The Climb is all there is



'Chaos is a ladder. Many who try to climb it fail, and never get to try again. The fall breaks them. And some are given a chance to climb, but refuse. They cling to the realm, or love, or the gods... illusions. Only the ladder is real. The climb is all there is.' ~ Lord Baelish, GOT



If I could sum poker up in a nutshell, this is it. There is no end to the game; the path to crushing and earning more dollars has no end. It's a climb, and many do/will fail; whether it was from shot-taking at the bigger game gone wrong or tilting to the felt. For some of those it's a grind; they have the bankroll, they see the angles, but they refuse to move up (some are given the chance to climb, but they refuse).



I myself have failed many times. Fortunately the multiple falls never broke me, and I've been able to get back up.



background: 29, 6th year BSA2, Drexel undergrad 2008

I started playing poker in 2004; I spent the majority of my college years playing in home games and underground cardrooms around philadelphia (PPC, Cavendish, 8th & Washington, 2nd & Arch st). I also played regularly on PokerStars SSNLHE (100m and 200m), and for a stretch played the 22.00/180 sng's, AKAs I played on: TheCru$Her(*coach) and Jo3olous. When PokerStars and Full Tilt were no longer servicing the US, I stopped play online. And due to family issues with finances, I was pretty much out the game. But I'm back!



Why am I back? I had stopped playing poker somewhere around the end of 2012. Around Spring of 2013, I got into a relationship and my ex wasn't really a fan of it. I also wiped ouy my bankroll doing things with her, had to lend money to my parents, and ended up living from check2check. It sucked. The financial pressure started to get to me, I desperately wanted to double my money and blew my paycheck 3x on blackjack (since I couldn't sit the long obvious hours playing poker). And the one day I finally lost my nerve and gambled money I didn't have. I ended up having to borrow 1500 from my ex to pay off the marker, and money from friends to pay for living expenses. There really wasn't an excuse for me to do what I did. I have a good job, I make reasonable income. My ex wasn't satisfied with my current lifestyle which I thought was OK (I was OK with living below my means). Eventually we broke up, I got my finances on track, got a roll, and now here I am.



What do I play for? "Life is this >, I like this ^" ~ Harvey Specter.

I don't want to live under my means forever. I have a lot of student loan debt to pay (about 85K remaining). I have some credit debt (like 7K now). My objectives are to wipe my debt clean. It'd be nice if my work income could be utilized correctly for investing and better life choices. Unfortunately being in debt takes that all away.



Once I'm out of the red I plan on growing a roll for 5/10, and hopefully crush! But for now here I am, coming into my 4th month of the 1/2-2/5 grind. Please enjoy, all feedback welcome as I blog my +EV journey.

current stats: 1/2,1/3,2/5,5/5 mix (mostly 1/2)
421hrs 46 min, 28.66/hr

1st

Good luck friend

Sup.

What's a BSA2?

business systems analyst 2. i work on projects to support mainframe and distributed applications

via dorathedestroya's GalaxyS4

thanks duke. your advice back in july helped surge my sick august run. i prob wouldve been a 10.00/hr junkie still without it. can't wait for your return to philly

via dorathedestroya's GalaxyS4

GL from a fellow Dragon (2006). I haven't played for real since then but maybe we played a bit back in the day. I've been lurking on PGC for a couple weeks now and am loving it.

thanks! 2006? did you ever play in UCross?

via dorathedestroya's GalaxyS4

No, I remember hearing there was a game run by some Asian (i think?) guys but never played. I played Cavendish a couple of times but it was mostly weekend trips to Borgata.

there were 2. one was coined "oceans 1120" back in 04-05 by a dark filipino guy sean. the other was 2 years later by a light filipino guy "me" lol in 2006. i forget what floor i lived on. we both hosted 1/2 games.

