I made it back down to Florida. I drove on not enough sleep, but I was on a tight schedule and had no choice. It did not help that while sleeping at the Rest Area in Charlotte, a loud black man decided that at 2am this was the perfect time and place to roll down his window and have a shouting match on the phone with his woman. I would have just moved, but I kept drifting in and out of sleep when the conversation got heated.

One other note on the drive is I drove through rural southern South Carolina, and I was surprised at how badly it was dying. I passed through dozens of little towns, and they all were suffering a similar fate. Small decaying houses, vacant businesses from the 20th century, a Family Dollar and one, maybe two Apostolic or Baptist churches. I can’t help but wonder what this part of the country would be like if they had not fought or even somehow won the Civil War. History quite fascinates me.

I made a pit stop first in Orlando to visit a couple of family members. The picture below is from the balcony of their condo. I used this opportunity to clear my mind, so I can be mentally prepared for the climb up the mountain of success. I have been hitting the tables hard since I got here on Thursday. By the end of this week I need to post all of the goals and plans I have for my second stint in Jacksonville.

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MISSION STATEMENT:

You will not find a player in the Jacksonville player pool working as hard as me during my time here.

I will outwork everyone because to them poker is just a game or a part-time gig, but to me it is freedom.

I will outwork everyone because at this point in my life I guarantee that they don’t want this as bad as I do.

I will exploit the fish, and I will exploit the tendencies of the regs.

I will bust my butt on the table by fiercely focusing my attention, and off it from studying hand history and GTO.

I will keep my mind fresh and life balance in order.

I will not try, I will do.

A little run good would be nice as well.

Sitting at a live low-limit table, you are bound to hear a lot of wacky poker logic. At times I feel like I am in the Dark Ages, where everyone still believes in magic. There used to be a Bill Cosby show called “Kids say the darnedest things”, well I have found that live donks also say the darnedest things. For fun I am going to start posting a Donk Quote of the Week. These will all be real sayings that I thought were crazy enough to make a note of. Here is this weeks first edition:

“I will play any hand but I hate playing Aces and Kings”.

It doesn't really matter how much you are %100 focused, how well you calculate pot odds, how much of a sicko you are at hand reading, how you interpret and display meta game. It's all moot if you are not bankrolled aND have a stable mindset. I poker is hard enough without the added stress of living in your car, and not being a healthy person.

Way to jump the gun and assume things when I have not yet discussed any of these details. I don't know how you think you have the authority to tell me I have an unstable mindset? Apparently unless we all live this perfect, healthy, zen-like, mythical lifestyle just like you, nobody will be able able to accomplish anything.

BTW low-stakes live poker is laughably easy. No bluffing, no balancing ranges, no fancy plays just value town the ******* daylights out of the fish. You could do this on your deathbed.

Isnt that what were suppossed to do, assume? I am probably right though arent I. I was just giving my 2c and advice, im a veteran long time pro, i have been in your shoes. You seem to take every comment as a huge insult though and its hard to get through to you. Maybe you don't have it all figured out yet, and you should take some critique constructively.

Why wouldnt you WANT to live in a healthy zen like perfect mindset? I am truly in shock. You say you want success, well number one is your health, if you neglect that your mind will suffer. You need stability. Poker is all about the long game, trust me. Its not about "value town the ******** daylights out of the fish".

Its about being a good person with good habbits. Establishing a routine that is healthy and sustainable.

What do you want me to say? Thanks Dad for letting me know I am a bad person with bad habits. I’m just trying to do what I can with my available resources and circumstances to live in peace.

How do you even define a “good” person? I get tired of everyone who thinks they have all the answers, when actually we are all just ants dicking around in a sandbox.

Here is the plan guys, so after selling some of my things I left for Florida with $2,875 in my poker/living roll. I still have the car and a few thousand left back home in assets. I also generate a couple hundred dollars per month through a passive online income stream. If I am a small loser in poker (I sure hope not!), this should last me until at least late May, and at that time I will reassess the situation.

I am not here in Jacksonville during this time of year to live in my car, it is too hot and humid. As opposed to the first time around, the sole reason I am here is to work the live poker scene. Therefore I will mostly be living in a weekly motel, and sleeping in my car a couple of nights in between weeks to help lower the cost per night. I looked all around Orange Park and the surrounding areas, and the best rate I could find was $275/week. They also have the lowest monthly rate but it only lowers the weekly rate by $10. In this area all of the motels raised their rates last year when the two cheapest motels were shut down for criminal activity and unpaid water bills.

