I recognize the name I'll have to shoot him a PM for sure though, thanks! I'll look into it. Honestly that's been one of the biggest struggles here is finding good high level thinking players who are also good people to add to a poker group. People are weird lol, I'm not going to call anyone out or anything like that, but some people that I totally thought would be good guys to talk hands with and get together to talk poker haven't been. I'm sure this is something that gets easier over time, and I know my crap month in February where I pretty much needed one intense week of grinding with running good in order to save it from being in the red didn't help.

Glad to hear you are getting primarily positive responses!

To touch a little more on your BR thoughts. I agree with the 6 months minimum living expenses to have in reserve. So with your bankroll I am assuming you buy into either 1/2 or 1/3 for $300 per BI? How would you say your hours are split between these two limits? How many buy-ins are you willing to fire in any "normal" session?

I too have done much research on BR management, etc. But enjoy hearing different perspectives on the subject.

Cheers!

Normally I like to buy in for the max, although I do play a lot more of 1/2 than I do 1/3, sort of depends on how the table is but it's usually best to either have everyone covered or buy in for the max in my opinion. Most of the time you're not using half of it, but if you get in a big pot with a big hand, you want to maximize your winnings

Sent from my 0PM92 using Tapatalk

MADNESS:

So been a couple weeks being super busy. I had stated earlier how I was excited for March, the stories I heard proved to be true. I've put hardly any time in online this month it's been about 100% of live play. I've gotten a pretty awesome response to my PokerNews article and I plan on submitting more in the future, I wasn't expecting it to get much attention. I've put in 140 hours this month of live play, this first weekend of March Madness was pretty crazy, at one time the waiting list for 1/3 at Aria was at 75 people. People would just dump their stack in with top top and it was just value city when you caught the cards. Not an insane profit but it's been a really good month, my best month so far been on sort of a heater I guess after the WSOP I've lost a few sessions but not many this month. Sunday seemed to slow down and the same with yesterday, a much higher ratio of regs and locals, at most casinos now I'm able to spot the familiar faces especially with all the time I've spent playing lately.

Roommate: So my roommate who is in the airforce found out last night that he is moving the beginning of May. This gives me about a month or so to find a new place. Far from ideal, I really liked the house and moving is a pain but that's life sometimes. My best friend from FL is moving out here to Vegas, however he is not coming until June, so I'm looking for a spot to stay until he gets here and then most likely rent a place with him. There's a few options around town, as well as possibly some opportunities through the people I've met in poker and through my church, so I'm confident something will come together, just remains to be seen exactly what that is.

Oh something else I forgot to mention because I knew I recognized his face but couldn't remember his name, I played with Mike Mcdonald on my direct right at the WSOP circuit, he busted running some big bluff with about 60 left I think or somewhere around there, have to look it up, but yeah, that was cool haha.

Especially after this article came out, I'm really starting to build up a solid circle of peers and pros in poker which is proving very valuable. Almost every session I shoot them a few hands and it's proven very valuable to get multiple views on one hand I think that's helping a lot.

I'm starting to dabble in limit poker some, I'd like to eventually expand my knowledge of the game to more mixed games of which I have hardly any knowledge of, and being that mixed games are almost exclusively limit based, I feel it's a good place to start. Any material for limit study would be appreciated. The biggest I've played is $9/$18, Bellagio seems to run the only limit above 3/6, and I'm not sure what other opinons on that stake are but it seems to me that's just a hard game to win over a large sample because of the lower stakes people tend to call down a lot multiway. I mean 9/18 is still multiway a lot of the time too, but at that stake where the pots can reach a few hundred pretty easily, at least at Bellagio they do, it seems like a more beatable stake, only about 12 hours in so far so pretty small sample, the game is pretty soft even the regs and locals don't seem like advanced serious players, I'm by far the youngest person playing normally. I'm also adjusting to getting used to how much your stack can vary, because the pots can get so bloated you can go from down a good bit to up a good bit in one pot, this hapens in No limit as well but stacks seem to flucuate much more in limit. One of my friends joked in saying "yeah win 3 pots in a row, up 3 racks." He's not far off.

So all that to say having a really good month so far, lot of play live, and I have to move, that's the gist of it. Also talking about starting a podcast with a few other poker players here in Vegas, I'm a big podcast guy and I think there'd be a listening market for the content we would want to produce, but it's just a beanbag chair idea right now. Keep ya updated, deuces.

Orleans has a steady 4/8. some of the regs are very aggressive. It wouldn't surprise me if some of them are better than Bellagio 9/18 regs.

Nice meeting you at PH and good luck with everything!

Play the marching band.

So March was for sure my best month yet out here. Really just went on a bit of a heater since that cash in the WSOP. 20/26 sessions were profitable so obviously running well, the games were really good almost every place I played at. Started to sprinkle in a bit more of 2/5 into my game, mostly at Bellagio as they have the shortest cap of $500.

