Short answer: No

What you should shoot for is to be successful first. So focus on cash til you have a strong (successful) history at that. Get your confidence and focus where it needs to be. Then expand out from there.

Lots of people have a niche where they're most successful (cash/tournament/HU). But a good player should have some success in each. Focus on your FR cash game first and then after you're successful move out to tournies/etc. Good Luck!

Gonna do it soon. Really wonder what the floor would do when that happens... Assume it only gets spilled on villain but not the table/chair/floor, and I appear to be so innocent (showing them my heels explaining those are new shoes with tearing eyes).

Decided to take poker as a side job/hobby.

Reasons:

1) I am not as good as I thought. I was winning only because I was on a heater. I actually played spewy and made many mistakes.

2) I may have some potential, but I need to put in many more hours of study plus lots of practice. I don't have that much time right now (due to other commitments). Therefore, knowing that I am not sowing, I don't expect to reap.

I almost only play on the weekends now. Some hands from this past weekend:

HH1:

1/2 eff 300

Four-way limped pot, I am in BB with 69hh

Flop ($12) 668r
I check first to act with the intention to c/r (table quite active), sadly it gets checked through

Turn ($12) Qdd
I lead 10, UTG station fish calls, MP calls, LP calls

River ($52) 5o
I bet 50 hoping for a call from Qx and even 8x especially by UTG station, he calls with 79o

HH2:

1/2 eff 300

New transfer player (looks confident but no reads) opens 10 EP, I call NTA with TT, three more calls, five-way action

Flop ($50) 557r
EP leads 25, only I call

Turn ($100) 4o
Check, check

River ($100) 3o
EP leads 65, I call
He has 55 for flopped quads

HH3:

1/2 eff 300

Four-way limped pot, I am in SB with A2s

Flop ($12) AA5r
Checked to LP (retired pro) who bets 10, I call, MP (young grinder looking) calls

Turn ($42) 4o
I check, MP checks, LP bets 15, I fold... MP calls

River ($72) 8o
They check, MP shows A3o, LP folds

HH4:

1/2 eff 300

Three limps to me in LP, I open K9hh to 15, BB calls plus two of the limpers, four-way action

Flop ($60) AK9cc
Checks to me, I bet 40, BB (new transfer player, MAWG) c/r to 110 with ~190 behind
I am soooo happy that I have a 9 which blocks 99 and A9, and largely skews his range toward FD. So I shove
He says 'Huh you have AK? But why would you bet so much with AK?'
I respond silently in my head 'Sir, the pot is 60... betting 40 into 60 is not much.'
He finally decides to call with AQo () and my hand holds up.

HH5:

1/3 eff 200 I cover

I open EP TT to 12, NTA (tight so far, no showdown yet) calls, three more callers, five-way

Flop ($60) 339
I cbet 35, NTA raises to 100 with ~100 behind
Folds to me
I talk to him and ask him to count his remaining chips, he looks calm and confident. I honestly don't know his pref calling range. I have zero idea how he plays draws. I have no info whether he makes moves. Also I feel the T in my hand takes out some FDs from his range. If he is not making a move there, I don't beat any of his value range - if I had JJ I could hope he has TT. But now I have TT so am I hoping he overplays 9x? That's a big assumption and I have no reads on that.
Finally I decide to fold readless.
He shows 9T and I insta tilt.
I ask him 'Did you think you were ahead?'
He responds 'I know you have an OP and you are capable of folding, so I decide to bluff'.
Dang overplayed

you should lead flop here. If you c/r, your hand becomes face up and you're not getting any value from your hand (pretty much everything that you have beat folds and everything that beats you calls) whereas if you lead, you can get three streets a lot of the time because your range is much wider and overall weaker.

As played, bet much smaller on the river, like $35 is probably good. Your line just looks so strong, once again just like why you should not c/r flop, you want to keep your ranges wide and balanced so that it's hard to put you on a hand and you can get value from worse. If you bomb the flop into two opponents here, you're taking an extremely strong line because they know you know you're likely up against at least a queen. They're going to know you have at least a six if you can bet that much there and you're not getting called by anything worse.

If you bet $35, it can look like more of a blocker/value bet and we can now put queens in your range. You might get called by a medium or good queen in one spot.

