Philossify launches a Full Time Poker career

[Valiant23]

Re: Philossify launches a Full Time Poker career

Pro, what worries me about your system is that you seem to be chasing losses... if you lose a $10 STT then you move up to $20 to try and recover what you've lost. To me that seems to increase the risk of losing your bankroll.

The Pro - Have you ever heard of the Martingdale Staking System?

The Martingale system is a very old and extremely simple system. It is based on the probability of losing infinite times in a row and is usually applied to 'even money' bets. You start with one bet. If you win, you start again with one bet. If you lose, you double your bet. Each time you lose, you double your last lost bet. Eventually you are bound to win. When you win you would recover all your lost bets plus one unit profit against your initial wager. Although infallible in theory, the Martingale system requires a large bankroll. So to put it in simple terms.... I will have a starting Bank of £1550 and this will allow me 5 bets 1. £50 2. £100 3. £200 4. £400 5. £800 Now if I get 5 bets wrong on the trot I break my bank:sad Each bet will be a football bet and will also have odds no shorter than Evens. Each winning bet will add £50 to the Bank This is just an experiment to see if I can do it and if I'm successful I'll be looking into doing it for real. Regards Football-Tipper

have a look at the full thread here; http://www.punterslounge.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20302 I must stress I DO understand the difference between Poker and betting and the element of skill invloved, and I know you are speaking as one good player to another, But. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES should someone who is learning to begin to play or who doesn't have a bankroll to sustain BIG losses consider using this strategy. Any staking or buy-in 'system' that suggest chasing losses cannot be encouraged by PuntersLounge, and as such I have to make people aware of the potential pitfalls.

[hayward2k]

Re: Philossify launches a Full Time Poker career Brael I made it my new year resolution to keep a record of all my poker games this year and it's started really well. Keeping track of where I make and lose money really helps. I have found out within a month and a half that I am more suited to 6 player STT's than I am 9 player. And that a top 2 payout is more rewarding to me than a top 3. Also Turbo and Speed games are a lottery for me and after looking at my results I have decided to stick to standard STT's only. It may be a bit of a tedious thing to do writing down each result and its profit/loss but once you setup a decent spreadsheet in Excel it becomes pretty simple, you will reap the benefits. :ok

[ThePro19]

Re: Philossify launches a Full Time Poker career Ok, to answer Mr V's question first cos it's easier to answer, yes, I know it although didn't know it was called that. It is a typical system one might use on a roulette table when betting on black/red, odd/even, etc. With regards to chasing losses, again, yes, it does sound like that, but I know that I WILL win within a few games (just need to learn to control my frustration when I lose) and therefore make a profit. If you think you might endure big losses, then DO start with $10 games rather than £10 ones. This gives you 3 games before you need to think about moving up to £10 or $20 games. Above all you must have confidence in your game and strategy. I have 100% confidence in both; just need to learn (and I repeat) to control my frustrations when I get beat. if we just work this through a little... 3 games at $10 equates to roughly £19 (including entry fee). 2 games at £10 equates to £22, total £41. A win would give you a profit here of about £4. Or 2 games at $20 equates to about £26, total £45, win profit of about £7. Then 1 game at £20 equates to £22, total either £63 or £67, win profit of £23. Based on that, you could if you'd wished have played another at the lower buy-in. If you still haven't won by this stage (which would be really bad luck or wrong strategy), move up another level. For this strategy, I would say you don't really need much more than about £150 - £200 to make sure you have enough to move up though the levels and eventually make a profit. It was only a sugesstion, it has worked for me (again, when I manage to keep my head!), but, having said that, I'm not looking to make a living from it, just a bit of fun and if I make a little money along the way I'll be happy. And finally, with regards to keeping track of my deposits and withdrawals, I started to at one point, but that soon fell by the wayside and I effectively stopped it. I could I guess go back through my bank statements and work it all out again... hmmmm, maybe I will. But that may get me more frustrated. I think that so long as I am staying within my finances (which I am, I am pretty good at controlling that) then I'm quite happy just to play.

[ThePro19]

Re: Philossify launches a Full Time Poker career

I have found out within a month and a half that I am more suited to 6 player STT's than I am 9 player. And that a top 2 payout is more rewarding to me than a top 3.

