2. A lot depends on who you are up against. Most players, you can take a bet/fold line when the flush draw comes on. Most players, you can read on how they call the flop whether they have the draw or not. But if you are up against someone who recognizes that the flush came in and that it's going to scare you ... you have to be prepared to go to war.

oh, and don't worry. i make the same mistakes. freeze up every time the flush comes in unless i am on my A+ game.

+$609 in 7 hours playing $1/3 last night at Harrah's Chester!

Finally some run good:

I have AJo in the BB. Loose/passive limps, another loose-ish/but relatively new and unknown limps behind, and a loose/bad-aggro limps from the button. I raise to $23. 1 fold, the over-limper makes it $60, and the bad-aggro folds.

Ugh. Hero? I had been pretty active at the table and people had been noticing and commenting on it. I have been opening a lot of pots and playing very aggressively post-flop. I thought maybe this guy could be making a move on me. Villain is black, middle-aged, had limped a few times pre-flop, and somewhat new to the table. He is yet to get out of line. He has about $270-290 behind him.

I shove. He snaps with KK. Flop Jxx. Turn J. River bricks out.

Oops.

Later on in the session:

1 limp, a reg grinder who has quoted Bart Hanson this session makes it $18. He just lost a big pot where an old guy chased an open-ender and got there. While he is raising, another player at the table says "steaming?" and the villain says "steam train is in full gear" (or something like that).

I have QQ in MP and make it $50. Folds back to the villain who 4-bets to $100 leaving $135 behind.

I consider shoving but I feel like he would limp behind his pocket pairs and suited/1-gap stuff rather than open. I've noticed he has a wide over-limp range but a pretty tight opening range. I don't think he'd merge his 4-betting range against me because he knows I'm a tight player and I have folded for the last 45 minutes to an hour. I have not been involved in any big pots since he has been at the table. By my demeanor and the fact that I'm young and not playing like a donkey, I'm sure he can ascertain that I know what I'm doing.

I also thought the "steam train is in full gear" comment was a reverse tell begging for action or to be 3-bet. Also, the fact that he min 4-bet me makes it look like he's pretty nutted. If he really was "steaming", wouldn't he just ship it?

With all of that information, I decided to fold my QQ. He told me he had 87s and I didn't believe him.

A few hours later, I rack up, and he stops me on my way to the cage and privately says to me "did you fold queens in that hand?" I tell him yes and he says he had KK.

Basically, this is the type of thought process I should have had in the AJ hand. If a solid grinder doesn't 4-bet anything except KK-AA except on the rarest of occasions, why do I think that some loose/passive donkey would limp/3-bet 77 (despite the over-limp)?

From now on, I'm just going to let the fish be fish and overlimp their KK and fold when they 3-bet me. Or I'll limp behind with my 76s and stuff and stack them when they can't fold an overpair.


----------


Also another leak that I'm working on fixing is my inability to play optimally with a big stack.

I have 77 in LP. 1 limp and I limp behind. Old loose/aggro player makes it $20, both of us limpers call.

From ($60): 874r. Checks to me, I bet $35. The old loose/aggro makes it $135 and it folds back to me. As I reach for chips, he says "remember who raised preflop" so I know he's got an over-pair now. It should be JJ-AA here almost every time but more weighted towards KK/AA imo.

He has about $215 or so behind. I shove. He tank-folds.

I think I should have called the $135, and then shoved any turn. That definitely looks weaker than 3-bet shoving the flop AND he could even bet the turn for like $100 or something and then he pretty much has to call.

But, my mind really really fogs when I have a big stack in front of me. I had over $700 in front to start the hand which is probably the 2nd or 3rd most I've ever had. Its also about 15-20% of my total bankroll.

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

Despite a few mistakes I made that left money on the table, it feels pretty good to win. I'm happy about the QQ fold I made as I think a ton of people would have snap-shoved on that guy. Beyond that, my mind still fogs a lot and I don't think as clearly when I'm in a hand as I should.

I'm going to Atlantic City where I have a free room for tonight that I plan on using. I'm going to grind all night tonight, sleep, then grind all day and night tomorrow before heading from Saturday morning. I should hopefully get about 25-30 hours in the next two days over there playing $1/2.

Hopefully the boomswitch has been engaged for me!

