Optimistic Shortstackers:

During yestersays session the must move game was very shallow as result of 3 fishes buying in for the minimum. A random dude asked if it was a 1/2 game, to which i responded no, they are just short stacked.

I regretted saying that, thinking that the fish thought the melancholy thought "damn I'm just a shortstack". My friend Brad said no, they were thinking "not for long!"

I concur with Brad. People do not go to a casino thinking they will lose!

Kudos to you though, for seeing a possible mistake like that. It's way negatative ev to make a player feel bad about themselves or to talk strategy at the table! WAY -EV

Sick thread, best of luck!

I saw LAG's 13k stack in the chipstack thread in B&M, which led me here. Read the entire thread while grinding 2/5 at my local casino (Hollywood Casino - Bangor, ME). Amazing thread, extremely well done and thoroughly entertaining! Keep up the good work LAG!

Here's an interesting hand for you guys: I flopped a flush and turned it into a bluff to win a decent sized pot.

Preflop
I open 87 for $20 from the CO, Only the SB calls.

Flop ($40) Q43
SB checks, I bet $30, SB calls

Turn ($100)Q
Q43Q
SB checks, I bet $100, SB raises $225, I call $125 more

River ($550)Q
Q43QQ
SB quickly checks. I shove all in for his last $275. SB disgustedly shows his neighbor his cards and insta-mucks.

After the hand he told me that he flopped a higher flush.

Accidentally posted a message in this thread earlier which was intended for a different one. Mods can feel free to delete. But speaking for this thread, I am subscribed and your story/path is inspiring ECGrinder. Keep up the good work! (Sorry for cluttering your thread!)

Thankyou thankyou




No worries man. Glad your enjoying it!

was your intent to turn this into a bluff or you were just going for value and accidentally bluffed him off a better hand? lol

Flop is for value, Turn is for value. when he checkraises the turn I think he has a lot of Q's that he called the flop with, 44 or 33 for the boats, and flopped flushes (most are higher than mine with 43 on the board b/c he's mostly calling with only 56 that low). So I call in position to evaluate river. OTR he quickly checks. That eliminates Quad Queens, and AA KK if he has those for some odd reason. 33 and 44 are useless boats now. Flushes can't call. I can't beat anything, but a river bluff folds out his entire range!

$2907 day. Hit my $15k goal.


That's $15.9k in my deposit box. Typing this from my car about to sleep. Staying true to the path. On to the next

awesome man keep it up. you still going to maryland or gonna stick it out at foxwoods?

Goal achieved!!!!

Congrats ECG. Good stuff man.

OMG that is so sexy….

Get money son, wp OP

I can dig this and think it's nice and creative. It's hard for him to have a boat on the turn since he didn't raise the flop, so 33 and 44 are less likely. Then the river counterfeits those, anyhow, so that makes them even more irrelevant.

I think he can only call you with quads on the river because a) he folds worse in his range as b) it's very hard for him to c/r the turn without some Q or a flush. It's not like he's c/raising the turn with 99 and then boating up on the river.

Obviously you want to do this against the right kind of villain (someone who can fold). But either way, most people realize when there are 3 Q's on the river that a value shove should be a boat, that their flush is just a bluff catcher facing a shove, and that you're not likely to have any sort of bluff here after how you played flop and especially turn.

I like and appreciate the creativity because too many people would check behind here.

I'll be at foxwoods until thanksgiving, spending the holiday with family up by Boston, and then I'm leaving for an east coast road trip - destination florida!




Yessir!



Thanks buddy. Swing by the woods again and we can grab a beer.

Working on brick #2


Just getting started

congrats on hitting you $15k!

Congrats on hitting your goal! That box sure looks great.

If you come to florida to grind shoot me a pm

Way to go! Just keep doing it. Be proud bro.

that is suhweet....

Make sure you reward yourself with a kick ass dinner or outing with the fellas.

Way to kick ass and take names.

If I may offer a suggestion. Take a moment when you are in an introspective frame of mind to record a message to yourself on your smart phone.

Talk about how you feel about this poker thing, your goals, what you've accomplished, MISTAKES you have made so far, promises to yourself, etc etc.

Then, a couple of weeks or months from now, listen to it...

I know, it sounds scrap bookish but I find that recordings like that are really helpful in keeping me grounded and focused...

anyways, nice job and keep it up.

