Hey Guys,

Been playing the game for about 5 years or so. Have been a very spewy recreational player up till now and have lost near 15K in that time.

I've been improving consistently though and think I am a pretty decent player now and over the last month or so have really started winning (when I play my A-game, that is).

I think I can beat the 1-2 in London consistently, and feel I am often the best player at the table.

My biggest problem in the game is consistency and mental game, I just hope I can sort this out soon as this has screwed recently big time.

Basically my last few screwups.

Played well and ran up 200 into 600 ish. Weird rec player leads out on J97 flop without the pre-flop lead. Bets blank turn and Jams blank river for 400 (overbet pot). Stupid me calls with AJ villain has KK. So stupid but I think I was just overconfident and wanted to see his hand. I thought to myself if he has it I can still be even on the day.

Another session later the same thing happened. I was up around 400 after playing solid for a few hours. I limp a straddled pot with A3ss, limp, limp tight solid reg raises to 35. I call. Flop a flush draw on Q-high board, he bets 1/2 I call. turn adds a gutter. He bets bigger but I call. River is 3 so I pair up. I wanna fold but when checked to villain tank jams 200 (around pot) I know he has it but he does something funny which is similar to what I did the day before when bluffing, so I just decided to call, to see what that behaviour meant from him. He had QQ. Lost 350 in that hand.

After that hadnt played for two weeks as I was waiting for my parents to go on holiday so I can play without being questioned. They went this Wed, I got home and was planning to go Poker on Thurs, but at 1am didnt feel sleepy so thought I would start playing. Went to a Casino close to my house and did 300 in 1.5 hours. So stupid.

Thurs 28 (Challenge officially started)

Solid session in Hippodrome, bought in for 200 out for 630 in about 4 hours.
Head over to Hippodrome, buy in for 200, feel overconfident and decide to use this as an opportunity to play more aggressively. Get lucky when bluffing and now upto 600 is.

Effective 450
Hero in EP with 88 I limp. Villain raises in MP and two callers.
Flop 86h2h (20) I lead for 12 villain raises to 40. I call
Turn Jh (100) xx
River 6 I lead out for 125, Villain Jams and I snap. Villain has 66.

Session 1: +450
Session 2:-200

Friday 29th

Felt really **** in the morning and wasnt up for playing but went anyway cos this is my job now. Had a cold and some kids made my tube journing really bad. Got to Hippodrome and just wasnt focused. Sat down with 200 but played too fast.

Within 30mins of sitting down I got 99 in the sb in a straddled pot with 3 limpers. I raised to 25. BB makes it 75. I Jam and he snaps with AA. No luck on runout.

This was such a stupid play, jamming 99s makes no sense there, and I had no reads on BB yet but just though he could be making a move. I am normally very passive there so just spewed out I think due to not being focused/trying out greater aggression, as I have recently started 3 betting light/squeezing so I think I was just overconfident here and wanted to be the aggressor.

Session 3: -200 (in 30mins)
Session 4: -100 (I went to Empire after the last hand and lost 100 in two hands and 15mins of play)


Basically I am very low on cash right now, I have 300 to play with so it is just one buy in, but I will try and borrow more from friends, I think 1000 will be enough for me know if I can make it.

I think I will go tomorrow, hopefully I can keep my head in the right space, play well and dont get bad variance.

I think if I can play my A-game consistently I can seriously beat the 1-2. I dont think I have been losing at all over the last 10 or so sessions, it;s just the really bad spewy sessions or stupid calls in big pots, otherwise I think I would have won every session almost. These are all things I can improve on and it is expected to make mistakes when starting out.

Just making this thread for support and people to talk to about Poker. I have few friends at the Casinos and my life has been pretty low the last few years. Need to start winning again.

I wouldn't suggest playing live poker on a 1-3 & 1/2 buy in roll and I certainly wouldn't recommend borrowing from friends to play.

I think you'd be better off looking for a stake and I assume other posters would say the same. I don't have any real knowledge of hold'em stakes in London but if you're not a complete drooler I'd suspect that there are many avenues to 1/2 live stakes.

Gl op either way.

Staking is not a bad idea but not sure where I would go and doesnt look like I have much to show to get anything atm.

Also, I dont think anyone would stake me if they saw my spew moments lol.

If I can get that 1000 from family it would be good. I have enough for two buyins at the moment.

My biggest goal atm is just to get just a couple of solid sessions in and not spew out.

This week should be interesting, and one of the reasons I made this thread is it should force me to play more seriously as I need to report sessions back.

Staking could be a good idea in the (near) future.

Just about every single thing you posted in op suggests you are not remotely close to being the good player you think you are. Assuming this is not a troll (if it is wp gg) the most honest advice anyone could give you is either:

a. Get online at microstakes, get on a coaching site, learn the game.
b. Play live only as hobby what you can afford to lose.
c. Both of the above.

Seriously, not hating, just sound, solid, honest advice. The same as any and every decent poster on 2+2 would give you.

