Meale's 2017 | 2/5 Live | Professional Poker Player by Year's End
01-04-2017
, 11:07 AM
Brief Update/Backstory
After quitting playing online, for the second half of 2016 I didn't play much poker at all. Late last year, I was put into a pretty -EV life position. I was studying philosophy full time and working part time. Monetarily, I was pretty broke and going no where. I absolutely love philosophy and it will always be an enormous part of my life, but I've decided to put it on the back burner while I try get my paper right. There's no short game career you can get from philosophy. At the age of 21, I've basically overstayed my welcome at home and so need to move out ASAP which can't be done (easily) studying full time and working part time.
About midway through November, I got my first ever full time job while finishing off the semester. I work in dispatch at a glass manufacturing company, preparing large quantities of glass for transportation. It involves a lot of heavy lifting and very early starts. The whole long pants during Queensland summers is pretty -EV as well. I'm currently making about $800-$850 a week after tax from this place. But this is a means to an end for me and could never work at a place like this for more than a year. The idea of full time work anywhere (excluding self employment) strikes fear into my soul and I imagine I'll avoid that trap for the rest of my life.
================================================
Goals for 2017
In a nutshell:
1. [ ] Save $25k so I can,
2. [ ] Quit my ****ty labouring job ASAP
3. [ ] Move to Melbourne
4. [ ] Begin playing 2/5 live full time to prepare myself for a huge 2018
1. I need about 20-25k to move to Melbourne. This will afford me a $10k bankroll (20 BIs) as well as a 10k liferoll which is 6 months living expenses. In all honesty, I'll probably want 2-5k more to cover small things like flights, bond, furniture, unexpected expenses, etc.
2. I prefer indulgence over abstinence. Getting up at 3:30am 5-6 days a week for chicken feed is far too much abstinence. I simply have no idea how some of the people I work with do it. I imagine I'll pledge to never work a full time job for a year or more in my life; I'm just really against it on a conceptual level.
3. Why am I moving to Melbourne? Well with QLD's Treasury Casino's poker room downsizing to a tiny hole in the wall that can fit a max of 4 tables, I figure I may as well move to Melbourne so I can do some game selection at least at Crown Casino (largest poker room in southern hemisphere). Secondly, the weather is waaaay higher EV for me as someone who despises the heat. Basically, if you're going to play live poker professionally in Australia, you're going to want to be in Melbourne. The alternative to Melbourne was London. I can get a UK passport on account of my grandma having been an Irish citizen, so it means I wouldn't have to worry about visas or anything like that. I like the idea of London better because the rake is so much lower than in Australia but ofc the liferake there is pretty tough to beat as well. If my first year/full year in Melbourne goes well, I may look at making the move to the UK. AUS/UK are both good options because it means I won't have to pay off my HECS debt/student loan. Since gambling income in AUS isn't a recognizable form of income, in theory, if 100% of my income >$51k is from gambling, I'll never have to pay the government my tuition fees. It also means I can freeroll a tertiary education if I choose to continue studying in the future. I could, in theory, be enrolled in uni full time (while not attending), be living out of home, and earning welfare money to suppress the swings of live poker. This would mean I'd rack up an even bigger debt and it's super unethical, but it's an option I'm willing to consider if need be later down the track.
4. I decided late last year I'd give playing live a crack. Having spent so much time studying the game over the past few years, I thought it'd be a pity to not put this wealth of knowledge to good use. That, coupled with the fact that I really hate the idea of working full time, I decided poker was a good option for me to pursue in 2017.
So 2017 for me will be the biggest year of my life: Quitting my first ever full time gig, moving away from friends and family, and beginning a brand new career. But in a way, it'll be an intermediary year for me. Assuming all goes well for 2017, 2018 will be my first full year as a pro. I intend on chasing 2,500 hours of volume for 2018 as well as potentially moving to the UK/elsewhere to chase some bigger games if I run at or above EV.
Back to the present moment. I have about $7k to my name (after dusting off $1k in tonight's game). I need $25k to complete my first annual goal. That's about $18k to save. I'm hoping I can do this in about 6 months, preferable no longer than 9 months. Say I have about 25 weeks, conservatively, to get this money together. From work alone, I can probably bank about $600 a week after weekly expenses. That's $15k right there. I also want to play poker for about 2 sessions per week. I'm estimating that'll be roughly 16 hours of poker per week. If I assume my hourly is roughly $30/hr, that should be another EV $480 a week which will be about $12k over the 6 months. So if I can keep my job for 6 months and play 2 sessions per week and run at EV, I should have roughly $34k in 6 months from now. Ofc, this is well over my $25k target, so hopefully we can get it done ahead of schedule and get to Melbourne before July.
================================================
Poker Strategy & Approach
I just recently discovered the underground cash game scene in QLD. It's essentially a home game but everything's run professionally (ofc it's still illegal). You have professional dealers and hosts, free/unlimited food and drinks, a home cooked meal/dinner break, comfy chairs, and reasonable rake. Basically, these home games are way higher EV than the casino - mainly because you have much lower rake (I believe these cash games are 10% capped at $8 - or maybe it was $11, not sure. Compared to the 10% capped at $15 you'll get at the casino, it's way way better). You also have no food rake.
