About me:

28 yo poker pro living in the US. Recently I acquired a second apartment to spend time between Chicago and Florida. The aim was two fold. First off, the girl. We had known each other and gone out for about a year, doing the long distance thing.

That failed a little after moving down. Always told myself if that failed at least there would be the big private games I could get into and play PLO. So far that's been a little tough going. I was not aware who ran the games and one of the guys who runs one of the games thought i was not enough action. (history, i picked up a live time and took some time to bet call bottom boat, was trying to keep the spot open for the future.) I've been told i needed to show a few bluffs, attempt some things to get his attention. Ahhh live poker politics. I've been able to get in one or two of the games laaaate at night ~4 am on Friday nights and play til it runs out. Games are big: 10/25, a lot of 50+ straddle.

The Florida PLO games are Tuesday/Friday nights. there's a game back home around Chicago that's 5/5/10 i wouldn't mind flying back for on Wednesdays (worth it). If i don't get into the Friday game in Florida soon, ill be flying back home for the Wednesday and Friday games. Friday is 5/10 (25 optional).

I've played the game back home the past two years, crushed it. 2013 more so than 2014. 2013: ~200k+, 2014: 150k @home, 125k Vegas. PLO runs Monday/Wednesday/Friday/Saturday back home. the Saturday and Monday games being smaller, but plenty of money at it. A few big whales have left the games back home, and it plays smaller and shallower than the Florida games. but the passiveness and incompetence make up for it and keep the edge huge.

All that said, I've picked up OFC/Pineapple in Florida when i wasn't playing PLO, it runs everyday, same core group of guys who generally are more skilled than i. lot of fun, lot of gamble, I'm aiming to improve. I've been able to pick up playing OFC huge against one gambler a few times a month. had a 100/pt session against him in early December, we will see how often we play in the future.

The focus:

The aim of my thread here is to sharpen my focus, sharpen my lines, make me dedicate myself more to online, plo/ofc and a few life goals. As my own harshest critic i do find myself debating bet sizes a lot, but still feeling like im picking them aimlessly while playing online or live. i need to improve my decision making, size choices/line choices. My Vegas roommates are two of the best players i know personally, miles above me, and i feel levels below them when i play w them live or online, always a motivating factor. Not to demean myself either. ill be playing 10/25-50/100 @ the WSOP in 2015. ended the last WSOP playing 25/50 the last two weeks w my roommate. I'm no slouch, just always finding flaws in my own game/thinking.

To Give myself more time to focus and sharpen my PLO skills ill be playing a lot more online on Blackchip. Currently i only have 5k on there, so ill be grinding it up, reviewing my own play. If i end up playing back home on Wednesdays-Fridays (Saturdays?!) ill be playing live weds and Friday. have Thursday to grind all day online. Maybe ill play live OFC Tuesdays as one of the big games im trying to get into runs at the same place.

maybe weekly schedule?! its hectic, a mess.

Sunday: online/social/big ofc game?
Monday: online
Tuesday: derby ofc, (big game?)
Wednesday: Red eye home, play plo at home
Thursday: online/travel day if not staying
Friday: derby ofc if in FL, big game at night or PLO @ home
Saturday: (travel)? online/Social

flying by the seat of my pants, rambling here. I'm doing the PCA jan 6, well see how the action is there. i've heard both ends of the spectrum. it'll be a journey. Im actually getting an OFC coach, should lead to quite an improvement in my results and help me crush the big player.

2015 goals:
- I'm currently 6', 261. Have a few bets w a friend regarding weight loss. hes currently 6'2 302, I get $75/lb he gets $60/lb lost. Itll be a fun run of eating well and working out.

-215-225lb by 5/25, when i leave for the series.

-working out 5hrs+/week

-watch 5-6 RIO vids/week, to catch up, then watch as they come out

-get into the big Tuesday and Friday games in Florida?! pretty please?!

-constantly think about bet sizing and how it effects peoples ranges.

