If you've stumbled in here, you almost certainly have no clue who I am or why you would want to pay attention to this thread. I can't tell you the answer to the latter, but I can help with the former.

Who the **** am you?

At the time of writing this I am a fairly uninteresting 27 year old white guy who dropped out of college after trying to graduate for 5 years. Shortly after I did, I discovered poker. Since then, I spent a year working a couple of different restaurants to save up money to move out west while running $10 SnGs w/ 1 rebuy per person out of my house and peddling dope on the side and playing micros on Bovada at every spare moment I have.

Before that I was attending school full-time while working part-time and traveling to play Magic: the Gathering tournaments all over the east coast and the midwest on the weekends.

I've been in Los Angeles for two years now, I have a cushy IT Manager job at a hotel by the beach that I commute 10-15 hours a week for. I've been stoned most days for the last six years, which I'm trying to break starting today - I'll probably relapse by weeks end but whatever. I live with two close friends from college who are now married and have a two year old, and spend 2-4 nights a week grinding live underground games in and around LA.

I've had coaching sessions with a microstakes grinder from /r/poker and Mingthemerciless for cash games, and quiet a few sessions with The_Dean221 from here for MTTs. I have been studying with the Upswing Lab for almost a year now and consider myself a breakeven to slightly losing 25NL reg online depending on the site and a winning reg in the live games I play, though my recorded sample is still a couple hundred hours shy of a proper sample size. I also believe that my MTT game is fairly solid.

My biggest poker leak is almost certainly money management, something that I've started recognizing and trying to fix.

Now I'm a staked low stakes live grinder, playing anything from 1/2 - 5/5 underground games in LA that my backer puts me in. I get 50% of my winnings if I'm not in makeup and I've made my backer around 2.5k~ at the writing of this post in the last two months. The nights I play are not set in stone except Thursdays and Saturdays, other than my backer will text me a game and an address, and I'll head over to play.

Enough about you, what do you want from this place?!

What do I want? That's a pretty great question, and hopefully through keeping up with this journal/blog/whatever-the-**** I will be able to find out. I'm hoping that I can help keep myself accountable to the modest health goals I have started setting for myself, and keep myself more accountable in getting in the lab and studying the game.

The Goals:

Health:

• Practice yoga at least 4-5 times a week.
• Eat beef for no more than one meal a week.
• Stop smoking weed.
• Start cooking at least 1x meal a week.

Poker:

• Watch at least 1x training video on Upswing per day OR comment at least 2x hands per day on the Upswing FB group
• Post 2x hands per week on Upswing and in this thread.
• Update this thread at least once a week.
• Play at least 20 hours of live poker a week.

I'm not going to beat myself up if I don't hit any of these goals, but I'm hoping that this thread helps me stay accountable to myself. And honestly I may give up on trying to stop smoking. That was an idea I had last night, and so far it's rough, I just want to get off of work and smoke a doob. Maybe I'll just limit it to nights with my roommate, who knows.

The health goals have mostly stemmed from the idea of wanting to be in shape by the time I turn 30, because if I don't I feel like I will end up looking like Bill from King of the Hill by 40. This year I have cut down my alcohol consumption by around 80-90%, my beef consumption by about roughly 90%, my junk food consumption by about 95% (ice cream is my kryptonite) decreased my portion sizes, increased the amount of veggies I'm getting and started being slightly active. Since then I have slimmed down enough to drop a belt size and for people at work to not shut up about how skinny I look.

This should give a me good outlet to try my hand at writing, which I have not done much of outside of classes ever and I feel as though some stories from the games I play should be shared, as the underground games in LA are a cesspool of degenerates even though I feel more comfortable with them than I do the people I work with. It also should hopefully help curtail burn out which feels inevitable working 45+ hours a week and playing 15-20 hours of live poker a week.

My first sober session will be on Thursday, so we'll see how that goes. I'm honestly not really looking forward to it, but I think cutting out the weed will help long-term. It definitely helps live when I'm card dead, but I think I skip a couple mental steps in truly tough spots. Sometimes I come to the conclusion I would have anyway, but sometimes I don't and if I can get even 5% more of an edge by being sober I feel I owe it to myself and my backer to try it. It also makes me super lazy when it comes to studying, meaning I tend to only study hard when I'm on a downswing, and that's just not GTO.

My main game is a no-cap buyin 1/2 NL game that starts at 6-7 PM turns to 2/3 at 11 PM, stacks tend to get very deep as the night goes on, and almost never ends before 9 AM the next day, sometimes past noon. I generally buy in for 100bb at whatever game I'm sitting down at, sort of out of habit and sort of to feel the game out. Later in the night if needed I rebuy deeper. I also play in a game full of Filipinos who barely speak English (I speak very little Spanish and less French, pretty much only English) and a game full of Mexicans.