Another option was to rent a room in someone’s house, but that is too weird for me. I think it is even weirder that people want a stranger living in their home. I can’t get over having to come through someone’s living room and interact with them before I could make it to my room. There were a couple ads for suites that I inquired about, but they didn’t return my calls. I wouldn’t mind a suite setup bc I would have my own entrance and a connected bathroom. The going rate on Craigslist was around $150/week. This is a lot cheaper and prob nicer than living among druggies and hookers. The motel isn’t too bad though, it is in a decent neighborhood and I can walk to the poker room if I want to in 30 minutes.

Def find a 3-6 month, or month to month apartment, heck even a room/ shared. You will really like having a kitchen and fridge. Settle in! I am glad to hear you are back in this, and back on track to giving live poker a try.

I was gonna chime in after your last post but thought it was best to let OP answer for himself. It's crazy, you've literally ignored everything he just said and have gone on to give him more "advice" anyway. You assume to know better than him what he'd like, and then go on to give your approval for him making a decision that you'd have made. It honestly astounds me how people can be so self righteous. What makes you think you're in any position to advise a stranger, someone you don't know and whose life you haven't lived, on their life choices? Not everyone's like you. Not everyone shares your ideologies. Don't assume you know **** all about anyone's life but your own, because the truth is you don't.

Read "Into the Wild" or watch the film if you can't be bothered. Imagine what it'd be like to view the world differently to everyone else, and then to be constantly confronted with people trying to get you to conform to their ideologies - ideologies you don't share. Imagine how frustrating that might be...

Kitchen = Ramon noodles, frozen burritos, and occasionaly hard-boiled eggs

I googled Into The Wild, and I also stumbled across a similar story about a young artist named Everett Ruess. He traveled the American Southwest extensively, and disappeared in Utah. He had one of the most memorable quotes that I have ever read.

“I have always been unsatisfied with life as most people live it. Always I want to live more intensely and richly. Why muck and conceal one's true longings and loves, when by speaking of them one might find someone to understand them, and by acting on them one might discover oneself?"

POKER BANKROLL PLAN

The bestbet poker room’s smallest NL game is $2/$2 with a $200 max and $40 min buy-in. The average stack size is typically $100 and the open raise size is $10-$15, so the game plays more like a really short $2/$5 game. I will mostly be buying in for the minimum, and there are several reasons why.

1. I prefer to be conservative with at least 30 buy-ins.

2. No one here has the slightest clue how to play against a proficient short-stacker.

3. I’m non-threatening and look like a fish myself.


*For each level $700 is not counted and set aside for rent.

$3500 - $2200 Platinum Level

70 BI - 40 BI

May buy-in or top-up to 50bb at anytime.

$2200 - $1700 Green Level

40 BI - 25 BI

20bb mandatory buy-in. No other limits in place, you may play at your table no matter how big the stack gets. If a Super-Donk is detected, top-up to match their stack.

$1700 - $1300 Yellow Level

25 BI - 15 BI

If no fish have a comparable stack, leave the table with greater than 50bb. With the exception of the fishiest deep-stacked tables, leave with greater than 100bb.

$1300 - $700 Red Level

Under 15 BI

Same restrictions as yellow, in addition to a limited playing schedule of Thursday-Sunday morning. The rest of the week will be spent grinding $10-$20 Sit-N-Go’s online at Ignition.

Below $700 I’m ****** Level

3 weeks of living expenses left.

SHORT-TERM GOALS

1. Blast through Platinum level. Until I get there I will always be faced with the possibility of going broke.

2. Find the fastest path to $5,000.

3. Decide on where to go next. $5,000 should be adequate for 3-6 months living expenses, and a bankroll to play $1/2 anywhere in the US or grind online in SE Asia.

I am going to be posting my weekly results and a graph every once in awhile.

I have been running awful in this room going back to when I played a few days in February. I am winning like 1 in 5 of my 100bb+ pots either as on average a 3 to 1 favorite or getting overlay on my draws. Other than taking back one $250 bluff and a couple of $30 missteps, I believe I am playing well. My opponents are making a ton of mistakes, so I just need to keep putting in the volume.

This past week would have been quite devastating if I had not won $978 betting on the Final Four and Championship games. No more sports betting for awhile now!

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Th - 11h
Fr - 7h 15m
Sa - 4h 5m
Su - 10h
Mo - 6h
Tu - 8h 35m

46.9 hours -$759 ($39 in tips included)

WEEK 1

Bankroll: $2035

Rent: $274.99
Food/Supplies: $85.21

It really only matters what I think, but I feel guilty about these POS results. I’m not going to rant again for awhile bc I dislike complaining. You are free to skip if you feel likewise.

