Was up around $500 until I decided to punt it when I limped AhAc UTG and no one raised as I was anticipating (fairly active table). Flop Q-5-2hh. I bet, UTG+1 limper pro calls, rest fold. Turn: Jh. I check/call $40. River: 6s. I check, he bets $80, I c/r $375 since I don't think I am good but can get him to fold hands that beat me but can't call a large raise (QJ, perhaps). He calls after about 10 seconds with QJ. :/ Probably should have called or folded I guess. If there's any silver lining it's that when I take this line and have the goods I'll win a good chunk since he knows I can rep with just the blocker. Plus a lot of other regs saw this hand, hopefully they'll remember it and pay me off eventually.

Left up $16. Hooray.

1/3 while waiting. Repped nut flush in limped pot with Ac8d this time c/r turn $40 jammed river $125 and got called by 95o on 34c6c7cTs. I’m seriously done with trying this.

2/5 bled down slowly until I got KK and opened CO, BTN 3! (he’d been 3! me a lot LP v. BTN), I 4!, he jams $300 effective I snap he has AA. What a cooler. That’s it. -$600.

At least the bartender at this karaoke bar knows I like extra oranges with my shock top. Plus finished a big deadline for work today so happy about that. Long term....

Probably my best 2/5 session tonight, not necessarily in terms of results (only made $150), but level of play. Went for value in spots I might have once checked, bluff raised river with good blockers and got it through this time. Really happy with how I played. It was a pretty tough table to top it off, lots of winning regs (and a couple fun players here and there, of course). Held my own. I'll take it! Needed to break the losing streak at some point too.

A few HHs:

Open TsTh BTN, BB defends. Flop AJ5ss. We both check. Turn: 3s. BB leads $20, I call. River: Qd. BB leads $45, I raise $105, he tank folds.

Call MP1 open in BB with JJ. Flop K83r. I check/call $25. Turn: 8. I check, V checks. River: K. I lead $50, V calls and mucks.

Iso EP limper with JhJs. We're heads up. Flop 9-5-5hh, He c/c $20. Turn: Ts. He c/c $40. River: 3h. He c/c $60. MHIG against ATo.

1/3 last night while waiting for 2/5. QQ held, A7hh flopped nut flush draw and GII against shorty and I got there. Ended up $275.

2/5 was all right. BTN opened, I 3! with AKo, we GII and I improve against his 99. Then bleed down a little and bluffcatch with QcQh on Kc-9s-8s-Tc-Ad against V who had been doing plenty of bluffing and lost to 98 on check/check flop, call $50 turn, call $80 river. Down $100 in 2/5.

Finished another work deadline. On a roll!

Back at it tonight!

I was up around $300 in the 2/5 when LAG on tilt raises $50, one caller, I 3! AhAc $225, rec running hot cold calls, rest fold. Flop Kd-6d-3h. I open jam $375, V tank calls, I table the goods, runout 6-6. He instantly shouts "quads!" and tables 76cc. Smh. Funny thing about this hand is that he had folded quads a prior hand with a raise and 3! to $125 and we all encouraged him not to fold next time. Second funny thing was as soon as he cold called pre the guy next to me and I joked that I was drawing dead. Well....

Ran it up a little at 1/3, then hopped back into a 2/5 where I called some "ready to go home" dude's open jam for $150 6-handed with AQo and won against his K9. Then made nut flush ott in multiway pot with AKdd and got value ott, but V folded river.

The 2/5 has had a very party/drinking/friendly vibe among the regs recently. It's great.

Ended up $209 overall. Friday night, feel all right. My 2/5 hourly at the 200-hour mark is now $60.

Forgot to mention earlier in session (how I got up $300 to begin with) I 3! AKo against rec player's UTG open in straddled pot to $135, he tank ships $300, I snap. Previously he had opened 23dd UTG, so this was an extremely easy 3!/call. Runout: 3-3-9-9-3. I table, he MUCKS?! Says "you're so lucky" and storms off. I guess he had 22 and didn't realize the board played.

I'll be around tonight if anyone wants to say hi. Wearing gray Dumbo shirt.

Played 2/5 while waiting for seat at 5/10 (looked good). Ended up $400 in 2/5 when called over. L/rr KK, took it down pre. Then flat JJ BB over SB iso to $70, UTG limper calls. Flop: J-Q-8dd. SB leads $125, I raise $325, limper flats, SB raises to $1,350, I call AI for $600, limper flats again with $1,500 behind. Turn: 4d. Limper jams, SB says "gross," and calls it off, river is 9s and we both muck to limper's A2dd. SB says he had 88 for bottom set. Sick.

