I’m really being tested this year. It’s been very swingy. Sitting at plo card dead and stuck is no fun at all. The losses have not stopped since that brutal 5/5 session. Lost AJs bb v btn at 5/t/q against 77 that just went with it pre against my 3!. Oh well.

Had a nice coffee date with a friend and she told me I was doing very well despite my complaint about a lackluster poker year thus far and I would be rich if I kept up what I’m doing. She said most people don’t have skills outside their jobs to make them money. That was nice to hear. I hope she’s right about the getting rich part. Remaining grateful!

At 2/5 the other night this guy was asking how much money it would take to quit poker … $20k per month was thrown around. I don’t think I would take it.

Other than the AJs<77 on both runouts, played ok. At plo5 won with nut straight +blockers against several draws, but lost second nut flush against a V that has had a history of overvaluing non-nut flushes (V had nuts this time, bet pot ott after flop checked through, 1/3 pot otr), there were four of the suit on the board and I had three in my hand, oh well. Then lost KK<JJ on K-J-8-J which V c/r turn $200, jammed river A for $175, I had never played with V and he seemed vaguely bad to me so I had no problems calling this one off expecting KJ/AJ sometimes. I could find the fold under the right circumstances, just not here. Heck, folded quads to a straight flush the other day! Another session loss, but most of it due to 5/t/q which plays pretty big. Still, would like to start winning sooner rather than later.

Played ok. Made a couple bad light calls for small bets but bluffcaught well in a larger pot. Ended up a little on the session after bleeding down uneventfully at an action table, then called it a night. Someone called me a machine last night and I gave the usual refrain, “you should see me when I’m on tilt.” At one point action players battling started throwing dollar chips into each other’s stacks in an attempt to curse one another, then tipped the dealer with said chips to get rid of the bad juju. Lolz.

Slow start to the week after a long holiday weekend. Not exactly complaining though.

Won a decent clip at 5/5 for a change of pace, nice to remember I am a winner in the game despite occasional bad luck. GII last night with AQJTT on QQT against Q3322...! Had an early meeting so couldn't stay too late, but the main game was playing with a $50 SB blind raise and the usual $25 btn straddle, a bit too big to play long anyway. (Incidentally, the game where I had my worst loss last week also had a blind SB $50.)

Played meh, not surprised given I had an early meeting so I wasn't not as well rested as usual. Action V opened $35 and I GII against him for $300 with AKQT3ds versus his AA356hhhh and lost. Tried to win a wide pot with middle set and top set blocker on AJ2 but deeperstacked dude folded and I just ended up getting it in for $170 with the short stack who had AAA at spr2. That's about it. Still made $100 on the day.

Was having a great session until the very end when I was up around $1,700. There is an MP iso to $25 and I 3! AAKJTds, three callers. Flop Ac-Ks-3c (I have only Kc), pot it, original raiser calls. Putting him on flush draw/straight draw/worse made hand. Turn: 4d. V checks, I bet $1,000, he crai $1,600 eff. I call and lose to KK256 no flush draw. Sad. He thanks me and throws me a first pump before racking up a minute later. Worst part of losing to this particular V is he gave me a hard time for bringing my Kirby plush to the poker room one day ("does that thing make you feel comfortable or something?"). This was around the time threats dude happened. To think this guy didn't even know who Kirby was! Heathen!

Played well, up about $2k at MDL from 2/2 and 5/5/25/50, folded garbage AA once pre multiway (progress?) and was instantly punished (fk progress!) with top set on a clean runout and would have scooped a $6k pot. Left for Horseshoe where 10/10 PLO was running but it broke just before I got there so I played 5/5 instead and my short-handed game is not great which is what the game became after a couple hours so I called it a night but not before my old friend asked me what I had one hand he won and I had lost and I said "no speak English" and "I can't remember" and he became quite upset, cursing at me, "you call yourself f-ing Greek?" It was a colorful table with a mix of young grinders who boasted about buying Camrys with the winnings of other players sitting at the table (lol) and octogenarians joking about needing the money more than their young counterparts "for the dirt." I was worried half the time someone was going to croak at the table. I am glad I made the trip, even if I lost a little of my profit, to see some of these grumpy old farts. A bluff did not get through and I got rivered with top set once and probably outflopped in a 4! pot facing a donk jam on K-7-5, but it happens.

Played at a fun home game with friends, something I'd missed for a while. It was great, even though I was pretty card dead. We got to play dealer's choice and really mixed it up. 7-2 triple/single draw, 6-card plo hi/lo, you name it. Someone was vaping indoors at the table which was a buzzkill but otherwise we had a blast. At one point this dude asked the host if his kids were home and if he was OK with firearms because he was carrying and wondered if he could pull it out of his pants so it wouldn't crush his balls anymore. Someone at the table said they didn't want to see it because it made them uncomfortable and I asked if the safety was on so I wouldn't get shot in the leg. He then showed us $5k in cash in his pocket and said he was a pastor who went to jails to visit the inmates. A loaded priest. Lol. Can't make this sht up.

Finally got involved in a big hand towards the end of the night against a good player who is an accountant by trade. Hi/lo, Open and V calls, I have Ac2346c and flat BB, flop A-7-8ss, I lead, V raises $15, I call. Turn: 3h brining bdfd. I check, V pots $35, I jam $120 or so, he has J7724ss! I only have 35% (down from 52% otf), but I make my gutshot on the top and he holds on the bottom and we chop. Phew. Hi/lo noob survives to fight another day.

Boring card dead session, lost with QQT9 on QJ8hh to Axhh, got JJ a couple times at T/25 and it's JJ so of course I just lost both times. Second time dude showed a bluff which pissed me off and I quit. That's pretty much it.