Yesterday I somehow managed to lose 14 buy-ins in one day. I never would have believed it if you had told me I was going to lose 30 buy-ins in two ******* weeks of playing $1/2. Everything I have read on 2+2 claimed that 30 was the magic number of being above the risk of ruin. Part of it might be that playing 20bb poker is variance-heavy, but still I have been getting into such great spots.

-14 buy-ins

Won 3/20 all-in or near it pots.

2/10 90-70%
1/5 60-55%
0/5 draws with four having big overlays

I am beginning to foster a love/hate relationship with the 20% luck factor that is owning my *** right now. It sucks to lose when you are almost always such a big favorite, but then again if the LOL$1/2FISHiPlayPokerLOL couldn’t get lucky, they wouldn’t keep coming back to get their gambling fix. I love/hate it when a luckbox hits his flushes, straights and 4,3,2-outers with no concept of pot odds. If he can even manage to leave the table in time, he walks off with a bunch of chips and a smile not even realizing the extent of how ******* good he ran. I also love/hate the regs who think they are ballers, however they are just spewtards that are barely one step ahead of the fish.

Those BR rules do not apply to min buyins. It's also not impossible to lose 30 (full) buyins as a winning player. You don't have a solid sample size so you don't know what your winrate will be like short stacking these games. I also wonder how profitable this short stacking strategy is live with the rake, even if you are the greatest shortstacker in the world. Anyway GL OP

I've hit a few 20+ bi downswings in games that I've pretty much crushed, playing with full stacks. I'd imagine playing 20bb poker is going to have absurd variance, your EV is going to be lower. Didn't even think about the rake as well, your win rate is probably super thin op, even if you're better than every other player there.

You can start sun running at any time though.

Didn't the man died in the end of the movie?Or maybe I watched the wrong one?

So you have lost $560 or $2800 in one session? One is losing 14 buy ins one is losing 2 and a bit buy ins. You could conceivably lose flips forever with 20 beibers specially multi way. Also as someone mentioned, what's rake? Because there goes your 'overlay'. If I have a good edge which we should at 1/2 live I would rather have 5 100 buy ins than 25 20bb buy ins.

I am calling $40 my buy-in. With how I have run it didn't matter what amount I was buying in for, I was destined to lose it all. You just can't win when your big hands are constantly getting outdrawn and in return near zero of your draws are hitting. I strongly agree that we want to have more BB, but I would already be back in Ohio by now.

I am always looking for spots to get my stack in heads up, and in the worst-case scenario no more than two others. In this circus game if I'm not careful most of my value range becomes -EV in multi-way pots after rake.

Rake is 5+2. I believe they take 2 at $5, 2 at $10, 1 at $20, 1 at $30 and 1 at $40. 2 goes to the BB Jackpot and daily 30-min high hands. When I say overlay, I have already accounted for the rake.

I ran some numbers quickly when I first started playing down here to make sure with the rake I can actually make money short-stacking. It is not a big WR, no more than a few bb/hr, and that is a big part of my negative-variance.

My strategy is not to solely short-stack, but to try and free roll my way into a 50bb-100bb stack. To crush the $1/2 donkey-feast we need to have an effective stack size that allows us to see a lot of flops with our PP's and SC's. We can also bluff the right players on certain board textures bc most are scared to death of a flush.

I actually do like initially buying in for 20bb.

1. I can sit back and watch the table for a few orbits. By the time I grow a stack that I am actually able to do something with, I have figured out most of the table dynamics. I know who are my stations, nits, aggrotards and TAGS (pretty much a dodo bird here).

2. I get great spots against the gambolholics. For whatever psychological reason, a short-stack shove attracts attention like a carcass to a vulture. A late position open to $10 almost always gets at least several callers, but if you open to $30 the first time everyone will put you on KK+ and fold. Now if I open-shove for $40 the first time, I am called super-light. The other day I did this with AA, and got called bc LOL-it’s only 40 bucks-LOL. I flopped a set, and him a wheel with 2 5.

3. If I spot a big fish I can just add on to match their stack.

4. After I double-up and if the table is not good enough, I just rinse and repeat. I take a short break, go get a snack, walk around the dog track and then get in a better game.

I have a hard time believing short stacking with that kind of rake is profitable. I also think you would be way better of grinding SNG/(small field) MTTs online for now and build a better roll. I would love to see your calculations and prove me wrong.

I actually am rooting for you, because I agree with a lot you are saying non pokerwise. But it's going to be hard, if not impossible to build a bankroll this way. Again GL