All I could fit in today was 3 hours, as I sit in a gym in between games of basketball. It's amazing, for as bad as the game was it was still on par with a good 100nl bovada game.

Not much happened, biggest pot won was nut flush over second nut flush. Also folded an overpaid to a flop bet - granted, it was five ways, I had the worst overpair, and it was utg who cbet (a decent player).

Plus 149

Hey just some advice, when Cincy or Cleveland has a series do what you can to go there. Games are always way better, and if i remember right you're in columbus so u can more easily get to either one and might not even need a hotel. And live 1-2 games in columbus are better regularly than either Cincy or Columbus, unless there is a tourny series. Also Cleveland is better than cincy bc they have a 300$ max buy in 1-2 oppose to cincy that just has a 200$ max buyin. Goodluck keep crushing, youre inevitably going to go on a bad run, but just keep your bankroll separate and don't let it bother you if you have a 10 buyin downswing, bc its something thats a certainty especially if youre playing at columbus with 400$ buyin. And you can bring whatever chips you want home dude, ive taken all denominations out of casinos in ohio except 5ks, and that's just cuz i dont play in big enough games where they ever use 5ks, otherwise id take that home too if i wanted to. Far as i know the chips in them are just to protect against counterfeiting. GL keep crushing

Epic Jordan! Did not know you cashed out I've completely missed it! Wow what a long trek man, but you are finally doing it!

I'm going to be playing at a casino sooner rather than later, definitely need to discuss some strategies!

Thanks for the advice! I think I'll definitely venture to one of those two areas for some tourney series once I'm comfortably rolled for 2/5. That way I can justify spending the money on travel and if it's Cleveland, a hotel. Cincy is just over an hour away, Cleveland is about 2.5. The downswing will come at some point. I don't think it's possible to sustain a currently $55/hr wr at 1/2

Thanks man! It's been a grind but all of those hours studying and playing are finally paying off. Just hit me up whenever, I'm definitely down to discuss some live strategies!

Finally got in my first losing session in just about a month last night. It was very anti climatic. To start the session, I was to the direct left of a huge whale. And yet somehow he had amassed a $700 stack. Only real interesting spots were:

First 20 minutes, MABG limps UTG and I raise with AK. He calls Pot is $23 and he donk shoves ~$175 on a KQT flop.

Now obviously we can't call this. But what I'm curious about is what is the weakest hand that we should call with here? I think I'd rather have JT than KQ. What about TT? I'm probably going to go over this spot a bit later.

A bunch of no hands and folding, my stack widdles down to $130 (I debated about topping up, but the table was drying up at this point.) We're down to 6 handed and I open 66 UTG. Young white guy 3bets to $25. This was the 2nd time he had 3bet me and overall he had 3bet about 6 times in 2 1/2 hours. The first hand he had 3bet me on, I raised AQo in BB against a BTN straddle and he squeezed in MP. I tank folded.

So, insert 6 max instincts and ship the moneys for the light 4bet jam. Nope, snap called and guy has AA. It was like his 4th or 5th AA in the 2 1/2 hours I had been there. Being that short and using my image, I'm probably making that play with as low as 22. Hey, when a player runs hot they run hot. So i lost the BI, thought about buying back in but didn't.

2 hours 45 minutes
-$200

In for sure, kill it with live <3

Good posts so far :>

Thanks for the follow! Try to post some educational content for both me and whatever readers there may be. Everyone should always try to get better.

So it's mini vacation time. I took this 5 days stretch off originally to just watch the NCAA tournament. I'm thoroughly enthralled with it every year. Thing is, I never expected to be playing live this early in the year FWIW, in all of my brackets I can't find a way where Kansas, UNC, and MSU don't all make the final four and I'm having a hard time knocking Wichita State out before the Elite 8.

Also going to invest in Flopzilla. It's going to help me see how strong some of these weaker, wider ranges are on flops and turns and when I can pull cbets and double barrels. It's completely different than cbetting against an average Bovada reg. I much rather playing the live reg since they're so bad.

Subbed. Good luck and hang tough.

Thanks for following! Good luck to you as well!

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

Talk about rough. Lost a bit early on, rebought $160, chipped down from missing heaps of flops, double up through a LAG xrai KQ on KJ59 (guy probably wasn't LAG; most definitely spewy). Then KK ran into luckbox's flopped flush. Then this hand happened.