Great advice on balancing and disguising.

1) How much a difference would it make when playing this hand against competent players, versus against unthinking fish?

2) If opponents are competent, leading flop into 4 ppl and c/r are both very strong and largely indicate 6x, isn't it?

The 69hh hand I don't mind checking flop, if I do check flop I'll generally check that turn again since most ppl will bet their queens on the turn or could stab at the pot now with something. Id be going for check raise obv.

The A2 fold in turn is extremely tight/nitty/bad. The dude bet only like a third of pot, we have trips and we
also have a straight draw. Always call there.

The K9 hand is well played. Nice analysis by you. I'd generally jus call his check raise and call his turn shove but Reraising over his XR is fine too.

The TT hand i would staxk off. Before reading the results i was thinking it's possible he could have a 9. And he did lol. Players at 1/2, 1/3 are so bad, they don't read board textures well or relative hand strength. You need to jus be stackin off here with TT but I understand your reasoning for not. It's good youre using blockers in your reasoning now. Also try to be aware of where you are in your range in certain spots. For instance, with the TT ur decently far up ur range and there's a FD available and also a 9 that he could have. It is a tough spot tho, It would be tougher at 2/5, 5/10 against better players but at 1/2, 1/3 I think it's jus a staxk off here

1) If you're playing against a total fish that calls everything, then c/r is fine but most opponents are not calling a flop c/r in this spot with anything less than a 6 or a draw that they're going to play perfectly against you because they know you have a 6. It has to be a really fishy guy for me to c/r in this spot. If it is a massive call station, then I think c/r is actually the best play possible but it has to be against a really bad player.

I am also way more inclined to lead here because it was a limped pot. If I flopped trips in a raised pot and you think someone could have an overpair here, I still don't like c/r but it's at least better because it's possible for someone to have a strong hand they're willing to overplay against you.

2) Leading flop is not necessarily indicative of a six. I think most people at 1/2 or 1/3 would check a 6 and lead with all of their 8s, draws, and maybe some pocket pairs. You're going to get looked up a lot by hands like 8s, draws (esp. with overs), and occasionally just by overs that want to peel and maybe have some backdoor equity.

DD7's line is fine too in this hand. I think he would still c/c flop though, although it's not clear from what he wrote.
------------------------
A2 I agree w/ DD7 probably calling in that spot. Hard for villain to have an ace there combinatorically and by betting patterns. He usually wouldn't bomb flop so big with an ace and you're getting a really good price on the turn.

K9 I like the way you played it. If I'm playing 2/5 or 5/10, more inclined to take DD7's line and flat flop but at 1/2 or 1/3, just get it in they're not folding and the turn might kill your action against weaker players.

The hand will be so well disguised this way... like it.

Is the A2 hand that bad?

If HU I would continue. But
1) It's three-way
2) Both of them seem to have decent knowledge of the game
3) I feel 1/2 players don't normally bet and/or float with air multiple streets
4) I have tight image, me calling flop should slow down weaker hands, yet there's a bet ott

So I believed one of them had an A. And since I had the worse kicker, I was likely beaten than facing a chop.

p.s. Obviously what LP did proved 3 and 4 wrong (not sure whether she was stabbing with air or thin vbetting tho. Her name is Cindy btw and I was told she's famous). So I don't know :s

I don't think it's terrible to fold a2 but it is a little too nitty. You're almost getting direct odds to hit a straight or fill up given the small betsizing and you're good here a decent percentage of the time. It's pretty reasonable for villain to be betting something like middle PPs or good fives along with aces that beat you.

It's really not the worst fold in the world, but yeah even if you're good 0% of the time you are getting a super sick price to improve. If you don't, you can pitch it and be none the poorer for it.

