Hello. Just a forewarning, this will be a long post. I guess the best way to do this is categorize the hands by each day I played. I suppose we can start with what I did right, the first night, and how I could've won more money with those made hands. I am pretty sure what I do wrong, once I start chasing losses I call big bets preflop more frequently and stop paying attention to pot odds and position.

First night

So this would make my second live game, although I played online for a few years losing most of the extra money id make from working. I hate my job. My first live game was over in Atlantic City January of this year, I'd bought in for $100, and left the table with $367 after 3 hours of play. I was hoping I'd lose so I could give up and direct my attention elsewhere but I didn't.

Id just gotten paid from work that day, and was searching all day for a local game. I live in NYC, so the closest poker rooms are in Atlantic City which is nearly 3 hours away and a hassle to get to, especially for gambling since if you lose I imagine its really ****ty. I managed to get a location, and showed up. The table was comprised of a couple old guys, who I usually attribute to playing old school tight poker, and some young people my age, early to late twenties.

There was lots of raising preflop, average pot was usually at least $30 with at least 4 players going to flop. First couple of hands I fold, then I get A7cc in SB, and call the min. I forget if it was a raised pot or not, but the flop comes A Q J, so I have a pair of aces with a mediocre kicker. I decided to bet to see where this pair stood, around $10. This asian guy next to act raised me to $25, I call. The turn brings out another Q, I check and the asian guy bets me all in. I fold with about $50 left. Surely I was upset, but I figured the guy had me beat so in the end I actually saved money on that fold, and it ended up paying off a few hands later.

In earlier position, I'm dealt QQ. Someone to my right raises, and I reraise to $15, eliminating most of the players at the table, except one person, an older guy in later position. When he called I prayed for a low board, and it comes out sure enough

K 9 3 rainbow.

At this point its my turn, and I just shove my remaining like $16 bucks, saying, gee dude, I hope you don't have a king. And he goes, nah I don't have a king, and flips over 9T suited. I was very, very pleased with myself, but still ****ting my pants because of the way the game is and go, "9 or a Ten." Board ran dry for the old guy, and I was siting on around $135.

Now, a hand or two passes by, and im UTG. Personally, as long as I actually follow the rule which is obviously not very often, UTG is my favorite position which I imagine is counter intuitive for that reason. Everyone who plays must have an idea that you need the top 10 hands basically to play from up front. I like to play on that "rule" by either raising from that seat with connectors and/or suited cards, and if miss have the power from preflop raise to take it down anyway with a cbet. Either that, or I'll call the min, well aware of the positional disadvantage that all the others around the table can try and 3bet/exploit, but that's the point. Depending on how big the raise is and how many callers go around, by the time it gets back to me the pot odds will say to call regardless of how weak the hand is. And this is exactly what happened in the following pot

Right after the QQ double up, I get 69 off UTG. I call. Fold, fold, then there is a raise to 6, and the rest of the table calls. I dont' remember how many players were in this one but it was a good amount, I think the dealer said 7 players to the flop. Flop comes:

T 8 7, two clubs.

Now at this point, i try not to look at my cards ever in a hand and have them memorized before the flop, and at this point I thought i had the med/low pair + gut shot straight draw, which I would've folded to any bet starting at $20, because I was playing well that night. Since thats what I thought i had, I checked, some others checked, then it goes "all in for $76," call, call, call. As people are shoving their money in the middle, I finally decided itmight be a good idea to take one last look at my cards before mucking, then realized that I had the second nut straight. I was frightened by the clubs, I mean with that much action at least one person was going for the flush. I stood up, my only focus on the clubs, then when the turn peeled out, I thought of the other possibility: J9. Either way, I was prepared for the worst, and if I'd lost, I would've just gone home and tried again the next time I got paid.

As it was, nobody had J9, and TWO people had clubs in their hands, dramatically increasing my chances of hand holding up, another had an overpair to the board, TT. I think that pot was around $400, and I raked it in.

This is a good place to start actually. This is where I start to get nervous, apprehensive, and scared, when with a deep stack like that I shouldve made an additional $200 by putting the pressure on my opponents. So I guess for starters is, you guys out there who have more XP and knowledge than me, instead of being scared and nervous, how would you have continued to win the money with a $400 stack against other $200-$400 stacks? Thanks.

Not playing 96 off suit UTG will probably save you some money in the long run for starters

Yeah I think you're right. But what about pot odds? If the pot is $40-$50 and it's only 6 more dollars to call, still fold?

sound like some nice pots you got! definitely start throwing hands like that away you will find yourself in a bad situation WAY way more than you will in a good spot like you had in this hand. You need to start tightening your range especially from EP to higher your chances of increasing your profits it's easy to limp into too many hands when the table is very loose/passive, not getting into sticky positions like A7 TPNK out of position will save you tons of money in the long run! Good luck and keep posting HH and questions

at that point you have the right odds to throw in an extra 6 bucks, should have mucked it off the bat

Completing in the SB is OK if there are a couple of limpers in front, but calling a raise with A7s is bad unless your getting monster implied odds. Flushes are rare and it's hard to get paid when your OOP. Betting the flop to see where you are is generally bad and if that was your goal then why call a raise, you already found out you where beat. Being able to fold once you had a chunk invested is good though.

In the QQ hand, raising half your stack just shove all in. It actually looks weaker because villains will put you on AK and small pairs.

That much is true, but only because you sacrificed the original limp money. The hand as a whole is -EV despite your getting pot odds to call when it comes back around to you. Limp/calling very often is -EV except at the weakest tables. The occasional limp/call or raise with a small pair or suited connector in EP is OK, but don't make a habit of it.

