Welcome to my thread! (tl;dr at the end)

About me:

A few years ago I graduated college with no real career direction beyond “pay bills without having a boss.” I earned a liberal arts degree, so that meant I was going to have to acquire some sort of money-making skill. In high school I had played poker more or less daily from sophomore year on, but I hadn't played a single hand through college.

I scraped together a couple hundred dollars directing parking lot traffic and doing one-off odd jobs. This was my bankroll. I read Let There Be Range. This was my LLSNL training. A friend told me of a semi-private $.50/1 game that ran daily in a run-down strip mall. This was where I busted my first roll.

I played over 1000 hours in that first six months before busting. I could see that I was losing to weak competition, but I couldn't quite figure out how to beat them. There weren't any good regulars to emulate, but once in a while someone from a bigger room would drop in and destroy the table. The most impressive was a precocious teenage law student. He was the most aggressive player I had ever seen, and I thought he must have been a millionaire to be able to get into games for $1000 without sweating it (so naive). He valued his teenage genius mystique and never talked strategy with anyone, so I couldn't really break open his thought processes.

Since I was busto and needed a bankroll, I picked up a part-time job as a poker dealer and became the stereotypical dealer/player. I spent 6.5 days/week in poker rooms for the next ten months. One lucky night while dealing, the teenage destroyer and his young pro friend rolled into my room extremely drunk. During my breaks I barraged them with strategy questions, and they laid out what I'd later learn was a basic SDC style http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/17...2-5-nl-369739/. This was the first time I had ever heard of a non-ABC strategy, and I was excited to try it out myself. Naturally, I was a major loser due to hand reading deficiencies, but certain aspects of their core strategy remain in my game to this day. Shortly after this aha moment a new room opened and I lose my dealing job. I wasn't ready to pay the bills with winnings yet, but I wasn't about to find another job. My first night as a pro I bought in for $1000 and played literally three hands in almost five hours. I lost $53. This was about two years ago, and I've been playing for a living since.

Like everyone who makes it in poker, I started out hot. Unlike nearly every new pro, I actually started with an adequate bankroll; with this cushion I survived my first five-figure downswing. I loved everything about playing for a living. I was motivated, making a lot of money, and most importantly, I was in control of my life. I wasn't exactly a talented player, but I understood basic hand chart poker, which was good enough to beat the $2/5 games in my young, medium-sized market. After about six months my local player pool began to contract and the games became considerably tougher. With the local lineups frequently devoid of major dumpers, I began to travel the country in search of better action. I discovered Charles Town and Jacksonville $2/5 NL and began my new life as a traveling low-stakes professional.

Today I'm just another kid living the dream, but I'm not as enthusiastic as I once was. I never really cared about money, but now I'm dangerously apathetic. I am hoping this thread will help reignite the passion I once had for volume and study—both areas in which I've been admittedly weak lately. I didn't quit a six-figure job, and I don't really take shots at nosebleed games, but I do play poker almost daily. In this space I intend to share hand histories, shedding light on the thought processes that drive my live low-stakes strategy. I can't show you how to crush every game every day, but hopefully I can help someone bridge the gap between breakeven and a real win rate. 2p2 is where I learned to play, and after two selfish years of lurking it's time I gave back.

tl;dr: Traveling pro writes diary-style PG&C with stories, strategy, pictures, and hopefully some major run-good.

Hey friend, nice first post! Subbed.

I am on a similar journey myself, although I am switching most of my action to online... That said, I was just in Tampa Bay at the Hard Rock and was surprised by the softness of the 2-5 game there. Good luck!

Sub'd for the Biz

I played a short session yesterday before my fantasy football draft (priorities ftw) at Maryland Live. Apparently my bank doesn't exist in this part of the country, so I'll be grinding 1/2 and 1/3 NL for a bit.

1/2 (300 cap): 156 in 3:31

This was my first session in over a week so I was a bit rusty. This was also my first session on the East Coast since March, so I struggled with reads in a few spots. On the whole, I'd say this was mostly a B-game session with tiny bits of A-game sprinkled in.