4 limpers, Hero limps with K9 in SB. Me and main villain $250 effective.

Flop ($12): KJT

Checks to Villain in MP who bet $12, folds to me who calls, all else fold.

This villain was a class A douchebag wearing a University of Toledo sweatshirt. Probably middle aged, maybe was having a bad prostate day. I was sitting next to someone who he doubled up through, she told nice hand 3 times, genuinely meaning it, and he just looked at her. The previous hand he had triple barreled on a good draw runout. I also thought he couldn't have the nuts. JT is possible, so is QJ and KQ. Q9 is also possible, but hey I do have a 9. Don't think he ever has a set.

Turn ($36): 4

Check, Villain bets $30, I call

The draw hasn't gotten there. He doesn't have AK, I block KJ/KT (12 total combos) compared to QT and KQ and QJ. You guys know what I'm planning on.

River ($96): 3

I check, he bets $75, I jam.

I block the most important hands here. K-hi flush, Q9, two pair. I don't block JJ, TT (which I do believe raises pf). This is to get KQ out, which I'm also positive can't call this river jam. If he has K9 as well (again, unlikely) then he folds that.

He had the ONLY hand that I didn't account for: QJ I say "nice hand" loud enough so he can hear, he says NOTHING back (I know he isn't deaf because we had banter going in a hand earlier) and the table just stares uncomfortably at him. Grade A douchebag, hope your prostate gets better soon

(I think the pf limp is fine, flop call is fine. Turn and river are probably questionable. More than likely on the river my hand is good enough to call, but not bad enough to jam. It's ok, I'm still learning these nuances of live poker)

3.75 hours
-$360

i personally don't like the river jam imo, its either call or fold.

jam doesn't really do anything besides fold KQ, whilst he has a ton of better hands to call u off

Yeah, I agree looking back at it. Jam just seem ugh.

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

So I played the longest session I have ever played. 7 1/2 hours. Actually didn't feel that long, other than getting slightly hungry at about 8pm. My brackets are totally busted by the way, damned Middle Tennessee State!

Anyways for the poker, there was really no tough spots the whole time. Nothing that made me scratch my head, take a deep long look or anything like that. It was very straightforward, and it was kind of nice because I was trying to read hands left and right and getting them right for the most part.

Biggest hands:

Villain: MAWG. No real reads on him. ~$300 in CO

Me: Mid 20s white kid, has a winning image. Down a little from my highest, ~$600

Folds to villain who bets $12, BTN calls, Hero sees JJ and 3bets to $40 (too small?). Villain calls, BTN folds.

Flop ($93): KJT

Hero bets $50, Villain calls $50

Adding the pot up now, I think I should be betting more.

Turn ($193): 9

Ick card. He can have KQ/AQ, not much QJ left. I decide to check, he checks as well. So he probably has some K

River ($193): T

Bink! Hero bets $100 (really just hoping to be called by a K), Villain calls and I win.

Also won a ~$400 pot 3 way with AK - one guy chased with KJo on AT53, another lady (not a great player) just kind of mucked.

So then I tried to take a picture for chip porn #1. There's a little over $1k in the picture:



Probably going to take tomorrow off. Was nice to cash out for almost $1100 after buying in for $200 and topping off for another $80.

7.5 hours
+$814

Another decent length session today. I sooooooo did not want to quit but my gf would be soooooo pissed if I didn't go spend some time with her tonight (even though we did yesterday too). Spewy action player to my left, terrible calling station and I was better than 250bb deep with both of them. Dammit.

I also bought in for $300 instead of $200 today, just to try it out. First half hour, there are like 2 limpers, I raise to $12 with QQ in CO. SB calls and 2 other callers.

Flop ($47): 852r

SB donk bets $45. SB looks like a mawg with tattoos. Folds to me. So here's what I'm thinking:

1. Why would he donk a dry board with a set?
2. Why wouldn't he 3bet preflop with AA or KK? I've had a tighter image, if you have one of those hands you should be raising.
3. This one stuck with me - during my short study session this morning, I read that players often call with medium pocket pairs - 77 to JJ - and will bet out if all low cards come. They have an overpair and feel safe.
4. He could also be donking out with like 76.

So that's the range I'm giving him - 77-JJ, 76 and random weird pairs. I call.

Turn ($137): Jr

SB bets $100.

So now two sets beat me, but really just one (again, one of my points was why would he donk a dry board with a set? The average player wouldn't.) He covers me and I have $240 or so behind. We jam, right? Or do we flat or fold?



