dropped $230 in five hours friday night. first losing session after 9 wins in june. unfortunately, not all of those wins were big - i think 4 of them were less than $100. oh well.

i've been told for a long time i have an issue with my bet-sizing. i have a tendency to not bet big enough. i think this probably cost me in a couple of medium-sized pots tonight, people catching turns or rivers after calling a flop bet that might have been a little too weak.

i was up early, then down, then up and thought i was going to get win No. 10.

but then it started going downhill, culminating with the following hand:

i straddle UTG for $4 and look down at 22. wow, a playable hand in the straddle. that's unusual. guy who had just sat at the table makes it $10. BB calls. I call. Flop is 236 with two diamonds. BB checks. I bet $25. Raiser tanks for a minute and calls. BB calls. Turn is a 10. I bet $50. Raiser snap calls. BB folds. River is a 7. The diamonds missed. I slid out my $117 and he snap-called. He turned a set of 10s. Not much either of us was going to do in that hand. I'd call the flop in his spot as well.

Rebuy for $200. I'm down to $175 when I'm sitting at another table. I get AcQc and make it $15 UTG. The best player at the table calls and a loose Asian makes it $55 with about $55 more behind. I shove. First guy folds and Asian calls. I'm way ahead he says. Flop a Q and he throws his hands in the muck after the turn.

I wind up leaving down $230. I could have stayed longer, but it was a solid table. I could have switched tables, but I had loaned someone a buyin and he was at a good table. I didn't want to sit at his table. So I left to get some sleep.

Back at it tonight.

Played about 5 hours Saturday night and won $521.

Played a little earlier than normal - about 8 p.m.-1 a.m. - due to a promotion being run where the casino is having a hot seat giveaway every two hours. The 11 p.m. drawing was for $2,500 and there was mixed reports from the floor people I talked to about whether or not you had to be in your seat for two hours or not to be eligible. So I didn't take any chances and made sure I was in my seat in time.

Got stuck a little bit early when I looked down at AKo in the SB. The table was playing pretty passively - a lot of limps - and only one player seemed to be raising. He made it $11 in MP and the button flatted. I made it $44 out of the SB. Raiser folds and button tanks forever. He talks himself into folding, saying I must have AA to make that raise. I figured him for JJ, but he said he had KK. I tend to believe him because he had earlier told me he had smashed a J87 flop when I c-bet and he raised. I folded and he showed 910. He would later go on to berate anyone for lying, saying there's a difference between lying and bluffing. He was one of weakest weak tight players I've ever played with. He later ranged me to exactly AQ on a KJT8 board when I shoved two pair and he said he folded a straight but his explanation made no sense because he said he had the K. I don't think he was lying, just confused. He folded later for about $45 on a 722 board when he said he had a big overpair after raising $16 pre and c-betting $16 on the flop.

Anyhow, I wound up chopping an $800-ish pot with another guy when we both had AA. I raised to $14 pre. Guy calls. Older guy makes it $90. I shove for $314 total (including the $14). One guy calls with QQ for about $120 and the older guy has AA. I flop two hearts with the A hearts in my hand and unfortunately, brick out.

Built my stack to about $650, then started giving it away. I have a tendency to play too loose and too aggressive ... I raise almost ATC over limpers when in position when I think I have reads on them. I have to c-bet positive flop textures. I may start trying to track how often I am taking these down and how often I am burning money with a bet.

Ex: I have KcQc and raise to $15. Three people call and the flop is AA5 with two diamonds. Checks to me. I bet $40. An A is never folding, but that's what I'm repping. So I'm probably better off checking back here and only betting when I actually have an A or am heads-up.

Anyhow, I raise too much and wind up back down to about $400 when the following hand comes up. I am not getting the average villain's stack here very often, but this guy was pretty aggressive:

I raise to $12 in MP with TT. Two callers. Flop is QcTcTx. I check. Black regular who is a really nice guy and solid player but likes to short stack bets $20. Villain raises to $50. I call. Black guy calls for less allin. Turn is a blank. Villain bets $75. I call. River is a club. He shoves $125ish. I snap. I think there are very, very few players who will make this play, but I have the board smashed and there's a BBJ that's $300K, so I'd actually rather lose the quad Ts to a royal or straight flush.

The last drawing of the night was 1 a.m. for $1,000. I play through that and I realize I have a headache. I haven't eaten all day (I only woke up at 5ish) so I head to the noodle bar hoping food will give me the desire to play some more. There was some kind of concert at the casino and there were a couple of absolutely stunning Vietnamese women sitting next me when I sat down to eat. I waited patiently for them to stop gabbing and tried to strike up a conversation but was quickly rebuffed and I didn't push my luck. Damn I have no game.

