Hand 1 - Seems pretty standard. I take the same line pretty much every time, though I might bet $25-$30. Only real drawing hands are to the wheel so when you do get called you're crushed a lot of the time, but like you said you can still barrel certain turn and river cards. I think it's also good to bet simply to deny a free card to all of the overcards that are surely out there, basically protecting your equity.

Hand 3 - Also seems pretty straightforward. I'm always raising PF for the reasons you already mentioned and this is a decent flop for a c-bet, though not great. C-betting A-high flops gets a little more dicey going 3-way than heads-up IMO, but I'm probably following up here most of the time as well.

Hand 4 - This is just a $hitty spot. You can either call and have no clue where you are in the hand OOP, when there are a ton of turn cards you'll hate, or fold what could be the best hand. Folding would be a smaller mistake so I guess I would lean towards that, just reading this HH. This is a spot where I think in-game, I'd talk myself into a call and then regret it later.

Hand 6 - I don't really like this one, just because I think it is kind of a marginally +EV spot (if at all), and this guy seems like a pretty big spewtard, so why not wait for a better spot to stack him? Also, I've found in live poker this bigger-than-average sizing often means exactly JJ/QQ/AK - Premium hands that people think are vulnerable/don't want to play multi-way. Obviously villain dependent but I've seen that bet-sizing tell quite often. So you're right that it's probably likely he doesn't have AA/KK, but this guy isn't going to fold a better hand to your 3bet ever I don't think. I know "wait for a better spot" is more of a tournament concept but I think it can apply to cash in certain situations too. This hand just seems unnecessarily high variance IMO.

Please include stack sizes in your hhs, thanks. Play well this year, should be great to move out of the parent's house.

HANDS FROM JAN 3 SESSION

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

Hand 1:

Reads: Villain is a calling station. He plays a very wide range pre-flop and continues with a lot of hands post-flop by calling down. He will fold at a certain point to pressure, though.

Preflop: JJ in MP. Villain ($300 eff) raises to $15 in EP. Hero 3-bets to $45. Villain calls.

Flop: ($90) QJ4 Villain donk-bets $40. Hero calls.

I considered a raise but felt my hand would look too much like AA/KK, which could potentially blow his Qx out. I think based on the fact that he made this donk-bet and the fact that he sized it so small, I can safely put him on a top pair hand. I think he wants to find out where he's at. Because I don't put him on a draw, I'm not afraid to just flat and let the turn card come.

Turn: ($170) 8 Villain checks. Hero bets $75. Villain calls.

I didn't like this turn card because just about every draw got there. I'm not worried about him being ahead, I'm actually worried about him now not being able to continue with his top pair if I put too much pressure on him. I decided to value bet small to not scare him off.

River: ($320) 2 Villain checks. Hero goes all-in for $140. Villain folds.

I don't think there is much else to do. We have under a half-pot-sized bet remaining. Maybe $100-115 could have gotten a call more often because it wouldn't put me "all-in"... thus maybe look weaker. But I don't think I'm sacrificing much. I still potentially can get called by his AQ/KQ.

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

Hand 2

Reads: Villain ($350 effective) is a late 20s/early 30s recreational player who I've never seen before. He is drinking a beer and here with his wife. He plays a ton of hands and I've seen him open QJo from UTG to $15. He has opened quite often this session. He is fairly fit-or-fold post-flop but tends to call too much and overvalue hands. He recently got his entire 100bb+ stack in with K7o on a K87 board in a pot where he bet, got called, cold-raised, he 3-bet, got 4-bet shoved on by the flat caller, and then 5-bet shoved on by the 3-better. LOL.

I had been tight the entire session. I had folded for the better part of an hour. I should have a tight/nitty/solid image.

Preflop: 76 OTB. Villain raises UTG to $15. Folds to Hero. Hero 3-bets to $50. Villain quickly calls.

I expect him to fold to me sometimes. But mostly I expect him to call with a super wide range that, for the most part, won't be able to stand much heat post-flop. I have the button, my hand has workable equity against his wide range, and I think he'll fold a lot post-flop when he misses.

Flop: ($100) J93 Villain checks. Hero bets $60. Villain tanks, sighs, doesn't love it, but calls.