Play 2/5 some more and run it up $280, so ended up around $80 tonight. Between the JJ hand in 5/10 and AA against 76cc last night, I should be up $3,500. Instead I am up $280....

Home game, up $40 after a rocky start, then MGM 2/5 while waiting for 5/10. Feel like I may be overdoing the 5/10 lately, will cut back before I regret overextending my roll. (At least I buy in min $600.)

Up $280 in 2/5, another $100 in the 5/10. Made a set of JJ again at 5/10, this time flop was Ac-Jc-4c three ways. I bet flop/jammed turn, both Vs folded. If I had bet any smaller on turn I would have left myself an extremely awkward river bet and if a club or broadway card rolled off and someone jammed I would be hating life.

Happy Orthodox Easter!

What city is your MGM casino in?

Good job and nice win rate.

Marsh

Thanks! It’s in Oxon Hill, Maryland (“National Harbor”) on the border with VA and DC.

You know you've been playing a lot of poker when you dream of flopping a set of deuces and turning quads on an A-A-2-2 runout . . . and wake up disappointed the dream wasn't real.

2/5 was meh. Early on folded to me and I opened BTN with 99, SB called, BB 3! $95, I decided to just go with it here an shipped $280, BB called and I lost on 5-7-8-T-4 runout against QQ. Too bad he was a the top of his range. (Granted, I was pretty strong for a BTN open myself. Should I have waited for a better spot and folded pre anyway?)

Never really recovered from that hand. Fluctuated stuck between $300 and $600 until I finally left around 3:30 down $470. Got 3! pre a lot this session (by nits and OMCs), seems I kept running into big hands all night. Once in a straddled pot, three limps and I make it $65 in SB with QQ, BB reg calls, straddler ships for $550 effective (every time he shipped it post-flop he had the nuts), we all fold....

Another hand, rec player opens UTG $40, UTG+1 3! $140, I fold AKo in LP.

I open KhKc UTG, reg chick calls BTN, flop Q-T-3ss. I check once for pot control against a good player, she checks behind. Turn: 4h, bringing bdfd too. I bet $30 into $40, she raises to $125, I fold. :/

It was one of those nights. On the bright side, almost every time I saw a flop or turn with AK I made top pair. So that's something. Downside: every time I called a raise with a small or mid-pp I didn't flop a set. So it was a wash.

Reg chick from the hair incident a couple weeks ago said something to her neighbor about playing 18-hour sessions. I said I could never do that today, can't play well. She said "that's because you're weak." As soon as the seat to my immediate left opened, she changed to it after losing two pots in a row to me. Weak? Lol.

And at some point in the evening a "lady of the night" came by our table, asked no one in particular what game this was, and placed her hand on the back of my chair.... She was wearing a tight pink mini-skirt and pink pumps, and tons of makeup of course. Any choice pickup lines I should have used?

Over 50,000 views on the thread! Hooray! I'm glad I started it and kept it up. Hopefully it's been as useful for others as much as it has been for me. Thanks for reading, giving me sh*t, and cheering me on. Back at it tonight.

way to nitty of a fold with KK there. i would always call that raise and evaluate river. other than a turned set of 4's i dont see you losing to much ott. all 2 pair+ hands are betting that flop. feels like she bluffed you to me

Why are we pot controlling the KK hand? The board is wet, we're not holding any spades, button call... unless we're ** very deep ** , I'm betting that flop.

Button raise, sb calls, I like squeezing here quite a bit from the BB. If I get rid of the button and just the SB calls, I'm in position the rest of the hand. 99 on the button with only $280.. unless I know this is a super nit, I'm not folding here.

"Any choice pickup lines I should have used?"

- Hey, I'm "Dumbo"
- Wow, I was thinking about wearing those same pink pumps.. that would have been awkward.
Really?
No

Are you playing Sat? I'm adding in 1/3 Sat sessions at MGM NH to get in some additional hours to balance my 2/5/10 (rock) and 5/5 private games.

I think this is a call unless its a OMC or you have great reads about him preflop

What was the plan for the AA hand UTG? Was this a limp reraise attempt or something else? I know a lot of people shun the AA/KK ep reraise, personally, I use it myself sometimes but I balance hands like A5s-A3s, JTs-98s, a small portion of the time depending on stacks and dynamics. I make sure to show the 3,4,5 if I get the folds when I'm trying to set an image as a lagtard.

