Fogo's Grind Time Live!
05-23-2013
, 03:31 AM
Well, it’s about that time. Promised myself when I was 14 and playing holdem with my buddies around my parent’s pool table that I was going to be a professional poker player after college. Now I’m all through with college, and I’m not one to break a promise.
Ok, so guess I did break my promise since I pictured myself cruising through the high limit cash games in Vegas by this point but, in reality, I’ll be grinding the 1/2 games in the Chicago area.
I will be playing 1/2 exclusively for now until I can fully transition to 2/5. My BR is currently sitting at 5340, and I will begin thinking about taking calculated shots at 2/5 when I reach ~8k for no more than 2 or 3 buy-ins. If that fails, I will likely build to 9k and take another 2 or 3 buy-in shot, you know, the usual. BR would have been hovering just around the 7k realm if I had practiced proper BR management my last semester at school, but I decided to be a balla instead and blow cash like George Jung blows coke, but it was definitely worth it to end my college career with a bang and get it out of my system.
I was a D1 soccer player in college, and the upcoming year I will continue to play competitively, but will still have plenty of time to get good volume in since I won’t have ridiculous traveling commitments to worry about. My goal will be to put in 30hrs a weak at the minimum for the entire summer. Hopefully more at times, but will be cautious about not getting burnt out. Most important thing will be to continue living a balanced lifestyle, which should be pretty easy for me.
I have never had the opportunity to put quality volume in in the past, so I am excited to finally get at it. Unfortunately, the games I played in back at school in CT were all 150bb deep games with much weaker/gambly opposition, so I will have to readjust to the 100bb cap nit fests that frequent my local casino. Will definitely be looking to expand my playing options to other casinos, charitable events, and hopefully some club/home games in the city as well. I have only played in one casino in the Chicago area, and there definitely has to be some better options out there.
Will try to update frequently, and post some hhs that are a bit more interesting than the standard prison raping (thanks for the lingo, dgi) of fish who won’t fold tpnk to me bc I’m a punk kid. Don’t start soccer trainings until Tuesday, so the next five days will involve nothing but heavy detoxing from drinking everyday, working out, and plenty of time for the pokerz.
Some short-term goals I have are to obviously move up to 2/5 as soon as possible and continue playing solid and improving my game, but also to take some extended poker trips in the fall and winter when I have some more free time. Would like to hit up either Vegas, Atlantic City, California or Florida and grind my face off for a few weeks. Near impossible to hit all the spots, but even getting to take one trip would be great.
Plan of attack tomorrow begins with a beach-conditioning workout when I wake up, lunch/rest, light upper body session at the gym, then straight to business. will use the next few days to get back into the swing of things, and really concentrate on making the best decisions possible while keeping myself out of difficult situations, so boring poker it is. That is until I find myself 3 barrel bluffing my roll away
Time to grind!
- Fogo
the savers
Ok, so guess I did break my promise since I pictured myself cruising through the high limit cash games in Vegas by this point but, in reality, I’ll be grinding the 1/2 games in the Chicago area.
I will be playing 1/2 exclusively for now until I can fully transition to 2/5. My BR is currently sitting at 5340, and I will begin thinking about taking calculated shots at 2/5 when I reach ~8k for no more than 2 or 3 buy-ins. If that fails, I will likely build to 9k and take another 2 or 3 buy-in shot, you know, the usual. BR would have been hovering just around the 7k realm if I had practiced proper BR management my last semester at school, but I decided to be a balla instead and blow cash like George Jung blows coke, but it was definitely worth it to end my college career with a bang and get it out of my system.
I was a D1 soccer player in college, and the upcoming year I will continue to play competitively, but will still have plenty of time to get good volume in since I won’t have ridiculous traveling commitments to worry about. My goal will be to put in 30hrs a weak at the minimum for the entire summer. Hopefully more at times, but will be cautious about not getting burnt out. Most important thing will be to continue living a balanced lifestyle, which should be pretty easy for me.
