These are my thoughts down to the letter! You forgot the dogs though, gotta have dogs...

All right, here is a daily update. It rained today for the first time during my stay in JAX. It doesn’t pour monsoon-style off/on at any random moment like this back up north. I have begun to settle into a daily routine, but not going to get into the whole thing in this post. In the afternoon I go to Publix, and most of the time don’t buy anything (get it?). Publix is not found in the Midwest, and I am extremely impressed with their bathroom conditions. Hands down the cleanest grocery chain restrooms in America. Every Walmart’s is absolutely disgusting, and I should know bc I have been to a couple in nearly every state. For as many employees that they have you would think they could get someone to take care of it.

I did reload on water though this trip, and got a soda pop treat. I make sure to go when it starts to get busy bc otherwise even grocery clerks might start to pick up on my pattern. This is the opposite strategy of my regular PF timing. With PF my bluff makes sense; I am using the gym before going to work or in between two different job shifts. While I was in the store a man in his 60’s collapsed onto the ground in the checkout line. He did regain consciousness, the ambulance arrived and I guess he was all right. I can’t imagine how embarrassing it is to be laid out on the ground with a bunch of strangers staring at you. When leaving I regretted not bringing my rain jacket, as the sky started dumping buckets again. Everyone else was waiting it out under the awning but I decided to make a break for it. I took off my socks and sandals, put part of my t-shirt over my head and slowly walked barefoot to the car. The parking lot was covered by a couple inches of water, and it felt good bc the rain was so warm.

OMG, I have never been more ready to pounce in my life. At the very end of writing this I jumped a foot when this crackhead skinny guy with a big beard pops up inches from my peripheral vision. I turn face, goosebumps all over, yelling YO loudly while reaching down for my knife. I scared the shizz out of him, and of course he was just getting his little girls out of the pick-up. More than anything it was prob his sketchy appearance that alerted my subconscious so strongly. I’m telling you guys that I am ready to go when danger comes knocking.

Sounds like you have extreme paranoia issues. People who work in a gym/grocery store couldn't care less when or how often you go there.

Apart from that gl in your poker.

how are you going to grind live poker with $200 for a bankroll? i'd go back and cash in that metal

You are right, it's not a big deal under normal conditions. If management found out a homeless guy is using their facilities all the time, well that could be bad for business. Getting kicked out of PF is game over; better safe than sorry I say.

Have you ever had a night where everything seemed to go right? So last night I decided to try and burn through the last $15 I still had on that new site. I finished up $40 playing 50NL. I had already decided not to go to the gym tonight, so I played some freerolls. I binked 3rd in one for $65. To cap the night off I decided to celebrate my victory and get some food. Only option was the 24/7 open McD’s. This place is pretty clueless and they proceeded to give me a cheeseburger and fries, which I did not order. I swung back around to get the correct order, and kept the freebies for the win.

The biggest news of the night came next when I checked my e-mails. Backing up a few weeks, I had received an email from my bank regarding suspicious activity on my account and they needed me to call them. I dread talking on the phone, so I just put it off and nothing ever came of it. Fast forward to last night, and they sent me another email saying they are conducting an investigation and putting a temporary hold on some transactions until they get the needed information. The holds are of some online gambling purchases, and I’m not sure if I’m the one going to get into trouble for this?

How exactly is that good news? Well, they also temporarily credited the funds back into my account. Eventually I will have to call them and give the money back, but for the time being I have an extra $300. I decided this morning to take a shot at the Best Bet poker room. I plan on grinding all day bc I can’t be sure the bank won’t take back the funds tomorrow. I withdrew $200, so I have 5 bullets to rip. This seems to me like a modified freeroll if I can just get up one buy-in. The worst-case scenario here doesn’t even seem that bad bc it might just force me to head back home to reload.