Rebought, stacked up to about $500 and then this hand happened. I posted BB, UTG straddled. So far, UTG has raised every time he straddles and it's a limped pot. He has also cbet every flop in this instance. 3 callers, I see KJo in BB and call. UTG, as expected, raises to $25 or $35. One player calls and I call.

Flop ($75): Q97r

I check, villain bets $50, folds, I check-raise to $125, all green. Villain folds and I scoop the pot...and show

The show was absolutely calculated. This guy seemed like he would be a player to go on some tilt, I would stop looking like a TAGgier player, and it might be useful. It was totally worth it. The guy didn't spew to me unfortunately, but he did spew quite hard.

More chip porn. This was before I got my full 20 stack of greens:


6.58 hours
+$510

So one month into this thread. I've played 59.75 hours and amassed a profit of $2,931 for an (has to be unsustainable) hourly of $49/hr at 1/2. $500 of that is from a promotion, so without the $500 it's like $41/hr. I'm going to refrain from saying my BR in this thread for safety reasons, but I will say we're almost exactly halfway to surprisingly shot taking 2/5.

So today was by far the toughest table that I have played at during the duration of this thread. One decent player to my direct left, quite a few regs, some tighter players. So I decided to stay at the table. Why? I think the experience is good. See what and how some of these regs play. TBH, I wasn't that impressed. Hand selection wise, the way they talked. I think I can easily hang with them.

Now they probably think I'm the nittiest player ever. Whew talk about a horrid stretch of cards! I lost ~$100 with T6 on a 66KXX board when the guy had Q6. Then a more aggro player squeezes my CO pfr in BB to $40, I'm down to $180 and 4bet jam with JJ. He had AA. Rebuy in, tread water and then won a few pots to only be down $34 for the session.

So a very meh session but the experience was definitely worth it.

5.16 hours
-$34

Sick bro, definitely following this one. More exciting than the mundane online synopses

Thanks man! I definitely will try to make this more sick than my previous ones!

So I forgot that I was going to post the hand that the guy hardcore spewed on. He had spewed a bit, but this took the cake.

One older black guy limps, folds to me in co who raises to 10 with QTo. Spew guy calls otb, and older black guy raises to like 40. I decide to gtfo, it's clear to me what he has. Spew guy calls.

Flop is 552. Older black guy bets like 40, spew guy calls.

Turn is Q. Older black guy bets like 70, spew guy calls.

River is a 6 or 7. Older black guy bets 100, spew guy thinks then jams for like 240 total. Older black guy snaps it off.

Spew guy shows K8s, older black guy shows AKo for the win. Spew guy then goes on to berate older black guy. Guy to my right helps me pick my jaw up off of the floor.

I played another session last night after work. Almost not even worth mentioning. -$22 in 3 hours 50 minutes. The big hand came in my first orbit, I was sitting to the left of a guy I had played with before. I didn't have a high regard for his game. Probably close to bad aggro. He raises a straddle to $26, I see JJ in HJ or CO and 3b to $80, he jams his remaining ~$80 in for a total of ~$100 and I call. Flop comes AJ4, board bricks out and I win.

Then I literally flopped three single pairs the rest of the night. We were shorthanded for a good bit and I tried ratcheting up my aggression with some trashier hands (cough 63s) but other than that I was just carddead for the night. It's fine, I was able to pick up on some of the traits of two of the players I'd played with before. I had initially thought they were both decent. I still think they're both ok, but noticed one of them was way too passive preflop and way too aggro postflop, especially if noone showed interest.

I think that's fine, but the extent that he showed it was just absurd. I'm pretty sure if I got a hand like 2nd pair, just calling down against this guy would be +EV. No more sessions until....I get to play one this Friday night!!

3 hours 50 minutes
-$22

Another session just like the last 2. I did build my stack to 450 but then lost a big pot against a massive whale AQ < A8 on J87A in a straddled pot. I also lost the minimum when I flopped bottom two pair in BB 5 way on J64ss and SB xr the flop. Just flatted his raise since it could have been a flush draw or just Jx but he was also a fairly competent player.

Thankfully board ran out 3s turn and 3x river. I'm just not getting cards and when I do, I'm not even making 2nd or 3rd pair. And the runouts have been very bad as well. I don't think it's too bad given the way I've run to only be down a BI (100bb) in the last 3 sessions.