Just read all 15 pages straight. Really good read. Looking foward on reading to c what happens in the future. Glad you decided to take on this advancher. Do what makes u happy. Hopefully we can meet up st a session. Good luck on the felt.

Thanks man! It was one of those rare situations where everything lined up to make a nice play. who gets overflushed and wins?

Thanks brotha!

I will do that, I'll be in Florida in December it would be great to meet up

The grind never ends!

Great suggestion man. I do this in a couple different ways and 100% agree with you that it keeps you focused on goals and cognizant of your purposes through the inevitable tough times. For me - I take semi-daily video blogs, keep a word document journal, and this blog. Not to record "today I bought new sunglasses" or "I'm sad my gf left me!" bull****, but to establish goals and say this is what I'm doing to fulfill them. This is my state of mind, these are my values, and this is where I need to improve and how I'm going to do it.

Glad you like it! Not slowing down anytime soon.

Future Plans and Introspection

Typing this from home, taking today and tomorrow (off?) to get some financial things done, work on the car, work on my poker game, read and lift weights. This is my home office (if only Poker Tables were covering the screen...)


This is how to sleep comfortably in a VW Passat: I'm 6'1"

This rolls back into the trunk and the back seat is lifted up in about 10 seconds to have a normal back seat.

So as you all know, I hit my first milestone towards setting myself up to play professionally, building a starting roll of $15,000. This is still my life roll also, and while minimal I do have some expenses. Most daunting is the looming onset of college loan payments. I've played 225 hours of $2/$5 $500max NL, 88% at Foxwoods, MD Live and Parx. Averaging $50.14/hr. I'm saving everything I can and building the roll.

My game is improving. My understanding of opponents ranges and sometimes particular holdings is consistently refined. The areas I need to focus on improving the most:

1. Recognizing patterns of exploitability in players from bad-great, then identifying and taking lines to most profitably take advantage of them.

2. Understanding what opponents will do (better than they do). I was recently called down after floating the flop in position and double barreling the preflop raiser on a AA6TK board. I was turning 99 into a bluff knowing he had EXACTLY QQ or JJ. I was called down and shown JJ. Knowing the opponents holding is the beginning, you need to know how they will react to your action. In the given example, should I give up, or put in larger barrels? It's villain dependent, I need to know this.

3. Mental game in general. Don't get mad at anything in poker. Last session I was bothered when a fool launched a a $225 bet into a $0 sidepot ($500 main) on 693Q I snap folded TT and was shown 87o. (river was a T ). Coolers, downswings, suckouts, annoying opponents, losing sessions, all are part of the game.

Other Considerations - Table selection, Seat selection, Putting in more volume, Paying attention all the time, remembering specific villain lines in more detail, writing down hands for review.

Auxiliary poker pursuits:

1. Learn PLO! about time to do this. 1/2 PLO runs decently big at foxwoods, 2/5 runs on weekends.

2. Learn/Play a lot of heads up NLH. I think it was Dwan who said heads up was the fastest way to become excellent at NLH.

3. Learn Tournament Strategy. I'll start throwing in some tournaments when I get a bigger bankroll, something like $20k poker specific.

4. Start some type of online challenge (for practice and fun) in spare time.

Road Trip Plans

I'll be playing at Foxwoods and possibly Mohegan 11/20-11/27. Planning on putting in a ton of volume these 7 days. Spending the 28th and 29th at home for Thanksgiving.

After Thanksgiving the plan is to spend December driving around the east coast playing poker. I'll post more details when I figure it out, but this is a rough sketch of what I want to do. Send me your suggestions!

Spend a weekend Partying in NYC with my friend and fellow grinder Punan. Possibly play in an underground NYC game. Drive over the Philli to Play at Parx and Sands. Drive down and make $1million in 1 night at MD live. Take Profit and drive straight to Florida. Circle the coast, Playing at The Hard Rock Hollywood and Tampa specifically. Grind a lot and live on the beach / in my car. Possibly check out the keys and everglades. Drive back to MD live and collect more money. Make it home for Christmas.

Anyone in FL or on the way PM me and I'll make a point of meeting up!

Please keep this up. I think this has been great so far. One of the few threads I subscribe to. Whenever doubt creeps in, just look in the mirror and tell yourself, "you're doing this, and you're doing it very well."