You're usually looking at $2/3 NLH, $100-$500 buyin. Quite often these games will be rotation (NLH + PLO) though which IMO isn't a good thing. I feel as though I can control variance better in NLH games and, while I'll have a good edge in both games, I am simply more confident with hold'em. So I'm going to do my best to avoid playing in rotation games.
This brings me to my next point. Live poker is extremely beatable. The issue with it is the very few hands you see. This means your swings will last longer. Variance is often much higher than in FR online games because you get many more multiway pots. The biggest thing for me when it comes to live poker is reducing variance. The best way I know how to do this is to play a fundamentally TAG strategy as opposed to LAG. You can pretty much get away with playing quite nitty overall in live games. It also means calling more than raising (i.e. preflop, calling TT instead of 3betting in some spots). And of course it means running it twice/thrice whenever possible (I can only do this in home games as everything is RIO at casino).
Over the past few weeks, I've been getting some good reps in with these live games. I've been working on adjusting from online to live and perfecting my low variance/highly exploitable lines approach. I've also downloaded Poker Income and will be tracking all my 2017 results. I'd estimate I would be up $3k ish from the few weeks I played toward the end of 2016. I will post daily updates as well as weekly graphs/results and big/interesting hands I played during the week and hopefully some chip porn. I've also been inspired by LLApex and will be implementing a variant of his nut strategy for savers.
================================================
Today, Jan 5 2017
Tonight I dropped $1,060 in a 2/3 rotation game. Everyone was pretty deep but I really don't think the EV of this game was that good. There was 3 players who were talking a lot about strategy, twoplustwo, and seemed like semi-pros all sat directly to my left. I'm also a little rusty when it comes to PLO. Anyway, I get double suited pocket aces at about $550 effective. A
3A
4 which I understand is like the nut best hand? Anyway, I get it in vs some dude w double suited kings, only I dominate both his flush draws. Literally the best possible way to get yourself into a $1,100 pot preflop. Anyway we run it twice and chop. Various other generally ****ty spots. I misplayed one hand at $700 effective. Board was like 5
6
8 and I had 47. I lead pot, and get repotted, another guy jams for like (~300-400?), I probably should have folded but got it in and they both had 79 for like a $1,800-$1,900 pot. Like can you really donk pot and fold here? Do they ever raise worse? The guy who stacked me said he probably plays a set similarly and that I probably played it okay. I still feel like I should muck since there's like 12 combos of the nuts either one of them likely has.
Anywho, keen for tomorrow's 2/3 NLH game. At this particular game, my previous results are +$280, $1,100, and +$1,180 so I've been running pretty well there.
================================================
NSFW Saver
After quitting playing online, for the second half of 2016 I didn't play much poker at all. Late last year, I was put into a pretty -EV life position. I was studying philosophy full time and working part time. Monetarily, I was pretty broke and going no where. I absolutely love philosophy and it will always be an enormous part of my life, but I've decided to put it on the back burner while I try get my paper right. There's no short game career you can get from philosophy. At the age of 21, I've basically overstayed my welcome at home and so need to move out ASAP which can't be done (easily) studying full time and working part time.
About midway through November, I got my first ever full time job while finishing off the semester. I work in dispatch at a glass manufacturing company, preparing large quantities of glass for transportation. It involves a lot of heavy lifting and very early starts. The whole long pants during Queensland summers is pretty -EV as well. I'm currently making about $800-$850 a week after tax from this place. But this is a means to an end for me and could never work at a place like this for more than a year. The idea of full time work anywhere (excluding self employment) strikes fear into my soul and I imagine I'll avoid that trap for the rest of my life.
================================================
Goals for 2017
In a nutshell:
1. [ ] Save $25k so I can,
2. [ ] Quit my ****ty labouring job ASAP
3. [ ] Move to Melbourne
4. [ ] Begin playing 2/5 live full time to prepare myself for a huge 2018
1. I need about 20-25k to move to Melbourne. This will afford me a $10k bankroll (20 BIs) as well as a 10k liferoll which is 6 months living expenses. In all honesty, I'll probably want 2-5k more to cover small things like flights, bond, furniture, unexpected expenses, etc.
2. I prefer indulgence over abstinence. Getting up at 3:30am 5-6 days a week for chicken feed is far too much abstinence. I simply have no idea how some of the people I work with do it. I imagine I'll pledge to never work a full time job for a year or more in my life; I'm just really against it on a conceptual level.
