Lost both my dsAA ai pre, once versus a crappy dominated rundown and the other against another dsAA...-$800 that way...missed a couple draws, lost nearly all my profits from 5/5. Bah humbug!

So close…!!

I DID IT!! Yaaaaaaaaus…!

A few hands from my change-of-pace session at mdl that took me over the $100,000 threshold for the year! Wore a Santa hat for Christmas cheer and it seemed to bring me luck.

AAK65ds 3/4'd a ssAA AI pre.

KK ai pre won a side pot against two other players all in but lost the main pot to AQJ98.

Flopped wheel wrap with redraw and turned the nut straight, potted it and got called by broadway inside wrap and gutter (the latter which I shared), we ended up chopping, both making the nut straight against the third player's set. Got moved to a lame looking main game and called it a session. That's pretty much it.

Are you going to take the rest of the year off to lock up the 100k?

Nah, now I’m going for $105,000. I’m just happy to reach this point at all, nice little milestone.

It’s arbitrary anyway, as long as the games are good and I’m playing well I should get in there, right?

Had a weird dream…left class where the teacher was a floor person from mgm, I told her I needed to return my scooter and she suggested I leave it in my car in the garage. I entered the elevator and a woman tried to get in at the last minute and got her arm stuck in the door and partially tore it off. I called 911. Then I woke up and wondered if I would have mcguivered it and torn off my shirt and made a makeshift tourniquet, maybe boring a ruler from a nearby classroom too.

Weird.

I would like to do something fun for the holidays: you all are welcome to guess my final net profit number for the year (I will keep playing through year's end), and the person closest to the actual number gets a free copy of my PLO5 strat guide and 10-minute hand history review session. Right now I am right around $100k and there are 12 days left in the year. I will probably play 11-12 sessions during this period. Your guess must be locked in by 11:59pm on December 26th. Sound like a fun freeroll? Guess away!

I am guessing first: $103,559. (Did I mention that if I win, no one gets the guide or review session? Bah humbug!)

Down $1,200 5/T, AKs all in pre versus another AKs and…98s $1,000 pre..no straddle on either…ep $30, co $125, sb cold call, hero bb 4! jams, call, 98s calls behind. Can’t make this stuff up people are so bad. Plo now.

Clawed back after that brutal 5/T hand, made $799 at plo and almost got unstuck on the day, beating this crusher who's had my number a lot in a couple 3! pots with ss/dsAA, turning or rivering the nut flush, but losing a doozy with KKT96 in a 4! pot when I turned a big wrap on 3487 with a flush draw I didn't have, (fish) V bet $600 into the side pot, and lost the side pot and main pot to V's naked 56 for the straight.

Still waiting on any votes to be cast. For those with more of a hold 'em background, can substitute the plo guide for a copy of my old no limit short stacking guide I wrote a couple years ago for the contest winner.

Happy holidays!

How often do u shove pre with AKs?

Last night crusher pro and I chatted more than we have in the past as we were seated right next to each other (I was to his left...sometimes people are a little nicer to you when you are seated to their immediate left I've noticed!). We talked how long we'd been playing, he was grinding micros 10 years ago in college and has been playing much longer than me, he thought I'd been playing similarly long and was genuinely impressed when he found out I'd only been playing for 4+ years. I told him how I used to be the drunk tourist on my trip to Vegas years ago that the regs probably salivated over (thankfully I did not have deep pockets and usually left rather quickly). He's into chess, I told him I was/am into magic: the gathering, although I play less these days than I used to.

At one point he also got salty with this other tricky, good reg who has gotten the better of me in lots of spots, calling him a donkey. Lol, I think I've done the same to this player too tbh. It was nice to hear I was not the only good player who he got under their skin with his crazy plays and lets out a little disgust.

In other news, many people dislike the newish must move system for plo. There's only one must move and the rest are main games, they have instituted all sorts of new rules to discourage transferring, and last night a player got so upset he was asked to leave the juicy must move that he threatened to self-ban from mgm! Apparently they don't make it easy because as he went from person to person asking how to do it they kept sending him to a different place. Eventually it was discovered that you have to self-ban from all casinos in MD and apparently cannot ban from just one location. He's a reader of the vlog and congratulated me on my year. I won with AA against his wheel in a pot on A34 (I had AA2 with backdoor hearts and he had 256xx) and I got lucky on the river. He's always a good sport and reminded me to keep playing great. Will do!

It depends on the situation. I really cannot answer that question in a vacuum because I do not keep track, but generally under a certain number of BBs its perfectly fine do get it in pre with AKs. A really good player a while back told me he only 4! AA,KK, and AKs for value and he was one of the biggest winners at 5/T.

Congrats on the $100K year Dumbo, really awesome accomplishment! Seems like only yesterday I was offering you lol advice on how to deal with live lol 1/3 NL steaks (especially the mental part of it at the table, which, honestly, it seemed might be a struggle for you) but you quickly moved on to higher/better incredibly quickly... and successfully. Nice job.

G$100K+treefiddy,ldoG

Good going. $106, 250 for my guess.

THANKS GG! You go way back in this thread and my journey from my free hyper turbo donkament bar poker league days. Much love to you and the other supporters. I'm so grateful for you all encouraging me (and discouraging me from my bad habits). My success is yours, my 2+2 mentors.

