Ah, double negatives are hard.

Re TT hand: Game disparity I guess. I might get called by a weakly played 99 or TT, but not much worse. However there's a lot more combos of KXs and 4Xs that will flat the flop that we have virtually no EV against, and likely little FE either.

Yeah I agree, I mean I didn't fist pump bet and I wasn't really "betting for information" just that one guy was short stacked and was stacking off light, the other guy was super deep and I thought I could double barrel him off of a weak king and the other guy I was ch/f the turn and river if he called.

Next time I won't be such a fish and I'll just nit check the flop

Session 28

"And he piled upon the whales white hump. A sum of all the rage and hate felt by his own race.
If his chest had been a cannon, he would have shot his heart upon it."
- Herman Melville in Moby Dick

I feel like my white whale is this elusive "perfect" session I have been trying to get to where I make the best possible decision on every street in every hand. Perhaps my next session I will just keep my headphones on and focus focus focus. I hurt my back last friday lifting weights so no gym last night so I did what any sane person would do: I went to grind. I can't describe my desire to become a better player than I am now, it isn't some all consuming passion but more of this slow burning internal drive. They say a candle that burns twice as bright burns twice as fast and I feel as though I will be able to burn for a good period of time.

I got there and the player who claims to be a 5T reg at the Wynn and who plays 10/20+ was there. He will apparently be in town until the end of April for "business". Seems like a nice enough guy but he just coaches and coaches players in the game and then complains how the games in Vegas are always so bad. Perhaps if you stopped coaching your player pool they wouldn't be "so good" hmmm? There were 3 seats open and one to his immediate right. He plays kind of a super lag style with probably a 15% 3bet and the game was playing deep (1.5k effective stacks) so I bought in for 100xbb and took his seat to his immediate right. No seat change. If he is going to be a reg here for a while we are going to play together quite a bit and he needs to know I am not going to be run over OOP.

This is my first hand

Hand 1:

Hero (500) - opens 66 utg to 20
Vegas (6k) - snap calls
Blind (1.5k) - calls

Pot is 60
Flop is 773
Check, Hero bets 30, Vegas raises to 80, fold, I tank fold. I am good here a huge huge % of the time but I need to be willing to call a turn/river bet and I this was like my first orbit and I wanted to get a better flow of the game before I get into it.

Hand 2:

Folds to Hero (500) on BTN with 87os who MR to 10
Vegas folds
BB calls

Pot is 20
Flop is 864r

BB bets 10, I raise to 30, he folds

Hand 3:

Hero (25) is BTN with AQ
EP (2k) opens to 25, MP (200) calls, MP2 and CO both call, I 3bet to 125, EP pfr calls, MP calls leaving 75 behind

Pot is 425
Flop is K44
EP tank checks, MP ships for his 75, Hero is a moron and doesn't raise, he folds because I thought EP's tank check was strength. Blech EP PFR had 33 and MP2 had AJ.

Hand 4:

Hero (500) opens to 15 from the CO With AKos
Vegas (5k) snap 3bets to 40 from the BTN, folds to Hero who 4bets to 100, Vegas calls

Pot is 200
Flop is QQ3
Ch/ch

Turn is 2
Ch/ch

River is 9
Ch/ch amhig.

Hand 5:

8 handed, I open QJ to 15 (500 eff) from MP,
Vegas snap 3bets to 40, folds to me and I call

Pot is 80
Flop is Q38
I ch/call 55

Pot is 190
Turn is 8
I ch/call 100

River is 6
ch/ch AMHIG

Hand 6:

Hero (1k) has KK in the sb
3 limpers, I raise to 30, Vegas (5k) snap calls in the BB, UTG (2k) calls, rest fold. I was eating at the time and just didn't raise to 40 which is best here. Big mistake imo. That white whale had already sunk my ship.

