Yeah think I misread your opening paragraph , oops my mistake

Um. No. 6.7% is not low for state income tax, especially as an effective rate not accounting for deductions/exemptions. 6.7% is higher than the top marginal tax rate for 37 states, and of those whose top tax rate is significantly higher (I used 8%+) only in Iowa does a 100K income put a single filer in the top tax bracket (8.53%). The rates you hear like 13.3% for California only kick in for income over a million dollars.

I mean, your basic point is sound, especially the self-employment tax part, but state income tax is super variable among live poker hubs, from zero (Florida and Nevada) to (at your 100K earnings estimate) 9.9% in California. This is part of the reason that many of us were trying to convince OP to stay in Texas, rather than moving to Cali.

Point taken. I didn’t do a lot of research. I saw Bart Hanson had a video that talks about why paying your taxes and investing is better, and now I see people (usually the people you know are broke and not practicing what they are saying) start to repeat it. There is a reason the majority of the live low stakes “poker pro’s” are not paying their taxes and living off the grid. And that reason is that it is very hard to grow your bankroll and stay in the game if you follow the rules.

My eyes are bleeding.

Versus an utg nit, not so much. Versus anyone else sure.

Thank you guys! I really appreciate the analysis. I don't know if this is the best place for a back and forth on strat so I'll leave the discussion up to you all for the most part. The feedback is great though, willing/want to improve from every hand.

Also, thank you for keeping the criticism constructive. It makes writing out the HHs more worthwhile.

RickRoll- No worries that you don't play often. You think about the game very well imo. I enjoy reading your thought process. tyty.

This thread will have a lot of life, random stuff mixed in it so might as well poast some poker hands as well. Just keep in mind that these are just a small fraction of the hands I'm playing. The interesting/stoopid/tricky spots are a small % of hands played, of course.

Thanks Garick. Remember, I moved to CA because A) I can live with my mom B) game selection at mid/high stakes among the best in the world. Even better than TX.

Submerged- welcome! You're also forgetting about a plethora of deductions etc.

For example, you can claim 50% of what you pay in SE tax as an income tax deduction.

OK, enough tax talk jeez.

Source: While I studied finance- I took several accounting classes, such as income tax accounting. I may become a CPA for fun one day.

Random 6-max hands from yesterday

Feel free to share your thoughts.

HH 1: Rate my Spew

Main Villain is new to the table. No reads.

100NL 6-max
stinkf1sh (SB): $110
Smb_poker (BB): $135
Sugardadyy (UTG): $100
1ArmdBandit (CO): $205
Hero (BTN): $100

Sugardaddyy (UTG) opens $2.50. I call 56ss. 3-betting this most of the time vs regs.

Flop ($6.50): 8s-4h-8h. V $4.50. I $15. V calls.

Turn ($36.50): 8s-4h-8h-Kh. V checks. I $25. Thoughts before results?


HH2: JJs facing l/rr

BTN is an aggro, but good reg.

UTG is also an aggro, but bad reg. Don’t remember seeing him l/rr before. No notes on that.

60NL 6-max
Hero (SB): $85
Dopamin123 (BB): $60
DaddyJune (UTG): $70
Zinno (MP): $200
Doublezero (CO): $70
YungGuav (BTN): $120

DaddyJune (UTG) limps. YungGuav (BTN) $2.40. I $9.00 with JhJs. UTG shoves $70.00. BTN folds. Hero?

What range are you 3-betting with given the player types + configuration?


HH 3: Raising Flop C-bet Pt. 1

V is a nitty but good reg.

60NL 6-max
vivito444 (SB): $80
Barba_rossa (BB): $120
SDMaxOn (UTG): $130
Bigg1ee (MP): $105
Limp_Call (CO): $120
Hero (BTN): $60

SDMaxON (UTG) opens $1.80. I call BTN with QJdd.

Flop ($4.50): As-Kd-9d. V $1.65. I $5.85. Thoughts?


HH 4: Raising Flop C-bet Pt. 2

V is super nitty. Reg.

60NL 6-max
Limp_Call (SB): $135
Hero (BB): $60
SA KING (UTG): $90
SDMaxON (MP): $265
Dubeezy (CO): $40
Barba_rossa (BTN): $70

SA KING (UTG) limps. Dubleezy (CO) $2.40. I call BB with A5ss. I think all options should be OK here but I had UTG marked as a fish so I thought calling was best, hoping he’d call as well.

