Advice for getting out of the rutt

[cambridgealex]

I've been playing live £0.5/£1 cash for a living now for almost 3months, I've had pretty good results, winning about 5k for that period. However I've had bills, rent etc to pay, enjoy spending money having a good time, treating the missus etc and my roll seems to constantly hover around the 2-4k mark. I'm getting really tilted playing with players so much worse than me and am really keen to move up to £1/£2 or £2/£5. I am confident the games are soft enough that I could win at them, but not so soft as to drive me insane. So my question is, how to move up? I reckon if I don't do anything different I could be playing £.50 £1 for a year and never reach a 5figure roll.

I've come up with 3 possible options:

1) Look into getting staked for bigger games
2) Play online MTTs (5-50$) for a month to try and bink a decent 4figure score
3) Take a few random shots at bigger games eg put 1k out of 3k roll into a £2 £5 at DTD this week, hope to run good and never look back...if I lose, grind again for a while, take another shot in a month or something...

[JK]

4. Put Jamie in the monte Carlo and watch him bink me a 5 figure.

On a serious note, shots ftw

[pokerfan]

Grind online cash.

[Longy]

You are doing pretty well support to yourself playing £.5/1 live imo. The problem is that this isn't a particular solid strategy from the get go and there is very little chance of you getting out of this "rutt" as the ceiling for your earnings isn't particularly high.

Online is the pretty obv answer, but the games are a lot lot harder online and .5/1 live plays like .05/.1 online. If you are good enough I would go online and grind your arse off to get a roll moving.

[tikay]

I've been playing live £0.5/£1 cash for a living now for almost 3months, I've had pretty good results, winning about 5k for that period. However I've had bills, rent etc to pay, enjoy spending money having a good time, treating the missus etc and my roll seems to constantly hover around the 2-4k mark. I'm getting really tilted playing with players so much worse than me and am really keen to move up to £1/£2 or £2/£5. I am confident the games are soft enough that I could win at them, but not so soft as to drive me insane. So my question is, how to move up? I reckon if I don't do anything different I could be playing £.50 £1 for a year and never reach a 5figure roll.

I've come up with 3 possible options:

1) Look into getting staked for bigger games
2) Play online MTTs (5-50$) for a month to try and bink a decent 4figure score
3) Take a few random shots at bigger games eg put 1k out of 3k roll into a £2 £5 at DTD this week, hope to run good and never look back...if I lose, grind again for a while, take another shot in a month or something...

I have to ask - why on earth would playing players worse than you tilt you? They are your income.

Playing better players might be more satisfying in some ways, but it would certainly reduce your profit.

[Pyso]

I've been playing live £0.5/£1 cash for a living now for almost 3months, I've had pretty good results, winning about 5k for that period. However I've had bills, rent etc to pay, enjoy spending money having a good time, treating the missus etc and my roll seems to constantly hover around the 2-4k mark. I'm getting really tilted playing with players so much worse than me and am really keen to move up to £1/£2 or £2/£5. I am confident the games are soft enough that I could win at them, but not so soft as to drive me insane. So my question is, how to move up? I reckon if I don't do anything different I could be playing £.50 £1 for a year and never reach a 5figure roll.

I've come up with 3 possible options:

1) Look into getting staked for bigger games
2) Play online MTTs (5-50$) for a month to try and bink a decent 4figure score
3) Take a few random shots at bigger games eg put 1k out of 3k roll into a £2 £5 at DTD this week, hope to run good and never look back...if I lose, grind again for a while, take another shot in a month or something...

50p/£1 is way too small a game to make a genuine living from. Like you, I played this game full time for about a year while I was out of 'proper' work and what a grind it was. Incredibly easy to beat, but variance still hits you wherever you play and with profits being small (they have to be - this is 50p/£1 remember), when you run bad and still have bills to pay, it snookers you somewhat.

It's frustrating I agree not being properly rolled to play higher, especially when the £1/£2 games are even easier to beat in many ways with the straddling and deep stacks, but you have to cut your cloth accordingly..

I always worked on the basis that I would move up if I ever luckboxed a decent sized tournament but that has yet to happen as I seem to run comically bad in coinflipaments.

So I get stuck playing 50p/£1 with the occasional short-stacking forays into £1/2.

I sympathize mate, without at least £20k ring-fenced behind you you're pretty much wasting your time. I would be wary of your profit so far (is it accurate? Be honest)  - 3 months live isn't very many hands really. Wait till you have a horrible downswing - it doesn't matter how good you are when that happens my friend and a 2-4k is pitiful bankroll in real terms as you will probably discover sooner or later

...and online poker... well for me it doesn't do it - it's so, so , so tedious and more importantly definitely not a level playing field. That probably is the route for anyone who seriously wants to play full time but I'm not sure if I can be bothered to dodge the cheaters, colluders, hand history stealers and 24-tabling teenage math geeks living with Mummy.

Ho Hum.

[RED-DOG]

I've been playing live £0.5/£1 cash for a living now for almost 3months, I've had pretty good results, winning about 5k for that period. However I've had bills, rent etc to pay, enjoy spending money having a good time, treating the missus etc and my roll seems to constantly hover around the 2-4k mark. I'm getting really tilted playing with players so much worse than me and am really keen to move up to £1/£2 or £2/£5. I am confident the games are soft enough that I could win at them, but not so soft as to drive me insane. So my question is, how to move up? I reckon if I don't do anything different I could be playing £.50 £1 for a year and never reach a 5figure roll.

