Hi gang,

I'm the author of Faulty Bones, a novel about two down-and-out poker players in New Orleans. The novel is available as an eBook on major online retail sites at the moment. The paperback comes out next week. You can Google Faulty Bones for more info, because, for the most part, this thread is not about that book.

Except for my quest to pay for it.

I'm figuring the promotion costs to be around ten grand out of my pocket, because small publishers require their authors to carry the marketing load. No biggie. All I need to do is play me some pokerz!

I'm a NLHE player on Ignition, typically in the $200 game, but sometimes higher. My goal this year is to play 10,000 hands per month and let the chips fall where they may, so to speak. At a dime per hand profit, I might cover my out-of-pocket book costs by October, or is that a pipe dream at these stakes in this game? We'll see, won't we?

My playing style is TAG with overaggressive bet sizing designed to push opponents outside their comfort zone when I'm in a hand. I'll try to post the hand histories of these types of hands.

Oh, and I'm planning to post the histories on a one or two-day lag so we can see the opponents' hole cards from the hand histories I get from Ignition.

What else is unique about this thread? Well, for one, some of you might call me an Old Man Coffee, since I turned sixty-three this past year. But I am an exercise junky addicted to long, pre-dawn walks, somewhat shorter lunch time walks, and moderate dinner time walks, all adding up to a little over eleven miles per day in this year just ended. I'm working on a long streak of consecutive nine-mile days that will reach a full two years in duration later this month. I watch the calories, too, holding my weight between 145 and 150 pounds. So believe me, you would never guess my age on sight. The goal is to live to 108 or so, and that means I have forty-five more years to go, so I'm still just a kid, really.

I also run a small finance company in the Midwest. Poker is a life-long hobby. As is writing.

That's about it for now. I didn't play on the 1st. Did play a little yesterday and booked a small win, but the hand histories aren't available yet. I'll be posting them early tomorrow most likely.

Joe

So here we go.

Started the day yesterday taking my usual 5.7 mile walk, on this occasion in 23 degree weather And that's fine. I can bundle up like nobody's business. Besides, this is nothing. Tomorrow morning, the 4th, it's supposed to be eight degrees.

Later in the day, after work, I played 39 hands of $200 no limit at Ignition. That's nowhere near the pace needed for 10K hands per month, but I've been awfully busy lately. I'll find a way to get the volume up later.

39 hands and won $108, so yay.

Here are the highlights (only hands I gave any action):

#1 I'm on the button with AT offsuit. Under the gun plus one opens for $6, two players flat, I make it $40 and everyone folds. We're all between 75 and 125 bb. the original raiser had A8 suited, one of the callers had AJ suited, and the other had pocket fives. Let this be a lesson against cluster flatting.

#2 I'm on the button with AQ offsuit. Under the gun plus one opens for $7, I make it $30, and folds all around. UTG+1 was opening with KQ.

#3 I'm in the Co with pocket eights. Middle position opens for $6, I make it $30, and he folds his pocket tens.

#4 I limp under the gun with AQ off-suit, button makes it $6, folds to me, I make it $30 and button folds his JT offsuit.

#5 I'm in the big blind with pocket fives. Middle position opens for $4, co flats, and I punish them up to $20. They both fold. One is playing K6s, the other J8s. $4 pre-flop bets scream one of two things. Weak or tricky. But usually weak.

#6 I'm in middle position with AK offsuit. Under the gun limps, UTG+1 makes it $9, I raise to $30, and everyone folds except UTG+1 who calls. Flop comes Jh, 9h, 4s, and I hate this flop because of the many ways a J and 9 combo or two hearts might help the typical clown calling my $30 on this site. Not to mention the lack of any real scare cards that might provide me with some fold equity. So when he checks, I check behind him, hoping for a scare card on the turn and planning in any event to bet with air if he checks again.

The turn is As. He checks, I bet $30, and he calls. RIver is Qd. He checks, and I check.
Wimpy, I know.

He had A8 offsuit, so I drag the pot. And the fact people often call my big raises with such ridiculously weak, weird combinations rather than give up on their original opening bet is why I got scared on the flop and later the river. On the river, I put him on either a busted draw or a better hand than mine. Flawed logic, and not just from 20-20 hindsight, but oh well.

