Its been quite a while since my last update. I finished off last week playing at MGM, which was the first time I had played there. Its a pretty decent room but there was only one table of 2/5 going when I got there at 6pm on Saturday night, which sort of surprised me. There were two drunk guys playing and I stacked one of them fairly quickly by flopping a set of 2's on a K82 board. I bet the flop and he called. The turn came an 8 and he shoved all-in and I of course called, snapping off his pocket tens.

That would be it for good results for the session. The rest of my session basically consisted of me flopping top pair and getting beat. Two of the times I folded (correctly) and the other two were lost at showdown against the table's worst player. He would call any bet with any piece of the flop; bottom pair, gut-shot, didn't matter. Unfortunately he was on a heater against me, flopping trips with 97o against my AK on a 773A board and turning two pair with K2 against my AJ after calling my flop raise on a A92K board.

I left after the AJ hand mentioned above and took Sunday and Monday off. I know most of what has been happening is normal swing but I just needed to get my mind fresh.

Got back at it today at the Bellagio. My session was once again very up and down. Already up a bit, I stacked a guy after turning a full house with AT on an AT7A board. He ended up having 77 for a smaller boat. A while later I would lost most of my winnings from that hand back. With QQ I bet all 3 streets on a T9436 board. My opponent had T7, beating me with the back-door flush. Back door flush means that he only had 3 to a flush on the flop and needed to hit his suit on both the turn and river to make a flush.

After that I didn't play many hands and racked up around 2am with a small win. I was planning on playing longer but there were two hands that I played way too safe than I should have because I was tired and not in the mood to get into any tricky spots, so I felt like it would be better to leave than to keep playing like that. This session I really reeled it in a played a solid tight game. I think until I get out of the rut I've been in basically this whole month and get some of my confidence back I'm going to stick to that strategy.

Thanks for reading.

Tried something a little bit different today. Went to the Venetian to play some Limit Omaha hi/lo. They have been getting 1-2 tables of 8/16 and an occasional table of 15/30. I played a bit of this online and know the game pretty well and for some reason have just really wanted to play some lately. I'm not sure that my win-rate in the 8/16 game is as high as 2/5 nl but I just wanted to play it today so I tried it out. This game is played basically the same as the PLO8 game I played a couple times last month, the only difference being that instead of the betting being pot limit, it is a fixed limit structure. The limits are set and all bets must be in that increment. For example, today I played 8/16, which means the blinds are 4 and 8 and all bets pre-flop and on the flop are in increments of 8 and bets on the turn and river are in increments of 16. So on the flop when not facing a bet a player may either check or bet 8, no more or less.

When I arrived there was just 1 table of the 8/16 going so I played a bit of 2/5 while I waited for a seat. Only ended up playing for about 20 minutes before they called the list to start a must move for the 8/16 game. Won a decent hand at 2/5 which was kinda nice and almost made me want to just stay but I really wanted to try out the Omaha hi/lo game so I left.

I played about 6 hours in the Omaha game and I had a lot of fun. It's definitely a nice change-up from holdem because the things you have to think about are completely different. The game was also really good. Some of the hands people would show down were just laughable, like people playing 457J for raises preflop and lots of people constantly playing hi-only hands. Hi only hands are hand that can't make a lo, and all but the best hi-only hands shouldn't be played because whenever a lo is out you can only win half the pot. It also helped that I ran very well in the game. In the 6 hours I won just over 39 big bets, which seems pretty absurd for a limit game to me but I don't have a ton of limit experience so maybe its somewhat standard.

While I was there a 15/30 game got going but I decided not to play it. If I play Omaha hi/lo regularly I would like to get into this game because it is probably the biggest limit game that I am properly bankrolled for and its bigger limits offer the chance to make a similar hourly to 2/5. However given that I don't have a ton of experience in the game in a limit format I am planning to play 8/16 the next few times I decide to play the game just to get a little more comfortable with the game before I jump into 15/30.

Headed back to the Venetian for the 8/16 Omaha 8 game again on Thursday. My session was much more of a roller coaster than the first session. I ended up getting significantly stuck right of the bat but was able to slowly grind it back, making a profit for the night.