Ask questions, make fun of me, laugh, cry, whatever. I just hope people enjoy reading the word-vomit I'm spewing out of my fingers about my journey here in Los Angeles trying to make it in my side-hustle of underground cash games.

The sketchier the game the better. Good luck man ill be following.

The hard part about working 40+ hours a week and grinding part time is that I'm tired pretty much always. Got home about 2:30 AM this morning, up at about 7:15 and at work now. I ended up playing the shorter stack table last night, which I'm OK with because the other table ended up with multiple midstakes regs on it and a mandatory UTG straddle. At 2/3 the straddle is 6-20, no re-straddles though. The game was playing close to 5/10 when I left, it's still going at the time of posting this and I'm told it's playing close to 15/30+ right now and that's way bigger than I feel comfortable playing, even backed.

I ended up breaking down and smoking again, mostly because I lost two buy-ins to be -440 and just didn't feel like playing poker again. My backer told me to roll a joint of house weed and get back in the game if I wanted because even though I was on the smaller table, it was very soft. Really only one other person at that table that I think is decent, and he's probably just a nitreg. Boy did that really do the job, I went out, smoked and felt ready to ****ing battle. The game had bumped up to 2/3 by the time I came back inside. I played another four hours and ended up cashing out for 1140 (+400).

Only hand really worth discussing from last night came while it was still 1/2. Effective stacks are 240~. Both villains I don't have a ton of history on, but the one who matches my stack is a middle-aged Korean who got kicked out of the Commerce earlier this year for punching a slow roller in the face after the fourth time he did it, so he might actually be my hero.

UTG+1 (100~ behind) limps, HJ (Korean guy) overlimps, I make it 15 from the SB with KK. UTG+1 reraises to 15, HJ calls, I 4bet to 130. +1 calls all-in, HJ calls also - this leaves us with about 110~ behind in a pot of 380~ or so after rake. I'm planning to shove almost 100% of flops at this point having a .29 SPR. Flop comes A85. I decide to check with the intention of calling a shove from HJ because with SPRs being so low, HJ could easily be shoving 99-QQ in my opinion. I check, he shoves, I call. Thoughts on my line? Should I be shoving pre because SPRs are so low if HJ calls my 4bet that I'm basically just committed anyway?

Honestly not sure if I'm going to keep trying to not smoke, I felt way more in the zone and alert after I did. I also think that I just handle variance much better when stoned, so I don't know. I didn't smoke this morning because I do think I'm more likely to say **** it about studying if I do, but maybe I'll just not let myself hit anything until after I get my studying for the day done.

I did get America's Test Kitchen Cookbook 2001-2017 in the mail last night though! I'm babysitting my nephew tonight, so I'm excited to go through it and find some ideas of food to make. Probably cook dinner on Sunday or something. I actually kind of have the urge to learn how to make Pad Thai...

Results from last night - 7~ hours played, in for 740, out for 1140 (+400).

I'm either blind or dumb because I don't see an edit button on my posts above. But the 3bet was to 30 so a raise of 15. Also here's a pic of our stack before cash out, lighting is bad but those are greens at the bottom of that top stack.



Edit: Weird, I can find it on this post - is it disabled after a certain amount of time?

I've been playing Live Reg 5/10 and smoking weed often, trying to slow down but i realy like it, one alternative i use it´s to smoke haxx w/ little tobbaco instead of weed, cause i belive a real improvement since doesnt make me lazy or too much relaxed

@CoguColor - I wouldn't mind a vape liquid that was part thc part tobacco, but other than the leaves in blunt wraps I try to stay far away from that vice. I don't really think weed messes me up much while playing, it's mostly how it affects me throughout the day. Lower energy, tired earlier, etc..

Updated goal list:

The Goals:

Health:

• Practice yoga at least 5 times a week.
• Cook at least 1x meal a week.

Poker:

• Watch 1x training video on Upswing per day OR comment on 2x hands per day in the FB group.
• Post 2x hands per week on Upswing and this thread.
• Hit 500 hours played of live for the year by December 31st with at least a 5bb/hour winrate.

I've pretty much given up on trying to stop smoking right now. I'll probably give it a shot later because I'm interested in why I felt entirely apathetic to keep playing last Thursday night after losing my first two buyins and that will take more personal introspection and experimentation to get to the bottom of.