Pot is 100
Flop is J67r

Hero bets 50, Vegas calls, UTG calls

Pot is 250
Turn is 7

Hero checks, Vegas bets 100, UTG calls, I call

Pot is 550
River is 7

Hero checks, Vegas checks, UTG bets 245, I tank and call, Vegas folds and UTG shows 97os for quads. FML.

I checked the turn because I know Vegas is more than willing to bluff raise here and while I'm not WA/WB I just think bet/calling was going to be a sick spot.

Hand 7:

6 handed
Hero (1.4k) has 55 in the CO and opens to 15
Vegas (5k) calls
folds to BB (2k) who calls

Pot is 45
Flop is Q52

BB bets 30, Hero raises to 70, Vegas 3bets to 200, folds to me and I 4bet to 400, he snap ships, I call and he has Q2s AMHIG. He kind of bitched about being "coolered" but he played his hand like ****.

Hand 8:

And for ****s and giggles, I had been 3 betting whenever I got a good opportunity to. In games where people don't fold to 3bets I don't squeeze a lot because like they aren't folding but I will iso 3bet with an extended value range.

Hero (2.5k) is on the btn with A9

Folds to CO (1.5k) who raises to 25, Hero 3bets to 75, folds to him and he calls

Pot is 150
Flop is T95

CO checks, Hero bets 85, CO calls

Pot is 320
Turn is 6

ch/ch

River is 7

CO bets 200 and I puke fold, I am planning on calling a lot of river bets here but this is one of the worst cards in the deck.

Villain shows J4 for the air ball.

I feel like I played like total **** this session but I booked a win which is nice. It can't rain all the time right? I had some good 3bet bluffs and barrels which are pretty standard I suppose so I didn't post those.

At the bottom of the pit it can, at times, be hard to see the light. I shall rise though.

Hand 8: (forgot to post this since I didn't take it as a note)

1.2k eff
Hero has A3 in the BB, Vegas straddled to 10 UTG

MP limps, Hero calls, Vegas raises to 60 , MP calls, I call

Pot is 180
Flop is T97

Hero checks, Vegas bets 125, MP calls, Hero ch/r to 425, they both fold. I was planning on putting in a chr and barreling off on all good boards.



Session Length: 4.5
Session Grade: D-
Net Profit: +1.3k
Total Bankroll: 11.5k

Dislike the 3bet with aqs. What do you have in h4

Really dislike the kings hand too river is a cooler though. D- seems really low.

edited, I had AKos

I don't get how you can not 3bet there with AQ

Would much rather have aqo aqs has too much value post.

At 100xbb eff you are really really overestimating the value of over flushing somebody when there is over 100 bucks in the pot in front of you.

Flat 87o vs a small lead on 864r

I'd say its not so much overflushing as it is "easier to win the hand"

You dont have to overflush someone. Aq has plenty of other value.

Id bet 80 otf with the ak

are you bet calling or bet folding bgp? also it is much harder to win the hand if we flat with AQ there =\

Harder to lose 125 too.

He almost never shoves but fold.

If you call with aqs do you think you can turn a profit? If someone with 100bbs jams are you calling after you three bet?

No it is a standard 3b/f spot, **** I am 3b/folding QQ and KK versus a lot of players. I am much more willing to cold call with AQs but with that many people calling in front I think any other option other than squeezing is bad.

the issue is that 3betting AQ there is way more +EV, if an aggro UTG raised and it folded to us on the BTN I like a flat with both AQ and AQs. Also the fact that the PFR called with 33 and the guy who shipped the flop had AJ showed I was right to 3bet, I just misplayed the flop.

also with the AK hand the guy had a super high bluff frequency and I hate bet/folding and bet/calling so I just checked although I think I'm check/folding the river because I don't know if he is ever bluffing there after checking the flop/turn.

Session 29

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me." - Frank Herbert in Dune

I feel I learned my lesson from the QJ hand succeeded in betting the turn when needed even in big straddle pots where I might get a little bladder shy.