Like Fatboy said learn online mate its so much cheaper, could even do a CFP if you cant get staked. After you got some solid foundations and are beating NL2-NL5, you can be crushing live poker in London with out losing a ton of money. Plenty of free info to beat the micros pal, but if you want it quick then a training site or coaching is the way to go. GL mate.

I only play a little online.

I can beat .10/.20 (and probs higher) on 888 and have had good results in in their $5 and $9 9-handed sit and goes. I am up money on my account but only play there to sharpen up. Multi-tabling is not for me so dont think I will be taking online poker seriously.

Anyway, will be heading to the games soon so just wanna stay in a positive frame of mind, would be nice to report back a win.

Lose 15k, go pro.

Good idea.

You got 100k+ samples at any of those stakes?

You got 10 thousand game samples of the sngs?

Literally ridiculous.

yeah thread is pretty absurd... You are down a pretty large sum and after a month or so of winning want to go pro

I think you really should get online and get the fundamentals down, it is not the only way but it is the safest for sure and you can get so much more experience playing online as opposed to live.

If you are set on live then you could mix it in here and there or just play for fun.

Aiming for pro status right now seems way beyond you, based on your OP. Hopefully I am wrong though

Looks like the naysayers could be right

Session 5: -300

Today was a bad day. Started off ok, I was in a good frame of mind and played ok, but the table was SUPER swingy and high variance, due to a couple of weird fishy loose players and one very Laggy Asian guy (villain in most pots) on my immediate Right.

Table dynamics meant it was going to be a very gambly afternoon, I should of played much tighter but that is not my style, but I think I stayed ahead of Villains pre-flop range throughout the day and he played like 50-70% of hands.

Villain in the game: Lag Asian player, told me had been playing for 12-years and never a losing player, was a dealer prior apparantly, though all this could be bull.

Some hands

Hand 1
Early position open to 15, LAG calls, I call on button with JTdd.
Flop Q88dd (45) Opener bets 20, call, call
Turn 2h x,x I should of checked here but both players could be weak, decided to take a stab with a 50 bet. Lag raises to 100. I tank, put him on a 8 here, and call hoping to hit.
River 5h I miss and check fold. Villain says he had an 8 and I believe.

Hand 2
Same Villain raises to 20, I call AQ, BB call (loose player)
Flop (60) 752. Villain bets 35, I think I am still ahead of his range and jam for 80 more. Dont expect BB to call here and he folds. Villain calls.
Turn 10, River J. I win with the best Ace.

Hand 3

Same Villain opens to 20, I call with KQ, 2 calls behind.
Flop (80) K 10d 2d. Villain bets 50. I Jam 150 ish. Player on my left puts in his last 30 with AJ, Villain folds. Turn and river both brick and I win. I had to jam here as Villain is often on a draw, but might call with a worse King if he suspects I am on a draw. KQ is way ahead he could be opening a few weaker Kings.

Hand 4

At this point I have 200 after being in for 300. Swingy session and lost a few pots earlier.

EP (Fishy) opens to 10, same Villain calls, I call SB with A8ss
Flop (30) K 5 6. I check, EP bets 12, Villain calls, I call
Turn (66) 4 I check, EP bets 16, Villain calls, I call.
River (110) 5 I check, EP checks, Villain fires 100

Now this is where it goes bad for me. I have A-high, but everyone has played this hand very weak, EP sizing has been small enough to let Villain call on Button on every street with many weak unmade hands. When EP checks on the river to BB, this looks like a decent spot to bluff, with two clearly weak ranges behind. Villain bets 100, takes a drink and starts stretching. I dont really think A-high is good here tbh, I kind of felt it was bad, I think I just wanted the information TBH. I called with A-high expecting EP to fold behind, which he did. Villain shows 5-8.

The messed up thing is, I didnt need to call there, I think I just wanted to know, just get the information. MY hand reading was weak because clearly Villain can have many 5s here with a draw, which he did. I just thought there could be many hands that he could be calling given the price, Gutshots etc that he might bluff the river. LAG player is seeing so many rivers that I think he needs to be bluffing them often enough.

After this hand I tilted off my last 100.

Having said that, there was one moment that gave me some confidence in my game..

Hand 5

MP (Asian LAG from all earlier hands) raises 15, I call with AQ, BB (same fishy player from earlier hands) 3-bets to 40. I put him on a strong hand, a biggish pair, as he had never 3-bet before but had raised many hands. Lag calls and I call.

Flop (120) K J 2 rainbow. VIllain bets 50 or so. Lag folds. I expect Villain to have few Kings in his range here, I believe he is betting a lower pair (9s-Qs). If I am right he will check turn and I can bluff him off it, or take a free card.
Turn (220ish) 5. Villain checks like I thought he would. I think about bluffing but he seems fishy enough to call it off. I dont have enough I think to push him off a hand, he is likely going to call, so I can take the card.
River (220ish) Ace. I hit. Villain Jams for less than pot and I call. Shows QQ.