Speaking of mental game, I was just watching a Phil Galfond tips video and one piece of advice he gave stuck with me - thing happen for a reason, don't get upset, accept that sometimes those things are going to happen (like a flight getting delayed, or losing at poker against a fun player in an unlucky way). The crusher I was talking to last night reminded me how I used to get a little visibly upset when I lost to him, maybe he noticed that didn't really happen anymore as much. $$ helps, so does mindset. Next time I see him I will ask to exchange info, always trying to build the network.

LOVE YOU ALL!

I like your optimism.

Last night called a 3! co v. sb with T9s at 5/T, whiffed, left for plo where I was quite card dead much of the session except for two hands, AQJT6ds ai pre against two JJxs and bad KK, I had amazingly good equity multiway and flopped top two, but not one but TWO players went runner runner wheel with their 52 danglers. Gotta love the donks. Then 5! AA833 for $800 and got my last $100 in on Q-high rainbow flop heads up and won against KQ855 to book a $375 plo win, minus the 3! at 5/t, for around a $200 profit. It was a slow day overall so I was happy to win at all. Got extra sleep today and feel fresh. Donned my Santa hat and shouted "ho, ho plo" all night. Seems I got a lump of coal in my stocking though because I was utterly card dead!

Card dead can be boring but is cheap. Lump of coal is getting AAds often and losing 3 out of 4 or worse.

Maybe so, but personally I prefer the opportunity to win big over a guarantee of BE/losing a little!

Last night's session opened TT EP at 5/T/25, got an AK-high flop, yippie, cbet once HU, got called, and V donked turn, so I let it go, got called for PLO where I was stuck pretty quicky, getting it in a few times preflop multiway (bleh) and losing. The last one was the worst: AAJ66ds, last person to call my shove had A7346 and made a boat, and immediately racked up. "Hit and run champion," I said. Then I got an earful from V about how I only pay one hand an hour and just try to get lucky with AA. "You'd be upset too," I said, adding, "one thing I don't do, I don't hit and run." Eventually I was stuck over $1k and our game broke and I got a seat at a pretty juicy game, finally started getting hands and improving postflop and getting paid off, making disciplined laydowns, like J6 on J73J6 versus river c/r. After a few hours I was up almost $800 and booked the win. Back over $100k again. This time I think it really is $100k because I had a $300 tournament loss I did not count from a few weeks ago.

A few more hands from last sesh:

- call blind open with AQJ55 nut hearts, fop 579hh, bottom set plus nfd, very nice, whale donks pot, I re-pot $340, V calls. Turn: 9, pairing top card. Here I got a little unnecessarily gunshy and checked back at spr 1.25, I think I should be shoving hoping to get called by 86/9x, but not terrible to have some boats in check back range since V can often put me on 86 too and think I disliked the board pair and try to bluff river. River: another 9! Sheesh, now I lose to all higher pocket pairs. But V checks and I take my showdown value and beat bare 86.

- open AQJT9ds, multiway to AT3ss, pot it, three callers (good game), turn: A. Bink. Bet half pot, not really need to protect against much except AK which has like 8% against me, two callers, river: 4, jam $485 into $1,200, get called by A4, ez game. Player comments I always find a way to play one hand per hour and get the triple up, "the best." Lol.

- call with QQJ44ds, flop K43r, tight opener pots into the field, next to act calls, we are quite deep and I just fold. Bettor check/folds 33 to next to act's pot sized bet ott, V shows A56ss with nut spades and mucks his other two cards. KK? I cannot understate how much money I have saved not stacking off with middle and bottom sets every time. It must be a fortune. Sometimes I value own myself in these spots but I try to do so sparingly.

- get KK all in pre, TT667 all in pre, AKJ96 (short stacks/loose openers, I was actually ahead lol), lose all three. I always go back and forth whether it's sufficiently +EV to get in these mutliway shove fests, like is pushing a 2-5% edge even worth it? Meh, I guess it's good for my image.

Ran well at 2/5 and 5/5 for +$3,900! Yippie! Now over $10k month, surpassing my expectations. But historically December has been a good moth for me, so it's not a shocker.

Biggest pots were QQ in 3! pot on Q-high flop, V called twice and donked flush-completing river, but he had bluffed me earlier and I had the Q of the flush suit so too many reasons to call.

5/5, called a 3! with AKJ97ds pure A-high K-high and gii three ways on JT4r with both my backdoor flush draws and a double gutter and top pair, I and third V chopped 3!ttors money on Q river. Also got AA in pre against another AA and non-AA hand and chopped up non-AA's money.

Actually you prefer the probability of winning big over a guaranteed BE. You make your money from those who merely are looking for the opportunity and thus play poorer hands as after all they will win if they hit. Given in my example I had removed the chance(I defined you as missing the good starting hands) I think you prefer BE and bored to losing big because you got unlucky. Finish the year on a sun run.

Well I think you know what I was getting at...! Maybe I would actually be happier not being stuck a lot. Hmm...it's just so boring folding nonstop too.

Will do! If I could I would revise my guess to something closer to $108,000 at this point. Anyway, still taking guesses until the 26th for those interested. So far it's just polarbear and me.

Yes I understood your point. The fact that you can get bored playing properly but still have the discipline to play properly is one of the major reasons you are doing as well as you do. Give yourself credit for it as it is not easy to do.

$105,500