DT,

Def wait for a similar job opp in a more desirable living area for you and not isolated from your friends and family

picked any guys up yet at the table?

Yeah, you. Remember?

Nah been kinda slim pickins lately. That guy I liked and I are good friends/poker buddies now at least, so there’s a positive development.

Does he like you? Should be able to tell by the way he looks at you.

Sounds like our guy got friend zoned

Finally a winning session, although not a big one. $230 1/3, $100 5-card. 1/3 AA v. KK l/rr GII flop low and hold. 5-card in for two BIs after lost with 87TJQds AI pre four ways, then with AJ998ddd on 986ss against T7. Ran it up with an AA 3! pot/jam flop and held then won a few smaller pots here and there. Nice to book a win for a change, lately all I'd been doing is losing!

No problems just being friends. They're hard to come by.

something is better than nothing

This is a terrible thought process. You’re not rolled to be playing 5/10 or whatever “higher stakes” is.

Certainly not rolled to be playing full time, I agree. But to play when the game looks juicy? I don’t see any major issues with sitting in the game when it looks good. And as for dropping down, I like the safety net of 1/3 when I’m running bad so if I happen to be playing poorly too my mistakes won’t cost me as much. Seems like basic BRM to me to limit my losses, and dropping down in stakes helps achieve that.

If the game was juicy you wouldn’t drop down after 70 hands to “stem the bleeding.” If you are then you’re not even rolled for a shot take.

If he’s a real quality guy ALWAYS keep a good friend over a quick fling, you never know when you’ll need a good friend you share common interest with

Very true. Word.

Tomayto tomahto.

“Shot taking” just means short stacking and hitting and running a game you can’t beat playing regularly with a full stack. You don’t need to be rolled for that.

Solid troll

Why does anyone care that I short stack anyway? Perhaps because it negatively affects your bottom line? Sorry I drag down the quality of “your” games, you entitled pros. Not everyone who sits in “your” games is there to just HAND you their money. Yes you will probably lose money to someone like me. Cry me a ***** river. I’m there to maximize my edge not yours. Get over it.

if you want to survive in poker you need to realise it's not all about being a selfish parasite

It's completely about being selfish, actually. Do you even play for a living? You don't seem to have a clue that poker is zero sum and at higher stakes extremely cutthroat. You can makes friends (so far I have made NONE at the 5/10 level...go figure), but most of your opponents are out to take your money, and you theirs. That's just reality.

To survive in poker, you very much DO need to put yourself first. That doesn't mean be a jerk or anything, but giving yourself in edge in the game should be your number one priority if you want to make it long-term. Why do you think people study off the tables? To be perceived as "a nice guy" when they absolutely OBLITERATE someone on the felt and take $1k+ off of them in a pot? Pfft.

Do you know how many people I play with dislike me because I win at poker (against them even)? Do you know how many times some reg has moved to get immediate position on me? Do you know how much deep-seeded, built up lifelong hostility and resentment is bubbling under the surface of almost every poker table just waiting to burst after a brutal beat?

Last night I sat down at 5-card and immediately got a quadruple up with AA. Did anyone at the table say "nice hand"? Hell no. I got a few frustrated sighs and a stare down from the guy to my left who I'm sure wanted to stack me the rest of the night. Once you reach a certain level, poker is no longer a friendly game among friends sitting around a kitchen table bantering. It's purely about making money at others' expense.

You really don't get it Dumbo. You're wrong about so many things there. You're perception is way off and you see everything through crap stained goggles. I feel bad for you that you spend so much time playing poker while having so much disdain for all the people around you. It's sad. It really doesn't have to be that way. Cheer up.

Poker is a game. People play for fun. Gambling is exciting. Of course it's more fun to win but I've seen people lose a lot more than 1k at in a pot to someone and still be enjoying themselves. Or at least they don't have deep seeded lifelong hostility and resentment. Sure there are some other negative people at the table like you. But most poker players are pretty chill in my estimation. A lot of the negativity directed at you probably has more to say about you then the other person. For example all the snarky and insulting comments you make at other people's expense. Of course you're going to receieve a lot of negativity back at you.

Try being more positive.

There are plenty of people who play for fun. My post wasn't really referring to them. My comment was more directed towards the serious regs/pros playing to make money by fleecing the fun players who don't mind losing those $1k pots. It's when those regs expect everyone to be a fun player that I see a problem. They think it's their game any anyone who threatens their ROI somehow shouldn't get a seat at the table. I've been guilty of this myself. And I see it in the comments in this thread all too often.

