Ah I see. I just saw the no huds thing and that was the only site I was aware of off the top of my head.

Yeah that makes sense. They are similar sites with the sweepstakes model and whatnot. Unfortunately there is no rakeback yet on Stake though, and the software for poker is somewhat limited. Poker has only been running for a few months.

I posted this less than a week ago and my balance has since doubled. Just getting great spots against some really terrible players. In the last week, I got AKo AIPF against KJo at 100NL (I opened UTG, a player 3bet small, several fish cold-called, i 4bet jam, original 3bettor folds but a fish calls it off for 100bb); AQo AIPF against 24o at 50NL (24o limps UTG, i ISO, short stack fish 3bets small, 24o limp calls, I 4bet jam, short stack folds, 24o calls off for 100bb); A9s AIPF against J3o at 50NL (I overlimp pre, maniac ISO, couple calls, I limp-jam, he calls it off for 80bb, everyone else folds); and AA AIPF against A7o at 50NL (HU against a "reg" who 5bet shoved which I guess is semi-reasonable HU). I lost the last two, but some other great post-flop spots have more than made up for that. I've been shot-taking a little 100NL which is the biggest I've ever played online. Mostly playing at that stake when the games look extremely good or when 50NL isn't running. I wouldn't be surprised if I am a losing player in the 10NL pool on ACR, but 100NL on stake.us? No problem.

I've been doing a bit of work on GTOWizard every morning which feels good. I've been practicing defending the BB against the GTO bot lately and I've been doing really poorly, which is disappointing. Looking forward to improving.

I had a small loss at $1/$2 live this weekend but will be playing again on Thursday. No particularly interesting hand histories from this most recent session, which was sort of a slog. Thought the 1/2 action at Mohegan Sun was great on Saturday - almost every table looked good (which certainly isn't always the case).

Updating this thread after a busy week of gambling. I am still running hot at everything. On a huge upswing and feeling good.

Live Poker:

I played twice this week and won both times (+$330 at 1/2; +$391 at 2/5). Thursday’s session was a bit more interesting. It was one of the most uneventful sessions I’ve had in a while (5 hours at 1/2 where I alternated being up or down $40) until right at the end, when I had several huge hands in a row against the same fishy opponent, including a spot where I got it in on the flop with bottom set and turned quads. I ended up staying later than I wanted because I didn’t want to hit & run, but it’s also just good for me to get volume in (and especially so on a triple status points day).

On Saturday, I got a seat in a really good 2/5 game as soon as I got to the poker room. The game slowly became less good until 5/T started, and then it was great again. At a couple different points I felt like I wanted to drop back down to 1/2 but I stayed at the table until I was called for the main game. I’m trying to make sure I don’t quit good games before I have to, which should be easy/obvious but it doesn’t always feel that way. I’m going to share one hand history from this session.

AKo

UTG, UTG1, and UTG2 limp. Folds to me in BB. I raise to $50. Only UTG1 calls. UTG1 is a regular at the casino, but I think he is more of a wealthy recreational player. MAWG. $550 effective.

Flop: T34r (Pot: $100). I bet $40. Villain calls.

Turn: T34 Q (Pot: $180). I bet $125. Villain calls.

River: T34 Q Q (Pot: $430). I jam $330 or so and Villain snap folds.

I think pre-flop, flop, and turn are somewhat standard here, although I don’t hate checking at any point and I might have gone too big pre.

On the river, my thought process was that Villain almost never has Qx (QJs or KQs might float, but I believe this player raises those hands pre-flop), whereas I have plenty in my range. Also, because Villain never has Qx, I think this is a river I still want to value bet my overpairs. Maybe I would block bet with those but also the SPR is such that a jam isn’t unreasonable? I think this is a difficult spot for Villain to call with a hand like T9s. He also may still have some pocket pairs or something like A4s. It is also entirely possible I just have the best hand here against 56s. Maybe checking river is best for that reason? I don’t have a ton of bluffs here though, since I am going to be checking back pre-flop with hands like 56s, J9s, KJo.

Online poker:

I continue to sunrun on stake.us. I ended up making a sizeable withdrawal which felt great. I still have enough money on there to comfortably play 50NL and even some 100NL, but at this point I have withdrawn $1.5k in profit from just casually grinding low/micro stakes.

At the same time, playing online regularly again is reminding me how weak my mental game is. When I’m winning, I love playing and feel great. When I’m losing, I feel bad and alternate between wanting to play constantly to grind back my losses, and wanting to just quit for a while. Unfortunately, when I’m losing, the effects leak into my everyday life in a way that I don’t like at all. At least when I’m losing at the casino, it feels like I am able to leave those problems at the casino when I go home. It’s weird that losing online is more tilting for me, because the stakes are between 4 and 10 times smaller than what I am playing live.