I showed up late in the afternoon, and my first table was decent. I learned from my neighbor that a crazy Asian guy had blown his brains out, so apparently almost everyone at the table was cheesing. Lineup:

1. retired social fishy (300)
2. social min-buyer (100)
3. 40ish hobbyist (200)
4. office attire liquor drinker (250)
5. me (300)
6. novice Asian lady who shows her cards at the end of every hand (200)
7. talkative young hobbyist (150)
8. sunglasses/hoodie 30-something (400)
9. sunglasses/hat 40-something (200)
10. social min-buy 50ish businessman (100)

I cold 3bet twice in my first orbit, which set off a conversation on the "serious" side of the table, which I didn't exactly appreciate, but whatever. Soon after I arrived, seat 3 left and I took his seat to put some distance between myself and seat 6, who was coughing into her hand a few times per minute. Naturally, the crazy action Asian returns and takes my old seat--two to my left. Naturally, the only hand I play with the crasian is OOP and I misplay it and end up chopping a $500 pot with MPGK that I think i frequently get him away from IP, but whatever.

After the big hand with the crasian I hear a drunken explosion of laughter nearby and wander over to check it out. Within 5 seconds I'm wishing I hadn't worn sweatpants as I struggle to hide my enormous money boner. Everyone is 40+, everyone has $200+, and almost everyone is drinking. LFG!! I get a priority table change from a floor I know from home (neither of us is from the East Coast--just good luck to run into him here) and settle in for the next 2.5 hrs of craziness.

Lineup upon my arrival:

1. fit, conservative, smart looking 40ish (425)
2. former college athlete hobbyist (300)
3. empty
4. empty
5. actiony drinking 50-something who raises to 25+ pre (275)
6. golf course attire 30ish (425)
7. novice businessman, lifts his cards off the table to look at them (500)
8. me (325)
9. face tattoos/Stephen Jackson dreadlocks (175)
10. polo shirt hobbyist (250)

The standard open at this table is $15. The guy who used to have my seat is the China Paul of Maryland Live, so this crowd is actually happy to see a grindery looking kid take his seat (I don't think I can link to outside sites, but you can Google "china paul thinking poker" if you haven't heard of this legendary provocateur).

The first hand I played was against the novice to my right (I had been imploring him to protect his cards, which he managed to do this hand FUUUUUUU):

UTG: novice businessman (500)
UTG+1: me (300) AJ

Businessman opens to 10, I raise to 30, folds to businessman, who has already preloaded 20 for his call.

(60) A T 9

Businessman gets a giant flop boner and confidently bets 50. I show him my hand, ask "any good?" and fold. He shows me...



Second hand:

At this point, I've 3bet-show-folded AJ on an Ace-high flop, raised a few hands in late position and dumped them to 3bets, and generally looked FoS to any observant opponent. This hand takes place against the only observant opponent the table. I know he has been paying attention because he moved from the 1 seat to the 6 after he noticed the business whale was lifting his cards two feet off the table before every hand (the seat directly to my left was also open and offered position on the whale, but he opted to be OOP, indicating he noticed the regular card revealing).

MP: me (300) AT
UTG: observant hobbyist seat changer (350)
UTG+1: novice businessman (525)

Hobbyist and Novice limp, I raise to 15, only Hobbyist calls

(30) J T 5

Hobbyist checks, I bet 20, Hobbyist calls fairly quickly

(70) J T 5 - 2

Hobbyist checks, I bet 50, Hobbyist tank-calls

(170) J T 5 - 2 - 5

Hobbyist tanks, fondles a stack of red chips, inhales, sits up slightly, lifts a barrel of red off the table and gingerly sets down while verbally declaring "one twenty-five." I...



After this hand I played a few standardish spots then racked and left with a modest profit/inflated hourly. It wasn't how I wanted to start my PCG, but I'll settle for it

I'm curious what you guys think of these hands and more generally how this post format is working.

I have a couple hundred hours in Tampa, but they all predate the new Hard Rock room manager. The action was always terrific, but I just couldn't stand certain aspects of the game there (10-handed, can't voluntarily transfer an above-cap stack, brushes dgaf about table changes and routinely just forget, deodorizer for the cigarette smoke gives me a sore throat, etc.). Is it any better now with the new guy in charge? They seem to have four tournament series/year, so there's always a reason to make it back down.