-20-30 hrs/week online, with 5 hrs+review/hh posting / week

-eating right, at casinos always a toughie, but need to focus on.

really all this ends may 25th?! my Wisconsin lease ends mid may, my Florida lease ends the end of may, then my Vegas roommates and i are getting a house for 2 months there.

sorry for the rambling guys, ill update as i see fit. Flying to Florida in few hours to begin this journey. alll aboard!

not exactly sure what people are looking for me to post, ask and i'll accommodate. ask anything, ill respond.

1/3: played a super long (too long) OFC sesh of nearly 15 hours at 10/pt and 15 a point. waaay too long. i clocked out mentally w 5 hrs to go and made a bunch of mental mistakes. it was like i had highway hypnosis. I ran like got the first 8 hours so it made it easier to play thru the bad stretches. My opponents were well versed in OFC, with both probably being better, one for sure.

+$1500, was up as much as $4k-4500 for a bit then dropped 2.5 last 3 hrs.

It even got to the point where was was joking ?! she couldnt leave til i was bust, i was too big of a fish. and she added herself on the app so she could play me.

new goal is to set session hour limits to 8?! or a break after 6. (or find a life so i have other things to do) in OFC when against quality opposition. Most of the OFC regs here are better than me which is always a motivation to study!

Going to the PCA on tuesday thru the 11th. Meeting up with an OFC coach Jen Shehadae to sharpen my game and point out where i can do math on my own. Ive been a tad lazy myself and need to get back on it.

May have an OFC sesh w a whale tomorrow otherwise its an online grind today and tomorrow.

OFC: +1500, 15hrs

Did you hear about the rumor you won the biggest PLO pot in Florida? Supposedly you won a single pot worth $180K at Tampa Hard Rock sometime in Jan/Feb. I saw myke_11 in the VIP lounge a few weeks ago and he said it wasn't true. Any idea how that one got started?

Ha, i wish. no the big game at THR moved in January and HR no longer has any game that can get anywhere close to that. not sure how that got started. ive only lost big pots lately in florida. Biggest pot i saw while around the private games was around the 40k range, maybe a few 50, nothing anywhere near that amount.

The following will be a catchup on the poker aspect of this thread:

January:ee k:

I can hardly remember a few specific hands, except the biggest losers and one night in the PCA.

Started out in a good spot, the gf at the time (whos better than me at chinese) was playing the whale in OFC, and i had bought half of her the night before we left for the PCA. she was in a good spot and up 120 (@25/pt) points when i got there to sweat at things all went downhill. The plan was i would take her spot and play him for even bigger. He was fine with it then she went to fantasyland and he backed out and made her play til close (another 3 hours). Everything went downhill then, she got frustrated a bit and got ran bad, back to even. From there i said id buy the rest of her action because I wanted all the action I could against him. The last hour was terrible he ended up winning 5k on the session. So it was quite the swing. I ended up losing over 30k in staking in Jan. not the first time ive lost 30k+ in staking. I keep saying ill stop it, and i go thru periods where i dont, but ive definitely dumped over 100k in staking/piece buying over the last 3 years.My no limit horse dropped 10k + my limit horse dropped 5k, i lost 10k+ staking /buying pieces of OFC players.

The theme of January was staking gone wrong and losing every big pot.

The PCA was an awesome vacation. We went for 8 days and it truly is an amazing tourist destination. We swam with dolphins, went to the beach, but the most fun was snorkeling around the hotels built in fish tank. They had all sorts of fish, eels, Rays, sharks in there. Probably the best buy for an hour worth of fun.

The poker wasn't great, in fact it was pretty bad selection wise for PLO. There was usually 1 table of 2/5, 1 of 5/10 and 1 25/50. I shot took once in teh 25/50, made $100, doubled flopping top boat 3 ways then doubled up another short stacker. Games on the whole were really reggy, not many rec players and pools were quite small. I won 2k the first day and then proceeded to lose every pot of significance after that for the next 5 days. Plus 5k at blackjack.