3. Why am I moving to Melbourne? Well with QLD's Treasury Casino's poker room downsizing to a tiny hole in the wall that can fit a max of 4 tables, I figure I may as well move to Melbourne so I can do some game selection at least at Crown Casino (largest poker room in southern hemisphere). Secondly, the weather is waaaay higher EV for me as someone who despises the heat. Basically, if you're going to play live poker professionally in Australia, you're going to want to be in Melbourne. The alternative to Melbourne was London. I can get a UK passport on account of my grandma having been an Irish citizen, so it means I wouldn't have to worry about visas or anything like that. I like the idea of London better because the rake is so much lower than in Australia but ofc the liferake there is pretty tough to beat as well. If my first year/full year in Melbourne goes well, I may look at making the move to the UK. AUS/UK are both good options because it means I won't have to pay off my HECS debt/student loan. Since gambling income in AUS isn't a recognizable form of income, in theory, if 100% of my income >$51k is from gambling, I'll never have to pay the government my tuition fees. It also means I can freeroll a tertiary education if I choose to continue studying in the future. I could, in theory, be enrolled in uni full time (while not attending), be living out of home, and earning welfare money to suppress the swings of live poker. This would mean I'd rack up an even bigger debt and it's super unethical, but it's an option I'm willing to consider if need be later down the track.
4. I decided late last year I'd give playing live a crack. Having spent so much time studying the game over the past few years, I thought it'd be a pity to not put this wealth of knowledge to good use. That, coupled with the fact that I really hate the idea of working full time, I decided poker was a good option for me to pursue in 2017.
So 2017 for me will be the biggest year of my life: Quitting my first ever full time gig, moving away from friends and family, and beginning a brand new career. But in a way, it'll be an intermediary year for me. Assuming all goes well for 2017, 2018 will be my first full year as a pro. I intend on chasing 2,500 hours of volume for 2018 as well as potentially moving to the UK/elsewhere to chase some bigger games if I run at or above EV.
Back to the present moment. I have about $7k to my name (after dusting off $1k in tonight's game). I need $25k to complete my first annual goal. That's about $18k to save. I'm hoping I can do this in about 6 months, preferable no longer than 9 months. Say I have about 25 weeks, conservatively, to get this money together. From work alone, I can probably bank about $600 a week after weekly expenses. That's $15k right there. I also want to play poker for about 2 sessions per week. I'm estimating that'll be roughly 16 hours of poker per week. If I assume my hourly is roughly $30/hr, that should be another EV $480 a week which will be about $12k over the 6 months. So if I can keep my job for 6 months and play 2 sessions per week and run at EV, I should have roughly $34k in 6 months from now. Ofc, this is well over my $25k target, so hopefully we can get it done ahead of schedule and get to Melbourne before July.
================================================
Poker Strategy & Approach
I just recently discovered the underground cash game scene in QLD. It's essentially a home game but everything's run professionally (ofc it's still illegal). You have professional dealers and hosts, free/unlimited food and drinks, a home cooked meal/dinner break, comfy chairs, and reasonable rake. Basically, these home games are way higher EV than the casino - mainly because you have much lower rake (I believe these cash games are 10% capped at $8 - or maybe it was $11, not sure. Compared to the 10% capped at $15 you'll get at the casino, it's way way better). You also have no food rake.
You're usually looking at $2/3 NLH, $100-$500 buyin. Quite often these games will be rotation (NLH + PLO) though which IMO isn't a good thing. I feel as though I can control variance better in NLH games and, while I'll have a good edge in both games, I am simply more confident with hold'em. So I'm going to do my best to avoid playing in rotation games.
This brings me to my next point. Live poker is extremely beatable. The issue with it is the very few hands you see. This means your swings will last longer. Variance is often much higher than in FR online games because you get many more multiway pots. The biggest thing for me when it comes to live poker is reducing variance. The best way I know how to do this is to play a fundamentally TAG strategy as opposed to LAG. You can pretty much get away with playing quite nitty overall in live games. It also means calling more than raising (i.e. preflop, calling TT instead of 3betting in some spots). And of course it means running it twice/thrice whenever possible (I can only do this in home games as everything is RIO at casino).
Over the past few weeks, I've been getting some good reps in with these live games. I've been working on adjusting from online to live and perfecting my low variance/highly exploitable lines approach. I've also downloaded Poker Income and will be tracking all my 2017 results. I'd estimate I would be up $3k ish from the few weeks I played toward the end of 2016. I will post daily updates as well as weekly graphs/results and big/interesting hands I played during the week and hopefully some chip porn. I've also been inspired by LLApex and will be implementing a variant of his nut strategy for savers.
================================================
Today, Jan 5 2017
Tonight I dropped $1,060 in a 2/3 rotation game. Everyone was pretty deep but I really don't think the EV of this game was that good. There was 3 players who were talking a lot about strategy, twoplustwo, and seemed like semi-pros all sat directly to my left. I'm also a little rusty when it comes to PLO. Anyway, I get double suited pocket aces at about $550 effective. A
3A4 which I understand is like the nut best hand? Anyway, I get it in vs some dude w double suited kings, only I dominate both his flush draws. Literally the best possible way to get yourself into a $1,100 pot preflop. Anyway we run it twice and chop. Various other generally ****ty spots. I misplayed one hand at $700 effective. Board was like 568 and I had 47. I lead pot, and get repotted, another guy jams for like (~300-400?), I probably should have folded but got it in and they both had 79 for like a $1,800-$1,900 pot. Like can you really donk pot and fold here? Do they ever raise worse? The guy who stacked me said he probably plays a set similarly and that I probably played it okay. I still feel like I should muck since there's like 12 combos of the nuts either one of them likely has.Anywho, keen for tomorrow's 2/3 NLH game. At this particular game, my previous results are +$280, $1,100, and +$1,180 so I've been running pretty well there.