On Friday I decided to get back to 2/5 nl at the Bellagio. My session was pretty uneventful and I ended up making a small profit mostly due to busting a short stack with KK on a 9 high board.

Saturday I was again back at the B for 2/5. I feel like I had a great session, despite losing for the day. At about the mid point of my session I had raised TT pre-flop and gotten one caller. The flop came AKT with two clubs. My opponent checked, I bet the pot, he went all-in (he was on a short stack) and I called. The board ran out 9-7 both red and my TT was no good against his QJ. 1-2 hours later I had raised 33 and gotten 3 callers. The flop came down K34 with two diamonds. The first player to act bet out half pot and the guy to my left called. I made a pretty big raise, the original better folded and the other guy called and was all-in. The board ran out J9 and my opponent showed J6 for a rivered flush.

The reason I wrote about these two hands is because hands like this had been bothering me lately, but this time they didn't. I knew I played them correctly and the cards just didn't go my way this time. Last summer I played 1/2 nl at a small casino in Madison and people there would always ask me how I could stay so calm after losing big hands, especially ones that I got sucked out on. I would always say that it didn't really bother me because I knew I played it right and all I can hope for is to get my money in good. However, lately I have sort of lost that mindset and I'm not really sure how. But today it was back. After both hands I just laughed, said nice hand, and went on to the next hand. I think its possible that at 2/5 the stakes meant more to me and it just took some time to get used to losing the increased amount of money. At any rate, I was really glad to have that attitude and temperament back because I feel like it is one of the things that gives me an edge over other players that may be as good or better than me technically, but then go on tilt every time they lose a big hand.

I've got my parents and brother coming into town tonight and staying until Thursday. I'm looking forward to seeing them and it should make for a fun week. My dad and brother are both poker players and my mom likes the slots so I will still be getting pretty much my normal amount of hours in.

I am assuming that you have a players card and are building up your comps at the Venetian and the Aria?

Yep. Got like 40 bucks on my Venetian card, no idea what I got for MLife (used for B and Aria) but I've used it for a few meals and it always has enough on there. My food expenses are super low since I pretty much eat 1 meal a day at a casino for "free".

I am really enjoying reading about your experiences. You are an excellent writer and from what I have read a pretty good poker player.

Thanks a lot, I'm glad you are enjoying it. I have had a lot of fun writing it and a nice side benefit is that it helps to keep me accountable.

it's room dependent... what you earn at the grand wont transfer to aria etc.

Oh, I didn't know that. I got a comp at the Bellagio once even though I hadn't played there much yet just figuring the Aria comps carried over since its the same card. I must have had more hours at the B than I thought because they gave me the comp.

Not a ton to report from the last few days. I've had to wake up earlier than my usual noon/1 to have lunch with my family before my dad goes to his convention (he is in town for the IRS convention). We have also gone to dinner the last 2 nights (Chin Chin and Rao's) which were both really good. Rao's is Italian and Chin Chin is Chinese obviously.

Poker-wise there hasn't been much excitement. I had a little bit of run-good on Sunday when I got KK in preflop against AA and flopped a King. I won another decent pot later in the session and ended up having one of the best sessions results-wise in a while.

The rest of the week has been kinda slow however. Had kind of a funny/interesting hand come up on Monday. I had KK on the Button. There were a few limps to me and I made it 25. Now the small blind makes it 75, leaving him with only about 150 after the raise. And now is where it gets interesting. The first limper goes to fold but accidentally flips his cards over and he has the K and Q. So now its even less likely that the small blind has AK or QQ, impossible that he has KK, and more likely that he has AA. Because he was short stacked though, I thought there was enough of a chance that he had a hand like JJ/TT/AQ that he was willing to get in preflop that I decided to go all-in. He called and showed AA and I failed to hit the last King in the deck.

