Cuse, please confirm nice sweater

Bbar?

Dude not on here

Yeah in like 10... Gotta drop our bags in the room they won't let us take them in. It'll be me, Sequel and a non-2p2er we met.

Confirmed. Good range merge on stylish grinder or recreational fish.

There were some in the week long post I made...

We'll be here like 20 more minutes at least probably if you wanna swing by.

Being sick when you're highly motivated to grind sucks... Trying to be as productive as I can, though, and planning a lot for this spring/summer...

Well, I crushed some souls online tonight and put in about 1,500 hands. I want to get a big sample size in and see what I can beat these games for - it may be worth changing the plan a bit.

Two interesting hands from online that I'd love to get some thoughts on... They're sort of similar spots. I've debated them both a lot with Sequel and we disagree, so I want to see what people think.

partypoker - $0.50 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (BTN): 222.22 BB
SB: 172.4 BB (VPIP: 32.00, PFR: 20.00, 3Bet Preflop: 5.56, Hands: 51)
BB: 144.96 BB (VPIP: 30.61, PFR: 26.53, 3Bet Preflop: 19.05, Hands: 50)
UTG: 126.82 BB (VPIP: 23.91, PFR: 13.04, 3Bet Preflop: 4.76, Hands: 46)
MP: 80.92 BB (VPIP: 37.18, PFR: 3.85, 3Bet Preflop: 4.00, Hands: 80)
CO: 81 BB (VPIP: 27.75, PFR: 8.38, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 350)

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has K K

fold, fold, CO calls 1 BB, Hero raises to 4 BB, fold, BB calls 3 BB, fold

Flop: (9.5 BB, 2 players) 4 7 9
BB checks, Hero bets 6 BB, BB raises to 20.7 BB, Hero calls 14.7 BB

I don't love getting check-raised on this board, but I feel like he has enough draws in his range that I can't fold KK. 56, 68, 8T are all possible. Also, he could have a hand like TT-JJ or A9.

Turn: (50.9 BB, 2 players) 6
BB bets 36.06 BB, Hero calls 36.06 BB

I felt kind of lost in the hand at this point, but I'm pretty high up in my range to fold. At this point I'm still thinking he can value bet TT-JJ and A9, and his draws are now pair & draw for the most part. I decided to keep his range wide and my perceived range wide.

River: (123.02 BB, 2 players) 8
BB bets 84.2 BB and is all-in, fold

BB wins 201.22 BB

When that river card hit, I actually liked it, because it would give me a chance to turn my hand into a bluff when checked to since he doesn't have that many Tx hands in his range and I have a much wider range... But, I didn't get that chnace.




888 Poker - $0.50 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 4 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

CO: 161.38 BB (VPIP: 30.51, PFR: 22.46, 3Bet Preflop: 5.75, Hands: 242)
Hero (BTN): 220.94 BB
SB: 210.02 BB (VPIP: 43.55, PFR: 24.19, 3Bet Preflop: 13.33, Hands: 62)
BB: 77.74 BB (VPIP: 25.23, PFR: 14.41, 3Bet Preflop: 2.27, Hands: 112)

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has Q Q

fold, Hero raises to 3 BB, SB calls 2.5 BB, fold

Flop: (7 BB, 2 players) 3 5 6
SB bets 3.5 BB, Hero raises to 12 BB, SB raises to 33.12 BB, Hero calls 21.12 BB

He donks at me, and I'm raising him pretty wide here anyway, so I feel like I should do it with QQ. My goal is to build a pot and get value from 77+, and charge his draws and combo draws. When he comes over the top, I don't love it, but given his preflop stats he could easily be bad enough to over play 77+ here.

Turn: (73.24 BB, 2 players) 4
SB bets 36.62 BB, fold

SB wins 70.24 BB

At this point, it seems like he'd slow down with 88+ and everything else beats me.

In hindsight I'm thinking I should fold the turn in the first hand because everything I beat actually has picked up a lot of equity against me and he's less likely to keep firing with hands I beat. We could consider folding to the check-raise, but I think that's going to be really exploitable. Then again, my range there does include all sets, 97, 56, 68, and 8T, which might play better against a check-raise, but I think defending like QQ+ makes sense.