This isn't the best board to c-bet but since his raise/calling range pre-flop is so wide, I think it misses him a decent portion of the time. I'm not planning to double barrel here too often just because I think he's a player who if he's calling on the flop, he's calling on the turn.

However, he tanked for so long and called almost unwillingly. I don't think he ever has QT or Jx now because he'd probably snap call or at least feel more comfortable about calling. I think he's more likely looking at 9x, 88-44, or some weird gut shot. I thought he'd fold some of that range but with the way he disgustingly called, I can't rule out a very light call, and I should now be willing to fire again on a good turn card.

Turn: ($220) J Villain quickly checks. Hero bets $125. Villain folds.

A second Jack was a good enough turn card for me. I can rep Jx now along with AA-QQ with a 2-barrel. He almost HAS to fold the bottom of the range I listed above and probably a lot of his weak 9x will have to muck as well. He might even fold that entire range on this turn card. I think a lot of stationy players will peel light on the flop just to "one-time" it but then fold on the turn to more pressure.

Spew?

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

Hand 3

Reads: Villain ($215 effective) is a huge calling station. He plays a lot of hands pre-flop. I've seen him call my UTG raise with 74o knowing full well that he was going to get a million callers behind as well. This happened in a 2/5 session a few nights ago.

Preflop: Straddle. AQ in EP Hero raises to $25.Villain calls from EP/MP.

Flop:($55) T66 Hero bets $30, Villain calls.

Turn: ($115) J Hero bets $65. Villain calls.

I really hate to barrel this guy but the turn card was good and I felt he could peel the flop with a lot of hands - including floats with his over cards. However, being out of position, maybe it was best to check/give up. I probably never get him off Tx. He might even call turn with all of his pocket pairs.

River:($245) A Villain has $100 left. Hero jams.

Now I can value bet, right? I beat JT and Tx that he might feel obligated to call with. I probably wouldn't value bet against most players, but this guy was just such a huge station. Also, there was only a 40%-pot bet left. Looking at this hand with some time passed by, this feels like I got too aggressive, though.

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

Hand 4

Reads: Villain ($500 effective) is middle-aged and black. He looks like he's stuck for the night and tilted. It's about 12 AM. I took more than a few seconds earlier from UTG to decide if I wanted to play my hand pre-flop and he got irritated with me.

Preflop: AJ in MP. 1 Limp. Hero raises to $20. Villain calls from BTN. Blinds call. Limper calls.

Flop: ($100) JT8 Checks to Hero. Hero bets $60. Villain quickly announces "$250." Hero?

Why would he make it so big with TT/88/Q9? Is the board really THAT wet where he can't get his "protection" by making it $200? Also, why did he raise so quickly? If he had a set or JT or Q9, especially those hands that AREN'T the nuts, wouldn't he stop to think before sticking in half of his stack? What do I do?

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

Hand 5

Reads: Female, black, somewhat of a regular. She is somewhat aggressive but a very weak player nonetheless. $270-280 effective.

Preflop: AK in EP. Hero raises to $25. MP calls. SB calls. Villain in BB calls.

Flop: ($100) 332 SB checks. Villain donk-bets $55.

Can I make it $170 here to represent AA/KK and get her off of her obvious 77-TT? I even think this is more skewed towards the bottom of that based on her donking into me. She could be seeing where she's at and protecting her hand from overcards falling on the turn. I never think she has A3 or 22 here.

+$1116 tonight! Really needed this big win after losing $1085 a couple nights ago.

January Stats

1/3: +$834, 19.5 hours
2/5: -$32, 1.83 hours

Bankroll: $8000

January Volume Goal

19.5/180 hours

Taking tomorrow and Sunday off. The games should be dead tomorrow due to the Eagles game.

Also, I'll be going on a Borgata trip this month with JoeyBlaze during the Winter Poker Classic. Hopefully I'll have some run good up until that point and will be able to grind the good $2/5 $500-max games there.

H1 I think is fine with your reasoning. I'd like to bet more Ott but I guess with these stacks your sizing is good.

H2 I think every street is spew.

H3 turn is spew, he's a calling station, what is he calling flop with that folds turn? Especially as you believe he can call river with a worse hand. Those two beliefs are contradictory.

