Not much to report. Put $1100 back on Bovada. Breakeven so far with a few thousand bb of up and down lol. Have played my A game for every session except for one B- session. B/3b bluffing river vs a minraise w/ blockers doesn't work @ 100pl. Good to realize.

I've raked $3700 since I last spent poker points (1% rakeback). Ew.

862 days till graduation.

I had a nice NYE with my father and brother touring beaches which was awesome. Decided against Vegas although I may be at Atlantic City mid jan and Mohegan later this spring for some more live.

Had a nice little upswing online tonight after a few break-even sessions (that still had ~10 buyin swings). Tonight I had my first time with over $1500 over 4 100pl tables although a decent chunk of it was mine that I'd won back. I normally play pretty short sessions that don't get past ~150 hands/table.

I lost 2k in a 5/T game to coolers but didn't have much of myself so meh. Played well which is what matters.

The spot I was bitching about last post was actually a somewhat interesting one i've thought about for a bit since then where I had Ah68* on a Th427h6h runout where I flat a minraise oop and flop goes x/x, I lead turn (I bet 2bb but should have bet 3bb, mouseslip not strategy error) he flats then river I bet 6 for pot otr, he minraises to 12, I 3b to 45. In retrospect as played otr I should just full pot it to 48. Also I should bet turn for 3bb with correspondingly larger river sizings. I dunno seemed like a great spot. He tank called with Q high flush. Maybe if all sizings are correct I get the fold which is a little annoying. I still haven't decided if it's really bad or slightly good. Maybe some 89/low flushes will minraise river that I can fold out and I just ran into close to top of his range. I don't expect K high flush to fold but if it was 200 hands into a battle they might. This was with 15 hands of standard play prior.

I spent a decent chunk over holiday so roll was 9.2k prior to this update but now it's sitting at 9.9k with bovada roll at 1939 --- what I'll keep as the running total from this post onwards till another cashout (pls no runbad karma).

Here's my happy little graph from 12/9 to 1/1:


Bovada roll @1939.

861 days till graduation.

Lost about 2.4k online so played some live. Mostly runbad with about 20% of it from playbad and (honestly) subtle tilt.

Had a pretty sick live session ending with me paying a dude 100/hr to play me headsup 2k deep @ 2/5 with min $20 open. I stacked him in under 30 minutes (including the first $100 i'd paid him) to book a 1k win which is smallish relative to the stakes.

Roll is in the mid 8k mark.

859 days till graduation.

Haven't done online. Going to play a .5/1 home game tonight that might be up to 1-2kbb deep. Should be able to pick some really good spots with little risk.

Roll is ~9k.

857 days till graduation.

Didn't play as deep as expected and was surprisingly filled with pretty solid players, and I have a pretty high bar for calling them that. Ended up 150. Had a spot where villain repped super narrow + i'd checked back a hand for balance and he had it. A lot of the spots that I anticipate that they would misplay weren't arrived at and the deepstack adjustments I made were theoretically good hand v range/playstyle but ran into unfavorable hands a few times.

Game should run tomorrow night with some plo potential for the second half.
Got my verification documents in to my broker so should start live trading early this month.
Also have a ridiculous homegame potential with a former president coming up this or next month that would be 2-5k buyin, of which I'd have very little of myself. I should be focusing back to online/plo once i'm back at school as there are very few live games there and many here.

I'm having a think because honestly I don't know what I want to get out of these lives games. Obviously money but how much? When would I stop? Playing 2k deep @ 2/5 or a home game has some ridiculous swings that aren't acceptable given what I'm trying to do online. A large amount of the drive for sitting these games is enjoying playing with old friends while I'm home on break mixed with some slight gameplay adjustments to avoid super high variance spots at the cost of a tiny amount of EV. I guess i'm just looking forward to playing mainly online again but won't pass up the entertainment EV/$EV of playing in these games despite the risks.

Up 1.5k @ 2/5 deep tonight even after bluff ripping w/ 2nd nut blocker 1.2k into the third nuts.

May play a live hu plo grudge match that should be pretty good. Might be something like 1k 100bb sngs till someone is +3 or 5 net or 2/5 200bb deep cash or something. It's a good spot for me where he overestimates his abilities and underestimates mine so I don't really care about the accompanying variance. I'm at peace with it.

Up $800 with trough of -1.5k and peak of +2.4k. Standard 15 hour session.

Guy canceled/postponed the plo match for two months from now but offered to do 4 tables hu with proxy play money online. Chances it happens? 10% is generous. Oh well.

I'm genuinely looking forward to playing online again once my add-ons roll out their updates for bovadas latest changes.

Roll is around lower end of $11,xxx.

solid, gl =)

Thank you.


Played a little online without a hud. Table tamer had updated which made it somewhat manageable although I just two tabled. Ended up 150 after two small sessions without much swing, although ran decently under ev.

Played the home game again which just ended. I ended up $500 after an extremely straight forward session.