I think the second hand was played correctly, and really both were just gross runouts that prevented us from realizing any equity.

I'm still sick, which is just totally destroying my volume, but I've been studying/improving in my involuntary down time and I just had an "Aha!" moment about metagame. I don't know how in depth I'll go on it, but I'll touch on it in my weeklyish post.

I remember when I first started playing these moments came a lot... Like, "Aha, AT is not the nuts! Who knew?" to "Aha! Light 3betting is amazing!"

Now they're fewer and farther between, but they're still a lot of fun. Ironically, they always make me feel like they're taking me to such an elite level of play and I can't wait to try them out and crush people. Then again, realizing that AT wasn't the nuts on an A high board in 2004 was pretty much enough knowledge to print money in live 1/2 and online 25NL, and light 3betting is pretty awesome.

January Part 2 - Goals for 1/14 to 1/23: "Successful people do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do. Don't wish it were easier, wish you were better." - Jim Rohn

That’s the quote I used, and I wish I was better for these 10 days… Health wise, in particular. I got sick and it really cost me in volume.


Wednesday January 14

So I started my week off with Event 1 of the Borgata Poker Open. I slept in and played Flight 1D, after getting into town late and struggling to fall asleep. I lost a big pot when my J9 was likely no good on a T87 flop after a bad turn. I led out about 80% of the pot and got raised. It was cold called, and I came over the top for a pot sized raise. Both called and the turn was the Q, putting three spades out. I checked, the first villain checked, and the guy who cold called and then called the 3bet fired. I folded, and the other villain folded 69o face up. Oh, what a blank turn could've done!

From there, I struggled to chip up, and ran very card dead and spot-dead until getting it in with 99 against AT on a KJ7 board. I didn't hold, and that was it for me in the tournament.

Tournament Results: -$560 in 2 hours, 3 minutes

I also bought half of someone else, who ran deep but bubbled, so...

Tournament Staking Results: -$280 in 0 minutes

I got into a cash game for a little while, and didn't pick up any premium hands preflop but managed to suck out in one spot that was a good bluff-raise on the turn. He happened to be at the top of his range, but I hit my 7 outer on the turn and got paid a sizable river bet. I took down several smaller pots, as well.

Results: +$799 in 2 hours, 38 minutes


Thursday January 15

I ran pretty poorly, getting AK for the first time in two days and flopping TPTK against a set, then getting AA for the first time in two days and getting it in against TP2K and getting drawn out on.

Results: -$688 in 6 hours, 54 minutes

I took a break, and had a glass of scotch at dinner, which seemed to help my back pain... Performance enhancing drug for the win! I got back into the game, and had a really interesting bluff spot that I can't share because too many people are recognizing me and doing things to try to induce action, sorry!

I didn't have a lot of interesting spots otherwise, but I made some hands and they held up, and I had a huge comeback session after my earlier losses. Aside from massive wins, comeback sessions are the best feeling - they validate your mental game strength.

Results: +$1,463 in 7 hours, 21 minutes


Friday January 16

I knew I wouldn't be playing as many hours, with plans to put in a long session on Saturday, but I still wanted to get some poker in. I had a pretty up and down early session, getting stuck about $550, but fighting back to minimize my losses. I lost one big hand with TPTK against a set, but otherwise nothing too interesting materialized. My game wasn't very good, so I went on the dinner list and hit up Amphora with Sequel.

Results: -$325 in 4 hours, 8 minutes

After dinner, I got back into a mediocre game but there were a couple spots, so I hung around.

Hand No. 1

I'm UTG 6-handed and make it $20 with AJ. The SB calls. I just floated him and bluff-raised the turn, but he doesn't know that I was on air - just that I raised and he folded.

Flop ($44): J54

He checks, I bet $25, he calls.

Turn ($94): 9

He checks, I bet $60, and he thinks and raises to $165. I tank and call.

River ($424): Q

He bets $200, and I tank for a bit and call, expecting to see either two pair+ or a busted draw. Instead, it's JTo, and MHIG in a head scratcher. Gotta love the first week of the open events at the Borgata!

Results: +$761 in 2 hours, 42 minutes

Under the Weather

I started to feel a little under the weather and had a lot of trouble sleeping as a result, so I didn’t play for a few days.


