Hi All,

I have had several PGCs over the years. This time things are a little different. The past year and a bit has definitely been one of the most challenging periods for me. Having quite an obsessive personality to succeed at whatever I do I completed my Masters top of the class with a first as well as an 80 for my dissertation. During this period I sort of put poker aside and ended up getting an executive job with one of the big professional services firms - for roughly 8 months. Absolutely hated it, life was monotonous and I was surrounded by people with little drive. Working 8h a day and coming home to 2h of Masters grind definitely took its toll on me.

It did make me realize how much I genuinely enjoy poker and so I am determined to make it to HSNL live and eventually some PLO. I have chosen the live route as I haven't played any online poker for probably over a year now and it does not look too appealing. I am currently in a relatively small city in the UK where I am playing mainly ssnl deep. In the coming months I will be moving somewhere like Barcelona where the games are significantly healthier for live cash. Having played millions of hands of FR online definitely helps with the live grind, plus everyone at ssnl live seems horrible.

I will make this a lengthy PGC where I can hopefully track my journey from 1/2 to 25/50.

At the moment I have logged 139 hours at $48/h at 1-1 and 1-2. The 1-1 is £300 buy in and the £1-2 which I attempt to start most days but only runs weekends is a 1k buy in. Most of my hands are at 1-1 deep since nothing else runs where I live.

Goals:
-Become crushing 25/50+ live reg
-Study at least one interesting spot a day
-5 days a week grind, min 30h per week
-Only ***** restraddle the restraddle when whales are playing to keep them happy/entertained
-Post daily session updates/hands/random stuff and weekly hourly updates
-Bink some live donkaments
-Read more, gym 3 times a week and live a more balanced/healthy life
-Have fun with the live donks

Will post first session update tomorrow.

glgl

I remember your great threads from years back. Good luck mate!

Thanks Hurt, enjoying your PGC! gl with the msnl.

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

Session 1 - 11/12/2016
4h + £165

Couldn't get 1/2 deep started so ended up playing the regular 1/1 £300. Kept the session short as I was exhausted from not sleeping the previous night. Three hours in I got coolered by an 80 year old fun player.

9 handed
I straddle to £2, villain UTG+1 limps, 4 more limpers, I make it £15 with JJ villain flats (£500ish deep) and one other nit (£300ish deep) flats.
Flop J76: I bet £25, villain snap calls and nit calls.
Turn Q I bet £85, villain clicks it back, nit folds, I jam couple hundred more and he snap calls with QQ. Old man takes his 1k stack and says hes off to dinner at 1am lol. Meh

9 handed
Folded around to me with A9 I open to £8, super aggro (£250ish deep) fun player flats button, unknown (£200ish deep) flats BB.
Flop KJ6 BB checks, I check, Btn checks.
Turn 6 BB checks, I check, Btn bets £15, BB fold, I call.
River 8 I check, Btn bets £45 I snap call lol, he mucks

9 handed
UTG straddles, UTG+1 (£200ish) sunglasses wearing live pro who thinks I am a spastic makes it £12, huge nit who bleed down to £40 shoves, I look down at AA otb I flat, UTG+1 tank calls (unsure if hes thinking about folding or raising here).
Flop QJ5 UTG+1 bets £45, I call.
Turn 6 UTG+1 checks, I check.
River 5 UTG+1 checks, I bet £75, he tank calls and shows me 88, huge nit had KK ha.

Session 2 - 10/12/2016 (realized i got the dates mixed up yesterday)

7h + £1450

Got the 1/2 £1k deep open last night and had a very good session. The game was 1/2/4/8 mainly and sometimes 16 and 32 haha. Played well and didn't get coolered. The boxing brought in tons of fun players. No hands really stand out.

9 handed
I open to £24 in EP after the £8 straddle with KK, MP flats, button flats and straddle half drunk regfish villain (£450ish) flats.
Flop K76 Villain checks, I cbet £35, others fold, he calls.
Turn 4 Villain leads £125 I call.
River A Villain tanks and bets £75, I raise to £200 and he mumbles something and calls and mucks lol.