What gave me confidence in my game here was talking about the hand later with the LAG on my right. I said VIllain has no Kings in his 3-betting range, so my float is good, and LAG says Villain could 3-bet KQ. I was confident Villain would never 3-bet KQ and AK only sometimes, this leads me to believe my hand reading/profiling abilities must be decent, as I just felt I had a better read on VIllain than LAG, who is a much more experienced, competent, and likely winning player.


Will need to get some more money to play. Might go again in a few days.

Lesson: Dont play in High-Variance swingy tables, or tighten up.

A couple more hands from earlier sessions where I think I played well, just gonna put them here so people know where I am at in the game.

Hand 1

Background. Villain is a very inexperienced player who plays very tight pre with a small stack, maybe first few sessions playing live, not really talking or anything, youngish guy with glasses who looks timid and is quiet.

Earlier in the session he overlimped behind 3 others, some more limpers and I raise to 16 with KK. Everyone folds except VIllain who flats 16 with only 30 behind. Flop is Axx, I put him all in for 30 and he calls with AK, but I hit the river. Mental note: Villain only limped AK behind 3 others.

Now to hand.
VIllain (stack 120ish) open raises to 12 in EP (slighly larger than average open in 1-2). Two weakish players call in MP and I call on the button with 2 5 (table is soft).
Flop (48) Axx. I knw VIllain doesnt have an Ace, due to the passive way he played AK earlier, so I am amused at what an newish player would do in this tough spot. Well, he bets out 25, fold, fold. I call, expecting him to check fold the turn.
Turn x Unexpectedly he bets out 35, I tank, realise he doesnt have an Ace but doesnt know what else to do here, so has bet small. I put him all in for 40ish more. He folds.


Hand 2

First day back in Hippodrome after some years. I sit down after a win at Empire and feeling confident. A hand plays out very soon where Villain raises pre and cbets into 3 players (inc SB and BB) on a 4 5 10 board with K6, which I think is really bad. I see him raising often in LP with High Cards (Kx, Ax etc). Mental Note: Villain likes to raise high-cards in position and has no idea how to Cbet.

I limp in EP J9dd, Villain (above) raises in BB 15 and seems strong. I call
Flop (35) 10 5 2. Villain bets 20. I put him on overs and decide to float and take it down. Expecting a check from VIllain on Turn.
Turn (75) J. Villain quickly Jams for around Pot. I put him on AK with Turned Gutshop and snap call.
River Brick Villain shows AK.

Just to be clear 'going pro' doesnt mean much to me, as I am not in employment at the moment. I simply meant I will take poker more seriously, attempt to win consistently, and use this thread to keep track of things and help my game.

Those hands are all awful, you are a losing and not very good poker player. You can become a winning live poker player but you are doing nothing to actually get better at poker. You also seem to have no bankroll to play with or any form of income.

This is literally ridiculous.

Hey, that's fine mate, I think I just opened this thread to talk about my poker experience, as it is otherwise difficult to find people to talk about it with. Coaching is a good idea but prefer in-person mentoring, I have watched loads of Poker videos online, and read alot of threads, so I am not a complete newbie to the game.

I dont mind talking about the hands. What do you think is wrong, (other than the messed up call)?

To be honest I think I played some real poker and learnt alot looking back on it. The LAG was pretty decent, even said he had played on TV once when in Vegas.

I think my Jam with KQ on the K 10 2 board was really good as I most often flat there. I adjusted well to my opponents tendencies and denied him equity and the ability to value bet if he hits. This is not my normal action here.

Also with AQ against Villain, I called pre knowing I was well-ahead. Villain CBet % was too high and I have underreped my hand so he is betting all flops against two opponents. I Jam knowing I am likely ahead, and am not surprised with Villain calling with weaker Ace there, as he had called in somewhat similar spots previously. In that spot I did not expect the player behind to adjust correctly and call my Jam lighter with a flopped pair.

Also, in the had where it went wrong where Villain had 8-5, I know the flop and turn calls were bad. I think that was to do with not being aggressive enough in the session and falling into a more passive tendency, in which case the only way to win is call-down.

Against the LAG today I think in a few spots I used aggression correctly, and felt I was able to play back at him competently in many spots. I am quite a loose player too, and often end up in many pots against other loose players. I did manage to get a feel for him as to when he was looser/tighter pre-flop when he moved between gears.

Since you ask...

You are a calling station.

You have a ton of other leaks and you talk a lot of vague, meaningless nonsense, but if you are serious about getting better, it's best to start with the basics and at the moment, you don't have any.

No offence, just calling it as it is, and being constructive...

again:

Play at the lowest stakes you can.
Sign up and study.

GL

I will see what 1-1 feels like. Might lead to lower variance and hopefully get some good sessions in.

Yeah I am a calling station esp in big pots. This is by far my biggest weakness, but I think I am using the information well, and it is happening against good players. It does give me good information though on how Villains are playing hands, and their tendencies. Just dont know how to make this stop though, in the moment I feel I just want to see their hands, maybe its just something I need to absorb and learn from quicker. Though I have heard many top pros have had this leak Negreanu, Art from LATB etc.