Looking forward to following!

I am a Canadian and outside of Vegas, this was my first time playing in Tampa (or American soil). I must say I was thoroughly unimpressed when, having been placed at the 1-2 for 30 min +, they called me over the 2-5 and by the time I rack the chips and do the transfer (3 min), they had already given my seat away! What!?!

That said, the action was so soft, way more than I am used to in the Vancouver games or even Asian ones (Cambodia + Philippines) that I would happily suck up any inconveniences just for that juicy-passif action. I take it Jacksonville is probably similar in terms of softness? GL

Horseshoe Baltimore
1/3 (300 cap) NL: 457 in 9:57

This was the first full day of action at the new Horseshoe in downtown Baltimore. I skipped the grand opening because I didn't want to stand in line. Turns out two people got stabbed in line that night, so there's some hidden run-good, I guess .

On the whole, I'd say this was a nightmare session. I built my stack to 900+ three times--each time getting clipped back to a starting stack. When the game started I was straddling my BTN and CO to 10 and basically playing a standard (read: hyper aggressive) 20-30bb strategy, which probably seemed pretty crazy to the 1/3 regs at my table. I used this image to get my money in as a 90%, 80%, and 85% favorite, losing every time. My profit came almost entirely from non-showdown winnings and a couple bluff catches I'll get into later.

The table composition was pretty favorable, with at least three Maryland Live poker dealers in the lineup for almost the entire duration.

The first big hand I played was deemed "terrible," "awful," and "an example of how these kids all go broke eventually," by different "serious" players at my table. I had been straddling for a couple orbits but was just dumping T3o-type holdings OTF. Villain is a Maryland Live dealer who openly shared that he has also played for a living. He's a good player, and I can definitely see him beating these 300 cap games without much trouble. He has the same problems I see all the time in low stakes games: uncomfortable playing in bloated pots with a wide range vs. another wide range, tilts a little too much, doesn't plan ahead in his hands, and doesn't adjust properly for a straddle that essentially cuts his stack down by 67% once he opens to 3x.

CO: Me (275) QJ
UTG1: Poker dealer (270)

I return from the restroom and straddle back in for 10 from the CO, folds to UTG1, who raises to 30. He plays an extremely tight range in these straddled pots, so I'm not exactly expecting to hit a flop then value bet to get called by worse. I call.

(60) A 8 4

UTG1 doesn't take too much time before betting 40. I snap-jam. He tank-calls and rolls over AJ. I say "Oh good, my flush draw is live."



In my experience, dealer/grinders (that is, professional card dealers who self-identify as professional poker players) tend to open a standard super-tight range pre in this spot, something like AJ-AK, ATs maybe, KQs maybe, JJ-AA, probably limp all PPs up to TT or JJ. Since the A is on the flop and I have the Q it's impossible for him to have flopped a flush and he only has three set combos. I expected him to bet all his flopped Aces, bet-folding the ones without a and bet-calling the ones with a , bet-calling KKx and JJx (against which I have plenty of equity). I didn't do the math at the table but I estimated he would fold about 2/3 of the hands he c-bets on this flop, and possibly even more if he cbets all his no- PPs. Plus, I have the Q and a super easy-to-hit backdoor straight draw .

After a few hours the table had matured to the point that there were always at least four stacks over 900. Once I had 600+ I changed my straddle to 6 and played a standard 100bb strategy with my old 30bb crazy image. I used this image to get my money in way ahead a few times--losing each pot in brutal fashion. Each time the entire table would needle me, trying to crack me up and get the trademark "grinder kid goes off" chip dump from me, but I stuck my my game and didn't tilt. This is a somewhat new development in my game that I'm proud of. I think a major contributing factor to my sustained coolness was my indifference to 1/3 stakes.

