Finally reached 15K in winnings!

August has been my best month ever results wise. I was
+4053 in 40 hours. I actually had to deal with something I wasn't accustomed to; winner's tilt. It's amazing how a few coolers can totally change you month. I feel like I have improved some this month but I obviously still have a long way to go. My post-flop game is a lot weaker than my pre-flop game. I will focus on these leaks more going forward.

My new goals are:

1. 20K in winnings

2. Play a 5/T session

3. Play a session at the commerce casino in SoCal (maybe planning a visit soon)

for some reason my schedule never allows me to play a big buy-in MTT but I guess I could give it a why not try if the situation arises.

Interesting spot where I make a play based on live reads

Hand 20:

V1 EP: has played very snug the past 45 mins, hasn't really done much but seems fairly competent (stack ~900)

V2 MP: very straightforward post-flop (i.e. will bet/raise strong hands but check < TPNK. Kinda tricky pre-flop, I've seen this player just flat a 25 raise with AA (then go crazy on the flop) and 3-Bet with AQ suited (stack ~400)

I cover all

Preflop: V1 raises to 25, V2 3-bets to 55, hero calls with QQ OTB, V1 calls

Thoughts:
This is a tricky spot for me b/c we are not deep enough to set mine. I've seen V2 3-bet with AQ so I know he could have TT, JJ, or AK. If I 3-bet to something like 110-125 there is a good chance he folds those hands and flats or ships AA/KK. I also have to worry about V1 since he did open EP. I decided to flat because we will get more information OTF.

Flop: T42
V1 chks, V2 quickly bets 110, Hero?

Thoughts:

I fully expected V2 to check AK or all non-pair hands. The fact that he is betting tells me he must have a big pair such as TT, JJ, KK, or AA. So I am only ahead of JJ. I also need to worry about V1, estimated his range to be 99-JJ and AJss+. I guess this sort of decreases the odds of V2 having JJ? So given the fact that I am only beating JJ coupled with I still need to worry about V1, I FOLD

I really wanted to ask V2 what he had in that hand. But I def did not want other people to know I folded QQ in that spot. I ended up not asking for that reason.

Was this a

1. Terrible Fold?

2. Good Fold?

3. Marginal Fold?

I honestly don't know the answer, wish I knew V2's cards

Met shrewsbury91, blackswan, and Parallelflux last weekend. I am glad I finally have people in real life to talk about poker with. Most of the people in my life have either a neutral or slightly negative view on my gambling. I've learned over the years that it is best not to bring up the topic at all unless I am asked.

I played a total of 20 hours on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday last week and was even, -700, and +600. I learned pretty quickly my game still has significantly more leaks against LAG/Maniacs than normal players. I would say I played almost embarrassing bad against these players on Thursday and Friday .

I'd say a ton of my losses come from LAGs as well, I seem to fold or call incorrectly against them a lot.

(just noticed there is a Microsoft/Amerisoft convention at foxwoods. Worth thinking about hopping there for tonight.)

Just sub'd this thread, keep up the good work man! It can be quite frustrating having a marginal hand against a LAG because they seem to put maximum pressure on you since they have such a high bet frequency. I struggle against these players too, and honestly nit up which is probably not the best strategy.

Not a Bart Hanson Approved Play?

Villain: abc player, likes to check down hands with SDV

Hand 21:

Pre: limp, limp, limp, I raise 35 with 65 in MP, V 3-bets to 75 OTB, Eff stacks ~525

thoughts:
IICRC, bart hanson says we can set mine IP or OOP as long as we are getting 10:1 AND we are sure Villain will stack off on most boards. He also says we can only call with SC if we are IP and not to never call OOP b/c we will get in trouble on boards that hit us but won't put us ahead (potential RIO situation).

In this situation I am OOP with a SC and I am getting 14:1 odds

I call 40 b/c idk?, I know have to fold to any reasonable bet OTF even if I hit 1 pair


Flop (165): Q54
I chk, V bets 50, I call

Turn (265): 2
I chk, V bets 75 I call

lol pot odds

River (415): 5
I go all in (~325 eff), V calls

Played 3 sessions this weekend and was,

Thursday: +569 1.5 hours
Friday: +2210 10 hours
Saturday: +182 8 hours

Friday was my best session so far and I was happy with my overall play. I am still having trouble playing against LAGs/Maniacs but slowly learning how to adjust. Also made sort of a spewy play at 1/2 when I miss-read my opponents hand strength .

Really sick sessions, did you take some chip porn to do the weekend some justice?

nah, it's not really my style. I also got yelled at by the dealer the one time I did try to take a picture.

Hey thanks for wishing me well. I'm like 50/50 on whether I can make it for poker this weekend but I hope you will be there either way.

No problem, I going to try to go Thursday, Friday, and Saturday unless something else comes up.

Worked out for 1 hour (45 minutes running and 15 minutes stationary), then went to casino and was,

+488 in 4 hours at 2/5

Had Bobby Flay's burgers and a couple of drinks (leak ?). Planning on playing 8+ hours at FW tomorrow but probably taking Saturday off (plans). In other news, I am going to lose my leap card at the end of the month from the lack of hours . That means no more free rooms for me. I also booked a flight to LAX in the middle of October. I have tentative plans to play at the Bike/Commerce, visit K-town, go surfing, and try some exotic foods.