9 handed
I am in straddle at £16, Villain MP aggro fun player (£500ish deep) raises to £45 something like 5 people call I flat QT
Flop QJ7 I check, Villain bets £20 lol, somehow folds back to me I raise to £75, he snap calls.
Turn A not thrilled here so I opt to c/c, when I check villain says to me he has T8o lol. He bets £85 I call.
River 2 I check, villain snap bets £150 I decide to just make a nitty flat here and he shows T8o

9 handed
No straddle, villain EP (£300ish) regfish who is probably break evenish player opens to £10, 4 callers, I flat otb with 66
Flop 459 checked to me, I bet £30, villain c/c, rest fold.
Turn A check, check
River 9 Villain leads for £65, I tank call and he shows 67o. Not a great spot since I block some of the hands I am hoping he has. But he rarely has some sort of 9x since no cbet and I am unsure if he always bets some Ax since he may perceive that I have a 9.

Back on the grind tonight.

Session 3 - 11/12/2016

3h + £145

Barely even got the £1/1 deep open last night due to lack of players. Three hours in someone stacks 3 fish at once and the table breaks haha. No memorable hands to post, day off tonight since Mondays are usually horrible.

Hey! Cool to see you! Instantly subbed! =) It would be nice if you post Pot size after each street (for example Flop (95£))

Thanks man! I hope you are crushing! I will post the pot size from now on

Holla

Yo, hows it going?

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

Session 4 - 13/12/2016

6h + £260

Managed to get 1/2 £1k deep open last night which is an achievement for a Tuesday night. Lost some flips but managed to book a smallish win.

Biggest pot of the evening.

8 handed
PF
Folded to me in CO I open J9 to £8, villain whale (£600ish deep) makes it £18 otb, SB regfish makes it £36 I flat since whale is nearly always calling and often stacking random things for lots of monies, whale makes it £78 lol..regfish tank folds I call £42 more since I cover whale.

Flop K108 (£195)
I check, whale makes it £98, I call.

Turn: Q (£391)
I check, whale makes it £145, I ship, whale snaps for £250ish more...river is 4 and villain shows AK..We ship £1200ish pot

Otherwise lost a bunch of flips TT<AQo etc vs smallish stacks.

Not bad since our dicks winging back in the ssfr days ^^

The games sound fun...would they happen to be at a certain casino right next to a shopping centre in the town centre? Without giving it away ;D

london live reg here, will be following all the best

Hahaha who is this? Yes that is possible have we played together?

Thanks, gl to you too man!

d na unfortunately we've never played live, but I played a lot where I think you're playing during last November till June this year. Some fun games and characters there!

Look forward to your hhs anyways, gl

Hi Scorpp,

I'm currently in the 9-5 grind so I know your pain. Being around people who lack drive/work ethic is pretty awful.

All the best Scorpp.

Ah right, yeh the games can be pretty good. The people are a good laugh too haha. gl to you too!

For sure, i dont miss it one bit! Are you still playing any pokers?

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

Took last night off to get some rest. Probably playing the next four nights in a row with some decent hours.

Just had some amazing sushi at this new joint down the road. Becoming a reg there too.



Chip porn from the 1/2 deep from couple nights ago.

Are there really healthy cash games in Barcelona? Like 3-5 mid stakes tables and 1-2 high stakes tables running every day is what I would think of as decent.

Just asking out of sheer curiosity.

Im pretty sure the cash games in barcelona year round are decent at best. A couple tables of 2/5 running daily and maybe a 5/10 running 2-3 times a week.

This, there was 5/10 running most days when I was there last.

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


Session 5 - 15/11/2016

8h - £650

Caught some extreme run bad last night vs whales. We played £1/2/4/8 4 handed for 3 hours and £1/2/4 the rest of the time FR. Didnt think it would be possible to lose in the line up I played in

9 handed early on
PF
Its straddled to £4, regfish (£350ish deep) makes it £16 in MP, I flat CO with 55 BB fish flats (£330ish deep).

Flop 5QJ (pot £51)
BB checks, regfish makes it £18, I make it £60, BB tanks for 10min and announces all in, regfish tanks and calls, I call.

Turn 3
River 6

BB shows 84
MP shows QJ

Final pot £1030ish

--

4 handed
PF
£1/2/4/8 I am otb, sb calls, BB drunk whale (£250ish deep) makes it £50, we look down at KK and make it £110, sb folds, BB insta jams and we loose to AA.
£500 pot

--

4 handed
PF
£1/2/4/8 I am £4 straddle, same drunk just got stacked by someone else and is raging, he reloads to £200 and opens BB to £20 straight away, we look down at QQ and make it £70 expecting him to flat super wide. He insta jams and we loose to KK lol

--

Pot £400

4 handed
PF
£1/2/4/8 I am otb with £8, tilting whale (£300ish deep) min raises to £16, he is opening every hand. I make £50 with AJ, he calls.