The first thing is just a lot of practice. The second is that you need to tighten up your game a lot, your playing a loose/passive game and against all but the weakest opponents that will lose money long term. Third, I would avoid playing deep until you get the fundamentals down. Take the $400 you won and break it up into multiple $100 buy-ins so that the next time you go your don't leave the first time you go bust. If you play on a regular basis you will get felted and having the bankroll to buy back in is necessary for all but the most casual players.

I would consider answering the question why are you playing? Playing hoping you would lose so you could give up....what does that mean?

Not sure underground NYC games are a way to start btw - I havent played them but most of the stories involve massive rake at worst. Parx and Sands are closer than AC.

For sure. Mad good advice so far.

Yeah dude I was running really good that night and I've actually quit playing online (being american) until a new site opens that accepts all states and the laws become better. I was depositing and withdrawing through western union but after a while it just starts to get shady and a player at the game told me that it is "frowned" upon by the US govt. I love my country and wouldn't want to do anything to compromise that.

But yeah there was another hand where I had 88 and called a big raise pre with a flop Q 8 J. I mean how perfect is that if you can be sure no one holds 9T. Thats the thing. If I flop a fairly strong hand but it's surrounded by thepossibility of something that can beat it, in this case a straight, I get nervous and don't raise bets when I want to out of fear that they either have it already or will get it. But you said it is rare.

Im not sure if there was a rake. When I left they counted my chips and gave me exactly how much was there. They also have some bonuses if you come at the very beginning or if you get a high hand. I got one actually with Jacks full holding JJ haha. They also serve free drinks like at AC which was cool. I'll look into those rooms thanks. I also forgot to mention that live is a million times better than online. I love playing live, you get dealt hands a little slower but you actually get a boat load more information if you're paying attention to your opponent's behavior

I dunno dudes. Would it be safe to say that the key to having the best chances of winning a game over say a 3 hour session is just to follow pot odds and position, maybe slipping in that 69 play once an hour. Don't get me wrong I don't do it often when I'm fresh, but if I've won I start to call big bets more than frequently to get that same result even though that result was 1 out of 100 chance. Hmm. This game is so flipping hard and equivocal.

Heh... You've got a lot to learn... But the good news is that you're on the right track. A good portion of what you have written here is pretty much nonsense... UTG should NOT be your favorite position. As a rookie player, you should avoid playing weak hands OOP (out of position) AT ALL COST!!!! 96o is garbage, you flopped a miracle in the hand you played.

It's going to be hard for me to teach you how to play poker in a few paragraphs, but it seems that some fundamental things that you should be studying are:

1. POSITION!!!!!!!
2. Stack to pot ratio or SPR
3. Bet sizing

One huge mistake that beginning players make in live games is weighing pot odds over other factors like reverse implied odds, playing weak hands OOP, and playing dominated hands OOP. My honest advice to you, until you get a better grasp on hand reading and ranging your opponents, is to fold almost everything from EP and the blinds.

I know it seems temping to call with the QTo or the 75s from the blinds when the pot has been raised to $8 and got called in three spots, But I assure you you will be bleeding tons of money in spots like this when you either have to c/f when you wiff, or are left with a weak one pair hand/draw in a multi-way pot. JUST FOLD PRE!!!! GL.

Well sir this is precisely what happens. And when I'm sitting there, I don't follow the rules, and keep chasing a miracle flop. Hmm. The following night I went to the same game, this one asian kid was sitting in front of at least $400 in chips, and here's the thing. He would open from any position for at least $15, straddle or no straddle, and cbet the flop at least $25-30 100% of those times. His opens would be more than once per rotation, I think it's safe to say this is what we call the aggressive opponent correct? I was deep in the gambler's psychology at that point, and stupidly calling these raises OUT OF POSITION. Maybe I would've at least had a chance at fighting back in position, sure enough I missed all those flops, and he easily took it with his flop bet.

Question: how do we play against these players? I would say the correct answer is to never call out of position unless you have JJ-AA, forget about AQ/AJ, MAYBE ak and hit the A/K. I guess it depends on the stack sizes too doesn't it?

I would just fold those hands in those spots only because they miss nearly all the time, so to me there's literally just no point in calling if you're going to miss and not even have a draw to fight with. The second night I mean i was missing everything TERRIBLY like if you held AK the flop would come 2 4 Q it was brutal

Additional question: Is "EV" decided mathematically or just by opinion, like whether its negative or positive?

OP: Welcome to the forum. It's clear from your posts that you have a lot to learn about how to think about poker. But you're here and actively responding, so that's a great sign that you're willing to put in the effort. I strongly recommend doing a few things:

1. Check out the Best of LLSNL sticky thread. There's a lot of great strategy stuff in there.

2. Read through hands that other people have posted, and some of the responses. This should give you a sense of how some other people think about decisions in hands. Not all of the responses are going to be good. See what makes sense and what doesn't. If someone talks about a concept you're not familiar with, search it or ask.

3. Occasionally post one hand (only one, you'll get better responses that way) in which you weren't sure what to do. Either the overwhelming majority of people will say "you should do A and here's why," or some will say "do A and here's why" while others will say "do B and here's why." Either way, you should get some useful thoughts from some very good players.

Best of luck in New York and AC!

OP - read the forum rules sticky. No blogs and/or threads that ask how to beat 1/2. If it were that easy and that general everyone would be doing it.

Try to post one hand per thread, minus the results, if you have questions.

I'll just add that if you want to create a blog, this is allowed in the poker goals and challenges forum.