Brief History: I have been supporting myself through poker and small business ventures since 2010 (minus a year-long stint of fulltime soul sucking employment). I had a lot of distractions in 2013 as I was going to school for my second Master's Degree, owned two small businesses, was trying to produce an indie film, and was occasionally making the mistake of looking for a full-time "real" job. However, I sold one business to my partner (for next to nothing) and the other is involving real estate and my property manager basically handles everything, the movie died a slow death due to lack of funding, and I finally realized that going back to the rat race should be only a last and very desperate resort. The only thing left is school, of which, I only have two classes left. So.....that leaves a lot of time to grind on a high level.

Poker Goals:
Put in 1,500 hrs with main game being 5/5 $1,000 buyin (hopefully moving up and more hours in PLO)
Keep this thread going and be more active on posting hands/watching vids
Make money, but focus on the process and let the rest come

2013 Results:
As you can see below, my volume is terrible. Sure, I had a lot of things going on, but laziness is the biggest factor. I do play on Bovada on a regular basis to stay sharp and when I can't make it to the casino, but my record keeping was terrible without a PT auto-import to rely upon (recurring theme, laziness). My best guestimate when 4-tabling (max on site) $1/2 and $2/4 is in the $25-$30 an hr range.

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I had already played two short sessions coming into today on the year. Fortunately I ran pretty well and am up $1,908 in just 8.5 hrs. My sessions will generally be much longer than this.

Today was a lot of back and forth, but I feel like I played pretty well (maybe a B) Below are some hands, as always feel free to critique.

Hand 1:
Villain claims to be tourney pro, mentioned playing in 14 WSOP events last yr. I had never played with him before and he moved from a broken game about 30 mins ago. Previous hand, I raised from UTG+1 w/ AA to $20, he re-raised to $60 to my immediate left, folded around and I 4-bet to $160 and he folded.

V has $670, I cover

Very next hand, same action except he calls my 4-bet. I hold AdKd. Flop come 910Jcc. I bet $200 and don't plan on folding if he jams for another $310. He does and I call. Board runs out offsuit K 8. He shakes his head when I turn over my hand, almost mucks, then realized he has two pair with 89. GH sir.

Hand #2

Had played with different V for about 5 hours. Bet every time it was checked to him. Very aggressive, but super spewey. I saw him raise pre, get called in 4 spots and bet the flop on a coordinated board several times. He had also been caught 3 bet bluffing the flop at least 3 times. I had position on him and was looking for a spot to bluff catch him.

V has $1,000, I cover.

MP raises to $15, one caller, V calls in CO. I 3 bet to $60 in sb with JcJs. Fold, fold, V calls. Flop come 4s 6h 10h. I bet $85, V raises to $185. I call. Turn is Ac. I check, he bets $220. The A is not a huge concern for me as I think he mostly 3bets the flop and continues with flush draws and sets. 2 pair on the flop is discounted b/c of the PF call. I call. River is offsuit K. I check again, he goes all in for $470. I tank. K is not a concern for me. If he did hit a weird 2 pair with the K or the A, I don't think he value bets river since I showed so much strength by calling flop and turn. This puts me back to the set or draws. I eventually find the call button due to so many more combos of busted draws/random air and he says nice call. I don't flip over my hand b/c I want to see his. He eventually hems and haws and shows the 4d and I flip over my JJ. Really bizarre that he would turn bottom pair into a bluff.

Session Total: 5.5 hrs/$228
Year Total: 14 hrs/$2,136

Good luck OP.

Hand 1 with AdKd in the 4bet pot...you should have check/folded the flop because that flop was one of the 2% worst possible flops for your hand.

sick bluff catch on hand #2.

GL

Thanks AT.

You may be right. Do you always c/f the flop there? I felt like his range was a bit weaker with the action on the very last hand. Also, the talk of the WSOP as soon he sat down, #1 let me know he is a tourney player and perhaps spewey and #2 he wanted to be the table captain.

TY sir

Appreciate it Pita.

Just finished an 8 hour session, picking up a $906 win. It is nice to start the new year off with a four-pack of positive results. The most interesting part of the night was when something occurred that I have never seen at the table before. One player was dealt two 3, as in one of his hole cards was the 3 and the other was the 3. As an added bonus, it was dealt to a regular affectionately known as "angry bird" for is numerous blow-ups. Watching him get into a shouting match with the floor supervisor was worth the price of admission.

Hand #1

V is a 40ish Asian woman who is decent other than two glaring leaks....she over values hands and her bet sizing is atrocious. I have played with her on several occasions.

Both of us have ~$1,000

V raises $45 (her standard) from MP
I 3bet to $145 with AdQc
V calls

Flop A 9 5 rainbow

V leads for $165
I call

Turn Jc (2nd club)
V leads for $285
I call

River 7os

V checks
I check
V shows QQ

I think I'm almost always ahead here when she leads, so I am content to let her keep firing away. I thought briefly about value betting the river when she checked quickly, but I don't know what worse hand would call.

Hand #2

V is middle aged white male. Active player, iso's a lot, seems competent. 1st time playing with him.