When I got back to the poker table they were getting ready to bag my chips as the table had broken. Headache was still in play so I just cashed out even though it was about 1:45 a.m. on Saturday night ... prime time to crush.

Played some part of 5.5 hours. I actually spent a great deal of time away from the table so I'd say I was probably at the table 3.5 max. I won $320.

Went with my read when a $2/$5 player sat down and shipped on a 993 board when I held J3. He had AK and bricked. You know the moment they sit down at your table they are going to try to run you over.

Had a couple of AA hands that were semi-interesting.

I get AA and raise to $15. Three people call. Flop is KJ4 rainbow. I bet $40. Asian who isn't very good ships for $75 total. I know I'm behind but it's $35 more and I call. Hit runner/runner QQ to beat his KJ. Afterward I thought maybe I shouldn't bet this flop, but I've decided I should. I'm not sure what my commitment threshold would have been to call/fold here. $150 instead of $75? I still think I'm calling. I have played with him enough before that I think I'm ahead often enough.

Later I get AA and raise to $15. Again, three callers including the guy waiting for a $2/$5 seat. Flop is 955. I bet $50. He calls. Turn J. I bet $75, he calls (he's all-in at this point). He has J9. River is a blank.

But the really good news of the night - a former dealer who I am friends with and I had made a deal a little more than a year ago to split the bad beat jackpot should one of us hit it. I have 10 percent of him, he has 10 percent of me. He's one of two players I have this deal with.

Anyway, I didn't even realize he was there. I hear some hooting at hollering from three tables over. High-fiving. Then a lot more hooting and hollering and high-fiving and hugging. It reached BBJ proportions so we all knew it was hit. Then I see my partner. He's got part of it. I figure he's getting a table share (about $11K) so I'm looking at $1,100. Hell yeah. So I go over and high five him and congratulate him. He said he has the higher payout. I'm like, HELL YES. It was $154K as the jackpot was $308K. Turns out he had the higher of the two straight flushes and actually won $77K. He's a great guy who has been fixing up a couple of houses he owns/inherited and really could use the money.

I told him to pay the taxes and then I'd take 10 percent of the after-tax money. So he wound up getting $57,000 and I got 57 crisp (OK, not all crisp) $100 bills.

I told him to make sure to use it for good - to avoid the $5/$10 game up the street at Parx and to stick to $1/$2 or $2/$5. He laughed and his friend said he was going to keep him away from the big game.

Happy as hell for myself and happier for him. Really.

I will probably put $4,000 into the poker bankroll which really hasn't been much of a bankroll lately and then plan a little vacation. I need one - badly.

Cool for you and your friend on the BBJ Chip - I am happy for both of you.

On the first AA hand - yes that flop is a cbet, and it is odds wise a call too after short stack shoves.. well played

Thanks. How much are you willing to call there?

Pot is $60 + $40 + $40 + X (from V) + X (from hero)

.. X being what we need to call.

We need X / (140 + 2X) equity

Against range of KJ(9)/K4(9)/44(3) we have ~25% equity

0.25 = X / (140 + 2X)

35 + 0.5X = X
X = 70

Correct to call up to $70 more

If you add any QT or Kx in there (which is reasonable), then the amount you can call of course goes up and up.

Congrats on the bbj,nice to see one of the good guys get something for a change.

thanks

played about 3.5 hours thursday night and won $31.

meh. nothing spectacular. called $65 pre from a SS with AsQs and he flopped a set of 10s. Turn was a J, but I didn't improve.

wasn't a very good table. i'm not good at table selection. i have a hard time getting up once i've sat down at a particular table.

like, i was pretty much able to run over this table in position with ATC. raise, c-bet, win. raise, c-bet, win. occasionally, the fish play back and you have to fold. no big deal.

knew it was time to leave when a couple of tight, shortstacking regs sat down. they are there to buy in short and try to hit the bad beat. they want to see cheap flops. i 3-bet one with AA and he bitched and folded his KcTc face up. 'I haz a bad beat hand.' So what?

I love those tables. I've seen tables like this only with stacks around 250bbs.

I pride myself on my sick table selection skills. Sometimes I get sat in a juicy game right away but most of my sessions I request at least one table change - on weeknights sometimes I'll table switch 2-3 times before I find a good game.