Basically my last two days have been kinda brutal, especially today. Today I only played for 2 1/2 hours and for the last hour and half I think I raised pre-flop 6 or 7 times and got re-raised all but one of them. Usually there is only a pre-flop re-raise once or twice and hour but I just kept getting blasted off my hands. I would always have something like AQ or KQ, which do horribly against most player's 3-betting range. None of these were spots where I raise from late position and get 3-bet by the button or blinds where they might actually have a weaker hand. Most of the times I was actually in early position, raised, got a caller or two and then got 3-bet. It was also like 4 different players that were re-raising so its not as if one guy was just blasting away. No one was showing down weak hands in 3-bet pots so I basically just had to fold to all of them. I really think I just kept running into good hands but after about the 3rd or 4th time I was just laughing because I just was not being allowed to see a flop. I had a similar session yesterday at the Aria but not to the extent of this one.

Tomorrow my family goes back home so I'll be hanging out with them in the morning and then taking them to the airport. I'm considering taking tomorrow off but I'm gonna see how I feel. The Wynn has been getting a 10/20 Omaha hi/lo game since they started pushing limit games by giving a free buffet away if you play 7 hours. If I play tomorrow I might check that out since I think I'm going to integrate playing some game other than holdem at least once per week just to mix things up and keep from getting bored and playing robotically.

You thread is the first one I go to every time I visit 2+2. Please keep the updates coming !!

Also, you probably are already aware of the AllVegas.com site, but if you are not, I find the site pretty useful.

Yea I have the app on my iphone. Its a decent reference point if I'm curious how x or y poker room structures certain games as far as rake/min/max/straddle policies but it doesn't really tell you what is running on a daily basis, just that they are the regularly spread games. For example, the 1/2 PLO hasn't run at Venetian more than a couple times for a few hours since the WSOP ended but is still listed as a "regularly" spread game.

Thanks again for the positive feedback, gonna write another update now.

I ended up taking Thursday off after all since I was pretty tired so nothing to report there.

On Friday I went to the Wynn without much of a concrete game plan. First I had to get a rewards card since it was my first time going there and they are not part of harrah's or MGM properties so I need a separate card. They gave me $10 free slot play for signing up so I did that for a few minutes and ended up making $7.58 on it. Obviously being the nit that I am, once I cleared the free play and could cash out I didn't do a single extra spin

After that I went to the poker room and checked out the games. There was one table of the 10/20 limit omaha 8 game going but I recognized 2 or 3 of the decent regulars from the 8/16 at the Venetian so I didn't think it would be a very good game. So the only other option was 2/5 but looking at the 2 tables they had running, neither of them looked very good and I don't like the fact that the max is $1500 for their 2/5 games, which just seems to attract aggressive players that like to play deep. So I just left with my $7.58 profit and went to the Bellagio.

Had a pretty good session at 2/5 at the B, I think I played really well and the cards went my way just enough to book a solid win. I was up pretty big early because of a couple big pots, then for a few hours I kind of hovered, and then near the end I lost a few small to medium sized pots. I didn't make any major mistakes and the pots I lost I feel I played correctly so I was pretty happy with the session.

Today, or I guess yesterday since its like 2am, I was back at the B again for 2/5. I again ran really well but didn't make a ton because I just didn't get paid off on any of my monster hands. I had a set, quads, and a straight flush all in one session but unfortunately never got paid off. There's really not a ton you can do when you smash the board and no one has anything to call you with. Besides those hands though I was really happy with my play. I'm getting a lot more confident with my plays and reads and I think having a long-term view and not worrying about results is helping me play better. I just keep telling myself that as long as I keep playing solid poker that the results will eventually take care of themselves.

Very mature approach to the game: game selection coupled with a long-term view and confidence in yourself.

Watch out boys, we got a winning poker player out there !!

Headed over to the Red Rock on Sunday. I had been there before just to check it out but haven't played yet. They had two 2/5 games going and I got a seat right away in the must-move game. After about 15 minutes a couple people got moved and we got down to 4 handed and no one wanted to play short-handed except me so we all just got put on the list. Unfortunately I got stuck a buy-in during that 15 minutes.