I have never had the opportunity to put quality volume in in the past, so I am excited to finally get at it. Unfortunately, the games I played in back at school in CT were all 150bb deep games with much weaker/gambly opposition, so I will have to readjust to the 100bb cap nit fests that frequent my local casino. Will definitely be looking to expand my playing options to other casinos, charitable events, and hopefully some club/home games in the city as well. I have only played in one casino in the Chicago area, and there definitely has to be some better options out there.
Will try to update frequently, and post some hhs that are a bit more interesting than the standard prison raping (thanks for the lingo, dgi) of fish who won’t fold tpnk to me bc I’m a punk kid. Don’t start soccer trainings until Tuesday, so the next five days will involve nothing but heavy detoxing from drinking everyday, working out, and plenty of time for the pokerz.
Some short-term goals I have are to obviously move up to 2/5 as soon as possible and continue playing solid and improving my game, but also to take some extended poker trips in the fall and winter when I have some more free time. Would like to hit up either Vegas, Atlantic City, California or Florida and grind my face off for a few weeks. Near impossible to hit all the spots, but even getting to take one trip would be great.
Plan of attack tomorrow begins with a beach-conditioning workout when I wake up, lunch/rest, light upper body session at the gym, then straight to business. will use the next few days to get back into the swing of things, and really concentrate on making the best decisions possible while keeping myself out of difficult situations, so boring poker it is. That is until I find myself 3 barrel bluffing my roll away
Time to grind!
- Fogo
the savers
Spoiler:
Spoiler:
Spoiler:
05-23-2013
, 02:41 PM
05-24-2013
, 12:43 PM
05-24-2013
, 02:07 PM
Day 1 in the Books
So I pretty much stuck to my plan of playing pretty ABC and getting back into the rhythm of things. After a great few months at school where i ran incredibly well with table selection, I find myself back in the nit ponds of the Horseshoe, where the fish are small and only take tiny pussy bites. people were actually folding to my value bets!!
I played just under 7 hours and it was pretty uneventful until my last hour and a half or so. There were only four 1/2 games running which seemed unusual, but 2/5 looked poppin, so more motivation for me.
I table changed two times within my first two hours. my chip stack was pretty static during this time. won a few pots here and there by isoeing and taking it down otf.
finally found myself a decent table with some drinking going on and ppl willing to put some money in the pot. Of course I pick up a few hands immediately before i have a chance to assign any sort of reads of the table.
First hand at the table i get 9
9
in mp. ep makes it 8. 2 calls and i call and decide to just set mine/evaluate without reads. 5 to the flop
Flop 40: 8
62
checks to younger kid to my right who leads for 12. Calling is not an option with 3 opponents left to act after me and with so many bad turn cards, so its either a raise or a fold. I raise to 45. Older man calls OTB. YIKES!. Kid folds.
Turn 140: 6
.
eff stacks are 150. I am still betting for value here. I could easily value own myself against 2pr or even TTs-QQs if he is passive pre, but I figure I am committed and checking here isn't an option. I made my decision otf to play the hand aggressively, otherwise i would have folded to the open. I lead 75, and old man folds, saying his pair can't be any good. a few more hands at the table i would have realized he was a huge fish and i would be fist-pumping getting it in here. probably had a weak 8x or 77s.
Very next hand. I have A2 in MP and its a 6 way limped pot.
Flop 12: 22A
Same younger kid as before leads 10. we are both 300eff, and here i made a mistake and only made it 30. after having played the last hand aggressively, and the fact that he is never folding a fd or a 2, and the fact that there are 4 opponents to act after me, i should have gone 40 at the minimum.
he calls.
Turn 70: A BINK!
He c/c 50. if i only had made it 40 otf, i could have made it 70 and set up a possible river shove.
River 170: Total brick.
He c/f to 130. I guess i could have over bet jammed if he is never folding a deuce and possibly to look bluffy if he wants to bluff catch with a 9 or something. my mistake otf cost me in this hand.
Made a few more mistakes at this table, like calling this young kids friends 11 open from the sb with AJ, and getting involved in a bloated pot oop with a double gutter where i was priced in with decent io. this was still within the first ten minutes at the table. another few orbits and i would have realized he was opening light from lp, and its an easy 3b. 3b his lp open a couple times from the CO and BTN, and he folded both times.