I would not be too surprised if I end up taking a break for a while after I stop winning almost every session. I will also be continuing to try and strengthen my mental game.

Misc. advantage gambling:

I have been running hot with my online promo hunting and IRL slot machine vulturing. On Saturday, I found a really good spot on a slot machine called Rich Little Hens, where someone had abandoned a machine with a juiced-up “Free Games” bonus available. It only took about 10 minutes for me to hit it and I profited $80. I found another machine (Regal Riches) in a less-advantageous spot and got lucky for a $60 win on that too. I don’t like playing slots when the casino has the edge (and I essentially never do it), but I also want to get better offers from the player’s club, so I don’t mind taking marginal spots if I find them.

Additionally, I have been dipping my toes in the waters of credit card points hustling (s/o to the gambling podcast Risk of Ruin). I recently discovered that one of my credit cards through Bank of America will give me 3% cash back on all of my Sweeps Coin purchases through Global Poker (the purchases are categorized as “online shopping”). Because Global Poker also offers 3% deposit bonuses (buy $515 of coins for $500) and only requires a 1x playthrough, this creates an opportunity to play a high RTP game like blackjack and win in the long run. I actually don’t understand how Global can afford to give out these deposit bonuses on every purchase, but maybe they shut it down if they realize you are abusing them. At any rate, I was able to clear a sign-up bonus on a new BOA credit card entirely by playing BJ on Global which was a fun little project.

Mohegan Sun’s online casino also continues to amaze me with how many promotions they give out. I am up several thousand dollars on that site again this year, and I have another $100 deposit bonus waiting for me when I get back home from work today.

Another solid week for me.

Live poker:

I played a short $1/$2 session yesterday and won $350. It was pretty similar to my session the other day, where I sat around and fluctuated from up small to down small for a while before I won a huge hand at the end of the session. I think I played well overall and was very disciplined. The decisive hand played itself from my perspective:

I open 33 to $10 in EP (very soft table, would fold this against strong opponents). Fish flats MP and Nit flats BTN. Flop: 753r I check. Fish bets $15. Nit folds. I raise to $50. Fish calls. Turn Qdd I bet $85. Fish jams for $250. I call. He has 73s and does not hit his two outer.

My results this year have been exceptionally good partly because I am running above average (see: above hand) but also because I have finally figured out how to patiently wait for the above spots. If I played this exact session a year and a half ago, I would have spewed off $250 on some multi-way bluff before the big hand. I still would have won for the session, but it would have been a small comeback win. I would have justified it to myself as "you wouldn't have gotten that action if you didn't show the big bluff" but this just isn't true in these games against these opponents.

Online poker:

I won small this week before having a couple frustrating sessions between Thursday and Friday. I ended up deciding to take a break from playing, and so I withdrew my balance from stake.us. I think this was a healthy decision, although it does make me feel bad about my overall resolve.

At the end of the day, I won $3000 playing mostly 50NL over the course of maybe a month total. I'm really proud of that result and of the volume I was able to put in. I know I will be back to online poker at some point too.

Misc. gambling:

I had a strong week grinding promos on CT's online casinos. I also found another AP slot play when I was at Mohegan Sun yesterday which resulted in a modest win. I've lost track of my YTD results in this category, but I know it's pretty good.

Another Monday, another update from me where I brag about how good I am running.

Live poker:

I played two sessions this week and put in some time at $2/$5 both days. Both times I was at really good tables but ended up getting moved to a worse main game. I made a post in the strategy sub-forum about one hand I played at $2/$5 where I flopped quads with 22 and was the beneficiary of a pretty massive overplay of the nut flush. That hand got me out of a pretty big hole on Thursday (I had flopped top set against a straight at 1/2 earlier) and I ended up booking a small win.

On Sunday, I started out at an incredible $1/$2 table. Despite it being a brand new table on a Sunday morning, there was a ton of action. The first time I 3bet, I got cold-called in two spots, including by 86s (that ended up winning the pot with second pair after I whiffed). Half the table was straddling every opportunity and stacks were flying. I was up and down a bit before my name got called for a new 2/5 table. I decided that there was no way I was leaving this 1/2 game, but then the action player who cold called my 3bet with 86s got up to go to 2/5 and another action player from my table did the same. It made for an easy decision for me. I ended up stacking the 86s guy in a 3bet pot at 2/5 where I played a bit too loose with AQo and got lucky. Shortly after I got moved up to the main game, I dropped back down to 1/2 and won a little more money there. The 2/5 main game wasn't as good as the must move, although I did see some pretty suspect play there as well. I just still don't like playing 200bb deep at 2/5. I'll get there eventually.

