Yea but LVAC doesn't have a bball court so probably just stick to working out. Besides, even if we did play ball I don't want to embarrass you,

BRAG : I was 2nd team all-state basketball in high school and used to play pickup ball with Dwight Howard.

BEAT : I broke my pinky finger playing ball six months ago and haven't been able to play since.

I have a brand new park near my house that has new outdoor courts. No one is ever there.

which park mschu?

I don't remember the name... some guy. it's in mountains edge near cimmeron and mountains edge pkwy

come play at 24 hour fitness on wigwam and pecos. they have a gym and most of the time a decent game going on.

Well I've made a decent rebound from Wednesday's session. Yesterday went really well and I played one of my better sessions in a while. Due to losing a big flip and a smaller pot where I was a 3:1 favorite I didn't win that much, but I think I played well.

Today I started off with a quick table change to a table where I saw two soft spots. Right away I caught one of their bluffs and went up from there. I was running pretty hot, but not getting a lot of value as people were folding the flop to me a lot. Turned a full house on Q77T with TT and my opponent shoved the turn with KJ, having a straight and flush draw, which was all drawing dead to my boat.

Then this hand came up. 3 limps to me and I limp 68. The SB makes it 35, two calls in front and I call. Flop: Q54 rainbow. The raiser bets 80, first guy folds, second calls, and I call. Usually I shy away from drawing to gut shots but here we were all sufficiently deep and I rated to get paid plenty to compensate for the bet. Turn comes an off suit 3, so I pick up open ended. It checks through. River comes a wonderful 2. Raiser bets 125, middle player folds, and I put him all-in for about a pot-sized bet.



Though as posted above my plan was to stick to 2/5 until after the holidays, now that I hit it I am going to take a shot beforehand, starting tomorrow. It was really a relief more than anything because now, even if I dip below where I am now, I won't be worrying about any dollar amounts except for the purpose of moving down if need be. I really wanted to play out the session, but I ended it early because the potential happiness of winning more was < the potential sadness of dropping back below. I'm just really glad to be done with this dollar amount goal, and its safe to say I won't be making any more of those.

This is easily my happiest moment in poker, and I look forward to the challenge that awaits at 5/10.

As far as where I will play, I'm not really sure. Originally I was going to just head to the Bellagio for the cap game, but now that I've been buying in deep at 2/5 and am starting to really enjoy deep stack play I'm sort of rethinking it. Regardless of where I play, I will be buying in for 100bbs at least for this week just to get acclimated, and increasing my buy-ins as I get more comfortable.

Congrats. I got to the spoiler and was trying to figure out what I missed in the hand before looking at the spoiler. Thought you had the hand locked up.
hit the spoiler button

wp

have you lately been playing 2/5 at just venetian? just wondering if you think that game is better than bellagio, aria, wynn ?

Sincere congratulations cushlash! I'm looking forward to hearing how it goes.

nice job mang!

Yea I've just been playing at the Venetian. This was discussed in more detail earlier in the thread, but basically from my experience the best (and most) 2/5 is at the V.

Thanks guys, first shot at it today!

We expect to see pictures of a massive wall of black chips!

Goo luck. Go go go!!!

Gl today Cush. Fun times

Play your game, brother. You'll be rolling those guys in no time!

Thanks for all the support guys. Today went decently well. Though I was thinking I would end up at Bellagio, Squid texted me that 5/10 was getting off at the V with a must move so I gave that a shot. There was also a 10/20 game going which ran because of a huge whale being in town and I just wanted to see. Reportedly he bought in for a cool mil and lost half of it.

After waiting a bit for a seat, I sat down at the must move with my 100bb stack. I was certainly a bit nervous at first. Luckily I was card dead for the first hour or so, which gave me time to just get use to the different formalities of 5/10. The first being that we are using $10 chips instead of $5 chips. This is actually pretty nice because all the bets are basically using the same amount of chips as in 2/5. I still kept worrying that I was gonna bet too much, like bet 10 chips thinking its $50 when really its $100. None of that stuff happened and after a while everything felt relatively natural.

I didn't really mix it up all that much and stuck to a pretty ABC approach for my first foray into the bigger game. This probably left some money on the table but I wanted to play pretty tight just to get a feel for what people are doing different at 5/10. I noticed people definitely peel lighter on the flop, and there were just generally fewer soft spots. The game was decent for most of my session, though when I left it wasn't great.

I lost a bit at first, mostly due to a couple failed cbets. I also made a hero call with bottom pair and my opponent had turned 4th pair into a bluff and took it down, making me look silly in the process. Then later at the main game against a different player I chose not to bluff catch with KJ high and my opponent showed Q high after I folded. I'd like to say the first hand had nothing to do with my decision to fold in the second, but I'm sure in the back of my head I was worried the guy was turning a pair or KQ into a bluff.

I basically only got into two big hands. The first I had gotten down to about 80bbs and got AK in preflop against QQ and lost the flip. Reloaded for another 100bbs and after winning a couple small pots got all-in with QJ on a QJ5 flop against the table mark's Q6, doubling me up. I actually felt much more comfortable with the deeper stack and will likely start buying in deeper once I get to know the player pool a bit better. From there I pretty much hovered until the end of my session, booking a small win.

All in all I'm pretty happy with my first session of 5/10. I played just over 7 hours and other than maybe the first hour or so I felt comfortable enough. At one point I was actually down more than I've ever been down at 2/5 and it didn't really phase me at all. At times I thought I was playing a bit too tight but I was pretty card dead for most of the session, though maybe it just seemed that way because I was playing more straightforwardly.

