The Journey of Noroma - Salmon swimming against the current - Cash Games poker journal

[noroma]

Hello! My name is Jonas and I am a 20-year-old student from Denmark. I have been playing poker on and off for the last two years. 
I have been playing a lot on Pokerstars with mixed success although profitable, but once I realized I could play on a client as smoothly as Unibet, where HUDs weren't a thing I turned to Unibet. Since then I have been a winning player. My personal finance is horrible since I have to care for myself, and being a teenager living in an expensive country means that I end up spending a lot of money. This has meant that I've always had to withdraw money to survive, meaning that my bankroll tends to go up only to go down when I'm in serious need of some quick cash. 

Early February I started a challenge. 15 Euro bankroll that I wanted to turn into 2500 €. Since then a little less than a month has passed. Earlier today my bankroll was at 170 € and rising and I even had a fair amount of money outside the game for me to use, which meant my bankroll wasn't in jeopardy - until I had to find 250 € for a computer reparation. I managed to pay it off, but I had to use my saving plus every penny left for the rest of the month - so unexpected finances meant that I've had to withdraw 120 €. 

So that leaves me with 45 € to build upon, which I consider enough!

I have enough for 11 buy-ins + I have extra money available in the form of Bonus points, which I can use to top up if everything goes to . 
My goal with poker is to make some money on the side and also have fun - both of which I am. I want to be able to withdraw money from my Poker account to put in my savings account every month while also allowing for my bankroll to grow. 

My guideline to follow:

4 NL: 4 - 200 €
10 NL: 200 - 650 €
25 NL: 650 - 1500 €

Every month I want to be able to withdraw 30 % of my bankroll with my minimum amount withdrawn being 50 €.
Although time doesn't really allow for it, I want to be looking at at least 1000 flops every week.
I will be 4-tabling. I will be studying and reading books - Please give tips if you think a Good 

 

I will post hands that I think highlights some of my flaws. I want to promote discussions and hope for honest critique if you think I miss played a hand

[Ametrine]

@noroma welcome to the community - it's always good to see new poker journals pop up in here 

And of course, best of luck with the bankroll challenge and also persistence for improving your game 

[steppek77]

Welcome to the Community!

First of all, you are not a teenager any more as long you are 20 years :)

It is fun to play poker, but when you are a student is much better to finish the school. Get a job and then play poker :)

Anyway, good luck with the poker!

[noroma]

"First of all, you are not a teenager any more as long you are 20 years" Shhhh, don't burst my bubble :D 

I do have a job. I guess it would be more correct to say that I consider Poker a hobby with benefits ;) 

[noroma]

First 4 NL 4-tables session finished. Played for about 1 hour, and I was lucky in regards to table selection since I met some soft competition, lots of nits plus a string of good hands meant that I finished with 18 euro profit. I'm about to finish my homework and then I'll eat something. I will probably do another session later tonight

Mike had been a loose player, raising and calling with many marginal hands. 
Didn't have to much information about Golden.

Hands this session:
Mike525: Raises to 0.08 €
SC: Folds
Golden: Calls 0.08 €
BB: Folds
Sb: Folds
BB Hero [Qd, Jc]: Calls 0.04 €

**Flop** [As, Ts, 4c]
Hero checks
Mike525 checks
Golden checks

**Turn** [As, Ts, 4c] [Kh]€
Hero checks
Mike bets 0.06 €
Golden calls 0.06 €
Hero raises 0.06 to 0.22 €
Mike calls 0.16 €
Golden calls 0.16 €

**River**[As, Ts, 4c] [Kh] [9s]
Hero checks
Mike bets 2.70 € and is all in
Golden folds
Hero calls 2.70 €

Hero shows ace high straight
Villain shows [Kc, 9d] two pairs

Hero wins 6.26 €

Would any of you have played it differently?

 

 

Bankroll at beginning of session: 45 €
Bankroll at the end of the session: 63 €
Result: +18 €

[Mynona]

Welcome to the community and good luck with your challenge :) 

[noroma]

90 minutes session done - 4-tabling at 4 NL.

Bankroll at beginning of session: 63 €
Bankroll at the end of the session: 76 €
Result: +13 €

 

I ran really bad in the beginning against a maniac who pretty much called everything.

Hands: 

**PF**
Soacr: Folds
Lester: folds
Hero [Qd, Th]: Raises to 0.12 €
BB: Folds
SB: Folds
Villain: Calls 0.08€

**Flop** [Tc, 7s, 9c]€
Villain checks
Hero raises 0.16 €
Villain calls

**Turn** [Tc, 7s, 9c] [Ts]€
Villain bets 0.29€
Hero raises to 0.58€
Villain calls 0.58 €

**River** [Tc, 7s, 9c] [Ts] [2s]
Villain bets 4.05 into 1.6 € pot and is all-in
Hero ????

What should hero do?