Tuesday January 20

I got back at it, but a bit too soon, and I simply wasn’t feeling well and cut my session way short.

Results: +$25 in 47 minutes


Wednesday January 21

I still wasn’t feeling great, so I played online all day and crushed it pretty well.


Thursday January 22

I ran terrible live, resulting in a stop loss session after only about 2 hours.

Results: -$104 in 18 minutes at $1/2, -$1,421 in 1 hour, 53 minutes at $2/5

I then returned to play online and crushed it again… Here are my online results all-time in New Jersey at 50NL. I’m grinding up the first deposit into a useful online roll. Small sample size obviously, but I think the winrate will be pretty sick in the long run. Most, but not all, of this was from my two days on my recent trip.




Goals for 1/14 to 1/23

[26] Play 100 Hours of Live Poker

I had a good shot at it until I got sick, then it all fell by the wayside.

[0] Gym 3 Times

Goose egg.

[X] Do my Daily Life Mental Game Work

I skipped a couple of days while I was in AC, and while sick, and it definitely was noticeable. When I was sick I had trouble sleeping, and that combined with not working on my positivity definitely made me feel crappy. I need to get back at this ASAP.

[X] Walk a Mile Each AM

Same deal here – I got sick and just slipped out of the habit and have to get back into it now.

[X] 50 Hindu Squats Each Day

Again, same deal.

I did, however, spend some time on improving my game, and I knocked off one more January goal… I’m also nearly done with the Mental Game of Poker, and I spent some time booking a trip to Vegas to check out houses for this summer.

Monthly Goals

[Y] Subscribe to an Online Video Training Site

I signed up for RunItOnce’s elite program, for at least a month, so I’ll be trying to check out a lot of those videos… The timing is good, because I’ll be traveling to Vegas soon and I can watch on the plane.

While thinking about the game this week, I also had the aforementioned aha moment. I realized that I need to put more effort into trying to force people into making more significant mistakes through metagame rather than simply identifying their leaks and capitalizing on them. I think this is one of the things great players do that good players don’t. I do it sometimes, but I need to try to do it all the time

January Part 3 - Goals for 1/28 to 1/31: "If you're trying to achieve, there will be roadblocks. I've had them; everybody has had them. But obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it." - Michael Jordan

I'm going to miss some of my monthly goals, but I'm not going to let it stop me from closing the month strong and heading into February on a positive. I'm also going to learn from this month and carry that knowledge forward to do better next month.

[ ] Play 55 Hours of Live Poker

It won't get me to my monthly goal, but it will get me to my third highest volume month of the thread.

[ ] Do my Daily Life Mental Game Work

This is really important moving forward, I've seen the difference it can make.

[ ] Walk a Mile Each Day

I'd like to do this outside, but given the weather, it may just be a couple laps around the casino.

[ ] 50 Hindu Squats Each Day

I'm going to try to do these in the morning from now on.

Get a like 24/7 fitness membership and wake up and drive to the gym each day imo.

Any examples? And why the hell didn't you tell me you were coming to vegas? Looking forward to chilling!

I'll expand on examples later... but I'm pretty sure you won't be there. 2/5 to 2/9? You're in Florida right? I haven't hit up anyone yet though and I'll try to hit up pure and JockBay if they're around... Anyone else following along in Vegas that wants to hang out?

I've got a gym membership in Delaware... there aren't any 24/7 gyms near me, though. When I'm in AC, it's not really feasible unless I want to pay like $15 a day at Borgata and I've heard their gym isn't that great anyway.

Basically identify whether someone tends to fold too much or call too much and try to push them farther in that direction. If they call too much bluff them in a small spot and show it either way to induce big mistakes in bigger spots... or use table talk to push them more in the same direction. That doesnt have to mean needling, either... It can be misdirection. If someone bet/folds too much always make them think you have it. Stuff like that...

Obviously against other good players it's not going to work well (if at all), but against bad regs and fish it can be really effective.

Exactly. Great post.

Thanks!

How far are you from Aston? There's a 24-hour Planet Fitness there.

Apparently, there's also one in Wilmington.

Aston, PA? Not close enough - even Wilmington isn't close enough. I find that if a gym isn't within 15 minutes of me (or my place of work), it's going to significantly reduce the chances I use it consistently.