More info on the whale dropping 500k please

post on lvl low content - do my best to answer any q's

This is the secret hidden detail I am super impressed by.....

How much were you stuck? Probably around $1,200~$1,500?

Maybe you have a tighter daily stop loss than me....but having never been stuck $1,200~$1,500 @ 2-5 is pretty impressive.

Cheers,

S

I don't have any more really, watched the game for like 30 seconds before I sat at 5/10, saw lots of different colored chips I didn't recognize. The 500k number I heard from others at the table.

Yea I likely have a tighter daily stop loss than you, 3BI. I have lost in that range several times though. When I say I was down more than I've been down in 2/5, it wasn't by much, but still the most I've been down at a poker table before.

Good luck man! Can't wait Til you're crushing it!

Haha....I think our stop losses actually aren't that different. My is 300BB, so $1,500...but I buy in around $750 to $800 and like to top up when I run too close to $500.

ok, same stop loss. I've been buying 200bb at 2/5 lately so I've been bringing 400bb with me but haven't needed the extra 100bb yet. With 5/10 I'm going back to bringing 300bb and buying 100bb at least to start out.

It has really pleasurable to watch your progress.

Cush....I've played w/ you a couple of times, and watched you play at least one other time, we've chatted, and I read your posts. I'm starting to think you're making too big deal outta the move to $5/10. Not that there isn't change in the game, because obviously there is.
Also the thought cross my mind that you're just sharing your thoughts w/ others..more than anything. If this is the case kindly ignore my comments. Maybe a combo of both, 1) you have a little anxiety about changing stakes -very normal & a really mature approach to growing as a poker player, 2) you're sharing your thoughts and anxiety & keeping your thread going -which a lot of people enjoy..partly because they get to live vicariously through you, and partly because you're a talented writer.

Anyway, I was just going to mention that I wouldn't beat yourself up much, or give a whole lot more thought to the "move". You're already a good player with a realistic approach to the game and lifestyle. One nice thing about playing that little 5/10 game at the Bell is you can get to know other players. Respectfully a LOT more players, of ALL different levels come through the Bell then any other card room in Vegas. The game can be "small", however in my estimation that will make the transition all that smoother for you -because its about the same size as the 2/5 game you're playing now. However everyday there are several stacks of $5k+ in the Bell 5/10 game.....them size stacks don't happen everyday, and several of them, in 2/5 games. Additionally, its easy to met people and make new poker freinds, one thing leeds to another, the next thing you know you'll be sitting there playing and recieve a text saying the 10/20 game is really good and you should come play, put your name on the list and you'll be seated quickly.

My point is that not everything is on the surface that you're thinking about. I know you're wanting to grow as a player, and you have the talent & opportunity.....and then more opportunity comes that maybe you haven't thought of, and it just keeps growing.
Don't be afraid to think big....I see too many low stakes player that have reach a plateau in there game and their life, sure they're comfy playing low stakes, and have for years -and more years in the future, but they're *always* going to be low stakes players... I'm not hearing that from you. You have way to much talent, drive, and ambition to get caught up in that low stakes mentality.

Thanks man, me neither.

Thanks, glad you have enjoyed it so far. Hopefully I can make as much progress in the next 6 months as I have in the last.

Thanks for these comments. I'm sorta just sharing how I feel about what I'm doing. I'm not gonna come on here and say "yea I'm totally confident jumping into 5/10" because that wouldn't be the truth. I was extremely nervous, but some of it was excitement. In just 2 sessions of 5/10 a lot of the nervousness has worn off but there is still some. Today I played a short session at the Bellagio and I saw one of the November 9 Jesse Sylvia (the November 9 is what they call the final table of the Main Event at the WSOP). He was talking to some people at my table and it sounded like they were pretty good friends. It made me realize, like you said, how many good players come and go at the Bellagio, and from what I have hear, Sylvia use to grind the game I was currently playing in.

I did make too big a deal about moving to 5/10 but I'm ok with that. I probably pumped it up a bit too much and in reality its the same game on the same tables, just against a bit tougher competition and a different color chip.

........................

As for more on today's session, it was pretty ridiculous. Ran phenomenally good. Made two sets and got paid on both. Turned a flush and won a fairly sizable pot playing it in a way that I think is great, while just a few weeks ago I probably play it way differently. Won a couple other smaller pots in the middle and booked my biggest win yet, not only in terms of $, but also in terms of bbs. All the big pots happened within the first 60-90 minutes. I played a total of about 3 hours and left. There was some turnover and the game became not so great with only one real soft spot. The last straw was a good, aggressive player who I have played with at 2/5 some got moved from the must move to my left and I was like, well I think its time to go. And though I really think it wasn't a great game and all else being equal I should leave and quit for the day or find something else, I also wanted to watch the Survivor finale (I'm such a geek) and I'm sure that helped me get up from the game as well.

Cashing out was actually interesting because I've never cashed that much out before and they needed my players card, ID, asked what game I played, and a few other questions. I felt pretty baller actually haha. The cashier also miscounted my chips and was off by $200 (in my favor). I corrected her before she started getting cash because I saw the total on the adding machine she was using. A small, evil part of me wanted to see if she'd actually be careless enough not to recount and give me the extra money. However, with all the questions being asked I'm pretty sure if that did happen I'd be getting a phone call about it telling me I need to come give the extra money back. I also wouldn't want it to come out of the cashier's paycheck, which is some casino's policy to do, so I just spoke up.

So running good right out of the gate, and even though these first few 5/10 sessions I've played a bit on the tighter side, I think I'm playing some of my best poker. I really think I've turned a corner over my last 100 hours or so. Still lots of improvement to be made though.