Session 63

I paid for a bunch of groceries etc... out of cash and just took it out of my BR. I probably have terrible BR management.

Game was good, I made one just terrible terrible bluff and spewed off a grand in a bluff.

Hero has 86 in MP at 1k eff
2/5/T with button straddle

Several limps, I limp, people limp behind and we get to the flop 6 handed

Pot is 60
Flop is 942
Checks to me, I check, Lady behind me bets 50, huge fish in the blinds calls 50, I call

Pot is 210
Turn is a 6
Check, I check, Lady bets 175, fish folds, I mean to chr to 415 but only throw out 315 and click it back to 350, she tank calls

Pot is 910
River is 4
I ship for 500

It is just such a bad bluff, her range is super weighted to 2 pair/A9/sets/TT and she hates to fold but I have a ton of history and she gives me a lot of respect, and I have been super card dead the entire time.

I mean I rep nothing etc... It is a ****ty bluff. Le sigh.

All I can do is play better!

Session length: 6 hrs
Session grade: F-
net profit: -1.2k
Total bankroll: 13.5k

Her 175$ bet seems quite strong and when you click it back and she just flats its almost never a set or 2 pair usually always tptk or slight over pair.
1010 JJ looking for a good board.

Pretty ugly either way.
Shake it off

turn is closer to a fold than a raise

The turn is an easy fold

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ok glad we are on the same page. i thought you might have meant the shove after your misclick was the spew.

I'm thinking 11t thinks that turn and river are both spewey.

( all on same page )

Sessiong 64

Just had my biggest session ever which was nice in relation to how annoying my decision making was last session.

I think my standard operating procedure is to be a FPS spew monkey who hero calls the river too much and I need to just focus on that (ie Mental Game work) 100%.

Before I play every hand I tell myself "Don't do anything ****ing stupid" and it seems to work great.

Session length: 9 hrs
Session grade: B
net profit: 1.9k
Total bankroll: 15.4k

We sound like the same mental game fish. I'm not even kidding.....I just try to force hands sometimes.

By biggest session ever I mean @ 2/5

So RobFarha, Miamicheats, a buddy of mine from college and myself were all planning on going to get some dinner some time during the trip. Miami and I went and grinded some 2/5 at the Venetian in the morning until Rob came to take us to a sushi joint he liked. I did decent in my morning session, bluffed miami (standard), and we went to the sushi joint around 5 pmish. It was good, I've had better, but the service was excellent and I won at credit card roulette which made the meal like twice as good.

Rob dropped us off at the Rio where miami went and played 5T and I grinded some 2/5. The 5T game was quite good according to miami and the 2/5 game was sick. Like a lot of grinders were table changing consistently so even when the game turned bad it was only briefly because they got up and left. I wound up winning like 1k then had to run back to the hotel room to take some medication and wash up. I tried walking back from the Rio which was a terrible mistake, I got completely turned around and wound up walking all the way around the casino until I hit a section of road way without any sidewalks so I walked back into the casino, found a cab, and got a ride back to my room.

My buddy was playing at the Mirage so I decided to go there and check it out. The 2/5 game there was awful, like 5 chopped pots and I racked up and left. I thought about going back to the Venetian but I like to vary it up so I was going to go to Aria or the Wynn. The Wynn was within (relative) easy walking distance so I walked there. God I love that place. It is so plush, the architecture is superb, the color scheme is relaxing, the women are beautiful, etc... It is just a step above. Now, don't get me wrong; I believe it when people say the games aren't great. However, that isn't what is so great about it.

The 2/5 game I was playing in was pretty good. It was ****ing GREAT when Brad Booth came in, tilted as **** and twice as drunk, and shipped 1.5k in the dark every hand for an orbit. I didn't stack off with him, but man I wanted to. The game was super good when he sat down and was lol great while he played. He eventually sobered up and got untilted and was telling the table how he got robbed of 28k by somebody who hopped a plane to Europe. I attempted to commiserate with him about a buddy of mine who stole 200 bucks from me and as he was racking up he handed me 200 in red. So being a nicy guy is obv +EV.