My jaw literally dropped when I read that you folded the turn here the first time I read it. It's a limped pot and we're facing a very small bet. We could have the best hand already or make the effective nuts with a deuce, 4, 5. A three also gives us a str8. I think folding here is rly bad. Imo you should almost never think someone is rly good or competent at 1/2, 1/3 (for obvious reasons). Yeah yeah there might be some special cases but in general you're much better off assuming everyone is terrible (and ofc trying to figure out in just what ways they are terrible and how to best exploit that). But definitely don't put too much stock into "your tight image" and "your flat call should slow them down," or "they seemed to have knowledge about the game," all that stuff IMO. Most people aren't so rational, and there's surely more irrational things going on the lower the stakes. Don't assume these players are keeping such good reads on you and playing amazingly. Surely, they aren't. Just play your cards and the spots. In this spot we have trips and are getting 15 to 57, or almost 4:1 pot odds. That's all you rly need to know right there in this spot. Don't confuse yourself by thinking too much about it being 3 way, and that player is still betting after getting called in two spots otf, etc etc. pay attention to bet sizes and ranges. This player bet rly small pointing to a range that may not be very polarized, meaning this players range in this spot can include a lot of medium strength value hands we beat like 5x, 66-77, etc. if, on the other hand the player bet 1.5x pot on flop and we call, and now turn comes, we check, this player again bets 1.5x pot. Now we have a tougher spot Bc the bet sizes indicate a likely polariZed range (he either has us beat or is air balling). And if he's the type to never bluff then we can find a fold in that spot. What im trying to get at is at the lower stakes you'll find a lots of players that are seemingly jus "clicking buttons." It'll be hard to figure what they're doing bc of this so jus play your cards and situations. Pay attention to bet sizes (and how they can indicate a polarized or non polarized range) and the pot odds you're being offered in spots and react accordingly.

Oh wow really good post dd7. Yeah I agree a ton with the last few sentences. You should be very cautious giving players a lot of credit at 1/2 or 1/3 and just pay off a lot based on your own hand strength vs pot odds and sizing patterns, esp if you don't recognize them as regs. Don't become a station, but don't think people have these intricate strategies or are paying much attention at all.

Sorry for making your jaw drop dd7 lol.

I have to admit that I have this problem of giving people too much credit (in both poker and real life). Working on it.
And thinking more about pot odds at 1/3 is a great advice too.

Some hands from this weekend:

HH1

1/3 eff 300

V is mid-aged reg dressed in shirt/tie

One limp to me in CO and I open KQo 15, V calls from BB, HU

Flop ($30) QT8r
V c/c 20

Turn ($70) 9o
c, c

River ($70) 9
V check
I bet 60
V calls with AQo ouch

Looking back it was too thin, and prob not a good spot for polarized sizing either

HH2

Three-way limped pot, I am in BB with T2o

Flop ($9) T52r
I lead 7
UTG+1 (young wannabe, has FPS, saw him overplaying medium strength hands) raises to 20
I call, HU

Turn ($49) 2
Pretty confident he will bet, so I check
He bets 20
Smaller than I expected... Maybe a weak T even mid pair. Thought about raising, but felt he may call only one raise (either turn or river); might as well delay it till river when pot is bigger
I call

River ($89) 2
I check
He bets 20 with 200ish behind (I cover)
Very tempted to shove... Will people fold Tx there for 2PSB+?
Ended up raising to 75
He calls after tanking for 10 sec

HH3

Folds to me in LP with JQ and I raise to 12
Wannabe from above hand calls OTB
Rec lady (tight, plays faceup, would open 22 from UTG so has sizing tell I assume) calls from BB

Flop ($36) J96
BB checks
I bet 20
BTN calls
BB raises to 50
I call 30 more because 1) It's only 30 more into 36+20+20+50=126, and 2) I have some BD equities
BTN calls

Turn ($186) 4
BB leads 100 with ~60 behind
Action on me, BTN has ~200 behind
Assume BTN will fold, I probably don't have the right price to draw. But if he calls, I can theoretically get his remaining stack if I hit my disguised FD
I call 100
BTN tank folds

River ($386) 7
BB hesitates for a bit then shoves ~60
I call
She shows 66 for flopped set

HH4

EP (lady from above hand) limps, MP (active player) raises to 15
I call LP 44
EP calls

Flop ($45) J45
EP checks
MP bets 20
I raise to 60
EP cold calls with 100ish behind
MP folds

Turn ($185) 8
She checks
I am lost... Don't like any of my options.
Betting - Feel it's hard to get value from AJ/OP now that FD gets there. She may have 55 (even JJ), am I turning my hand into a bluff then? Given her history of c/r I won't be surprised if she has a flush too
Checking - Would suck if another spade comes
Ended up checking

River ($185) 4
She checks
I put her AI for 100ish
She tank calls and mucks after I show

I hope I didn't hit my 1 outer against her 55 or JJ... She looks like a nice lady and I feel bad stacking her twice in a row

I really suspect I have lost more money with KQ than making money... Should I just fold this hand from now on?