January Part 3 - 1/28 to 1/31: "If you're trying to achieve, there will be roadblocks. I've had them; everybody has had them. But obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it." - Michael Jordan

This was quite the interesting week... I had two record setting sessions, but would they be good or bad? I also got cards thrown at me for the first time, was berated a few times, and much more. Without further ado...


Wednesday, January 28

I was exhausted when I got to AC so I took a nap and then willed myself to get at least a few hours in. I hit up a 2/5 that was mediocre, but the game turned pretty good after about 20-30 minutes, just before I was about to table change.

Hand No. 1

Two fish limp and a TAG raises to $20. I’m pretty confident he’s iso’ing the fish wide in these situations, so I consider 3betting when I look at KJ, but I don’t want to blast the fish out. I call and we go six ways to the flop.

Flop ($120): T75

A blind donks out for $30 and the PFR calls. I decide to just peel in this spot for a variety of reasons related to stack sizes and their ranges. I don’t want to fold out smaller draws, and I don’t think I have that much fold equity against their value ranges.

Turn ($210): 2

It checks to me and I bet $100. The donk bettor folds and the PFR jams for $511. I think for about five seconds, shrug, and call. He has AQ and I brick my zero outer.

So that sucked, but I also had KK on a AK22X board and got some guy with AJ to spaz out like crazy and ship me a stack. I got some value from a fish with AJ on an A high board in another hand, and took down a couple of small pots.

Results: +$391 in 3 hours, 56 minutes


Thursday, January 29

I started in $1/2, waiting for my $2/5 seat…

Results: $7 in 13 minutes

Then I got into a brand new $2/5 game, and we had some action on the very first hand. I managed to get it in with the nut flush draw against a flopped straight (top of his range, obviously). I got there, and he was notably disappointed. Later, he’d be even more notably disappointed when he threw cards at me – that was a first!

Hand No. 2

One limp, I raise to $25 on the button with A2. The BB is the villain from the previous hand, and he raises to $75. In the few hours since, he hasn’t folded to any of my opens and has been really sticky with me, so I call.

Flop ($156): 357:heart

He bets $150, I jam for his last $275, he tanks a bit and calls. “Keep it clean!” he says.

Turn ($1006): 4

I turn my cards over. “Keep it clean!” he says again, not realizing he’s already been done dirty. “Wheel,” I say.

River ($1006): 5x

He starts to turn his cards over and I tap mine and say, “Wheel.”

He starts cursing and fires his cards across the table, ricocheting into my hands. I’m a little taken aback, but react more calmly than I would have expected… But, of course, they only hit my hands and I was about to stack a G, so, no big deal.

Hand No. 3

One limp and the button raises to $30. I call in the SB with AQo. He’s really really aggro.

Flop ($70): K84

I check, he bets $65. I tank a bit and call.

Turn ($200): 9

I check, he bets $130. I tank and call.

River ($460): T

I check and he bets $300. I tank, and tank, and tank, and call, and my hand is good.

Hand No. 4

A fish has been drinking and straddles. I make it $40 with ATo in EP. It folds to him and he makes it $120. I have a read on him that he’s weak, and it continues to become a stronger read as I think. He has about $200 left and I rip it in. He snap folds AJo face up and asks me to show one time. I tell him if he gives the dealer $2 I’ll show. He does, I show, and he flips out.

He goes on about it for about 10 minutes, and proceeds to dump $1,000 to the table, but I can’t get on the receiving end of any of it.

At one point I had $4,100 in play, but I lost a pot after a table change. It was still my biggest cash session ever, so I’ll take it.

Results: +$3,148 in 9 hours, 49 minutes

That left me just $1,300 from being out of that long stretch of negative variance that I’ve had to overcome. I was feeling pretty good after this session, and even better when I woke up the next day.


Friday, January 30

I woke up feeling pretty damn amazing. I’ve been playing really well on a consistent basis and crushing the games for a while now. There’s certainly been some run good in there, but I think my true hourly in the last month and a half or so is over 12bb/hr, so I feel like I’m improving and playing my A game a lot.

