The good thing about my background is that the monetary time length won't bother me. How often prior have I had 5-10 BI downswings online and built back up? And I ran so far under EV online for so long that it kind of numbs everything. To say it didn't sting a little would be a lie. This 100 VPIP player who keeps pulling rabbits out of a hat does it again in a way most miraculous. But at least I lost it to him and not a reg. Just say nh and move on (although I may ask him to get me a drink next time I see him ).

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When we look at the big picture for the year. Hard to believe it's been 1 year since I undertook this journey. And I can tell you what, ever since deciding that I want to give this a go, life has been kicking me in every which direction. First, there was the car. Then there was the accident. Now it's this absurd February. And it's my family nagging me for money. All in this 3 month span since making that decision.

But you look on the positive side. I have something I'm working towards. I got a much better car from it. I'm learning the meaning of a live downswing and take it in stride with a smile (although seriously, all this losing has pretty much come since 100 VPIP started playing the games). Life could be worse, and this last year has been fun.

For the entire year, I played 587.38 hours of live poker. My hourly for the year is $30.10/hr. This is a mix of 1/2, 2/5, 2/2 PLO, and a little bit of 5/5 PLO.

What do I think of this hourly? I believe the 1/2 at my local casino can be beaten for more than $20/hr given the structure. I wouldn't be surprised if $25/h-$30/hr is sustainable there.

The 2/5 games, if game selected properly, I think can be beaten for $60/hr. There are some times when the game isn't worth playing and you just get this 3bet/4bet staredown pissing war, but that seems rare.

So how do I think my WR for the year (given small sample size) compares to what is possible? If selecting between just the NLHE games, I think my hourly has a lot of work to do. Yeah, beating the casino for $30/hr when you spent half the year at 1/2 and the other half at 2/5 is great, but more is definitely achievable. And I believe that will show itself once I increase my 2/5 BI from the standard 100bb to the 200bb max. But again, I have a whole hell of a lot of work to do. Poker is about constant education and constantly getting better, and during this next year that is exactly what I'm going to do.

Holy hell we booked a win finally!

After what can only be described as a brutal February, this win, no matter how small or how it was gotten, is much needed.

Honestly, I was fairly card dead during most of the session. A lot of just unplayable hands. Three hands I would like to share though. One of them I made a huge mistake. This isn't that one. BTN straddles. BTN is very loose, can be aggro player. Plays a bunch of hands. BB limps, I raise KQo to $40 in HJ. BTN calls, BB folds.

Flop ($90): KQ9
I bet $60, he calls.

Turn ($210): Q
I check, he checks. I have a lock on the hand. I want him to "get there." This may be a minor mistake, as I could be able to extract some more value from worse Qx and Kx and clubs.

River ($210): 8
I bet $135. He fairly quickly raises to $300. I jam and he instantly folds. I have to show my hand because there is a high hand promotion and my hand is best at the moment. He says "I raised that much to get you off of a K." And you know what? He very well may have succeeded.

Anyways, the half hour is counting down. Someone tells me that my hand is still winning with like 9 minutes left. I honestly had forgotten that I had the high hand leader. I fully expected QQQKK to be beaten with how many tables there were. With about a minute left, someone offers me $450 for my $500 high hand. I take it without a second thought. I wouldn't have been disappointed if I lost, I didn't expect to win it, so I might as well cash in some equity for it.

(It wound up holding).

Next hand I want to share. After a bit of time playing 6 handed, three silent types show up. Ah great. Well, folds to HJ. HJ is a younger kid, looks of hispanic origin. He raises to $15. I don't think I've played with him before but so far he seems somewhat competent. 200bb deep, I decide to flat 76 OTB. One of the blinds flats as well.

Flop ($45): JJ7
Check, HJ bets $35. Seems like a flop that could be over cbet. I call, blind folds.

Turn ($115): 8
He bets $85. At this point, I decide (and this was in my thought process the whole time) that I can rep a J. There aren't many rivers I could call on, so might as well turn my hand into a bluff. I raise to $210 and he folds rather quickly.

This is the mistake hand, again against the same player. BTN straddles, this guy is in the SB. He limps, I see AA and raise to $45. BTN calls as well as SB.

Flop ($135): 853
Check. I bet $85. BTN folds and SB calls.

Turn ($305): 5
He checks. I check back. This is always a bet. Always always always always. 76s, value from 8x, maybe 77/66.

River ($305): 4
He checks. I bet $165. He goes all in for a total of $780. I tank. I flip over my cards. I thought I saw a slight grimace from him, but I wasn't sure. Wouldn't value hands lead out the river? The check raise makes no sense. I wouldn't have gotten myself into this strange situation if I bet the turn. 76s, only 4 combos. 33, 3 combos. 55, 1. And I'm looking, and then I stumble upon "well, if he has 76s, he can have 65s." I fold. He showed 98o.

Reviewing it, I think it's a bad fold solely because he checks the river first. Why go for a check raise if you have a value hand after I check the turn? I could have a hand like 77 or 66 that will call a bet, but won't bet. Maybe I bluff with A hi? The river check raise doesn't make sense. Then again, he was an unknown (although by this time I figured he could be somewhat aggressive).

6 hours
+$552 (+$450 promotion)

So I broke one of my rules for the month, almost accidentally. But I think I gained more by breaking it than by leaving or disagreeing.

I played a bit of PLO last night. The 2/5 was shorthanded and there was a 2/2 PLO list up. So we agreed to play a round by round OH mix. What was unique about this, and why I'm ok with having broke the rule this time, was that there was two players who would usually play the 5/10 PLO game playing. 5/10 PLO is typically the largest game that runs at the casino. So naturally, it's sort of the end goal. Be comfortably rolled to play the game. If I am ever comfortably rolled to play that game, then I will have made it successfully in some venture in life.