Hand 1:

We are like 1.3k eff and SH
BTN Straddle
BB - Rec fish raises to 40, this is like JJ+, AQ+
UTG+1 - Calls
Hero calls with 99

Pot is 3 handed and 120
Flop is 843
BB checks, UTG+1 bets 75, Hero calls

Pot is 270
Turn is K
UTG+1 checks, well UTG+1 probably has some weird flush or straight draw that I can get value from or JJ/TT or maybe like A8s so I bet 155, Villain check/ships and I fold going "wtf bro" and he shows KK

Bad Beat Story 1:

Short Handed, Hero has A7os on the BTN we are like 1k eff
Huge fish with like 100% VPIP limps, folds to me, I raise to 30, SB and BB snap call, Fish calls

Pot is 120
flop is A87r
checks to Hero who bets 85, SB snap calls, rest fold

Pot is 290
Turn is Q for bdfd on the board
Ch, Hero bets 200, Villain calls

Pot is 690
River is 8 for nut bad card
Ch, ch villain has A6

Bad Beat Story 2:

6 handed, huge fish in the blinds with like 1.5k eff, UTG limps with 500

Hero has 86
UTG limps, Hero raises to 30, CO calls, BTN calls, Fish calls, UTG calls

Pot is 150
Flop is 66:hearts:3
Checks to Hero who bets 100, one guy calls it off for 60 more, UTG check ships for 500, Hero calls, UTG has A2 and gets there

Coolerish Story 1:

Hero has AQ in the CO with a BTN straddle
Button clicker is in the BB and we are 1.5k eff

The BB has been tilting, he 3bet with 33 then floated a flop bet on AQ9 and turned a set and got stacks in.

BB raises to 50, folds to Hero who calls and we are HU.

Pot is ~100
Flop is AA2
Villain bets 100, Hero calls.

Pot is 300
Turn is T
Villain bets 300, Hero calls

Pot is 900
River is 5
Villain checks, Hero bets 350, Villain calls with AK no diamond. I mean its hard to say if this was a cooler or not. He hasn't raised PF too much and was more on the passive side but I thought if he had KK or QQ with a diamond he might be married to the absolute value of his hand and trying to bluff me. I dunno. On the river if we had a naked TPGK I'd be more inclined to check it back but I think AJ or AXs is married to the absolute value of their hand and is more open to calling to calling than they would be with a naked single pair.

I am fine with how the hand played out but I wasn't paying as close of attention to villains legit tendencies instead of just classifying him as a button clicking fish so I might have been able to play the hand better with more information.

Cooler Story 2:

Hero (1k) opens to 15 with 77 in the HJ
CO (1k) calls
BTN (200) calls

Pot is 45
Flop is KJT
Checks thru

Pot is 45
Turn is 7
Hero bets 35, CO folds, BTN calls and has just north of 150 behind

Pot is 115
River is 2
Hero ships, villain calls with TT

I think over betting the turn then shipping the river is better so like 75 OTT then ship the river.

Really wish I would have been able to put together another winning session but all I can do is play better.

Session Length: 7.5
Session Grade: B+
Net Profit: -975
Total Bankroll: 10.3k

Session 30

I had a winning sessions but I again misplayed several hands even though I played a few hands quite well and pretty sure I played them optimally.

Sub optimal Hand 1:

Hero has KK in the BB, we are 1k effective
Folds to Vegas in the SB who raises to 20, Hero 3b to 65, Vegas calls

Pot is 130
Flop is 844r
Check, Hero bets 75, Vegas chr to 175, Hero calls

Pot is 480
Turn is 7
Vegas bets 275, Hero ships

Completely misplayed this hand, should have clicked it back OTF or called down but I picked the worst line outside of like folding.

Sub optimal Hand 2:

Hero has A4 in MP, table is ~1.5k eff
2 EP Limpers, Vegas raises to 20, I call, BTN calls, 1 limper calls.