I headed down to the poker room ready to put in a 14 hour session and crush the games, and got right into a sick game. Unfortunately, I ran into a bad spot early when my KK was no good on a 9 high board against 99 and our SPR was only 1.3, so I had no way to get off of it. I put in a 3bet preflop that denied him proper set mining odds, so nothing I can do.

A few minutes later I got it in with an OESD and backdoor flush draw against top two in one of the more marginal spots I’ve found myself in lately. I knew it was within a percent or two either way against his range, so I made the call. When I ran his range later, the call was +EV by about 1.2 percent. I got there, so that got me back to even on the session.

I chipped up to about +$300 then got it in preflop with AA vs. J9. I raised UTG, UTG+1 3bet me, the button flatted. I 4bet, UTG+1 folded, the button 5bet all-in, I snapped, and J9 got there. QJT48. It was the same villain who flopped a set on me, who then went on to get coolered and whine for hours about how bad he runs. Yeah, you keep telling yourself that buddy… I want you to. He’s actually a good TAG when he’s not on tilt, but I saw how bad he can spaz out when he tilts.

I then had AK<A9 and AQ<AJ in mid-sized pots. The AK vs A9 he paired up on the river with the 9 in a big 3bet pot. I had him on Ax so I was checking the whole way to bluff catch and/or hit the A and felt him. He hit the 9 and I paid it off one bet on the river. The other hand the flop was KJx, checked through, and I picked up the nut flush draw on the turn with my broadway draw and called a bet then checked behind on the river when it bricked. Not much I can do there.

Finally, I got into a spot with TPGK against a good player on a Q56ss4 board… He dark checked and called, then check/raised the turn. Based on my reads on him he either had 76, 56, 45, 34, or a pair and a flush draw. Thus, he had enough bluffs I needed to call down, and he had 45.

At this point the makeup of the game had changed and the massively tilted spewers had left, and some solid TAGS had joined, so I decided to take a break and eat after perhaps the wildest two hours of swingy poker I’ve ever seen at one table.

Results: -$1,100 in 2 hours, 37 minutes

It’s a tough session to evaluate… I lost about $600 in EV with the AA vs J9 hand, but I won about $600 of extra EV with the OESD&BDFD vs. top two… I ran bad to run into a flopped set with KK, but I also had a barreling spot that ran out good for me to win a $600 pot. I missed a lot of flops, too. It probably should have been about a break even session based on the hands I had, and based on the table, my EV was probably $75-100 an hour going in. I try to make these kinds of evaluations now, to ask myself if I really ran bad or if I just think I did. In this case, overall, I probably did. I don’t know if I was on my A game or not… I had a lot of iffy spots, and I didn’t feel 100% confident I was making the right moves in game, but when I went back and looked at them, I think that I probably played better than I thought.

Session 2

I started out in a $1/2 game and I feel sorry for those dudes cause there are treadmarks on their back. Isos, bluff raises, light 3bets, etc.

Results: +$68 in 17 minutes

I got into a $2/5, which started mediocre but always had one or two spots, and then got really good for a few hours. I chipped up early with some bluff spots, then ran a big bluff in a 3bet pot and got the guy to fold JJ on a 6 high board.

I made a hero call with middle pair against a whale and was right, and got some value from him when I made top pair with AQ. Then, I flopped a boat and got paid by a short stack for like $175.

Hand No. 5

A few hands later, an aggressive player opened to $20 and I called on the button with TT. The blinds called.

Flop ($79): JT8

The SB donked out for $55. The PFR tanked a bit, which seemed like a faux tank, and called. I made it $235. I didn’t realize the SB was short and he jammed $277. The PFR tanked about 2 minutes and shoved for $741 more. I got a count and thought for about 30 seconds and called.

Turn ($910 main, $1,482 side): 4

River ($910 main, $1,482 side): 6

The SB had 79 and shipped the main pot, and my hand was good for the side pot – he claimed he had an overpair. He then goes…

Him: “By the way, for your information, that’s a snap call.”

Me: “OK..”

Him: “Were you really thinking about folding it?”

Me: “I just wanted to know how much was in there and think it through, I could be dead to a 10.”

Him: “OK… I guess you’re just not very good at poker then, maybe you just aren’t any good if you’d ever fold that.”

Me: “OK.”

About 10 minutes later I heroed him on the river with A high and was right. I then flopped another set and got two streets from the same villain.