HH5

2/5 eff 600

I open EP to 15 with 88
MP calls (Tourist looking guy in his 50s, saw him calling light and turning SDV hands like third pair into bluff otr)
LP calls

Flop ($45) 367r
I bet 25
MP calls
Rest fold

Turn ($99) 9r
I bet 50
Maybe a check against other players, but this one calls really light
He calls after 10 sec

River ($199) K
I check
He bets 160
I call and wait for him to show
He reluctantly turns over A7o
I show my cards and dealer (Asian lady) reads out loud "Eights!!" (somehow I feel she is happy that I win this hand lol Asian female alliance?) Guy was pretty tilted and started calling my pref raise every single time

Random stories:

- Sneak out between hands to grab food menu from podium. Floor is taking forever to find menu, and I see a reg on my table waving at me (not really close to him, only know him by face but not name). I run back to my table and action is right on me in SB (perfect timing). I look down at a good hand and raise over 1 limper. He jokes that he will get half of the profit if I win this hand. I indeed win a nice pot and I tip him lol.

- Get a player to bet $25 on each other's age (if one person gets within 5 years of real age he/she wins). I get his within 3 years, he gets mine exactly 5 years away. Too bad we have agreed 5 wins too so we break even

HH1: if you're going to vbet thin, make it smaller. You're almost never getting bluff raised and you widen v's calling range. Probably too thin though and you should just check unless its against a huge fish.

HH2: probably leading turn. Going to be hard to get v to call a c/r and v might check back tens or bet small for pot control so I'd rather lead big.

If your plan is to c/r river, you should be thinking ahead of what hands you are repping. I don't like planning a c/r river on turn because there is basically only one hand you can credibly rep in your bluffing range, 34, and that hand would almost never c/r bluff on river plus you could hit an 8 outer (ace or 6) where you literally have 0 hands in your bluffing range.

It worked out because you hit the perfect river where the guy's not even going to bother ranging you, but you need to be more aware of the range youre repping and how it will affect future streets. Better play is to lead river big on a brick because that line is much more common on a busted draw than a river c/r so you will get called way more frequently

HH3: flop is a fold, turn definitely a fold. It doesn't matter that you're getting good pot odds on flop, she almost always has 2p+ there. Also, you've now priced yourself in on turn so a $30 call has quickly become $130.

HH4: looks good

HH5: like the way you played it, good read.

Really wanted to play today (Sunday) but refrained myself from playing.

If I don't play today, I will be 100% happy. I had fun hanging out with friends and I am happy with what I have made this weekend.

If I play:
- There's 68.5% (my win rate) chance I will be (slightly) happier - probably won't be a big difference.
- There's 0.8% chance (my break-even rate) that I will waste my time, which kinda sucks because time is precious to me right now as I have work to do.
- There's 30.7% chance that I will lose and absolutely regret my decision and hate myself and hate poker and be tilting the whole week and play bad next weekend and lose more money... in one word DISASTER.

Therefore, I shouldn't play, because the risks far surpass the benefits. I want to play only because I ran good and I (naively) think playing again = running good again. Wrong!!!

WORKKKK.

I realized I didn't play this hand optimally. How would you play it? Lead both turn and river? Sizing?

Yeah I'd probably bet like $30-35 turn and maybe $80 river as a default, but I'm changing this a lot based on my image at the table.