This hand took place roughly eight hours into my session. A different Maryland Live dealer had been attempting to run over the table but kept hitting a road block called Jesus Seat. I'd already stacked him when he airball triple barreled 300 on an A65ss-T-Q board where I ran him down with 88 and he just mucked instead of showing. He played a standard poker dealer's starting hand chart (opens almost all the hands he plays but cold calls with too wide a range compared to his opening range, plays all double gappers+, all suited Queens+, all PPs, all two-Broadway hands, and all Aces) and I noticed he would bet any part of the flop then bet dramatically larger OTT if he picked up equity. He's not a bad player--he seems to understand that having a wide range preflop demands a player win more hands without showdown. His hand reading just isn't there. When this hand happened he was in for about three buys and four whiskey cokes.

UTG: Me (750) AQ
BTN, straddled to 6: MDL dealer (350)
SB: standard late-night degen (100)
BB: 50ish businessman whale (1100)

SB and BB call 6, I raise to 25, BTN and BB call

(75) Q J 8

BB checks, I bet 40, BTN calls, BB folds. This isn't the best flop in the world, seeing as how I'm check-folding to almost half the deck OTT and this particular villain probably won't raise a hand that beats mine until the turn and will likely check back a lot of hands that he'd call with that are behind TPTK but still have a good chance of catching up OTR. I though a 40 bet--slightly smaller than standard--would look like either KQ, KJ, AK, or AQ to him.

(155) Q J 8 - A

I bet 60, BTN calls. I'm slightly worried about KT here, but I feel like unless he has KT he's going to at least click back a bet this small OTT. When he calls I honestly have no idea what he has, but I haz two pairz and it's after midnight and everyone's stuck...

(235) Q J 8 - A - K

The nut worst river in the deck, right? Maybe not. Remember, this is a stuck poker dealer I'm playing against here. He very likely raises OTF or OTT with any non-made two-way draw (diamonds with a bare Ten, QT, maybe even JT or T8) and he almost certainly raises OTT with Ax. I don't normally believe in checking to induce a bluff at LLSNL bc IMO most opponents will check back too many inferior hands that are in their calling range, but if I don't think he has diamonds or a ten or a set, then my hand is the nuts (he has to 3bet AK pre OTB, right?) and he either has an inferior value holding or literally nothing. I check, he counts out 30, then 40 (I'm really hoping he doesn't bet 140), then he thinks better of it and just pushes out a barrel of red. I snap and he mucks. I think villain lost this hand OTT when he didn't raise (I still would've called, but I def would've folded on this river).

So that was my first 1/3 session, my first time playing in Baltimore, and probably the second time I've played that well while taking such horrendous beats. I'm actually proud of my performance, and I'm looking forward to running better today . I took some pictures of the new casino, but they all suck. I'll cook up a decent Horseshoe Baltimore trip report later and hopefully build a chip pron-worthy stack before I head home.

Horseshoe Baltimore
1/3 NL (300 cap): 259 in 8:01

This wasn't a particularly fun session. The tables were fairly bad, the 2/5 games looked reggy, and I got snap-racked by a guy I doubled up for 250, then I doubled up the guy who took his seat and he snap-racked too . Within the first orbit I was stuck 400. I spent the next six hours grinding my stack up, mostly without showing anything down, but the big pots eluded me. Seven hours and forty-five minutes into the session I decided I would leave at the eight hour mark. I finally made a hand and faded a gutshot/FD for about 350, then I picked up four consecutive strong hands following that stackening, taking down each pot OTT. I certainly would've preferred to have those strong hands spread out over the horrible hours of card deadness and flop and turn bet-folds that almost always turned into folds, but it all looks the same in my records. I snapped a decent pron-worthy shot of my stack, but I'm kind of in a hurry so I'll throw that up later.

Gl op, will b following!

Horseshoe Baltimore
1/3 (300 cap) NL: 258 in 2:32
1/3 (300 cap) NL: -736 in 5:42

I had to change hotels yesterday, so I played a quick afternoon session, then returned for some crazy "let's check out that new casino this Friday" action. My first table was terrible. Every fishy looking middle aged man got out his sunglasses and iPad when he sat down, the spiller fake grinder kid was a jerk to the table's only rec fish (fish immediately table changed). I only stuck around because an entire side of the table was flashing a card each time they folded.