5.25 hours
-$114

Jesus Christ I finally got a chance to play!

And it was just like the rest of the previous three sessions. Except worse. A bunch of card dead, and this time when I really did have any sort of hand they were just anal raped. It was by far one of the softest tables I've played at yet; those soft players though just caught gin every time.

AKo < AA AIPF for $60
AKo < 64s (who limp/called in UTG) on 532 for $50
KQs (that I got away from...lost ~$70 on the hand) < 99 < KK (and some SS AI) on K93
I folded TT to a 3bet from a nit after my first preflop raise in an hour. They had ~$150 behind, didn't think I was getting proper odds.

And the big hand I lost may have been ok against some players, but against this player (who was really kind of unknown at the time) is probably bad. 6 limps to me, I x A6hh in BB.

Flop ($14) A33ddh
Checks to UTG+1 who bets $10. Folds to me who raises to $30. I think that I may be able to get some folds from better aces and I can credibly have a 3 here in the BB. He calls.

Turn ($74) Ks
I bet $45, he calls.

The turn barrel was important. The K kind of sucks, but now if he doesn't fold an A I at least have another way to chop.

River ($164) 4x
I bet $100, he calls and shows 63o.

Well then. I'm pretty sure he saw my "tha ****" face, but I'd never say that. I think if I play the flop this way, I have to just barrel it out. But I'm not 100% sold. Even after that hand though, I still played 4 hours and only lost $355.

One of the longest sessions I've ever played happened yesterday. It was also one of the better sessions I've felt like I've played ever. And there were quite a few spots as well.

First one, 5 limps to me and I see a flop with T5o. Flop is JT5sxs. I bet 8, one call. Turn 4x. I bet 16, guy calls. He is an older looking guy. River 9x. I had not been going for thin value, so I decided to go for thin value. Bet 20, guy like instantly jams. I couldn't see him that well, but another player told me that he looked awfully proud doing it. I snap fold. QJ/KJ/AJ/Tx can all call. No harm no foul.

Then 3 limpers, I raise to 15 otb with AJcc. Two calls. Flop AhQd4h. UTG mabg donks for 15, omc UTG1 calls. I raises to 65, UTG calls. Seemed like a decent raise at the time, might just want to put the 100 effective UTG player all in though. Turn is a 4d, we gii and I hold against QThh.

Another interesting hand, we're about 350 effective, there is one limped and I raise A5dd to 10 in mp. 3 callers. Flop is K53r. Unknown old guy donk bets 10. The ****? I raise to 35 (I'm more aggro on K hi boards than A hi) and old guy calls. Turn 6. He checks, I bet 60, he calls. River 8. He checks. What should we do here? Are we ever getting an unknown off of a K? Or just admit defeat?



And yet another hand. Young guy watching soccer on his iPad raises to 10 utg. Unknown, my impression is probably a bit more competent. I raise (and the size needs to be bigger) to 25 in utg2 with AA. He calls. We're about 175 effective. Flop is J98xdd. He checks, I bet 35, he calls. Turn is a T. He checks, I check. The worst turn card ever. River 7. He bets 3 greens. I tank. I'm calling for a chop obviously. But I fold. The only hands imo that play this way are TT and QQ. His flopped sets are for sure raising flop. AK is folding. KK probably 4bets preflop or raises flop. But when the turn comes, there are twice as many QQ as TT. Hence my fold. If he bluffed me, that's fine.

Got it in with QQ against an aggro guy who squeezed....just to be shown AA obviously. Good bye 200 bucks!

Then made a nice hero call where I made a mistake on the turn against guy from two hands above...He turned out to be pretty bad/aggro. Turned bottom two pair in a limped pot, bad aggro bets 7, I call (need to raise) on a a856 board. SB calls. River is an A. Both flush draws missed, bad aggro bets 25 in the 26 dollar pot, I call and my counterfeit pair of sixes is good.

I also had to lay down another 2 pair hand in a spot where I should be shipping the flop. SB raises a limped to 6, I call in BB with K9o as does the limped. Flop K9cc6. He bets 10, I raise to 25, fold, he 3bets to 50. I should really jam over this. He doesn't have a set of sixes. And there are only two combos of KK/99. I call because I think I'm in good shape and can give AA/AK a false sense of security. Until the Ac shows on the turn. He bets, I fold.