Results: +$1,809 in 6 hours, 7 minutes

So that got me back up on the day, and kept the momentum rolling to have a shot to close out the month strong. I was also only $500 from ending that long, long, long bout with negative variance, and within reach of one of my biggest months ever...

Saturday, January 31

I got into a game pretty quickly, and dusted off $200 pretty quickly by barreling off on a 952tt on what seemed like a great runout to barrel – the non flush K and T. I thought I’d fold out 9x 66-88 and busted flush draws, but I ran into a KT (no spade) float, so, that didn’t work so well. Then things got crazy.

Hand No. 6

Two limps and a laggy (too laggy) guy in EP makes it $25. I make it $75 with QQ. The villain from the first hand calls. It’s too early to know much about him other than he’s not good and he floated with KT high. EP shoves $252. I’ve seen him get it in for this amount and lose to AK unimproved, so his range is wide enough to get it in against. I’ve got to worry about the player behind me cold-calling. I decide if I’m going to value own myself against his AA/KK, I need to not lose value to his JJ/TT, and EP likely blocks an A, so I call. The guy on my left calls.

Flop ($772): AT7

I check and the guy on my left shoves for about $350 effective. I think for about 30 seconds and fold… I can’t imagine what I beat that he’d jam into a dry sidepot with.

Turn ($772): A

River ($772): 3

Neither wants to show.

Guy on my left: “You have Ace?”

EP: Just sits there.

Guy on my left: “Ace is good.”

EP: Just sits there.

Guy on my left: “I have a seven?”

EP shows AQ. Guy on my left shows 75. Uggghhh. The guy on my left is now confirmed whale status.

Hand No. 7

Three limps to my SB and I limp AT. The whale on my left raises to $40 (not particularly unexpected). UTG+1 calls with about $220 behind. It folds to me and I raise to $160. The whale shoves about $465. It folds to me and I think about 10 seconds and call.

Flop ($985): 763

Turn ($985): J

River ($985): 2

Whale, “I have a diamond!” and he turns over K8, stands up, shouts “Yeah!” and fist pumps the air while I pay off the bet.

Hand No. 8

I limp a straddle with 44. The whale makes it $45 and I’m the only caller.

Flop ($105): AK8

It checks through.

Turn ($105): 6

River ($105): 4

I bet $250 and he thinks about 45 seconds and calls and MHIG. He proceeds to distribute the rest of my money around the table, after getting me for over 1K in all. He floated with overs and binked them on me, called with bottom pair and caught it on me, ran out four straights, etc. You know the deal. He only actually loses like $1,000 of his own money before leaving.

Hand No. 8

Two limps and I limp A7 in the HJ. The CO limps and the button raises to $35 with $150 behind. I don’t think he understands stack sizes well and I have him pegged as having a pretty bad range here (lots of like JT+ type hands). BB calls and MP calls. I’m pretty sure I’m ahead of the button’s range and he’ll call it off way too wide, so I value raise to $150. He shoves about $180, everyone folds and I snap call.

Flop ($440): K86

Turn ($440): K

River ($440): 3

He shrugs, as if he missed and looks at me. I table, expecting to be good against like a QJ/QT/JT type hand, but he slow rolls me with the old K9. Nice hand, sir. He then talks to his buddy about how bad I am to get it in there… “Ace seven! C’mon!”

I fought my way back from there… I was picking up a few pots and got value when I made two pair with AQ and someone spazzed out against me. I ended up in the game for $1,900 and sitting on an $1,800 stack… Then a huge hand developed.

Hand No. 9

There’s a new whale in the game and she’s again on my direct left. I spent like six hours today with a whale on my direct left and a seat change button and was never able to hop over to a good seat. At one point, two people with the second and third best seats walked for an hour, sat for 20 minutes, and walked for an hour… while paying time. Very annoying to not be able to get into those seats.

Anyway, I open to $20 in the HJ with KK. She calls.

Flop ($46): KQ6

She won’t put money in when someone bets out if she doesn’t have a piece, and may even fold a Q, so I check. She bets $20 and I call.

