Cool! Yeah ~90’s guitar oriented bands are definitely the main influence. Superchunk is a common reference point/comparison for us. And the Lemonheads song we originally talked about covering was “Bit Part in Your Life.”

That’s cool that you play music as well too! I’m really happy that I grew up playing music. Sometimes I regret that I didn’t get into playing poker when I was younger (like when I was 20 in 2011, instead of when I was almost 30 in 2020) but I think my life would have turned out a lot different if I did. It is nice to have a hobby that actually makes me money though, as playing music mostly did the opposite of that.

Little more than a cameo, nothing traumatic when I go.

GcluelessLemonheads/DandonoobG

Quiet week for me, but still a nice win overall.

Live poker:

I did not play any live poker this week. I had an opportunity to go up to the casino on Sunday night but chose to stay home instead. I’m happy that I prioritized time with family (as well as keeping on a consistent sleep schedule) over playing. I had a lot of other stuff going on this week, including a gig with my band (see above posts) and my 33rd birthday. It would be easier to find the time to play if the casino was less than an hour away, but it is what it is. I’m sure there are many posters on this board who would love to have multiple casinos 1 hour from where they live, so I won’t complain.

Online poker:

My self-imposed $0 - $1000 bankroll challenge continues. I got a lot of volume in this week and had a massive result, which is very encouraging. When I posted last Monday, my balance was at $36. Today it is $323. I am back to playing 50NL for now which feels great. Obviously $323 isn’t much of a bankroll for 50NL, but I know I am a huge winner in these games and I don’t mind having to grind it back up from 10NL or 20NL if I go on a losing streak.

I found out this week that they increased the rake on stake.us which is a bit disappointing. The current rake structure for 50NL is 7% up to 5bb for HU, 9bb for 3+ players, and 11bb for 5+ players. My understanding is that this rake is far higher than most online poker sites. There is a modest amount of rakeback available, which I think goes up as you advance through the VIP tier system. For now, I think it is definitely still worth it for me to play on this site. If the games get way worse though, maybe it won’t be. I also think I need to adjust my strategy a bit to make sure I am playing tighter (especially in multiway spots where I tend to be too loose as it is) and that I am entering the pot with a raise or 3bet more often. The rake is dramatically less at 100NL too so maybe I will try and play more at that stake once I complete my challenge.

Other gambling:

I had a solid winning week playing through the promotions on Mohegan Sun’s online casino. Nothing beyond that for now.

–

Hoping to play more live this week. Will certainly be grinding online quite a bit as well. Feeling pretty positive about where I am at right now, hoping to keep things going.

LOL that stake.us rake system is total robbery.

7% 11bb cap in a 6max game? All the other players have to be close to brain dead.

The 11bb cap only comes into play if the hand in question has 5+ players reach the flop.

I’m not super familiar with rake structures on other sites but I know that Ignition does a similar thing where the cap goes up in multi-way spots.

It’s definitely bad either way. It was previously 5% and with a lower cap up until a couple days ago.

OK I was wrong about this. 11bb is the cap as long as there are 5 players at the table. Insane.



Might be time for me to stop playing on this site. The players are pretty much braindead a lot of the time though, to BigBananas point. Here is a 100NL hand where you can see 6.5BB was taken out of the pot. This a HU pot where BB cold-called my 3bet (braindead).



Made a Reddit thread to try to gauge reaction from some other folks. Might make one on here too if need be.

Another update on stake.us: as of December 15, players in Connecticut (where I live) will no longer be allowed to play on the site. I decided to withdraw my money today. Partly because of the rake issue, partly because of the December 15 shutdown, partly because I'm been playing obsessively for the last few days, and partly because I've been punting a lot more than usual.

Sad to abandon my challenge, but I got from $0 to $300 which I'm pleased with. I think I was a big favorite to complete the challenge at some point, although maybe not given the way things have been going the last few days. I don't seem to respond very well to online poker adversity.

As of today, I cashed out $7,860 in profit playing on stake.us this year. I think my previous total lifetime result for online poker was +$1200 (mostly from Ignition micro stakes), so this was a pretty incredible development for me. It certainly speaks more to the softness of the player pool than it does to my skill.

Weekly update. Busy and successful week for me.

Live poker:

I played a 4 hour $1/$2 session on Saturday. I was really happy with how this one went. I ran pretty hot but I thought I played well too. I ended up winning $418 which is my biggest 1/2 result since June. I went into the day planning on staying away from $2/$5 because I wasn't feeling great going into the session. As the day went on, I thought about moving up but the must move 2/5 didn't look very good to me.