Going to the dark side (LAGing it up)

Hand 22:

Pre: I raise to 20 in MP with AJo, BTN calls (eff stacks 800)

Flop (40): 245
I bet 30, BTN calls

Turn (100): Q
I chk, BTN bets 30, I call

River (160): 2
I chk, BTN bets 60, I raise to 175, BTN folds

Hand 23:

Pre: UTG limps, I limp UTG+1 with A2, 3 more limps, BB raise to 30, UTG calls, I call, everyone else folds (eff stacks ~1100)

Flop (105): TT2
BB bets 45, UTG calls, I raise to 150, BB folds, UTG folds

I think I like a 2/3rd's pot bet on the turn in Hand 22 since BTN could be calling light and the Q hits your range more than theirs and you can get them to fold pairs a lot of the time. Also, V's pretty weak turn bet is pretty indicative of a middling pair type hand. OTR I really don't like this c/r because you really represent nothing and if V is a thinking player he will call you down pretty light here.

Hand #23 looks good though


BTW that trip to LAX sounds fun, you should invite me next time lol. California is such a fun state to visit and with such a diverse climate there is plenty of activities to do.

1) These don't appear to me to define LAG. They appear to be randomly selected hands where hero took an aggressive line. Am I wrong?

2) H22 is interesting, like Shrew said, V could call you down light but obv I think his overall range is pretty weak and I'm assuming he's like a lvl1 player who didn't plan to bet/call the river if facing a checkraise. A bit more info on Villain actually justifies your play a bit more.

3) H23, yikes, this seems a terrible raise and you got lucky. Overall quite spewy but I'm imagining your table was quite soft where you think you can get away with limp-calling in such early position.

I am way more likely to spew when I try to LAG it up . It just means I still have a lot of room for improvement.

H22: I do like shrew's logic given the limited info I provided (was too tired at the time). These are the spots I struggle with the most. This was a standard raise and C-bet. When my hand doesn't improve I elected to c/f or c/c depending on V's sizing (didn't feel I was gonna get a fold from a double barrel at that point because V isn't the type to fold a middle pair to a turn bet).

On the river I check expecting to,

1. Lose if V checks back
2. Fold if V bombs >$100
3. If V is betting small it is probably b/c he is going for thin value or bluffing b/c he doesn't have SDV (I have a history with V and he tends to give me credit for a hand in most spots).

H23: Folding PRE is def my standard TAG line, but I decided to get fancy for some reason. BB is likely to C-bet every flop, and UTG+1 likes to peel pretty wide (has also been giving me a lot of credit when I bet/raise). I was honestly just hopping this move works >50% of the time.

Lost -1300 in 2 hours at 2/5. Quit shortly after b/c I didn't feel like playing. Was the standard run bad and play bad combination.

Your hand doesn't improve but you pick up good fold equity. Sure, it would be nice to turn a pair, but it's also nice to turn a card that smacks your range. If you're not going to dbl barrel this turn then you shouldn't be cbetting the flop.

What's wrong with a C-bet with a plan of giving up on certain turns? The Q is a good double barrel card in most situations. In this situation, villain likes to peel on the turn in these spots with pretty much any pair or draw (lol live reads).

There's nothing wrong with that plan. I never said there was. This just wasn't one of those turns.

Wednesday: +393 3.5 hours (1/2 and 2/5)

Thursday: +1100 7 hours (1/2 and 2/5)

Was able to workout for at least 45 minutes before both sessions. Also did not drink alcohol or eat too unhealthy while at the casino, so I also consider that a win. I have a pretty significant leak where I play really sub-optimal poker whenever I have locked up a win mentally.

Hand 24:

1/2

Villain: OMC/NIT (eff stacks 250)

Pre: V limps, I raise to 12 with A3 OTB, V 3-bets to 27, I call

Flop (54): A38
V bets 30, I call

Turn (114): 4
V chks, I bet 45, V calls

River (204): 5
V chks, I bet 95


Hand 25:

2/5

Villain: LAG/TAG combination, limp/calls with a really wide range, makes bluffs on scare cards (eff stacks 600)

Pre: V limps, EP limp, OMC limps, I raise to 20 with 77 OTB, BB calls, V calls, EP limper folds, OMC calls (4 handed to the flop)

Flop (80): K45
chks to me, I bet 45, only V calls

Turn (170): T
chk, chk

River (170): T
V bets 80, I call

I like hand 1, though i like bigger river bet more (shove).

Not sure about hand2. Its a bit too hard for him to have a wide bluff range by the river eventhough he has a wide limpcall range. Though if he value bets bigger with Kx and Tx, i think its fine to call and maybe expect to see enough 5x/4x, i just dont know how good it is to potcontrol turn in order to snapbluffs otr.

Had work before playing my session at Mohegan. As a result I did not get to workout before hand and I was pretty tired. I was basically struggling to play my B game the whole time and I was more loose and spewy than usual. Started playing 1/2 and lost -95 in 30 minutes (obv I suck at 1/2 now). I moved to 2/5 and I got myself in a lot of marginal spots OOP (everything is so much harder OOP lol).

Lucky for me I was still able to book a +425 at 2/5 in 4 hours. This was actually a pretty good result considering I was tired and not as focused as usual.

Getting Excited

Ran 2 miles in a t-shirt and shorts in the freezing cold after work. I feel like I won't be working out much over the next week. I am flying out tomorrow from CT --> Philadelphia --> LAX. The plan is to pick up my car and meet up with an old high school friend that I am staying with.

Goals:

1. Play at the bike []

2. Play at the commerce []

3. Watch the sunset at the beach (and maybe drink alcohol) []

4. Eat exotic foods []

I am planning on bringing 3.5 K for poker but not sure how much I will actually play.

Have fun on your trip, you should definitely appear on the show live at the bike! Here is October's schedule:

http://www.liveatthebike.com/calendar/