I am asking the live pros if you can give me any advice? I had no expectations of playing live this soon, and I am not nearly as prepared as I would like to be. I will be buying in short bc I only have $200. I also have an extensive history of playing short stacks in SNG’s. With <20BB (the room’s min buy-in) I plan on default opening/shoving 66+/A10+/KQ. My 3-bet shoving range will be 99+/AQ+. I will appropriately adjust these ranges for position, my current stack size and player types. Now I know live pre-flop raise sizing tends to be much larger than that of online. That should mean that my shortstack 3-bet shoving range is going to also apply up to a <40BB stack, when facing the bigger raises. Even when my effective stack size starts getting closer to raising/3-betting over shoving, I still tend to prefer just shipping it. In my experience I have found at the lower levels the fish make bigger mistakes pre-flop in these spots bc they can’t resist the gamble gamble. Please let me know what you think on this strategy, and what effect the live rake might have on it?

I worked out/showered up, got a bite to eat and am now ready to start my mega live session. I know I really want to play bc I was willing to even go to the gym in the afternoon. I am anxious, not nervous but excited. I have not played live since the summer when I final tabled back to back in a casino’s yearly tournament series. I do not much feel much pressure to win bc I know I have 5 buy-ins still backing me up.

what is your edge in the game? Do you have predefined push fold ranges considering you just play with 40 dollars, don't you think sitting with 200 dollars is a better idea and to just set mine?

whats up dude what happened , did you get lucky? how u managing ur 5 buyins ? did u lose it all?

bumpity bump
i bet this guy is broke, who wants to bet?

I ended up playing about 20 hours in 4 sessions last weekend. The first session went great, and I really gained confidence that I do in fact have earning potential in the Jacksonville Live Poker games. Things really took a turn for the worse in the following sessions. I couldn’t have run worse, as I proceeded to bust 11/12 min buy-ins (-$520) while getting my money in as the favorite. The one time I had 99 vs a guy playing every hand. At showdown on a dry board he hesitated to show, so I flip em over and then he slow rolled me with AA. I didn’t take offense bc it was clear he had zero clue what he was doing.

After this weekend I know that I can make good money down here. The JAX player pool is abysmal. Against my value range I was receiving action from complete garbage hands. 99+ and AQ+ were getting cracked by the likes of A6o, A3o, 22, Q4, J10o, 83o and 62. Getting crushed relentlessly doesn’t faze me bc I have been in hundreds of thousands of push/fold spots while playing SnG’s. All of these spots at the end of the day just boils down to flipping coins. I have the coin weighted in my favor, but it can still come up tails in long stretches. I know that as long as my opponents are making enough mistakes, I am making money every hour I sit down and play.

A lot of you guys will say that I should be buying in for the max. I agree if I was rolled to do so. In the run bad sessions like I just had, I would have been down thousands instead. There were several cooler spots where I just had to get stacked.

I will, how much?

Are you out of money now you can't play? What are your plans to start crushing again?

This is some of the worst advice one can give

All the guys studying and playing at the same time, are broke.

Studying should be done in a vacuum.

You can listen to podcasts and and videos running in the background, its pretty crappy to ~4 table on a laptop lol.

I have some major updates that I will be posting throughout the week.

Here is some of the prominent hand history from the first session; it was the only one where I got past a 50BB stack. There is really nothing to gain from my short stack sessions. They are too standard and boring; 3bet shove, or raise pre and shove flop with a tiny SPR.


UTG 1010 open 11, two callers

Flop J2xcc shove 21, two callers

RunOut 210 B shows KQ, Hero wins


SB AQs straddle + one caller, Hero 2! 17, two callers

Flop A108sss lead 30, fold MP shoves, Hero call 24 more, Villain has 108 two pair

RunOut 77 Hero wins


UTG+1 99 open 11, two callers

Flop 876cc check around

Turn 9 check around

River 2 Villains check out of turn so Hero bets 10, both fold Hero wins

Notes I bet bc a villain might think I am trying to buy the pot after seeing their intentions to check, and I am only beat by 5x.


UTG 99 open 11, four callers

Flop Q64hh check fold

Notes Too many bad turn cards to play OOP.