Oh, all of these hands had players with stacks between 75bb and 125bb, not just the first one listed above.
Joe

Yesterday was another one with light volume.

First the walk. Same as yesterday and possibly the last one for a while. I don't mind cold temperatures, but not when the wind gusts are thirty miles an hour like they are today. But yesterday was relatively mild--mid-thirties and drizzly in the pre-dawn hours. Weirdly, the pavement had a thin layer of ice despite the above-freezing temps, so I stuck to gravel and grassy areas wherever I could, and I put in my 5.7 miles.

Then an uneventful day at work followed by a brief online session of $200 NLHE on Ignition. Played 51 hands and won a mighty $8.75. Only hands I gave action were:

Eff stacks $200. I have AJ offsuit in middle position. UTG opens for $6, I make it $30, and folds all around. UTG had pocket fives.

Eff stacks $193. I have AK in the small blind. UTG opens for $7, middle flats, I make it $40, and folds all around. The opener had 87s and the caller had AQ off.

That's it, folks. Two hands.

YTD totals 90 hands played and $116.75 won. I need to step up the volume. A 330 hand per day average is needed for 10,000 a month and I'm averaging 30.

Oh. In addition, I proofed the paperback version of Faulty Bones. My daughter and I found five typos, so the publication in paperback will be delayed a couple days while we get that fixed. Also spoke to someone at the Milwaukee Rescue Mission (a homeless shelter) regarding a donation I'll be making in connection with book sales. Learned I have to be approved as a donor. Seriously?

Planning to read your book. Gl in 2017, will be following!

Thanks, Bob, and welcome aboard!

A week and a half ago, I was in the mountains of Colorado, visiting our older daughter for the holidays. I've carved out my favorite walking loop out there, from the eastern edge of the ski town, Winter Park, where her place is, to the western edge of Fraser and back. A seven mile loop.

Sunrise over the surrounding mountaintops is a sight to behold. Especially in winter when all the peaks are snowcapped. But here's the rub. The town of Fraser calls itself the nation's icebox, and for a very good reason. Located in a tight, high-mountain valley, the temperature commonly drops to twenty below or colder in the wintertime.

So one morning at about 4:30am, ten days ago, I set out on my trek with flashlight in hand and multiple layers of clothing on, plus ski cap, face mask, mittens, gloves beneath the mittens, and hand warmers in between. The temperature was one below zero Fahrenheit on my end of the loop, and eighteen below on the other end. While I did shorten the loop to avoid eighteen-below territory (but no doubt walking through ten below), I'm proud to say I was out there for well over an hour, walking nearly five miles.

But it wasn't windy. Not one little bit.

Here's the thing about endurance walking, at least for me. And about wind. When I walk in the calm, no matter how cold the air might be, I can lose myself in whatever music is pumping into my ears from my iPhone, get in a zone, and grind it out. But with wind, there is no zone, because the temperature becomes highly irregular, blasting me out of my reverie with each gust.

So yesterday morning here in Wisconsin, the temperature was eight ABOVE zero, but with winds gusting to thirty miles per hour. I stayed inside and worked the treadmill for a hundred minutes. And I played poker while watching The Hateful Eight on my DVD player.

Lately, the early morning hours on Ignition haven't had many full ring NLHE games. Just six max. And I don't have the fold equity in six max that I have in full. Those of you who have read the few hand histories I've posted so far are probably well aware that I thrive on pre-flop fold equity. Still, six max was my only choice yesterday, and that's what I played in the morning. Those hand histories are available for download, but the few full ring hands I played in the evening aren't available yet. I'll post the most interesting hands from the whole mess tomorrow. I played a couple or three hundred hands and won a grand total of about eight bucks all day. Hardly a headliner. I did have a couple hero folds though, including a flopped set of fours in a small pot against a dangerous raise. I'm anxious to see how smart that hand was, based on what the history shows. No doubt you'll conclude it was idiotic, no matter what my opponent had. I'm leaning that way, too.

Joe

My 3-bet pre-flop plays among 295 hands dealt on Wednesday, mostly at 6 max:

From the button:

With QTs and a $40 bet, I chase an UTG $6 open (KQs) and MP flat (ATo) to drag pot.