Since I was 4th on the list with only 1 game going I played some 1/2 while I waited. Somehow it only took 10 minutes or so and I had a seat at the main 2/5 game, where I had about as much fun as I did at the must-move game. I got my AA cracked by the most aggressive player in the game in one of my first hands. I raised pre-flop and he and 2 others called. The flop came down K46 rainbow. I bet the flop and he called. The turn was an 8 and based on what I saw from him, I fully expected him to bet if I checked to him on the turn, at which point I would shove. It backfired and he checked back. The river came a 7, completing a backdoor spade flush (not sure if I explained what "backdoor" means but its when there is only one on the flop and both the turn and river are the same suit, allowing for a possible flush). I checked again and he bet. Because I had played my hand so weakly I thought I had to call, and I did and he showed 45 offsuit for a flopped pair of 4's and hit a back door straight.

Not too long after I flopped a flush with 45 of clubs in a limped pot. I bet the flop and was called, bet the turn and was called, and bet the river and got raised. I had the worst possible flush since the other clubs were the A, 3 and 7, and really I should fold there but I couldn't and of course was shown the K and Q of clubs.

I decided that was enough and racked up the few chips I had left and went home.

Today I was back at the Bellagio. I usually don't play Mondays but with taking Thursday off and having a short day yesterday I felt I needed to get some hours in. For some reason I was feeling tired all session even though I hadn't been playing very long. The first 3 hours of my session I won a bunch of small pots and chipped up a decent amount. I took a break for dinner and shortly after I came back lost a pot with QQ against a guy that had flopped quads. Luckily he was on a short stack so it didn't hurt too bad.

About an hour later the table got really bad. There were basically 5 decent tight players, a couple short stacks, and me. I had played 4.5 hours and had already been feeling tired so I decided just to pack it up, about even after losing the quads hand.

I didn't get as many hours in this week as I would have liked (28), but I really don't like playing if I'm tired because I just don't play well. I'm gonna try and put in some extra hours over the weekend to make up for it. Hopefully I will have a chance to play some non-holdem games one of the days, which I think should help to keep me focused.

time for some run good.

not playing tired is extremely important. i can't tell you how often i wind up in the poker room at far from 100 percent. we can't be 100 percent all the time, but we should be at at least 80 percent when we sit down and be able to maintain that.

i just played a session thursday night where i was ready to stay home ... i was tired. had worked 6 hours of OT the previous two days and hadn't slept great. but i went and played anyway. it affected me for a couple of hours, but i straightened out.

you're there for the long haul - play when you feel up to it.

You're tellin me.

Yea I agree.

Today I was already tired before dinner and decided I was gonna take a break, eat something, and come back see what happens. After another hour or so I still felt the same way so I left. If the game was good I might have had more motivation to play through it but the game was horrible so I didn't feel too bad leaving early.

Don't worry about "getting your hours in" or playing more today since you left early yesterday. Better to play when you are mentally ready to play well. And another note, the TR you're writing up is making an excellent poker diary. Make sure to read back over it from time to time and you'll be surprised what you learn about your own game.

Yea I'm never going to force myself to play if I'm not feeling well but that needs to be balanced with getting enough hours in because in the long run, the more good hours I can put in, the more I get paid.

Thanks for that tip, I will definitely make a point to do that some time.

As promised, the last two days I have been playing some non-holdem sessions. Both have been at the Aria 1/3 PLO game that I played a few times during the WSOP. I had a small win yesterday and a small loss today netting at basically break even. As far as the game goes, I have sort of mixed feelings about it. On one hand, I like PLO a lot more than hold'em, but on the other hand, I have not been impressed with the game. As PLO games go, it is a pretty tight game, something I noticed even during the WSOP, which made me play mostly at the Venetian and Rio where the games were much looser.

There is still money to be made because in my opinion people are actually playing a bit too tight and predictably, but its not as good as if people are playing too loose. I think I am going to keep playing in this game through the weekend and see if it gets better as its a possibility that the game is just not that good during the week as with the hold'em games a lot of the times.

I'm hoping the game picks up during weekends because its a lot more fun to play than hold'em, and I feel like I've played well in it.