================================================
NSFW Saver
Spoiler:
Last edited by meale; 01-04-2017 at 11:20 AM.
01-04-2017
, 11:46 AM
01-04-2017
, 01:28 PM
01-04-2017
, 01:47 PM
01-05-2017
, 04:00 PM
ty
ty
ty
ty
and ty!
Today, Jan 5/6 2017 | -$1000 | Variance 4/10
Long session which was pretty good. About 13 hours. Have never folded preflop so much in my life. So I was pretty happy with the discipline overall. This was a 2/3 game and one dude played for about 4 hours and left with over $4k...
Game was super high EV, a couple of really bad players and one old Asian lady playing every hand and spewing a fair bit. I basically had to fold a lot. Whenever I made my hand I either folded to a raise or called and lost basically.
Couple of mistakes:
AcQd, I open like 20, 5 callers, $120 in the pot OTF which was, QXXsss, I cbet like 55% pot, everyone folds except the last guy who's been playing reasonably standard who calls. He has about 200-250 behind at this stage. brick on the turn, I'm oop, I can either x and let him have some free equity or bet to get value from like KQ and hope he has a fd too. I bet $100 and he puts the rest in. Pretty sure he always has a flush (or set or sth) but I called thinking maybe he sticks it in with KQ. He had K8ss. I think this is a mistake mainly because there's probably more combos of hands he calls flop with that are ahead of me and I don't have amazing equity vs the few hands I'm ahead of. Turn in future I should xf.
===========
I've JJ, iso co to 25, sb CC's, everyone else folds. Flop is Q44. Villain is your average fishy 2/3 player, have won a lot off her in the past. x to me, I cbet 25, she raises to 55. I folded because I'm a nit but in hindsight, she's not the type of player to raise here with any hands that beat me. I.e. she just calls w flush draws and top pairs and 4x. She showed 66 which was kinda tilting.
===========
Last hand of the night, v has me covered for like 550ish, i have 9s7o in BB, she raises SB to 10 (this is crazy Asian chick who's drunk af and has left to go to the ATM about 3 times), I call. Flop is 486ss, she cbets ~10, I call. Could raise here but probably don't have much fold equity vs this chick and don't wanna get 3b. Turn is 5s, she bets 15 here which is tbh kinda spookily small but I raise to 50 and she 3bets to 125-150. Once again, I can fold here vs some players but vs this chick I think we just have to sigh and stick it in. And hope we're vs some 7x or overplayed set. But I'm pretty sure I'm way behind here. After a grueling 13 hours of making my hand and folding to raises and having followed this player around the table all night, literally encouraging her to rebuy so I can take her money, I get into this spot, shovel my cash in, and she has Q3ss for a flush n I'm dead. I don't know if this is an XPLO fold here vs this player. I'm all about making XPLO folds (see above hand) but couldn't quite do it here. Probably should have thought longer about it for 550 effective though.
============
vs this same chick like 12 hours ago, I 2 outed her on the second board to chop, my ****ty two pair vs her top two - this was for like 400 eff, so variance wasn't the worst ever.
================================================
Have made the executive decision to not play any more if my roll drops to $5k. Life roll is currently at about $6,500 so I'll have 3 buyins to play with. My mate also owes me $515 and I think I'll be getting shipped some cash (~200 ish?) from work next week. So I'm hoping I can make this last 3-4 buyins last, otherwise will have to regrind liferoll up to 6500 again when I start back at work in 2 weeks before playing more.
Not the best start to the new year but I still feel superb! Also is my birthday. The host of today's game gave me a 10 min free massage at midnight this morning lol #winning. Never the best to drive home at 5am on your birthday after losing 1k but it's w/e lol. Mates are taking me out for brunch at 10:30 so I'm going to stay awake til then and probably caffeinate myself through til like 6pm tonight before resetting my sleep schedule. Will look to play again on Sunday 8th as I will be too tired to play later today and have work tomorrow night. Tomorrow before work, I'll go to the library and relax and read a book which is something I really really enjoy (lol?).
================================================
NSFW Saver
ty
ty
ty
and ty!
Today, Jan 5/6 2017 | -$1000 | Variance 4/10
Long session which was pretty good. About 13 hours. Have never folded preflop so much in my life. So I was pretty happy with the discipline overall. This was a 2/3 game and one dude played for about 4 hours and left with over $4k...