I was in a couple interesting spots on this session. At the bottom of this post I will include a hand history of a big pot I played with AA. Outside of that, I got a little out of line twice (3bet the BTN with suited trash vs a bad reg with an obvious pre-flop sizing tell; check-raised the flop in a limper with bottom pair and backdoors) and both times ended up making a flush against the same ultra-loose old guy. My table started out good but it filled up with older nitregs after a while (they all like to play with each other I think, so they transfer to join up at the same table). I didn't table change because the table is still soft and I was winning quite a bit at this point.

But then, we got a young guy who came into the room with several friends. He looked pretty clueless. The first two hands he played, he RFI'd by indiscriminately moving a stack of red chips into the middle (something like $45). After a couple orbits, I had a spot where he limped UTG and another player over-limped. I was on the BTN with 99 and raised to $15. It folded to the Clueless Young Guy UTG who limp-raised to $50, with less than $200 behind. Folds to me. Weird spot. Obviously this is a nutted line but I think this guy is likely to be getting out of line. Felt like all 3 options were on the table. I ended up folding, which felt kind of bad.

The next shuffle, it folds to me in the CO with AKo. I raise to $10 and it folds to Clueless Young Guy who makes it $36 in the BB. This time, it seems like a pretty easy decision. I 4bet jam for $230 or so total. He doesn't snap but doesn't take too long before calling. He asks about flipping our cards up which I am happy to do with this player type. He shows KsJs which I'm pretty happy about. Makes me think my 99 fold is pretty bad but at least it didn't take long to find a better spot. The flop is As4c4h so he is drawing almost dead until the Tss turn gives him a royal flush draw. River is a King, so I avoid the nasty beat and win a nice pot.

Clueless Young Guy rebuys with a mix of small and large bills, something like $120. The next shuffle (3 hands in a row now) I am dealt 77. UTG (old nitreg) limps. I am in HJ and choose to overlimp, wanting to see what happens behind me. CYG makes it $35 in the SB. MAWG nitreg jams $150 in the BB. UTG calls All-in from UTG. I guess I fold? CYG sigh calls in SB. MAWG has AKo, CYG has AJo, and UTG doesn't show but implies he has a KQ later. AKo scoops unimproved, so I folded the winner, but I don't think there is anything I can do here. Would have been a more interesting hand if I had raised pre, which would be my usual play.

CYG rebuys again and continues splashing around. He actually wins several in a row and all of a sudden we are over $500 deep with one another. Some of the nitregs at my table actually table changed away from this action which is pretty funny. I got another spot against him where I was able to 4bet with KK, but aside from that, I just did a lot of folding. CYG ended up transferring to play with his friends, and I racked up an orbit or two later.

Online poker:

See my previous couple posts for more info, but I ended my $0 to $1000 challenge, withdrawing $300 from stake.us. It's always nice to add money to my bankroll/liferoll and I am enjoying having some extra free time. Disappointed that I won't be able to play on stake.us in the future, but I think I will return to online poker at some point this winter.

Other gambling:

Really nice week in this category. I won about $700 on Mohegan Sun's online casino. They had some pretty great Halloween-themed promotions that I did OK on, and then a "Deposit $1000 to get $100 in bonus credits" promo to kick off November that I smashed.

I also found some nice plays on Ultimate X while I was at Mohegan Sun and ended up winning another $30 or so.

---

Bonus $1/$2 hand history:

AcAd - UTG (40ish BG, playing reasonably, splitting range between limp and raise) raises to $7. CO calls. I 3bet BTN to $35. UTG call. CO fold.

Flop: Qh6h3d ($80). UTG check. I bet $30. UTG raise $60. I call.

Turn: Qh6h3d 4h ($200). UTG fumbles with his chips for a while and then bets $100 with $140 back. I call.

River: Qh6h3d 4h 7d ($400). UTG thinks and checks. I just show my hand and he angrily mucks but accidentally flips the Qd.

After the hand, he said he "knew" I had AA and was trying to get me off it. Weird fish merge play I guess. If he jammed river I really would have thought about folding, though the price would have been too good I think. On the flop, I thought QQ was possible, but I had also been playing pretty aggressively so far in the session, so I thought he might be doing something weird to play back at me. On the turn, I thought about folding again but decided QX or even a hand like KK might play like this. I don't think players min check raise with a flush draw in a 3BP, so I wasn't super worried about that. I don't think this player has 66 or 33 pre, so that means QQ is the only hand that I'm really worried about.

