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Hey guys wanted to share my little journey with you guys, leave this up as a milestone marker, and ask you guys for your opinions on what i should do next.
August 2020 i got an email from Americas card room trying to get me to come back and play on their site. They credited my account $10 and i had another $5 in unclaimed rakeback from many years ago
I was bored so i decided "I'm not going to deposit shit because last time i went on tilt and busted my account on roulette/ blackjack after a couple bad beats and i know thats what they want, but i will take this $15 and play 2nl seriously and try to run it up with strict bankroll management only moving up with 25+ buy ins and avoid roulette/BJ no matter what"
I started playing 2 tables (then 4 later on) of 2nl August 27th 2020 and played well/ ran really well (70bb/100 for 5,000+ hands was pretty swell)...
2nl Graph https://ibb.co/qFtMzn0
Once i quickly hit $125 for 25 buy ins i moved up to 5nl (and only played 2nl after that when i was bored/ tired at 4am to not screw my roll up too much)
5nl graph https://ibb.co/sgLwLxj
Once i had 30 buy ins i moved up to 10nl fast fold and regular tables where i have been since, surprisingly my fast fold win rate is even slightly higher than my 10nl reg tables (both 10-11bb/100). I'm now playing 12 regular tables at a time 8x 6 max + 4x 9max and still winning pretty solid.
10nl reg+blitz graph https://ibb.co/V9LMyqh
Total graph as of today $1,645 total https://ibb.co/z6YbH84
Best part is no matter how tilted i got i stayed off of roulette and blackjack for 5 months now and learned its ok to go to sleep down $ and not to chase losses.
Also like 80% of these hands were played at horrible hours like 12am-6am eastern so the games were way tougher, the few times i played at prime time hours on a friday i won like 10 buy ins in 3 hours 12 tabling ... https://ibb.co/Yt8bnb0
So the question is where do i go from here? Im having fun at 10nl and have easily made The Beast promo for free $50 every week for the past month. I'm rolled for 25nl, but i wonder if maybe i should do 1 month of a poker training site first...
For me which would u guys suggest (i only play cash games) 1 month of Upswing or 1 month of Johnathan Littles pokercoaching.com site? I think he has a 30 day cash game challenge course. Both are $99
Anyone know how much harder 25nl on ACR is than 10nl blitz?
Should i maybe withdraw some and go to Ignition instead for 25nl +sign up bonus?

Hi all
When I was 24 in 2006/07, I grinded a $50 deposit into playing NL200 and NL400 (i.e. 1/2 and 2/4 blinds), mostly on absolute poker, while I was at university. Obviously there are massive amounts of stories more impressive than mine, I thought some might get a kick out of what the games were like then vs now, and a few other thoughts.
Why I started again in 2020
I was a bit bored in lockdown but really enjoyed playing poker with friends over work (on a free site with video calls, with settling up $ after) so downloaded some poker clients to see what the games were like nowadays.
I ended up getting into it, signing up for upswing for 1 month and then RIO for 1 month (both good, but as you'll see below, probably not worth it given the state of the games).
I started in 2020 with a $150 deposit, and after ~70k hands it's sitting at $1300.
But the games are tough. I mean: insane. If you can't bet 25NL - don't feel bad. 25NL now is like 600NL used to be in 2006 and I'm not kidding. It's f'ing ridiculous. In 2006 if someone 3bet they had AK, AA, KK, or were a maniac.
I watched hours of upswing and RIO, and I can't believe the level these guys are teaching at. Literally no one was talking about blockers in 2006 at midstakes. Like, if someone had said I should vary call/bluff based on the fact that my hand held a busted flush draw I would have thought they were some weirdo ASD rainman. People probably did that at high stakes but they didn't talk about it.
Now, people seriously raise the question of whether the NL500 zoom is the toughest game on the planet, and it probably is! That is crazy! I was shit compared to good players, and I beat NL400 (non-zoom admittedly), for higher rates than the all but the very best players seem to beat NL500z!