This session included exactly one interesting hand: a new player to the table bought in for $150, raised his first hand to 6, then c-bet 3 OTF, bet 6 OTT, then 6 OTR. His hand: AQ, the board: Q64-A-5. The next hand, he raised to 6 pre, cbet 3 OTF and took it down. His third hand:

MP1: Me (400) KT
UTG: Fixed-limit player (150)

UTG raises to 6, two calls, I raise to 25, folds to UTG who calls, heads-up to flop.

(60) K Q 8

UTG bets 3, I raise to 30, UTG looks confused then calls.

(120) K Q 8 - 4

UTG checks, I bet 55, UTG tank-calls

(230) K Q 8 - 4 - 9

UTG tells me not to bet bc he is going to call. I tank-jam (everyone Hollywoods sometimes), he snap calls...




My second session was at an absolute dream table. Two lawyers sat down with $1000 each and fought the dealer over the 300 cap for almost a minute before relenting. They each straddled their BTN, CO, and HIJ to $10. They had a theory about ordering drinks at a very crowded bar: get six at a time for priority service (this, btw, is surprisingly effective if your liver processes alcohol at a lawyer-like rate). They simply DO. NOT. CARE. about the money at all and they're kidding around the entire time--devising and then rating every woman in the room on a blowjob effectiveness scale, offering to pay for us to sex hookers on the condition they get to film it--normal lawyer stuff. The table is loose and a $30 open will yield a minimum of 2 calls every time.

I am actually pretty experienced in games like this, and these stakes are not big for me either, so while the game had 10 people in chairs, it was really just the whales, one decent middle-aged Asian 2/5 player who passed on his seat, and me opening to 30-50 over the straddles then playing super wide ranges with low SPRs. Every once in a while one of the regular 1/3 players would pick up AA and get a cool double without showdown, but that was nbd to any of us.

I immediately established myself as loose and hyper-aggressive, so I was getting very light calls. Since I was playing a showdown-oriented starting hand set, this was an ideal spot. Unfortunately, I got running over-boated by one whale when I flopped nines-full on a 977 flop and got floated by AK (running Kings), then I got KK ai ott for more than a full buy on a Q87ss-A board and got called by 55. 5 OTR . This same guy called a $200 limp-jam with T2 and didn't even flinch when he lost to AA. These stories usually come about when some toolbag nit checks to trap OTF or underbets every street then gets all "woe is me" about his terrible luck when he put in 14 with the nuts and 400 with the second nuts. I bet pot every street and was perceived to be bluffing each time. Yuck.

Naturally, this marked the beginning of my four-hour card deadness streak. I stayed positive and played my best for the rest of the night, but it's always tough to start a session stuck two buys, have a FoS image, then get nothing worth showing down. I never really caught back up. I finally called it a night when the whales both left with about $2k total.

As I write this, the Ohio State-Navy game has ended, so hopefully there'll be some drunk personnel in the room. If not, I can always count on the standard Saturday afternoon crowd of undertalented middle-aged "serious players" to chastise me about how bad I play while I stack their chips. These are the guys who will limp-call AQ to trap me (the overly-aggressive idiot kid) then do that thing where they miss the flop, check, then when I cbet they'll shuffle their cards a bit, lift them off the table and show the guy next to them, then Hollywood a bit before mucking and telling me I'm lucky to have escaped yet another brilliant Saturday hobbyist's expert trap.

This thread has been painfully devoid of chip pics, so here's one from Thursday:

Horseshoe Baltimore
1/3 (300 cap) NL: -915 in 7:45

This was exactly the kind of game I stayed on the East Coast to play. A single whale drove all the action. He was in for over 2000, straddled 8/10 hands to 10-15, and would call jams with any flopped pair. I doubled him up on a five-outer all-in OTF, then the next hand on a dead flip, then the next orbit he stacked me QQ vs AK all-in pre (eh, whatever), then he stacked me again jamming middle pair over my top pair OTT (). It sucked at the time, but I'll take the action when I can get it.