I lost about 10k in cash, but i managed to save it with a 7th place in a 2k turbo. I had 4 knockouts, but my bust hand was not the best spot, probably a fold. I came into the Final 2 tables decent stack but ran card dead til throughout. A short stack who had been shoving til he got up to about 12 bigs now min opened and I alarm bells went off, i looked down at AQs shrugged and went with it with 7 bigs. he had AA, that was that. still made 8k on the tourney. I lost 8k staking the gf, we all were pretty even til the final night when this jewish guy with curly hair was going crazy at a 5/10 table. I proceeded to lose 8k to him she lost 5k, he was getting in any pair in with any stack depth and running pure. Go figure i try to get 3k w top 2 v btm pr gutter in a small pot and he binks.

Back in Tampa I managed get in the private games I have been trying into for a session a piece. The big tuesday game was 4 handed when i joined, 2 huge fish, 1 asian reggy fish and me in 25/50 plo. I went in relatively readless on the 2 big fish, i knew theyre loaded and gambly, wide in spots.

Biggest pot: I called 300 OTB w Q776 dbl goes 4 way.s

Flop (1200): Q73r: we check thru
Turn (1200): Ts bringing spade flushdraw ( i dont have it): pizza man bets 900, fold, i make it 2700, he jams for 9k I call. he has TT, whoops

Ive ran spots like this by my vegas roomates and they love the stackoff as he can do it w mulitple draws since he has some FE, and im ahead of all his made hand range except TT/QQ, and i block Qq. Florida games are much more agro when compared to wisconsin games (wisco games are super passive, so its closer to a raise/fold w Q77).

A later hand i got in 9k v him w topset vs his Aces on turn, i held, but he flipped his hand over anways, and the dealer noted he filled his gutter. Also got in pair and wrap v bare QQ on 549r for 6k, QQ held. the day sucked, i dropped 22K

In the Other big game i got in Double suited KK v j964single for 10k and did not hold (will continue to be a theme).

I crushed the smaller 5/5 public games during the week, had 2 sessions, won 10k. Binked a casino $200 mtt for 5k where i didnt chop, and just ran over the Ft.

End Jan: All in all: i dropped 64k in Jan, my worst month ever by a huge factor. Back to the slowgrind back to even!

let this be a lesson: i know you guys want to help out friends, those you think are good and can make you some money on the side, but you do have to preserve yourself first. These horses were in fact winners for me last year, but because of January i had to give them the boot if they lost one more shipment. My staking losses werent quite finished yet. I proceeded to lose about another 15k staking within the first 2.5 months of the year. helping me dig myself this hole.

so be very wary of any agreement you enter into even with the best of intentions. things can go south for you and them.

t-8 days for the GMAT round 1. ive been told i need a 570 to get into the business school around here, the math and essay should be a breeze, just reading up on reading/sentence correction/comprehension, maybe some logic math. (if p then q things).

been crushing plo lately, only down day was friday where i started up 2k, ended up a 5k loser after losing some huge pots. 1 was to ren where i tripled and got called by bottom 2, my river sizing was 900 into 1500, probably too small on an 83tak board? i forget turn/river, but everything bricked and ive been noticing a few people have a few general sizing reads of mine. i dont always use them i alternate, but their general reads seem to be to i dont triple strong light so my smaller than 3/4 river bets are more airy/missed draws.

another hand i lost ~3k on i flopped top pair/nfd/btm wrap. i had raise pre in a straddled pot otb w a865 play is 6 handed

flop (4xx): Ad9h7h: 3 ways x to me i pot for 425ish, bryan snap mucks 99ragrag bc obv im strong and hes not doing that well v any strong range. i find it weak but it has started to tip me off to some sizing reads. geppo quickly calls

turn (1300): 3x: geppo checks i pot for 1400 he tanks for 3 minutes eventually we get in 2400 total, his bare 77 holds.

lost 5k on that session, but the wednesday i had a lot of bluffing opportunities int he 5/5 game and it seemed everyone but 1 (and it was a 2500 bluff- the hands interesting, i was against a player who was in a good mood who i never expected to make the call w the hand he had (my turn bet was very suspect if im not shipping river but i wanted to ship stacks in on river a lot. he called top and middle missing him nfd. his rationale was a good insight into his mind. he was in the game for 1k and ran it up to 4. hes a gambler, so if he loses hes only down 1k but if hes right he wins 7k).

won 10k wednesday in the 5/5 and saturday was a hell of a 1/2/5 game w lee and another asian businessman. i wound up 5k, game was stil going sunday when i went back at 1pm, lost 1k.

perhaps i can work on how i talk through some things here, the session notes are just quick hits. if anyone wants me to illustrate things i will.

