[Ballerholic]

August Recap

Poker Profit: $3,506

Hours Played: 72

Sports Profit: $234.95


All in all in it has been a very good month. Up an insane amount. Basically hours again have been horrible, that drastically needs to improve or else I'll be homeless. At the moment I play between 20-100NL online and 1/2 live. Online I play higher on the softer sites and lower on the harder sites like Pokerstars. I feel like I've improved a lot over the past 2 weeks with my new coach and I'm excited for the month ahead. Unfortunately, I've got school coming up in a week so I hope hours don't take a hit.

Sports have gone very well so far. I've only used my own personal picks, but I have purchased picks from two touts who were reliable winning longterm cappers over on the other sports forum. They just went tout and for a discounted price I was able to get their picks. All I can say is, wow they basically do the analyzing for you and save so much time and give you looks at games you wouldn't think of. Not saying I'll play all of them, but the analysis saves me so much time myself for $100 a month. So far I've got about 10 games pending, but I don't think anybody is following my thread so I don't post them.

Goal this upcoming month is going to be $2k profit and 120 hours played. Sports I'll try to profit 3 units ($40 a unit). LEGOOOOOOOOOOO

[slikec]

I read your posts and you had superb month lol. Youll pay 100$ monthly for tips to hopefully make 120$ which means 20$ profit if you do that? I dont know know but that is flawed.

[Crypt]

Baller I've been playing Live poker for 17 years. I'll tell you this from experience. Averaging $2k a month at 1/2 stakes is going to be extremely rough and most likely not possible. Unless you hit one hell of a streak. If you bump up to 2/5 you can hit 2k a month easy. The problem is you need a fairly decent bankroll behind you to make the leap to 2/5. It may not seem like a huge jump in stakes but the game plays so much bigger than 1/2. Playing live cash games is a huge grind. You have to be able to handle the swings because they're unavoidable. That alone is what determines who can make it and who cannot. I've depleted my poker bankroll multiple times when the poker swings got to me and i tilted at roulette or blackjack. AVOID TABLE GAMES lol. Cash games are not fast money. Beat that into your head and you should be fine. Good luck man

[Ballerholic]

slik- Well I pay $100 for all NCAAF picks and $116 for all NFL picks. From looking at the NFL game analysis I can say it's 100% worth it. For NCAAF I don't really know much about those teams so it will be +ev if I can learn or make money.

crypt- Yea live 1/2 is going to be really tough to make $2k no doubt. I mainly plan to focus online instead. Live 1/2 is fun and I'll continue playing it, but it's not possible to make an insane amount. Hopefully I can grow my roll to play 2/5 live instead. Cash is definitely a grind, but it's the best and most profitable grind. Again I'm still improving my game and moving up stakes in which $2k a month should be easily attainable if I can move up.

[stevek173]

Your hourly wage is very impressive, Baller though like you guys discussed, 72 hours is a very small population to base anything on.

That being said great start man. I'll look forward to seeing how you do moving forward.

[Ballerholic]

Steve- Thanks, yea too small a sample. I just want $15/hour

[Ballerholic]

Monthly Profit: $145

Hours Played: 9.5

Sports Profit this season: $458


Poker has gone well so far this month. I'm on pace to beat my volume from last month lol. My game is just getting so much better it's unreal. Coaching makes a world of difference. I might play 1 or 2 sessions of live poker this week, but we'll see.

Sports results have just been surreal. I think I'm up about 11 units so far. 2 of the cappers I follow have had winning weekends and my own games went 4-0. Obviously running hot, but a nice cushion to start the season. My NFL guy has just released 2 picks and has some scheduling spots this year that make great cases for taking certain teams. I can't give the picks of those 2 guys away, but there is a third capper on the other forum who is insanely good. Scalabrine is his username, check out his picks.

[Grivas_Digeni]

Monthly Profit: $145

Hours Played: 9.5

Sports Profit this season: $458


Poker has gone well so far this month. I'm on pace to beat my volume from last month lol. My game is just getting so much better it's unreal. Coaching makes a world of difference. I might play 1 or 2 sessions of live poker this week, but we'll see.