1/3 Stats: 60.34 hours, +$656, +$10.87/hour

1/2 Stats: 57.34 hours, -$659, -$11.49/hour

Went to Borgata on Thursday evening and played from 9pm - 5am. The games were terrible until the last hour or so.

I finished +$180 after being about even and taking this fish to 3 streets of value-town.

KJcc from the BTN. Fish limps, I make it $20. He calls.

Flop ($40): Js 6c 3d. He checks, I bet $25, he calls.

Turn ($90): 2c. He checks, I bet $60, he calls.

River ($210): 3c. He checks, I shove $145, he snap snap calls.

I turn my hand over and he says "ah, outkicked!" (he had top pair lol)

Then later shortstackers QJ > my KK all in for $60 pre-flop plus like $90 in dead money.

So, a very good night at 1/2 considering how terrible the games were.

I went to my room at Harrah's and went to bed and woke up in the morning feeling like I was on top of the world. I was finally running better, I had won 6 sessions in a row, and my BR was finally on the way upwards.

Then Friday happened :-(. It was raining out and I didn't feel like walking to Borgata from Harrah's so I played the Super 1/2 $500 max at Harrah's. It was a decent game as many players were deep, loose, and predictable. Unfortunately, I had one aggressive player at my table who was difficult to adjust to.

AKo in the CO. I open to $15, villain mentioned above calls.

Flop ($30): 643hh. I c-bet $20, he calls.

Turn ($70): 9x. I 2-barrel $45, he raises to $135 leaving $186 effective back (he covers).

I don't think he ever has QQ-AA here. JJ/TT has no reason to raise here. A hand like 99/66/44/33 might raise but I don't think he'd make it so big. Also, I feel he also should just call with a set since the board is pretty dry despite the flush draw.

I thought his line was bluffy and I thought mine was pretty strong. He either had a small pocket pair or a flush draw. I decided to shove which I felt was only a bad decision because he was so short, but even if I was $100 deeper, I'm not sure if I have enough fold equity. He obviously called needing only $51 more and showed 22. River bricked and I mucked and he actually gloated a bit. Oh well.

Then the very next hand, I called a loose passive player down three streets with TPTK and was obviously never going to be good there.

Then I sat in the 2/5 game and ******edly tried to 3-bet bluff with Ace-high and ran into a set.

So -$564 for the trip to Atlantic City and I hate life again.

Bankroll: $3400

After thinking about things last night and how poorly the AC trip went, I've came to the realization that I feel so much more comfortable in the Harrah's Chester 1/3 game. Part of it is because I know how the game plays, I know how many of the players play, and I know I can beat that game playing a very ABC style.

So, that's what I'm going to do. For now, my goal is to beat up this game until a more +EV opportunity presents itself. Whether that be the Chester 2/5, Borgata 2/5, or whatever. I'm not going to be worried about my poker future anymore. Right now, its all about beating Chester 1/3 for me. I'm very lucky to live within an hour of a very good game and also very lucky to be in a position where I can play this game with an 8-10 buy in bankroll because I have maybe $100 in outside life expenses.

From the 10th-23rd, like I said before, I'm going to be putting in some lolvolume. 160 hours over that 14 day period will allow me to 1) Ship the $750 rakeback to reduce win-rate variance 2) constantly be forcing myself to play and thus improve my game 3) hopefully increase my total earnings

Playing on your "home-field" is a huge advantage for a grinder. You're more comfortable, you feel at home, and most of all - you know where your edge comes from. At Chester 1/3, I have an excellent idea of where I make my money:

- Getting value
- Not paying off



- Finding some optimal spots to bluff the weak-tight regs

My game isn't spewy enough where I can just sit back and wait for the nuts. And I think that goes for most rooms in America. But my competition is bad enough where I don't have to bluff much at all to show profit. Even at a nittier table, I don't really have to run over the table because they all pay off when they make a hand.

I just have to get value where other players don't and get more value with my big hands than other players. Considering that most players bet too small or check too much with the best hand, this is a piece of cake and just something I need to continually improve at to maximize.

In addition, I need to make disciplined folds that others wouldn't make. This, IMO, is one of my strengths. When I'm on my A or B-game, I feel I can fold a lot of hands that are clearly behind but others, including good grinder regs that I know, would continue with for a multitude of reasons.