Playing with those guys gave me a glimpse as to what I hear when everyone says that they play a bastardization of Omaha at those higher limits. Raising and 3bets preflop. And I heard it straight from those players. So getting to play with them, even if it was a lower limit and only for a few orbits, is a solid learning experience.

What I learned was that I'm not ready for that higher stake level of PLO. I don't know the fundamentals or theory behind it well enough to crush the game. And that's fine with me. My BR isn't to that point yet either so it gives me something to work towards (once I crush NLHE that is ).

NLHE wise, I ended as a small winner. Not many important hands or difficult hands. I'll share two of them back to back. Maybe it's a sign that my luck is changing? First one, we're 6 handed. I'm licking my chops. Folds to me in CO. I raise 96 to $15. 95 is a fold, 97 is a raise. 96 is inbetween. BTN and blinds call.

Flop ($60): 866
Checks to me. I bet $45. Only the BB calls. BB I've played with just a little. Don't know too much about him. He seems to play a bit too many hands but also seems to be a reg. Maybe a pro???? I did catch him doing something weird with an overbet with T9o on a T3hh6cQc8c board when I called with KTo.

Turn ($150): 3
Great card. He checks. I bet $110. He raises to $240. If my read is correct, the only kicker he may have better than mine is an A. He can have all 76 and all 65. I can also jam here and rep like an overpair scared of the draws. So I jam. He calls with....63o?!?!?!?!? Like what the hell seriously. 63o? I knew my kicker was higher, I just didn't think he would have 63o.

I'm not going to share the hand where I doubled up. QQ > J8hh AIOTF Td9h3d. It's nice blocking 25% of someone's outs.

4 hours 50 minutes
-$273 (+$58 NLHE, -$331 OH)

#cuerant



It's times like this that I have to keep reminding myself that these players have to get lucky to keep on playing, and that we should embrace variance because without it, poker wouldn't be a profitable venture.

That becomes tough when, in February, you lose 5 of 7 sessions. The two you win are an 18bb win and a 1 BI win, of which 80% of it comes from a promotion winning. It becomes tough when you lose a $2500 pot to a player playing 100% of hands when you hold the nuts on the turn, only to get 4 and 3 outed. Or to see this same player consistently hit his Q4 two pair or flop a boat with trash cards or see another one you think is decent turn a trashy boat when you know you have his kicker dominated. It becomes tough when you lay out a schedule of when you can play, only to have that schedule all ****ed around because of so many different holidays and ****. It becomes tough when your family is up your ******* because their water is about to be shut off and you're the only one financially responsible and capable to help them out. And somehow, during this entire month, I've kept my cool, stayed calm. It was the last day that finally got me. Seeing myself and other solid players make correct decisions and get punished for the entire month and seeing the truly awful players connect again for the entire month just got to me.

-----------------

Looking on the brightside, March starts in 2 hours. February has always been the ****tiest month of the entire year for my life. Nothing ever seems to go right in February. This year is more of the same. March is a new start. February I played almost 40 hours and had a losing month of -$4,037. It's frustrating. That put a huge damper on my plans. I couldn't win a thing in February. March is a new month though. I don't have goals for March yet. I'll make them once I've calmed down a bit. Apparently, I can get tilted from time to time. It just takes running the worst I've ever run over a prolonged stretch to get me there.

It's been a little while since my rant. I haven't stopped playing, I haven't given up on this thread. I just wanted to take a bit of time away to gather my thoughts, diagnose how I have been playing, and really take a look at the next few months.

First off, how I've been playing. I've been playing a bit more aggressive postflop, and I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. But I've been missing some spots. Two examples, just to give you an idea. IP, I double barreled 65dd on a Qx4x2d8x board when the preflop raiser checked in position. I thought this would be a solid spot to go for a double barrel, trying to get him off of 99-JJ. I'm in position. This is a spot where I may check turn to see a free river card. Whether double barreling (going for the triple barrel) or checking to see both cards are correct....it's probably +EV double barreling with the intention to triple barrel. This is a good spot.

But then another spot, I flat 98cc to a looser TAG pfr UTG 7 handed. Two other players call. The flop comes Qc9x7c. The preflop raiser bets a small amount. This is a spot where, with my hand and equity in the pot, I should be raising. The preflop raiser more than likely has a weak holding. Instead, I'm getting a bit of FPS by flatting and not attacking the weakness.

And overall I've been double barreling more. I don't think there is much wrong with this, for instance betting QT on a K-low-low flop and then continuing on a J turn or cbetting QThh on 9h-low-low and continuing on an A turn. I think I need more time to figure out whether this is winning (it should be), losing (which in every one of those three double barreling example, the guy has nutter butter hands), or is just variance.

If I do continue on that route, one thing is for certain. Balance is overrated in live poker, but I severely need some value hands to offset these bluffs and weaknesses that I'm trying to attack.

And when I get deep into it, I decided that reading the Applications of No Limit, right now during a downswing, isn't the best idea. For ****s sake, live poker is easy. I shouldn't try to learn GTO right now. I need to focus on the live game rather than GTO, which mostly exists online.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anyways, some goals for March. After this week, I'm going to have a lot of playing time next week and plan to put in some hours. As always, unless I get sick.

-60 hours
-Watch and note take on 4 videos, one per week
-Post on 5 hands in a forum every week
-Post one hand every week in a forum (posting hands on this thread DO NOT COUNT)


Good luck!