Game was super high EV, a couple of really bad players and one old Asian lady playing every hand and spewing a fair bit. I basically had to fold a lot. Whenever I made my hand I either folded to a raise or called and lost basically.
Couple of mistakes:
AcQd, I open like 20, 5 callers, $120 in the pot OTF which was, QXXsss, I cbet like 55% pot, everyone folds except the last guy who's been playing reasonably standard who calls. He has about 200-250 behind at this stage. brick on the turn, I'm oop, I can either x and let him have some free equity or bet to get value from like KQ and hope he has a fd too. I bet $100 and he puts the rest in. Pretty sure he always has a flush (or set or sth) but I called thinking maybe he sticks it in with KQ. He had K8ss. I think this is a mistake mainly because there's probably more combos of hands he calls flop with that are ahead of me and I don't have amazing equity vs the few hands I'm ahead of. Turn in future I should xf.
===========
I've JJ, iso co to 25, sb CC's, everyone else folds. Flop is Q44. Villain is your average fishy 2/3 player, have won a lot off her in the past. x to me, I cbet 25, she raises to 55. I folded because I'm a nit but in hindsight, she's not the type of player to raise here with any hands that beat me. I.e. she just calls w flush draws and top pairs and 4x. She showed 66 which was kinda tilting.
===========
Last hand of the night, v has me covered for like 550ish, i have 9s7o in BB, she raises SB to 10 (this is crazy Asian chick who's drunk af and has left to go to the ATM about 3 times), I call. Flop is 486ss, she cbets ~10, I call. Could raise here but probably don't have much fold equity vs this chick and don't wanna get 3b. Turn is 5s, she bets 15 here which is tbh kinda spookily small but I raise to 50 and she 3bets to 125-150. Once again, I can fold here vs some players but vs this chick I think we just have to sigh and stick it in. And hope we're vs some 7x or overplayed set. But I'm pretty sure I'm way behind here. After a grueling 13 hours of making my hand and folding to raises and having followed this player around the table all night, literally encouraging her to rebuy so I can take her money, I get into this spot, shovel my cash in, and she has Q3ss for a flush n I'm dead. I don't know if this is an XPLO fold here vs this player. I'm all about making XPLO folds (see above hand) but couldn't quite do it here. Probably should have thought longer about it for 550 effective though.
============
vs this same chick like 12 hours ago, I 2 outed her on the second board to chop, my ****ty two pair vs her top two - this was for like 400 eff, so variance wasn't the worst ever.
================================================
Have made the executive decision to not play any more if my roll drops to $5k. Life roll is currently at about $6,500 so I'll have 3 buyins to play with. My mate also owes me $515 and I think I'll be getting shipped some cash (~200 ish?) from work next week. So I'm hoping I can make this last 3-4 buyins last, otherwise will have to regrind liferoll up to 6500 again when I start back at work in 2 weeks before playing more.
Not the best start to the new year but I still feel superb! Also is my birthday. The host of today's game gave me a 10 min free massage at midnight this morning lol #winning. Never the best to drive home at 5am on your birthday after losing 1k but it's w/e lol. Mates are taking me out for brunch at 10:30 so I'm going to stay awake til then and probably caffeinate myself through til like 6pm tonight before resetting my sleep schedule. Will look to play again on Sunday 8th as I will be too tired to play later today and have work tomorrow night. Tomorrow before work, I'll go to the library and relax and read a book which is something I really really enjoy (lol?).
================================================
NSFW Saver
Spoiler:
01-05-2017
, 04:29 PM
01-08-2017
, 07:44 AM
Today, Jan 5/6 2017 | -$520 | 3 Hours | Variance 2/10
Couple **** spots from today's session (2/3 NLH).
Me QQ in BB, EP opens to 10, 2 callers, I squeeze to 55, EP calls. EP is a pretty bad fish. Flop is K36, I x, he xs. Turn is 9, I x, he x's, river is 3, I vbet $85, he raises to $185. NFI what he does this with. A3? Assuming my recollection of the board is even correct. I figured he could have like AK maybe or some slowplayed AA. In hindsight, I don't think he raises any top pair hands here so it polarises him to air/nuts. I figure no one raises so small w air here so I folded. He shows AhTx for the #triplerangemerge. Tilted the **** out of me. That hand for him SHOULD be a 100% call otr and I never expect him to raise it. I felt good about the fold at the time but man, felt pretty horrible straight after it.
===============
Other than that, I flopped two sets, didn't get anything out of them but when I flopped another set middle set on J63tt after raising preflop, BB x jams on me on a 7o turn and I expected to stack 33 here every time but turns out he just CC's JJ pre and I'm dead.
Results are very unimpressive atm. Only played for 3 hours because I shouted my mate some cash to buyin/rebuy a few times. Hopefully play again Tuesday.
Couple **** spots from today's session (2/3 NLH).