Online poker:

After withdrawing my balance from stake.us last week, I made a small re-deposit of $100 this week. I played maybe 15 hours or so over the course of a few days before withdrawing $350 earlier today. It was nice to win, but I wasn't happy with how much of my time I was spending grinding. I played last night all the way up until I went to sleep and ended up having crazy dreams about poker which kept me up for a while.

I think it's good to be putting in long hours at a game I am crushing but it also feels like it is at odds with how I want my day-to-day life to be. I think I will deposit again at some point and hopefully I will be better about balancing playing with life.

My total result on stake.us is up to +$3.2k. Most of this money I have put towards household expenses which feels good.

Other gambling:

I had a nice week in this category. I won $200 or so on Mohegan Sun's online casino (I'm not sure how anyone can lose on this site with the promotions they run). I also found a couple advantage play opportunities on slots in real life and ran hot to win another $200 or so. I learned a new game as well which I feel good about. It isn't particularly difficult to figure out how to play different games and what to look for, but it requires some research and wandering around the casino. I only play slots on short breaks from the poker table, so I don't spend a lot of time on it.

I did have one day where I tilted a bit gambling online and chased my losses some on -EV stuff. That didn't feel good, but it hasn't happened in a while. Gotta make sure it doesn't keep happening.

Quick update: I had a pretty tough week for the first time in a while. I got whacked at $2/$5 for a $1000 loss on Thursday. I didn't play awful, but I made one pretty ambitious bluff 4betting with AKo CO vs BTN that might have been a mistake. Also ran QQ into KK BTN vs BB on a J high board for 100bb I had some modest wins at $1/$2 after dropping down, but still a big losing week. I also tried to learn a new slot machine to advantage play and ended up losing a couple hundred on that game, playing at a time when I realistically didn't have an advantage. Frustrating, but it's bound to happen sometimes.

Today I am headed to Atlantic City for 2 nights. I'm going by myself after plans to go with others fell through. Going to treat it like a business trip and really focus on grinding. I have two main goals:

- Play 15 hours of live poker

- Play through a full $1000 deposit bonus on an online casino

I think both of these goals should be easily attainable and if I accomplish both I will likely have a solid winning trip. Planning to update this thread while I'm down there. My rooms are comped and I have a little free play, plus some dining credits. Looking forward to it.

Day 1 of my trip is in the books. +$585 which is a great start.

I won $390 in 6 hours of $1/$2 at Tropicana.

I won $80 playing through $35 of Free Play from Tropicana.

I won $40 playing through $45 of Free Play at Resorts.

And I won $75 playing through an online deposit bonus on the Golden Nuggest online casino.

I played in two different 1/2 games and both were great. Both had some truly clueless novices, some splashy fish, and a few pretty bad regulars. It makes sense that the games are good because it's a holiday weekend and the casino is insanely packed. The action was good here too, with 8 tables going (last time I was here it was only 3).

Sharing one hand history. This is the most tilted I've ever been at a live table I think. Villain is middle aged African American guy. It's early in the session but he is obviously a fish. He RFI'd to $20 with JJ in one hand, opening smaller other times. He is limping a lot as well. He 3bet a $10 open of mine to $50 at one point. He also is loudly talking about poker strategy in a nonsensical way and described himself as a "smart player.'

Hero opens EP to $10 with QJdd. Villain calls SB. HU $300 effective.

Flop: AcKsTh ($20). Check. I bet $7. Call

Turn: AcKsTh 3h ($32). Check. I bet $45. Call

River: AcKsTh 3h Qh ($120). Check. I bet $75. Villain tanks. He counts out the call. He sighs. Then he says "I raise" and somewhat dramatically makes it $150. Hero?

I was pretty disgusted here. Villain looks incredibly strong. I figured he had every combo of AXhh and many of KXhh. Even JXhh is possible. Maybe he occasionally has a straight that I chop with? No other worse value obviously. I say "You have a straight here?" he shakes his head no and half smiles. He says "What do you think I was calling you with?"

I make the tight/disciplined fold. He says "I flopped a set on you. Pockets Kings in the hole."

Obviously I didn't believe him but he justified his play in the most insane fish logic and then talked about the hand on and off for hours afterwards. Later in the night when I was solidly winning he asked me if I really folded a straight. I said yes and he again insisted he had KK. I don't think there was any reason to lie here.