Games in 2006/07
Let's talk about winrates. We used to measure winrates in "pokertracker big bets", which were 2x blinds. So if you played NL400 (I did), beat the game for 4ptbb/100 (I did), before rakeback (which I also got at ~50% on absolutepoker (lol) with bonuses + rakeback when rake was lower than it is now (!)), it meant that pre-rakeback I was winning at what people call 8bb/100 now. And then I got prolly 1.5bb/100 from rakeback as well.
I don't have my old pt database, but I have a saved old forum post when I "retired" (finished university, had 3 breakeven months at the 2007 games (lol), and got a professional job).
Over the 2 years I played an average of 14 hours a week, and won (with rakeback and bonuses) a total of $99 400 USD, for an average of $68 USD per hour.
Anyone remember that guy EMPIREMAKER2 or whatever his name was? Dude had played 100k hands at something like a 7ptbb/100 winrate (that is, 14bb/100) at NL$1000. Sure run hot but come on!
Games in 2020 and why it doesn't make sense to start poker now
Let's say the high point of poker for all but the very very best is the NL500zoom game. Let's say you can get 1k hands in per hour, and with bonuses, your winrate is 2bb/100. From my understanding, this is a very solid winrate at this game. That is 2 x 5 x 10 = $100 USD per hour.
That is pathetic. You would have to have immense natural talent, insane dedication, and huge grinding to build a massive bankroll to be rolled for it, and your reward is $100USD per hour?
Reality check: by the time you get to NL500zoom, it's probably harder than it is now, and the new game will be NL200zoom. Maybe you beat that for 4bb/100, and now your hourly rate is $80USD/hour. And what about next year?
In 2006/07, people talked about the good old days of 2004. In 2011, they were talking about 2007. In 2014, they were talking about pre-black friday. Now people hark back to 2014.
In 2025 they'll be talking about how easy the games were in 2020. If they're not it's because widespread real-time solvers have actually destroyed the game and it's just not being played.
Look at Doug Polk. Dude is a legend but is struggling coming back playing NL400 HU(down 30 buyins?) to train for his match against DNegs.
Mikka Anttonen put it well when he said (here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2POAdRI31vo) that it just doesn't make sense to start a poker career
Conclusion
I brokeven after bonuses/rakeback at my cashgames (NL10 to NL50) in 2020, but won a few MTTs which gave me all my profit. I'm not going to be playing any/much more online poker but I'll leave the money online in case I want to play some MTTs in a few weeks.
​
My suggestion:
- If you like poker as a hobby, softest online games are low stakes MTTs, so maybe fire up two of those if you're keen to play some poker.
- Seems like live poker is way easier. Home games are still fun.
- Cash games might be good for you if:

1. You live in a very poor country and incomes in the local economy are low AND
2. You are exceptionally smart and dedicated AND
3. You can't emigrate AND
4. You have exceptional mental strength/health and won't suffer the burnout all others would.

Anyway, hope this helps someone.

Funfair: Blockchain Solutions for Gaming.
For those of you unfamiliar with Funfair. Here's a brief overview:
Funfair was Founded in 2017, and is an Ethereum-based platform for online casino gaming.
Founded in 2017, FunFair is an Ethereum-based platform for online casino gaming. The online gambling market is predicted to be worth $60 Billion by 2020. Funfair isn’t actually a casino, instead, they licence out the underlying gaming technology to casinos and other gambling platforms.
One of the brilliant things about Funfair is that they market their software to casinos that mainstream audiences already use.
Now, the major challenge faced by casino operators today, especially online casino operators, is the question of trust in their offerings. To put it simply, users are reluctant to trust these services. Players feel insecure about the true odds of the games they’re playing, even if those odds are made available by the casino site.
The reason being, current server based gaming infrastructure is vulnerable to tampering and fraud. And players have no way to verify that everything is fair in the games they’re playing.
Now, Funfair have been able to solve the problem of trust, in online gambling. By building technology that cannot cheat anyone. Funfair runs on Blockchain, and Ethereum smart contracts it offers players a transparent, fair and publicly audit-able gaming experience. Player protection and provable fairness are guaranteed.
Transparent RNG ensures that the games are provably fair. Game logic is verifiable and run by Blockchain smart contracts.