Flop AJ5 (pot £103)
He checks, I bet £75, he ships, I call and loose to A8 with running spades...
Pot £600

--

4 handed
PF
£1/2/4/8 I am otb, sb unknown middle aged guy sat with £600 at 3am was raising the £8 straddle to £16 every time..sb makes it £16, others two fold, I make it £55 with KT he calls.

Flop QJ3 (pot £116)
He donks £75, I call.

Turn A (pot £266)
He checks, I bet £135, he tank calls.

River Q (pot £536)
He bets £40 I call and lose to 74
£616 pot.

--

4 handed
PF
£1/2/4/8 I am SB and make it £30 with JJ, guy just sits with £150 with his pint of beer. 3bets me in BB to £70 I decide to just ship on him and lose to AQ

--


At this point I decide to call it quits, felt bad leaving such a juicy 4 handed game but felt like I needed to call it a night.


Interesting hand which i managed to win for a change last night.

8 handed
PF
I am in straddle to £8, few limpers, button big fish makes it £28 (£500ish deep), SB regfish on tilt (£450ish deep) flats, I flat 6:diamond 8
2 limpers call.

Flop 457 (pot £117)
SB leads for £25, I flat with a decent read that the big fish will raise, limpers fold, big fish makes it £60, regfish on tilt flats, I make it £150, both call.

Turn A (pot £567)
Meh turn, SB checks, I check, big fish checks.

River 2 (pot £567)
SB checks, i check, big fish insta throws in £128, SB tanks for ages and calls and I hate my life. I decide that the fish is just way too bluffy and most likely bets turn with flushes, I am only a little concerned about the tilting sb, but i figure he calls a little faster with a flush and doesnt flat to induce a call from me too often. I call and big fish mucks, sb shows a set lol.
We win £987 pot

Session 6 -16/11/2016

5h + £315

Got the £1/2 deep running, a couple of regfish bought in for 1k which was nice but they managed to lose it to a whale who then went to play blackjack lol. Nothing interesting really happened, kept the session short due to lack of sleep.

Had a nice spot where, i restraddle to £8, whale restraddles to £16, folded around to sb who shoves £110, BB ships as well for £160 I look down at KK and call, whale tank folds A5 and I hold vs 77 and AQs.

Back on the grind tonight.

Innnnn, what's cap for 1/2 deep and avg stack (your guess), enough tables to select from?

Hey, its a £1k buy in, id say the average buy in is something like £400 but it varies. For example, last night we played £1/2/4/8 again and I bought in for £2k. Usually one £1/2 opens which plays quite big and the rest are £1/1 £300max and £0.50/1 £200 max. Always a few tables of the smallest games. There has been a PLO/DC running most nights lately too, but it kicks off at around 3am.

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

Session 7 - 17/12/2016

6h + £164

I have been running absolutely horrible in the bigger games lately. We played £1/2/4/8 most of the time 5 handed in a super soft line up with one huge whale. Not being able to win any decent pots with roughly £8k between us is really meh. Back at it tonight.

One hand comes to mind from last night.

7 handed
I open to £16 with a £4 straddle since the new player didnt want to play with an £8 straddle, hero has KJ in MP. Villain in SB flats unknown well dressed middle aged guy (£400 deep), straddle regfish flats.

Flop J78 (pot £51)
sb checks, straddle checks, I bet £28, sb calls, straddle folds.

Turn Q (pot £107)
sb checks, I bet £65, sb calls.

River K (pot £237)
SB grabs £150 in £25s and throws them in. I dont think I can ever really do anything here but call with no info and even with info I think its a call vs a lot of people lol.

Hero calls and villain insta mucks

Not atm, its hard to fit in with work and everything else.

This looks alot like AT ~16 combos vs a complete uknown who is well dressed. We dont beat any of his value hands and in a vacum I would probably fold.

The AT combos are the only hands I am really concerned about. Given that he came with a glass of whiskey and two of his mates railing him all in suites I think is a call. I probably call vs most in that deep game as it is very aggro overall and begin to consider folding in the £1/1 vs nitregs.