Pot is 80
Flop is KT3
Checks to Hero who bets 55, BTN calls, Limper calls

Pot is 245
Turn is J
Ch, Hero bets 125, BTN calls, Limper folds

Pot is 495
River is T
Hero bets 275, BTN tank calls with KT

My bet sizing and the board texture to barrel off here is pretty bad but when I turned the GS straight I just snap bet and committed myself to betting all non river Kings. Slow roll call with the nuts ftw

I played pretty well otherwise but don't have time/energy to update right now.

Session Length: 7.5
Session Grade: C-
Net Profit: +1000
Total Bankroll: 11.2k

Session 31, 32, 33

Upswinging! I am playing "well" but still below my potential. Feels good to not get coolered 1x to 2x each session, much easier to win money.

I have a lot of interesting hands, some pretty decent bluffs, and good value bets, some bad plays, missed folds, and missed bluffs as well. ONWARD BROTHERS!

Session Length: 5 + 4 + 6
Session Grade: ~B-
Net Profit: +2.2k
Total Bankroll: 13.5k

Session 34

I played very poorly last night, got stuck 1.5k but left -770. It really doesn't bother me when I get sucked out on but playing poorly really upsets me and it is happening at a high frequency. I think I'm going to take until friday off and work on a pattern of mindfulness strategy where I develop some sort of breathing/meditation system at the table to keep myself playing my A game.

Session Length: 5 + 4 + 6
Session Grade: D
Net Profit: -770
Total Bankroll: 13k

I'll post more updates if you post more pictures!

chip porn doesn't count when are in hte game for a ton!

Do you still even lift?

UPDATE:

On the subject if I still even lift: yes. However, I pulled a muscle in my back doing rows about 2 weeks ago and I don't lift while injured. This all stems from me spraining my neck (while sleeping) like 2 years ago and then trying to do squats before it was completely healed and just lol ****ing it up. What actually happened is I tweaked my neck while doing OHP then I think I really hurt it while doing rows.

Anyway I took 2 weeks off, cut down weight, and just watched my diet. I squatted 185 and did some DL for 225. Nothing heavy just trying to get some exercise into my daily routine.

There are a few massage artists at the casino who are so good, and I try to get a 20 min when my back hurts. I don't let them touch my neck though.

On the subject of poker: I had a pretty good week last week and I took this week off until today. I am planning on heading after work. I started reading The Mental Game of Poker and I think one of the things that has really stuck out is that I should focus from session to session on adjusting one thing about my game and focusing on it until it becomes routine.

Next session I am just going to focus on a few key concepts and work on eliminating mistakes.

Session 35

Upswong continued. Horry shirt this game is so easy when you don't get coolered every session. Also, The Mental Game of Poker by Jared Tendler has really helped me on a lot of levels. Not so much that any of the information was new, or that anything was enlightening, most of it was pretty basic info imo. However, what was helpful was to see all that information tied together and presented in a clear concise manner in a compelling argument on why/how to play your A game. I have decided that for a little while I'm just going to focus on chopping off my "bad" game (which involves a lot of bluff catching crying calls and really wishful ranges on opponents) and just play real tight real aggressive poker. I feel I played impeccably tonight and I am looking forward to hitting the tables tomorrow.

Two interesting hands:

Hand 1:

Hero (1k) has KJ in LP
Villain (650) limps in MP, Hero raises to 25, Villain calls

Pot is 50
Flop is QJ7
Villain ch/calls 30

Pot is 100
Turn is 2
Villain leads out for 100, Hero calls

Pot is 300
River is 6
Villain ships like 550, I think for a bit and call. I have played with villain before he is a rec aggrotard higher stakes fish. He basically never has a value hand here although I can't ever call with A high because.... Villain shows up with T7os.

