Outfit the other night...I was pretty pleased with this one. Denim&Flower shirt from TJ Max for $12.99 (thanks for the cool soap too), Lulu hat, gap shorts, black on cloud sneakers (not pictured).

Dress to impress. You'll feel better. Also you won't look like a stereotypical hoodie/headphones grinder at the tables. Dweebs.



People have been PMing me randomly. One offered a year free of a poker data tracker, another asked for a stake. Cool community here.

I mean you are flashing that tj max expensive aisle stuff so people think you’re rolling in it…

Heading to MDL around 8-9

Hilarious. I will be there tonight too for the 1/2 big o game.

Gonna battle tonight...! One of my fav disney themes..."Battle with the Force of Evil." Won't forget Prince Phillip riding through the throny bramble and up the dark mountain on his noble steed to slay the evil dragon Maleficent with the help of the fairy god mothers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWsdd3ZgFxc. I think if they remade the movie Dumbo would have an important sidekick role.

Played 2/2 plo, lost with top two and nfd against bare AA+top pair and some overs, then lost gs+top two and nfd against middle set, won some at big o again with AKJ82 versus AA2 on K87, got 3/4 for low and high.

Lost a pot at 2/5 with trips against top pair that V decided to turn into a bluff, never saw that coming, he was playing snug all night. 88Jss,7c,Qs, V donk rips his last $250 into $500. I fold A8hh and V shows JTo. Oh brother. Been shown too many bluffs lately and it is getting really tiresome.

Saw PokerEthics again on his way up north! He seemed to be doing well.

Ran meh at big o, gii pre AAK32 versus a non-AA low-only hand (65/35!) and got 3/4'd, then got 3/4'd by same V in 3! pot with two pair plus second nut low draw against his wrap (60/40). Ran better at plo5, gii in 3! pot with KJTT8cc on T75cc multiway and held. Lost with AAKT4hhh on 842hh versus aggressive V and short stack all in for less, I figured tighter short stack for a made hand and deeper V for a worse draw than mine, he actually had bottom set and shorty had top and bottom pair and I did not improve as a 40/60 dog. Made for a $1k profit on the day anyway, a much-needed boost to morale. 5/5 list was far too long, too many pros showed up and clogged up the works, so I didn't get to play. Must move game didn't look too good anyway, and juicy main game is off-limits to good players. Tough local market! They have it so much better down in Florida.

That bluff was nuts by villain… not sure why he would turn JT into a bluff there.. but I guess as the saying goes you can only bluff a good player.

Had a great time.. can’t wait to go back to Maryland casinos. If they weren’t 4 hours away I’d be there every day!

Tampa hard rock is meh and so is orange city.

I made the sickest hero call in my life at orange city 2-5NL 1k cap:

I was stealing in Co w J7o.. goes 3 way to flop of 554 against competent reg and irrelevant 3rd player.

I downbet flop and competent reg check raises 2.5x… I had this gut feeling he had 76 and he wouldn’t be c/r w 5x. I float.

Turn comes an A and he fires 200 into me (which an old Asian man once told me 200 and 50 dollar bets are bluffs most of the time lol live reads)

I’m like this is a great card for me and float the turn planning to jam river.

River 2 .

He jams for like 500. I’m about to muck and I realize he pretty much only has 76 and while I block the 7 I was like this line makes no sense. Pairs between 66 and KK check so he has 5x or nothing.

I call he mucks.

Sick soul read with the live tells, and you blocked his bluffs. Nice hand.

You’re welcome back any time! Thanks for sharing the journey.

Please consider donating to help this man get out of prison. He committed a crime due to his mental illness (Huntington’s) and has been granted a conditional pardon on the condition that he obtain treatment (expensive treatment) in the community. Sting and his wife donated $20,000; I donated $50. Goal is $100,000 and they’ve raised $78k.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/rescue-vi...till-in-prison

Tonight was fine, stacked this guy who a year or so ago sat with me in the plo game and commented about my apparel (tan shirt and green jacket), said "you don't look lie an army man" and proceeded to put his key fob against my neck in a threatening manner. Kicked your a$$ tonight, army or not, tyvm for the contribution to the dumbo fund, sir. (None of this came out at the table of course.) Up $1,670, a lot due to oversetting non-believer with middle set. He had to see it. And I showed it to him!