I'm happy I didn't 3bet flop (although I think that is reasonable). I think the turn is a pretty weird spot, but I don't think I like folding AA in a 3BP to a min check raise and a half pot turn bet. Just see too much weird stuff to fold here I think.

Losing week for me this time around. I actually think this is my biggest losing week in months, and I only lost $500, which is pretty wild. Have been on a pretty great run for a while now.

Live poker:

I played one session of live poker this week: 4 hours of $2/$5 on Saturday at Mohegan Sun. My table was really good when I first sat down. There were two players that I think are winning regs but the rest of the table seemed to be fish, and there were several players who were completely clueless. Unfortunately, I was stuck a full buy-in instantly after getting AIPF the very first hand that I played. I will post the hand history here because it is a spot that I am pretty unsure about:

I open AQo UTG to $15 off of a virgin $500 buy-in. 3 players call, including two clueless fish. Aggressive European reg squeezes to $125 from SB. Folds to me and I jam for $500? Folds back to him and he tanks for a while before calling. Board is JxTs5sJxQx. I tentatively show my hand and he shows AsJs. Must be nice.

I felt strongly that this player would be squeezing a pretty wide range pre-flop in this spot. I'm not sure that he is getting super out of line (although it wouldn't surprise me), but I would expect him to be squeezing suited broadways, medium high pairs, and suited AX hands that I am doing well against. I feel comfortable shoving TT+ AK for value in this spot, and I want to have some bluffs. I think in theory I am supposed to use A4s and A5s type hands but I just feel like I prefer using AQo? Obviously it makes a huge difference when he calls off stuff like AJs (which I think is a pretty big punt?) but I would rather just have the equity and the blockers on my side. I am willing to accept that this might be a punt from me, but it's nice to get $500 in as a 2-to-1 favorite this time at least.

I didn't get into too many other big spots while my table gradually got worse and worse. Although the aforementioned Euro ended up at 5/T, a lot of the bigger fish in the game got plucked for the main game and I ended up at a table with a bunch of regulars. I actually put myself on the list for $1/$2 but then I doubled up with AA in a 4bet pot against one of the fishier players at the table and so I stuck it out. Shortly after, I ended up getting moved to the main game which was considerably better.

At the new table, I ended up getting into a couple of good spots but I felt like I misplayed the hands and won the minimum. In reality, it was probably a combination of the cards not breaking the right way and some small mistakes on my end. Either way, I wasn't super happy with how I was playing, and I bled chips for a while after going card dead. At one point I felt like I was playing too weak/tight so I tried to force it a little bit and lost some unnecessary money in a dumb spot. I racked up soon after because I felt myself getting tilted and because I hadn't eaten all day. Another example of my weak mental game I guess. Ended up -$518 for the day.


Online poker:

I played zero hands of online poker, but I did collect some free money from stake.us, so we'll call this category a small win.

Other gambling:

I took a very small loss playing through promotions on Mohegan Sun's online casino. I also took an even smaller loss doing some AP play on machines at Mohegan Sun's real life casino. The online promotion schedule changed up a little bit which threw me off but it does seem like they are still offering approximately the same value which is good. At some point I expect this money to dry up but the other shoe hasn't dropped yet.

--

On the way to the casino on Saturday, I started listening to the audiobook version of Maria Konnikova's The Biggest Bluff, which is a mainstream-friendly poker book chronicling the author's mission to learn how to play poker. As I was pulling up to the casino, she was describing what her coaches (Erik Seidel and Dan Harrington) had told her about learning how to lose and deal with negative variance in poker. It felt like a jinx but I also do feel like I took some stuff away from it. I'd like to say it helped me deal with getting stacked on Hand #1 of the session, but I already mentioned that I thought my mental game was pretty poor that day, so maybe not. Enjoying the book so far nonetheless.

Another losing week for me, again thanks to a modest loss at $2/$5.

Live poker:

I played 11 hours of live poker this week, spread over two days. I played 4 hours of $2/$5 (net result: -$700) and 7 hours of $1/$2 (-$183). I got the chance to go up to the casino on Wednesday afternoon which is pretty rare for me. Mohegan Sun was running a double status points day, so there was a ton of action including 5 2/5 tables. I got seated at 2/5 right away at a table where I recognized one good player and everyone else looked like a fish. The game broke right away (a 5/T table had opened, creating empty seats at every other 2/5 game) but I ended up at another good table with several of the other fish from my first table.