Saturday was date night for the married roommates, and I babysat my two year old nephew. He was really upset his parents were gone and would randomly remember as we were playing/watching TV and start trying to cry. It was actually pretty hilarious/adorable. I got him to sleep and slept about four hours until they got home, then headed off to my normal game at around 2 AM. I got a seat at about 3-3:30 AM, right next to a long time player in the game who tends to have at least one blowup per night. I got about three good pots off him that made most of the profit for the night even though I punted a pretty big nugget away to one of the LAGiest regs we have in the game.

First hand I played though I got stacked with the third nut flush vs second nut flush OOP, I think it was the 4th hand I saw. Fun start to the night!!

Time for my punt:

6 handed, 2/3 - effective stacks are around 1.9k~. Button straddles for 6, HJ calls the straddle, I raise on CO to 25 w/ A9. Laggy reg in the SB calls.

Flop is 974, he had checked dark I bet 35. Sizing here should probably be closer to 45-50 imo. V raises to 135, I call, thinking he could do this with two pair, sets, flush draws and straight draws.

Turn is the T. V leads instantly this time for 250. 86, 9T or flush draws with a T are the only hands that improve, I call.

River is the 3 and he leads again for 425. I call, putting him on either 97, 77, 44, or busted flush draw and he shows 74o, I saw nh and muck.

Go ahead and laugh at how bad I am, and I probably should have folded the turn.

Ended up cashing out for 1934 (+934) (228/500h) at around 7:30-8 AM, heading home and passing out for an hour or two.

I also got caught watching a Magic: the Gathering Grand Prix on my phone during the game and made fun of relentlessly.

Edit: ending stack

It's been OVER a week since my last update here. Which is partially a result of how crazy last week was and partially a result of me just being lazy and unmotivated about this thread until a friend nudged me about it.

So here we go:

Last Tuesday, I get a text from my backer (We'll call him Joe) asking if I wanted to play the Filipino game that night. I usually go to that game with two $200 bullets for 2/3 because I never stay that late and if one or two people aren't there that game actually plays a little small for awhile. Also rake there is a little on the high side, so I'm never looking to spend a ton of time there.

I honestly don't remember what happened here this night other than I lost both bullets. I think I ran 99 into KK in a straddled pot and had someone else turn two pair on me in a straddled pot for the other. I'm home at a reasonable hour either way.

Thursday, I ended up playing for around 6 hours. I was in that game for $300 and cashed out $885 for +585. Not a ton of memorable pots, I did make a kind of non-GTO play vs a fish who has a decent basic understanding of the game but miss-applies a lot of stuff or just blows up and loses it. I ended up going for the float the flop on a two spade board OOP, x/r'ing the turn on the 3rd spade, shoving the river on the 4th spade to get it through w/ king high no spades. Which I think got me a call in another big spot later in the night when I had the stone nuts and overbet shoved the river. I get out of there around 2:30-3AM then head home to catch a 3-4 hours of sleep before I head out to work the next day.

Friday I get up, go to work and Joe calls me and asks if I want to go with him and play in a 5/5 game with a bunch of Hispanic guys. This game is usually pretty soft so I say sure. After work I have just enough time to do yoga, take a shower, smoke a joint with my roommate and head over there.

About 30-45 minutes into the game starting, I'm up around $180 or so and end up losing a $13-1400~ pot where I get in AA vs TT on a 984 flop to a 7 turn and a J river. I reload another 500 and end up losing that about two-three hours later in this hand here:

I have AQ in the BB w/ around 450~ behind, and at this point one of the players who we will call Headphones is down around $3k and is just shoving in money postflop with any equity. He opens to $24, another whale calls, and the bu calls and I squeeze to $65. Headphones and whale call, the BU folds. Flop is 989r. I check, Headphones check, whale bets $45, I call and headphones calls. Turn is another 9 and it checks around. River is the gin Q. I check, headphones shoves for $100, whale flats. I have around 320-350 behind at this point and shove, whale calls and shows 94o! Get rekt me!! Maybe should have just flatted, but the whale should be calling headphones and priced in to call me there a fair amount worse than queens full of nines I think.

I also lost a $50 splash pot QQ vs KK when KK had about 250-270 pre but was also the tightest player at the table. Almost folded but there was $200 of dead money in the pot from other players when he shoved so I just stuck it in and we ran it out.

About 30 minutes before this hand, Joe had left for the Filipino game because it was one of the regs birthday there and it was supposed to be wild. I call and he says it is indeed nuts and I should come by if I'm not ready to head home.

I mull it over, as I have to be at work in 8 hours at this point and I'm down $1000 for the night, end up saying **** it lets go. I get there and there is one 5/5 table and a 2/3 table. Joe is at the 5/5 table and the only seat open is at the 2/3 table so I sit down with $300. I instantly notice that I'm the 2nd or 3rd biggest stack at the table as most people are sitting with 50-200$ and instantly regret coming.