With 22 and a $30 bet, I chase an UTG $6 open (44) to drag pot.

With JTs and a $40 bet, I chase an UTG $6 open (44) and Co flat (98s) to drag pot.

From the Co:

Thanks to the need for stronger glasses or larger font, my attempt to use KTo and chase an UTG $6 open and MP flat is thwarted by UTG's reraise to $130 with his AQ. Turns out the open was $8, not $6. I would have folded without action had I known. So . . . $40 down the drain.

I limp open with AKs and raise to $40 when the button makes it $8 and BB flats. ATo and KQs fold.

With AJ and a $30 bet, I chase a MP $6 open (AJo) to drag pot.

With QTo and a $30 bet, I chase an UTG $6 open (AQo) to drag pot.

My pc is jumpy so rather than lose what I just typed, I'll post this now and start another.

From MP:

Here's bad laydown #1: Eff stacks $197. With TT, I limp open and reraise to $30 when the Co makes it $8. He flats. Flop comes 9s 9d 6d, I bet $30 and he flats again. Turn is 3c, I check, Co bets $57 and I fold. He had 8d7d. I put him on a better overpair than mine or A9s.

Eff stacks $105. I limp open with KK, button raises to $9 with AQ, I reraise to $25, he flats. Then he folds a rag flop when I bet $25 again.

Eff stacks $198. I limp open with AKo, folds to BB who makes it $8 with QJS, I reraise to $30 and drag.

I limp open with AJs, button makes it $8 with A4s, I reraise to $30 and drag.

Early position:

UTG opens $6 with AKo, I make it $30 with 22 and drag.

From big blind:

UTG opens for $6 with AQo, SB flats with 44, I make it $40 with AJo and drag.

Co opens $6 with JTo, folds to me, I make it $30 with 66 and drag.

From small blind:

Co opens $6 with 44, I make it $30 with QQ and drag.

Summary in next post.

Joe

On Wednesday, played 289 hands and won $7.57. Year to date I'm at 379/+$124.32

And here's bad laydown #2. Eff $125 I limp open UTG with 44, folds to the blinds and they call/check.

Flop comes 347 rainbow. Checks to me, I bet $5, seemingly cautious player (up until then) makes it $16.79 from SB, BB folds, and I fold, because I put myself on a coin flip situation, I only had $7 invested, and I was in a situation outside my wheelhouse. Massive pre-flop raises by me account for the vast majority of my winnings.

He had A8s.

Yeah, yeah.

Maybe Mrs. Fraser DID raise a stupid child.

Joe

Thursday

Too cold to walk outside. Subzero and still with some wind. So I'm on the treadmill streaming movies I've already seen and playing hands I've often played. Only 103 hands dealt, to be precise. But I promise to get the volume up when a busy work schedule slackens, as it always does, and my momentary fascination with book promotion eases. That might take a bit longer.

Played 103 hands and won $64.65. For the young year, I'm at 482/$192.05. All at $200 NLHE Ignition. The volume is embarrassing and the results are meaningless because of small sample size. I do get that. My fold equity, which is through the roof so far, will regress to the mean sooner or later.

Here are my three-bet hands, starting from the button:

$150 eff, A5o opens for $4 UTG, next guy flats with QTs, folds to me, I make it $20 with KQo and drag pot.

$208 eff, A6s opens for $4 UTG, folds to me, I make it $20 and he calls with that garbage. Flop is K42r, he checks, I bet $20 and drag.

From the middle:

$212 eff, AKo opens for $6 UTG, folds to me, I make it $30 with KK and drag.

From the small:

$222 eff, middle opens for $6 with KQo, button flats with 54d, I make it $18 with AsAc, folds to button and he calls. Pre-flop sizing tell on my part, relative to my norm, but I'm fairly new to the table. Flop is JsTs6s, I lead for $18 and drag.

That's it. Only gave action on four hands.

Joe

Friday

Treadmilled it in the morning. Still too cold outside for any early morning walking.