(BTW, I've played roughly 10 hours in March. +$175)

Life **** happens every month. I swear, all of this stuff is happening just to test me. While I am 99% honest about things going on in life and reasons why I can't play as much, I have to invoke my 1% of secrecy for why I hadn't played in 11 days. I'm just going to say that there was a serious reason why I couldn't and leave it at that.

But I was finally able to get a short session in before my mini vacation starts later tonight. Overall played 3 hours and won +$302. I left the 2/5 game to play a 10/20 mix game. The mix game was well worth it. It's fun playing non standard poker games like Razz and O8, and the stakes weren't too high either. The most interesting hand came in a Stud 8 round where villain had:

xxT779x

And I had

[A4]26Q3[K]

So I have to be a huge favorite to scoop, right? Especially having 3 hidden clubs plus my opponent has no way of making a low hand. We wound up capping 7th street and he flipped over 6 and 8 for the straight flush :O.

I did win in both games though, and that's a positive. Not many tough spots in the 2/5 game but it also wasn't one with a standard cast of characters either - relatively soft actually.

I didn't give myself much time to type out posts over the last week or so. Ironically, I was right in the middle of updating on Sunday when my laptop completely crashed. After doing a bit of work (and I know very little about actual computer hardware), it seemed like the hard drive took a dump. So I was finally able to get and install a new one. And to think, Dell wanted me to pay them $250 to ship my laptop out to them just for them to put a new hard drive in. Pff, one day without a computer and just $70.

I did take Thursday-Sunday off of work. It's a yearly tradition of mine, I try to take off as many days as I can to watch as much basketball as I can. Or, in my case, watch basketball and play as much poker as possible. This started on Thursday. First big hand came relatively early Thursday also. BTN straddles (I amazingly hate the BTN straddle, completely kills the game). $500 effective, I raise TT to $30 in BB. Could go a little higher I think. An unknown guy in a track suit calls as well as a player that I don't hold a high opinion of.

Flop ($100): 954
I bet $65. I can get called once by 88-66, maybe the random 9x (98s, T9s, A9s, etc). Flush draws and straight draws can call as well. Track suit guy calls, CO villain folds.

Turn ($230): 2
Very innocuous turn card. I decide to bet again, $145. A 9 may call again. I don't think this player (or your average 2/5 player) will have QQ+. I value own myself against JJ, and any of his A-hi diamond draws just pick up a gutshot. He jams. I call, thinking that an A-hi flush draw, with it's increased equity, can make this jam. I think at least half of the time flopped sets are raising the flop. So if that's the case, he has 4.5 combos of sets. I only need like 1.125 combos of AdXd to make it a neutral EV call.

Turns out he has 55.

Another hand, and this is just like a *sigh* hand, a bad player limps in MP. I raise AQ to $20 in CO. A rec player in BB calls as well as the limper.

Flop ($60): T87
Checks to me. I bet $45. I think I can be swayed by either a bet or a check. I'm getting called a lot here by Tx, 9x, 8x, etc. So I think I prefer a check, although I would like some kind of hand to be able to bet here as this is a board I feel I check back on too much as a preflop raiser. Well, both players call.

Turn ($195): J
BB donk bets for $130, MP folds. Well, based on my earlier play with BB, he has a straight 100% of the time. So it's just simple math. I know he has one 9, and I know 6 other cards. So, 3 K's, 2 9's, and 9 spades = 14/45 cards = ~33%. It's a spot where it's a no brainer mathematical call.

River ($455): 6
Brickity brick. He slides some amount over the line and I fold.

6 hours
-$997

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Day 2! For Friday, I decided (and I've been trying to do this a lot) to jot down pretty much every hand I played in. Day 2 actually consisted of me starting at 2/5, going to a 2/2 PLO/ 2/5 NLHE mix game, then coming back to 2/5. At the beginning of the day, I was completely running over the game. The lineup was full of soft spots and I had correct reads on everyone. I even folded a baby flush on the river when my flush came in (the third flush card) to a passive guy's leadout - correctly. However, all of these small wins in the beginning of the session didn't lead to huge pots that I would win. This was a day where I just kind of got caught in spots that I normally don't get caught in. UTG limps, a fish limps to my right. I raise AA to $25 in MP and get 3 calls.

Flop ($100): 245
Checks to the fish who donk bets $150. I just think for a bit like what the ****? There are draws, but I have Ac. I have seen some players overplay overpairs like this. I guess I call? A SS calls as well. We have like $500 behind.

Turn ($550): T
SB checks, fish jams. This is just....the line makes no sense. Now, somehow I've gone from line making no sense - call to line making no sense - fold. Which is what I did. SB called with like $50 left. Fish shows 66 and scoops the pot from SB's missed FD.

That's something that I've lost recently. When a line makes no sense, call. They're bluffing a good portion of the time. What is anyone overbetting pot with and playing so aggressively without the preflop raiser having acted? Usually, bluffs.

And then a couple of hands later, an fairly aggro player opens to $20 in CO. He's definitely aggro and can be stealing, especially since BTN had prefolded. I see 55 and 3bet to $70 in BB. He asks how much I have, I have about $390. He just puts a large green stack in the middle. I snap call. Like, wtf is he ever doing this with but a hand like AK/AQ. He ain't doing it with AA or KK or QQ. It's not some mid pocket pair. It's like AK 95% of the time.

Board runsout T98JQ and, yes, he does have AK.

Correct read, and if I didn't have a online 6max background, I wouldn't have thought to make the call. Just the result that happens 45% of the time.