Overall, I played 7 hours 20 minutes of solid poker with a couple of mistakes. Only down 80 bucks, so 5 losing sessions in a row! And that's 7 of the last 9 that have been losers. BUT! During the stretch I'm still up a little bit. There is a lot of luck in each individual session, and I've made a couple of mistakes here and there, but I learn from those and know that the long run is mostly skill. It's the short run that keeps the fish and bad players playing.

Losing streak is over! Played 4 hours last night, up $250. But it was a shallow feeling $250. Halfway through the session my stack was a bit over $700. I got some good runouts, like flatting a very small 3bet UTG with 77 (there was one passive caller, 3bettor made it $10 more to me), him checking a T65cxc flop, calling my bet on 4x turn, and then raising my purposely small river bet on the 8c river. I tank called. I don't think he has a flush - he is surely cbetting the flop. MHIG.

Then I get another straight, this time after raising 75s in CO, BB calling, cbetting 965ddx, and bet/calling 8d turn. He showed 66 and the river did not pair.

Then I flopped a couple of sets and took a couple of pots down with aggression.

And after that, kaboom. I would raise preflop with, say, T9s and get an AT5 flop with 3 callers. Or QQ. I even 3bet bluffed 88 against a player who was raising an inordinate amount of pots preflop. He did the lolflopmincheckraise on A76. But the player didn't raise another pot the rest of the night preflop.

So my stack just bled and bled from these decent preflop but definitely second or third best hands postflop, which probably happens from time to time. It was also interesting to note that the table was full of regulars. Different regulars from previous times though, these were the old guard. And, like the last time I played with regulars, I wasn't overly impressed. I saw quite a few obvious tells like the old hand shaking - The guy had nut boat. The sigh call when another player flopped trips in position. A smirk when a card helped a player's hand. Subtle things that, if I wasn't paying attention, I definitely would not have caught.

For March results since I haven't had time to post them (and technically don't right now), I played 53.33 hours, just shy of the 60 hour minimum. I was sick for the first week of the month, and then could only play one session Easter weekend. Profit was $1,574 with an hourly of $29.51/hr. $500 was from promotion wins, so taking that out drops the hourly to a little over 20/hr. I'll post some April goals later.

March Goals:

-Minimum 60 hours played (I don't think mentally I can handle 20 hours/week right now). I played 53 hours. If I played my normal schedule, I would have easily exceeded this, so I'm not disappointed at all. In fact, I'm encouraged by it!
-Start on the next live poker series and try to fill up my notebook!My notebook was never going to be completely filled in a month, but I have started the series and am actually looking forward to learning more about the live game. ABC >>> GTO here.
-Take one chip porn pic. I should have done this when I cashed out for $700, but I think I'll cash out for more at least once this month Yup, two of them, both when I had <$1k stacks!
-Be more aggressive. So most of the time, I am raising when I enter pots. But I'm not taking 100% advantage of my late position hands. I'm starting to raise a bit more in position and steal a bit more. It's really situational. For instance, I pfr 43o in CO a few sessions ago because the blinds were call happy preflop but fit or fold postflop. Flop was TTT, I cbet and take it down. It's situational and not doing it every time like you would online.


April Goals:

-Play a minimum of 60 hours.
-Get more than 50% through this live series
-Try to incorporate more FPS against players who are a bit out of line IE they play garbage hands but prey on postflop weakness.

#Frustrating.

I got sick yet again. The damned weather changing every 5 minutes here is wrecking havoc on everyone. Thought I was good enough to play today...yeah no. About an hour in I just started feeling worse and worse but I had remedies to feel better. Cut the session shorter than I wanted to at 5 hour 15 minutes and -$23.

The session was actually fairly interesting. My stack fluctuated between $200 and $450 the entire time. There was one hand where I'm in SB, flop comes K54xcc, I bet out, get two calls, turns a 7, bet again and get one call, river is J giving me top two. Bet again, guy calls again and flips 44 ?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Also, the first time in YEARS I have limped AA. Why? Well, BTN straddled and this guy looked very bad aggressive. So I limp, he raises, I reraise and he instantly jams. I call and mhig. Actually think I rivered a boat.

Did my first light 3bet from the blinds as well. Guy seemed maybe a little competent, raised to $15 OTB and I raise to $47 with 87s in BB. He calls. I checked down 45QdddAxJd. Think I definitely need to at least bet the flop. I had a pretty good image, so a hand like AA or KK or maybe even QQ is 4betting. AK might as well. Leaves like AQ/KQ/KJ/KT/JJ-77 in his range. Of that, I'm pretty sure all but AQ/KQ is folding. So mistake there in not cbetting the flop.