I won a big pot in my first hand at the second table. A fish reg type MAWG raised UTG to $30 and I was dealt KhKd in the CO. I know this player limps a lot so when he raises to this size, he just always has a good hand. I should 3bet bigger here, but I only started the hand with $400 so I made it $80 and he called right away. Flop was 987cc which isn't great, but the SPR is 2 so I'm just auto stacking off. I bet $100 targeting TT-QQ and he calls quick. Turn is one of the worst cards in the deck, the Ac. Villain almost snap jams for my last $220 or so. I am getting a good price, and I think fish take this line a lot when they have TT-QQ with a club because they want to continue in the hand but they don't want to check/call. I sigh call. River is a blank and he shows JhJd. He says "Wow, I really thought you were going to fold that."

After doubling up, I lost a ton of small-medium pots. The table I was at was great, with lots of players limping and cold-calling raises. This lead to lots of multi-way pots where you basically have to make the best hand to win though, so it is tough if you aren't making hands. I played for a couple hours where I was swinging quite a bit, which resulted in me having to add-on $200. Eventually, I ended up getting stacked for $700 in a big pot against a loose fish who appeared to be on tilt (had lost $1000 in the past couple hours, was triple barrel bluffing and also jamming for $300+ over a few limps). Here is the hand history:

AcAd - I open $15 from MP. Villain calls BTN. Flop: J66ssh ($30) check check. Turn: J66ssh Kx Jx ($30) I $25 he call. River: J66ssh Kx 7x ($80). I $100 He jam, I tank call, he has J6cc.

I had some conflicting feelings about this hand afterwards. I did think this player was capable, as he was super wide pre-flop and had been bluffing. I did think that he seemed tilted. We also had a bit of a dynamic where I had raised his open limps a lot pre-flop and he seemed annoyed by it. So there were some gameflow reasons to call. At the same time, this feels like it would be an underbluffed spot (checkback flop and jam against a river overbet??). In game, I figured he was likely to checkback full houses on the flop but probably not so much with naked 6X. I was also blocking both remaining combos of A6s. I beat KJ in this spot too, and I wasn't sure if maybe this player would jam that hand since he beats AK, which is kind of what it looks like I have. Also thought he had all combos of QTo as well as some other turn floats that could spazz and jam river. In the end, I think I leveled myself into calling a bit. This should probably be a fold, and I feel confident that I would find the fold against most other players in this player pool.

After getting stacked, I ended up playing some $1/$2 for a while at a fun table where I lost small. I returned to the casino a couple days later and played exclusively 1/2. I think it is good discipline to play in the smaller game when it makes sense, even if I am stuck pretty big. The second session of the week was pretty dull. I was at a pretty good table but was card dead for long stretches. I made a couple small mistakes in the hands that I did play, and ended up down small again. I felt a bit frustrated afterwards - more evidence of my weak mental game.

In total, this wasn't my best week of live poker. I'm happy I was able to play more hours than previous weeks though, and I'm excited to play again this week. I actually feel more motivated to play and get better after a couple losing sessions in a row.

Online poker:

I played a couple short micro stakes sessions this week with the free money that I have collected on stake.us. I think I have to work a lot harder to play well online when I am not in a rhythm and playing regularly. Fortunately, the games I am playing in are incredibly soft. I have about a month left where I am allowed to play on stake.us before it will be closed off to CT residents. It would be nice to be able to make one more withdrawal before then, but I'm not going to go too hard at it.

Other gambling:

I had a big week playing through online casino/sportsbook promotions. I think my net result was +$350 or so, which helped mitigate the losses from live poker. It is really nice to be somewhat diversified in my gambling. Finding new ways to consistently win money has helped lessen overall bankroll variance/swings for me. Since the start of the year, I have been playing on my wife's account on one of the local online casinos as well as my own. I know this violates the TOS but I imagine plenty of people do it, and I'm sure others abuse it much more than I do. This week, some new hurdles were introduced to make it harder to play on someone else's account. I still managed to win on both accounts, but I wouldn't be surprised if I had to go back to playing on one account at some point soon.

I also had a small win vulturing slot machines this week, which I was happy about. I felt some temptation to place sports bets this week (some college basketball stuff and the Jake Paul/Mike Tyson match) but I didn't end up doing it, which I think is best for now.

I agree! I think playing in the best available game is so important and a mistake people make when moving up. Great game selection, great discipline, huzzah!