I've come up with 3 possible options:

1) Look into getting staked for bigger games
2) Play online MTTs (5-50$) for a month to try and bink a decent 4figure score
3) Take a few random shots at bigger games eg put 1k out of 3k roll into a £2 £5 at DTD this week, hope to run good and never look back...if I lose, grind again for a while, take another shot in a month or something...

I have to ask - why on earth would playing players worse than you tilt you? They are your income.

Playing better players might be more satisfying in some ways, but it would certainly reduce your profit.

I typed out an almost identical the same reply, but then decided not to post it. - The virtual equivalent of biting my tongue.

I see the same thing in chat boxes all the time: "I hate this site, all the players are donks"

[paulhouk03]

Live a less extravagant life style and save some money?

Also one shot at 2-5<two shots at 1-2

Have u considered playing cash else where? That's what I did when I was doing this in manchester

[cambridgealex]

I've been playing live £0.5/£1 cash for a living now for almost 3months, I've had pretty good results, winning about 5k for that period. However I've had bills, rent etc to pay, enjoy spending money having a good time, treating the missus etc and my roll seems to constantly hover around the 2-4k mark. I'm getting really tilted playing with players so much worse than me and am really keen to move up to £1/£2 or £2/£5. I am confident the games are soft enough that I could win at them, but not so soft as to drive me insane. So my question is, how to move up? I reckon if I don't do anything different I could be playing £.50 £1 for a year and never reach a 5figure roll.

I've come up with 3 possible options:

1) Look into getting staked for bigger games
2) Play online MTTs (5-50$) for a month to try and bink a decent 4figure score
3) Take a few random shots at bigger games eg put 1k out of 3k roll into a £2 £5 at DTD this week, hope to run good and never look back...if I lose, grind again for a while, take another shot in a month or something...

I have to ask - why on earth would playing players worse than you tilt you? They are your income.

Playing better players might be more satisfying in some ways, but it would certainly reduce your profit.

I typed out an almost identical the same reply, but then decided not to post it. - The virtual equivalent of biting my tongue.

I see the same thing in chat boxes all the time: "I hate this site, all the players are donks"

Sure, I understand but this isn't the same thing. Well it's slightly different at least. It's just that some of these guys are so clueless I'm getting tired of spending 8hours a day with them listening to the same crap day in day out. I'd much rather play in a game that is still very profitable (im not suggesting swapping bad players for good players, more like awful players for bad players). So rather than earning x per hour at 0.50 1, I could earn say 1.8x an hour playing 1 2, or 3.5x an hour playing 2 5 for example.

[cambridgealex]

50p/£1 is way too small a game to make a genuine living from. Like you, I played this game full time for about a year while I was out of 'proper' work and what a grind it was. Incredibly easy to beat, but variance still hits you wherever you play and with profits being small (they have to be - this is 50p/£1 remember), when you run bad and still have bills to pay, it snookers you somewhat.

It's frustrating I agree not being properly rolled to play higher, especially when the £1/£2 games are even easier to beat in many ways with the straddling and deep stacks, but you have to cut your cloth accordingly..

I always worked on the basis that I would move up if I ever luckboxed a decent sized tournament but that has yet to happen as I seem to run comically bad in coinflipaments.

So I get stuck playing 50p/£1 with the occasional short-stacking forays into £1/2.

I sympathize mate, without at least £20k ring-fenced behind you you're pretty much wasting your time. I would be wary of your profit so far (is it accurate? Be honest)  - 3 months live isn't very many hands really. Wait till you have a horrible downswing - it doesn't matter how good you are when that happens my friend and a 2-4k is pitiful bankroll in real terms as you will probably discover sooner or later

...and online poker... well for me it doesn't do it - it's so, so , so tedious and more importantly definitely not a level playing field. That probably is the route for anyone who seriously wants to play full time but I'm not sure if I can be bothered to dodge the cheaters, colluders, hand history stealers and 24-tabling teenage math geeks living with Mummy.

Ho Hum.

Thanks for this. I have the same qualms about playing online - and playing online entirely for a living isn't an option for me. Fwiw, why would I make a post like this and lie about how much I had earnt? I am aware that 3months isn't a big sample and that I have ran ok in that period, but I was just stating the figures. I have had a a couple of short lived downswings during that period and wouldn't say that I'd ran particularly hot overall.

[cambridgealex]

Live a less extravagant life style and save some money?

Also one shot at 2-5<two shots at 1-2

Have u considered playing cash else where? That's what I did when I was doing this in manchester

yeh ive been playing in gala for most of the past 3 months and yeh maybe a change of scenery is a good idea. I can play cash at DTD now so I'll be back there (i used to work there and have had to have a 6month cooling off period...)

[Longy]

So you won't play online because you believe it is not a level playing field but have been playing live at Notts Gala!

[RED-DOG]

So you won't play online because you believe it is not a level playing field but have been playing live at Notts Gala!

Lol

[Pyso]

Live a less extravagant life style and save some money?

Also one shot at 2-5<two shots at 1-2

Have u considered playing cash else where? That's what I did when I was doing this in manchester

yeh ive been playing in gala for most of the past 3 months and yeh maybe a change of scenery is a good idea. I can play cash at DTD now so I'll be back there (i used to work there and have had to have a 6month cooling off period...)

Playing at Gala. Wow. You've done well to avoid the third dimension. Get down to DTD quick. The games at DTD are probably a bit tougher (it is relative mind) but at least they're clean.

I wasn't having a go about your profits Alex, just trying to inject a bit of realism into the process. Any poker player is only a few beats away from the doghouse if he isn't rolled properly, even at lowly 50p/£1.

[GreekStein]

take it from a guy who's taken more shots than an alcoholic, this is not the way to go if you are playing for a living.

Grind for a few months, don't spend extravagantly, build ur roll that way.