Today has been a lot of video watching, tho i should be taking more notes and being more active w the galfond vids. Studying for Gmat, bill paying, and reading other books. I find reading helps the comprehension no matter what it is so i am reading Janda's HUNLHE book as well as The Lost History of 1914. A very interesting book trying to show just how unlikely WW1 was and how attitudes that it wasnt going to happen lead to it happening.

saturday was the 1/2/5 500 max, turned into super deep game around 2 am buy in game where i started extremely card/spot dead, but only managed to be in for 1100 as i twiddled my thumbs until some spots came up. finally got to the main table and found some spots, but was still card dead as hell. actually just ground up to around +1500 then an asian fish came over late at night and gifted me some monies a few times. i got in 1500?! w Q456 on A43 after he 3b and was never folding his hand. bet sizing tell told me he didnt have aces so i shrugged and decided to go w it. he got in kk42 and i binked a Q on the river for the massive pot (at those stakes).

ended that session +5k ish, plus some craps monies

got a text the game was still going at 3pm on sunday, went back was quite card dead, doubled up right away then dwindled down and lost 1500 to a euro regfish on a AT79cc board where flop had checked thru. pot was small on turn he lead 200 into 300, i made it 500 w KQJJcc he jammed w 86+clubs, really thin, losing shove imo. call is super standard and best, he just hates thinking. my range is 70%+ v him and hes only 52% v my hand as it is. ended down 1k, went down w ren to play craps, won 3700

monday was crappy, started a 2/5 NLHE table, bought in semi deep, and nitted up 3b K7dd small bc i didnt see ren open, thought it was a middle aged guy in the CO (i was btn) ren called other guy called and 250 in middle, 700ish behind flop was JT3dd ren x/r my 175 to 600 and got the rest in, he had JTcc, weee. he never has any decisions and my blindness makes it an easy peel to him pre.

starting to hate my phone at the table, i used to pay attention to everything now i feel like i have ADD and hardly pay attention and do feel it has cost me money/info.

we went to 1/2/5 where ren and i sucked it up, i dominted him in 5 hands of HU on the feeder, but nothing else got going. at the main i fell for one of bryans bets and tried to make a "toughness" raise w topset+gutter on a straight board where bryan made the straightin a 3 way pot and he just potted out the turn. my reasoning was bull**** and really gave him a superstrong range at first given there was a player between us, so i just fps'd. pot was 280 we ended up getting in 1500. table dried up fast, i lost ~1.2k there. ren and i went to go play craps where i dropped 3.4k, so all in all a great day. swore off craps and quitting a lifetime winner.

wednesday was a day where i lacked discipline after being gifted an easy 1500 2hrs into play. just kept trying to run up stack and call huge bets pre vs aces pre and missing. i wasnt making any hands and my bluffs were getting picked off, partially bad sizing, partially bad reads. I called 1600 pre w 3456ss (really bad pre, but the guys snap shipping 5k on flop) where 1 guy has obv aces and another is hi carded, flop was 88T.

have been working on just making it 15 pre to build pots/keep everyone in where i have nut drawy hands and other sizings elsewhere. wasnt hitting a flop for hours on end so and just kept losing the pots. ended down 5k.

so up a bit from last wednesday, but not where we wanted to be after the start to last week.

i lacked a lot of discipline in my hand selection pre wednesday, there will be added emphasis on maintaining focus and discipline pre, as well as not checking out mentally in hands

Becoming slightly ordered at my bet size choices in big pots and my lack of check raising in general. Even though it's on of the most passive games I've ever played in there are spors to get a lot of value with check raises on flops or even rivers when more of their value ranges are strongish. Generally they're unlikely to bet that sode so the river parts of my xrs will have to be thought out (PPP aren't betting air missed draws bc the money means soemthing to them so there's not much opportunity to get value from their outright bluffs.