I hear you, and I'm sure you know this... Its ok to be frustrated, especially away from the table. Doesn't mean you have a weak mental game, just that you are a human organism with a human brain thinking human thoughts!

I don't know where you are on this, but when I'm able to identify shitty emotions and just let them happen, I recover quicker then when I try to fight them with rationalizations or just berating myself.

Have you gotten into any of Tommy Angelo's stuff? Love it.

Glad to hear your killing with discipline, making the best decisions you can, expanding +EV opportunities and avoiding -EV opportunities. Those things are easier said than done.

Also your gonna have to tell me about some of your favorite AP machines. I only ever played the bubbles one, and only found a good one a couple times.

Also, Biggest Bluff is my favorite non strat poker book, and I pulled some valuable gems away from it!

Thanks man! At some point I want to do a deeper dive on the mental game material that is available out there - I've definitely only scratched the surface of that category of poker media. What you are saying definitely makes sense to me. I feel like I have a better handle on my emotions away from the table, but I still feel tilted too often when I am at the table. I've definitely gotten better at avoiding tilt, and I also am much better at recognizing it and stepping away. The AP slot thing has actually helped in this regard - when I recognize that I am frustrated at the table (particularly when I realize that I've made a mistake out of frustration) I will usually walk away for 15 minutes or so and go check some machines. Happy to share what I know about those games with you. The bubbles game ("Ocean Magic") is a lifetime loser for me, at least so far.

RE: Tommy Angelo, I know a good amount about him, but the only thing I've actually read is his "Reciprocality" essay. Do you have anything of his that you would recommend?

I remember not being too impressed with my initial read of Tommy Angelo's Elements of Poker. Maybe cuz it was a very quick / anecdotal read compared to the more theory/strategy heavy books I had been reading.

But over time and re-reads, I eventually ended up picking up a lot of stuff that helped lead me down my current Super Nit path (ha, not exactly a huge endorsement I know, but it has been ~successful enough for me in my local ~small BI / high raked 1/3 NL game). Reciprocality, there's a lot of grey area in poker (there is actually very little black and white), it's your money so draw your own lines in the sand / play your own game (~paraphrasing), and lately even being a good quitter... all concepts I've very slowly found to be very valuable (at least, to me).

ETA: He and Lee Jones had a YouTube series that was enjoyable enough to watch.

GcluelessTommyAngelonoobG

This is probably the longest, best interview I've seen on YouTube. He covers a lot!
https://youtu.be/UHPSoBS4KbU?si=6n-4Q5mVueZrHiQb

Painless Poker is fun.

I haven't read Dailyness but I've heard it's very good. I've got a pretty good background in habit formation so I haven't prioritized it.

I love how his stuff dovetails so well with my interests in behavioral science. Winning poker seems almost entirely habit formation. Identifying which habits to increase or drop has become increasingly easy with all the content available these days. Actually making and sustaining the habit change seems to be where the edge lies. Reciprocality! Your opponents will have bad habits they won't change even if they can identify them.

I for example, check raise almost exclusively as a bluff! It's terrible! 😬 Working on it... sorta 🤣

Edited for you.

HIGH FIVE 🤚 KEEP IT UP BOYYYYYY

^ thanks guys, will check that stuff out. I was at a library book sale with my daughter the other day and ended up buying a whole bunch of old used poker books. Some of it is stuff that I will probably never get much out of (2p2's Seven Card Stud for Advanced Players, for example) but everything was $1, and it's fun for me. I really like engaging with old poker content. Just because stuff is outdated doesn't mean that there isn't anything that I can get from it, especially in the soft games that I play.

I really like being able to synthesize a bunch of different perspectives about poker. That's one of the things that I enjoy about the live poker strategy subforum here. There are obviously posters whose opinions I respect a lot more than others, but I think every perspective is useful and you certainly get a variety of different perspectives in there. I do think there is a ton of value in finding one strategy and really learning everything about it, but that isn't for me at this time.

Weekly results update. I had a big week courtesy of winning my biggest ever pot at $2/$5 (spoiler: it isn't actually that big).

Live poker:

I played only one session of live poker, on Saturday at Mohegan Sun. It was really two short sessions: 2 hours at $1/$2 (+$230) and 2 hours at $2/$5 (+$730) where in between I watched a half of a college basketball game in the Mohegan Sun arena.