If I play ABC, value bet better than anyone else, and make disciplined folds that not many others can make, while mixing in a few well-timed bluffs to increase my red-line and reduce my variance... I know I can beat Chester 1/3.

I'll be back grinding Monday night and I'm not going to let what happened in AC happen again.

Played a solid session tonight. Up $318 overall and $337 at 1/3. It was the type of bounce back session that I needed after that AIDS of an Atlantic City trip.

I played 1/2 for 45 minutes while I waited for a 1/3 seat. I dropped about $20 there before moving to 1/3. The game looked extremely good from the get-go.

First hand at 1/3 I get KK in the big blind.

5 limps, the SB makes it $30. He's an unknown, young-ish, fobby Indian guy. I 3-bet to $100. It folds to him and he ships for $300 effective. Obviously I have no idea who this guy is and there are live villains who will only 4-bet AA and KK so my alarms have kind of gone off and I'm considering folding.

I say to him, "Do you have pocket aces?"

He responds, "Something like that," with a slight grin while looking over at me - but I can't remember if he made eye contact or not.

I say, "Something like that, but not exactly that?" He doesn't respond.

I think if he had AA, he would have not said anything regarding the strength of his hand because he clearly wants a call and doesn't want to give away how strong he is. That, coupled with the fact that he could have QQ/AK because he's not an OMC, inclines me to think I'm ahead a large portion of the time. So I call.

Board runs out QJ5A7 with four clubs. He shows QQ, I show KcKx and make $300 on my first hand.

Unfortunately, the rest of the night was less eventful. I was card dead and spot dead at a terrific table. I got 2 pocket pairs the entire night, maybe 3 suited connectors, only 5-6 broadway hands, and probably only won 6 pots in 4.5 hours. I had the nit image, too, and one guy even said "ain't nobody calling you" when I raised and took the blinds down with QJo. The grinder kid next to him said "yea, I just folded KJs, I know you had QQ."

I took down some small pots every now and then and then flush over flushed that same grinder kid but only made $50 because he didn't raise my river bet with his 5-high flush .

+$337 in 4.5 hours is something I'll take every session, though.

I also got in 1.5 hours for the new two-week hourly period that started today. If I'm able to put in 160-170 hours this month, I'll get a $750 cash reward. It might even be less than that because of the weather and holidays. The top 3 get $750 and the top 100 in hours get paid.

1/3 Stats: 65 hours, +$993, $15.31/hour

After a ****ty session yesterday where I lost $583 from raising, missing every flop, c-betting, and getting called/having to give up... I bounced back in a big way tonight.

Tonight, I kept getting dealt big hands and having them hold. I hit more flops, my opponents didn't hit against me, and I was able to effectively value bet the fish to death.

I ended up being "all-in" only twice today and broke about even in those situations.

Yet, I ended up with a profit of $1200 over 8 hours of play.

It came mostly from hitting the flop and value betting effectively. LLSNL isn't about light 4-betting, hero calling with ace-high, and making big river bluffs... it is simply about value betting and not paying off.

The players that make the most amount of money value betting when they're ahead and lose the least of money paying off when they're behind are going to be the winning players. I know this to be a fact and yet I still often fall into FPS. After witnessing first hand what can come of simply value betting/not paying off, I hope I won't be making too many ill-advised fancy plays ever again. I don't think I made any bluffs that entire session besides for c-betting and I actually even decreased my c-betting frequency when I saw that two factors had been met:

1) There were hugely passive and straightforward calling stations in the hand

2) I had a huge stack in front of me, had been raising and betting pretty often because I kept getting big hands, and so people were probably not going to give me as much credit.

People multiple times limped AA-QQ and checked the nuts to me post-flop waiting for me to bet because they thought I was a crazy aggro spew-tard because of the $1500 in red that I had in front of me. This allowed me to get paid off when I had AA pre-flop and paid off post-flop when I had the board crushed. So its only natural that I keep the bluffing to a minimum and tonight, that included c-betting.

On another note, the hours prop isn't going super well. I'm only at about 19 hours in two days and I probably need like 160 in the next 12 days to ship the $750 rakeback.

I'm not sure if I'll get there because its been a lot harder than I expected but I'm still going to give it a shot.