Very boring night until the last down when I GII twice with dsAA and held, up $2k or so on the day. Earlier at 2/5 I 3! A3s in SB versus btn open and got punished on A-high flop against A9 x/c, x/x, c/x when front door flush draw missed. That was so tilting! Never lucky.

Good 5/5 session, up $2.3k in a couple hours, wrapped up after some unknown short stackers showed up who refused to straddle. Glad I left early because I got to see my friend who bartends in the area and have a free beer accompanied by some live music.

Finally making money this month from poker! Hope the run good continues.

]

Did a little accounting today year to date across games . . .

5/5+ plo, just under $100/hr., $18,900 profit over 190 hours. Not bad! The game hasn't been running this year as much, plus the main MDL game is private and off limits to winning regs because people can't beat competent opposition (I consistently beat the organizer of the main game when I finally do get a seat), and lots of bad regs flocked to Florida or stopped playing and I can't move south due to work and other obligations. Also ran terribly in the 25/50 a couple sessions.

Was going to do other stats but my calculator is acting up. Will have to wait. Not too disappointed with my 5/5+ results, all things considered.

Good going. Keep it up.

This post didn't age well less than a day later. My winrate this year at 5/5 changed a lot tonight. Today started with my mom trying to convince me to visit Greece again and buying a place out there. "Will I even be alive in 5 years?" she asked. I gave her a hug. Life's tough.

Thinking about that on the drive to the casino, but I got a decent workout in and a good meal, so I am feeling pretty well-oiled. After some big o action messing around with a firecracker (I almost got him but he won a 40/60 where I was the favorite just before the game broke), played 2/5plo for half an hour before I was called for 5/5. Game looked good to me, even thought this other tight reg did not feel like sitting tonight because he didn't like the line up. Not many 5/5 plo5 line-ups look bad to me, and this certainly wasn't one of them.

Bleed down some and finally get a nice-looking JT987ddss, ep open, co 3!, I ship $1k, call for less, deeper-stacked pro re-pots, original 3! tank folds AA with Ad, 4!ttor says he got it in bad (AA? worse rundown?), I flop wrap and flush draw on KT7dd, turn J, river diamond and I scoop. Guy who folded AA(223) would have rivered the nut flush!

Next I open AAK73ds in EP, aggro pro 3! btn to $125, short stack calls, I min-click hoping shorty jams, but alas everyone calls, $1k in pot. I check T56ssc (my suits), bad reg pots with $1k behind in CO, pro calls otb, I re-ship for a $2.8k side pot, "$1,470 on the side, my SAT score," I quip ("that's it?" asks a jovial rec), and pro calls, pro asks for a "queen," and lo and behold a Q binks the turn (he must have QQQ), and river...a Jh! I turn over AK for the nuts and scoop a nice fat pot.

Not much happens for a while until I get . . . AA! This time there is a blind $85 utg, I 3! $300 with AAJ44ss, two cold callers and blind raiser just ships for his (just re-bought) $1k, I make it $3.6k, one tank fold and tilted imbibing pro calls for $2.5k. Flop: AAQ! I flop quads! And just after the flop is dealt the pro knowingly says "he has quads." I turn it over and no royal is possible and I scoop again! I rack up about 45 minutes later, count my chips off to the side, some rando steps on my shoe and says in passing, "I didn't even see you, you're like a curtain," and I simply ignore him because I just finished counting over $13k in pumpkins, blacks, greens, and reds, for one of my biggest session wins ever. Texted mom the good news and she said dad wanted to hear about how I won tomorrow. It was around this time of year last year he had his heart attack. Cherish your family.

Just because, here's some chippies:

Thanks for the encouragement, PolarBear1955! It obviously worked. It was really rewarding to book this win, beating one of my nemeses in the game (the aforementioned tilted inebriated pro) who got the better of me a couple sessions before with my massive dsAA raise pre. Got him this time! It's important that people don't think they can never lose against you because they start to play with this feeling of invincibility when they are in pots with you, not a good thing. It happened to me once before with this other aggro reg who started going all in and calling my 4!s with whatever napkins he had...eventually it caught up to him. Gotta show them who's boss. Now I have the psychological edge over him and maybe he'll think twice before taking a higher-variance line against me.

The win last night must have put me in a good sleeping mood because I had a cool dream I was on my old college campus at Cornell, very nostalgic. Kinda a Harry Potter-like montage. It involved a dog and then a bad nurse . . . eventually it took a turn with just some dudes in a hot tub. Hot hub time machine?