Hayward - I figured exactly the same thing, just didn't need to write things down to figure it out. I get bored very easily playing internet poker because of the really slow play. If I try to chat, a lot of players don't like that, so now I've switched the chat off (unless playing with PL'ers). At least with 5 or 6 player tables the total game time is reduced and I can then start afresh.

[jomell]

Re: Philossify launches a Full Time Poker career One question for you Philossify. Do you suffer from Poker burn out? I have been off work for the last four days and have played poker for about on average 5-6hrs a day. When i go to bed at night (sometimes in the morning) i find i'm still playing poker in my sleep :lol I'm sure we all suffer from this and i suppose the answer is to unwind yourself before you go to bed. I have to admit that i couldn't do this for a living.

[Masterplan]

Re: Philossify launches a Full Time Poker career i find the same thing jomell, if i play too much in a day i always dream it, but thats where the cash games i play some into their own, i only need to play a few hours, then can stop, the rest is just mtt freerolls or maxim, for fun

[hayward2k]

Re: Philossify launches a Full Time Poker career

Hayward - I figured exactly the same thing' date=' just didn't need to write things down to figure it out. I get bored very easily playing internet poker because of the really slow play. If I try to chat, a lot of players don't like that, so now I've switched the chat off (unless playing with PL'ers). At least with 5 or 6 player tables the total game time is reduced and I can then start afresh.[/quote'] As Phil says in his early post on this thread, 'Patience is the key'. I myself find it hard to concentrate in the latter stages of an STT. My current stratgey is to play one for the first 15 mins or so then start another and play the 2 simultaneously. This keeps me busy enough to be able to concentrate on the latter stages of the first table, and if i reach heads up play I can put the other on the back burner until the first is over. Not sure if that makes any sense :unsure

[brael]

Re: Philossify launches a Full Time Poker career

One question for you Philossify. Do you suffer from Poker burn out? I have been off work for the last four days and have played poker for about on average 5-6hrs a day. When i go to bed at night (sometimes in the morning) i find i'm still playing poker in my sleep :lol I'm sure we all suffer from this and i suppose the answer is to unwind yourself before you go to bed. I have to admit that i couldn't do this for a living.

I've found myself suffering from this especially after a lengthy MTT. I usually only get to play at night and the likes of Dollar Up doesn't start until 9pm. I should be getting to my bed about 11pm before getting up at 7am. However, if it's going well (HA!) then, naturally, I like to play on and try to win. This may be a factor in me giving up on MTT's for a while... STT's are short and sweet and fit in a bit better with lifestyle (I'm kicking 40 after all and need my beauty sleep!! :lol ). PS Apologies for hijacking your thread Phil!!

[philossify]

Re: Philossify launches a Full Time Poker career

One question for you Philossify. Do you suffer from Poker burn out?

Not at the moment, which I think is partly due to the excitement of a new "job". However I have on occasion, particularly when I've been under the weather that my concentration (and hence ability to play best game) goes downhill - for example couple of weeks ago I had the chesty cough virus that everyone else seems to have had and whilst playing a fair amount didn't have much success (at least I didn't lose). Moral - do not play serious poker whilst under the weather or under the influence. I suspect that at some point I'll suffer burn out which is why I plan to take time off for hollidays etc. and try to take some time off every week - which is difficult at moment as theres so many good freerolls around (NordicBet and P4E). :ok

[philossify]