Young Asian guy = Pot turn shove river, no?

kq hand on qt899, usually fish lead a jack on the river here and even a nine so I would be tempted to value bet too. He limp called pre and he's a fish so maybe he has more Q-low suited hand that might call that wouldn't be present in a regs range. He could also call with KT/AT or even an eight if you size small enough. There's 70 in the pot so something like 20-35 seems good. 60 is much too large but you alrdy mentioned that.

t2 on t52 against "wannabe" dude that raised you otf- there's still 260 more behind after you bet 7 into 9 and he raises to 20. He limped pre so we're mostly worried about 22/55 or 4 combos(3 sets of 5 and 1 set of deuces since we got one). t5s seems pretty loose but maybe at 1/2 or 1/3 you'll sometimes see it? I don't know. Either way it's only another 1-2 combos depending on the ten and the fives suits on the flop and the ten we have in our hand. If they're all 3 different suites then there's only 1 left of t5s and there's two left if only two are different. Anyways, not much combos. His most likely hand combo wise is likely TXo that he limped pre, some people with limp JT-ATo so that makes most sense. Or jus a straight bluff or any piece of the flop. I think raising back on the flop is an okay option but not making it huge if I did. Jus like to 46 and then betting turn and jam river. I think checking flop looking to check raise is a decent option too. After you bet and he raises callings fine too to keep in his bluffs and hope he catches up to a strong one pair hand if he's bluffing with a high card. I'm not sure which is better. But if we do (like we did) worldsbiggestnits idea to lead turn seems decent. But we won't get stacks that way. Hell jus call turn and river and we will make like 40 on turn bet (assuming we lead pot-ish)and 100 on river (into 120) and he also might fold his pure bluffs which may be a lot for someone like him and on such a dry board where we block a ten and deuce so checkings fine too. I think I would check and if he bet large i would maybe jus call again hoping to check shove on a large river bet. But after he bets so small I would be tempted to check raise now. Especially because it seems like if he does have a ten then he might just check back the river after making this gay size on the turn. I think I would check raise to 80 and hope he heros us with jus a ten. Turn check raises look so strong tho so that's why I tend to like the idea of making it 46 on flop after he raises us to 20 so that it'll be easier for us to size our bets such that we can get all in by the river. I think that's the easiest way at least. But we don't get value from his bluffs if he were to hit top pair on turn if we reraise him on flop if he folds tho and the boards so dry and we block tens and deuces so he prolly is bluffing a fair bit. I think clicking it back works decent either way, if we click it back on the flop and make it like 42-44 this type of guy will likely either

-call or raise with a ten we beat
-call or raise with a weak hand that he raised us with on the flop (like 2x, 5x, str8 draws, or even overcard(s) with backdoor flush draws n ****) bc it's so small and he's in position

I think it's unlikely he folds almost anything on the flop if you just click it back. Ofc sizing is rly important for this then so yeah anything from 33-42 I like (33 is the absolute click back since it went from 7->20). Then we could size our turn bet and following river shove easier on the later streets.

Anyways as played once we get to the turn I think check raising and then jamming river is the play but after you check call turn and get quadmonkeyslolwootwootigotsfourofakindnutterbutter sonthisboard,
and he could have a fair amt of combos of TXo to call with and he might check those back and that would be a catastrophe so I would consider overbetting river ourselves into him. Doesnt look like a bluff much or anything but people call anyways. There's 89 in pot and still 240 in play I think. Jamming seems kinda weird but if you just say all in he might just say call. Checking is risky here, if he's bluffing on the earlier streets it's really unlikely he's gonna bluff again on this run out unless he's jus a complete dummy who's rly trying to get the girl to fold. But I doubt the later case based on his sizing on turn. Seems more like he's either pussying out if bluffing and worst yet, might even check back a ten on river. If I had checked turn and he bet 40 into 49 I would feel pretty confident calling that bet and checking river looking to check jam but after his turn bet of 20 I think we should be more interested in leading here on river. We don't have to shove but I think 120 is fine too. Or pot. But I don't think we should bet less than that. After we check and he bets 20, I would raise to at least 120(about pot), and I would jam most often. Jus BC he's either gonna call with a ten full house or not. Lots of times ppl will call whatever with a full house ten in this scenerio. But if you think the shove might get him to fold then I would def raise to at least 100-120, his calling frequency prolly doesn't change much from 75(what you made it) to 125 so def bigger here.

Whenever I smoke I write too much on here lol. I got some to say about the other hands but ima watch the main event on YouTube now. Will post laters.

Oh, and don't start folding KQ, I love that hand. kq crushes souls