I see a another table with drinking and what looks like some gambly donks, and table change for the third time. i was right!
one older black man (this crowd frequents the horseshoe, and are either the nittiest of nits, or completely aggro) who had a few drinks was running show. chip stack fluctuating from 50 to 500, VPIP of ~80% and opening lots of pots.
he actually owned me one hand where he l/c 17 when i had AK. c/c a J45ss board. I check a 7s turn, and he leads river for pot and showed K8hh. I'm all for the hero calls, but I can't find a hand I beat unless he is floating oop with absolutely nothing. props to him.
seat change to his direct left and finally get a good shot at him.
eff stacks 300.
he opens to 10 from the CO and i 3b to 30 from the btn with AQ. young action kid in SB calls and he calls.
Flop 90: A96 THE NUTS
Aggro c/c 75.
Turn 240: 9.
I shove my remaining 195 and he calls with 35 and my hand holds
Overall I'd say i played my B/B- game. No huge mistakes, but small mistakes here and there cost me some value. After losing a few pots drawing getting great odds, and set mining in 3b pots where 3better only has QQ+ and giving me great odds and great implied odds, i only left up 180.
Didn't get to hit the beach for my workout yesterday bc the wind was so bad the entire beach was flooded. did it on the turf instead, and spent half the workout chasing cones flying around. off for another conditioning session on the turf with some ball work, then off for another session tonight. hopefully friday reals all the big fish in
Session: +182
Hourly: 26
Current BR: 5520
So I pretty much stuck to my plan of playing pretty ABC and getting back into the rhythm of things. After a great few months at school where i ran incredibly well with table selection, I find myself back in the nit ponds of the Horseshoe, where the fish are small and only take tiny pussy bites. people were actually folding to my value bets!!
I played just under 7 hours and it was pretty uneventful until my last hour and a half or so. There were only four 1/2 games running which seemed unusual, but 2/5 looked poppin, so more motivation for me.
I table changed two times within my first two hours. my chip stack was pretty static during this time. won a few pots here and there by isoeing and taking it down otf.
finally found myself a decent table with some drinking going on and ppl willing to put some money in the pot. Of course I pick up a few hands immediately before i have a chance to assign any sort of reads of the table.
First hand at the table i get 9
9 in mp. ep makes it 8. 2 calls and i call and decide to just set mine/evaluate without reads. 5 to the flopFlop 40: 8
62checks to younger kid to my right who leads for 12. Calling is not an option with 3 opponents left to act after me and with so many bad turn cards, so its either a raise or a fold. I raise to 45. Older man calls OTB. YIKES!. Kid folds.
Turn 140: 6
.eff stacks are 150. I am still betting for value here. I could easily value own myself against 2pr or even TTs-QQs if he is passive pre, but I figure I am committed and checking here isn't an option. I made my decision otf to play the hand aggressively, otherwise i would have folded to the open. I lead 75, and old man folds, saying his pair can't be any good. a few more hands at the table i would have realized he was a huge fish and i would be fist-pumping getting it in here. probably had a weak 8x or 77s.
Very next hand. I have A
2 in MP and its a 6 way limped pot. Flop 12: 2
2ASame younger kid as before leads 10. we are both 300eff, and here i made a mistake and only made it 30. after having played the last hand aggressively, and the fact that he is never folding a fd or a 2, and the fact that there are 4 opponents to act after me, i should have gone 40 at the minimum.
he calls.
Turn 70: A
BINK!He c/c 50. if i only had made it 40 otf, i could have made it 70 and set up a possible river shove.
River 170: Total brick.
He c/f to 130. I guess i could have over bet jammed if he is never folding a deuce and possibly to look bluffy if he wants to bluff catch with a 9 or something. my mistake otf cost me in this hand.
Made a few more mistakes at this table, like calling this young kids friends 11 open from the sb with AJ, and getting involved in a bloated pot oop with a double gutter where i was priced in with decent io. this was still within the first ten minutes at the table. another few orbits and i would have realized he was opening light from lp, and its an easy 3b. 3b his lp open a couple times from the CO and BTN, and he folded both times.