I'm also not shy about bum-hunting fish. Seat changed to the left of a fishy old lady tonight and she said "why do you want to sit here" but then just laughed like she was joking...they probably just think "it's weird this kid always wants to sit with me."

You've gotta figure there's at least one mega-fish spewing off multiple buy-ins somewhere in that room at any given moment - and probably a few of them during primetime hours. You gotta find them. Give yourself every edge. I know some people won't switch out of a $hitty game for ego reasons...I doubt that's your issue though. It might be more of "it's 1/2 every table is easily beatable", which probably influenced my lack of table selection in the past.

OP: This is a really cool thread. I wish you the best of luck on and off the felt...

Thanks


Joey, yeah, the 'it's $1/$2 and there is nothing but fish' definitely plays into my thinking.

Played about 8 hours Friday night and lost $294.

All in all, that wasn't terrible as I was stuck $800 in about 45 minutes at $1/$2/$4. I started the list and the game got running within about 45 minutes.

Got myself in a terrible spot against a guy I had played with recently. I called off $220ish on the river with trip As on an AA985 board. He had A8. I don't think I'm ever even chopping here. After I called I said I thought it was the worst call I'd made in a month. His response: "If that's the case, I'll give you my money and you can play.' Some people don't understand that 1) We have nothing but a bluff catcher and 2) You aren't bluffing us so really have nothing.

Got it in against the same player when he had KK and I had QcJc on a T85 flop with two clubs. I missed.

Eventually, I got some money back off another player with QQ. I left the $1/$2/$4 game when it broke and I took my $625 to $2/$5. Hell, I wasn't going smaller. (LOL). One of the floors said it looked like a pretty beatable game. I played pretty badly; got a serious case of FPS against a fish who was on his third buyin.

I limped QJo in a straddled pot when the fish straddled. I hate limping, but I had been pretty inactive and wanted to play a pot with this guy. Flop was QQ4. He checks. I bet $30. He raises to $60. I call. Turn is an 8. He bets $50. I call. River is a 9. He bets $100. I call. He has Q7. I think he's calling a shove on the turn or river, so I cost myself about $200.

Later I had 33 and flopped a set against him. I again decided to let him bluff off his stack. The river wound up being 34569. He thought I had a straight and checked behind the river. I don't think he is ever calling with TT there.

It was a pretty soft $2/$5 table. One pretty bad player sat down at about 4:30; another came over after his table closed. I had bad position early against the one good player at the table, but I just stayed out of his way.

Played about 4.5 hours and lost $500 at $2/$5 Saturday night.

Got seated after a few minutes at $1/$2 waiting. Made a full house to win a nice pot with QT when I raised on the button.

My turn comes to change tables and I decide to play until my button.

I look down at QQ OTB. Hijack raises to $25. I think about 3-betting but this is only the second raise I have seen from the guy. I call. Flop is KQT all clubs. Third player in the hand leads for $60. HJ calls and I elect to flat (stupid). Turn is a 5s. Third player leads for $325. HJ folds (said he had a set of 10s). I ship for about $650. He tanks and eventually folds.

I should just leave. I am up $800. Instead, I go to the next table. Flop 554 with 65 suited. Lose to Q5. Oh well. Wasn't a huge pot ... I lost about $250.

Then I just start getting whittled down. One guy is playing about 90/50. Raises any two suited cards and just generally isn't very good. It's a common occurrence ... I used to stereotype by age, but, man, the guys older than me are just not tight.

I remember I posted a hand a few weeks ago. I think I had 10s and the flop was 9 high. I was chastised for thinking it was possible that an older man would be capable of floating me.

Well, it's happened multiple times the last two nights by players over 50. Probably over 60.

Anyway, I change to a third table and I'm sitting on $975. Spent the next two hours watching the stack disappear and watching the guy without a fold button smash every flop or bluff.

I am sitting on about $510 in the SB when this guy makes it $20. A not very good reg who doesn't play a lot of hands 3-bets to $55 OTB. I mull all my options and decide to just flat. I think he's got a decent hand, but I don't think I'm crushed and I think the other guy is going to come along. I call. He calls. Flop A33. (I have AK). Flop checks through. I want to give him a chance to hang himself. Turn is a 2. I bet $75. He calls. Button folds. River is an 8. I bet $125. He raises to $400. I call. He has 34. LOL. Owned.

Would have liked to have bought back in and played more but I was starting to get tired.

Truth be told, I should have left earlier. I had a chance to book an $800 win, or at least drop down in stakes, or take a break and come back. I know I should do this.

Lesson learned.