1/3 Stats: +$1771, 81 hours, $21.84/hour

Bankroll: $4400

I completely agree with that statement. Nice work, keep it up!

agree with pure.

don't sweat the hours. let them come. you may not get top 3, but getting $300 is adding a buyin to your roll.

Well done on the value betting and removing FPS plays from your play at 1/3 NL. Just remember that 90% of your opponents only care about their own cards 90% of the time (and basically don't really care what you have 90% of the time), and you will do great at exploiting their level 1 play.

Breakthrough?

Same here, except Duke:FPS::Zoltan:spewtarding

sigh.

he's actually come around pretty quickly. been telling him this since around oct. 1. two months is pretty good to realize it.

Got into a very weird hand with a solid reg during tonight's session:

I have AQo in the BB and I am $360 effective with the villain. I have a solid image at the table. Not tight, not loose.

A loose-passive player limps, the solid reg limps behind, an aggressive player who raises pretty often makes it $25 from the SB. I 3-bet to $91. I have 3-bet this player one time before; it was about 1 orbit ago and he almost snap-folded. This time, he folds out of turn and then the solid reg tanks before calling.

I'm not sure what his over-limp/cold-calling range is but since I perceived him to be a solid player who frequents Twoplustwo, I didn't think he could have a premium hand here. I thought maybe he had a hand that was in-between medium and premium value. Maybe 77-JJ. He could think I'm 3-betting light against the aggressive player, especially since he's seen me do it before and since he knows I'm also a solid player. He maybe doesn't want to shove with his medium pocket pairs since he might think I only call with hands that crush him.

Flop ($210): KQ5ss.

I think I'm good here most of the time. I don't think he has a hand that beats me too often. AA-QQ would likely raise pre or at least limp/4-bet shove. AK likely raises pre. Maybe KJs that he got crazy with beats me? If I lead the flop, I represent a big hand and he probably just folds everything I beat. If I check, I could feign weakness and induce a bluff with a weak hand.

He bets $125, I call.

Turn ($450): Qx.

My plan here was to check/call regardless of the turn card so my thought process was that this turn card doesn't really change anything. We only have about $140 left, though, so the stack sizes became a bit awkward. I thought he would just shove the flop as a bluff but he left behind an awkward amount. I really have no reason to shove this turn card, though. Checking is obvious. But he checks behind.

So now I'm thinking he's either giving up with his bluff or he has a hand with showdown value. Maybe the KJs I mentioned earlier?

River ($450): 9s.

A card that's perceived to be a scare-card for me but really changes nothing unless he has 99. He should have no draws in his range that checked back the river so as far as I'm concerned, this card is a blank.

I think since he checked the turn, he'll check the river with all of his medium pocket pairs so there is no reason to check and induce a bluff. I decided to shove and try to get a hero call from KJs.

Thoughts on my thought process?

Have put in over 50 hours in the last 6 days and still feel super pumped to get back out there tomorrow morning.

On Friday night, there was a big $100k GTD tournament going on at my casino so the games were really bad. There was only one stretch of time where there was a good game and I had moved away from that table just as it got good. By the time I came back, the game had dried up. I did end up set over setting a player to win his entire stack.

This came after being stuck $300 because mostly of this hand:

I have KK in EP. I raise to $15 and an old guy who my buddy described to be "a crazy player who is tilting right now" makes it $60. I make it $150 and he snap-shoves all-in. Before I can even say "call", he shows me AA and I snap-fold. I thought it was a mistake at first but then he told me he'd rather take my $150 now than give me a chance to suck out. I guess its better to win $150 100% of the time than $300 90% of the time.

I dug my way out of the hole and ended the session +$148 over 10 hours.

The next morning, I registered for a $300 + $40 $100K Guarantee tournament that was going to have about $30K overlay. They ended up getting about 240 entrants and I was able to survive my leg of Day 1. I had a 20-30 big blind stack for nearly the entire day and was just surviving by stealing pots in the right spots.

Tomorrow is the final day and it starts at noon. Hopefully I'll be able to ship this tournament for $25K. I actually have this very strong feeling that I will so we'll see if I'm right. I'm just going to play my best and let the chips fall where they may.