Session went well, ended up $1,500 plo and -$300 HE/big o. HE got a gross runout with A5 on A8c5c2c3c. Big o gii good twice and chopped or got 3/8th'd (lol), A8752 on 46T versus AKK52 and broadway+nfd against a low draw ott, then gii AAKQ8 versus a set of 3s on Q3d4dK, seemed like a good turn. Lost a pot with mediocre aces and AAKKT+nfd against wrap+fd blockers. That's pretty much it. 5/5 tonight!

Buddies are in Vegas or traveling for cash, wish I could be there with them. Hear the games are juicy.

I don't understand why he gets the low. You both are playing 2 4 from your hands.so you should chop the low.

We chop because we each have the winning high on only one board. So we share the low and chop the highs. 5/5 now buying in deeper tonight.

Evidently he means they ran it twice.

Played fine, made some in 5/5, didn't sit in the main game long due to the blind $50 on which effectively made it 25/50 plo and the line up was not good either...no thank you. GII once (3! pre, V donk jammed flop) with dsAA on a bad runout but V jammed with just one pair and the same straight draw I had and I held! Slowly getting out of the hole I got into early in the month....

Had a great date night, home-cooked meal (and tasty dessert), was in a perfect state of mind for a session where I played well, noticed action V liked to bluff draw-completing rivers without having it which came in handy later when I b/b top set and he river donk jammed (for 1/10th pot (lol)) on a flush and straight-completing river and I snapped him off and was good. (He claimed he thought he had a straight...sure.)

Up another $1,000 on the session, close to being unstuck this month!

PLO rap lyrics:


My utg range starts with double suited As,

Anything worse better stay outta my way,

'Cause I make the nuts every night and day,

We can get it in - I'll have top set and you'll have bottom,

I'll dominate you all night, don't let that be forgotten.

Played a good session of plo5, up close to $1,000, not much except GII AA pre three ways and held on a gross runout and was good, and 3! another AA and held. Otherwise was relatively card dead and just sat around making small talk here and there. MGMNH Reg Matt Su is at the final table of the main which is cool to watch. Have played with him a few times, very solid. Personally other than Matt I had been rooting for "Lefty" Diaz; always want to see someone with a disability do well. Diaz played very disciplined poker at that table but was card dead, it was shame he didn't make it to the final. Go Matt! Bring us home the glory.

Another rough session mostly due to the 25/50 plo5, gii with set over set ott and ?? and V binked gutshot otr...I was almost 90% to win against him. (Second V all in for less tank called and didn't show.) GII 3 ways with KKQT4 against a Q-high rundown and AJT43 for a side spot and lost both. Then l/rr AA and flopped nfd+gutter against top set and lost. Those last two hurt especially against this V who I will probably never see again. Life goes on...I have my lower stakes games available to keep the BR afloat anyway so I can take these shots. Still sucks to have been almost unstuck for the month when this session happened.

At least I was up around $1k at horseshoe 10/10 4-card until the game suddenly broke.

I think we can all related to Matt Su's runbad at the final table...getting it in good is just half the battle. Great run from a great player. Represent!

Pretty long 19-hour session to reset my weekend schedule, was card dead at PLO so I entered the $20k guarantee $360 tourney and was also card dead there and bled down until I busted all in pre 6.5 bb with QTo v. QJo on KT3A8. Played some more PLO and was card dead. About broke even in cash, lost some at 2/5 missing draws. Someone at PLO announced "straight!" at showdown very confidently which prompted his opponent to muck, and lo and behold he did not have a straight...later on in the session he did mis-announced his hand again. Sketchy creatures....

Also played a little 10/25 and won 44 v. 5x on 455. Bet small otf, close to pot ott (a T), and V CRAI. That's pretty much it. 20 hours of mostly card deadedness! Bleh.

I share so much here but I rarely hear from you all. If anyone wants to chime in to say hi and a little about yourself and if we know each other please feel free. It gets lonely posting without hearing much from anyone out there in the virtual cosmos. Cheers!

Challenge accepted !
Always enjoy reading your blog. What sites Are you playing online and what is your online/live Ratio?
Im from germany and unfortunately online is about to be heavily regulated and there arent any good plo4/5/6 live games in my area…. So if you think about ever going to germany don’t get there to play poker and just enjoy the beer 😄

I am a bit envious due to my casino not spreading Dealer´s Choice (which in reality was like 60% PLO5/35% PLO/5% Crazy Pineapple) any more - they´ve cut down to only one cash table and will play the game most players want to play, which of course is NLT. Have heard of an underground game in my city that runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays and spreads DC though, so hopefully I´ll be able to get into that one once I´m back from my vacation in August.

I miss the big multi-way pots, the huge variance and big bluffs of the lovely 4/5-card game.

Hi egspongi! Germany? Wow! Really opens my eyes to how widely this thing is read. Thanks so much for following! Sorry to hear about regulation, hopefully you can still play?

I played on some apps during the COVID shutdown for a couple months but no longer. I am 100% live casino now, for better or worse. (Good: worse players, trust game integrity. Bad: fewer hands, higher variance, deal with unsavory characters.) If I ever come to your neck of the woods, I'll keep that in mind and stick to the beer gardens. Thank you for chiming in and best of luck.

Hi ReGen! Thanks for following! I see you posting in the omaha subforum too, thanks for chiming in here. Dealer's choice is one of my favorite formats, we played at a home game a couple weeks ago and it was amazing. Underground game? Ooh sounds vaguely scary and dangerous. Where are you from? Where'd you go for vacation?

My session last night was pretty brutal - was stuck most of the time and then finally was almost unstuck when I got AA333ss ai pre four ways, and heads up for a $1,300 side pot against AQQJ2ds ( +EV! ) and lost everything. Very sad.