And I can't imagine someone playing full time who doesn't become cynical at some point. You see a lot of crap here every day that erodes your once optimistic view of human nature. If you've been following this thread at all you should have seen plenty of examples of that.

You don't seem to disagree with my basic premise that poker is zero sum and dog-eat-dog. The original post seemed to imply that poker was not about being selfish. Do you even agree with that? Or is your point just to tell me to lighten up? We seem to be two ships passing each other in the dark here. You're making an unrelated point.

And to be clear: I don't "have so much disdain for all the people around me." That's a ridiculous accusation. I will agree that I need to work on taking losing better, however. But that's a tall order when you're running really bad, accustomed to winning, and instead breaking even, basically spending your time only to get nothing in return.

Imagine going to work every day for a month and not getting paid despite trying your best. You'd probably want to punch your employer in the face.

100% of the people who are winners and play everyday that I've come across are very nice at the poker table. You could say that that is being selfish in a way because it benefits their bottom line to be nice. And they have zero cynicism. The cynical players I've encountered all happen to be big losers. And I've won more than I've lost playing poker and I play for fun. It's a mindset. I'm trying to play my best and win as much as I can but it's still a game and I still view it primarily as a way to have fun rather than make money.

Again whatever crap you are seeing from other players eroding your optimistic view of human nature is probably in some degree blowback from your own attitude, behavior, and response to other players.

What the other poster is saying about surviving in poker not being a selfish parasite means that there are numerous advantages to being a friendly, likable pro. Take Garrett Adelstein from LiveAtTheBike for example. Does that guy seem like he has the same mentality as you? No. Fun players want to play against him even though they know he is a beast at the game. Ask yourself why.

Most of the fun action players (or whales as you might call them) understand that they are playing a gambling losing style of poker. If someone put a gun to their head they could probably play a lot better. If they wanted to. But they don't want to. They enjoy gambling and they want to play a loose and fast style. Usually they are well off enough financially they can afford to lose big and they don't care. Of course they want to win but they are willing to gamble it up in order to have fun. Like people who play blackjack or craps, they're gambling for fun. These players will purposefully avoid players like you. They will refuse to give you action and play harder against you because of the way you see them and the way you see poker and the negativity you espouse. Poker at the highest levels is not about being predatory but about fostering a good fun environment for people to enjoy themselves. If it's your business you want repeat customers right? I'm not saying you have to play bad, but does it cost anything to be nice?

Shortstacking is not that bad but you also need to look at poker in a different lens then trying to get every edge you possibly can all the time. Hypothetically if the fun player comments that he doesn't like shortstacking then it might actually be very +EV for you to offer to add on more. Even if you think you have a bigger edge playing a shortstack at a table of deeper stacks.

Based on your posts you do have a lot of disdain for the majority of players around you. That's not ridiculous. You would do better to acknowledge that statement and try to change it, rather than run from it.

You have entitlement tilt. It's still gambling you aren't going to win everytime. Try to remove any expectations you have from playing and you will be better off. Embrace the nature of the beast. Embrace the variance. And you're wrong about wanting to punch someone over not getting paid. It probably happens at a lot of jobs. Salespeople, business owners, etc. More than just poker players can have a net zero month and view it as part of the game/job and not feel violent about it.

Good luck Dumbo, hoping you make some changes for the better.

The atmosphere there seems pretty drab

Yeah you're not punting heaps but you're also playing way too passive/weak and you're too worried about money and the post/hand above illustrates that. Folding a overpair on the flop to one donk bet from a rec who you have position on says money is affecting you and you're still playing scared. Nothing wrong with taking a responsible shot at bigger games especially when you feel the lineup is great to do so but not when you're timid and playing hands like the one you just described, you're either gonna be leaving money on the table or lighting it on fire. If you don't think your timid or scared then re-read that hand and the part in this post where you referred to being stuck 2k as a "downswing", um you're playing 2-5 and 5/10 which is not even close to one at those stakes. You're jumping stakes and game types all the time which is not conducive to you improving and getting better. You're going to get exploited by regs/good players frequently playing the way you are especially when you do jump to 5/10. Seems like your plenty rolled for 2/5 and playing where you do there should be plenty of games to select from at that level, maybe you should stick to that while working on your game. You really need to open up your game alot more, hopefully doing some off the table work helps with that. Its a old cliche in poker but what will also go a long way in opening up your game is to detatch yourself from money while at the table and to view your chips as ammo. GL this year OP!

I meant to quote this post in my previous post about where u play lol