Flop ($5.70): Qd-Qs-4s. I check. V $3.80. I x/r $12. Thoughts?

I'll write some responses later but don't want this to become the rick astley plays chess thread so I'll hold off comments for now and instead ask questions.

Do you think you're reraising more than the general population or that the sample of hands you share here are heavily skewered to spots where you 3! pre or reraise on early streets?

If you're more aggro than the general population, can you defend why?

Obviously, you need to break free from the molds in order to improve, move on up, etc. The reason how I knew that other guy was a micro player is because they are so stuck in ideology that it prevents them from deviating and thus they never improve their game and are still playing micros many years later since all their study and dedication is spent just learning to keep treading water. But, I'll say this with a huge caveat. Established norms are generally that way because of a history of being successful. There may be better paths to follow, but you can't simply be bushwacking and need to have a plan. Everyone who ever made a big impact on the scene the way you are looking to do so discovered a population tendency that was incorrect and they deviated enough to exploit.

One of the most memorable hands I ever played in Macau was where I had AKo from the btn and 3! the utg+1 whale who was vpipping like 80 and raising everything pretty large. I was ecstatic when he called and then the flop came as my favorite metal band, king, rag, rag. He bet nearly a pot amount and I couldn't contain my glee and just put him all in. Was mentally celebrating a pot large enough to pay off my student loans when he flipped over KK.

Now, there was no way I was ever getting away from this hand. Especially since an ace came on the turn. Zero chance I was ever folding and we had so much committed pre that stacks were getting in regardless. Just one of those situations where I'm losing a whole bunch of chips no matter what. But I still learned an extremely valuable lesson afterwards during a smoke break with a couple of the other regs at the table. I was upset over the bad luck of the whale getting KK when I had AK, everyone else was telling me it didn't matter. The fact this guy held KK or how he played it was irrelevant because I wasn't playing with a purpose, just trying to get my chips in the middle vs him.

I realized that I simply had tunnel vision. I saw the donkey playing back at me when I had tptk and I just wanted to get the stack in as fast as possible. I didn't stop to think what my raise tells him and what kind of hand would continue. If he were bluffing, then I just put an end to that. If he had something like KJ or QQ then he could somehow now find a fold. By raising instead of just calling, I severely limited the range of hands that could continue against me to the point where my AK beat very little. I was so focused upon the "bad beat" that I failed to realize had it not been KK but AJ etc then I would have won a much smaller pot than if I just called. I had position, there were two more streets ahead where he could continue bluffing at it. Yet I instead decided to play a game tree where I either take down a pot of 80bb or had 30% equity in 300bb pot instead of 85%+ equity in a 80bb that was quite certain to reach 300bb anyway

So your whale never calls a flop shove with just one pair?

this was my exact thinking at the time "oh sweet he has a pair, let's make that money"

I also included him calling with those sometimes, if you checked those equity calculations you'd see it included some pairs

if i just call there the SPR is still <2, extremely unlikely any single pair hand that calls flop shove wouldn't also bomb (or at least check/call) turn as well if i just flat

but more importantly, his range is really bluff heavy here as i heavily block the hands that like this flop and it's pretty difficult for him to keep bluffing when i put him all in

This call pre is burning money, considering the rake. As played, the flop is ok, but I'd xb turn and fire a lot of rivers. Kx is great for his flop bc range. He's got a lot of overs + bdfd and it really never improves our range and we could just be drawing dead.

Yes, once you decided to live at home, this decision made a lot more sense. At the time though, you weren't talking about that, but about getting your own place and/or poker roommates. And the mid/high stakes selection is only an issue once you get the experience/roll to be a mid-stakes+ player. But w/e. I'm not trying to convince you to move back to Texas. I was just referencing the tax issues we were discussing at the time.

Great points and questions as always. I'm just going to answer in bullet format with different points. I'm not referencing anything in particular with each one.

1) I think I'm more aggro than the general population, yes. The hands I'm sharing are definitely skewed in that I'm not posting AA vs KK, set over set, flush over flush, etc. Also usually not sharing the times where I call 88s pre and x/f KQx vs c-bet.

2) My VPIP in 6-max recently seems to be between 20-25% for reference (I check occasionally on a per table basis- career stats are skewed) which is not loose at all- in part considering my RFI in the SB and otb is much higher than that, as it should be. Also, this is 6-max not full ring. I am aware of the implications of a high rake structure and try to adjust accordingly.