95 hands dealt and $1.25 won. But never complain about even the tiniest win. I'm typing this on Sunday in the midst of a wild rollercoaster ride that might end badly. For the year, 577/$193.30

3-bet hands:

$186 eff. AJo opens for $6 UTG, TT flats from middle, I make it $40 from the button with 33 and drag the pot. (On Sunday, you'll see how the poker gods punish me for stealing all of these pots with hands I had no business playing)

$200 eff. AQs opens for $6 from the middle, my KK makes it $30 from the Co, and I drag.

That's all, folks.

Joe

Whew. I just spent a couple hours changing passwords for my most sensitive accounts. Didn't finish all of my accounts, but hell, if somebody wants to
Saturday

In theory the weather was warmer today, but younger dau and I walked her dog around her neighborhood in the evening and almost blew away in the freezing wind.

Poker was a tad better.

Played 142 hands and won $108.45. For the year, I'm at 719/+$301.55. I'm not getting anywhere near the volume needed for a 10,000 hand monthly hack into my Open Table app, I can deal with it.
pace, but at least I've been winning by hook or by crook.

My 3-bet action:

From the button:

$210 eff. UTG opens for $6 with KK, middle flats with AJo, I make it $40 with KJo(oops), UTG shoves and drags.

$200 eff. Middle limps with J7s, Co makes it $9 with 96s, I make it $30 with ATo and drag.

$212 eff. Early position opens for $6 with KQo, folds to me, I make it $30 with AQo and drag.

Early position:

$168 eff. I limp UTG with AKo, next player calls with T5s, Co calls with 33, small makes it $9 with AQs, folds to me, I make it $40, and small calls. Flop comes AK8r. Checked to me, I bet $40, small calls. Turn is a jack. Checked to me. I shove $88.36, and small calls. My hand holds on river.

$210 eff. I limp UTG with QQ, middle makes it $8 with 97s, folds to me, I make it $30 and drag.

Small blind:

$198 eff

33 opens for $6 from the middle, player to his left flats with 99, folds to me, I make it $40 with pocket deuces and drag.

So far this year, the game has been extremely soft and easy. It stays soft but gets harder on Sunday, as you'll see in my next post.

Joe

Sunday

The 8th of January and we’re celebrating Christmas again??? Yeah, it was the only good chance for my wife’s side of the family to get together, so . . . more food, more cake, more cookies, etc. I’ve gained five pounds this holiday season despite still walking an average of ten miles per day.

Despite all of the activity, I did manage to get in 188 poker hands, for which I won a whopping $1.06, thanks to variance rearing its ugly hand in the ONE HAND so far this year when we got all the chips in pre-flop. But I’ve been stealing so many hands with weak holdings, I have nothing to bitch about, really. For the year, I’m at 907/+$302.61. Still a nagging volume problem, but pretty good results considering there’s a pocket ace felting included in that mix now.

Here are the pre-flop 3-bet action hands in order of delivery:

Six max, $195 eff, Hero has KTo in the Co: UTG opens for $6 with AJo, folds to me, I make it $30 and drag the pot.

Six max, $201 eff, Hero has JJ in the big: Button opens for $6 with 86o, folds to me, I make it $30 and drag.

Six max, $207 eff, Hero has AQo in the big: UTG opens for $7 with A9c, folds to me, I make it $30 and UTG calls. Flop is Ks3H3d, I bet $30 and drag.

Six max, $198 eff, Hero has 55 UTG. I limp in, Button makes it $8 with KJo, folds to me, I make it $30 and drag.

Six max, $207 eff, Hero has AKo in the small. UTG opens for $6 with A7s, Button flats with A9s, I make it $40, folds to button who calls. Flop comes 633 rainbow, I bet $40 and drag.

Things are looking pretty good at this point, until . . .

Six max, $181 eff, Hero has AA UTG. I limp, folds to button who makes it $11 with QQ. That size raise against a single limper is a sizing tell, so I feel a good opportunity to get all the chips in pre-flop. I raise to $30 and, sure enough, button shoves. Flop comes KQ2 and I’m history.

An interesting aspect of this hand is that I was planning to leave right afterward. The poker gods saw it fitting to send me off in style.

So it’s catch-up for the rest of the day now. I’m busy, but I’m stubborn, too. I play more hands later in the day and somehow manage to get the job done. The rest of these hands are full ring.