Hand 2:

Hero (2.2k) open raises KQ in EP to 25
3 callers
Villain (1.5k) 3bets to 80
folds to Hero and somebody who mucks accidentally flips over Q9
Hero 4bets to 220, folds to Villain who folds

I have a ton of history with villain here and he is probably folding everything but KK+ to my 4bet especially since he just doesn't want to get involved in a big pot with me, even IP when he thinks my hand is face up. He also has a fair amount of squeezes in his range thinking I am going to fold a lot to his 3bets which I would with a lot of trash liek AJ (or 4bet).

Session Length: 7
Session Grade: A-
Net Profit: 1020
Total Bankroll: 13.7k

On the 4b hand my reasoning sounds ******ed but I have tons of history and that is how he thinks

Session 36

I played well today, but not as good as I could have. The only real mistake I made was flitting KQs from the bb and betting too much when I flopped tp.

Onwards and upwards! I did get semi coolered my last orbit but whatever, I'll post the hands after I get to a computer.

Session Length: 9
Session Grade: B+
Net Profit: 480
Total Bankroll: 14k

UPDATES

I will be in Vegas from May 29th through June 2nd for the first week of the WSOP. Also the WSOPc comes to town in 3 weeks.

I am glad that I'm finally back to my winning ways, although it is frustrating to think about all the money I might have lost or spewed during my massive downswing. When I hit 1k hours I'll post a giraffe and people are going to laugh.

I'm up about 7k in the last 100 hours, confidence is high; I repeat: confidence is high. This is not to say that I am arrogant, the biggest adjustment I've made is this: I'm not that good. I've just been focusing on fundamentals and only made a few moves here and there (like when I 4b bluffed from UTG with KQs). I probably limp more, call pfr's less, and iso less.

I will be forced at the beginning of June to cover all of my expenses for the Vegas trip and my hotel for the WSOPc. Hopefully I'll play about 50 hours during the 2 weeks of the series and I want to play as much as possible in Vegas. I will be landing at roughly 5 pm local time, put in a 4 hour session before miamicheats gets there then grind like a mofo until I fly out Sunday at 7 pm. Also once my bankroll hits 22k I'm going to take 2k and use it for a downpayment on a car loan.

I am actually expecting this PGC thread to last until the start of 2015. I mean I like to pay for most of my expenses that are poker related with poker money but I try to save as much as possible so that I can grow my roll. I mean if you spend all your winnings, keep a 10k floating roll and then get hit with an 8k tax bill you are basically SOL. But life is what happens while you are busy planning so all I can do is take it one day at a time and make the best decision at every turn.

Ha, when I finish this I'll probably lay out my road map to financial independence that will take like 3 or 4 years to reach. I often wonder "how long do I want to keep grinding?" and the truth is this: as long as I enjoy it I will do it. I am a little worried about my local 2/5 game drying up, but we will see what happens. In October we were getting 3 tables going thurs thru sat, now we are getting 1 with a feeder at times. A lot of regfish have gone busto and some are clearly on the way out. The 1/3 games are still great and play real deep so it is whatever but my expectation should be much higher at 2/5. However I love my job and the hour drive isn't too bad so we will see what happens.

Anyway, I gotta get to the gym and get in a workout then do dishes. If the 2/5 is running tomorrow I'm gonna go grind.

My schedule for the next three months looks like this:

Grind like a mofo through April 22nd when the WSOPc is out of town. Then I am getting my wisdom teeth out and I should have a buddy in town the week after for the Berkshire Hathaway conference that we are planning on going. That means I will probably play like 10 hours over 2 weeks. Then grind the weeks of May 10th, 17th, 24th, then Vegas through June 2nd. I should be playing a mix of 2/5 and 5T in Vegas but might be selling 25% of my action (you know you want tsome) for 5T and possibly PLO. It all depends on the BR etc... I am so much more comfortable playing 200xbb+ deep but I am a br nit!

Anyway after vegas I'll probably take a week off and relax and focus on work/working out. Time for the gym.

If you actually read this I don't mind words of encouragement

Nice work ethic !

What are your plan to become financial independent in only 4 years ?

GL