In non-poker related news, I've been really trying to make some progress "spitting game," as my buddy JoeyBlaze so eloquently put it, to this very attractive Asian chick who works the front desk at the poker room. We made some small talk today so we'll see where that goes.

1/3 Stats: 101 hours, +$2021, +$20/hr

Bankroll: $4650

Spit that game you young stallion you. You'll be taming that asian poker front desk princess in no time.

Despite busting out of the tournament within the first orbit, I had a very successful day. I made some non-standard plays that worked out for me and also took a shot at a soft 2/5 game which went well.

I got to the casino around noon for Day Two of the $100k guarantee. The first time I posted the big blind, I had about 18.5 bigs left.

A guy with about 20 bigs open-limped from the button and the small blind completed. I looked down at 77 and jammed. I get snapped by 99 by the button and he turns quads. GG.

So I go play the 1/3 game and get into this spot:

Hand 1

I have A8 in MP. I raise to $15 and get called in two spots. The main villain is the second caller and he's a tight Asian guy. However, he does get out of line every so often by playing weird hands. For example, I've seen him 3-bet 85o.

Flop is KQ8. I check, MP checks, villain bets $50 into $45

I think the top of his range should be KQ or 88. More likely, he has a one pair hand like KJ, QJ, AK, AQ, KT, QT, etc. He could also have a lower flush draw or something like JT. His pot-sized bet seemed somewhat protective but I now realize he might make it the same if he was going for value.

I decide to jam since I think he has to fold any 1-pair hand. He has about $200 left after the flop bet so its a pretty big bet and a tough call to make with 1-pair.

However, he makes the call with K8 and I turn an Ace.

Hand 2

Later on in the session, I'm taking a shot at a very soft 2/5 game. I buy in for $500 and I have KJo on the button. A loose/bad player who is opening a lot makes it $25 from MP. Another loose player who is calling almost 100% preflop makes the call. I decide to 3-bet to $110.

Surprisingly, the big blind cold calls me. He is a middle-aged Indian guy who seems to be pretty tight and solid. The fish fold and its heads up with $270 in the pot.

Flop is A76r and the BB checks to me quickly. I decide that he has a lot more pocket pairs here than Ax so I c-bet $150 and take it down. I also had a lollive-read that he was weak.

Overall, I think I played well today. I made a couple mistakes that are so trivial that I don't really need to post. I need to fix leaks like that - where I know the right play but can't make it. Luckily, I only have been making those kinds of mistakes once in a blue moon as of late.

+$718 today. I made $836 at 1/3, $199 at 2/5, and lost about $317 at 1/2.

1/3 Stats: 106 hours, +$2857, +$26.91/hour

Bankroll: $5250

I want updates on the hot asian who works the poker room front desk.

We didn't really talk too much yesterday. Her boss was at the front with her for the most part. I'll see if i can get a chance tonight!

Sent from my SCH-I545 using 2+2 Forums

Took my first night off in almost two weeks. I just relaxed tonight and chilled with my parents a bit. It felt good to take a day away from the game even though I was still itching to play for most of the night (and I still am).

Last night (Thursday), I played a 14.5 hour marathon session of 1/3. I played at the same table the entire time and was at the same seat for all but maybe one of those hours. My back and knees are still sore!

I actually had no plans to play that long. I got there around 1pm and was probably going to play until 11-12 at night. But sometime around then, the game got REALLY good. The nine-seat at my table was a huge huge donkey. He was playing literally any two cards pre-flop, calling a 3-bet with 90% of his range, and continuing post-flop with literally any piece. He had been playing pretty snug at first, actually, but I think he just got a few drinks in him and decided to go hard. He played this hand vs. another player at my table:

1 player raised to $12, a couple players call, he flats with T4cc with like $150 or so behind. The tight player 3-bets to $70. Villain flats leaving $80 behind.

Flop ($175): K87 1 club. The 3-better jams the remaining $80 and villain snap snap calls with ten-high and a backdoor flush draw.

Turn bricks, river puts a ten on the board. The 3-better shows AQo and goes ballistic when villain turns over T4cc. He proceeds to berate the player before getting up from the game. "I'm not playing with this donk," he says.

I ended up playing with that donk until 4 AM and made a bit over $1000 off him. The only hand he owned me in was this one:

I had 88 OTB. Villain raises to $20 which was standard with ATC. CO calls and I call.

