Thanks for you feedback per usual. I agree that this hand was poorly played. I think often in these spots I would just call turn multi-way on a pretty scary board. I think maybe raising turn is a function of me trying to play differently ("better") due to this downswing. I'm not trying to blame the studying I've been doing for this mistake, but I am trying to focus on getting more thin value. I think I just picked a bad spot though. And either way, once villain 3bet jams the turn it's just a fold and I botched it.

I did end up playing a length session last night at Mohegan Sun. I played from 5pm to 1am with a short break. At 8 hours, this is tied for the longest continuous session I've played. I think it's also the latest at night I've played. The game I was in got extremely good after about 11:30pm or so. There were multiple super loose fishy players who I had direct position on with deep stacks. It was a good spot for me.

Unfortunately, I have continued to run really poorly and booked another big loss. I actually felt pretty good about how I was playing throughout the session, though my play deteriorated a bit at the end since I was pretty exhaused but didn't want to leave the game. Literally the first hand I played yesterday I got in my full buy-in of $200 with KK against AJo on QJ8 (UTG opens AJ to $10, I 3bet BB to $40 he calls. Flop I bet $30, he jams, I call) and lost on a rivered A, which was obviously not a great start.

Going to skip typing out hand histories for now. I have a lot of notes in my phone I want to go over. I think I will post a few hands in the strategy subforum for feedback.

6/1/23 @ Mohegan Sun: -$600

Since I started this thread (which was the day after my biggest ever loss), I'm down $831 over 40 hours of play. Feels pretty bad. I know this is something anyone who wants to be a legit winner at this game has to go through though, and I know I have a lot to work on. Trying to take it in stride and get better.

Took a weekend off from poker but got back to the grind on Saturday, for another afternoon session at Mohegan Sun. This session started with me making a couple spewy bluffs that I'm not proud of. I started off stuck $500 before running obscenely hot for the last few hours. Ended up in for $700 and out for $1400. At one point, I had a $1550 stack which is the most I've had in front of me.

I ended up racking up after misplaying a hand that I posted in the strategy forum. The result of this hand was pretty tilting and I'm still thinking about it a day later. Hard to feel too bad after getting a much needed win. https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/1...river-1823197/

Couple hand histories below. One spewy bluff and two big pots, including the biggest pot I've ever won.

6/10/23 @ Mohegan: +$690

K3ss - Five limps to me in BB, I check. Flop As6s4c ($12). Checks to UTG (old guy I've played with a bunch - pretty nitty and very face-up) who bets $15. Folds to SB (new player, seems fishy) who calls. I check-raise to $55. UTG folds. SB calls again. Turn As6s4c Th ($137). SB checks. I jam for his last $100. He calls with A9o and holds.

I didn't have any read on this player's game but as the session played out I realized he is a massive calling station. Huge mistake for me to try and bluff this guy off top pair. My image was pretty bad at this point too. I check-raised flop thinking that UTG would fold his Ace (he confirmed that he folded a better hand than A9) and thinking that SB couldn't possibly be very strong. Should have shut it down on the turn and taken the free card.

T8hh - Two limps to me in SB. I complete and BB checks. Flop 674r ($8). I lead out for $10. All three opponents call. Turn 5c ($48) bringing BDFD. I bet $30. Two folds to IP player (loose fishy younger guy) who raises to $90, with about $150 behind. I jam for the rest and he sigh calls with 78o. I show my hand and say "free roll" and the dealer puts out an offsuit 9. Pretty lucky.

I'm not sure my 3bet jam on the turn is good. This guy probably has 98o at full frequency. That said, I'm never folding the river on a blank and with the way this guy was playing, it's possible he was overplaying a worse hand on the turn. I don't think he is ever bluffing when he raises turn either, so no point trying to keep bluffs in by just calling the turn raise. It is nice to be able to pile in all the money when I have the re-draw as well.

A5hh - EP limp. MP raises to $7. I call in CO. BTN calls. SB calls. BB calls. EP calls. Flop 9c5c5s ($42). SB (loose passive older guy, $400 stack) leads $15. BB (loose passive woman, $125 stack) calls. EP calls. MP calls. I raise to $60. BTN folds. SB calls $60. BB back-jams for $125. EP folds. MP folds. Hero jams for $400 effective. SB tanks and says "I can't get away from this" and calls. Turn As. River 2c. SB has 78cc for flopped straight flush draw. BB has T5o for worse trips. Hero wins $1k pot.