Turn ($86): T

I check, she bets $80. I make it $240, and she shoves about $600. I snap call and she has AJ and holds. She asks the dealer not to count and says she has $800 or $900, so let’s just call it $800. I say, let’s count. It’s $637. Nice try, miss.

I lose a couple other pots and get knocked down to about $800, then run KK into AA for stacks and call it a day.

Results: -$1,900 in 7 hours, 11 minutes

That's the biggest losing session of my life... Gross.


January Part 3 - Goals for 1/28 to 1/31

[30] Play 55 Hours of Live Poker

I had too many sessions cut short by my stop loss, which I guess I’m going to have to stop using if I’m going to get good volume in. It’s too common to lose 300bb in $2/5 as opposed to $1/2. There’s just a lot more variance.

[Y] Do my Daily Life Mental Game Work

I did a good job with this, and stayed mostly positive, although yesterday I was pretty negative about things after getting my teeth kicked in all day, fighting back, and then getting clobbered again.

[Y] Walk a Mile Each Day

I did a lot of walking around the casino, so I’m pretty sure I got this.

[Y] 50 Hindu Squats Each Day

My legs hurt in odd places.

yeah, aston pa ... wasn't sure how far south in delaware you were.

January 2015 Results and Summary of Goals - “My future so bright I’d probably go blind before I blink twice, I ain’t lying.”

Live Cash Results in January 2015 (2/5): +$3,440 in 58 hours ($59.88/hr)
Live Cash Results in January 2015 (1/3): -$813 in 12 hours (-$69.99/hr)
Live Cash Results in January 2015 (1/2): +$2,704 in 20 hours ($139.95/hr)
Live Cash Results in January 2015 (Total): +$5,331 in 88 hours ($60.44/hr)

Live Tournament Results in January 2015: -$560 in 2 hours
Total Live Results in January 2015: +$4,771 in 90 hours ($53.01/hr)

Online Cash Results in January 2015: +$859.50 in 8.5 hours
Online Tournament Results in January 2015: -$20
Online Hourly: $98.76/hr


Bankroll: $25,000

Charts

December Live Cash (Total)



Best Pictures from January 2015



That was either a 1/2 or 1/3 stack, I didn’t take a picture of my big stack at 2/5 the other day…

Poker Goals

[99] Play 250 Hours of Poker

Being sick and hitting my stop loss killed any chance I had at this ambitious goal… I’ll be a little more realistic next month but I’m still aiming high. The 99 includes tournaments and online play.

[Y] Return to 2/5

It felt so good to get back to 2/5 and be crushing the game at all stakes I played this month, especially after that long run of negative variance.

[Y] Finish Reading Mental Game Of Poker

I think this made a big difference in my mental game and helped me see that leaks that did not exist at $1/2 can exist as I move up in stakes. I’m still not prone to tilt in the way I view tilt (just start spewing like crazy after a bad beat), which is a huge edge at $2/5 in my opinion because a lot of players do… But I do experience loss of confidence in a long downswing, and a fear it’ll never end – at $1/2 I didn’t have those issues. I also started using a pre-game routine and music mix with some motivational stuff in it, to try to get that sharp focus I need.

[Y] Subscribe to an Online Video Training Site

I subscribed to RunItOnce and I’m going to pull a bunch of videos for my trip to Vegas… That’s what I’ll be doing on the flight out.

Life Goals

[Y] Advance My Business Plan (5 Hours)

If I keep making continual progress like this, I’ll have it up and running soon enough.

[Y] Daily Life Mental Game Improvement

I gave myself a yes here since I only missed it a couple times, all in all it was a successful month in this regard.

[X] 2 Bucket List Items

I didn’t get this done, and February may not be the month to try again.

Health Goals

[??] Weight at 235

I’m at the Borgata with no scale, but if I had to guess, I’m between 240 and 250… I think I definitely lost some weight, but not the goal amount.

[X] Walk a Mile Each Morning

[X] 100 Pushups & Hindu Squats Each Day

I had partial success on these, but not really enough.

[0] Gym 12 Times

This is going to be a big goal in February with a reward attached.

Overview

It was a productive month in a lot of ways, and some of the reasons I fell short on my volume were out of my control. I need to make volume a huge priority between now and the WSOP, though, if I'm going to be able to grow my bankroll and make moves. All in all, I'll take January, and here's to making February even better!