Flop ($60): 642ss. Villain blind bets $20. Both call.

Turn ($120): 3sss. Villain blind bets $50. Only I call.

River ($220): Td. Villain thinks only for 1 second and bets $300.

He has made huge river bluffs before and had lost about half of his stack doing that in the last couple of hands. I felt that he was on tilt and judging by the blind bets, had made up his mind that he was going to get his money back on this hand. I called. He shows the nut flush.

Later on, I would get all of that back and much more.

I had QQ against him and he opened for his standard $20. I make it $80 and the villain calls.

Flop ($160): 974ss. I lead for $100. He snap makes it $300. I jam it in his mouth for $760 total.

He tanks and asks the dealer, "how much is it?" She says "$359 more, sir."

He responds, "That's a lot..." then folds.

Later, on my last orbit at the table I flopped a set of queens against him and took him to value town for another $350. We were $1100 effective to start the hand and he folded to my river jam. In retrospect, I wish I had made the river bet smaller to get more value.

Regardless, it was a good session for me. I had been playing pretty badly and spewy lately and it was such great timing for an absolute WHALE to sit down so I can just chill and play ABC value-oriented poker.

I'm definitely going be going back to playing like that tomorrow. I want to definitely continue to make more advanced plays but not as much as I've been doing lately. Sometimes, I'll be successful making a 3-barrel bluff, squeeze, or something fancy like that and I'll try to make those plays at literally any opportunity. I've blown through at least a couple buy-ins doing that this week and I'm going to work hard to pull the reigns in from now on.

December Stats:

1/2: -$465, 12 hours (-$38.75/hour)
1/3: +$2887, 86.33 hours ($33.44/hour)
2/5: +$199, 2.5 hours ($79.60/hour)

Total: +$2621, 100.83 hours, ($25.99/hour)

I'm very happy that my stats are finally panning out. I think I made like $6/hour at 1/3 in November and was stuck a bunch of money for a while when I first started out. I'm finally starting to hit my stride and play really well. However, I'm still leaving tons of money on the table by not bet-sizing optimally and getting too fancy at times.

Some hands:

Hand 1:

Reads: Villain has been opening a lot and is a huge fish. He doesn't really know what he's doing.

Pre-flop: JTs in the SB. 3 limps, Villain makes it $11 from the BTN. I 3-bet to $40 and only the BTN calls.

When he opened to only $11 with 3 limpers to him, I read it as pretty weak. Even if he had a hand he could call with, or maybe he was just stubborn and didn't want to fold pre-flop, I felt I could bet him off of a ton of flops. Also, my hand has a pretty good chance to flop equity as well.

Flop ($90): J76r. I lead for $50, he calls.

Turn ($190): 4r. Check check.

At this point, I put him on Jx, a pocket pair, or a straight draw. I check the turn with the intention of calling since I expect him to try to steal the pot with his draws or his pocket pairs that can't stand a river bet. He's an aggressive player who has no idea how to use aggression properly. I also expect him to check back his showdown value hands since I've shown aggression twice now.

River ($190): 2. I check. He quickly bets $100. I call. MHIG vs. AQ.

I don't expect him to bet anything except a monster here. I also don't expect him to check a monster on the turn, though. So that rules out anything except maybe 22 or 44. I probably don't think he would bet Jx since it has showdown value and its hard for him to get value from worse hands. Also, in a 3-bet pot where I showed aggression on the flop, he should be playing pretty conservatively with anything that has showdown value. When he quickly bets $100 on the river, I thought he had a missed straight draw like 98s or perhaps a small pocket pair like 55 that he thought he couldn't win with. I really wasn't expecting him to float me on the flop with AQ lol.

Hand 2

Reads: Almost none. Villain has shown aggression in the past post-flop. He is somewhat young-ish but doesn't look like a typical grinder/pro.

Pre-flop: I have KK in EP and raise to $16. 2 calls including the villain from the SB.

Flop: AA8hh. Checks to me, I bet $35. SB quickly raises to $70. I call.

Turn: Jx. SB leads for $100. I call.

River: Qhhh. Check check. He shows A6ss.

I'm not sure about this hand. I think calling the flop is standard because he can have semi-bluffs thinking I'm just c-betting.