I see a another table with drinking and what looks like some gambly donks, and table change for the third time. i was right!
one older black man (this crowd frequents the horseshoe, and are either the nittiest of nits, or completely aggro) who had a few drinks was running show. chip stack fluctuating from 50 to 500, VPIP of ~80% and opening lots of pots.
he actually owned me one hand where he l/c 17 when i had AK. c/c a J45ss board. I check a 7s turn, and he leads river for pot and showed K8hh. I'm all for the hero calls, but I can't find a hand I beat unless he is floating oop with absolutely nothing. props to him.
seat change to his direct left and finally get a good shot at him.
eff stacks 300.
he opens to 10 from the CO and i 3b to 30 from the btn with A
Q. young action kid in SB calls and he calls. Flop 90: A
96 THE NUTSAggro c/c 75.
Turn 240: 9
. I shove my remaining 195 and he calls with 3
5 and my hand holdsOverall I'd say i played my B/B- game. No huge mistakes, but small mistakes here and there cost me some value. After losing a few pots drawing getting great odds, and set mining in 3b pots where 3better only has QQ+ and giving me great odds and great implied odds, i only left up 180.
Didn't get to hit the beach for my workout yesterday bc the wind was so bad the entire beach was flooded. did it on the turf instead, and spent half the workout chasing cones flying around. off for another conditioning session on the turf with some ball work, then off for another session tonight. hopefully friday reals all the big fish in
Session: +182
Hourly: 26
Current BR: 5520
Last edited by fogodchao; 05-24-2013 at 02:23 PM.
05-24-2013
, 02:13 PM
05-24-2013
, 05:10 PM
Quote:
Very next hand. I have A2 in MP and its a 6 way limped pot.
Flop 12: 22A
Same younger kid as before leads 10. we are both 300eff, and here i made a mistake and only made it 30. after having played the last hand aggressively, and the fact that he is never folding a fd or a 2, and the fact that there are 4 opponents to act after me, i should have gone 40 at the minimum.
he calls.
Turn 70: A BINK!
He c/c 50. if i only had made it 40 otf, i could have made it 70 and set up a possible river shove.
River 170: Total brick.
He c/f to 130. I guess i could have over bet jammed if he is never folding a deuce and possibly to look bluffy if he wants to bluff catch with a 9 or something. my mistake otf cost me in this hand.
2 in MP and its a 6 way limped pot. Flop 12: 2
2ASame younger kid as before leads 10. we are both 300eff, and here i made a mistake and only made it 30. after having played the last hand aggressively, and the fact that he is never folding a fd or a 2, and the fact that there are 4 opponents to act after me, i should have gone 40 at the minimum.
he calls.
Turn 70: A
BINK!He c/c 50. if i only had made it 40 otf, i could have made it 70 and set up a possible river shove.
River 170: Total brick.
He c/f to 130. I guess i could have over bet jammed if he is never folding a deuce and possibly to look bluffy if he wants to bluff catch with a 9 or something. my mistake otf cost me in this hand.
Flop was 2
29I did not flop a boat
05-25-2013
, 05:05 PM
First Friday Fishin'
Session Length: 8hrs 11min
Profit: +515
Showed up to the room right before the rush hit around 630 and got seated right away. Did some more table hoppin for about 2-3 hrs before i settled in at a more chatty table with some deeper stacks. First three tables were either completely nitty, filled with tag-fish, or half the table had less than 100bb in front of them.
Built my stack up to 300 during this time by 3b or isoing and taking it down otf or ott, but no real interesting hands during this time. felt a little more comfortable with the dynamics of this casino than i did my first session. I had to adjust my pre flop sizing a bit. back in CT i could raise AK otb after a string of limpers to 20 and expect 1 or 2 callers that i could play for stacks against if it hit tptk. if i raised to 20 pre here i'd be reprimanded by the entire table and the dealer.
also found more situations where it is pretty obvious my opponents are b/f and began exploiting this. I still passed up on many of situations where they are likely b/f out of fear of becoming obvious, but i wonder if it doesn't matter if i push these edges since, 1 they likely won't adjust, and 2 even if they wanted to adjust they likely wouldn't know how.
one example of an opponent who was folding to 3b at a ridiculous frequency.