Also played a beauty of a hand against a player. PFR J8 in HJ, BTN calls. Kind of an aggro fish. Flop is Q96. I cbet $13, he calls.

Turn ($39): 6
I bet $30. This is what I've been waiting on from me. The double barrel with increased equity. I haven't double barreled quite enough lately. I think he can have 9x, Qx, JT, 87. A lot of cards are good triple barreling cards, and given my image a K or A can get him to fold pretty much everything OTR. He debates, debates, debates, then calls.

River ($99): Q
Gin. I check. I know this player is going to bet if I show weakness. He bets $90. I call fairly quickly and MHIG.

So another losing session, but I played I thought fairly well and aside from a couple of bad runouts could have easily been +100 or 200.

5.25 hours
-$23

I forgot to mention one other interesting hand. In this hand, villain straddles otb. I'm in UTG and the good players are both on the blinds. One limps, I limp with 66, 2 other limpers and villain, an older black guy, checks.

Flop ($25) 754cxc
Check, I bet 17, all fold except villain otb.

Turn ($59) 5x
Seems like a good card, so I bet $35. Villain calls

River ($129) 4x
I check, figuring villain checks a 7 behind. Villain bets 50. Wtf? Well, I know the 6x missed. I know clubs missed as well. I don't think he is nearly good enough to think to value bet a 7 here. And he almost certainly doesn't have 4x. Which leaves me with 5x or a bluff. He also showed his cards to the guy on his right. I took that as an "I missed" tell, so I called. Villain shows 65o for the win.

I'm pretty positive I'm good at least 25% of the time, and I'd be shocked if it wasn't more. A couple of hands later, that villain racks up and gets called to 2/5. He was the second worst player I played with all day, only slightly better than the guy who open jammed 4 hands in a row. Good to know players like that play 2/5!

Skipped my Sunday session since a friend wanted to grab some dinner. Well worth it, first time I've ever had filet mignon and oh my freaking goodness it was easily top 5 of things I've ever had in my life. We're also probably going to move out together at some point this year, just gotta save up enough money. Only problem is she wants to live one place and I want to live in this same side of town.

So instead I played a 6 1/2 hour session today, kind of interesting. I left only because there were only 4 or 5 1/2 tables going at 7pm. I've never seen the place so dead at that time on any day that I've ever been there. There was more action when I arrived than when I left. Can't blame them though; this is the first actual nice day in like a month. A few interesting spots popped up

First is a what do I do in this situation. So one player limps UTG. A brand new player raises to $14 in UTG+1. I look down at AK in HJ. I also have noted that UTG limper is a fish. And I think effective stacks are like $250. Are we 3betting? Or just flatting and inviting the fish in?

Missed a squeeze spot with JJ. MAWG opens to $11 in HJ. 2 players call, CO and BTN. I'm in BB. To be fair, there was a big fish in the pot and this was the first time in like an hour and a half that I saw HJ do anything of aggression.

Also had a couple of nice spots where I could overbet or have huge bets on rivers for fat value where to call the prior bet, the guy had to have improved on the river. One, I had 98s on a 9828 board, guy donk bets $16, I raise to $42, he calls. River is a 2 and I just jam. He almost has to call the check/raise with an 8. He folds.

Probably the hand of the day was the second hand back from taking a quick lunch break. PFR to $10 with TT in UTG+2, 3 callers.

Flop ($40): 456

Check, MABG donks $15. I'm calling all day here. Raising I don't think accomplishes much. Maybe he stays in with a hand like 75, 76, 88, 77, but most of the time we just isolate ourselves in bad spots where we're either way behind or slightly ahead. BTN calls.

Turn ($85): 5

MABG bets $35. I call. It's a great card for us as it takes away one of the set possibilities and lessens the possible two pairs. BTN folds

River ($155): 9

MABG bets $50. I call, he shows A3o and MHIG

So I had absolutely no reads to go on. This guy was brand new to the table. I went strictly off of "what does his line represent?" And I thought it was FOS. If you have a straight, you're typically waiting on such a dry board for the PFR to bet so you can check/raise. A set is possible, but once we call flop and turn surely he's betting more, right? I think it's going to be hard for him to have any overpair other than JJ.