$194 eff, Hero has QQ in middle position, 74s opens early for $6 (it’s Sunday afternoon when this kind of stuff seems common), I make it $30 and drag.

$198 eff, Hero has KTo on the button, A9s opens early for $6, K9s flats from the Co, I make it $40 and would normally drag, but . . . the big has pocket queens and takes it down with a shove. Pocket queens aren’t that great a hand. My heart sure doesn’t pound when I get them, but they’re killing me today.

$160 eff, Hero has JJ early, I limp, middle position makes it $8 with 65s, Co calls with AQo, folds to me, I make it $40 and drag.

$200 eff, Hero has 33 on button, middle opens for $6 with 22, folds to me, I make it $30 and drag.

$161 eff, Hero has A4s on button, Co opens for $5, also with A4s, I make it $25 and drag.

$108 eff, Hero has AJo on button, 96s opens early for $6, folds to me, I make it $30, big blind flats with pocket two’s, everyone else folds. Flop comes A75. Big blind shoves his last $78 into this $65 (or so) pot, I call, and my hand holds for a nice win.

Now you might watch that hand and say no wonder the guy on the button was semi-short stacked if he’s cold-calling $30 bets from the big blind to set mine pocket twos. But his shove on the flop was a lot smarter than the fit and fold I’m used to seeing from most other players at Ignition. If I don’t have an ace, he’s dragging that pot. And maybe he’s guessed the reality that my range of $30 bets includes an ace less than half the time. Maybe he’s planning to shove the flop no matter what comes up on the board. He’s no doubt a losing player, but this kind of player is a whole lot peskier than what we commonly find here.

Joe

Monday

Still busy/distracted/lazy??? In my defense, the day job has been leaching into my evenings of late, and book promotion is also taking up a chunk of my time.

I played just 66 hands on Monday and won $18. For the year, we’re at 973/+$321.

Here are the 3-bet hands:

$199 eff. Middle opens for $6 from middle with ATo, folds to me, I make it $30 with KTo from the button, and I drag the pot.

$196 eff. I limp open from early with 44, the next guy makes it $8 with AQo, folds to me, I make it $30 and drag.

$87 eff. UTG+1 opens for $7 with KJo, folds to me in the small, I make it $30 with KK and drag.

Six max, $198 eff. Button opens for $6 with QJs, I make it $30 from the small with AKo and drag.

There’s a group of hands I classify as “ten low”: ATs, ATo, KTs, KTo, KJs, KJo, QJs, QJo, JTs, JTo. As a group, I’ve picked spots for these, mostly on the button and Co, but the results with any combination not including an ace has been marginal at best this year. Just went through my much larger database of 2015 and 2016 results and came to the same conclusion. For my style of play, something as weak as an A7 performs better than KQ, because when I’m holding an ace the chances are reduced that the player I just 3-bet is also holding an ace in his hand. And the less likely that is, the less likely I’ll get shoved. With my style of play, it’s all about fold equity pre-flop, since very few of the hands ever go to a showdown. So I’ll be making some adjustments going forward.

Ignition closed their site for maintenance Tuesday morning, so I streamed The Hateful Eight instead of playing. That was one of Tarantino's best movies, by the way. Loved the dialogue.

Later, I did manage to log in and play a dozen hands but got interrupted and had to stop. In those dozen hands, I managed to steal a pot pre-flop, and I won a few dollars. I'm speaking about this in general terms, because my hand converter wasn't able to read those hands. Ignition must have changed their formatting.

Emailed Ace, and waiting for their response.

Joe

While I wait for a table to open, and with no hands from yesterday to talk about until the hand conversion software gets fixed, here’s a quick story.

About a year ago, vacationing in Vegas, I slowed while walking past a young, homeless couple on the bridge between MGM and Excalibur during the pre-dawn hours. The morning was cold, and they were huddled under their rags. The thought crossed my mind, as it had in many previous encounters just like it, that but for a few lucky breaks in my life, I could be the one under those rags. I was young and stupid once. Prone to making dumb, life-changing mistakes. Cost myself a job because of a poker addiction. Almost cost myself a marriage.