Pre-flop I think 3betting is probably a good play, but I also like flatting to try and make the nuts multi-way in position with some pretty bad players at the table. On the flop, I think raising the donk bet is obvious. When it gets back around to me with SB calling and BB back-jamming, in game I thought that SB might have a worse 5 and BB might have 99. I guess it makes more sense that SB has a draw and BB has the 5 though. I could flat the jam to let SB in, but I figured he would call with any 5x hand and fold his draws, which is a pretty good result for me. I could also click-raise it to start a side pot? Pretty surprised SB called off with 78cc, but he did have really solid equity as it turned out. Nice to boat up on the turn and not have to sweat the river.

Got a quick session in yesterday since I was near the casino around lunchtime. Ended up at a good table playing with several loose regulars that I had solid reads on, as well as a fishy guy that ended up running super hot. I didn't have a ton of interesting spots. I lost my first buy-in running pretty bad (hand history below, plus losing with 99 vs KQo AIPF against a shortstack in a straddled pot). Ended up winning most of it back when I got Aces and stacked AK on A449x (I ISO to $12 EP 3 calls. SB donks flop with AK, one call, I call. SB jams turn, fold, I snap).

Unfortunately my car broke down on the highway coming back afterwards. Was driving uphill in congested traffic and my car just stopped accelerating out of nowhere. Managed to pull off to the side of the highway and then got towed to a nearby dealership. No clue what the issue is, but I haven't had any problems with the car before. Hopefully not going to be too expensive to fix.

6/15 @ Mohegan Sun: -$75 in 2 hours

KcTs - One limp and I ISO to $12 from CO. BTN (fishy Spanish guy, playing almost every hand. Can be somewhat aggressive post-flop), BB, and Limper call. Flop Ks8s3c (Pot: $43). Checks to me. I check. BTN bets $10. 2 folds and I call. Turn Jc ($62). I check. BTN bets $30. I call. River 5h ($102). Check. BTN bets $20. I call and he shows 85o for rivered two pair.

Think it makes some sense to check this hand on the flop since my kicker is not great (especially four ways) and because I block the flush draw. After checking flop, think this is a pretty standard call down. The river bet size is incredibly small, wasn't sure what to make of it. I guess maybe he was trying to induce a raise? I had the sense in game that he was trying to bluff on the turn and may have turned his weak 8 into a bluff on the river, but now I'm not sure.

Played another quick one on Saturday, this time at Foxwoods. Oddly, this is only the second time I've ever played at Foxwoods. It's 15 minutes further from my house, which is enough reason not to go. Plus, they don't allow call-ins for $1/$2 and I think they give less promo dollars per hour? It was fun to mix it up, and I was with my wife, who enjoyed the extensive shopping options there.

No real interesting hands, I just had good hands in a lot of simple spots. There was a super loose and passive fishy player at the table who was dumping one short-buy after another, playing 65% of hands or more. I will post one hand history against this player. I don't think this is a difficult spot, but it was the only decision I had all day that felt close.

6/17 @ Foxwoods: +$100 in 2 hours

AcJd - I open from EP to $10. Fish from above calls in position and an older player calls out of the blinds. Flop Qd6h7h ($30). Checks through. Turn Ad, double flush draw ($30). Older guy checks I bet $15, Fish calls with about $50 behind, older guy folds. River 4c ($60). Check check, I win.

Question would be whether or not to shove river for value or try to bluff catch. I checked because I thought he would still bet AT or A9, and might bluff a missed draw. Maybe I can also bet something like $20 to get a crying call from a hand worse than an Ace too? The double flush draw board probably warrants a bigger bet on the turn too, though multiway spots where my hand looks face-up as one pair are pretty uncomfortable.

Played back to back sessions this week with mixed results. I have some extra free time to play lately, but there are also some more constructive things for me to do with my time. Running bad reminds me of this.

6/21 @ MGM Springfield: +$188 in 3 hours

My experience with this casino is that you are more likely to find action-packed games here than in CT. I think that's because it's a newer casino in a more urban setting. Maybe the $500 buy-in cap makes a difference too. I'm not comfortable buying in for that much right now unfortunately.

This session was defined by the fact that there was a maniac at my table for the first two hours. He played most of his hands and made big bluffs with draws and even weak made hands. We played several All-in pots against one another. He left the table up about $1000. I was down a bit when he left which was frustrating. After he left, I got unstuck after winning a couple big pots with QQ and JJ flopping overpairs in re-raised pots.