This middle aged guy was a pretty passive/ABC for the most part, but would open from the CO ~50% of the time, and from the button 60-70% of the time over the course of 2hrs or so.
his sizing was dependent on the strength of his hand rather than number of limpers. 2 limpers with a premium was 14+, and 6 limpers with a the weaker part of his range was 10-12. I 3b him from the blinds about 3-4 times during this time and he insta-mucked every time. i passed up on a few of these opportunities, and i wonder if it isn't necessary to avoid being to transparent.
some HH's. First the hands i played poorly. theme of tonight was being a fish and paying off opponents otr bc lol pot odds.
Mistake 1
I make 15 in the HJ with KQ and get called by the tight/passive opponent in mp.
Flop(35) Q95
He c/c 20.
Turn(75) 7
He c/c 40.
River(155) 8
He leads for 50. realize i only have to be good about 20% of the time, but is a passive opponent really leading small into me after i've shown aggression on every street with a busted flush 20% of the time. ABSOLUTELY NOT! calling here is burning money. i don't care what odds i'm getting.
he shows JT. goes to show that he has opened up his l/c range against me since i've been active ip, and i can further exploit is willingness to l/c and c/f when he misses the flop.
mistake 2. somehow this one is even worse
Make it 12 in ep with AJ and get a caller in mp and the blinds.
flop(36) AKQr.
I lead 20 planning to b/f and the semi loose/passive opponent in mp calls.
Turn(76)8
Lead 35. kept my sizing small to continue to get value from weaker Ax hands, once again planning on b/f.
River(146)9
ok, so here i can either b/f really small, like 40-50 since he will never make a move, or just c/f since i don't think he will value bet worse.
I opted for option 2 and checked. he bets 40, and once again i level myself into calling b/c i only have to be good a little less than 20% of the time. He shows JT for a flopped straight. odds don't matter when your opponents play their hands face up. also shows the value of position.
Got paid off in a few hands. flopped trips in the bb and lead out and turned quads and lady called off with a 55s on a 7787 board.
flopped top two with A9s (could be a raise but adopting GGs passive strategy at times) when i limped otb after a string of limpers and got three streets of value.
one hand i should have double barreled, but river bailed me out.
3 limps to me with 97 otb and i make it 17 and all 3 call. by this point we are all sitting at least 200bb deep and i had a solid winning image and a good grasp on all limpers.
flop(70)K53
literally done with the hand but get an A+ flop to barrel, even against 3 opponents.
checks to me and I bet 40. only younger loose/passive asian calls with about 200 behind. not so loose that he is stacking off with a weak Kx here. way he called i expect he either has a marginal Kx or a middling pocket pair that is peeling one off. I should absolutely be double barreling here.
Turn(150) 4
He checks and i check behind. i think a bet of 75 would would work well over a 1/3 of the time.
River(150) 2
best possible river card for me. He c/f to 60 pretty quick.
Chip stack right after this hand
lost a little over a 100 since this pic my last hour and a half or so. two other opponents were about 600 deep and i was trying to get involved with them, probably pushing it a little too strong at times.
I'll post results based on the start of this thread and then monthly starting next month
Total from start of thread: +697
Hourly WR: $46/hr 15.5hrs
Current BR 6035
Session Length: 8hrs 11min
Profit: +515
Showed up to the room right before the rush hit around 630 and got seated right away. Did some more table hoppin for about 2-3 hrs before i settled in at a more chatty table with some deeper stacks. First three tables were either completely nitty, filled with tag-fish, or half the table had less than 100bb in front of them.
Built my stack up to 300 during this time by 3b or isoing and taking it down otf or ott, but no real interesting hands during this time. felt a little more comfortable with the dynamics of this casino than i did my first session. I had to adjust my pre flop sizing a bit. back in CT i could raise AK otb after a string of limpers to 20 and expect 1 or 2 callers that i could play for stacks against if it hit tptk. if i raised to 20 pre here i'd be reprimanded by the entire table and the dealer.
also found more situations where it is pretty obvious my opponents are b/f and began exploiting this. I still passed up on many of situations where they are likely b/f out of fear of becoming obvious, but i wonder if it doesn't matter if i push these edges since, 1 they likely won't adjust, and 2 even if they wanted to adjust they likely wouldn't know how.
one example of an opponent who was folding to 3b at a ridiculous frequency.