Sports results have just been surreal. I think I'm up about 11 units so far. 2 of the cappers I follow have had winning weekends and my own games went 4-0. Obviously running hot, but a nice cushion to start the season. My NFL guy has just released 2 picks and has some scheduling spots this year that make great cases for taking certain teams. I can't give the picks of those 2 guys away, but there is a third capper on the other forum who is insanely good. Scalabrine is his username, check out his picks.

Keeping solid records is a headache, but it's the life you've chosen lol

Have you considered using SBR ledger to keep track of your sports betting action? I think jjgold has a ledger (sheet?) like that, it's pretty neat.

[RudyRuetigger]

how can you not root for this guy?

thread should be in players talk though so I can remember to read it


good job chief

[Ballerholic]

Grivas- yea it's a tough life. I know about the SBR ledger, but I'm already keeping all of my stats in an excel sheet and I hope to make it more advanced as time goes on. For instance, it would be nice to keep track of all spreads throughout the year, W/L or O/U of certain primetime games, Divisional dog ATS, or keep track of which are my best sports to bet on, etc.

Rudy- Thanks man, I really appreciate it! Most people probably wouldn't care too much, but it's nice keeping this thread really small. Way less chance of trolls coming in and negativity.

[Ballerholic]

Monthly Profit: $235

Hours Played: 11

Sports this year: $458


Another profitable day! Man, I'm really worried. I am actually running so hot right now it's scary because I'm due for a really bad run. Anyway, I'll be posting some picks for the upcoming week and some games to consider. Now these are all of my own analysis, and not of the picks I've purchased.

So with the upcoming football season coming I thought I'd share some of my profitable trends after 5 years of betting and some further analysis I've done.

Profitable Trends
-Fade teams in look ahead spots (Divisional rival coming up)
-Fade teams after a huge comeback win
-Take teams after a huge comeback loss
-Take teams who have a new head coach mid season
-Take revenge situations (Playoff revenge spots)
-Take teams who have an really emotional weeks (Player killed, coach with cancer)

Now I did some analysis of MNF and TNF from the past 2 years. Some of the data were for weeks 2-16 and some for the whole season. From what I recall, it seems to have seemed to have correlated with past seasons before.

TNF- Under 20-10, Faves 18-11

MNF- Under 21-5, Dogs 22-10 (If home team is an underdog pound the play)

SNF- Over 21-14, Faves 18-17

Therefore moving ahead I will be pounding home dogs on MNF, and play all unders on TNF/MNF. I feel like those are the strongest takeaways from the stats, but other plays can come like overs on Sunday night. I just feel SNF isn't as big as MNF or TNF because 1) It's a normal Sunday game in a way and not really a shorter or longer week to prepare 2) Sometimes there are multiple SNF games and it's not as in the spotlight as MNF or TNF imo.

Leans for the upcoming week which have not yet been taken....

Bears +7 (Super bowl losers perform terribly their first game back)
Patriots -8 (Super bowl champs usually perform pretty well. Patriots have crushed Primetime games as well at home)
Patriots-Chiefs U48 (Under for TNF is 18-11)
Seahawks +3 (Revenge spot and Packers in potential look ahead spot to avenge loss to Falcons in playoffs in Week 2)
Bengals -3 (Probably no Flacco)

[Ballerholic]

Monthly Profit: $483.31

Hours Played: 27.5

Sports Overall: $450.95


This week has been crazy. I started out bad in poker, then hit an upswing, and slight downswing this weekend. I had coaching and my coach was saying how I definitely can beat 25z for probably $15/hour, and that now we need to work on improving my game and having me play higher limits. He did call me a nit though which hurts, but I am. Anyway, I just can't get enough of the game right now. It's so much fun, but need to motivate myself to play more hours. It's just tough with part time work and now I have school starting too...


Sports went terrible early in the week. Lost 2 units on Patriots game and then about 4 units Saturday morning, but I finished Saturday evening/Sunday very strong to bring me to about breakeven for the week. I'm playing the Under in both games tonight as well as Vikings and Chargers ATS.