A couple things I've learned to adjust to, being content with small wins, and being fine with casino hopping. When I first got here I would sit down and play somewhere and just put in a full session and probably be done, now I don't mind moving around to find the best game. I tell people "at any given moment there's about 100 cash games going in Vegas, if you can't find a good one you're not looking." Obviously there comes a point where you're wasting time looking for a game, but I don't think I've reached that point. Being able to know who the regs are now just by walking through the room also helps in table selection.

Being content with small wins is another one. Like most recs I would consider a good session "doubling up." If it's just an ok game and I'm up $100 and I think I can find something better I have no problem racking up and taking that, there's been multiple times where I've sat down, won a few decent pots but then realized the game was pretty bad and just left. That said I don't plan on short sessions or hopping around when I get somewhere, and usually I do stay in one spot, but I'm much more open to the fact of searching elsewhere, table selection I believe is so crucial to your winrate, sometimes that's as easy as going to the table next to you, other times its the room across the street.

Housing situation: Right now looking at moving in with someone I've met through 2p2 out here actually, but we'll see how things go. I think it would be nice living with someone who is interested in poker (my old roommate wasn't), so still considering options, I'll make a decision in a couple weeks.

What lies ahead in April:
Going to Cali this weekend. Got a free lift ticket to snow valley, so going there Friday, then going to the Grand Prix in Long Beach on Saturday, and then down to San Diego to meet up with a poker guy from Twitch. Some Commerce cash will be in there for sure, if not on Saturday then Sunday for sure.
I'm also going back to FL for a visit, April 15th-18th. Pretty excited about it, surprising my parents who don't know I'm coming so that will be cool. Able to maintain a nitcast approved lifestyle as well during it, found a roundtrip ticket non-stop for $150, and then found a rental car for $60. Might end up dropping by the new room in Orange City and see how it is.

Well, that's it, here's to April hoping to continue being on the + side of variance and building a roll for the Summer. Haven't really made a schedule as of yet as far at tournaments, I'm thinking mostly a lot of sattys and some daily tournaments, what bracelet events yet to be determined. Cheers.

Sounds like things are going great! Welcome to the Vegas poker scene. You should consider a doing a vlog. Those are all the rage these days.

Nice write up! Thanks for sharing.

So far, so hot this month. Played 6 sessions, profit 6 sessions. Cracked a grandma's aces at Bellagio for a $725 pot at $1/$3. I'll post the hand, if I'm not mistaking I think this may be the largest pot in dollar amount I've scooped yet live, and I didn't play it that well either lol.

Grandma opens UTG to $15. So warning bells already, as she had limped called my $20 button bet when I had AJ, and checked called an A high runout with AKs, no big loss there but you see the super passive play. So I flat IP with 55. Both the blinds call as well. Flop is pretty decent. Flop 678r. Grandma checks, and I make the mistake of betting my open ender to $35. Before the blinds even fold grandma says "raise." She clicks it $70. I internally facepalm my mistake, but still getting a good price and crack the aces or kings she has, so I flat. Turn isn't great, 6 pairs the board, but I also don't think she's raising $15 UTG with 77 or 88 when limp calling so I discount the full houses. She bets pretty small, $50. Great pot odds not to mention the implied odds as we started the hand about $320 effective, she had me covered barely. Bink the river with a 4 and make my straight. She bets $70, I jam for $220. She thinks for a little while and makes the call. I table my hand and she looks down sadly at her hand. This is when the dealer gets out of line. She says "I know honey, you've got aces, everyone knows you have aces." She didn't have to show anyways could have just mucked, and I didn't think needling a player like this was ever correct especially in this situation. Dealer pushes the pot my way and I tip $10 which in my mind was a fine tip, but the dealer says "Oh gee, thanks." Very sarcastically as if I was being super cheap with her. I ended up tossing another $5 which I regret.
The players at the table commented on her behavior afterwards and I did end up going to the floor at the end of my session after talking to one of my friends who is a floor manager at Commerce and he said that was something that should be brought up. Floorman apologized for it and said he would bring it up to her at the end of her shift and that was that.

Trip to California was great, snowboarding not so much it was all slush, and I sprained my thumb which didn't feel awesome. Had two sessions at Commerce, both profitable, flopped the nut straight in a limped pot and tripled up from a $130 stack, and then got aces all in pre 3 ways vs QQ and AKo for a $608 pot.
Got mini coolered a little while later when I had J9 on a Q10994 board and villain had 94, but wasn't playing for stacks thankfully so was still able to book a W. LA poker is just pretty crazy, my hourly there is higher than anywhere it is in Vegas, see guys fire seven or eight buy-ins to the $200 3/5 game, at a good table there's an all-in nearly orbit, people love to just gamble it up.
Plus the fact that SoCal is just an awesome spot to visit, went to Amoeba Music in Hollywood which I think is the world's largest independent music store, litterally anything ever produced they most likely have it, usually always stop in, got my dad a belated birthday present for when I see him this weekend. Friends down in San Diego were cool, good times, just a really nice weekend trip making money and mini-getaway.