The turn is where I thought maybe I should get away from it but there are already two Aces out there and I thought its somewhat difficult for him to have an ace. Why would he raise the flop with that? Most people like to slow-play their trips on relatively dry boards. Especially when I'm the aggressor and have shown aggressive tendencies in the past.

Ended up playing a monster marathon session from Saturday 4pm-Monday 1am. I was literally hallucinating on the drive home. I must have braked 3 or 4 times on the highway when I was totally by myself just because I thought I saw a car in front of me.

BUT, I should be in the top 3 now in hours at my casino which earns me a $750 cash bonus that will definitely boost my bankroll and give me some extra cash to spend when I go on vacation next week.

I'm probably going to take the next two days off to spend time with my family and then get back on the grind until I leave for vacation on January 1st. I'm also going to be spending a night or two hanging out with a friend in New York City this week. It'll be nice to have some more balance in my life since the last couple weeks have literally been all poker and nothing else. Wake up, shower, go play from 1pm-1am, come home and sleep, rinse and repeat.

I also want to spend more time away from the table working on my game. There are a few things I've been thinking about lately that I need to improve before I start to grind again in 2014. Off the top of my head they are:

1. C-betting

I want to experiment with betting smaller as a bluff on good c-betting boards and also work on overall when to c-bet and when not to c-bet. I think I am c-betting too much and in bad spots.

2. Ranging Opponents

This is obviously so so important but a lot of times I freeze up and don't bother to play off my opponents range.

3. Focusing on the Action

I spend a lot of time talking at the table/watching games/on my phone/everything except intently observing the action when I'm not in a hand. I've probably missed so much useful information by doing this and thus probably lost value by not exploiting the information I potentially could have had.

Overall, I'm really happy with how this month has gone. I no longer consider myself a marginally winning player that has a long way to go. I definitely have a long way to go still but I feel so confident in my game at 1/3 in my room. I feel like I'm the best 1/3 reg in my room right now; while that isn't really saying much since most people suck, it still feels really good to go from being stuck $1.5k overall at poker and getting obliterated when I ask about hands... to now feeling like I'm the best player at 1/3 Harrah's Philly and having ATsai and others agree with a lot of plays I make.

December Stats

1/2: 13 hours, -$515 (-$39.62/hr)
1/3: 126 hours, +$3708 (+$29.35/hr)
2/5: 2.5 hours, +$199 (+$79.60/hr)

Total: +$3392 (+$23.92/hr)

Bankroll: $6800

The BR could be a bit smaller because there is a non-0% chance that I got passed in the hours standings and I only will get a $500 bonus... and also I'm owed like $550 that there is a chance I'll never see

Regardless of those two events, my BR, which is also my life-roll, crosses the $6000 point. This is literally the first time in my life I've had $6k to my name and it feels really really ****ing good especially after living paycheck to paycheck and nearly being totally homeless this time last year.

Wow... now that I think about it...

This time last year, I was nearly flat-broke and spending Christmas alone. My GF who I loved with everything I had in me, who I'm spending a week seeing in January and is now pretty much a Long Distance Friend with Benefits, had just broke it off with me, my parents and I had a very strained relationship and hadn't spoken in months, my car which was my only form of income (I delivered pizza) had broken down for good so my job was gone, and I literally had to walk in the freezing cold to the nearest gas station just to get a ****ing meal that was inevitably disgusting.

I had no clue where my life was going much less where I was even going to sleep when my rent was due and I couldn't pay it. I went to sleep every night with my stomach kicking my ass for me to put some food in it but I could only afford 1 meal a deal.

Now, I have $6k to my name thanks to how hard I've worked at poker. More importantly, my life is going in the right direction. I'm 99.9% over my ex GF even though I still love her, I have family and friends that I love, I have money to spend, I have a million options of where I want my life to go, and overall I'm very very happy.

2012 and 2013 were really ****ty years for me. I'm thrilled that I closed out 2013 "with a bang" and I'm going to work as hard as I can to make sure 2014 is a great year for me poker-wise.

Congrats duke..heres to an even better 2014!

Go Duke

Really inspiring how you have picked yourself off the ground and got your life back on the right track with a lot of hard work and gritty determination. As they say, "When things get tough, the tough get going."

Good for you. And keep up the hard work!