I sat between two middle-aged gambling addicts with superiority (inferiority?) complexes who wouldn't shut up about what a loser this guy was, and it was just terrible. If you reg live low stakes you probably know the type--middle class working stiff, shows up on weekends to play "solid, winning" poker while feeling good about himself for open folding KJo vs a guy who'll raise-call a jam pre with 54s. These life losers are the seat meat I just want to banish back to $.05/.10 on Stars. It isn't enough that an actual IRL successful person is drinking and gambling and kidding around with us for entertainment and we get to keep his money--these a-holes want to tell him what an idiot he is for playing the fun way and while they fold everything but KK pre bc their tight buttholes can't even afford to rebuy in the 100-300 game. It makes me sick to think how many whales eventually just move to blackjack to save themselves the ridicule from a few broke jerks. Of course, I'd put these hobbyists in their places at the table, but they're paying my rent.

This was a standard bad session. I doubled someone up within the first orbit (TPTK+NFD vs Q7s flopped flush on monotone flop in a hand I raised UTG to 30 OMG I don't want to talk about it anymore. No, wait, one more thing: he speeched me preflop and said he had a good hand and knew he was going to hit this time. I cbet half his stack then called off the rest when he jammed). Naturally, I experience about 4 hours of card deadness where I somehow manage to take down three pots without showdown as everyone else is limp-jamming AA and cashing in his $100-300 whale voucher. Everyone is trapping, and the stacks are so short relative to the straddle that I'm either stuck playing against nut-heavy ranges 10-20bb deep (but 40-60 with the whale) or just playing a showdown-oriented starting hand set, which I do. Finally, four of the nits have had enough, two more get stacked, and two patented Maryland-specialty lax bros sit down. It's six-handed, the whale has a dime, I have 700, and all the annoying limp-raisers are gone.

Around this time I finally I sunrun pre, which turned out to be a death sentence for my money, causing me to double the whale up twice, get clipped by him, then get stacked by him twice (not kidding). Here's a chart I made of my session, hour-by-hour. Good riddance:



I could have stayed--I planned to stay all night, but after I got it in with roughly 90% equity for a 900+ pot and lost for the third time this trip I was sapped. I said good luck to the whale as he stacked my chips and he winked at me, as if to say they'd be there when I returned. I will probably play on Labor Day, then it's back to my unnamed little city in the Midwest to reg the action-free weekday 2/5 games and the insane drunken weekend 2/5/10-60 to go games. Wish me luck.

gl

Horseshoe Baltimore
1/3 (300 cap) NL: -329 in 4:55

Another terrible session that ended on a 65/35 going the wrong way (well, from my perspective). Strong holdings continue to be a death sentence for my money. I won three pots through this entire session, showing down one. Most of my posts have had hand examples where I outplayed someone, but this time I actually misplayed a couple spots. I'll start with a semi-cool hand that built my stack and affects my image for the following two hands:

Hand 1:

The MP opener in this hand is an older Asian guy who card racked for a couple hours, built his stack to 800, and is now bleeding it back. He has a peculiar habit of checking flops as the original raiser when he flops better than TPGK, (he's won so many pots I have a sample). The BB who cold calls is a well-off 50ish lady with gaudy jewelry, a bad dye job that looks purple under card room lighting, and big, big, BIG fingernails. She has already shown me a bluff.

CO: Me (375) TsTd
BB: NJ housewife (600)
MP: Spillback older Asian (500)

Spillback Asian isolates a limp to 18. This is larger than his previous opens, so I put him on a premium holding. Sometimes I 3bet here, but this guy is fairly sticky and we are only 300 effective, so I call. Housewife colds from the blinds.

(55) K 7 6

Housewife checks, Spillback Asian bets 27, I raise to 60, Housewife colds (wtf), Spillback Asian tank-folds

(200) K 7 6 - 2

Housewife bets 60, I tank-call

(320) K 7 6 - 2 - Q

Housewife bets 100, I...



The whole table gasped when I snapped OTR then showed down TT, but this is a fairly standard play in any 2/5 game.

Hand 2:

Villain is a young black low-stakes grinder. He wears sunglasses, limps too many value hands, and seems like scared money.

UTG1: Me (650) QT
MP: Grinder (500)
BTN: Spillback Asian (300--see, I told you he was spilling it back)

I open to 10, two calls

(30) K 9 7

I bet 20, Grinder snap calls, Spillback folds.