[Ballerholic]

Monthly Profit: $1001

Hours Played: 33

Sports Overall: $440


I played some live cash for the first time last night. Played a $50 buyin tourney and a 1/2 NLHE game afterwards. Won $20 in the tourney, and won $285 in cash. Overall a very good session! I then went to starbucks and grinded during the early hours and made a couple of buyins. It is by far the best time to be playing poker for sure. I am soooo exhausted!!! There will be another big cash game on Sunday night as well.

Sports have been breakeven all week long with mini swings throughout. I do like some games coming up this week for NFL.

1) Bengals -6.5. I don't think Dalton is going to play that bad again, but I do think whoever starts at QB for the Texans will. I also have Favourites covering at 18-11 on TNF last 2 seasons.

2) Bengals-Texans U38. TNF last 2 seasons go under at 18-11.

3) Patriots -6.5. They were baaaaadddddd on TNF. One of the worst losses in their history under Bill. Now they have 10 days off to face a terrible saints team.

4) Teaser Patriots/Cards. Cards are going against an Andrew Luckless team. They were terrible against the Rams wow and the Cardinals have a good D.

5) Broncos are given too many points.

6) Rams are giving too many points. They beat a terrible team and Goff is not that good.

7) Packers +3. Revenge game here.

[stevek173]

Very nice.

I don't agree that 15/hr is a realistic goal at the stakes you're playing, that is more what a very good 1/2 player should be making, or what someone like Rudy should expect to lose.

[RudyRuetigger]

Very nice.

I don't agree that 15/hr is a realistic goal at the stakes you're playing, that is more what a very good 1/2 player should be making, or what someone like Rudy should expect to lose.

steve I thought we were friends???

10 is max I lose per hour

[Jedi Mind Picks]

Monthly Profit: €1,658

Hours Played: 8

Wow guys played my first live cash last night....1/2NL. What a game. This is all I can say....






What a sunrun! Craziest hand of the night in a €1k pot. Me: €400 stack, Player 1: €400 stack, Player 2: €200 stack, Player 3: €200 stack. I get KcQc. 3bet pre, 4 players call. Flop comes JcTd7c. I check, player 1 cbets, player 2 jams, player 3 calls, I re-jam, player 1 calls. Flop is 5s. River is 8c.
Player 1: TT
Player 2: JTo
Player 3: 77

I win with the K high flush on the river!!!!! This was played in the back of a pub so I had to gtfo of there just in case somebody wanted to break my kneecaps.

How to win tooth brush?

[stevek173]

I actually play pro live, mainly 1/2. A little 1/3 here and there and very rarely 2/5.

My stats since I've been keeping track:

Sessions: 48
Gross Profit: $5,820.50
Hours: 449.75
Gross Hourly Wage: $12.94

What I can tell you guys as far as advice is people aren't bluffing at the lower stakes very often so you don't want to be playing sheriff with your top pair because if you do you'll go broke quick. Discipline is very important as is patience. You always want to treat all players with respect, especially someone you see as a fish because repeat business is important. Nothing annoys me more than seeing a usual player lose it on a fish because they made a bad call and won. You want them to feel comfortable coming back and staying there. I find for myself that keeping very detailed stats helps, both exact wage and if I feel I made a mistake I log it in and then I keep track of what my wages would be with no mistakes. The long term stats are very reassuring after a bad session, and keep you grounded after a heater. Opponent selection is key as well - you can't have a "fish list" like you can online but you can switch tables/venues as you please. A venue that you like is priceless.

It really is a great way to make money, I can play 14 hours and not feel very tired because I love it so much.

BOL at the tables.

[sweep]

Monthly Profit: €1,658

Hours Played: 8

Wow guys played my first live cash last night....1/2NL. What a game. This is all I can say....