Silly me to think the run good would continue. Biggest loss ever on the day, got decent AA a lot at 5/5 and played them aggressively with miniscule SPRs post flop multi-way and just lost them all. Then left for 1-2 plo and lost AAJJTds (the best hand!!) all in four ways for two side pots $900 pre and literally came in last friggin place. Then lost boat over boat against a slowplayed top set against an apparently action V. That’s pretty much it.

That's true, and also why I moved up. :P

Nice outfit.

Yes, the random DMs are interesting to say the least.

Last night brought about an interesting exchange at 1-2 plo5. I have just quit the 5/5 after losing with AA for the seventh time and sat down, dude wins a pot to my right against the table spot and asks if he put in the right amount to call his river shove (dealer already pushed the chips), sorta a needle after losing a 200bb pot but whatever. Spot says he did and they debate back and forth a little. As a little joke to the victor I pretend to toss him a white $1 chip and say "do you want an extra dollar?" and he says yes. Of course I don't actually give him the chip. He then says "you don't know who i am, dont be doing that girly sht with me," I say I was just making a joke, why is he so upset after winning anyway, and ask what I should know about him, and he tells me to shut the hell up (not exactly in that order, it was more of a back and forth. I guess there was not much to know about him after all.) He glares at me after I change seats and I give him a little pouty mouth and purse my lips (might have looked like a kiss, oops). Incidentally he was wearing a shirt that looks a lot like the one pictured above, but not quite as nice.

Thankfully this whole exchange worked out in a sense because he went on tilt and called off his entire stack with AT469 or some other garbage for 150bb pre multiway, making my shove with AAJJTds even more profitable. And of course because poker doesn't care about justice he proceeded to scoop and then tossed me a white chip and I smiled and politely declined. "Sometimes people get lucky," I muttered. He racked up not long after. Ooph!

Thanks! Hope all well in your neck of the woods...!

I am back in the market again, this time pretty deep, I was waiting for a good time and while they say most people can't time the market, I like to think I got in near the recent dip. Unlike past investments I think this time most will just be in a holding pattern indefinitely - 60% mutual funds/ETF/REIT and 30% stocks (mostly tech, and one non-tech with a high dividend), very little cash in the IRA left. Hopefully a sound investment strategy. Gl to my fellow investors out there, and happy for any feedback from those more experienced. I don't have the time to day trade so I guess I may be missing out on opportunities but this is better than losing my money to inflation I suppose.

I have a garbage mild headache and did not sleep great, felt some carpal tunnel in my right hand coming on too. I think the big loss and unpleasant interaction yesterday took a physical toll. Grinded some plo today after work and made a couple buy ins, left for mdlive for big o (games were fine but I was restless and tired of smelling the smokers breath next to me), winning some now too.

IÂ’m going back and forth about whether taking higher variance AA lines is worth it. Getting it in pre 40/30/30 is +ev but due to the all or nothing nature of the game I will actually lose my entire bet most of the time which is no bueno for the roll.

IÂ’m quite happy with my mental game overall lately. Exercising eating caffeinating sleeping medicating. Reviewing hands here and in ppt. Romance has been on hold. My bf broke his wrist on vacation last week so it will be interesting seeing him when he gets back. I kept in touch to check in a bunch and he appreciated it.

Reading another blogger talk about not looking at results was interesting because I probably focus a lot those. I have $20k month goals for example. I hear other pros donÂ’t keep track but I think thatÂ’s problematic from a br mgmnt standpoint because you need to know when you should start moving up again. Also if you are down swinging you need to make changes. Plus itÂ’s nice to feel good about winning and knowing your roi is part of that. So I say: check your results! Just donÂ’t obsess over them.

How likely would you be to watch a YouTube video of some of my plo, hold 'em, and big o sessions? I am considering venturing out into that space given that this thread has grown in popularity over the years.

I am guaranteed to watch PLO and Big O YouTube blogs.

Good to know BabyBear87! Not sure if it'll be your traditional vlog since I may not want to use my face. Was capturing some footage last night at least. I would probably hire an editor since I am clueless with that stuff.

Last session I ran good with dsAA, made quads again in l/rr pot at the 5/5 must move, made another $600 or so oversetting someone at the 2/2 for a nice $1,700 or so profit on the day. Coming back from that doozy of a session on Sunday.