Unlike other Blockchain casinos, Funfair games play as fast as any traditional online casino.
No bank account is required, so deposits and withdrawals are virtually instant. There's no need to trust a casino with your funds because funfair games let you play straight from your Crypto wallet. Winnings for every game are held in escrow by the Blockchain and paid out instantly.
For operators, fewer servers, fewer databases, fewer security & technical staff, as well as fewer internal personnel, means that costs are significantly reduced. And, no fees or charge-backs for the operator.
Funfair powered casinos' run on Blockchain, which is resistant to hardware failure, power outage or attack.
In short, Funfair casinos are faster, easier, and cheaper to create than traditional software.
The Funfair Team: Now, the team. The team is an all star team of 50 plus individuals. The leadership are industry veterans and experts in the gaming field. Arguably, the most accomplished team in Crypto. When you consider their combined gaming industry experience, relevant entrepreneurial and business experience, as well as an extraordinary track record of prior success, in the gaming industry. I would, at least, put the team on the same standing as the team at ripple, but would have to award the Funfair team extra points for their prior track record of success in the gaming industry.
Jez San OBE: Jez San the CEO and Co-founder of funfair, came to the project with an extensive background in gaming and online gambling that stretches back to 1982, as well, he has a more modern appreciation and experience in Cryptocurrency circles.
Jez received his first computer at the age of twelve in 1978. Within a year he'd taught himself assembly language for several microprocessors.
He founded Argonaut Software as a teenager in high school as a way to get software consulting jobs with large companies. He worked on security systems with British Telecom and Acorn. In 1984, at 18 years of age, he started developing his first game, Skyline Attack for the Commodore 64, he also co-wrote a book, Quantum Theory, about the Sinclair QL. And, he became a wizard (admin) at Essex MUD, the world's first multiplayer online role-playing game.
His late-1986 game Starglider for the Atari ST and the Commodore Amiga sold hundreds of thousands of copies (earning him £2 per copy in royalties). The money helped launch Argonaut as a larger company that started hiring other people in 1986.
In 1996, Argonaut received external funding from Apax Partners and was publicly listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2000.
He also helped found ARC International when it was spun out from Argonaut in 1998 and was its largest shareholder on IPO.
Between 1999 and 2002, he founded Codeplay and is currently the majority shareholder.
He received an OBE (Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) in 2002, the first explicitly awarded for services to the computer game industry.
He founded Crunchy Frog Ltd, which in 2005 became online poker company PKR. An online poker room that allowed users to play poker in a virtual reality setting.
In 2008, he co-founded mobile application developer and publisher Origin8. Which produces iPhone and BlackBerry software, and has offices in London.
Jeremy Longley: The CTO of Funfair is Jeremy Longley, who was a co-founder of PKR.com. Longley has extensive experience in both 2D and 3D game creation and in the past has led teams to develop innovative HTML5 and Android products, cashier systems, account management features, and third party system integrations.
He also has an MA in Computer Science with 1st Class Honours from Cambridge University. He seems to be a dominant figure behind a lot of the tech at Funfair.
Oliver Hopton: Funfair’s third founder, Oliver Hopton, has over 15 years experience building gaming products. Including 10 years as Software Development Manager at PKR and 18 months as CTO at EveryFan. He, along with Longley, also appears to be a leading figure behind a lot of the tech at Funfair.
Stefan Kovach CCO at Funfair: Stefan was previously Marketing director at PokerStars for nearly 12 years.
James Harrison Director of Corporate: James was Compliance and Licensing Director at Gaming Realms for 3 years, and CEO at AlchemyBet for 5 years, 5 months.
The FUN Token: FUN is the native token that powers every aspect of the Funfair gaming ecosystem. It is the betting chip that pits player against casino, the financial reward paid to developers for their games, and the fuel that enables key processes on the network.
Ownership of individual tokens is anonymous.