What a sunrun! Craziest hand of the night in a €1k pot. Me: €400 stack, Player 1: €400 stack, Player 2: €200 stack, Player 3: €200 stack. I get KcQc. 3bet pre, 4 players call. Flop comes JcTd7c. I check, player 1 cbets, player 2 jams, player 3 calls, I re-jam, player 1 calls. Flop is 5s. River is 8c.
Player 1: TT
Player 2: JTo
Player 3: 77

I win with the K high flush on the river!!!!! This was played in the back of a pub so I had to gtfo of there just in case somebody wanted to break my kneecaps.

Nice toes Baller!

[stevek173]

[Ballerholic]

Steve- thanks man, I think it's very tough to achieve and is probably the ceiling for 100nl online or 1/2 live. But yea not realistic enough for any stakes under that. Very rarely do I see bluffing happen and if it does happen it's from a maniac whale who you label right there and then. I actually so many nitty players at the table it's crazy. But very bad nitty. Nice stats btw, you are a full time poker pro?

Jedi/Sweep- LOL. BTW those are my GF's toes, I don't paint mine bro!!!!

[Ballerholic]

Monthly Profit: $520.39

Hours Played: 43.5

Sports Overall: $455.75


I took a pretty big hit in the cash games online. Still up a pretty decent amount for the month which is good and averaging about $10/hour. Volume is not too bad considering I just started school again along with my part time job. Goal is to finish month at 110 hours of play.

[stevek173]

Steve- thanks man, I think it's very tough to achieve and is probably the ceiling for 100nl online or 1/2 live. But yea not realistic enough for any stakes under that. Very rarely do I see bluffing happen and if it does happen it's from a maniac whale who you label right there and then. I actually so many nitty players at the table it's crazy. But very bad nitty. Nice stats btw, you are a full time poker pro?

Jedi/Sweep- LOL. BTW those are my GF's toes, I don't paint mine bro!!!!

Yes I went full time recently. It is nice in many obvious aspects that you have no one telling you what to do, no schedule to keep, etc. etc. - entirely your world. Want to get drunk? Sure. What to take an hour long dinner break? Go ahead, but don't expect a 401k to be accruing. Losing just sucks and can really be tough after a few rough sessions, but like I said the long term stats are nice to look at to reassure you during bad runs. Personally as important as results are I try to focus on how I played, for instance yesterday I made a very sick fold with kings to aces on a low board so even though overall it was a down session (save for a bonus I hit) I did make that very professional fold and played pretty perfectly all day so that's cool. If you have a venue that gives nice bonuses it's good as well, personally I incorporate those into my roi stats. I know they skew the numbers a little but I figure I'm the one putting myself there at that time and place, so it's deserved.

Ty on the stats, agreed on whales/nits. Very nice stats for you as well, you sound like a heck of a player. keep fighting the good fight man and thanks for sharing it with us.

[Ballerholic]

wow I think that is just so cool! If you don't mind me asking, where do you live/play? Yea if you are able to be a poker pro full time it is probably the easiest most stressful life ever haha. But then again I can think of way more stressful jobs that don't bring an easy life. I think the most important part of the life is having freedom. Just the ability to go and visit locations/friends all over the world and stay as long as you want while being able to "work" as much as you want is definitely the greatest perk. It is also such a fun game. You ever play any online poker steve?

[stevek173]

wow I think that is just so cool! If you don't mind me asking, where do you live/play? Yea if you are able to be a poker pro full time it is probably the easiest most stressful life ever haha. But then again I can think of way more stressful jobs that don't bring an easy life. I think the most important part of the life is having freedom. Just the ability to go and visit locations/friends all over the world and stay as long as you want while being able to "work" as much as you want is definitely the greatest perk. It is also such a fun game. You ever play any online poker steve?

I play on the east coast in the US. NJ, MD, Pa, De. Agreed on the freedom/stress. When you have a few bad sessions in a row it's like should I really be doing this with my life and other self defeating thought processes. It's certainly not for everyone. But like I said this goes back to keeping the long term numbers as reassurance
that it makes sense. The bottom line with this or anything else is that if the money is there it's working, and if it isn't - it ain't. Personally as someone who was in banking for over ten years I'm very good/quick with numbers which helps a lot in certain situations at the table.