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Subbed man. Good luck. Glad to have you in the PGC community.

thanks! it's a pleasure to have subbers.

via dorathedestroya's GalaxyS4

ahh yeah, Sean. My buddy Matt played there often. Anyway, good luck.

Matt G? aka SkillGameObv?

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yes, Matt G. I didn't realize he was on here. I haven't looked him up in a while.

subbed GL - I believe we have played a few times together.

i don't know if he's on here anymore. last i heard he's down south somewhere being a pro MTGer (magic the gathering)

awesome, where at? i try to be as friendly as possible at the tables but sometimes i end up getting softplayed so ill intentionally be a dick to induce FPS against me lol. see you around

Speaking of FPS, here's a parx hand of me having it (fancy play syndrome). it's the 2nd week of September and at the time i was -2k to start the month.

Parx 1/2NL
hero is stuck about 540 4 hours in, currently sitting on 260ish.
mp 64ss 2 limp, i call, folds to sb r15, folds to me i 3! 45 he calls.
*villian has been raising out of his blinds a lot, and I may be on tilt but it's from a previous table 4 orbits ago so i don't think anyone is aware. villian is a young grinder type looking kid. he covers me.

flop (95) 44Jdd he checks. i binked the nuts practically lol, and my 3! says i missed this board unless i have 44 JJ AJ. so i cbet 55. villian cr140 i ship 215, he snaps off and goes on about how tf did i 3! with 64ss
Turn 9x, River Tx. pot size = 529.00

Parx - I am fairly certain you were on my left a couple weeks ago @ a $1/2 - I will say what's up next time I see you around.

on the road to parx. it's about a 25 minute drive for me. im looking to get back in focus as i gear up for some 2/5 this weekend. i had a pretty ****ty session this past monday, and i haven't been mentally there. even donked a good 800 on bovada lol. hopefully my mind is right for tonight.

some tracks (mostly edm, all actually) that get me going:
steve aoki - freak
r3hab - unstoppable
fedde le grand - sparks

here we go! first bb AK 4 limp r17 4 call lol, flop 774hh ch mp b40 folds to me. nice start lol

sigh im a donk. 2.5 hours in ive played maybe 7 hands to the flop, folded to 3 3! pre.

6th hand vpip
sb KK (420) 2 limp hj r7 (seat7 lol), btn call, i r40 mp calls, hj btn fold. HU.
*mp covers me and is an OMC that flatted my triple barrel broadway w a baby flush in a previous hand, so hes pretty mubsy
flop (102) 566x b85 he jams, yuck.. i call 295 more (i shouldnt have but whatever.
pot 862.00
turn J river 6
...
mhig?

btn (800+) KT, 2 limp mp r12 co call, i 3! 45 folds to hj call, co fold. HU
*co is our seat7 fish! we love this guy bc he raises 12 from everywhere hella wide.
flop (109) QJ5dd ch i b85 he cr200... i call. he has 700+ behind
turn (509) 6ddd ch ch
river (509) Kx b200 i tank.... how the f does he minr flop w a fd?! and how does he minr flop with a monster on a wet ass board.
call

MHIG.

3 hours runtime, buy-in for 350.

game over:

straddle live,
utg+1 A7dd (1150) i r20, mp minr40 hj call rest fold i call.
*utg+1 is tilted asian kid w 700+ trying to make it back.
*mp is big stack w 1300+
flop (127) JT7dd ch, b135, mp calls, i call
turn (532) 6ddd i ship 990 all-in, utg+1 calls 540+, mp folds.
pot (1650+++)
river 8x, asian kid mucks as the last card drops and i turn over nuts

How the **** is it possible that multiple 350+bb stacks are at a single 1/2 table?

sometimes, and a lot of times IMHO the parx 1/2 will play like a short-buy 2/5. almost always a straddle, and there's tons of action. i had 3 guys at my table reload 3x each in less than an hour. standard raid pre is 15, and as you know @ 1/2 most dont fold to 3!s preflop lol