Roll should be cresting the 12k mark! This is unexpectedly good progress, although money doesn't really do anything for me. I meditated on that thought for about thirty minutes prior to playing in the home game and arrived at a certain kind of serenity having the knowledge that money doesn't change my life through its abundance or absence. Winning $ at poker is really much more for self-actualization, competition, achievement, score, and satisfaction than for having money. I would never dream of spending $1000 on some watch or something. I'm an extremely competitive person though and will try to keep accumulating score.

Regardless of my live winnings I'll stick to my 60bi target for 100pl before moving up to 200pl.

On a side note, I can't wait until I get back to school and can work out with a speed bag again. It does wonders for me mentally.

Bricked a $300 live mtt and lost $240 during a quick session. That's it this time.

Up $270 in a two hour session online. Haven't seen a good reg since the software update which is awesome. Should be back to huplo for the foreseeable future.

I've been working on my game a little which I hope to ramp up in the next few weeks. When I made this thread I was somewhere along the journey of climbing up a mountain. I saw a peak ahead of me which I thought was fairly close. Since I've crested it, I see now several higher up peaks that I'll be working towards. It's quite motivating to see in what directions I can refine my game. While I think my intuition is fairly accurate, I'm missing out on and misplaying many spots that can be adjusted through study and practice. I'm going to make an effort to put in around 10% of my playtime as study time. Instead of browsing social media or forums as much, I'll invest most of that time into sims, training videos, and hh review.

Also got my forex account approved for live trading and made a $200 deposit to take advantage of a pretty ridic $100 welcome bonus that doesn't have any strings attached. It's definitely something to be wary of though, as they may consider small/new accounts donations anyway? Or maybe they rake enough through the spread on my future trades that it's worth it for them. Will look into where the catch is.

Roll is ~11.7k
For record keeping in future posts, Bovada roll is at $1672.
56/60 buyins to go before 200pl.

I'm really happy with my brm adjustments relative to my first posts' expectations. According to what I originally laid out 11.7k would be the upper end of when I'd be shotting 200pl, but I'm much more wary of hu plo variance now. It can't be a bad thing especially since my expected hourly @ 100pl is still plenty for my situation right now.

851 days till graduation.

Sure running sims for ages isn't the most glorifying thing, but I know long run it'll be beneficial. I've been very lazy about them in the last 18 months.
"Spectacular achievement is always preceded by unspectacular preparation." -Robert H. Schuller

Minus 7 bi over 2 sessions. Playing well but not running well. Standard stuff. Also did some good studying and tried to actively think about ideas as I implemented them.

Actually playing one last 1/1 home game here tonight so will see how that goes. Should be small swings.

63/60 buyins to go before 200pl.
Bovada roll is at $9xx, didn't double check exact amount.

+150 during a session where I was -350 at my trough. They just had it for a few hours even when it's pretty hard to have it.

I should be playing a little less till the weekend as I'm staying with a girl in NYC as a pit-stop while I travel back to school.

Roll is low 11,xxx. I'll do a full count once I'm back at school.

Got absolutely disgustingly sunrun by a tag. Went from +4 to -4 buyins on the session. Will do another in just a minute, hopefully this time a long one.

These are my session results over the last two days: -$435, $127, $520, -$416, -$200, $26, $278, $104. Looks good but still recovering from my Jan 12th losses.

I'm playing okay recently but running not so great. At first I was going to say I'm running "really really bad" but on further reflection I'm probably cognitively biased to not properly account for when I win allin ev in spots where I'm a favorite and remember losses more strongly. I still think overall I'm running worse than average but that's okay, it's what I signed up for. I got 1 outted at the end of a string of losses and didn't react emotionally so that was good.

I've been doing some work with the odds oracle and some deucescracked plo video review. About 50/50 playing and studying. Next I'll go through all the huplo content on cardrunners with their free week trial when I'm back at school before classes really start up.

I wish I had someone to chat with about huplo strat so if you've read this far and are a 50pl+ reg, hu or 6m, I'd be happy to chat.

I deposited another 900 on bovada at the trough of my recent play. Roll is currently $1989 so still like -150 from where I was at a week ago. I'll check my buyins/60 to move up once I re-count my roll tonight when I arrive at school. Also had like $250 of expenses for my time in NYC and paying for train, subway, bag on flight etc.

Subbed, GL. Started transitioning to plo myself a while ago, gonna take it more serious from now on. Will let you know if I beat the 50plo regs HU. Till then learning and bumhunting at PLO HU. Wish u all the best!

cool thread, you seem very dedicated and ready to put in the hours so its going to be interesting to follow your journey. Good luck!

Thanks mate. I'll try not to give up when I run worse than I ever thought I could so I can keep posting updates.


Thank you. Looking forward to it.


Played five hours today with a whopping -2 buyins. I'm going to start folding more rivers, people just aren't bluffing enough with hands that I expected to be bluffing. Did some solid studying too.

I'm still in good spirits tho despite this small downswing/breakeven stretch. It's been ~8k hands now.