SB KKc 3 limpers Hero 2! 17, 3 callers

Flop A93ccc lead 35, all fold Hero wins


I ended this session with $305, after buying in for $40. I will add the last few hands in another post.

Hopefully you can make enough to keep playing, your money is a tool. If you never leverage it you will eventually run out. Good luck and keep pushing.

Here are the hands from the rest of the session:

4 limpers
B Hero A9 call
Blinds check

Flop $14 943r

UTG check
MP bet 10
HJ calls
Hero calls
the rest fold

Turn $44 6

MP bet 10
HJ fold
Hero call
It seems to me like a repeat bet OTT screams weakness. If he is nutted we should find out from a bigger bet OTR. My read is he is bluffing with a straight draw/overcards, or he doesn’t know what to do with middle pair.

River $64 9

MP bet 15
Hero calls
I am never folding for this price, even on prob any other river card. I can’t raise bc even though I feel good about my hand as played what can we get value from, the case 9?

Villian hesitates
Hero wins $94


UTG 2! 20
UTG+2 call
MP Hero KhQh call
CO call
Looking back on it, this was my biggest mistake of the session. The raiser was new to the table and shaping up to be a maniac. Flatting in MP with KQ is just too loose even with the maniac opening. LP is a different story with several callers in front, I might have the implied odds? I didn’t write down the effective stack sizes, so I can’t be sure. The problem with KQ though is that if a 2nd nut FD, or a lone K or Q hits, I have RIO.

Flop $84 T54r

UTG bet
Hero folds


2 limpers
B Hero QJs 2! 15
MP calls

Flop $36 Jc9c9

MP check
Hero check
I might have missed a bet here? I’m only going to get one street of value from smaller pairs and A-high, but I can get multiple streets from draw combos.

Turn - J

MP check
Hero check
With this board and action I am only getting one bet from A-high, or paid if an A, K, Q, J, or 9 hits OTR.

River - 4

MP check
Hero bets 15
MP calls and shows A8

Hero wins $66


UTG limp
B 2! 15
SB Hero AQd calls
BB call
UTG call

Flop $60 Ad9d4h

Hero check
BB check
UTG bet 20
B fold
BB folds out of turn
Hero 3! AI
UTG folds with 15 behind
LOL BAD!!!

Hero wins $80

As previously discussed I took a shot at JAX Live Poker with all I had left on me, and came up short. I gave it my best, and it didn’t matter to me what happened. If I won, I would stay and keep trying to run that little bankroll up. If I lost, I go back home early and reload. I promise you Jacksonville, I came through and I will return.

I went down the first time with an expeditionary force, but I am returning with a battalion. The plan is to liquidate at least $3,000 in assets for a bankroll to grind 2/2 Live. I will be following up later with more details.

Congrats on the good session OP. +EV choice to liquidate and play live imo.

A9 hand is super nitty. If the board isn't flushing you should jam the river, especially if you're <100bb effective. And lol at the AQ hand.

so the op is finally taking my advice, solid

Awesome way to study, never really concentrate to anything. Just make sure fb, Spotify and YouTube are aswell running in the background just in case poker happens to feel boring sometimes.

It’s not like there weren’t at least a dozen other guys giving the same advice. It is logically the best choice, and even if I had never created this thread I would be doing the same thing.

I wanted to see how long I could last living in a sedan, and also how much it would cost. I lived in my car for two weeks, and I could have easily continued on for a couple more months. My original plan was to stay down in Florida until April, when it would start getting humid and too hot for sleeping. When I trucked in the Southeast, for me 65 degrees was my high end for being able to sleep comfortably without a powerful fan. The temperature here is vastly different than the same degrees in say California bc of the humidity factor.

The sole reason I have decided to come back is bc the games are so soft. I have played in a lot of different regions of the country, and Bestbet is by far the softest place I have ever been to. It is therefore worth it to me to liquidate close to all of my net worth, in order to be able to stay alive in the games down here. If I can make $15/hr I will be able to live out my dreams.