At $1/$2, I was seated right away at a new table. It was a good action table. Even though there were a couple players who were at least semi-competent, there were plenty of fish, including one young woman who was really spewing chips (kind of a rare combo IMO). I only played 4 hands of note at this table, but I won 3 of them, including a multi-way 3bet pot and a bloated multi-way straddled pot where I raised and flopped TPTK. I think I played relatively well and was very disciplined. At the end of the short session, a younger guy was seated to my direct left. A lot of times, I feel like younger players tend to be bad (I saw Bart Hanson tweet about this today) but I got the feeling that this kid was actually pretty good. It's hard to tell though - anyone can look like a good player for an hour when they are consistently making the best hand against fish. Either way, I knew I was going to go to the basketball game for a bit (had reserved some free tickets earlier) and I was pretty hungry, so I quit the game and booked a modest win.

After the game, I figured I would play a couple more hours of $1/$2, but the list was super long and I got called for $2/$5 right away. My table was really good. There were a few older regulars I recognized but also several guys who seemed really bad. The first hand I played I 3bet squeezed the big blind with KK and got called by J8s. J8s made a flush on an Ace-high board and I lost a medium-sized pot, which basically erased my profit from the 1/2 session. I proceeded to lose several more pots in a row, which resulted in me adding on small several times, trying to maintain a 100bb stack, which is where I want to be at $2/$5 for right now.

I ended up getting moved to a pretty dusty looking main game, which was pretty unfortunate. I only had 45 minutes left to play though, so I figured I would stay at the table. I still really need to get experience at $2/$5, so I think it is good for me to occasionally sit in some more reg-y line-ups. My stack was whittled down to about $350 when I ended up getting it AIPF with AA against QQ in a straddled pot. Kind of unfortunate to cooler a player when I am playing short-stacked, but I was really grateful to hold and be close to getting even right before leaving. 15 minutes later, I was in the middle of my last orbit when this hand happened:

7d7h - I open EP to $15 off $750. BTN (fishy older woman, $500 stack) calls. SB (solid older reg, will mix it up, covers both) 3bets $65. I call. BTN calls. Flop: Td5d5c ($195). Checks around. Turn: Td5d5c 4s ($195). SB bets $80. I call $80 (I think I can easily have the best hand here). BTN calls $80. River: Td5d5c 4s 7c ($435). SB bets $350. I jam. BTN folds. SB asks for a count (so I know I am good and he doesn't have TT) and then quickly calls for $250 more. He mucks without showing.

As I mentioned at the top of this post, this is the biggest pot I've ever won, since I always buy in for 100bb and usually rathole soon after I get to 200bb. Just an awesome feeling to make the late comeback and book a big win after I had already mentally resigned myself to another losing $2/$5 session. I know that these pots mean more to me than they do to a lot of my opponents in this game.

I felt bad because I had to leave immediately after winning this hand. I stayed an extra orbit and ended up apologizing to the older reg I won the pot off of on my way out. He seemed surprised that I said anything (maybe this is a corny thing for me to do, idk) and was extremely gracious. I need to remember this interaction the next time I get tilted at someone hitting & running against me.

Online poker:

I played a few hours of mostly 10NL on stake.us this week, grinding the free money that I've received on that site. I succeeded in winning a couple buy-ins, which is nice. I will probably play some more next week. I have about $40 on that site right now, and I won't be able to play on it anymore after December 15th. I am hoping to spin it up and make a nice withdrawal on the 15th, but we'll see.

I don't really know what my next move is with regard to online poker. I would like to play on Ignition or ACR and start tracking my results again, but I also might try a new site like CoinPoker to try and take advantage of whatever deposit bonuses are out there for me. I don't think I have any interest in playing app games, but maybe. I will probably play on Club WPT Gold when it launches next year, assuming they haven't preemptively banned players from CT.

Other gambling:

I had a small loss in this category. I played through 3 promotions on Mohegan Sun's online casino and won one of the three sessions, which resulted in a net loss of $60 or so. At the brick and mortar Mohegan Sun, I found two slot machine plays. On one, I won $120. On the other, I lost $125. So basically breakeven overall. I did get a lot of "coin in" though, which should help me out with getting free rooms and other perks in the future.

Speaking of which, I will be staying a night at Mohegan Sun for free coming up next week! Really looking forward to getting out of the house and hopefully playing some late night poker for the first time in a while. I should be able to get a good amount of volume in next week, so I expect I will have plenty to write about in this thread.