This middle aged guy was a pretty passive/ABC for the most part, but would open from the CO ~50% of the time, and from the button 60-70% of the time over the course of 2hrs or so.
his sizing was dependent on the strength of his hand rather than number of limpers. 2 limpers with a premium was 14+, and 6 limpers with a the weaker part of his range was 10-12. I 3b him from the blinds about 3-4 times during this time and he insta-mucked every time. i passed up on a few of these opportunities, and i wonder if it isn't necessary to avoid being to transparent.
some HH's. First the hands i played poorly. theme of tonight was being a fish and paying off opponents otr bc lol pot odds.
Mistake 1
I make 15 in the HJ with K
Q and get called by the tight/passive opponent in mp. Flop(35) Q
95He c/c 20.
Turn(75) 7
He c/c 40.
River(155) 8
He leads for 50. realize i only have to be good about 20% of the time, but is a passive opponent really leading small into me after i've shown aggression on every street with a busted flush 20% of the time. ABSOLUTELY NOT! calling here is burning money. i don't care what odds i'm getting.
he shows JT. goes to show that he has opened up his l/c range against me since i've been active ip, and i can further exploit is willingness to l/c and c/f when he misses the flop.
mistake 2. somehow this one is even worse
Make it 12 in ep with AJ and get a caller in mp and the blinds.
flop(36) AKQr.
I lead 20 planning to b/f and the semi loose/passive opponent in mp calls.
Turn(76)8
Lead 35. kept my sizing small to continue to get value from weaker Ax hands, once again planning on b/f.
River(146)9
ok, so here i can either b/f really small, like 40-50 since he will never make a move, or just c/f since i don't think he will value bet worse.
I opted for option 2 and checked. he bets 40, and once again i level myself into calling b/c i only have to be good a little less than 20% of the time. He shows JT for a flopped straight. odds don't matter when your opponents play their hands face up. also shows the value of position.
Got paid off in a few hands. flopped trips in the bb and lead out and turned quads and lady called off with a 55s on a 7787 board.
flopped top two with A9s (could be a raise but adopting GGs passive strategy at times) when i limped otb after a string of limpers and got three streets of value.
one hand i should have double barreled, but river bailed me out.
3 limps to me with 9
7 otb and i make it 17 and all 3 call. by this point we are all sitting at least 200bb deep and i had a solid winning image and a good grasp on all limpers. flop(70)K
53literally done with the hand but get an A+ flop to barrel, even against 3 opponents.
checks to me and I bet 40. only younger loose/passive asian calls with about 200 behind. not so loose that he is stacking off with a weak Kx here. way he called i expect he either has a marginal Kx or a middling pocket pair that is peeling one off. I should absolutely be double barreling here.
Turn(150) 4
He checks and i check behind. i think a bet of 75 would would work well over a 1/3 of the time.
River(150) 2
best possible river card for me. He c/f to 60 pretty quick.
Chip stack right after this hand
Spoiler:
lost a little over a 100 since this pic my last hour and a half or so. two other opponents were about 600 deep and i was trying to get involved with them, probably pushing it a little too strong at times.
I'll post results based on the start of this thread and then monthly starting next month
Total from start of thread: +697
Hourly WR: $46/hr 15.5hrs
Current BR 6035
05-25-2013
, 05:43 PM
Also, the whole "only have to be good X% of the time" imo applies to aggros and thinking players. That is, if my villain is a thinking player or an aggro then I've found that the "X% of the time..." thinking really pays off.
however, when my villains are Level 1 or passive weak-tight rec fish that thinking can go right out the window.
I'll watch these players be IN POSITION with J
T hand on a 5-way limpy pot.Board runs: :Q
9 4 3 3and the board checks on every street and the JTdd will be in position last to act and he will just check back and surrender the pot. At no time did he even bet or think about bluffing...
So yeah, when these players bet the river on a A K Q 3 9 board you can be 100% sure your AJ is no good
Anyways, great session though and keep growing that roll!!!
may the rungood be with you