3) The ecosystem is mainly whales and nits in the 40NL and 60NL PokerBros 6-max games. At 100NL I'd say there are some really solid players who could play 5/10 live profitably, but that's just my estimation. I'm not the best judge of that. I can tell you that the games have gotten significantly harder over time, as expected. I put effort into game selecting, however the juiciest tables usually have long waiting lists so I'm typically playing B-C games with alright/good regs.

4) While I'm playing for profit, I'm more so using the online grind to get into a ton of spots and improve my understanding of the game. Winning 2 bb/100 and 7bb/100 at these stakes legit has not impact on my finances despite the multitabling. Doesn't mean I don't take it seriously- I definitely do- but I don't feel the need to perfect my play in a lot of spots or have my ranges constructed wonderfully. So I tend to use my intuition more than most winning regs. Yeah I'm burning money at times but my success rate in a lot of these spots is quite high. This isn't just confirmation bias- I review a lot of my HHs afterwards.

5) I am exploiting all the nits that are looking for surefire spots vs the nits with my aggression, typically. Most people underbluff xyz spot so I get a lot of credit. This is similar to live where the meh regs are OK with letting a shark walk all over them at times since they're bum hunting. I want to be the shark not the meh reg. Waiting for easy spots is w/e. Doesn't require brain power.

Appreciate the story. Hope my thoughts give you the insight you or anyone with similar questions were looking for.

Don’t fold 88 on KQx

Random 6-max hands from yesterday

Feel free to share your thoughts.

HH 1: TPGK facing flop raise

V is loose passive with VPIP between 33-50. No relevant reads/notes.

60NL 6-max
SDMaxOn (SB): $80
DangerRuss (BB): $60
Poker756268 (UTG): $80
Hero (MP): $75
n1nernat1on (CO): $90
Limp_call (BTN): $60

I open KsQh $2.10. BB calls.

Flop ($4.50): Qs-4s-5c. BB x. I $3. BB x/r $8.70. Hero?

HH2: QQs Line Check

Main V is loose passive with a 33-50% VPIP. Note on him is: “Just called river with 33s on K-10-4-5-3 in a SRP w/ no flush avl.”

40NL 6-max
takeitdown88 (SB): $50
fish1969 (BB): $40
Poker809473 (UTG): $40
Pharcyde (MP): $15
Mborea27 (CO): $55
Hero (BTN): $40

I raise QdQc to $1.20. SB calls.

Flop ($2.80): 8d-5d-2h. SB x. I $1.86. SB calls.

Turn ($6.50): 8d-5d-2h-9c. I continue $5.14. SB x/r $10.28. I call.

River ($27.00): 8d-5d-2h-9c-6h. SB bets $18. Hero?

Weakest hand you’re calling in this spot as a default vs. this player type?

HH 3: AA 5 ways

Every V is recreational at this table. Game selecting ftw .

60NL 6-max
JR 4KIK (SB): $70
BLM (BB): $140
Niceguy93 (UTG): $5
Hero (MP): $80
YtzyGame1 (CO): $60
Spoonzisk (BTN): $55

CO posts $0.60. UTG limps. I $3.30 AcAh. CO calls. SB calls. BB calls. UTG AI $5.00. I call (can’t raise). CO cals. SB calls. BB calls.

I try to size appropriately to be able to re-open the action but I’m not sure if that was really possible here. Didn’t expect the shortstack AI or for this to go 5 ways, of course.

Flop ($25): Jc-9d-10h. SB x. BB x. UTG already AI. CO still left to act. Hero?

HH 4: KKs vs maniac

V is a whale/maniac who’s been multitabling…. >50% VPIP, attacks weakness, pretty aggressive pre and post and I’ve been bumhunting this guy religiously for a few days now. No relevant meta though. Omitting his username.

60NL 5-handed
---- (SB): $170
Astros62494 (BB): $110
Hero (UTG): $140
Barba_rossa (CO): $100
KUJayhawks (BTN): $40

I open KsKd $2.10. V calls.

Flop ($4.80): Qs-10s-8s. V x. I bet $3.20. V calls.

Turn ($11.20): Qs-10s-8s-8c. V x. I bet $9.26. V calls.

River ($29.75): Qs-10s-8s-8c-5c. V x. I bet $26. V x/r $52. Hero?

So, I’ve caught this guy bluffing several times before, in a plethora of different sized pots- but this seems pretty nutted. He seems to go bigger when bluffing, but small sample size + he’s pretty unorthodox so keeps us guessing.