Not meaning to be a dick by just pointing out this one specific thing, but do you mean you actually rathole (i.e. intentionally go south by taking money off the table)? I mean, it's not the most nefarious play, but still against the rules in most poker rooms. Don't do that (if it is against your room rules), imo.

GcluelessnefariousnoobG

No, definitely not. To me, rathole means to leave a game after winning and then buy back in later for less. It’s different from just straight up going south, right?

I’ve never left $2/$5 and then re-bought back into another $2/$5 game (although I see other players do this - I think you have to wait 30 minutes or something) but I will leave $2/$5 and then buy into a $1/$2 game to continue playing.

Not something I am particularly proud of, but I think it’s perfectly fine etiquette wise.

Thanks for the clarification. I always thought of ratholing as illegally going south, but I guess it can have other meanings.

So long as you are playing within your room rules (which you are) then I have zero issues with any strategy (although I would also keep When In Rome in mind too regarding what is socially acceptable, although I don't think you are violating that either). I even sometimes "effectively" rathole by switching to smaller stacked tables when I become uncomfortable at my stack size on the current larger stacked table (all within the rules).

GcluelessrulesnoobG

Solid week this time around, no shortage of action.

Live poker:

I think this was the most volume I've played all year, or close to it. I played 3 sessions for a total of 17 hours: Tuesday night (6 hours of $1/$2); Wednesday morning (2 hours of $1/$2, 4 hours of $2/$5); and Friday afternoon (5 hours of $1/$2). Part of me wants to try and get a session in tonight but I don't think I will. The net result for me was -$55, which is basically breakeven.

The best table that I played at was on Tuesday night, but unfortunately I was completely card dead all evening. I played with several action players and I stayed until about 12:30am which is really late for me. It sounds dumb but I was sort of proud of myself for not punting it off at any point, because I have blown up in this spot before. It can be really frustrating to play in an action game and not have any good spots. There was also a younger player at my table who I have a history with - he had won a ridiculous hand off me in the past taking a bizarre line with Q7o after limp-calling pre. I sometimes struggle with allowing the game to get personal in spots like this. I feel like I have to "get revenge" or something dumb like that. Brad Owen describes this in his vlog. I think this is a pretty big leak, and not something I should be doing. I felt I mostly controlled myself in this spot, but I did lose a pretty big pot against this player on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, I started off at a pretty nitty $1/$2 table, which is what I would expect at Mohegan Sun on Wednesday at 9am. There was one pretty big fish in the game though, and I got lucky and stacked him with TT against 97ss on AT988sss, where we got it in for his $125 stack after the flush completed on the turn. I did feel like I was playing well though, so when a new $2/$5 table opened with a bunch of unfamiliar players at the table, I sat down. The game was really good at first. There were two players I knew to be fishy regs, and then a bunch of loose passive types. The game did get worse over time though, as some of the fish were replaced with regs (including at least one 2p2 poster). Here is the biggest pot that I played:

As7s - I open $15. BTN (ultra loose old man) calls. BB (action MAWG) calls. Flop: Q42ssd ($45) checks through. Turn Td ($45). BB leads $20. I raise $85. BTN fold. BB call. River Js ($235). BB check. I bet $250. BB tanks forever and calls with Q4cc.

I don't know that my turn raise is any good here. I thought this player would bet the turn with some one pair hands that would fold to a big raise. I also thought he might bet/call with something like KJ or a diamond draw. My plan was to give up on most rivers, but obviously I hit the gin card. I'm happy I found the overbet here. I think Villain can have flushes and straights and two pair. I sometimes have trouble keeping track of the pot size at $2/$5, so I thought this bet was bigger than it actually was. I probably could have bet bigger, although maybe I got the max from his exact hand. Villain ended up saying that he didn't see that the spade flush had gotten there, so I guess that was extra lucky for me. Unfortunately, I lost a pretty big pot immediately after which resulted in breaking even at $2/$5.

On Friday, Mohegan Sun was running a big high hand promotion which created a lot of action in the room. I had the option to play $2/$5, but elected to stay at a pretty good $1/$2 table instead. I had one weird spot where I turned a combo draw on a paired board against a younger reg. I think I made a big mistake and check/raised in a spot where I should have called or folded. I check/folded the river and he told me when he left that he had a full house, so I was drawing dead. Outside of that, I ran hot against the biggest spot at the table, including one spot where I rivered a flush with AsTs against her Tc6c on 8s7s9x 4x 6s. I was up and down all day and had a bunch of interesting spots, which made for a fun day of poker. I ended up finishing ahead thanks to this cooler spot.