So I’m going past these two, I make eye contact with one of them, and something occurred to me that never did before. Maybe I got those lucky breaks because I’m meant to help these people.

I’m not a spiritual guy. Never gave much thought about a higher power. Not since my Catholic grade school brainwashing led to a rebellious backlash in which I gave up on religion to focus on seemingly more practical matters. But shortly after the Vegas trip, a fellow writer contacted me and encouraged me to start a new novel. And when I did, the story literally poured out of my head onto the pages. Faulty Bones isn’t about the homeless, really, but this poker novel begins and ends with homelessness. And it ends with the simple social message that we do need to make eye contact with the disenfranchised, because that’s a step toward humanizing them enough to get them back on their feet.

So I finished the book in May, and then what? I could have gone to a literary agent or publisher, but these people are deluged with story ideas and manuscripts. Some receive hundreds per week! And most are bad. I needed to distinguish my work before submitting, so I went to Kirkus reviews, one of the largest book reviewers in the country. They wrote a very favorable review about the novel, giving it the credibility I needed.

Okay, so we’re up to mid-summer. Go to a publisher now? Yeah, maybe, but if I do, and they like the story . . . if they sign me up . . . that book won’t hit the shelves for at least a year. Meanwhile, the homeless need help. Their ranks in this country are half a million strong and growing. And I’d come up with just the idea to help them. Why not pledge to a local shelter $X for each of the first 2,000 books sold? And so that this isn’t some ploy for me to gain sales traction on the backs of the unfortunate, how about if $X actually exceeds my royalties by a wide margin? That gives me a play where I can say the book is being sold not only to entertain (and it is the kind of quick, humorous read people love) but to help the needy, even to the point that the author loses money. It’ll be a team effort where all 2,001 of us contribute. We all invest in a cause. My share will amount to $5 per book over and above the royalties. A ten grand kick in the old bank account.

Maybe that’s why I got all those lucky breaks years ago. So I could pull this idea off today. And I didn’t want to wait a year or two to get started.

So I hired my own artist, I hired my own copy-editor, I hired my own formatter, and I got Faulty Bones out there, glossy cover and all.

Did some research. Learned that 87% of donations to the Milwaukee Rescue Mission pass straight through to the homeless in the form of food and shelter, and decided to go with them.

So that’s the story behind the novel. I’ve been a poker player for over forty years, and I’m an avid reader of the Two-Plus-Two forums. The characters and their surroundings in Faulty Bones should ring true to you (other than the crazy time-travel angle and the genies). As a writer, that’ll be gratifying to me. But this book is my first shot at philanthropy, and that feels even better. Particularly since I’m by no means a rich man. The promotion will put a noticeable dent in my wallet.

What now then? Well, an unknown author could write War and Peace these days and not sell fifty copies. It’s all about the name (Grisham, Patterson, etc.) and/or the buzz.

It’s on me now, through Facebook and other social media. But also, thanks to running a business owned by a much larger company relatively capably for the past fifteen years, the owners are putting out a press release for the local media and another for book editors and reviewers all over the country. Hopefully that’ll help build the buzz.

Or you could, by believing in the cause, buying the book, and talking it up.

Joe

This is a test

http://imgur.com/a/xDN6E

[IMG]https://s29.************/is9siz8sn/1_13_17am.png[/IMG]

Testing to see if this works

Okay, I give up.

I tried searching the forum, but must have used the wrong keywords.

How do I post a screenshot on here?

Here's a rundown of the action through Wednesday. I'd like to just post screenshots from PT for some of this stuff in the future, but so far, I've only figured out how to include a link in here (as you see a few posts above this one) as opposed to the actual image. If somebody can tell me how to do this, I'll start posting the screens.

On Wednesday, I played 424 hands (finally some volume) and won $210.35. For the year, I'm at 1397/+$530.96. That's all $200 NLHE, about 80% full ring with the rest six max.

I three-bet pre-flop 20 times and dragged the pot 13 of those times. Here are the other seven hands:

Eff $185, I'm on the button. UTG limps, UTG+1 makes it $6, folds to me, I make it $30 with KhJd, folds to UTG+1 and he calls. Flop is QsTs4d. Check to me, I bet $30, he shoves, and I fold. Villain had pocket aces.