I've been playing the 1/3 PLO at Aria the last two days. Yesterday I got there at 5 and for some reason the game broke up at 7, probably because everyone left for dinner or something and there was no list. I was up a bit and was feeling really good so I was sort of disappointed that it broke. I stuck around for a bit and watched the Packer-Chargers game a little (thank god football is back!) and planned on heading to the Wynn for the 10/20 limit omaha hi/lo game if the game didn't fire back up by the time the football game ended. I also watched some of the 2/5 PLO game, which was absolutely action packed. I really wish I had the bankroll to play that game because it was really juicy. For those that may be confused why I can play 2/5 nl hold'em but not 2/5 PLO, the reason is that PLO is a much higher variance game. You need roughly double the bankroll compared to holdem. So basically to play 2/5 PLO, I need the same bankroll I would need for 5/10 holdem. With about 4 min left we started the 1/3 game 5 handed and the game got off again. Unfortunately for me the second session didn't go as well as the first, as I would lose what I won in the first session and then some. I'm still think I played well, however, so I was happy with my session overall.

Today I was back again and had a really good session. It was the biggest win since going back to PLO and uncharacteristically, it only involved 1 all-in pot. I took a bunch of pots down on the flop and turn and didn't lose any significant pots. I don't really have any hands to share because everything was really standard and so nothing really sticks out I guess. The game was a little better today than the last few days, but still pretty tame compared to most live PLO games. I have seen enough players making mistakes that I'm planning to continue playing it instead of 2/5 nl at least for a while.

Another good read. Thanks for keeping them coming.

Just been playing the 1/3 PLO at Aria again for the last couple days. Both days have been shorter that normal. Yesterday I was just really tired for some reason. I played for about 3.5 hours but I could not keep my eyes open anymore. I really have no idea what it was because I got enough sleep and my session was from 5-8:30 so not too late at night or anything. I had lost a bit after not connecting with any flops and decided just to go home.

Today I played about 4.5 hours, though I was feeling much better than I was yesterday. I won a decent pot with AAT3 after 3-betting pre-flop and taking it down on the flop. From there until dinner I basically bled down to my starting stack. Once I got back from dinner I took a hit in this hand: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/38...river-1233750/

The last hand of the night I picked up AAJT and re-raised preflop over a raiser and caller. The flop came T57 rainbow and I be the pot, committing myself to the hand. One player folded and the other put me all-in for what was less than a min-raise of my bet and I called. He had flopped a set of 5's, which held up through the river. I decided that was enough for the day and left.

I've enjoyed playing the PLO game this week, though about half my sessions have been like today's, where I fold all but a few hands and then on the few I do play I end up losing. I do feel like I'm playing well, and PLO is really high variance so its going to take a while to even out. I've played 10 days straight now so taking tomorrow off and then back at it Tuesday.

Took Monday off and was back at the 1/3 PLO game Tuesday. I played for about 7 hours. I lost a couple medium sized pots and got stuck early. After topping off my stack I was able to build it back up to even, where I pretty much stayed until the last hand of the night. I had lost a bit since getting back to even and was planning on leaving once the big blind got to me. So in my last hand I pick up AA79 UTG and I limp. Another guy limps and then this super aggressive fish also limps. The button makes it 18 and I call. Now the aggro guy pots it to 90 and the button just calls. I raise the pot for about half my stack, and the aggro guy goes all-in and the button calls. The flop came all spades but my flush would prove second best after the super aggressive guy tables K5K9. I'm happy I got it in with the best of it but hands like that can be a killer after sitting there just hovering all day.

After my session I had a few beers with tmckendry, another poster here who is in Vegas this week and has been playing the PLO game. We ended up hangin out until about 5:30 am, so when I drove back to my apartment it was already getting light out which was kind of an interesting experience.

So today I got a bit of later start than usual, waking up just after 4pm. Headed to the Aria again for the PLO game and got sat just before 9. After maybe 45 minutes I won two hands within a few minutes, both against the same guy, doubling my buy-in in the process. I spent the next several hours mostly folding and calling a raise here and there but having to fold the flop. Ended the session with a decent profit and no hands I'm unsure about so all in all a pretty good day. I'm gonna get to bed now so I can hopefully be up some time before 4pm

Thanks for the chuckle when you ended with the comment about being up before 4pm !!