H4 given reads I jam. If he was taking this line for value he'd probably think a bit longer. It's likely enough that he's ready to gamble with oesd/has tp and is going with it.

(Actually, maybe we should just flat and fold on q or 7 turns? Since we think his range of worse hands is 9x, KQ, QJ/KJ... I wonder if that would be slightly better. Although folding for 3:1 vs this villain seems kinda sick.)

H5 I fold... Your read is probably correct but I don't think trying to get v off it is going to be profitable.

1: I would raise the flop, too many bad turns where villain could outdraw us or just kill the action
2: Looks good
3: I don't really like barreling vs a station but we do have decent equity so it is not too bad I guess
4: I would GII given he is tilted, get paid off by Jx and str8 draws
5: I would just fold here, stacks are pretty short

Hands 1-3 standard.

Hand 4, if I really feel he's tilting, call and call it off.

Hand 5, fold.

Hand 1 can be either raise or flat on flop. I tend to raise small here but if I flatted I'm betting more ott.

Hand 2 is dumb

Hand 3 Why are you trying to make a station fold?

Hand 4 depends how tilted he is really

Hand 5 Just fold. You're trying too hard here.

Still too much FPS IMO

Grunching


Overall too much FPS, especially the 3betting an utg open with 76o and barreling a ****ty turn.

Stick to solid, fundamental play and you will continue to improve.

Thanks everyone for your comments. They're all very helpful to me as I try to get better every single day.

Hand History from Jan 5 Session

Reads: $2/$5. Villain is mid-late 20s Asian. He is probably a recreational player. He has shown aggression today. I saw him c-bet a board that he missed and make large turn and river bets that didn't go to showdown. He is playing a lot of hands.

Preflop: $500 effective with Villain. Hero is dealt AK UTG. Hero raises to $25. Villain calls. SB, loose/passive station, calls.

Flop: ($75) 654 Checks around.

Turn: ($75) 6 SB Checks. Hero bets $45. Villain calls. SB folds.

River: ($165) 3 Hero checks. Villain quickly bets $100.

Can I call here? When he checks back the flop he shouldn't have an over-pair of any kind. He also probably shouldn't have a monster since he shouldn't be slow-playing on this board. When he just flats my turn bet, he most likely has a flush draw or a straight draw. 6x should raise (but would probably bet flop), 5x and 4x wouldn't bet river, so what's left? Either he got there with whatever 7x is in his range or he's bluffing a missed flush draw. Any flaws here?

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

I didn't really play too well today. I made a bad call when I thought my loose/aggressive opponent was bluffing on the turn. I should have just listened to the Baluga Theorem and folded my TPTK.

I also failed to raise a turned set in a multi-way pot because I wanted the players behind me to come along - so I lost like $100ish in value there because he folded his missed draw on the river.

But, I did pick up some pots with aggression and was able to value bet well enough when I did pick up a few hands. This kept my afloat and kept tonight's session from being a disaster. I still didn't catch any hands or win any big pots, but I am just happy I got through it in one piece. I had a pretty bad headache throughout the night and didn't really feel well at all in general.

-$329 tonight.

Back at it tomorrow.

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

January Stats

1/3: +$778, 24 hours
2/5: -$305, 3.83 hours

Bankroll: $7900

What position is villain in? Explain why you are betting the turn.

Villain was otb

I bet the turn because SB checked twice to me and btn checked back the flop on a drawy board. I don't think he ever does that with a strong hand. So I can get value from draws and also fold out hands that have equity but aren't going to bluff the river. Both villains have such a wide calling range too preflop.

I'd rather cbet this flop than delayed cbet. After checking flop I'm prob checking turn, but I think your reasoning for betting is ok. As played ez river fold.

I just typed out a long response and hit refresh but on the AK hand I think we either need to bet the flop and rep an overpair. Double or even tripple barrel if motivated.

Or check and give up. The only thing a delayed c bet is doing is protecting our hand versed j10, KQ type hands. I dont really thing it reps strength and I think we are getting called on the turn pretty light.

Thanks, guys. I ended up calling because I thought he could have missed flushes often enough. He had T7cc.

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

****ty session last night.

Well, it was overall a good session, I guess. I think I played really well but people just hit on hands on me. I developed a very aggressive image at the first table I was at to the point where people were getting mad at me. Unfortunately, my value hands didn't hold up.