And another hand vs loose nit who was in at least 85 % of all flops, and who accumulated some chips:

**PF**
Villain: Limbs
Folded to hero in SB [Js, Kc]: Raises to 0.20 €
BB folds:
Villain calls 0.16 €


**Flop** [Qd, Ts, 4h]
Hero bets 0.24 €
Villain calls

**Turn** [Qd, Ts, 4h] [Th]
Hero bets 0.46 €
Villain calls 0.46 €

**River** [Qd, Ts, 4h][Th] [9h]
Hero bets 1.84 €
Villain raises to 3.68 € and is all in
Hero calls

Villain shows [Td, 3d] Three of a kind, tens
Hero shows king high straight and wins 9.11 € pot

 

[radge1]

Good luck Jonas....I wonder if you can out blog @MoreTBC 

[noroma]

The first session of the day went along pretty well. I might play another session later tonight!
Bankroll at beginning of the session: 76 €
Current bankroll: 94 €
Profit: +18 €

[noroma]

Last session of today!

Bankroll at the start of session: 94 €
Current bankroll: 120 €
Result: + 26 €

 

Done for today. 44 € profit for today means that my bankroll has gotten back to a really safe place. Hopefully, tomorrow will work as well, but other than that next week will be very busy in regards to school, so I definitely won't be able to play that much. An hour every day would be the dream scenario.

 

 

Flop reached today: 272 Flops

[BonusPater]

Welcome to the community @noroma! Where in Denmark are you from?

A pretty decent start you've got :)

I think it'd be great with some screenshots of interesting hands you've played, and even a screenshot of the balance at the end of each day - I think images tend to drive more interaction than plain text. Would also be great with a graph showing the progress, to make it a bit easier getting an overview. At your request we can send you an Excel document showing the flops seen, played hands, buy-in amount and profit/loss for every day :)

[noroma]

Oh hell yeah, that Excel documents sounds juicy!

[noroma]

Done after 230 flops. I've had some pretty easy sessions, although with less maniacs than usual, but the tables were mostly soft with a few players with a bit too much confidence. 

 

7.15 € pot was a pf all in call.
7.68 € was a flop bet that I reraise shoved all in and lost

He reraised pf, I decided upon calling, he raised flop, I called, he raised all in on turn and I called.

10 10 hand - He bluffed on all streets with me cold calling

5 5 hand - He insta checked and insta called my 3/4 pot raises on flop and turn and called my pot sized raise on river. I possibly could have extracted some more value, but I had him on top pair and not willing to fold it down, but decided upon not raising enough to scare him away.

 

Bankroll at the beginning of the day: 118 €
Current bankroll: 146 €
Profit: +28 €

 

My epic 9. grader excel skills!

[BonusPater]

https://www.twitch.tv/davitsche at the same table as you :)

[noroma]

I didn't have time enough for anything other than a short session, and it yielded a 3 euro profit. I probably won't have time for a session today, and with terms tests all of next week at my gymnasium, time might be limited. :)

 

 

bankroll: 148 euro
Bankroll profit since day 1: +103 euro

[noroma]

Been a bit busy the last few days, so I've only been able to play a few short sessions, and in the end, I'm still at 148 euros. 

I have some exams this week so I probably won't play that much throughout the week either.

 

 

f

[noroma]

Weekly update:

As I've already said my time has been limited this week, but I've still managed to play some short sessions in between study breaks. 

Nothing major has happened, but I have been playing less than stellar, to be honest, playing a bit too many hands and not table selecting perfectly. I kinda have to keep reminding myself to always consider what they have, since I tend to forget to do that all the time, once I have played a longer session.

I think I definitely need to read a book soon, since I always feel like my poker skills get a major buff right after I've finished reading the book, resulting in major profits :D

These are the results for the last few days. I will be able to play more next week.

 

Raised pf, got reraised by Krille, we both called. Flop came, me and hellas checked, krille raised 3/4, I called and hellas pushed all in.

[noroma]

Updated bankroll is 163 euros. 

[noroma]

So this actually happened. 

My computer broke down in the middle of my spanish terms last friday which resulted in me not being able to send in my assignment.
It turns out my Harddisc broke, which totally sucks since I just spent 300 euros repairing it two weeks ago. So i have no computer right now except for a piece of garbage barely living by its last breath, only being kept a live due to some weeks old tape holding it together.

 

But yeah, my challenge is a bit on idle mode, since I won't be able to play much, and i really don't have the energy to keep a thread updated on this piece of garbage. Just typing this has been true agony. Half the screen is covered in what looks like blue pixelated alien blood, and it feels like the keys are glued together. I'm  giving poker a try on this computer though.

[BonusPater]

Sucks with the HDD! With all this bad luck in life, I'm sure you'll have a lot of luck in poker, when you start playing again ;)

[noroma]

Thank you, but sadly this whole ordeal means that I'm once again in need of money, and thankfully this lovely side hobby is here to back me up, which means I will have withdrawn 180 euros this month. Sad to see it go from my bankroll, but I am in serious need of my computer for my education, so I can't wait for a better timing, I need the money now.

 

Once again I will start over. I still hope that I won't need to deposit money, but who knows. I have around 40 euros to pay with, and if needed i will be able to top up with some bonus points.