I think I played ok this session. Definitely a couple of mistakes here and there. But as always, we strive to get better.

6.5 hours
+$191

Very very interesting session this evening. First, there was a huge promotion going on in the poker room. $520 high hands every half hour. I checked Bravo at like 11am while at work and there were already 15-20 tables! Thankfully, my girlfriend didn't have time to hang out tonight so I could play in the super crowded casino.

And within the very first orbit, there is one limper and I raise AQ OTB. Older black guy calls in SB and limper calls. SB checks dark.

Flop ($32): AJ4
Limper checks, I bet $20, SB raises to $45, limper calls.

So as I'm here thinking, SB turns to me and says "it's $25 on top." Alarm bells were ringing in my head here, but I called anyways.

Turn ($167) A
SB checks dark, limper checks, I bet $100, SB calls, limper folds. SB checks river dark

I'm completely readless. But against the population, I think value betting here is almost a necessity.

River ($367): T
I check back. It's not the greatest card. SB flips over JJ.

That SB guy would go on to have 4 boats in the first hour and a half that I was there.

Add an additional $200 to my stack. No real super interesting hands, except I did make an overpair laydown. I pfr QQ to $10 in UTG+1 or 2, all fold except the SB. This guy was fairly active and aggro when I started, but as the session kept going he seemed to be less and less aggro.

Flop ($22): 347
Check, I bet $13, he calls.

Turn ($48): 2
Check, I bet $28, he calls

River ($104): J
Villain donk bets $40. The ****? The line really makes no sense at all. It seems like nuts or air. I tanked for ~1 minute before folding. Seems like the only bluffs would be 66, 55, 76, 54. I can also have the flush, but there is a good chance I'm checking back. My hand is pretty obvious and I hadn't shown any special propensity to fold big hands. Adding it up, it seems like a fold.

I go back and forth and back and forth for about 3 hours. Then....fireworks.

2 limpers preflop, I limp 65 in CO. BTN calls and BB checks.

Flop ($10): 632
Checks to me, I bet $6, BTN and BB fold, UTG/MP both call.

UTG has been on a mini-heater. He seems very loose but I've seen him make folds. MP has the stereotypical glasses and a SS. Seems like he may be scared money even though he is ~$80 deep.

Turn ($28): 7
Checks to me. I bet $25. I would choose this sizing if I had 22/33/66. I'm trying to get value from flushes and set up nice river bluffs. UTG/MP call.

River ($103): 9
Checks to me. All draws miss. Mine missed, spades missed. If someone has a pair, theirs is probably better than mine and will be hardpressed to call a large river bet. So I bet $75. UTG calls. MP hems and haws, shows me 75 and folds.

I have to flip my hand over first and sheepishly announce pair of sixes. UTG MUCKS! What the holy hell!?!?!?! I did not get a read on this guy in the hour and a half playing with him that he was such a calling station! How the hell did I just get worse to call and better to fold?!?! My image did have something to do with it.

So as I'm stacking up chips, there are 2 limpers and I see 76 in HJ and limp. Folds to BB who raises to $16. BB seems like a LAG who may have a couple of leaks here and there. UTG is same player from 65 hand above. BB has everyone covered. I have ~$480ish and UTG has ~$400. UTG flats. I decide that we're well deep enough and call.

Flop ($49): K35
BB bets $25, a rather small amount. UTG calls. I figure BB can easily be making a move and have some good turn cards (hearts, 7, 6, 4, etc). So I call.

Turn ($124): 4 BINK!
BB bets $55, UTG raises to $130.

So I'm in a good spot. BB seems to have something, and UTG's raise is well out of the ordinary for him. It's very possible that UTG has a set or A2/76 straight or even two pair. No flush draws. So I just smooth call the $130. BB tanks, starts talking and calls the $75. I'm there praying for a T or J or A or something non pairing.

River ($514): 7
Not the best card, but at least it's not a pairing card. BB checks, UTG checks, I think for a little bit and jam for $305. BB takes about 2 minutes before he folds. UTG thinks for like 10 seconds and calls with KK. I had UTG covered and I scoop my first ever $1,000 pot.

I didn't play my best session tonight. I felt like my mental processes got better though as the night went on. The results are obviously great, but I did get a bit of luck. Let's just call it evening the crappy luck that I have been getting lately.

6.5 hours
+$545