Me QQ in BB, EP opens to 10, 2 callers, I squeeze to 55, EP calls. EP is a pretty bad fish. Flop is K
36, I x, he xs. Turn is 9, I x, he x's, river is 3, I vbet $85, he raises to $185. NFI what he does this with. A3? Assuming my recollection of the board is even correct. I figured he could have like AK maybe or some slowplayed AA. In hindsight, I don't think he raises any top pair hands here so it polarises him to air/nuts. I figure no one raises so small w air here so I folded. He shows AhTx for the #triplerangemerge. Tilted the **** out of me. That hand for him SHOULD be a 100% call otr and I never expect him to raise it. I felt good about the fold at the time but man, felt pretty horrible straight after it.===============
Other than that, I flopped two sets, didn't get anything out of them but when I flopped another set middle set on J63tt after raising preflop, BB x jams on me on a 7o turn and I expected to stack 33 here every time but turns out he just CC's JJ pre and I'm dead.
Results are very unimpressive atm. Only played for 3 hours because I shouted my mate some cash to buyin/rebuy a few times. Hopefully play again Tuesday.
01-08-2017
, 08:08 AM
01-08-2017
, 08:55 AM
QQ Hand
Pre
If the fish is particularly bad feel free to squeeze even larger. Also note we don’t block AK which will never fold, which I imagine is inelastic to sizing.
This is because it will attract a chain of callers if UTG calls with lots of pairs etc trying to stack the spot (while building a very nice SPR up for us). It goes without saying that the size of the pot grows exponentially on each street, so start with Preflop!
Flop
Checking is fine, but I might still just bet half pot and check back any turn if he’s a passive fish. If he bets the river I would fold. I don’t expect him to continue with many bluffs on the flop when he calls (again this is live poker but there you go). We also get a bit of value from ace high as well if we bet small which is nice, and get protection/value from PP’s between KK-77. Against an aggressive fish I would check though, although I would proceed cautiously.
Turn
As played I would bet small or value, if the turn brings a rainbow 9 I might still check though.
River
Readless I would fold this as well, although calling with the Qh is ok as well despite the amazing odds. Although theres live poker spazz, sick pot odds to take into account, I expect his range to be very pair and Ax heavy which won't turn its hand into a bluff which inclines me to a fold.
As you begin to understand the locale and how they play, this may become a call, but until you do folding is fine, unlucky. Shake the mans hand and buy him a beer ; )
---------------
Hope you run better next time ; )
Also small niggle, if possible try and post a row-by-row hand history like you get from PokerTracker/Hand Histories as IMO they are easier to read/comment on although I got away with it above. Personal preference though
Pre
If the fish is particularly bad feel free to squeeze even larger. Also note we don’t block AK which will never fold, which I imagine is inelastic to sizing.
This is because it will attract a chain of callers if UTG calls with lots of pairs etc trying to stack the spot (while building a very nice SPR up for us). It goes without saying that the size of the pot grows exponentially on each street, so start with Preflop!
Flop
Checking is fine, but I might still just bet half pot and check back any turn if he’s a passive fish. If he bets the river I would fold. I don’t expect him to continue with many bluffs on the flop when he calls (again this is live poker but there you go). We also get a bit of value from ace high as well if we bet small which is nice, and get protection/value from PP’s between KK-77. Against an aggressive fish I would check though, although I would proceed cautiously.
Turn
As played I would bet small or value, if the turn brings a rainbow 9 I might still check though.
River
Readless I would fold this as well, although calling with the Qh is ok as well despite the amazing odds. Although theres live poker spazz, sick pot odds to take into account, I expect his range to be very pair and Ax heavy which won't turn its hand into a bluff which inclines me to a fold.
As you begin to understand the locale and how they play, this may become a call, but until you do folding is fine, unlucky. Shake the mans hand and buy him a beer ; )
---------------
Hope you run better next time ; )
Also small niggle, if possible try and post a row-by-row hand history like you get from PokerTracker/Hand Histories as IMO they are easier to read/comment on although I got away with it above. Personal preference though
01-08-2017
, 09:05 AM
01-08-2017
, 09:34 AM
01-08-2017
, 10:34 AM
01-08-2017
, 11:54 AM
@acidhauss, cheers for the feedback dude. I'll fix the forthcoming hand histories accordingly. 
@mason always good to have ya on board mate
@chelt 10k is 400 a week. I think it's reasonable. Don't plan on doing much h partying or anything as I imagine I'll be in the cas most weekends. 400 a week should be enough to survive on but perhaps I'll need more.
The centerlink idea is a worst case scenario back up :')
@mason always good to have ya on board mate
@chelt 10k is 400 a week. I think it's reasonable. Don't plan on doing much h partying or anything as I imagine I'll be in the cas most weekends. 400 a week should be enough to survive on but perhaps I'll need more.
The centerlink idea is a worst case scenario back up :')
01-08-2017
, 10:29 PM
01-08-2017
, 10:59 PM
01-10-2017
, 10:47 AM
Today, Jan 10 2017 | -$693 | 7 Hours | Variance 3/10
EV for the session when I left was something like +$800 but lost with top two vs a flush draw vs spazzy reg for a $1,900 pot. Must admit it hurt a little but only since I'm playing on such a non-existent roll.