Agreed with this statement. If I'm on the straddle, I see a lot of free money with a big enough raise with fold equity. If he has the 16 combos of AK here a reasonable amount of the time, we're burning money in my opinion. We're worried about only 12 combos of AA,KK... if he's shipping with the 1 combo of QQ and 6 combos of JJ in this configuration, it's even more of a call in my opinion.

I forgot to say:

Love the blog as always, I'm glad you're sharing the journey.

Thanks for the feedback on all the hands, folks. Really appreciate it. Afterwards about the KK hand I thought I might have been bluffed, but she's also kinda a rock so I'm not so sure. Checking/betting turn looks kinda fishy/like an underpair (JJ-TT), or AKhh, and she could have been raising something I beat (AQ?) for protection; probably should have called and evaluated river. If she's a good enough player and was bluffing she'd bomb river too and I would probably have to lay it down anyway. I think it's borderline either way. Better to just bet flop next time so I don't level myself.

The straddler jammed without even thinking about it, plus I had been pretty card dead and hadn't raised in a while. My image plus his post-flop image - *always* having it when he shipped - made me fold. Maybe a bad laydown there with QQ.

AA plan was l/rr, yes.

I like "Hey, I'm Dumbo" the best. Then she be like "Whaat?"

Last night/today was a great end to the month, up $1,650. Beat my March numbers, which I wanted to do. Huzzah! Biggest hand was calling $15 open with 22, older rec guy in SB min-3! to $30, we both call. Flop: A-2-9. SB continues, fold, I call. Turn: A. SB continues, I raise, he ships $650, I snap, MHIG. He said after this hand, "You make a lot of money with deuces?" Didn't really know how to respond. All I could muster was "Yeah, usually when all the money goes in with a set of 22 I'm behind. I got lucky this time." Earlier won another sizeable pot with AQo. Weak player opens UTG, I 3! UTG+1 $55, SB (older Asian but not nit) cold calls, UTG calls. Flop: 6-6-2dd. I cbet $70. Only SB calls. Turn: 5s. I keep telling my story to the tune of $125. He tanks a while and calls. River: Ad. He fires $275, I snap, he says good call and tables 88. I ranged him on an OP, not as concerned with diamonds to be honest. I don't think a flush draw tanks that long to call ott.

Finished the night with a shock top at the table. No prostitutes this time.

Yeah, I'll most likely be there Saturday. What's 2/5/10 (rock)? 1/3 is a rake trap.

I should be there by about 7am. Concerning 1/3, yup, I'm just going for the entertainment value. A rock is a fake chip that acts as a straddle. When the rock is applied, actions starts to the left of it. If someone wins the pot with the rock in it, they get to keep it and use it in any position up until the button passes.

It juices pots, I don't love it, but if recs in my games want it, cool with me.

The less committed we feel and against a good opponent, I think checking an overpair OOP a decent amount of the time is fine. Against a face up calling station fish who'll politely let us know when we're no good, by all means, lets bet/bet/bet to fold.


Lol, I use similar lines like this a lot. Probably too much.

GthinksI'm50%morefunnierthanIactuallyamG

I omitted this one from last night. Already shared it with some poker buddies off thread:

I open TT EP $20, BTN (older fish from 22 hand - before that hand happened) calls, HU to Td-9d-4c flop. He stabs a lot when checked to IP so I check it here. He checks behind. Turn: Kd. QJ and diamonds got there. I bet $15, he now raises to $45, I call. River: 3s. I check, he bets $45, I call and fastroll since I am super underrepped. He says "Oh, I have a set, too." He had 99 for set over set otf. We were $750 effective. This should have been a $1,500 pot. It was a $200 pot.

*Crying.*

#nevercheckingtopseteveragain

I feel your pain. Even from a bad player, I'm really surprised we don't see a bet with 99 on that board. Ok, I can understand where Gobbledygeek is coming from with the KK hand OOP (although with most players, I'm definitely taking the CLP bet/fold line of thinking), but this is a set. The board smacks the button calling range square in the face, let's get some money in and do a few mental fist pumps. Obviously the turn is terrible, but I expect to get quite a bit of action on the flop.

My guess is that if you overbet the flop with top set every single time it would likely average out to be the best play.

Gjustguessin'G

Made $50 my last session in April. No big hands to speak of. Folded a ton.

Ended the month up just shy of $5,300 in around 170 hours. Beat my March numbers, which is all I wanted to do. Last couple of months have been $30/hr. or so, well below my overall 2/5 hourly. But those numbers include home games and the occasional 1/3 session as well. Can't complain.