As far as my sizings - given the same notions my bluffs have generally been on the smaller side while value bets larger (most are inelastic on their frequencies). That said quite a few have picked up on it and been picking off my smaller bluffe so I need to increase bluff sizes and frequency as well. I do feel I'm missing a lot of opportunities to stab and. Pick up small lots. End ramble/ back to game

Some stupid hands- just opened pre to 50 w 9877spades, went 6 ways
Flop (310): 7c5c4d: x to me I bet 250, 4 callers (lol)
Turn (1310): Ts: x to me I bet 750 for protection/value, fold fold- Asian fish playing everyhand repots to 3500 i flat w 1k behind since I have 40%-
Blanks river I fold in a 8300 pot. Yeah jammings fine but he has 0 semi bluffs and is never folding on my cards so whatever.

Earlier had a 4k stack- opened a998dbl hearts/spades to 25, plumber jimmy raises to 120, called 5 ways so I call.

Flop (600): Kh9c4h: xx I bet 350 , fold fold fold polish Chris calls
Turn (1300): 4c: xx
River(1300): 8c: x I bet 450, he takes a few seconds says pot kinda happily, I grimace and call 1800ish - his range is narrow and yeah it's a small raise for pot and I'm at super top of range so whatever- he has KK- weee

Won a big one- but going w the theme of the thread I inyend to jus post here bout hands to analyze from now on. The previous ones were a vent, but now the focus will be on problem hands

In the Thursday baby PLO game your name was associated with $600K-$1M winnings from PLO over the last 2 years. Of course 2 minutes later your name was also associated as being both the worst and luckiest PLO player in the bigger games.

Meanwhile you're at home watching RIO Elite videos, studying hands, running equities, evolving your game....definitely what bad players do...

Bryan is still better than me and does the same. He quietly racks up very nice years. Gotta be our style differences, he'll crush you in the small to medium ones w nice passivy balanced ranges and I'm there trying to make pots big.

What did the camera say? I think you were right, it was some additional amount $15-20. I remember standing behind him, seeing his hole cards and and wondering about his decision - call $175 out of $3xx and see a flop or get it all in 3-way PRE. I knew it was 3 black chips + misc and kind of went with the $375 said by dealer and player. I knew Tyler had re-bought in for $500 before the hand started so logically if the bet was $375 Tyler could only have $125 left in front of him after losing the hand.

When was the last time you played in FL?
When was the last time you played ONL?

Haven't played in Florida since I came back so two weeks?! And that was at the hard rock- thought I touched on that- maybe not. The 5/5 game at the hard rock plays so much like and a bit smaller than the saturday games (when I'm in them). The style and play are very passive but pedal my when raising but uber wide when calling. I had two sessions in actual deep games there and won just north of 10 before flying back, but I lost back 7 of it in OFC before my flight.

I actually played a bit of online last week, but actually it was holdem as I prepare for the mspt. I started, but don't know how long the pgc thread will go, a of ut me relearning Holdem. Posted a few hands there where I had a few questions as to what thought processes should be. I'll see if I can copy/paste them here.

My days off have been sort of busy w bills and studying for the gmat , I'll have more time for online next week.

.

When are you going out to Vegas? I'm heading out for Colossus on the 28th and staying for a week.

What's the HE/PLO round by round been like? Will that game survive with people leaving for the series?

Cool thread. I'm sure we have played together at some point (probably many times). Although, I can't think of a good reg that fits with the info in this thread. That said, I don't spend much time thinking about regs I played with a year ago in Florida.

Am I the Tyler being talked about here? ... I have many questions.

nah, said hand occured in MKE