Eff $183, I'm Co. Middle opens for $7, I make it $30 with JJ, small blind calls and middle calls. Flop is A53 with two clubs. Middle donks for $30 with A5o, I fold (whew. Had been planning to c-bet), small calls with KcQc. Middle shoves when Ks hits the turn, gets a call and holds to drag the pot.

Eff $190, I'm Co. Middle opens for $6 with QsTs, folds to me, I make it $30 with JdTd, folds to middle and he flats. Flop is Ad, Kd, 9c. He checks, and I think it over. Normally, I would always c-bet in this spot with one scare card on the board, but we have two, so I'M scared. If I had nothing, I'd definitely bet hoping to steal, but here's an opportunity for a free card on a draw. I decide to check behind him. Turn is 8c. He checks again, showing extreme weakness, I give up on playing a draw that now only has around a 26% chance of hitting, I bet $30, and he folds.

$205 eff and I'm middle. UTG limps with 88, UTG+1 makes it $6 with 44, I make it $30 with 99, folds to UTG+1 who calls. Flop is T92r. He checks, I bet $30 praying he has an over-pair, but he doesn't so I drag the pot.

$197 eff and I'm UTG+1. I limp with 77, middle makes it $9 with AKo, folds to me, I make it $30 and he flats. Flop is QQ4. I lead for $30 and drag.

$145 eff and I'm UTG. I limp with 77, middle makes it $6 with QQ, folds to me, I make it $30 and middle flats. Flop is J87r. I lead for $30, he bums it to $60, I shove, he calls, and the hand holds.

I should have won much less or not at all in each of those two hands. I just can't see flatting a $30 bet pre when you have AK or QQ. Fold or shove, buddy. Don't let somebody else control the action. But that's Ignition.

Eff $186 and I'm in the small. UTG opens for $6, folds to me, I make it $30 with 22 and he flats. Flop is K43r. I bet $30 and he folds his pocket queens. Whoohoo. Like I said. Fold or shove, buddy. Don't flat.

And that's all, folks.

Joe

This is a test

do you just play a single table at a time?

GL

No I play up to four. The problem is finding time. Also, if I'm multi-tasking. I'll typically only play two.

You'll see some bigger volume days shortly.

Joe

Thursday, 1/12

Played 319 hands and won $97.92. YTD is now 1,716/+$628.88

I 3-bet 20 times and insta-dragged 15.

Biggest win: $29.85 with QQ in the Co.
eff $194 UTG opens for $8, folds to me, I make it $30 and he flats with KTs. Flop is 822 with no draw for him, he checks, I bet $30 and drag.


Biggest loss: $60 in the big with pocket fours
eff $218. I misread UTG's $9 open as $6. Folds to me, I make it $30 and he flats. Flop is ATT, I lead for $30 and he shoves with his AK and flush draw.

Friday the 13th

Played 760 hands and won $354.62. For the year I'm at 2,476/+$983.50

I still haven't figured out how to post screenshots on here, but let me share one example of how this is me running good and not me, the incredible $200 NLHE master. I've played 340 hands in the small, and lost only a grand total of $17.

That not good enough for ya? Let's look at my biggest win of the day:

$152 eff in a six max game and I'm in the HJ with AA.

I limp open, and the Co makes it $6 with 44. Folds to me, I make it $18 and he flats. Flop is 643, I bet $18, he makes it $42.

His hand and play scream overpair, so I shove. I see his set. 6 hits the turn, giving me 4 outs instead of $2. Swell. Then an ace hits the river, and I drag.

Now, here's where Lady Luck also came into play. I almost made it $25 pre, and had he flatted That, he probably would have made it something like $75 on the flop after I lead for another $25. In that case, I very likely would have folded. In Ignition, and in Bovada before, when somebody makes a big bet but not a shove on the flop, he typically has a monster. I would have had $50 invested. Why risk $102 more when my read is 80% that I'm behind?

But at $18/$42, I wasn't able to read the situation correctly.

And that's the thing about how I'm running. The cards I've been getting have been pretty normal--not skewed toward AA, KK, QQ. AK. But the situations overall have been cutting in my favor.

Joe