One unknown limps a BTN straddle in SB. I raise AA to $45, about $600 effective. BTN straddle calls. BTN I haven't really played with but so far seems almost hyper aggressive. SB calls as well.

Flop ($135): KQ3
SB checks. I bet $90 with a plan. Sure enough, BTN raises to like $300. My plan is to just jam over his raise, such a draw heavy board and he had been very aggro. Well......SB beats me to the punch and check/jams for $500 total. Another WTF spot. I begrudgingly fold, BTN tanks and calls. Board runsout 7x Jx and SB wins with JT. With action like that, my AA are almost never good 3 way.

8.33 hours
-$998 (see a pattern?)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Saturday is my day with my girlfriend. She's ok with this whole poker thing, as long as I set aside a day to do stuff with her. Yeah, I'd rather be playing poker with the fish, but the work/poker/life balance is definitely important and needs to be maintained.

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Sunday I made a decision. Out of my BR, I paid all of my rent when I lived with my mom. My rent is actually just slightly cheaper living away from her, which is sad. I also paid $1k out it towards a down payment on my new car. That combined with some of the money that others owe me along with the pretty large downswing puts me in a position where, I have a large enough BR to play and be rolled for the 2/5 game. But I think it's good for me mentally to drop down to 1/2 for a few sessions. I've made some mistakes, I've had some really ****ty luck, and I realize that I've only played about the equivalent of 15 hours of online poker.

Have you ever had a 15 hour online poker downswing?

I also have (had) only had one back to back winning session stretch in 2017. So I decided to play 1/2 for a bit. The game is quite a bit easier. Players don't know how to betsize, you instantly know if someone is strong or not, yada yada yada. Anyways, 4 hours +$$308

Then played the mixed game last night It really is fun to play these games you just never play. Stud, Razz, O8, etc. 3 hours +$237

OOhhh yessss

Yeah, pretty much everyone. It's not even the entire year, just since February....which is about the equivalent of 7 or 8 hours online.

I'm a bit excited that I finished my "watch and note take on 4 videos" goal early. I focused on two particular aspects of my game, but I'm not going to say what they are as enough players in my home casino know about this "blog."

And despite all of the **** that happened early this month, I can get to my 60 hour volume goal with 17 hours of play this week. Would be highly ecstatic to get to that one as well.

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Yesterday I played like 10 minutes of 1/2 (+$14) and 7 hours and 50 minutes of 2/2 PLO. And to be honest, towards the end I was really only there for one player. If there was a HUD hanging above everyone's head, his would have read:

VPIP: 100
PFR: 2
3bet: 1
AF: 20.0
Agg %: 90

There was something I noticed about this player, but again due to respect I'm not going to mention it here. A couple of hands I want to post, both against this villain. First one, 3 players limp to me OTB. I limp 5578r. Blinds come as well.

Flop ($12): Q72
Checks to EP villain from above who bets $10. I decide to make a loose (bad) call. I figure a 5, 7, 8, 6 all give me more equity and this guy just bets anything. One of the blinds call as well.

Turn ($42): 7
Blind checks, EP bets $40. I decide to call. I don't think he has a 7, but in the offcase that he does, his is better than mine.. The blind folds.

River ($122): T
He says "pot" to $125. I tank for a little bit. I decide to turn my hand into a bluff and raise to $290. I have a great blocker and can honestly rep Q7, 7T, TT7, etc. My goal is to get him to fold a naked 7, 22, or 72. This villain did have the ability to fold. Thoughts on the bluff?



The next hand against this villain, we're SH and 3 players limp to me OTB. I see a trashy hand that I honestly should fold here, Q844 rainbow. I limp for $2, the blinds both check.

Flop ($12): T54
SB leads for $10. SB is an aggro player, good hand reader, may play a few too many hands in NLHE, haven't really played with him in PLO. 3 others call so I decide to call with bottom set.

Turn ($62): J
SB bets $50. BB and EP 100% VPIP call. So here is what I know about the hand:

-SB can easily have a set. I know he is aggressive too so he can have other hands like a 876x or 236x or JT5 or T5XX.
-BB and 100 VPIP DO NOT have sets. TT is definitely a raise from one of them and I wouldn't be surprised to see 55 either.
-Therefore, the only player who can have a set is SB.

Making these assumptions, I make the call. Raising doesn't accomplish anything except getting it potentially HU against SB, of which I could be dominated. Folding seems a bit weak, and I also have a sneaky gutshot draw.

River ($262): A
SB checks interestingly. BB checks as well, and 100 VPIP bets $140. I knew he didn't have a set. Would he really have a 23xx and stay in after so much interest in the pot, very well having potentially just 4 outs? If he has KQ, what else would go with it? I have one of the Q. KQTx? I also believe SB would have triple barreled a non SDV hand, which means SB probably had at least one T. So I tanked for a bit before finally calling. SB tank folded and BB folded.

100VPIP shows something like 3689 and I scoop the pot. I also get berated by him for calling, but again imo his river bet is FOS. I wasn't worried about BB coming along. SB I was a little worried about, but I thought if I called, it'd be tough to put me on something worse than 32xx.



8 hours
+$14

Yes, I played 7 hours and 50 minutes of PLO and broke exactly even.

I've had two very uneventful sessions, short ones at best. Perhaps the most interesting thing about them is that I called out an opponent's exact hole cards or playing through a tornado warning.

2 1/2 hours Sunday, - $50 @ 1/2

3 hours Tuesday, +$75 @ 10/20 Mix

There are a couple of hands I want to post. Moreso for confidence than anything. This first hand I open QT, 7 handed, to $8 UTG. An unknown player in LP calls as well as BB.

