Positive Cash Flow

I’ve mentioned recently that I have begun playing poker online for real money. I also mentioned that once I started, I’d post how I’m doing. Well, as of today, I’m in the black!! But it’s not as good as it sounds (I think).
Before today, I had not been doing so well. I may have played a total of 2 hours for a profit out of the 7 or so hours I’d played. And, net earnings were negative. One of my shining moments was finishing 4th in a “sit & go” no-limit tournament, placing “in the money.” I won $9 off of a $5.50 entry.
But the strategy I’m studying is “limit” hold ‘em, not “no-limit”. And I know that patience is a HUGE part of the strategy I’m using. The book I’m studying suggests that it can take in the neighborhood of HUNDREDS of hours using their strategy to BE GUARANTEED a profit.
Well, the “limit” strategy isn’t doing all that great for me (OR, more likely, I’m not following the strategy exactly as it should be followed). When playing in “limit” cash games (non-tournament), I have my hours where I’m playing at a profit (and at a profit level higher than the strategy). But, I also have those hours where the loss level is higher than my earnings level. So, I’ve been playing at a losing place.
And what’s more frustrating is that I’m playing at the cheapest limits. I imagine that once I step up in limits, it’ll be THAT MUCH MORE difficult. Ugh!
Here’s a hint for anyone looking to start out for real money: Don’t base any of your skill on how you played with “play money”. It’s so different, that you wouldn’t even believe it!
Well, today I had a bad hour, followed by a good hour, followed by a bad hour. That brought me to 3 profitable hours out of 9, and still a net loss. And I got frustrated.
So, since I did well in the first sit & go, I decided to try again. And in my second sit & go, I finished 5th. For the particular sit & go I entered, you have to finish in the top 4 to win anything. So, it was yet another frustration!!!
So, since I had finished 4th and 5th, I couldn’t be that bad. I decided to try the same type of sit & go tournament (again, no-limit) one more time. For $5.50, eighteen people are playing to finish in the top 4 to make money. Places 5 – 18 get nothing!
Well, this seemed to be an even more challenging table than the others. There was no player who fell out very quickly by going all-in too early. So, I used my patient strategy (similar to the strategy I use for limit hold ‘em), and made it to the final table (the final 9 players of the original 18). And then, next thing you know, the first hour was up, and it was break time. At this point, there were 7 remaining players, and I was pretty low in chips compared to the others. I only wanted to finish in the top 4… I was still frustrated!
Read the Extended Entry to see how I finished…

So, after the break, I continued using the same strategy… but I got to the point where I pretty much had to go all-in to continue. And when I did, I won the hand… and that gave me a little bit of a buffer. And then the sixth place person lost. And then I had a HUGE win!!! At this point, I have more chips than anyone else on the table! This helps me out in a couple of ways: First, I can just “not bet” unless I have to, and this will maintain my lead. Remember my goal is to reach the final 4!!! But having the lead also gave me another advantage: I could “bully” some of the other players, or use my chips to protect my blinds (blinds are the forced bets). So, if I noticed that I was playing against someone who had a low number of chips, I could bet a high amount of chips (practically regardless of what cards I hold), and if they were unsure of their hands, they would be forced to fold. I only needed to do this once 5 or 6 hands, to protect my blinds. And if I did it more often, I could essentially drain some chips from my opponents.
Next thing you know, I’m in the final 4. And I’m still the chip leader. That means I’m guaranteed to make a profit for the sit & go, but it was possible to make even more. Fourth place pays $9, third place pays $18, 2nd pays $27, and the winner gets $36. I wasn’t playing for fourth anymore… I was playing to win!
And things would go back and forth with no real movement for a while. I liked watching some of the other players try to take each other out. Because I could still maintain my chip lead, while someone else would leave. As the 4th place person left, I got an extra $9. And then the third person left, I got yet another $9.
It was down to 2 people, and I would be winning at least $27!!! The chips were close, although I had a chip lead, I could not rest on my laurels. Every hand now required a bet, and if I folded, I lost chips. This could be a back and forth, drag out battle!! And mentally, it could be draining.
So, on the first hand, I was given some good cards, ones I would have played with against a full table. Usually when the game goes heads up, some marginal hands can be played. But I had a good hand. And my opponent decided to raise me. He could have had a good hand, but I had the odds in my favor. So, I raised back. If he was bluffing, he might fold when I raised. Instead, he re-raised, and went all-in. My hand looked good, and the odds were in my favor. I called! This was it!! If I win this hand, I win the whole tournament. If I lose the hand, then it’ll be very had to dig out of this whole.
Well, finally, his cards didn’t come. I won the tournament, and more importantly won $36. A profit of $30.50 in under 2 hours. This tournament won me about $17.25 an hour. Not a bad wage for just playing cards!
So, finally, with this win, I’m in the black. I’ve made a profit playing online poker. The sad thing, though – my net winnings are at a rate of $0.50 per hour – nothing remarkable! BUT, the strategy I’m using (and at the limits I’m playing) is supposed to yield a profit of $0.50 per hour (I play the $0.25/$0.50 limits… average expectations are about one big bet per hour… in this case, the big bet is $0.50). So… with all said, this brings me to where the strategy should have me.
I guess the hard part will be going back to the limit cash tables, and seeing if I can keep my winnings where my expectations are.
If it weren’t fun, it wouldn’t be worth doing (could you imagine working for 50 cents per hour?). I’m hoping that this is a sign of things to come. That eventually, I’ll work myself up to the next limits (where profits can accumulate more quickly).
But for right now, I’m very happy that I won a sit & go!!! For now, I have a positive cash flow!