Thoughts?

QQ:

If it's hard for villain to have a bluff at lower stakes (most bluffs got there or villain now has at least a pair), villain probably isn't bluffing. You also block quite a few of villains potential bluffs with the Qd. You will have some straights, 2pair, sets and overpairs (that don't block villains bluffs). Having AA is much better than QQ because AA atleast blocks some A7s hands that got there OTR. QdQx isnt doing much for you.

If villain is loose passive I'm overfolding river and happy about it. Vs a better villain I bluffcatch hands with the best blockers/unblockers. What are villains most likely 7x hands? Call with hands that block those. I think it's possible that people bet worse than a staight for value for this sizing sometimes, but most likely people don't. So blocking sets/2pair should be pretty irrelevant unless they also block 7x.

Makes sense. Thanks mate

Ramblings of a degen

Running OK, playing well, ten days into officially being a poker pro.

Up over 15 buyins which is cool but I’m making a lot of mistakes across the board and the money is insignificant anyways so w/e.

A-game freq over 80% ime.

Only 4-tabling (max for one acc), but also taking lots of pics for review, taking lots of notes on V’s, answering texts & emails simultaneously etc. so OK w/ that volume. Think I could do like 15 w/out all that other stuff though. Time banks ftw

Performance levels good. In the zone most of the time.

Doing about 7 hours of poker a day, based on OP criteria.

Honestly loving the online grind, even when getting crushed. I like the intensity. If I’m still playing online a year from now, I’d like to be regging 400nl+ though. On bros, if it’s still running.

Idk I play like dog sheeyit atm but delusions of grandeur and people telling me I can’t do this and that at an ultra high level drive me.

The intellectual stimulation is awesome. I’d rather do it for more moniez but I realize there’s a natural progression to everything, including this, and the games have gotten progressively tougher so iz all good.

i don't see the point here, as played seems fine but his call on a paired flop speaks about his likeliness to fold, i'm happy giving up here or at least checking turn and re-evaluating river

snap fold, utg range is highly nutted and your hand doesn't hold up well even if he's getting out of line either

3! still correct unless utg has a history of the limp/shove

don't see what your raise is intended to accomplish, do you see him folding here ever? you have position and a great combo draw - a great spot for you but instead you'd rather cede that position by getting the stacks in

remember, you view this guy as a nit and he's utg...

this reads like a fomo raise where you're doing it not on the present situation but based on trying to build the pot in the event the top range of outcomes arrives

however, i'm ok with your 3! on a 983 board with 2 diamonds because then he could fold out his AK and/or even if he floats you could still beat him by drawing to a pair

if i understand this correctly then utg folded yes? play seems reasonable but i'm noticing a pattern of x/r on paired boards, something that i agree with, yet if done too frequently they'll notice (these boards are very easy to remember) and be able to re-exploit you if you can't ever find some balance here

as played seems fine to defend hoping fish calls too pre

on flop seems fine except for stack sizes which put me more on the want to fold but can't fold because then why defend in the first place so just call since short stacking villain unlikely to waiver to aggression

tough spot, he's got a lot of two pair here but with so many draws on the board i'm ok calling in position and seeing what develops on the turn with plans to fold to large bets unless jesus card comes

sad fold, set/two pair is the min i'm cry calling with here based on board and notes, really feels like his range is pretty clearly a set or a 67/87 here

bet sizing to put the micro stack allin with just enough space to allow you to 4! when it comes back around is ABC exploitive poker and needs to be learned

tough spot, i'd take a stab on it with a small bet but really just trying to get to a cheap showdown at this point so fine with check/calling check/folding

as played snap call, i personally am betting a little less on the turn and just checking back river or sizing it smaller

Great analysis as usual rr. Fun read.

Thoughts on this rake structure?

Seems standard, but genuinely interested to hear how this compares to Stars and other sites.

All NL (not sure about PLO):

Relevant:
.20/.40~.30/.60- 5bb cap
.50/1- 4bb cap
1/2- 3bb cap

Not really relevant for me but in case anyone else is interested:
2/4- 2.5bb cap
3/6~5/10- 2bb cap
10/20- 1bb cap

S&P 500 doing pretty well. Hitting all-time highs.

What pandemic?

Wow that’s worse than I thought it would be for 100nl. 11bb/100 damn.

tyty

But can’t you shift how much you end up paying every 100 hands by playing tighter?