Flop ($24): Q52
BB donk bets for $8. I've seen this countless times, this is a middlish kicker top pair hand from a rec player. Well, my kicker beats most middlish kicker top pair hands. I flat the $8, trying to keep some of his weaker Q in. LP folds.

Turn ($40): 9
BB bets $16. Ok, same thing, don't want to chase off a potential Q8/Q7 type of hand. I call.

River ($72): 2
BB bets $35. I tank for a bit. He has Q9 100% of the time. Rec players are not betting even KQ or QJ here for whatever reason. It has to be something that beats the board, and my initial analysis was a Q with a medium kicker. Q8 and Q7 aren't betting because players like this just check and showdown, not try to get an opponent off of a chop. So I call out his Q9 and fold, face down. Funnily enough, he flips over...Q9.

I actually got it in with this same villain in a hand OTT where he had top two pair and was only a 54% favorite to win. What combination would that be?



While I can't say what my studies were focused on in March as it had to correlate specifically with my gameplay, I can say that April I'm going to focus on hand reading. I've felt like this is definitely one of the stronger points of my game, and having it come directly after what I just studied only makes logical sense. I also need a little under 12 hours Thursday/Friday to get to my volume goal. First time since, what, October?

Played two sessions totaling 11.5 hours on Thursday and Friday. Exactly what I needed to reach the 60 hour goal mark for the month. I think it's the most hours I have played since August or July actually.

Anyways, session Thursday wasn't much to write home about. I wrote down literally two hands and both were kind of snoozers. 3.5 hours +$114

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Friday's session would have been the same if I didn't note take literally every hand and the big hands. I paid stout attention during the session and picked up a few tells. I picked up a huge tell on one of the players, but unfortunately he left before I could use it against him. I was able to use another tell against a player though that had me scooping a big pot. This looseish player opens in MP to $15. A LAG, looser player calls in HJ. I look at TT OTB. MP started the hand with like $130. But, he raises to a large amount with his huge pocket pairs and limps with AK etc. So I 3bet to $60. I would have done this even if stacks were deeper because of sizing. I was very confident of knowing I'm ahead of his range. Against other opponents, I think this would be a sometimes 3b, sometimes call. Well, MP and HJ call.

Flop ($180): T87r
MP donk jams for like $80. HJ folds, I snap call and he flips over 88.

That hand looks like a simple cooler. But I don't think it is. I knew where I was preflop, I wouldn't call a 3bet with that short of a stack size, and I wouldn't have that small of a stack size.

Here's a hand I'm probably going to post. I'm honestly on the fence about how it went down. A loose player limps in UTG+1. Fairly unknown. I raise AQo to $25 in UTG+2. MP to my direct right calls as well as the limper.

Flop ($82): A76
UTG+1 checks. I bet $50. MP instantly throws out 5 green chips to $125. UTG+1 folds. We are about $950 effective. Notes about MP

-He usually overplays with huge bets and quick timing
-He had played far fewer hands today than usual as he was extremely card dead
-We played a pot earlier where I bet/3bet 88 on a 9d8x3d flop and he folded, said he folded 9x

What's the play?

Overall it was a very workmanlike 8 hours of play at a solid hourly rate.

8 hours
+$404

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March Goals:

-60 hours. Yup, met this one yesterday
-Watch and note take on 4 videos, one per week. Met this one fairly early
-Post on 5 hands in a forum every week. No, although it's fairly likely I average at least 3 a week
-Post one hand every week in a forum (posting hands on this thread DO NOT COUNT) Nope.

As far as March results, I only lost 4 sessions but 3 of those were nearly -$1k sessions each. So that definitely skews the results, since I spent some time at the 10/20 mix game and at 1/2. -$401 for March, but I consider that a win considering I was down $1.5k midway through the month.

I also noticed that I have been playing better as of late. It feels like there is some big breakthrough coming soon with all of the work I've been putting in and how I feel at the table. And it also seems like I'm getting more comfortable with the regs and realizing that, yes, even they have leaks that are exploitable.

For April, I don't think I'll be able to get as much volume in.

-50 hours (will try for 60, but it'll be tough)
-4 videos
-Post one hand a week, if I can, to forums
-Post on at least five hands a week in the forums
-Focus on playing NLHE unless the 2/5 game is bad and a PLO game looks great
-Don't be afraid to leave the 2/5 game for a 1/2 game if the 2/5 is bad

Good luck!

In the hand above, think it's call his raise, then c/c next two streets based on your reads

In hindsight, that's definitely what it's gotta be. If he is bad enough to raise with a single 9 on a 982 two tone flop against a preflop raiser, then he is bad enough to raise worse aces.

I've gotten in 5 sessions over the last 6 days. The counter to this is that I'll get zero sessions in over the next 4 days. Sunday's session was decent. I loved the way I played and was ok with the result. First hand, I open AK to $20 UTG+1. A regular middle aged African American calls to my left. We've played a bit together, and he's tighter but has a bit of aggression in him. I'd peg him as a small winner in the games. Everyone else folds.

Flop ($47): K7T
I bet $30. Larger cbet sizing since there is a lot that can call. Probably could even go to $35 if I wanted. V calls.

Turn ($107): 5
I bet $70 now. Again, could probably go to $75, but the 1bb isn't a huge concern. He calls.