I have a lot of other stories etc.. to tell, and I have good hands to post, but I have stuff that must get done.

I am having my wisdom teeth out next week and won't be grinding but I am going to be going through my previous posts and will be updating my "mental game" stuff which is where I really really need to work on.

Wow that's an incredible story, I lauged out loud. Literally. Brad Booth's clearly got some money to spare. Here, watch him put over a quarter million on the line with 4 high and a gutshot.

http://youtu.be/iMt_M-1nwsM

Do you still watch the bluefire poker videos? Would you recommend a subscription?

Bfp is great, I highly highly suggest all of Alan Jacksons videos. There are tons of other stuff and Galfonds plo stuff is great.

Sorry I haven't updated recently, I got my wisdom teeth out yesterday and it was a particularly difficult surgery. I came to consciousness during the surgery when they were using a hammer and chisel on my jaw. Really wish I wouldn't have opened my eyes.

When I get back I'm going to try ti revamp the thread. This isn't suppised to be a blog in the truset sense and it willdie when I hit my goal. However, with my volume and spending habits this will take like a year or two. This isn't to say I spend alot but I have to pay for this surgery and new tires etc...

Anyway, beyond the jaw I feel great. I have a big mental game update coming and I think I've really improved in certain ways. However I still do stupid **** at points. Anyway I'm high on pain pills and watching movies for the next few days.




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I am currently in chipmunk mode level 10. I will be physically unable to go grind this weekend, and even if I wanted to, my gf was quite adamant about me staying at home on the couch. Anyway I played two tournaments on BCP and cashed in one then busted the other. I think I have like 15 bucks left on there so I'll probably dump the rest of my money later.

Anyway, I think the most important thing I have to work on is my mental game. I would say that there has been a huge merging between my posting skills and my playing skills and in the last like 300 hours I'm running at ~50 $/hr. Playing in my game last week, I think the uncapped nature of it and how poor the average play is during the hours that I play, I feel I should be able to win at a much higher higher rate than that.

Thinking about the inch worm model what I have really moved from my preflop hand selection, as in knowing when to limp or raise etc... and my post flop c-bet and barrel game to a much much higher level. That is to say there is a ton of nuance in thinking about when to raise (or limp) pf as a function of people in the pot, their post flop tendencies, and their pf limp/continuing range.

I really think I need to get more accustomed to betting 1/3 to 1/4 pot in 3bet pots but like I play with the same people all the time and it will take some long term planning to work this into my game.

The biggest issue I have is that I need to actually listen to my reads. I remember reading this interview with Viktor Blom about how he makes a decision and then doesn't second guess it in the game. I have made some huge folds (set over set) where I have mucked very quickly without leveling myself into a call.

What I need to do is differentiate between clear bet/folds and bet/decide where I'm leaning towards folding but calling isn't terrible. There is a huge difference between the two. I mean it is still important to differentiate between the two and to think two streets ahead but sometimes you don't have time to tank for like 3 minutes before you raise a river since it will give away the strength of your hand whereas you can say "this is a clear raise/fold" or "this is a clear raise/decide". Conflating the two has cost me a substantial sum of money.

I have played 1 MTT so far this year and I've decided to play a lot more. I also really want to play in a WSOP event next year, and to play event #1 in the Chicago WSOPc, and a lot of the smaller local events.

So I have a question to the people that do read this: What exactly do you want to hear about? I'm not really interested in using this to "gain popularity" but it is meant to be what it is: a goal to get my bankroll to 30k.

Hey 11t cool thread, just read a few pages and I am subbing now.

I read in your last session or two you said you have some mental game leaks. When you tell yourself "dont do anything stupid" before you play a hand I think there is a more optimal thing you can do. So I am actually working at improving my mental game too and I read that positive stuff you say has bettter effect then negative. (Duh)

Instead of saying "DONT **** this hand up" maybe try saying something like
"I WILL play this hand the BEST I can"

I am currently reading mental game of poker so idk when I read your post I kind of just remembered that piece of advice I read. Im not sure if it was from MGOP but it may have been.