Re: Philossify launches a Full Time Poker career Week 3 Summary Bad news: :cry Sill behind target in winnings ($353 over 3 weeks) Good news: :ok 3 out of 3 on profitable weeks and the trend is upwardsl. Profit $163 this week ( plus a few more points earned in SO champions league and BetFred Premier league). Somewhat abandoned the STTs, its all GAFs fault pointing out the value to be had on P4E and me reverting to poker whoring (raked hands, freerolls, MTT competitions and bonuses) - maybe thats my natural role :lol . Definitely played the 40 hours - most afternoons spent earning rake points ($1/2 fixed limit on P4E was my best profit center this week especially as I got the $40 bonus) for various value freerolls (P4E various and Nordic $3500 primarily). Having said that not much success in those freerolls - getting close but not close enough! Evenings spent playing aforesaid freerolls and SO dollarup/league and Betfred League. Bit disappointed in betfred league where I just missed out on poker chips but looks like I'll make the cut for thew monthly final. Some success on SO league, so fingers crossed I'll end up in overall profit on that (mind you the next one costs $30 to enter!!!). So profit is rising $163 (£95) which is about half of what it needs to be for my target. Plan to qualify for the P4E $50000 freeroll - it would be nice to get a good placing in that - the optimistic view says that if I go in for enough MTTs eventually I'm going to hit a bigger prize and historically I don't lose money playing them (lots of small payoffs along the way). I should be entering some higher value MTTs ($10 entry upwards) so maybe next month will give up the Betfred League (mind you see what the monthly final brings first) and even (possibly) the SO dollar up games :cry and replace them with bigger prize MTTs. I should try to get back to quick STTs - such as the Ladders again I suppose.

[Oskar]

Re: Philossify launches a Full Time Poker career Philossify, Just come across this thread, very interesting idea and something I wish I could do. One thing I dont see your doing is rakeback, previously I steered away from it as I was primarily a STT/MTT player but betfair now offer 30% rakeback for STT/MTT as well as cash. The money is deposited automatically in your account every month, nothing else to do. You will need to sign up a different username but the bonus of getting 30% of your tourney buyins back every month outweighs this. Im not putting the link up here but I signed up via a regular poster on the betfair forum who is an affliate with this deal, I can give you/anyone details but maybe a better idea is if someone could sort out a PL one? Anyway, just something for you to consider, good luck on your quest!

[philossify]

Re: Philossify launches a Full Time Poker career Well end of week 4. What a rubbish week - made $89 profit and that includes counting the $50 for 9th in the Champions League. Had a bad losing streak on ladders and made most money on the odd MTT result. Didn't do too many hours as I've had that coughing virus thats going the rounds. At least I haven't had a week when I lose money (so far :lol ) - and I am still enjoying my poker. So many bad beats this week that I feel punch drunk (latest one from uglycow in the Champions League) ... if I can escape from this run of bad beats then I might make some real money.:hope Its end of 1st month and profit is $+442 ... was hoping for a lot more. Have decided to change the mix for March,. less is more is my hope so will be playing less during the day and more in the evenings concentrating on MTTs - at least $10 entry in general though I will make an exception for the Champions league. Means I'll probably duck out of the Betfred champions league next month unless the freeroll that the top 30 qualify for proves profitable. The winnings come to about $2.50 per hous play - less than minimum wage by a long way ... more slave wages :rollin . So 1/13th of my financial year gone and only 2.5% or so towards my years target of £10000 instead of the 8% I wanted i.... things have got to get better. :spank Roll on the next month.

[Ovalman]

Re: Philossify launches a Full Time Poker career Phil, can I offer the following advice? A 10 cents STT game on tribeca is the lowest stakes you can play and pretty easy to win on. A $5 STT on Europoker is also a beginners table and just as easy to win on. I know you've been playing Betfair but search out sites where the minimum tables (like Europoker) are $5 or above. Just a thought if your playing STT's. And good luck, I know your a solid player, your still making a healthy profit for something that you enjoy.

[philossify]

Re: Philossify launches a Full Time Poker career Month 2 - week1 (Feb 1 to Feb 7th) Profit this week is $+150 on reduced hours (possibly proving my less is more theory) - 6 days profit/1 day loss. Total profit since start now $+592. 5 weeks and no losing week - should be happy but would like profit to be higher - ROI-wise I suspect I'm doing well - problem is I'm not playing enough hours (partly by choice under my less is more theory), thinking of upping the stakes I play for at end of this month by starting into $30 Ladders games and $20/£10 MTTs, but lets see what the rest of this month gives. MTTs still proving profitable (but not a lot) - typically making it past the bubble on a good number of occasions but not getting to the final table and the bigger payouts. Got to play more aggressively just prior to bubble when I'm lowly stacked, think I'm wimping out too much at that point just so I can make the money and then being stack disadvantaged after the bubble. At least my Ladders play has turned around - and now making a healthy return again on those. Got reasonable positions in the "fun" games SO Challenge and SO Champions League - made some money off the BetFred premier Lg which seems to have discontinued this month.