I'm at 4/5 losing sessions so far for the year and have reached my $5k safety net/life roll so will be stopping play until I have $6,700 to my name. As always, anything after the $5k (so $1,700) will be used as a working bankroll (3.5 buyins so I can play a long session without having to leave if I lose a BI) and I'll be topping up when that drops to $5k.
I do want to keep working on my game though since I won't be playing for a little bit. Not sure when I'll have my $1.7k bankroll back but I imagine it'll be a few weeks at least? In the meantime, I will look to study some spots on 2+2, mostly from the hands posted in other PGCs. I'm looking at you acidhauss/Scorpp.
One thing I noticed from today was that I am playing extremely weak. I always do my best to avoid high variance spots but I feel I'm simply folding too much equity. In a sense, I've been playing scared money because my roll has been virtually non-existent. Nothing I hate more than bluffing AI on a river even if it's a good spot to do so - simply because that one time the fish snaps with 1 pair, it's super brutal. But I simply need to become more aggressive overall.
OTTHs
Assume ~100 bigs deep
I think I raise UTG w AK, 3-4 callers.
Flop: K95
Hero cbets ~55% pot, all folds except 1 villain 2 to my left who does this weird tanky call. He'd been playing pretty spazzy/call happy so far.
Turn: K95 A
Hero bets again, I bet $85. Idk what was in the pot at this stage but I remember betting $45 OTF. Chances are $85 is too small but this turn is pretty bad for villain's range so small probably isn't terrible. It can't give him any P+FDs so small probably isn't terrible. Villain calls pretty quickly.
River: K95 A 3
Hero checks? Pretty lolbad check. I mean yeah maybe he bluffs his missed fd's, sure, but that wasn't my logic at the time. I guess I'd have heard from a set by now and the fact that villain tank calls flops and doesn't snap call kind of rules out flush draws. Not sure what I'm getting value from now but river simply has to be a bet since I have the nuts. If he raises, it's the most vomit spot ever - I guess this is what went through my head - the whole hollywood/tank call flop thing, maybe he still has sets, idk. If we expect him to snapcall flop w all flush draws, then his range for calling a vbet otr is sets and turned worse two pairs? So I found it hard to get value from worse and wanted to avoid getting jammed on and not knowing what to do.
Villain checks behind and shows AQ. Hero scoops.
==================
Hero w AT from EP, opens 20, 4 callers.
Flop $80: J89
I cbet $40, all folds except for BTN who is relatively unknown to me but I know he's made some weird strange super -EV ****. Can't quite remember what I'd seen at this stage but later found out he was biggest spewtard ever and bluffed a lot. BTN calls quickly.
Turn $120: J89 3
Things that are going through hero's head right now:
Hero checks, villain bets $70, hero raises to $210 (I guess I do this with my value range vs this player?), villain snap jams, hero snap folds (should have at least tanked), villain shows a 3 (can't remember if it was diamond or not). Villain had been doing some pretty ******ed bluffs and I guess he bluffed me here (maybe not if he had 3Xdd). This was my fear for betting turn and getting raised - decent enough equity vs his range and yet I can't really call. I also can't check call.
Recap: stop being a bitch and be prepared to blast off here. I know range wise this is an obv triple but just hate triple barrel bluffing live regs even with my tight image.
==================
vs the same guy not long after
Hero raises UTG to $20 w AA, 2 callers including villain in SB.
Flop $65: T47
Hero cbets $45, 1 fold, SB raises to $110. Weird raise size. I have a tight image. Villain probably has plenty of bluffs I suppose but since he makes it so small, I think he either does this with a set, T7s if he has it (in his range I guess), or maybe even AT/KT. Hero calls the $65 flop raise with the intention of getting it in on brick turns.
Turn $275: T47 T
Villain bets $160. I guess we just fold. Probably not the best card for him to bluff???? Some of his raising range OTF was AT/KT (despite my blockers) and maybe he is full already. I fold? Villain says, did you have KK or something?
I think this one is a pretty good fold. IK this guy's a spaz but I don't think he'd bluff me twice in a row (level?). I got the vibe he was stronk so reasonably happy with it.
==================
**** I fold a lot aye. Betting flop and folding to raises literally all night.
Anywho, that's all for now folks. Wish I could play more while on holiday still. Don't go back to work for another 5 days but running out of cash. I really want to get more volume in though so maaaybe I'll play another $1k and see what happens before back to work. $4k liferoll should be fine right!? I have fkall expenses so might as well make the most of the free time.
NSFW Saver
EV for the session when I left was something like +$800 but lost with top two vs a flush draw vs spazzy reg for a $1,900 pot. Must admit it hurt a little but only since I'm playing on such a non-existent roll.