River ($247): 4
A brick. Now I decide to go for some thin value and bet $130. KQ, KJ may call. Given the nature of the board, he doesn't have a set or two pair. And maybe my bet sizing is small enough where some of his hearts or straight draws can bluff raise. Sure enough, he raises to $275. I don't see any hand that makes sense taking this line that I lose to. Maybe a jank hand like 86? Anyways, I call and he has 86.

OOOOOOk then. He had to call off over 1/5 of the effective stack to get the cards to come perfectly (I'm not paying off if a 9 comes) and get there. That's fine, it's a losing play in the long run and most of the time he's got some bricked draw.

This next hand there is a BTN straddle (you know, the kind that kills games). I open AK to $35 in the SB. This MAWG, probably a small loser in the game, calls in UTG. I don't have a high opinion of his game and he always seems to show up with some sort of drawy type of hand. The BTN straddle calls as well.

Flop ($110): T33
I bet $65, more for the fold equity. UTG V calls and BTN folds.

Turn ($240): 8
So my mind starts puzzling pieces together. I have AK. This guy didn't 3bet preflop, so he probably doesn't have either of those hands, along with the blockers that I have. So at best it seems his range is like 88-QQ. Well, with the T and 8 coming, it's highly unlikely he has one of those. I can triple barrel and effectively rep AA or KK on such a dry board. So I bet $135 and he calls again.

River ($510): 4
I unload the clip and bet $285. He tanks and tanks and tanks and calls with QQ. So if he calls off there with QQ, it means he doesn't really have as much of a fold button as I thought. Which means value bet the **** out of this guy in the future.

3.86 hours
-$317 (Not a bad result at all considering I lost those two huge pots)

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Monday's session was cut short because my girlfriend wanted me to leave earlier than I planned. I wound up running pretty well during the short 2 and a half hours I was there. Probably the best hand of the night....there is a BTN straddle (kills the game, if you wanna straddle do it UTG). This guy who I haven't played with a lot but heard is an ok pro opens to $40 UTG. I see KK in MP. There are three unknowns to my right, so probably weaker players. I remember watching a video where they advocate potentially flatting in this spot rather than 3betting. There is more money to be won from the players to my left rather than from the pro raising UTG. So I flat the $40.

Sure enough, the player to my direct left squeezes to $150, leaving about $100 behind. The pro folds, I jam, he has to call off his remaining $100 and my KK holds against his 99. That's not what I was expecting to happen or necessarily even wanting to happen, but it worked out in a convenient way.

2.5 hours
+$794

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And then yesterday's session was just straight from hell. Played the 10/20 mixed game and oh my god...when you run bad in Stud games, you can't come back from it. I'd start good, like a [4Q] Q, and then just not improve and have to fold on like 6th street because my opponent has AAxx showing and I'm like "lol I can't beat that even if I draw". That happened for like 5 or so hours.

Running bad in Hold 'Em is painful. Running bad in Stud is like torture.

6.5 hours
-$671

I also have one other goal that I forgot to mention with my April goals:

-Play at least one 18-hole round of golf before vacation in May

If anyone has any golf tips feel free to chime on in, I'm terrible!

Why do button straddles kill games? I play with button straddles and I haven't seen it hurt yet.


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Why do you think him calling QQ makes him a station? Seems like a mandatory call from me. Also, think if you're going to target that range to fold you should jam.

Also think you can make a fine explo fold w the AKs, small river check raises in live games seem to be the nuts 99% of the time.

GL for the rest of the month

Everyone tends to play closer to correct. They may have massive leaks postflop, but a lot of that stems from preflop hand selection. If the button straddle forces a player to play 10 to 20% fewer hands, then that players winrate goes up while everyone else's goes down.

It also kills the blinds. I see players who will button straddle with two rec players in the blinds. Why??????? You're making them play more correct than they otherwise would.



WRT the AK bluff hand, I've seen this player call a few bets and play questionably postflop quite a few times. I do think he folds JJ and Tx and 99 and I just ran into the top of his range. I fo agree with making the explo fold on the other AK hand. I tanked and tanked and tanked and did come close to making the fold. The only reason I called was because it didn't make any sense. But the opponent is bound to have more nuttish hands than bluffs imo.

To be fair, QQ is pretty much the top of his range. And since he tanked and tanked, makes me think he does have a fold button - most people are snapping there.

We haven't heard from you in a while OP, how are things?

Things have actually been quite busy! As anticipated, I haven't been able to have quite as much volume as I would like this month. I played two short sessions since my last update, both early last week both for modest profit.

Not only have life things gotten in the way, but I was also sick over the weekend and into this week. Looking to get in as many hours as possible now that Easter is over between now and vacation.

I can finally put an update out with a decent length session. Sadly, yesterday was the first Friday that I played in April. Fridays are important because those are the days where I can put in a long session. I wound up bouncing from game to game at the beginning and at the end.

I've been noticing recently that a lot more players are starting to play the PLO. Even the 2/2 PLO game is getting off the ground seemingly every day. Unfortunately, that's been taking some players away from the 2/5 game. I actually left my 2/5 game early yesterday to go to a 2/2 PLO game even though NLHE is my bread and butter. It was just infested with 4 grinders, one solid agro player, one OMC, and one probable VIP. Why play in that game when some of the splashiest players in the room are at the 2/2? PLO may be my studying focus for the foreseeable future....

Anyways, some HH. First, a PLO hand. We're 4 handed at this point. The BTN limps. I see KJ97 in the SB and check. With the BTN limper and being 4 handed, this might be a raise, but I'm playing cautiously OOP. BB raises to $12 (pretty sure a pot sized raise $8, but whatever). BTN folds (wtf), I decide to call. He's repping strong and there are a few flops I like.