A total of just under 11 billion FUN tokens were created on June 22, 2017, and no more will be created. There are 5.3 billion FUN in circulation. With this fixed supply, the token is deflationary and should experience increases in price over time as demand for it increases. Furthermore, Funfair singe all FUN that are collected as fees. Singe is a term that refers to very very long-term cold storage, and with the potential to be destroyed, when the regulatory atmosphere permits. Taking these tokens out of circulation, in this way, should also put upward pressure on price.
Importantly, casinos' must stake enough FUN to cover payouts / winnings. Which basically means that a lot of FUN will be locked up in the networks growing list of casinos'.
Now, we are currently in a major bear market. But, do stop to remember, that this does not reflect on Funfair. What is does reflect on is the current state of the market. Markets are cyclical and I, personally, expect a recovery and corresponding bull market will be forthcoming (Just my opinion).
Partnerships: Funfair have a number of partners.
Spike Games is one. Spike Games is a well-known creator of slot games. Funfair partnered with them in April this year. Spike are assisting in the creation of new Blockchain versions of popular slot games.
Big Wave Gaming is another partner. Big Wave is a Sydney based slot game creator, with a focus on Asian markets. The partnership was created to give Funfair better access to Asian markets.
And of course, RakeTheRake. Rake the Rake is the largest and most reputable Rakeback affiliate in the worldwide poker market today.
CasinoFair: Funfair has launched the first brand to go live on their network: CasinoFair.
CasinoFair, under its tagline ‘Famous for Fairness’, goes beyond traditional limitations and offers players the fairest experience possible using decentralization of the Blockchain as well as Fate Channels, which is Funfair’s proprietary version of generalized state channel technology.
Players use FUN to play, directly funded from their Crypto wallet, a growing range of premium games are available on CasinoFair. Including Funfairs latest titles, Wheel of Fun, Fate of Thrones and FunDice, along with a host of popular casino games such as European Roulette and Blackjack.
CasinoFair will only get bigger and better, as Funfair evolves from offering a service to the Crypto community to disrupting the mass gaming market.
Sales Funnel: Funfair is currently putting a lot of emphasis on optimizing CasinoFair's sales funnel. This will make it significantly easier and faster for players to start playing on Funfair powered Casinos' going forward!
Funfair is also putting a lot of emphasis on players being able to purchase FUN directly at the Casino.
We can expect to see these improvements in the weeks, and months ahead.
Funfair players can look forward to a significantly streamlined entry into FF powered casinos'.
New Games: Funfair also anticipate a steady roll out of new games over the coming weeks and months! Including space slots and pirate slots, two more wheels, an Alice Cooper slot, as well as, a fishy slot, from outside game developers. Along with some other stuff too. There's a lot happening at Funfair. The Fishy slot is apparently insane and something to really watch out for. These games will add to Funfairs ever expanding line-up of games.
RaketheRake Casino: Also, the second Casino on the Funfair network is set to be launched this quarter. It will be operated and marketed by RaketheRake. For those of you unfamiliar with RaketheRake, they are the largest and most reputable Rakeback affiliate in the worldwide poker market. RaketheRake currently work in conjunction with all of the top poker rooms to increase traffic to their casino sites and secure the best Rakeback deals for their players. The Funfair powered casino will be the first casino owned and operated directly by RaketheRake.
Funfairs Competitors: Funfair has a few Crypto-based competitors but is far ahead of the competition. Nevertheless, with the popularity of Blockchain gambling, as well as the sheer size of the market it wouldn’t be surprising to see more competitors enter the space.
Decent Bet, Edgeless, and Dao.Casino are some Blockchain-based casinos. However, by licensing out their tech to casinos, Funfair isn’t in direct competition with these projects. Instead, Funfair faces competition from platform providers in the traditional online gambling space such as Kambi, Gig, and EveryMatrix.
In Summary: I'd have to say I rate Funfair very highly among all the Crypto projects out there. They have excellent leadership, with a proven track record of success, a great team, a lot of industry experience, a great concept, and a working product to back it up, strong Tokenomics, with FUN being needed to fuel every aspect of the Funfair network. Additionally, all fees are singed, as well as, casinos' having to stake enough FUN to cover casino payouts.
If anyone can find a silver-lining in the current environs it's gonna be the best and brightest of crypto folks.