I guess I'm really just spoiled with the deep stack action games I get to play in, but this game was worse than a Commerce $100 game in my opinion. People wouldn't stop talking during hands, complained when I was straddling to try and create action at the table because it was all nitty old people or nitty young people. Eventually an hour or so later Joe and I just peace out as it just wasn't worth the headache to be sitting at those tables. I ended up losing $63 at this game. Bummer. I think I got to sleep around 3 AM this night.

Saturday: I wake up around 7:30, get to work at 8:10~ and do some work until 12 and leave. I went home, watched an Upswing video, watched a movie with the roommates, and then took a nap before that game. I head over, and Joe mentions that he's not even feeling the grind tonight, I agree and we sit down and start the 1/2 table. About an hour in and I'm up small, we start a second table at 2/3. TT guy from the night before comes in, as long as the Birthday reg from the Filipino game who is known for being very aggressive comes in (I believe he was drunk playing blind at one point the night before so was down a fair amount). I end up in the game for $1,000 after a couple of hours and not running great when I play a big hand vs birthday reg.

Stacks are around 8-900 pre, he has me covered by a fair amount. He had been making loose calls pre but playing pretty solid post tonight, probably because of the night before. I have JJ in the SB. Birthday reg raises to $25 pre, three people call, I 3bet to $75, he calls everyone else folds. Flop is AT8r. I check, he bets $125, I call. Turn is 7 bringing a spade flush draw, I check, he bets $250, I call. River is an offsuit 6. I think this card is actually very interesting because most of his double barrel bluffs should have a 9 in them, or pair/spades or QJ/KQ/KJ which is hard for him to have because we have JJ. I end up checking and he puts us all in. I have around 350-400 at this point and end up tank folding. I'm pretty curious what people think about this hand because I tanked for about a solid 2-3 minutes before folding, but having JJ blocks a lot of hands he would just 3 barrel with I feel like. I thought about also turning our hand into a bluff on the river and jamming ourself, since we block a decent amount of 9's.

The next hand I run 99 into TT w/ 3 8's on the board and cash out right after with my last $174 putting me at -826 for the session so far and -1900~ for the weekend. I definitely felt kind of tilted at this point, which is disappointing because this is stuff I've been working on and getting better at. It's hard in live poker though when runbad happens because hands are so slow and it feels like a slog to get through. I think about leaving but Joe tells me to hang around and chill out for a bit and see if I want to play later. I agree, because I think I have an edge on the table, there's only one other player there who I would say is better than me. An hour later, I smoke a joint, come back in ready to play. Joe asks how much I want, the biggest stack is around 2.7k, I tell him I'll take $1k, he tried to convince me to take $2k and we settle on $1.5k (which is the biggest amount I've ever bought into a cash game for up until now).

I ended up battling another 5 hours or so until 6AM with a couple interesting hands played. The only one worth discussing really is this:

$1200~ effective (hero has villain covered, villain is the one player at the table who might be better than me). He opens in +2 to $35 (his default sizing for this game) three people call and I flat w/ K7 in the BB. Flop comes KQ6, he bets 100, it folds to me. I call w/ my top pair and back door flush draw. Turn is the 8. He bets $200, I call planning on folding all brick rivers. River is the 7. He bets VERY small here, $100. I tank for a bit, considering what he would call a raise with that I now beat. He would likely fold most AK/KJ combos to a river raise, unless I make it $250~ he might call with AK. I end up just calling and he has AK

I ended up cashing out w/ $2818 at around 6am. Or (-571) for the weekend. Not a bad comeback, crazy weekend. That last game was effectively a 5/10 2/3 game and the biggest game I've ever played.



After that I went home, ate some McD's breakfast, fell asleep watching Avatar: the Last Airbender, slept for an hour then got up and headed over to Dodger Stadium to see the Red Bull soapbox derby with the roomies. It was an absolutely exhausting weekend and a hell of a ride. I've done barely any yoga and have cooked 0 times. I have done some work in goal setting though. I've set two major goals and broken them down, given myself a timeline and am working on implementing steps to make them happen.

My two big goals right now are:

• Hit 500 hours of live play in 2017 by the end of the year w/ a winrate of at least 5bb/hour.
• Have $15,000 saved up between bank account + petty cash before the beginning of WSOP next year.

The first goal will help give me an idea of if I am even a winning player, and if I am what win-rates I am capable of.

The second goal is to force myself to get good at money management, and actually build up a bankroll so I can play the lower stakes game on my own roll.

Tomorrow night should be fun, and Saturday is the McGreggor/Mayweather fight and that will be a big action night.