This player has been raising a little bit, been a bit aggro for the normal 2/2 gameplay.

Flop ($26): 45T
I check. This guy bets $20. I make a speculative call. Any card 7-K gives me either a pair + straight draw or a wrap. He has ~$200 behind.

Turn ($66): J
This is the best card I could ask for. I check. He bets $60. So I don't think he has 44xx or 55xx, probably not 45xx unless it's something like 54KK. TTxx might be possible, but in my experience it's usually high pairs. I'm putting this guy on AAxx and I'm jamming. So I jam. He takes a minute and calls.

River: A (really, any card but that one)

He shows AAx47x for the rivered set.

Insane about that hand - I have 45% against that exact hand. So I only need him to fold a miniscule amount of the time to BE.

Only other hand I want to show. Not positive if I should share this HH or not, but oh well. Let's open up a can of leveling! Everyone folds to me in CO. I see KJ and raise to $15. I'm about $800 effective. Folds to SB who 3bets to $50. SB is one of those 4 grinders. Haven't played with him a lot, but not impressed with his game. Seems like a standard TAG. I decide to call. This hand is definitely on the fence for me between calling and 4bet bluffing. But I believe he will probably be more polarized (like most players are in the blinds) rather than merged, so I want to play against the wider range. Never folding.

Flop ($100): Q4Q
SB bets $40. I have the (weak) BDFD, along with a 9, T, J, K, or A that gives me more equity. Plus, in a polarized range, Qx rarely fits into the picture. Now if I had, say, QT on a KK4 flop, it's entirely different because there are far more Kx than Qx on the respective flops. In fact, I have quite a few Qx in my flatting range too. So I flat.

Turn ($180): 8
SB checks. A Qx isn't checking this turn, unless they're trying to be super FPS. Too many bad river cards for me to be able to check back and see. I didn't get one of my barrel cards, but I got more information. So I bet $85. He thinks for a little bit before calling.

River ($350): 3
He checks. Swallow real hard and take a balanced bet size of $165. He tanks for about a minute and thankfully mucks his hand.

Overall, I was up a decent amount at the 2/5 game (even lost a big pot to one of the biggest VIPs in the game, but I can't fold TPTK to him) and lost even more at the 2/2 PLO (that hand I posted earlier along with 30 minutes after game changing). Not bad considering how little poker work I've been able to do or how little volume I've been able to get in this month.

6.67 hours
-$185 (-$1 1/2, +$199 2/5, -$373 PLO)

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Lifewise, I'm counting down days until vacation. Just 20 measly days. I'm excited. I've never gone on a week vacation where I chose the destination. Once I come back from vacation, my poker schedule will be revamped. I must push hard.....and stop getting sick!

So, unfortunately, one of the things I predicted a few months ago does seem like it's finally starting to happen.

The fish are migrating to PLO, and more players are migrating to PLO. I didn't expect it to happen this quickly, but yet here it is. Played a session last night, 2/5 never got off but 2 PLO games did.

The reason I'm not a huge fan of this is because while good players do have a larger edge over the bad players, it takes a lot....I mean A LOT....longer to realize that edge. That's because there is more inherent variance in PLO. Most hands preflop are only like 60-40. You also receive fewer hands per hour by almost 2x.

So if this is the way the room will be heading towards in the future, I will then have to start studying up on PLO. The problem is that the game I'm rolled for is very fickle. Breaks easier than any 2/5 game. The game I was at last night was EXTREMELY GOOD. Unfortunately, the best hand I received in two hours was an AJ66ds hand at the very end. Flop came T9cc5x. I didn't even make one value bet in the game. Wasn't pretty.

3.86 hours
-$350 (-$111 1/2, -$239 2/2)

What a session! Was able to play for 7 hours yesterday and it felt good. My hand reading was, for the most part, on point. I was able to take advantage of a tell that I noticed, and I played quite a few larger pots. Let's begin with this one.

I have about $600 in my stack. I raise AK to $20 in HJ. Well, everybody else calls.

Flop ($100): 752

SB, a middle aged Indian guy, donks for $20. BB, a 50-ish white guy with his chips in his rack, ready to leave, calls. I think for a little bit. I have the second NFD along with two overcards and a BDSD. The $20 is such a small, awful sizing. If I raise here, do I get any fold equity? Not from Ad. Not from made flushes. Not from sets. And I'm a favorite over a random pair. I don't see value in raising, so I flat the $20. The other two players fold.

Turn ($160): A

SB and BB check. This is a good card for me. An Ad will call, and if they call, I've almost certainly got the best hand now. So I blast it to $110. SB folds, BB calls.

River ($380): 4

BB, in kind of a disheveled manner, pushes his entire rack into the pot. I tank and tank. I look at him. He seems calm. I flip over the K and get no response. After about 3 minutes, I fold. Having watched this player play, I'm fairly confident I made a correct fold.

So after a bit of play, I get my stack back to around $700. The table is very soft, aside from one player. This player knows what's going on, is aggro, and is generally a solid player. I open AQ to $20 in UTG+1. Folds to this guy in the SB. I notice he kind of postures to get ready for the hand when he sees the hand and calls. BB folds.

Flop ($45): A93

SB checks. I think for a little bit and check back. Even if I'm trying to switch my play up against a solid player, this is a mistake. Still need to value bet.

Turn ($45): Q

SB bets $30. I raise to $80. Could definitely go larger here. I don't plan on folding. He thinks for a little bit and calls.

When he calls, I know he doesn't have 99 or 33. I block AA and QQ. So odds are some sort of combo draw. KT, JT, KJ hearts or diamonds are good candidates.

