Still running fine

The 2nd week went fantastic too! Not completely as smooth as last week but overall we reached very good results again. Over 3800 hands with a total result of $204,15 being 5.35 BB/100. Notice I'm writing in "we"-form, while of course I'm the only one playing, that's just the way I like to write...

We had two short downswings this time of 60 a 80 BB's but kept playing and found the way up in the same session. We also used our FPP's for a cash bonus this week; 5000 FPP for a $50 bonus that's released after playing a few hundred more hands. With this number of played hands it will be possible to clear such a bonus on a regular base.

In the weekly graph we see the two downswings but the overal trend is up! After 10K hands we will publish the 10K graph to see the complete picture.

We finished a few more chapters of "Limit Hold'em: winning short-handed strategies" and also watched some great Limit Hold'em vids from Rob Hollink. The Dutch WSOP bracelet winner in, oh yes, the 10.000 Limit Hold'em tournament. He won the tourney and cashed $496.931.

Some interesting hands we played will be added soon in a nice flash poker hand replayer, just figuring that out at the moment. So lots more to come here, please return frequently if you like.

Start: 625,05
Profits: 204,15
Bonus: $50,00
Cashout: 127,08
End: 752,13
Next target: 1200

Excellent start!

If future cards are falling like this first week I won't complain... $250 in 3500 hands, that's over 7 BB/100! Very good results, even for this micro limit. Of course this will not be sustainable but it's always nice to make a good start with a journey like this.

I'm using Holdem Manager to track results and configured my hud with the following stats:

Name/#hands

VPIP/PFR/AF/3bet%

WTSD/W$SD/STP/FBBS

I will write a separate article about Holdem Manager and hud stats in detail later.

The weekly graph looks perfect without any downswing worth mentioning:

The speed of the action on 6max is high compared to the fullring tables. For now I'm playing 2 tables max, which leaves enough time to get good reads on players and make some notes now and then.

A book reviews label is coming also in the near future and the 1st one will be:
"Limit Hold'em: winning short-handed strategies"
I read the first chapters and it's really good stuff to get one started at the fixed limit 6max tables!

Thanks for reading and feel free to leave your reactions.

Start: 500,00
Profits: 250,10
Cashout: 125,05
End: 625,05
Next target: 1200

The challenge started!

Starting with $500 on the $0.50/$1.00 fixed limit 6max tables and grinding all the way up to the $10/$20 level... It sounds like an impossible mission but let's see it as the ultimate challenge!

After playing a lot of cashgames nl hold´em and pl omaha, nl sit ´n go and nl mt tournaments with a few ups and many downs in the last years I was looking for a different game. A game where you won´t loose your whole stack when your two toppair AK or AQ are cracked by a hidden set of deuces. Or when your fullhouse 777 over JJ is cracked by JJJ over 55 on the river. Or when...

So I started playing fixed limit hold´em, the game for losers missing the skills to play winning no limit... So what?

I discovered it´s a highly underestimated form of poker! It asks it´s own, completely different, set of skills from a player to make real profits in the game. And for sure it´s possible to make good profits with a lower risk, exactly what I was looking for. In 6max the best profit can be made so that´s the game we are gonna play on our favourite site PokerStars.

The journey´s just beginning. I´ve learned a lot in the last years, things I can use now to give this new start a chance highly as possible to succeed. It´s my final attempt to make a real profit out of the game, let´s do it the professional way this time:

• bankroll management with predefined milestones and fallback levels
• using a tracker programm and gather statistics and handhistories
• discuss played hands and more in internet forums
• buying books and don´t read but study them
• joining a video training site
• being prepared to handle (huge) downswings
• avoiding tilt
• keywords are patience and discipline

Feel free to leave your comments and help me with other tips.

Besides building a bankroll one also wants to cashout any profits. So I will withdraw 50% of every week's profits and the other 50% helps us building the roll.
This way I enjoy the cashouts and it takes longer to reach the next level. I must play more hands which is better in the learning proces.

Started 2009/11/14 with 500 big bets and on our way to the first milestone, reaching 600 big bets for the next level $1.00/$2.00. That´s up from $500 to $1200, to be continued...

Please note: text written by a dutchman, so it´s not the best English in the world.