I have $1.7K, he covers

V opens to $25 from EP, I raise to $80 with two black queens, V calls.

Flop Kc 9c 10s
V checks, I check

Turn is 8d
V bets $105, I call.

River is 3h
V checks, I bet $125, V tank calls and mucks

With the V check on the river, I know I'm good. Was hoping a small bet would look FOS since my play was appeared weak after the flop.

YTD Total: $3,042/22 Hrs

Just finished a short 4 hour sesh after class, dropping $1,013, all from PLO. I played NLH with an uncapped 5/5 PLO game sandwiched in-between what looked like it might turn into something out of a fairytale. The game was built around a duo of whales. Unfortunately, the whale #1 dropped about $7K in the first 30 mins (none of which went to me) and promptly went to the table games to drop untold thousands. With this, his buddy, whale #2 slowed down and spent half the time checking on his friend. Both seats were kept locked as the table hoped for a return, but to no avail.

I sat there card dead and not connecting with any flop for the entire game. I did make a terrible call right after both whales left with AAJ10ds with on a K 8 4 flop with one of each of my suits for 100 bbs. The call would have been correct with the table dynamics with the whales in the game, but I didn't account for the change in dynamics when I made the call.

YTD: $2,029/26hrs

No pokers tonight, but did play a 6 hr NLH session on Friday night for a $623 winner.

Today was one of the reasons I love living in LA. My buddy got a few passes to a screening of American Hustle with a Q&A with David O. Russell, Jennifer Lawrence, Amy Adams, and Bradley Cooper. David O. is such a freaking genius. It was cool to hear some of his insights on the film making process. Oh, and I'm in love with Jennifer Lawrence, obv.

YTD: $2,652/32 hrs

How far do you live from where you play?

I'm in love with Jennifer Lawrence too...

I try to move around a bit, but I live on the west side. So, hustler is the closest for me (about 10-15 mins) but the bike and commerce are both within a half an hour.

Played a 7 hr sesh today, winning $303. I played pretty well, but completely lost my focus for the last 2+hrs. Just wasn't paying attention to the other players and wasn't playing that well. When that happens I need to either (A) Leave or (B) suck it up and keep my focus.

Hand #1
V1 and V2 are essentially the same player. Both are old rec Armenian players that buy in for the min and are generally terrible.

V1 $480 V2 $280 I cover

4 limpers, V1 raises to $20 on btn. I call in SB with Ad5d, knowing all limpers are coming along with that small of a raise. This was not a game where I had to worry about one of the limpers re-raising. BB and all limpers come along.

Flop 5 5 10hh

Checks around, original raiser bets $60, I call, hoping to induce a heart draw to bluff. Folds to V2 who shoves for $260. V1 calls, I reraise him all in. V1 calls.

Turn Qc
River 3h

V1 flips over 26hh(?) V2 does not show. Worst part is that both players left 2 hands later for the old fashioned hit and run.

Hand #2

V is ok reg, middle aged, black male.

V $800, I cover

One limper, V raises to $25 in mp, I call to his left with 22, two other callers plus limper come along.

Flop 2 A Q rainbow
Checks to me, I bet out small to $55. Btn calls, fold, fold, V raises to $175. I tank for about a min and call hoping Btn comes along. Btn folds.

Turn 8
V checks, I bet small again to $220, V gives a speech about "well if you have me, you have me" and shoves all in. I call.

River Q

He mucks, but says he had AK.

$2,955/39Hrs

Played 6.5hrs today in a 5/10 no cap game, winning $1,580. Game was decent, a few weaker players, but no big spot.

V is a good LAG pro. Prob views me as a nit.

I have $1800, V covers

I raise to $35 with KsKd from EP, V calls, btn calls, BB calls

Flop Kh 9s 6s

I check b/c I would do that often when I miss 4 handed. V bets $85, fold, fold, I call.

Turn Qh

I check again. V bets $185. I thought (prob should have) reraised to $500ish. But decided against hoping he would bet a blank river. I think this was a mistake.

River Jd

I check again and he bet $580. He now is firmly on air or a 10. I call. He mucked and later claimed to have a pair plus fd.

The hand did have a nice ancillary benefit (even tho I should have played it better). I played a set fast later on in the session vs him and he paid me off in a spot where I don't think he normally would have.

$4,535/45.5 Hrs

So....I had a pretty degen weekend. I went out drinking with some friends Friday night and right about the time we were winding down (3am), I got a text from a poker friend that there was a really good 5/10NL 5/5PLO mix game going on. For some reason, in my inebriated state, I thought it would be a good idea to take a cab ride there. The game was pretty good from what I can remember....however my real downfall came when I took some Adderall and kept drinking when they started serving again at 6am. Fast forward to 5pm and I am completely tanked, but still had a ton of energy. Fortuantely, I somehow came to my senses and had my girlfriend come pick me up.

The only hand I really remember was about a $4K pot when I turned the nut flush, but an older guy called my allin with two pair and filled up. I should consider myself lucky that I only lost $1,098 in 12+hrs when I was completely hammered. I would estimate $150-$200 of that was spent on alcohol.