This might be the only time in my life I've ever folded this spot. I think it is a good fold? Maybe I need to call to chop some times and win 5% of the time against spew though.

I'm glad I was able to bounce back and have a good session cause otherwise this hand would have really bothered me. Villain later claimed he was a pro who usually plays 5/T lol.

Day 2 of my AC trip. +$717 today.

I won $480 in 2.5 hours of $1/$3 at Borgata

I won $213 in 4.5 hours of $1/$2 at Tropicana

I won $118 playing through a deposit bonus on Mohegan Sun NJ online casino

I won $39 playing through a deposit bonus on Harrah's online casino

I won $52 playing through $50 of free play at Hard Rock

I won $15 playing through $20 of free play at Resorts

I lost $200 playing slots at Tropicana

I was disappointed that I ended up playing some regular -EV slots and losing kind of big at the end of the night. I had some sort of pitiful justification for this but it's just dumb gambling and it felt bad afterwards. Outside of that, a great day. I ran pretty hot at poker and grinded hard on promotions.

My session at Borgata was the most interesting part of the day. I played with a true maniac. He was playing every hand and raising to massive sizes often (sometimes blind). He would stack off with any piece of the board (or even Ace high) and would bluff often as well. I was card dead for an hour and a half which was brutal. But I finally got an incredible spot against him in a bomb pot (hand history below) and scooped a big pot. The maniac dusted off $1.5k or so before exiting. I played for a bit afterwards but decided to book the win pretty early.

At Tropicana, I played in a couple pretty good games. I ran bad in one big spot where I got it All-in with QQ against some guy's 66 (he rivered a straight) but I also had a sick run of cards at the end of the night to book a nice win. I left a great table early which I didn't feel great about but it was late for me. I played one interesting hand this session that I may make a thread about on the strategy subforum.

Borgata HH

Double Board NLHE bomb pot. Six players ante $15.

Hero of JTo

Flop 1: J87r
Flop 2: TT2r

I am in SB and check. 3 checks. Maniac from CO bets $140 into $90. Clueless young guy tanks and sigh jams for $250. Hero re-jams for $300. Maniac snap calls. I table my hand. The turn on board 1 is a 9 and the bottom board bricks out. No one else shows their hand so I scoop an $800 pot.

I didn't play at all today since I had to be back in CT relatively early and the Tropicana's poker room wasn't open early in the morning.

I fell short on both of my goals but I had a great trip with a great net result of +$1302

I played 13 hours (I set a goal of 15 hours) and I played through about $300 of online casino deposit bonuses (I set a goal of $1000).

Initially, my goal was going to be to win $1000. I changed it at the last minute because I've heard that in poker it is better to set volume goals over results goals, since volume is what one can control. That said, had I lost a lot in poker, I probably would have gone harder at the deposit bonuses to make the trip a profitable one.

Shortly after I got back, I played through $200 of deposit bonuses from Mohegan Sun's online casino and won about $140 which is nice. I expect to play live again this weekend if not sooner. Looking forward to it!

I've had mixed results since getting back from AC but I think I'm up small overall.

Live poker:

I played two sessions on Saturday. I played about 5 hours of Mohegan Sun $2/$5 in the afternoon. It was one of my longer sessions playing exclusively 2/5, which I was happy with. I got stuck early losing a big pot with AQcc and KJdd in a 3bet pot where we got it in on Q95dd (he opened, I 3bet, he check raise flop) but I battled back. I made a thread in the strategy subforum documenting two hands I played against a very splashy woman. After the first one, I was up $300 for the day and playing $1300 deep which is probably too much for me. But I quickly lost some money back to her in a spot I misplayed and I ended up finishing the day around -$270. I had a lot of interesting spots this session and I clearly made some mistakes so I wasn't too disappointed to lose overall.

I also played a small stakes home game at night. I'm not going to go into too much detail about this game or any hands I played there, but it was a good time. I got unlucky in a couple spots (set under set; set under straight) and lost something like $125 overall.

Online poker:

I played several sessions on stake.us and ended the week up about $400 which I'm really pleased with. It's nice to be able to get unstuck from playing $2/$5 live by playing 50NL online. I have a couple hands from this week which I will run through GTOWizard. I don't know how whether I will continue to play much on stake, but for now I'm having fun and maintaining a good balance with how often I am playing.

Other gambling:

I had a small win in this category but I didn't do too much. I placed some NFL bets using profit boost promos that I ran hot on. I played through Mohegan Sun's weekly promotions as well and won small overall.