6/22 @ Mohegan Sun: -$388 in 4 hours

Decided to play again today. I felt good about how I played the day before and wanted to keep the momentum up. This session was pretty smooth for the first 3 hours. I was up about $125 at my peak after making some big hands but never really getting paid off. Then lost two big pots as detailed below right around the time I needed to leave.

KK - I open to $10 UTG. UTG+1 (MAWG, just recently sat down) 3bets to $25. UTG+2 cold calls. SB calls All-in for $20. Action on me. I am the effective stack here at $225. I think maybe the right play here would be to 4bet to $65 or so, but in game I decided to jam. I think if I had AK in this spot I would want to jam to isolate SB (very loose player), and so my opponents might be inclined to call with hands like JJ+ or AK. UTG+1 thought for a bit and called with AKdd. UTG+2 folded. SB had J9o. Flop was A66 and I did not improve.

55 - EP (tighter middle aged guy) raises to $10. BTN (loose older woman) calls. I call in BB. Flop: KQ5r ($30). I check, EP bets $16, BTN calls. I decided to overcall here and slowplay. I don't think I'm ever really going to bluff in this spot on a rainbow board and I thought EP was strong and would double-barrel a lot, allowing me to check-raise turn. Turn: KQ5 9d ($75). I check. EP bets $30. BTN jams for about $150. I re-jam for a bit more. EP folds. BTN has JT and holds.

I think the turn is pretty standard here, though it felt like I was running into JT a lot. Still, I have outs to improve and I would imagine BTN doesn't always have the nuts here (KQ, K9, combo draws, etc.), although maybe some players would.

Frustrating to run bad in the big spots and book a loss, but there wasn't a whole ton I could do this session so I'm not going to fret about it. It would be nice to be winning right now after such a tough stretch of poker the past few months. I have faith things will turn around soon, and I will continue to try and get better in the mean time.

I have been playing online with increasing regularity lately. As I mentioned in the OP, I had taken a long break from playing online for a while. Since I started this thread, I have started back at 5NL on Bovada. I play shorter sessions and only 3 regular tables at once, so my volume is pretty low. So far though, my results have been pretty good over this extremely small sample size. The games are obviously insanely good. Being able to see everyone's hole cards after downloading the hands to PT4 is very illuminating and helpful as well.

Looking over some basic stats over this small sample size, as well as at my past hand sample, I know that I need to work on calling a bit less post-flop and especially on the river. In general, I play too loose but I am able to get away with it at 5NL because the other players are very bad. Need to focus on playing solid disciplined poker. At some point I will move up to 10NL after I have built up my online bankroll a bit more (I am not particularly interested in depositing more money to Bovada at this time).

7/1/23 @ Mohegan Sun: +$200 in 4 hours

Played at a very good table today with some very loose players, several of whom were pretty spewy. I was card dead for long stretches but was happy that I stayed disciplined for the most part. I made 1 big river bluff that I think was maybe a punt, but I might make a thread about that one on the strategy forum. Other than that, I mostly just waited until I had good hands against the bad players.

KQo - I open to $10 from MP off $230. BTN (spewy LAG) calls. SB (40ish white guy - maybe a whale. Playing a super wide range and donking with any piece of the board, including at least once with just overcards and a backdoor flush draw. Has shown down some very strangely played hands) calls with $250. 3 ways to flop of Kc5d3d. SB donks $15 into $30. I raise to $40. BTN folds. SB calls. Turn Th. SB checks. I bet $80 into $110. SB calls. River 7h. SB thinks and jams for $100 effective into $270. I call quickly and he has JJ.

Think this hand is pretty standard. Maybe I should be raising flop bigger and jamming the turn. Against some opponents, I might opt to just call the flop donk but I was pretty certain this guy was super wide and would continue with worse hands. I didn't love the river jam (thought maybe K7) but it was less than half pot and the flush draw bricked so easy call. Not sure why he played his hand this way, but not going to waste much time thinking about it.

AJs - UTG (tight older white guy) opens to $10 off $300. I am UTG+2 and choose to flat off $450. Spewy LAG from above 3bets to $25 off $500 from CO. This was probably the 10th time in 3 hour he made a small 3bet. No showdowns but I feel confident he is 3betting a very wide range. I saw this player open UTG to $20 over the $2 BB with KJo.

