls.

Flop: (10 SB) 8s, 8h, Tc (3 players)
SB bets, MP3 calls, Hero calls.

Turn: (6.50 BB) [8s, 8h, Tc] Jd (3 players)
SB bets, MP3 calls, Hero raises, SB 3-bets, MP3 calls, Hero caps, SB calls, MP3 calls.

River: (18.50 BB) [8s, 8h, Tc, Jd] 9d (3 players)
SB bets, MP3 calls, Hero raises, SB 3-bets, MP3 folds, Hero caps, SB calls.

Final Pot: 27.50 BB

Results below:
SB has 9s Qs (straight, queen high).
Hero has Td Ts (full house, tens full of eights).
Outcome: Hero wins 27.50 BB.


Flopped Quads

PokerStars 0.05/0.10 Hold'em (9 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from http://www.flopturnriver.comFlopTurnRiver.com (Format: Plain Text)

Preflop: Hero is CO with 9d, 9h.
UTG calls, UTG+1 calls, 2 folds, MP3 calls, Hero raises, Button calls, 1 fold, BB calls, UTG calls, UTG+1 calls, MP3 calls.

Flop: (12.40 SB) 9c, 8s, 9s (6 players)
BB bets, UTG calls, UTG+1 calls, MP3 calls, Hero calls, Button raises, BB calls, UTG calls, UTG+1 calls, MP3 calls, Hero 3-bets, Button calls, BB calls, UTG calls, UTG+1 calls, MP3 calls.

Turn: (15.20 BB) [9c, 8s, 9s] Jc (6 players)
BB checks, UTG checks, UTG+1 checks, MP3 checks, Hero bets, Button calls, BB folds, UTG calls, UTG+1 calls, MP3 folds.

River: (19.20 BB) [9c, 8s, 9s Jc] Ts (4 players)
UTG checks, UTG+1 bets, Hero raises, Button 3-bets, UTG folds, UTG+1 calls, Hero caps, Button calls, UTG+1 calls.

Final Pot: 29.20 BB

Results below:
UTG+1 has Qh 3d (straight, queen high).
Hero has 9d 9h (four of a kind, nines).
Button has 4s As (flush, ace high).
Outcome: Hero wins 29.20 BB.