I have been playing a bit on Global Poker and its sister site Chumba Casino (deposit bonuses mostly). Apparently these sites will no longer be operating in the state of Connecticut which is disappointing but won't really affect me. It is sad to have one less option for online poker though. I'm curious if eventually stake.us will cease operating here, since I gather the state government is cracking down on sweepstakes model online gambling. That would be a sad day for me.

thats too bad about Global in CT. When is it over for the state? I have a feeling thats coming to more states sooner than later.

Any thoughts on Electric Poker from Draft Kings? That's gotta be soft as hell especially if you can play it through the app. I read its cleared regulatory stuff and is ready to launch in CT soon.

They are sort of staggering the exit from CT but by October 16, no one in CT will be able to play. I'll copy/paste the e-mail I received behind Spoiler tags cause it's pretty long.



I can't wait for Electric Poker lol. I think the Spin & Go format is generally pretty fun and I'm sure the other players will be godawful. I also am looking forward to playing on a site/app that is easy to get money in and out of. I'm guessing that putting a lot of volume in on that game will result in some valuable offers/promos from DraftKings too. Obviously the dream is that they one day launch a legit online poker cash game option too.

For the past few days, I have been running unbelievably hot playing online. It’s actually kind of embarrassing. I won $200 at 50NL on Tuesday and then saw a very soft short-handed 200NL game running which is rare. I hopped in and played my first hands ever of online $1/$2. Within 3 hands, I flopped a set against a fish in a 3BP and won a stack, which effectively broke the game.

Outside of that, I’ve been winning almost every time I play. This morning I played HU against a whale at 20NL and won 500bb off of him in 15 minutes. I was going to quit playing for the day but I saw another whale open sitting at 50NL so I sat down, played HU, and busted him in less than 10 hands with JT vs A6 on T6X6T.

I redeposited $100 last week and I’ve won ~$1200 since then, to bring my total won on stake.us to over $4k.

Additionally, it seems like the site is offering some rakeback for poker now. It’s a really small amount, but it’s better than nothing. Poker is also now contributing to their VIP rewards system, and I am already halfway to being at the next level of benefits. This is motivating me to play more (as well as, you know, sunrunning and winning thousands of dollars).

Playing live on Saturday which I’m looking forward to. Will update this thread again soon I’m sure.

Have you played ignition or bovada? Do you prefer stake.us?

Yes! I learned how to play poker grinding 5NL on Bovada. I played maybe 100k hands of 5NL over COVID lockdown in 2020 and was a solid winner by the end of it. Around the time of the start of this thread, I was playing as high as 50NL on Bovada with decent results.

Right now I prefer playing on stake.us because the games are much softer (although Bovada has a reputation as a soft site too). There are things I miss about Bovada though, namely being able to download hand histories and seeing my opponents hole cards. I don’t really like the anonymous tables though.

Things have continued to trend steadily upwards for me. Quick update for this thread.

Live poker:

I played a short session last Saturday, with about half my volume at $1/$2 (where I lost small) and half at $2/$5 (where I won small). The net result was about +$300. I made a dumb mistake at 1/2 where I bet the turn with a draw that should have checked back. My opponent jammed for about a minraise and I thought I had the right price to call but I really didn't. This frustrated me but I recovered and won some money back before a good 2/5 seat opened up. At 2/5 I had incredible card distribution (Aces twice, Kings once, two flopped sets, etc) and was playing at an action table. I probably made a few mistakes and missed out on value in some spots. I also had a weird spot with AKo playing pretty deep OOP to two loose aggressive players. I wasn't really happy with how I played this hand and I ultimately ended up racking up early as a result. Overall I was satisfied with how things went despite making some mistakes. I love playing live poker.

Online poker:

I have been putting in huge volume playing online recently. On Tuesday, I played for something like 5 hours which might be the most I have ever played online in one day. When I updated this thread six days ago, I was at +$4k playing online this year. As of today, I am +$5k which means I won a thousand dollars this week. Have to say I'm pretty pleased with that.

Additionally, I hit my goal of getting into the stake.us VIP system. Apparently this will result in more "free" money regularly. My account was credited for a small amount of money instantly too, which was nice. I've already made a modest amount in rakeback too. There are regs on the site that play more tables than I do (I top out at 4) and play for long hours. I imagine these guys are doing quite well.

As of right now I am planning to continue grinding for a while. Things are going well and I feel like I am pretty locked in. I am making good decisions and I feel like I am taking the beats pretty well. Hopefully I can keep this up.

Other gambling:

Not a lot to report on in this category. I played some video poker at Mohegan Sun and probably degen'd a little bit which felt bad. I played through two deposit bonuses on the MS online casino this week and lost on both which is very unlikely to happen. But I have had some small wins as well, so I would say I am only down small in this category.