I decided to table change because there were a couple good players to my left who were starting to play back at me. The other table was really good and stayed good for the rest of the night. I didn't make anything at first, but eventually I hit a set of JJ on this good solid thinking player and won almost $200.

Then, I really just picked up small pots by 3-betting this one old guy constantly who would call with any 2 cards and then check/fold any flop that he missed. He started to berate me towards the end of the session calling me "a ****ing moron" and a "****ing donkey" and "this guy is just praying for hands to whatever weird ass religion he follows" LOL. Even though I was shamelessly 3-bet/c-betting his every open, he would just check/fold each time and then say that I was scared of him LOL WTF?

There was also this loose/semi-aggro young kid who I was 3-betting pretty relentlessly. He would call really light and then play fit-or-fold post-flop. Towards the end, he was calling me REALLY light. Here's a couple hands where I have a super aggressive image against him.

HAND 1

Reads: Villain 1 is the loose young kid. Villain 2 is the old guy who plays any 2 cards pre-flop but has been check/folding any flop he misses to me.

Preflop: Hero is dealt QJ in the SB.

2 Limps. Villain 1 opens to $15. Villain 2 calls. Hero raises to $65. Limpers fold. Villain 1 tank-calls. Villain 2 snap-calls.

Flop: ($200) A84 Hero bets $105. Villain A calls. Villain B jams. Hero folds. Villain A calls with J9

Villain B had 88 but the Q hit on the turn. After this, Villain B became extremely tilted and I got into a ****-talking war with him. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to pick up any hands against him.

HAND 2

1/3 Hand last night:

Reads: Villain is the young loose kid. He just called my 3-bet with J9s 30-45 minutes ago and by the way he calls, I know he thinks I'm 3-betting light and that he's never folding to any of my 3-bets with any of his opening range.

Preflop: AA in LP. Villain opens for $12 in EP/MP. Hero raises to $35. Villain quickly calls.

Flop: ($70) 863 Villain quickly leads for $40. Hero raises to $125. Villain jams for $565 total.

Hero?

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

-$625 last night.

Got to press on today even though I'm really sad about the loss yesterday. I was down like $400 very early in the session and spent hours and hours building it back, winning small and medium pots with aggression and position. Eventually, I was about even and sitting on $600. But I lost the hand posted above and it was absolutely soul crushing to me.

Bankroll: $7200

Why did you 3! to 65 in hand 1?

With your image, you are not likely to pick this up pre. Now you are OOP in a bloated pot with a hand that can very easily flop equity and an image that will get called lite on a single barrel. I prefer to flat the 15 here.

Hey Duke, I also played a session of 1/3 on Monday night at Harrah's Chester. I think we played together at the first table. Were you the aggro indian kid? Or the white guy wearing big headphones? Both of you switched from the first table to the second.

I was the Indian guy in the teal hat

I'm guessing you were the guy who 3bet me with TT?

Sent from my SCH-I545 using 2+2 Forums

Flatting the 15 is fine but IMO 3betting is better.

The villain on the btn was going to call my 3bet with any 2 cards. The young loose kid who opened the pot was also going to call me very lightly and play fit or fold on the flop. I don't expect either of these guys to play back at me post flop and I also expect them to call me very lightly preflop. This is a value squeeze, not a bluff.

Edit: not to be results oriented but they called me with J9hh and 88. They're both going to fold on most flops when I cbet.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using 2+2 Forums

that's actually an interesting situation pre, seems you developed an extremely wide depolarized 3b range and it was working out well for you most of the session.

Couple broad post flop questions when your called in both spots.

Are you comfortable you can get it in profitably when you flop tp on most flops? Not sure on stack sizes, but assume SPR is extremely small otf, so if you bet flop with tp all the money is likely going in ott.

Are you ever barreling multiple streets on real good textures and run outs? Again, SPR is really small, so are you just one an doneing some flops like 932 even if you get a nut turn card like an A? pretty sure you would have to jam, but who knows if these guys are folding anything after calling the flop in such a bloated pot. Obviously if both call you are just done.

yeah, I was. I wish I had sized my turn barrel better.

don't know why you switched tables -- you had a great seat vs the bad regs on your right. I'm glad you did, because your seat kept getting filled with droolers & you were obviously the tough(est) spot at the table.

was good to have played with you for the limited time we did. I'm sure you'll do fine with your advancement through the low levels of nlhe.