But anyway try it out, might give you better results. Gl

Personally, as long as you are posting hand histories, and situations where you think you made a good play or good read and your reasoning behind it, I will be happy. Also, pics are always nice, and stories to keep it fresh. Really digging it so far man, enjoy your recovery!

The problem with "playing this hand as best as I can" is that it doesn't address the problem I have which is doing stupid ****!

+1

BRM question, when will you permanently move to 2/5, and when will you start shot taking 5/10?

Also, pics of gf.

Edit, just reread OP. gotcha. Is that shot taking plan still in effect?

Lol really dude?

(Ok I'm on board. Pics of gf please &#128563

I'll never permanently move to 2/5 and 5T doesn't run where I play outside of tournament times.

The reason I say "never" is that 2/5, during the summer, only runs 2x a week consistently (fri/sat) and I play sunday/tues/wed/thurs at times.

Also since the game runs as a 75% of big stack a lot of times there are super good 1/3 games. However the 2/5 game is generally the best game running. So table selection matters for 1/3 but I almost always take the 2/5 seat unless there are three players in particular playing and none of them are steaming.

Ha and you are far more likely to get pictures of ex girlfriends

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Sick beat on table selection. I now understand your needle in the chat thread when I was complaining about only having a few 2/5 tables to choose from one night.

Joking on pics of gf obviously, but I think I'd be letting a lot of posters down if I didn't say "bring on the ex pics!"

Did thoughts of playing professionally ever cross your mind? Pros and cons, on a scale of risky to blatantly ******ed.

I think anybody who takes the game seriously and is a winning player has thought about playing professionally. I will say that over my last 1000 hours, the first 400 and last 300 have been more more *ahem* convincing to playing professionally than otherwise. I would say, at best, I'm a ****ty employee. I have a hell of a time getting out of bed every morning, I am constantly day dreaming, and I hate the "set" 40 hour work week. This all being said I produce excellent work and get good marks on performance evaluations (just so people don't think I'm a lazy SOB!). I am pretty confident that if I played professionally I'd make more money short term, but long term is a little different. I mean playing cards professionally allows a level of freedom that having a 9-5 just doesn't. If I was playing professionally and wanted to go to Florida tomorrow I could. No boss, no managers, just hit the road and go.

I mean if I had a time machine I'd go back in time, drop out of college the first semester I did poorly (or join the army out of high school) then play poker until I was 30+ and either go to college then or just do whatever it is I was going to do.

As it stands though, I went to college, did poorly for a few years, got into a **** ton of debt, but graduated. I have a great job, make acceptable money, have great benefits, and play part time. If I got fired for some reason I'd play cards pretty seriously until I found a new job, and if I leave my current position I'd look to move to a place with way more games/selection. I'd say that there is no chance I'd ever play full time cards long term; however, if I started my own consulting company in like 5 or 6 years and games were still acceptable then the idea of going around the country, hitting up conventions and playing cards all the time does sound like an awesome life style.

I like your perspective on playing cards for a living... I am graduating in 4 months and am really toying with the idea of moving with my friend to LV and take a year off of life in general, right now I am saving my BR to allow myself that flexibility. But in terms of "long term", my results have to be astounding and I need to really enjoy it to do so. I did play for my income while in college, solely in 2011, and didn't mind it at all tbh.

its funny how everyone toys with the idea of going "pro" but so few have, and those that have pretty much don't recommend it at all.

but i have noticed that a lot of the more experienced posters all say that they wish they could have taken a shot when they were younger, but never had the opportunity. I think its important to at least give it a go so you don't have to life with that "what if" voice in the back of your head.

but the plan you have if you started your own company does sound pretty balla, i hope you get the opportunity to make that happen.

been playing for only a month full time since graduating, so i wonder what i will say a year from now. but as of now i absolutely love it and am so happy i made the decision i did, but a lot of that is probably due to the fact that i have no obligations or long term plans. i imagine it would be much different with a lot of responsibilities or very high goals financially or relationship wise.