Bovada roll at 1736. Total roll around 10.8k or something. I have a separate $1750 dedicated for living expenses on the side this semester too which will help cut down on bankroll withdrawals.
64/60 buyins till 200pl.
846 days till graduation.

On a non-poker note, I've been thinking about valuing finding a life partner/very long term relationship. More on that later.

Small winning sessions like 0.5 buyins add up in the long term. I'm really trying to win every spot I can and avoid trying to have a major winning or non-losing session. I'm embracing the little wins/losses as just part of the journey. It might sound odd to have to say that but subconsciously I can feel a strong desire to have a significant winning session/have progress that might be clouding my decisions on how wide to stack off. I don't think I've done that recently but that kind of insidious success-tilt is something I want to make sure I'm aware of.

With that said today went really well. I made some solid postflop plays that worked out with light calls/bluffing for stacks in the right spots.
$289, $398, $364 were my three sessions today. Did some more hh review with deucescracked videos too that are adding some weapons into my arsenal. I think the 6max content doesn't translate perfectly because tighter ranges allow for some creative lines where you just aren't perceived to have many bluffs whereas HU you're so wide that you won't get the same credit, but I'm still taking the ideas into consideration.

Bovada roll @2787. Did a recount and my roll without using the 1750 is at 11420. I had some expenses so it looks right.
54/60 buyins till 200pl.

I'm putting in a lot of volume before classes start up in full. In the original spirit of this thread, I'll still try not to have X buyins by Y date goals though as I think they are counter-productive and negative freeroll disappointment-tilt.

Found a few people that want to discuss plo so that's cool. Hopefully we can learn things from each other and it's not mostly one-way, in either direction. Still open to speaking with more players.
Cheers.

Ok taking the rest of the night off from poker -- no studying or playing. I've been saturating myself with it in the last few days and need to take a break. I speedbagged both today and yesterday, but I should do laundry and go for a run.. Do more productive stuff, finalize class selection and clean my room. Maybe pick up some candy to treat myself.

I had dinner and played another session since my last post and was up 584. Although I didn't play my mental A game, I spewed about 150bb over a few spots. This evening off is to recuperate my mental game.

Bovada roll @3371.
~48/60 buyins till 200pl.
It was just yesterday that I had the mad emoticon after that last line lol.

Well this is pretty sick. Did my laundry list of stuff to do, watched some netflix, and worked out. Felt like I was back at the mental state I wanted to get to and had some time before I planned on sleeping so played another session.

3tabled a super aggro reg for ages and emptied his account (or at least his last buyin on last table was for $34.xx) with a 4th rotating regs that got bored and some fish like normal. +$1930 flat.

Preeeeeeetty sick. Makes it like a 35 or 36bi day or something absurd.

I heatered so hard I feel bad for the dude, although to be fair he was probably losing at something big around -20bb/100 because he made huge errors consistently, although some of that is because he assumed I was bluffing a lot more than I was... but I did bluff in good spots he didn't look me up in. He was wrong almost every time.

I don't really feel the $ amount, but I'm pleased about the buyins won.

Bovada roll @5223.
~28/60 buyins till 200pl.

Looking at something like a 14k roll ?

Played three quick sessions today. In the first I punted a stack in a 3bet pot in a horrible spot. Seriously donated $150 shipping over a polar river bet where he is almost never bluffing. It was so bad I ended the session.

-$2, $151, $252 for +4 buyins. Cashed out $2223 so I had a flat $3k on Bovada to start the day.

I've also been thinking about what I would do if I'd continued to experience the opposite side of variance to what I had yesterday. If I'd had -35bi after my pre-existing downswing. I'd still keep grinding but damn I think it would get to me mentally. Also I'm going to make sure not to have serious losing sessions in terms of buyins so that mental game errors account for a bare minimum of losses during future extended downswings.

Bovada roll @ 3401. ($2223 off)
24 left/60 buyins till 200pl.
845 days till graduation.

Quick +2 bi session. Made some really disciplined river folds and had an interesting turn spot I'm going over with people.

I've started using the odds oracle/range explorer during sessions and it's really helpful. Definitely speeding up my learning process for things I didn't think to realize I didn't know.

Off to play some 1/2 uncapped live with a friend tonight. It's part of the same deal as the 5/T session last month so i'm not on my $. Doing it for him & to play some stress free cards with real people.

Bovada roll @ 3595.
22 left/60 buyins till 200pl.

I actually got food poisoning so I didn't go play live last night. First day of classes today.
I passed all my classes last semester so that's nice. Taking five this time.

My body feels so drained. Like someone sucked my lifeforce out of me. I won't be grinding till I'm better. Might be Friday.

Total roll around $14.5k
844 days till graduation
Although this^ might change if I take a set of summer classes and 5 classes for three semesters, it would accelerate graduation by a full year and save tens of thousands of $.

wow 35bi, sick heater. It scares me a bit for playing plo hu as main game....so much swings.
GL @ getting better. Maybe post a hand once in a while?