Played about 3 hours and lost $1200 at $2/$5 Sunday night.

I think I have a sign marked on my forehead that says: 'Only bet for value; don't bluff me.' I swear I ran into more value hands in the past two sessions than imaginable against the table bluffers. Lesson learned.

The thing about $2/$5 is that, DUH, every mistake is more expensive, especially when you are taking a shot. The c-bet when you have nothing on what appear to be safe boards are just burning money. I think, next time, I will only c-bet for value or heads-up.

First hand I got felted on: I raise to $35 over a couple of limpers out of the BB with QQ. Three callers. Flop is T77. I bet $105. Guy shoves. Bleh. He has K7.

Later I called a shove from one of the bluffers when he rivered a flush. I had TPTK. I should have shoved the turn over top of his bet.

I only had $200 more in my pocket. I built that up to $800.

Lost one hand where I 3-bet a $15 open out of the BB with TJo. Flop was Q72. Two hearts. I had the J. I bet $90. He calls after some thought. Turn is the K. If I pull the trigger here, I think I take it down. I check. He checks. River is a T. I check. He checks. He has JJ.

Wound up going bust with a set of 5s. Flop 65J with two diamonds so I bet. Turn 2. Guy checkraises me allin after I bet $75. I only have $125 or so left. He had 34o and I don't improve.

Going to start tracking the bankroll at this point.

I'm going to give myself a starting roll of $3,000. If I stay at $1/$2 for the foreseeable future, I am going to take a percentage of winnings out of each session/week and use it for fun. I will try to keep the roll at $3,000 plus and if it dips below, I'll reduce the percentage I take out of the winnings. Probably start at 75 percent to the roll, 25 percent to life.

Poker bankroll: $3,000

On the ak hand how are you calling a raise on the river for $275? Seems like your not aggressive enough in the right spots and deff call way too much,especially big bets on the river which are rarely bluffs or less than the nuts

i'm at chester usually once a weekday and once/twice a weekend. how old are you?

you split the bbj with that anthony kid? nice score

i called because there are plenty of bluffs in his range. i sat with this guy for five hours. he bluffed A LOT.

a regular at the table who i talked to last night said he would have called if he was me, too.

i'm 50. i had a percentage of the bad beat.

thanks.

Makes alot more sense..still dunno if we can call here but you kno better than me about the dynamics.he has to have complete air here.Im assuming hes not going to check an ace on this board.

looking forward to commenting on more of your hands i feel like that i have a similar playing style and we could learn a bit about our leaks from each other.good luck

$1/$2 seems so boring after a few nights at $2/$5. there's a much bigger rush and the adrenaline isn't flowing as well.

as a result, i didn't play my best monday.

played two sessions: first one was +$165 in 3 hours. second was -$400 in 3 hours.

first session was pretty bleh. no one was really interested in playing pots so i was pretty active with a lot of hands.

one hand that i got caught in a little and then got lucky: i get 4h 7h on the button and raise to $11. UTG calls. UTG+1 makes it $22. LOLsizing. Asian woman. Pretty straightforward from the last couple of nights that I've seen. She was commenting about how aggressive I was and how she expected to raise my button. I call. UTG calls. Flop is 562 rainbow. She bets $25. I pop it to $100. She calls with 99. She was all-in at this point. Turn 3. River a 5. UTG folded 33.

Got up and left and went to another casino later.

Lost $200 on first hand when I made a mistake. I get 88 in the BB in a straddled pot. I had put my chips down, saw one hand from the straddler and could tell he was on megatilt. Went to the bathroom and came back and could still see it in him. MP raises to $14. Couple callers. I call. Straddler does exactly what I expect. He shoves. Everyone folds. I call. He has AA. Didn't matter. Board runout was terrible. He would have hit something with any two big cards. Felt like it was a flip with about $56 dead money in there. He later said he would have shoved with anything AT or better.

Rebought and was down to $100. Same situation. I am in BB with TJo. I call the $4. Straddler makes it $15. Five callers. I ship $100 exactly. Everyone folds.

Wind up chipping up to $420. Tired and ready to leave.

Then this hand came up:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/17...ndard-1345934/

Bankroll: $2,765

Chip, I think one of your largest leaks is your a bit results oriented. Don't let short term results affect your play

The A6 hand you need to bet the river.yourself, anything else is poor. But you know this

Sent from my SPH-D710 using 2+2 Forums

I know. Just sickening when it's the third session in a row. And two of them were at $2/$5 ... I mean, I don't complain when it's three good days in a row, right?

It's why I'm not a pro, though.