BTN cold calls off $300. SB cold calls with $60 behind. UTG calls. Obviously I'm not folding here for $15 to win a pot of potentially $125. Could I backraise here? Wish I had been shallower with the spewy LAG so I could just jam, but jamming $450 seems way too big, especially when my range is capped and he isn't. 3betting the UTG open the first time around is probably reasonable too, but I didn't want to isolate the tighter old guy opening UTG and shut out the fish behind me.

I call. Flop Kc2h4h. Checks through. Turn Ts. Checks through. River 8c. Checks to BTN who bets $40 and everyone folds (I briefly considered hero calling getting a sick price). BTN shows 88 for a rivered set.

My upswing continues. Booked another nice win yesterday playing live and I continue to sunrun at 5NL. Feels good to win. This session I was stuck early but made big hands in back to back huge pots against some of the weaker players at the table. Just going to post the bigger hands and will keep it brief.

7/5 @ Mohegan Sun: +$445 in 4.5 hours

JJ - 3 limps to me in SB. I raise to $17 (should be more). First limper calls. Second limper folds. Third limper back-raises to $55 from cut-off. I jam for $285 and he unfortunately snap calls with QQ and holds.

This guy had been clicking buttons all session. The first hand of the day he made a spewy bluff against me after he isolated a few limpers with A9. In an earlier hand, he had made this same move (overlimping and then backraising) from the cut-off with TT, eventually stacking off pre-flop against AK. Limp-raise is pretty scary but since I had seen this guy play worse hands in this manner, I thought JJ was good enough. I also have a hard time believing that someone would overlimp QQ-AA from the cut-off, but I guess this guy does. 1 King had also been exposed pre-flop in this hand, for whatever that's worth.

66 - Nitty player opens to $15 from EP off $200. Fish calls off $150 or so. I call from button. Both blinds call. Flop K63hdd. Checks to Fish who bets $50. I thought hard about just calling here but ended up jamming. Folds to fish who sigh calls and I win.

I'm sure I should be folding this hand preflop to the huge raise with relatively short stacks. To defend the call, I thought this was a particularly good position to get paid when I flop a set, and I didn't think there was much chance I'd get squeezed out by the blinds.

AQs - Literally the next hand after the 66 one. Fish has rebought for $100. He seems tilted and opens to $15 UTG. I am in +1 and 3bet to $50. Big blind (quiet younger white guy, seems bad) cold calls. Fish calls. Flop AcQd8d. Checks to me and I bet $50. BB calls. Fish folds. Turn is 8s. BB thinks and then donk jams for about $150. I call quickly and show. He shows KdTh for a gutshot and a fake flush draw. River A.

Three wins in a row for the first time since January. Right now I'm up $400 over 68 hours of play since starting this thread. That is despite going on an -$1800 downswing over the course of 4 sessions midway through. Feel pretty good right now. Looking forward to playing again on Wednesday.

No real interesting spots this session. I won a lot of small pots where I 3bet squeezed pre-flop with good hands (AKs, TT, AJs, KK) and everyone folded, or where I ISO-raised and won on the flop with a cbet in an obvious spot. I lost a lot of small pots where I ISO-raised pre and didn't try to bluff multiway. I have been doing a much better job of not cold-calling the large raises of my opponents lately which makes life a lot easier.

7/9/23 @ Mohegan Sun: +$85 in 4 hours

KQdd - One limp and I raise BTN to $10. BB (MAWG, seems pretty ABC. $250 stack and I cover) calls and limper calls. Flop 8h9d3d ($30). Two checks and I cbet for $15. BB calls and EP limper folds. Turn 8d ($60). BB leads for $25. I raise to $75. He tank folds and says "I think you have better than the Ten of diamonds."

Wasn't sure about this turn raise. It looks super strong and so it felt a little thin against a tighter player on a paired board (especially when I have the Qd). Would be such a nasty spot if he jammed too. Maybe I should have gone smaller? Still think flushes should call here (especially with so many straight flush re-draw combos (JTdd J7dd T7dd 76dd 75dd 65dd) and 8x probably does too. From his comment, I'm guessing he folded a hand like TT or JTo.