I also just finished a session tonight that was really frustrating. I lost $873 in 5hrs. The game was really good, with three players that would call anything PF, but I was never able to take advantage or hit a flop.

$2,564/62.5hrs

Played two session since my last post. Only two b/c I took the gf to Palm Springs this weekend. 2nd to last session was pretty profitable. Played 10 hrs and won $1,680. I have some hands from the session I might post later.

However, just got home from a nightmare session. I don't think I won a pot more than $100 in 5 hours. I dropped $1,999 (damn right I cashed in the $1). Just couldn't hit/bluff or when I did the runouts were horrendous. I have some family stuff going on right now too that probably didn't help.

Anyway, I only have two more days to play this week, as I am going on a lil 2 day cruise with my gf and some friends. Not happy with my volume, but at least I have been able to supplement with some online play and have done well. I will post online results in monthly recaps.

$2,245/77.5 Hrs

Just finished a 14 hour session for a $311 profit. That result was kinda disappointing as the action was amazing especially for a Tuesday with all the best customers in house. Not to mention, I think I was up more than $1,800 at one point. But I guess there are worse results. I will post some hands when I'm less tired. Must sleep now.

$2,566/91.5 Hrs

January Recap

A lil late to the party, but here is the my January recap. Below is live cash.



Here is January totals to include online cash. I know it is the unconventional way to keep track of online play, but I'm using it for my purposes on Bovada.

Been super busy so far this month with school and some other miscellaneous things. Last week had to work in 3 mini-sessions of only 10 total hours. Two sessions of 5/5 and one of 5/10 NLH and 5/5 PLO. Fortunately, I ran like Usain Bolt and won $3,891 overall.

Biggest Hand of the sessions:

5/10 NLH, 6 handed; V is an older white guy that is very LAG. Yes you read that correctly. He kinda owned me when we first started playing, but his style is pretty exploitable once you figure him out. Very spewy.

I have $1,800, V covers

I raised to $35 UTG w/ black 1010, V Calls, BTN and BB calls

Flop: 10d 8c 6c

I bet $80, V calls, fold, fold

Turn: Ks

I bet $180, V raises to $580, I raise allin, V calls

River: Js

V mucks, I do happy dance.

I actually considered just flatting the turn, as I think V bombs river most of the time, but I didn't want the river to freeze him. I bet kinda small on turn to induce, which seemed to do the trick. I am guessing he was on some type of one pair/draw type hands.

Live $7,325/106.5 Hrs

Welp, I take away the running good comment from the last post. Nothing really worked today. I didn't play that well, the games weren't that good, and I kept running into monsters. I dropped $1,998 in 4.5 hours.

Hand #1

V was chatty and was calling down in a lot of hands. We hadn't played I hand together yet. I've been snug since I sat down an hr ago.

V has $700, I cover.

Straddle pot. 4 limpers, I complete in the BB with 4c3c. V in straddle checks.

Flop: 2c5c7h

I bet $35, V calls all others fold

Turn:8h
I bet $80, V tanks for 45 sec and calls

River: 10d
I bet $135, V tank calls shows 79

I think river bet is correct since he tanked a bit on the turn and I had been tight. But, I also knew he was a station. Not completely sure about this hand.

Hand #2

I will post this in a separate thread....

V1 is typical reg fish

V2 I haven't played with before, but capable of making moves. Earlier, raised me on a turn with 3rd pair, I folded top pair and he showed.

I had been fairly tight to that point.

V1 has $1K, V2 has $1.1k, I cover

V1 raises to $20, V2 calls, HJ calls, I call on btn with As6s, blinds call

Flop Ks2s3d

V1 bet $120, V2 raises to $320, I ????

Live $5,327/111 Hrs

Played in my first tourney of the year at the LAPC today. It was a $570 deepstack. Nothing to report really. Had to fold an overpair after a turn raise on my first decent sized pot. Card dead for about three hours after that, then got it in with 2nd pair vs a straight draw on the turn and the draw hit.

A little bit unlucky, but I also don't have anywhere near the feel I used to have in tourneys. I need to put in some study time and volume online if I ever wanna take tourneys seriously again.

Played a half session, due to a dinner I had to attend. But luckily ran like God and pulled in $3,045 in about 4 hours. Just kept hitting flops and had the characters at the table that I could get max value from. It felt good to come back with a strong number after getting whacked last time I played cash.

Live $8,372/115 Hrs

Been super lazy about updating this. I have spent a lot of time learning gambling mathematics and how to read the market in sports betting. May be a foolish endeavor, but have had pretty good results through about 350 bets. Most in college basketball, but have bet on tennis and NBA too.

Anyway, not much poker playing lately, but when I have, I have been getting crushed!!! Nothing is going right....I've had one winning session in the past 2.5 weeks. A lot of cooler hands, suckouts, and making the wrong moves at the wrong times. A big part of that is variance, but I'm sure some of it has to do with not studying as I should. I gotta get back up on the horse and make sure I devote the proper amount of time to the game.

Feb Results:

Live 48hrs/$2,873

YTD Totals:

Live 150hrs/$4,234

Live & Online: 166hrs/$6,025

What app are you using to track your progress?