QQ - UTG (fishy younger guy) limp. I raise $10. BTN (younger reg) calls. UTG calls. Flop: Q88 ($30). XX BTN $15. UTG call. I call. Turn: Kss ($75). Checks through. River 2 ($75). UTG $35. I raise $150. BTN fold. UTG snap calls and shows an 8.

I felt really strongly on the flop that one of these players had an 8, so I wish I had found the XR, although I think XC is pretty standard. On the river, I knew I could raise huge and that this player would never fold an 8. I left him with about $125 behind. I think I would jam this spot if I was playing online, but it feels so big playing live. I don't think this guy would have folded to a jam though, so maybe I made a mistake. Getting him to hero fold an 8 would be such a disaster though, so maybe not.

Overall, I'm content with my play this week, and I'm really happy with the volume. My average session length was higher than normal as well.

Online poker:

I played sparingly this week, but I finished with my balance at $195, up from $40 last week. I'm happy with that result overall, and it brings my total net won on stake.us over $8000 which is nice. I have two more weeks on this site.

Other gambling:

I had a small loss playing through a slot promo on Mohegan Sun's website. My volume is down on that site overall, but I'm OK with that.

I did have a big win on an AP slot play at the IRL casino though. I found a Buffalo Link machine with 1450 Buffalos on a $2 bet. This is a pretty big and high variance play relative to the stuff that I normally find. I ended up running super hot and winning $250. I was really pressed for time though, so I had to play super fast which makes the experience less enjoyable overall. I also forgot to put my player's card in the machine which sucks. Not going to complain about the result though.

--

I won't be putting as much volume in next week but should still be an OK week. Going to try to fit some more study time in as well, cause I've certainly been lacking on that.

Monster week for me. I got good volume in and won at everything for a big net result.

Live poker:

I played two sessions this week. I played for 4 hours at a friendly low stakes home game (+$53), and for 4 hours at live $1/$2 at Mohegan Sun (+$68).

The home game was super fun. This was my second time playing. Incredibly good action, with a wild mix of complete beginners, experienced action players, and a couple good regs (including my brother, who I always enjoy playing with). It was the type of game where you have to just make a hand and hope it holds, and I was lucky to make a hand or two. I tried to give action where possible (overlimping suited trash, calling down light) but I didn't get too out of line. It would have been nice to get involved a little bit more but I think I am just too big of a nit these days lol. Looking forward to playing in this game again in the future.

At Mohegan Sun, I played at a great table with several loud action players who were sweating their NFL bets while dumping buy-ins. I got coolered pretty bad at the start of the session (AT vs 22 on T72A5 where my opponent just called me down and saved me some money), but then I flopped a set and stacked one of the action players before cruising to a small win. I had an opportunity to join a good looking $2/$5 table but I opted to stay in the smaller game, since it was great action (deeper stacks, frequent straddles, lots of multi-way raised pots) and I was kind of looking to relax and play a lower variance game. I got teased a little bit by the action players for playing tight, which was fair. I raised two hands in a row and people were joking that I had Aces back-to-back hands... little did they know, I actually did have Aces both times lol. The action players were talking about how much I look like Eli Manning as well, which is something I hear often. In fact, this was a subject of conversation at last week's Mohegan Sun $1/$2 game as well.

Online poker:

I played a lot on stake.us and finished with my balance at $745, up $550 from last week. I put a lot of volume in at soft tables and ran well. I did have one disastrous session where I logged in on my phone at work (I have a very chill desk job at a local university) and somehow lost 3 or 4 50NL buy-ins in about 20 minutes. I'm happy with how I recovered though, and I got all the money back and more later in the week. I'm back to playing 100NL when the games are good. I have 1 more week on this site before CT players are no longer allowed to play. Hoping to hit the $1000 mark this week and complete my previous $0 to $1000 goal.

Other gambling:

I played through two deposit bonuses on Mohegan Sun's online casino and sunran, winning about $575 total. My EV playing these promotions is just under $200, so a fantastic result overall.

At the casino this afternoon I found a lot of big plays while advantage playing Ultimate X and ran well to win another $36. It's enjoyable for me to be able to book a win playing live poker and then scrounge around a bit for +EV video poker spots. I got a comped beer too, which is always fun as well (I generally refrain from drinking while playing real poker).

--

Should have plenty of opportunities to play this coming week. I've been enjoying updating this thread weekly and will continue to do so. Looking forward to sharing my year-end results as well.