I played online for a long time before "black Friday" if you know what that is. Since I'm in the States and not in NJ options are very limited and for options that do exist I'd be worried about swift withdrawals.

I do and don't miss online. It's so nice to wake up, open up your laptop and get to "work" but being disciplined with that and avoiding distractions is nearly impossible.
I also, despite overall success (to a degree) online, believe collusion is rampant, even at smaller stakes. Despite
zero overhead for playing online playing live works better for me.
What would you say you make roughly online per hour overall?

[sweep]

I actually play pro live, mainly 1/2. A little 1/3 here and there and very rarely 2/5.

My stats since I've been keeping track:

Sessions: 48
Gross Profit: $5,820.50
Hours: 449.75
Gross Hourly Wage: $12.94

What I can tell you guys as far as advice is people aren't bluffing at the lower stakes very often so you don't want to be playing sheriff with your top pair because if you do you'll go broke quick. Discipline is very important as is patience. You always want to treat all players with respect, especially someone you see as a fish because repeat business is important. Nothing annoys me more than seeing a usual player lose it on a fish because they made a bad call and won. You want them to feel comfortable coming back and staying there. I find for myself that keeping very detailed stats helps, both exact wage and if I feel I made a mistake I log it in and then I keep track of what my wages would be with no mistakes. The long term stats are very reassuring after a bad session, and keep you grounded after a heater. Opponent selection is key as well - you can't have a "fish list" like you can online but you can switch tables/venues as you please. A venue that you like is priceless.

It really is a great way to make money, I can play 14 hours and not feel very tired because I love it so much.

BOL at the tables.

Stevie where are you playing? How many days/hours per week are you on the grind? What app are you using to track your live sessions? Surely you were tracking before you decided to go fulltime. Lets gets some pics of the rooms you are playing in. Cheers

[RudyRuetigger]

steve is a pro??

now ive seen it all

he could not beat 1c/2c online if I spotted him $100

[Ballerholic]

Steve- I estimated my hourly to be between $8-$10 while playing online. So yea I make more playing live, but online I can play wherever and whenever. Also casinos over here aren't open 24/7. I'm going to play some live this weekend though, probably Saturday night!

[stevek173]

Sweep I use text document and calculator. Have you heard of them? Pics upcoming.

Rudy brings up a very valid point.

Baller that sounds pretty very solid for the stakes you're playing, plus no travel expense is big. It looked like from your pic that aside from outstanding toenails you're not in the states, correct? Man do I miss pre black friday internet poker here in the states.

[Ballerholic]

Steve there are poker apps you can use to calculate live winnings and keep record. I use "Poker Income". Also those are my GF's toenails man....Yes I live in Ireland, although I am American. Also no tax on gambling winnings over here!

[sweep]

stevie i call bullsh*t pal.....take a pic at a brick n' mortar poker table with a stack of chips and a current day newspaper. 500 points says you cant by this Saturday. Prove me wrong Stevie!!!!

[stevek173]

stevie i call bullsh*t pal.....take a pic at a brick n' mortar poker table with a stack of chips and a current day newspaper. 500 points says you cant by this Saturday. Prove me wrong Stevie!!!!

You want pics way too much and at no point would I ever have anything to prove to you Sweep!

PASS

[ChuckyTheGoat]

Stevie...sweeper is calling u out. Prove him wrong.

Later this year, the 3 of us are all going to be at the same FINAL TABLE.

[ChuckyTheGoat]

You want pics way too much and at no point would I ever have anything to prove to you Sweep!

PASS

Stevie takes the hi-road and gets back to the tables, where he is going to stack his opponent.

[stevek173]

Steve there are poker apps you can use to calculate live winnings and keep record. I use "Poker Income". Also those are my GF's toenails man....Yes I live in Ireland, although I am American. Also no tax on gambling winnings over here!

I knew those weren't your toes man (lol). Yeah, I used to use poker tracker back in the day. I will check out poker income, I appreciate it.

[ChuckyTheGoat]

Stevie, I'm watching "Rounders" on auto-recycle. I can almost quote the whole movie:

"I pay Alimony. My kids eat."