I'm at 4/5 losing sessions so far for the year and have reached my $5k safety net/life roll so will be stopping play until I have $6,700 to my name. As always, anything after the $5k (so $1,700) will be used as a working bankroll (3.5 buyins so I can play a long session without having to leave if I lose a BI) and I'll be topping up when that drops to $5k.
I do want to keep working on my game though since I won't be playing for a little bit. Not sure when I'll have my $1.7k bankroll back but I imagine it'll be a few weeks at least? In the meantime, I will look to study some spots on 2+2, mostly from the hands posted in other PGCs. I'm looking at you acidhauss/Scorpp.
One thing I noticed from today was that I am playing extremely weak. I always do my best to avoid high variance spots but I feel I'm simply folding too much equity. In a sense, I've been playing scared money because my roll has been virtually non-existent. Nothing I hate more than bluffing AI on a river even if it's a good spot to do so - simply because that one time the fish snaps with 1 pair, it's super brutal. But I simply need to become more aggressive overall.
OTTHs
Assume ~100 bigs deep
I think I raise UTG w A
K, 3-4 callers.Flop: K
95Hero cbets ~55% pot, all folds except 1 villain 2 to my left who does this weird tanky call. He'd been playing pretty spazzy/call happy so far.
Turn: K
95 AHero bets again, I bet $85. Idk what was in the pot at this stage but I remember betting $45 OTF. Chances are $85 is too small but this turn is pretty bad for villain's range so small probably isn't terrible. It can't give him any P+FDs so small probably isn't terrible. Villain calls pretty quickly.
River: K
95 A 3Hero checks? Pretty lolbad check. I mean yeah maybe he bluffs his missed fd's, sure, but that wasn't my logic at the time. I guess I'd have heard from a set by now and the fact that villain tank calls flops and doesn't snap call kind of rules out flush draws. Not sure what I'm getting value from now but river simply has to be a bet since I have the nuts. If he raises, it's the most vomit spot ever - I guess this is what went through my head - the whole hollywood/tank call flop thing, maybe he still has sets, idk. If we expect him to snapcall flop w all flush draws, then his range for calling a vbet otr is sets and turned worse two pairs? So I found it hard to get value from worse and wanted to avoid getting jammed on and not knowing what to do.
Villain checks behind and shows AQ. Hero scoops.
==================
Hero w AT
from EP, opens 20, 4 callers.Flop $80: J
89I cbet $40, all folds except for BTN who is relatively unknown to me but I know he's made some weird strange super -EV ****. Can't quite remember what I'd seen at this stage but later found out he was biggest spewtard ever and bluffed a lot. BTN calls quickly.
Turn $120: J
89 3Things that are going through hero's head right now:
- Villain's range is probably pretty weak since he called so quickly. He's capped.
- Hero has pretty good equity and doesn't want to bet and get jammed on.
- This is probably one of the best combos for hero to be bluffing, unblocking diamonds and spades, also blocking AJ.
- Hero thinks villain will call with any jack if the action on the turn river goes bet call, jam.
- This is one of those spots that I really really need to up my aggression and just go for it. I know it's a high variance spot and I know occasionally we'll just get snapped with KJo on the river once we jam but check folding is probably just too weak given he should have draws too.
Hero checks, villain bets $70, hero raises to $210 (I guess I do this with my value range vs this player?), villain snap jams, hero snap folds (should have at least tanked), villain shows a 3 (can't remember if it was diamond or not). Villain had been doing some pretty ******ed bluffs and I guess he bluffed me here (maybe not if he had 3Xdd). This was my fear for betting turn and getting raised - decent enough equity vs his range and yet I can't really call. I also can't check call.
Recap: stop being a bitch and be prepared to blast off here. I know range wise this is an obv triple but just hate triple barrel bluffing live regs even with my tight image.
==================
vs the same guy not long after
Hero raises UTG to $20 w A
A, 2 callers including villain in SB.Flop $65: T
47Hero cbets $45, 1 fold, SB raises to $110. Weird raise size. I have a tight image. Villain probably has plenty of bluffs I suppose but since he makes it so small, I think he either does this with a set, T7s if he has it (in his range I guess), or maybe even AT/KT. Hero calls the $65 flop raise with the intention of getting it in on brick turns.
Turn $275: T
47 TVillain bets $160. I guess we just fold. Probably not the best card for him to bluff???? Some of his raising range OTF was AT/KT (despite my blockers) and maybe he is full already. I fold? Villain says, did you have KK or something?
I think this one is a pretty good fold. IK this guy's a spaz but I don't think he'd bluff me twice in a row (level?). I got the vibe he was stronk so reasonably happy with it.
==================
**** I fold a lot aye. Betting flop and folding to raises literally all night.
Anywho, that's all for now folks. Wish I could play more while on holiday still. Don't go back to work for another 5 days but running out of cash. I really want to get more volume in though so maaaybe I'll play another $1k and see what happens before back to work. $4k liferoll should be fine right!? I have fkall expenses so might as well make the most of the free time.
NSFW Saver
Spoiler:
01-10-2017
, 12:11 PM