[Guest gazza271]

Re: Philossify launches a Full Time Poker career Well done mate:clap I look forward to your updates as I'm sure others do:)

[Blade]

Re: Philossify launches a Full Time Poker career Yes, it certainly makes for interesting reading and I wish you well in your new career :)

[philossify]

Re: Philossify launches a Full Time Poker career Played exceeding little serious poker over last week due to asthma playing up - hard to make good decisions when you can't breathe :$ and can't sleep. Nearly decided that this week wouldn't count. Mainly PL related games on SO plus a few raked hands on Littlewoods plus a few freerolls. The points in the SO games will hopefully turn into some dollars first week of April and the littlewoods raked hands will hopefully realise their bonuses next week (when I get to 200 I get £25 and then another 400 and I get another £50). Still made a profit of $26, so thats 6 weeks without a loss. Gonna see doc tomorrow and will get some drugs for my chest which generally make me a bit high :) ..... so don't be suprised in coming week if I'm a little more aggressive. Will hopefully see an improvement both in hours and profits as well. Profits so far now $618. Must do better. Good job I don't have to rely on these poker profits to pay my bills .... they won't even keep me in booze at this rate.

[philossify]

Re: Philossify launches a Full Time Poker career Well my less is more theory seems to work .... profit this week $296, still not quite the £200 per week I'm aiming for, but since I only played about 30 hours this week I am getting closer. Decided that I should only play when I feel like it - stuff the hours. Mention is due to GAF :notworthy :notworthy :notworthy who put me onto the Spin Palace game that accounted for $185 of the profit. At one point I was hoping to win that one! Raked hand results this week much improved - without any noticeable change in tactics - seem to be getting less bad beats on the river. Also feel like I'm playing more variable aggressive poker (trying to get away from ABC style tight play), but by no ways as aggressive as GAF or Penelopeys. So total profit 1st Feb - 21st March (7 weeks) is $914 and a seventh successive week without a loss. :ok

[moFace]

Re: Philossify launches a Full Time Poker career f me wp m8 !!!, can i have a loan?

[^Newbie^]

Re: Philossify launches a Full Time Poker career well played mate . U're on the way to something nice

[philossify]

Re: Philossify launches a Full Time Poker career Well end of the second month (using 28 day months for consistency). Last week was very frustrating :wall :wall :wall ... started off (wed, thursday) with two solid days and thought I was on target for a very good week and then it all went to pieces. Main failure was in MTTs where I was definitely being too impatient - refusing to wait for good cards. Playing like a muppet and generally being beaten by muppets - all-in at times on a hope and a prayer. Anyway I've I've given myself a good talking to and as a result came 2nd in todays lunchtime €5 game on betfair which is a profit of $60 to start the week off with. Still ended the week in profit (that 8 weeks in a row) to the tune of $78 (making total profits so far in 8 weeks $992) The only thing that saved me from a loss this week was low value fixed limit cash games (mainly played to qulaify for the Laddies freeroll) where I showed a profit everyday. I might try a boring week of just playing $1/$2 limit and only the PL MTT games to see what happens. :hope :hope :hope .

[The Quiet Man]

Re: Philossify launches a Full Time Poker career Hi Phil, I'm still following this thread with interest as it's great to see someone 'living the dream' of not having to go to work for a living. :notworthy Well done on continuing to hit a profit each week - that's got to be a good sign even if you're not hitting the targets that you've set yourself. You only need to win a $5 or $10 multi and you'll be ahead - you also know you're capeable of doing so! :dude One that might interest you is a $10 + $1 on Europoker called the Royal Tournament. It has a guarranteed $20,000 and a maximum field of 2400. There is good prize money with around $5000 to the winner and top 240 getting paid. :loon The top 10 also win win tickets (Worth $475+25) to one of our Grand Series of Poker events taking place in April 24th to 28th. I've played a few times and made the money each time just by playing tight - the downside is it's a 9pm on a Saturday night and I've normally been on the drink for at least 9 hours by then.:lol Anyway, good luck for the future and may the poker gods be with you!! :hope