River ($205): K


Relative blank. He checks. I bet $120. He thinks for a tiny bit and throws out 5 black chips. The big question becomes, would he do this with those big combo draws? I can put him firmly on 2 value hands and 4 bluff hands. Even if he does it once, one bluff combo is enough. So I think for a bit and call. Sure enough he shows JTdd.

Another fun little hand. I raise QJ to $20 UTG+1. A guy who has been PFR nearly 70% calls blind in MP. One of the blinds call as well.

Flop ($65): KK7

SB checks. I bet $35. Dry board, I want someone to call...if I had a K. The MP player calls and the blind folds.

Turn ($135): 7

Not the greatest card. Good thing is that I can barrel turn and river and credibly rep a K. The odds this guy has a K are small to begin with anyways since he blind called. I bet $65 and he calls again.

River ($265): 9

I'm a little afraid he may have a 9x, like A9, but I go with it. I bet $115. He thinks for a little bit before folding. After the hand, he said he had AA. It's plausible, and if so it means there are fewer Ax combos for me to be bluffing, along with me very likely having a K.

There were a few other medium sized pots that I won. I also confidently 4bet AKo to a SB squeeze and called off his donk jam on KT5. He had A6.

7 hours
+$525 (+$14 1/2, +$511 2/5)

April was a month that existed. It came, it went.

-50 hours (will try for 60, but it'll be tough)
Failed. 37 hours for the month. I was sick for about a week with intense sinus pressure and stuff, so it's excused IMO.
-4 videos
Failed, but with an asterisk. I have been reading a book along with a couple of videos. I'm also in the midst of watching a PLO video
-Post one hand a week, if I can, to forums
Failed, I posted just 2. Not enough volume imo for thread worthy hands
-Post on at least five hands a week in the forums
Failed.
-Focus on playing NLHE unless the 2/5 game is bad and a PLO game looks great
Success! Focused a lot more on NLHE than PLO or mixed games for the month. I only left an NLHE once, and that was because the table was completely dead and the PLO game had two of the splashiest players in the room in it.
-Don't be afraid to leave the 2/5 game for a 1/2 game if the 2/5 is bad
Didn't really have to, the games were fine every time I played aside from the one time.

In April, I played 37 hours for a profit of +$119.00. After two straight losing months, I'll take it. In the NLHE games I played, I had a profit of $1,053 on 27 hours at NLHE, split at 1/2 and 2/5, so take it for what it's worth.

I've also made the decision to start studying PLO a bit more and embrace it. It's not going away. My edge is certainly larger in NLHE than PLO, but if that's where the money is flowing, you know, survive and adapt.

April was pretty awesome though. We finalized the down payment on a condo for our week in Florida. The Blue Jackets made the playoffs and I was able to go to Game 4 of that - and holy hell I've never experienced anything like it! Also managed to go to the WWE show Raw. I grew up watching wrestling during the attitude era, and to see the Hardy Boys actually wrestle and win took me back to being a kid for a bit. Went for my nephew's birthday. I also drove me and my family down to true Appalachia for a reunion - my great grandmothers 100th birthday. Helps to put things into perspective. Going down there, you just become amazed at how people can live their lives in small towns where everything is many decades old, and survive in the midst of these old mountains. So I traded in a few hours of volume for those experiences. Pretty sure the trade-off was well worth it.

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May will be a different month. My girlfriend and I are going down to Florida in a week and two days - but who's counting? Just so happens that both of our birthdays occur that week that we're in Florida. I'm excited. As I've said before, this will be the first vacation I've taken where I've helped to choose the destination and plan things out. Volume will be **** this month. So I'm not going to set goals for the month. But the vacation is definitely placed in a good spot. I've been pushing myself quite a bit and it's definitely taxing. After the vacation, I'm on full lockdown mode. From some of the things I've been seeing, I'm fairly certain the end for my company is near as it exists today. So I have to be ready. Good thing is, I've never felt more confident in my Hold Em game in my life.

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I did play two back to back sessions Monday and yesterday. What's ironic about Monday, I came in with the intent to only play a small $240 bounty tournament. I had the day off, I never get to play these things, and there was a series of MTTs, so why not?

The tournament didn't go so well. I was never above 30k in chips from a 20k starting stack. I did manage to get one bounty, so $100 back from the $240 investment. However, I did play a tiny bit of cash game before hand and (after a -$3 20-minute session at 1/2) won $949 in an hour of play at 2/5. Talk about juicy. One of the big hands from the session. A loose, tilty guy raises to $20 UTG. A meh lady flats the $20 UTG+1. She's talked some of her strategy to me before. She specifically mentioned that she flats some of her larger overpairs to "trick" players. Another trappy guy calls UTG+2. I'm in CO with a $500 stack and see 87o. Nobody to my left was going to squeeze. I thought about squeezing but remembered what the lady had told me. I decide to call. Why not. SB also calls.

Flop ($100): 287
SB checks, UTG bets $65. UTG+1 raises to $150. Folds to me. This is a spot where I can either flat with top two and hope to invite UTG in, or jam and get a call from a player who has EVERY OVERPAIR in her range. I decide to jam. I might have lost a bit of profit jamming instead of calling, but there are quite a few action killing cards. 6, 9, T, J, and good heavens knows the 2 pairing or other overcards can give me a worse hand. UTG folds, UTG+1 calls. The board runsout 5x turn and Tx river. She shows JJ and I take down the pot.

And last night I played a session. Crushed the 1/2, beat the 2/5, and lost at the PLO. Overall, a little over 3 hours played for exactly $100 in profit.