Leaving Thursday at about midnight on a red-eye to Orlando. I like to schedule my flights to maximize my time there, so I get into Orlando at 7:30 Saturday morning, and don't leave until 9:30 PM Tuesday night. Pretty excited to see family and friends, also going to see Chris Rock with my friend who we promised each other 5 years ago we would if he ever went on tour again and finally he is.

In regards to a vlog, this is something I've been flip-flopping with. With my addictive type personality, I would put quite a bit of work into it, so there's the time factor to produce and edit it, and there's also just looking at ROI. I try and keep my table image as a rec fun player who's a visitor like most people. Usually, I'm in a button down shirt, combed hair, order a drink when I sit down even if I don't drink it. I think this as opposed to just showing up in a hoodie and headphones conveys a better image, even if it's minor, I mean I'll say it players at these stakes just don't think a lot and it might not matter. But when I'm in LA and I hear people talking about Neeme and Trooper, I wonder if being recognized at the table from vlogs would be a good or a bad thing for my ROI. Idk maybe I'm worried about nothing here, it's something I've been on the fence with for awhile now.

Well, got a few more days of grinding, guess I better get to it, let me know your thoughts on a vlog and if you think being recognized at 1/2, 2/5 games would impact how players played against you.

I'll try and include some images now in posts too for a little bit of visual stimulation, here's some LA this past time and the LAPC when I had a fanboy day with the pros. Hopefully I post them right and they actually show, first time doing so haha. Deuces.

I would have given a buck.... maybe 2 if I like the dealer and she is good. In your case, I would have called the floor on her, and also asked her for the money back if she is going to be a little c***.

Sounds like the Bellagio I remember.

Shai,
You mentioned above that there is a lot of 5/10 in Las Vegas. You should watch Andrew neeme on YouTube, he is a professional poker player and blogs about his life on YouTube. from listening to him it does not look like there's a lot of 5/10 games in Vegas.
Good luck in whatever you decide to do, but you should definitely start by taking a scouting trip of a few weeks to wherever you decide to go.

You can tip me $10 any time I deal to you and I'll say thank you non stop.
I'm embarassed that I work with such people

glad to see you meeting the VIPs out there man, stay lucky!

Nice work man, keep it up!

Think I saw you walking this morning, passing my complex! 😂

subbing, gl

Man is it just me or did April fly by? Haven't really put in that much volume this month, although it's been profitable so far. But making a few changes now that I'm looking forward to.

FL trip was nice, surprised my parents successfully and got to hang out with some good friends. Played a little online cash but didn't make it out to play any live. Actually, the trip got off to a rocky start when I found out along with a dozen others that the rental car company I had booked with had shut down a week ago. This left me scrambling to book a car the same day which is never a cheap option, but thankfully I was able to find one for $90 which wasn't terrible, was paying $60 before.

Challenge: So I'm setting a challenge for myself of making $35k profit by the end of the year. This is starting from today, I'm not counting the profit I've made thus far this year. Jared Tendler suggested when having goals like this it's also good to have a low and high end of the goal, 35k will be the goal, 20k will be the low end and 50k will be the high end. Some basic numbers of what that looks like, 20k would come out to a $555/week average, 35k would be about a $972/week average, and 50k would be around a $1380/week average. This seems difficult but achievable I think, and at my current hourly of $23 for cash games the 35k would be about 42 hours a week of grinding. Took me way too long to set a goal other than move out to Vegas and I know it's most likely cost me in wasted time and could likely have a higher goal if I had started out the year with some proper goals, but live and learn I suppose.

VLOG: OK, I'll do one. lolz. After a lot of thought, back and forth, pros and cons, I've decided as long as I don't get obsessed with my vlog that I really let my play and volume suffer I think it'd be a good thing to do. Due to my addictive personality, I really want the vlog to have a high-quality content. It will be along the lines of a Brad Owen/Neeme VLOG, some scenic shots, some non-poker content although the majority of it will be, hand breakdowns, hopefully filming what I can of hands in certain casinos, and updates on the 35k challenge. Not sure when the first one will be produced, I'll be sure to post it here and in the vegas vlog thread, probably going to strive for doing one like once a week or thereabouts.

So that's the plan, going to get my oil changed today, study, and then likely back on the grind tonight, nothing like waiting till the end of April to set some new years resolutions amiright? Cheers.

I will def watch the vlog. best of luck!

Good luck, going to follow your progress.

Well here it is, I really failed to capture enough good footage to really show any continuity, but it was either scrap the whole thing and start over or make do and publish, so I went with the latter option.

Too late.

My mind is kind of blown that you thought $10 was an acceptable tip on a $725 pot. It's not. Not even close. It's probably best that you give yourself a hard and fast rule on this so you don't get out of line in the future. You should never tip more than $3 on a large pot.

A successful one.