I'm just getting back into the grind so I'm sure I'll see you around. take care and grind on. will read through this whole thread after work tonight.

The other table was much better. You and the other kid at the first table were somewhat playing back at me and had position on me.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using 2+2 Forums

"Whenever I'm about to do something, I think, 'Would an idiot do that?' And if they would, I do not do that thing." - Dwight Schrute

I'm starting off this post pure_aggression style with an awesome quote that I thought of while discussing our spewtard tendencies with JoeyBlaze.

The last week has been pretty brutal for me. I'm playing literally the worst poker I've played since I started playing live in October. I'm making a lot of creative and aggressive moves that are working to my benefit and making me more money than I've made on non-showdown winnings in the past. But I'm also making a ton of spewy plays that make absolutely no sense. Basically, I'm constantly doing things that an idiot would do.

I actually started this session off by squeezing out of the blinds with A8o, c-betting a T-high board, checking a blank turn, and then bluffing an offsuit Q river. I'm fine with the 3-bet and c-bet. But after that, its a clear check/give up. But lately, I'm just unwilling to lose pots. I want to win every hand.

After that hand, which happened maybe 20-30 minutes into my session, I decided to rack up. I went up to the cashier and told him, "I'm going to do something that may annoy you."

Luckily, he responds, "Nothing you can do will annoy me. "

So I tell him, "I'm going to cash out these chips right now. Then when you hand me the cash, I'm going to hand it back to you and you can give me chips."

I got a nice mental restart to my session. I felt like I had a mulligan and played pretty well after that point. Unfortunately, the cards didn't run out in my favor tonight and I ended up losing about $600.

I actually think I only lost $500 but I literally lost (misplaced) 4 green chips. I'm not sure if the guy next to me at a table accidentally took them because he was raking in a monster pot just as I was taking my seat from a table change... but that's a possibility.

I'm not sure what happened, but running it through my head, I am pretty sure I can only account for about $500 in losses at poker. Oh, well. Tomorrow is another day and "you get another hand soon after you fold".

I will not spew tomorrow.
I will not spew tomorrow.
I will not spew tomorrow.

I need to repeat that over and over in my head because I'm burning so much money by spewing. My stack of $100 bills is actually shrinking a noticeable amount and that is making me a sad panda .

Despite my run bad and play bad, I still feel like I'm the biggest shark in my 1/3 player pool. Even the decent regulars that I've played against (aka young kids with hoodies and headphones) have not scared me one bit like they did when I first sat at 1/3 in November. I've been able to push them around with hardcore 3-betting that they have no clue how to respond to, value bet them relentlessly, and refrain from paying them off. I always know the cards that they're holding and I actually "lock in" much better when I'm heads up against them than I can when I'm up against a fish.

When I'm up against a fish, I don't really lock into shark-mode. I go into spew-mode and try to win every pot. This is obviously super ******ed and I need to be in shark-mode in every single hand.

In reality, it should be easy. Play good hands, value bet the calling stations to death, 3-bet a lot from in position against loose/passives, and just hand read well since everyone plays face up. Don't be a ****** and skip the hand reading part and just try to win the pot regardless of all other factors.

Tomorrow is a new day. I'm going to go into shark-mode and own people. I'm going to make good decisions, play off people's ranges rather than my emotions, and win those Galfond Bucks. The results don't matter. Its all about the decisions.

January Stats

I'm no longer going to be keeping track of my stats. I deleted my spreadsheet on Excel that I was keeping that tracked all of my sessions and tracked my winrate.

I don't give a **** about my stats and they don't give a **** about me.

I'm going to concentrate only on making the best decision in each hand. If I do that, I don't care about my stats. All I will track is my bankroll from here on out since that is actually very important.

Bankroll: $6500

Only $5600 of that is liquid. I'm owed like $850. Which also makes me sad that I've let my finances get so out of order. I'm going to work on fixing that in the next few months and managing my money better.

Jesus, why would you EVER be scared of another player at a poker table? I have literally never had that experience.