(70) K 9 7 - K

I check, Grinder cuts out 40 then bets 35. I hate hate hate this spot. He's soooo tight it'll be almost impossible to hit a flush and extract. He could be expecting me to c/r here with all my draws (which I normally do with all my non-King boats against guys like this bc they think I'd c/r a draw here). He could have 99 or 77 and just be BFing me. Hands he literally never has: K9, K7. Since it's so hard for him to have a boat and I've never seen a guy make a last minute bet size decrease with a boat on a wet turn, I call.

(140) K 9 7 - K - J

BOOOOOM. My nut river. I can almost profitably c/c 35 OTT just to draw and never get paid OTR (remember, sets are in his range still). I bet 90, planning to bet-fold. He tank-raises to 190...



Hand 3:

This hand is an auto-pilot disaster. Villain is a mouthy, middle-aged lady reg. She whines about the waitresses, she complains to the dealer about how our table has two open seats but other tables are getting players, and she casually emasculates her husband in front of strangers. They both brought their own sodas from home. All this said, I kind of liked her, and I thought her husband was awesome mostly bc he wore this shirt tucked into khaki shorts:



BB: Me (350) AK
MP: Mouth (250)

One limp, SB completes, I raise to 15, Mouth calls, two to flop

(30) A J T

I check, Mouth bets 20, I raise to 50, Mouth gets a giant, table-tilting lady boner and raises to 120. I glance over my shoulder to ensure Denzel Washington isn't standing behind then fold.

Why, why did I c/r here??? Mouthy know-it-all hobbyist women have TT, JJ, AK, AQ, AJ, AT, KQ, and JT in their limping range. They have all those hands in their betting range. Hands they don't bet on these flops: Ace-low single-pair hands, 98, inferior pair+gutshot hands other than AQ. What was I expecting to accomplish by c/r here?

After this hand I doubled back through the grinder (my advice to him would be to stop limping AT then stacking off for 400 into 30 when he flops top-two in a seven-way limped pot) then got a flopped nut flush in vs a set in a pot I 3bet (running board pair fml).

I'll throw up a Horseshoe Casino Baltimore trip report later. Thanks for reading!

I lol'd a few times, thanks for writing this thread OP!

Baltimore Poker Trip Report:

As you may know, Horseshoe Casino Baltimore is the new Caesars property in downtown Baltimore just a short (terrifying) walk from the Orioles and Ravens stadiums. As I saw it, the biggest problem with this casino is it's in Baltimore. I've stayed in terrible cities before for work (Hammond, Cleveland, Charles Town, Jacksonville, and Detroit come to mind), but Baltimore may be the worst of the bunch. It has no redeeming qualities. The major north-south expressway dumps you right into downtown--terrific, except you still have two miles of downtown driving before you reach the 24/7 traffic jam surrounding the casino parking garage. Coming from the south? You get to wait on a run-down highway exit ramp spotted with homeless guys every 10 yards or so. When you reach the bottom of the ramp you realize the wait has been so long because everyone is ignoring the traffic cop and merging into your lane unnecessarily:




I once heard Baltimore described as "the flyover country equivalent of an East Coast major metropolitan area," and I couldn't agree more. It's like an expensive Midwestern city without any of the charm. They're well behind DC in terms of fashion--I only saw two of those swooshy Bryce Harper haircuts in an entire week. No one had tight pants! Culturally...smh... I met at least ten Ray Rice apologists. When I asked locals about the dangerous parts of the city they recommended in plain and unapologetic terms that I should avoid entire swathes of the city lest I get carjacked or fall victim to a random stabbing .

The casino parking garage was designed as a random fender bender generator. Around every corner is an interesting new obstacle or tight angle with a car charging through it. Even worse, the Ravens stadium obstructs what would be a pretty nice skyline view:





The casino itself is beautiful. There's ample outdoor space for smoking and slots (OUTDOOR GAMBLING!) and the food court has giant, floor-to-ceiling windows that look out to the gas station across the street. The food is generally expensive ($14 turkey sandwich, $10 burger, $10 fried chicken, $14 crab cakes, $16 beef pho) and hit-or-miss. They offer a good selection of craft beers, but anyone from the rest of the country would identify these local options as second-tier at best. I liked the hand-cut fries from the chicken place, and everyone said the custom, assembly line pizza place was extremely good. There's a John Besh/Aaron Sanchez collaboration restaurant that was always empty, and I'm sure there's a steakhouse called Binions somewhere. This is my third new downtown Caesars casino experience, after all.