[philossify]

Re: Philossify launches a Full Time Poker career Month 3 - week 1 Its beginning to seem like Groundhog day :unsure . Another week which started with good 1st two days (wed, thu) then went flat. Ended up the week on a profit of $110 (9 weeks in a row profit - just wish the overall amount was more :hope ) which brings profit for 9 weeks to $1102. Haven't started well in the SO champions league so getting Las Vegas tickets this month starting to look unlikely. Think I'm making all the right moves before the flop in general - just getting the wrong results after the flop or getting beat on the river - mind you I can't complain too much after going all in with AJ before flop against QQ - flop showing an A, turn showing a Q and river showing an A. Titan gave me £7 for free which I've now built upto £15 playing cheapo limit cash games (as a sideline whilst playing the odd MTT) - in fact cheapo ($0,25/0.50) limit cash games are a consistent profit maker - 21 days so far with a small profit everyday - got to the stage this week where I almost refused to play MTTs unless I could win the entry fee via these games :rollin . Also been playing SO raked hands (50 per day on the turkish money ones) as they are cheap and quick to get and get me into the 50up freeroll, which in itself ain't that spectacular, but the $2400 game at end of month might be worth it (especially since I generallly make a profit on the qualification as well). The really disappointing games have been the SO $10 MTT games - where I always seem to be close to the money but not quite there. Too many muppets - someday these games must pay off better :hope (think I'm about running even on these overall). Hours-wise I only played about 25 hours last week. Un-suprisingly today has started well - up over a $100 from the 3 and 5 euro games on Betfair so far. Lets see if this week I can continue the positive days for more than a couple of days in a row.

[philossify]

Re: Philossify launches a Full Time Poker career Month 3 - week 2 Another week over and another small win. All started well lasst Wednesday (first day of my financial week) with $+129 then a flat week - mind you I was playing exceeding little as I had various family over and was doing too much social stuff - reckon I only played 6hrs of serious games in total last week. Ended up week $+121 - oh and I did qualify for the win a seat at the WSOP game from the Super Sunday game on SO. Profits so far $1223 and 10 weeks without a losing week :ok . Mind you seriously behind my estimates of what I wanted to make 3 months ago :unsure but I have to hold my hands up and say thet I haven't been putting in the hours.

[philossify]

Re: Philossify launches a Full Time Poker career Month 3 - week 3 Well it had to happen - finally a losing week :cry :cry :cry - lost $67 mainly due to a bad streak on raked hands getting enough MPPs to qualify for the betfair easter special (and then not winning anything in said game). Again, haven't been playing anywehere near as much as I should (laziness mainly) ... finding it very hard to raise the enthusiasm at the moment and taking too many days off doing oter stuff. Believe it or not, I find it very hard taking a losing week in my stride .... even if its only a relatively small loss .... Anyway another week and a half to go before I wander off round Europe for a break (car to South of France then onto South East of Spain mainly) - during which I suspect I'll play very little poker - although I do have a couple of games I've qualified for that I intend to try and make somehow or other. Ongoing Profits so far $+1156 ... lets hope its better next week.

[DAC]

Re: Philossify launches a Full Time Poker career Keep the faith Phil, I look forward to your updates on this thread.

[ColU_FC]

Re: Philossify launches a Full Time Poker career

I look forward to your updates on this thread.

Me too.

[Guest gazza271]

Re: Philossify launches a Full Time Poker career

Me too.

Me three Seriously mate it's a great acheivement to go so many weeks and now have your first week down. As said keep the faith :clap

[runadrum]

Re: Philossify launches a Full Time Poker career I think, and hope, the break will do you good Phil. I guess the problem with turning any hobby into a 'business', or at least needing it for anything more than pocket money, is that it could become a chore rather than the pleasure or thrill (or whatever got you into the hobby in the first place) that it used to be. The horse breeding is the joy of our life (AvonGirl and me) and it would be nice to make some real money out of it (or any to be honest !) but I don't think I would want it to be at the expense of that joy. Here's to a profitable week for you and a good trip :cheers