The poker room is located just inside the main entrance on the third floor. It's convenient for poker players but still somewhat hidden from the rest of the casino. Just outside the poker room entrance is an enormous bar, a tiny bathroom, and escalators to the first floor. The poker room looks exactly like the ones in Cincinnati and Ohio--dark woods and leather, large TVs on the wall, giant chandeliers and spot lighting from the ceilings. Several players commented on how beautiful and spacious it was. In the back of the room is a dedicated cage and a smoking patio. The room's primary restrooms are far too small for a 25 table room to share with a bar and the Total Rewards desk.

The tables are enormous, which presented problems for some of the shorter dealers. The rail is pleather and has 10 cup holders. Each player has a USB slot near the cup holder for charging devices. There is an unofficial betting line and a WSOP.com advertisement printed on the felt, which I found annoying and trashy, respectively. The dealers' wells contain green chips, which is nice for rebuys. My absolute favorite thing about this casino is the chip set. None of the chip colors overlap or can be mixed together to create counting difficulties (like the blue $2 and green $25 at Maryland Live) and the $5 chips have a pattern on the side that makes them easy to count out bets without asking the dealer (which is required in this room).

The dealers were generally decent, but there wasn't any real talent in the room. It was easy to pick out the ones who'd quit before improving. The dual rates were mostly useless in both of their roles, but the full-time floors tended to be well-versed in how to operate a new room and did a nice job on a day-to-day basis.

I actually made the trip to Baltimore after learning of the game structure (1/3 NL with a 6-15 straddle and 300 cap; 2/5 NL with a 10-25 straddle and an 800 cap). There was always at least one 1/3 table with a permanent straddle and sick action, so until the 6+1 rake/drop breaks the fishies the games should be very good. Even better, Maryland Live employees finally have somewhere nearby to play. It isn't unusual to play at a 1/3 table with 3-4 Maryland Live dealers driving the action and blowing off steam after (sometimes before) work. The jackpots are impossible to explain in less than 10 minutes, and I don't think I even saw the smallest one hit while I was there.

When I was there the poker traffic came in well below expectations, and the room never filled up through the entire grand opening and holiday weekend. Maryland Live had massive promotions going where they blew tens of thousands/day of promo money they'd hoarded to fight the Shoe. They succeeded:



Here's a completely empty party with live music on Labor Day:



On the whole it was a fun trip that I'd never make again. Playing 10-30bb deep against low stakes players forced to gamble with days' pay on the line is always exciting, but the general terribleness of Baltimore itself makes a second trip unnecessary. I'd never drive past Maryland Live to get to Baltimore--even with Baltimore's awesome, predatory game structure.

Makes me want to watch The Wire all over again... Will you have a home base, or will you doing the rounds from city to city, chasing events and good games?

Gl OP, will be following.

I live in a place with games, but I'll probably still bounce around a bit for the foreseeable future. I've always wanted to go to New Orleans, and apparently there's a couple farmers games in Buttfuq Ohio I have to take a look at. The original plan was to couch surf Hammond. The Horseshoe there was supposed to have a promo this month where you could play 60ish hours and get a free $1675 WSOPc main event seat, but it looks like they're changing the promo to make it harder for an out-of-towner to qualify for a seat. Since I really hate that casino/room, I probably won't bother now.

I wonder what the top-80 in hours will look like by the end of the period... I once met an older guy in Columbus, OH who played 370 hours during an hours promo month .

Awesome thread. In for the lolz and epicness.

I'm going to try to put in some hours these next next couple days while I'm on vacation and see if I can make a run at the promo, but I don't think I could have a chance, since it's 80 min hours in 2/3 the month. I just don't have that much time.

You could prob still get the smaller buy-in seat if you made a point of showing up and just checking email while folding for a few hours/weeknight.

Eh, in a bad stretch of cards and unmotivated to go play.