AJo - Five limps to me in BB and I squeeze to $22. UTG (very loose old Middle-Eastern guy, $200 stack) calls and everyone else folds. I had seen this player limp UTG with 24o previously, which is part of the reason I felt comfortable squeezing AJo which is just about the bottom of my range here. Flop AQ9r ($50). I bet $15 and he calls. At this point he says "You go easy, I will only call" or something like that in a heavy accent. We had been friendly all day. His comment kind of confused me. Was he trying to buy a cheap showdown? Or warn me he had a big hand? Turn 7 ($80). I bet $20 which is less than I normally would and he calls. River 4. I check and he checks back. I show and he shows an Ace before mucking.

Felt a little dirty after this one. I think normally I bet turn larger and then try to squeeze out some value on the river so this guy saved himself $60 or so with the confusing speech play. I guess it's OK to take a soft line against a fish that I'm being friendly with, and I'm not going to complain too much about winning a $120 pot OOP with 1 pair.

Booked another big win today to continue my little streak. Now my bankroll is back up to where it was at my peak before this downswing which feels great. Not a whole lot to say about this session except I just ran really hot. I got good cards, flopped some huge hands, and hit a lot of draws. My table wasn't particularly action (Wednesdays are double status point days this summer, so it brings out a lot of nit regs looking to peddle the nuts) but I had direct position on the loosest fish at the table so it was a great seat. There were multiple instances when three or four players would limp, the loose guy on my right would raise to $7, and then I would get to 3bet and either take the pot down or play heads up in position against a weaker player. I think there were actually some spots I could have taken that I passed up on, partially because I was running embarrassingly hot and didn't feel like I needed to try and win every pot.

The best example of my sunrun today came when I opened UTG with KK and got 3bet by an extremely nitty regular in UTG+1. He was only playing $100 so I just put him All-in even though I expect he has AA here a whole lot. He did have Aces and took his time calling. Of course I turned a King though, and he left the table in disgust. This is the second time in a row I've won getting it AIPF with KK vs. AA. I've taken a good amount of bad beats in my short live poker career, but I expect I am running above EV in All-in pots.

7/12/23 @ Mohegan Sun: +$520 in 4 hours

8h8d - Three players limp to Loose Fish on BTN who raises to $7. I cold call from SB (should be 3betting here for sure, this is one of the spots I alluded to above) and 2 limpers call. Flop 7s8s9c (Pot: $28). I donk for $20. UTG calls. BTN calls. Turn Th ($88). I check. UTG checks. BTN bets $15. I call. UTG calls. River Tc ($133). Both players have less than $100 left so I just jam. UTG sigh calls with Tx and BTN open folds KTo.

Couple interesting decision points in this hand. Preflop is definitely a mistake but I think it's not too bad. Donking flop is something I don't do often but I've been trying to work it into my game in appropriate spots since it seems like some of the Crush Live Poker coaches really advocate for doing so. This is a flop I expect the BTN to check back multiway unless he is very strong which sucks for me. I also don't really want to force out the limpers by check-raising if the BTN bets.

On the turn, I think I should probably continue betting on the smaller side given the short stacks. Jx isn't going to be out there a ton, and 6x won't raise. Once I check and BTN bets tiny, I wonder if I should be raising here? River seems kind of obvious since I can't let it check through and stacks are shallow.

This is a quick Excel spread sheet graph of my lifetime results at $1/$2. Feels great to have grinded back so much of what I lost in the downswing.

Numbers for $1/$2 below.

nice work!

Haven't updated this thread in a few weeks. I'm down $591 in 36 hours of play since my last post. In general, I think I've been playing OK. There have been a few punts in that time though, including one or two yesterday (I may have tilted a little bit after a bad beat) which left me feeling a bit dejected. I have run pretty bad in some big spots (got coolered full house vs. full house with 33 vs. AQ on AQ3Qx; lost with top set vs. a flush draw after getting it in on the turn, etc.), which has made me feel a bit better about my results.

I'm happy with the volume I've been putting in playing live for the past few months. It's by far the most regularly I've ever played. I'm on track to move up to the next tier level in Mohegan Sun's player rewards program which I'm happy about. In general my understanding is that Mohegan Sun is one of the best casinos for comps in the country, which is fortunate for me. I am winning at a small rate, but getting a good amount of "free" food, drinks, gifts, and even gas. Would be cool to get some comped hotel rooms sometime, as I would like to be able to play some more late night sessions.

Hoping that I can get back to winning over the course of the next few weeks, but I will be happy as long as I am playing well. My results online have continued to be unbelievably good over this small sample. Will share my graph again at 10k hands. I have continued to play about 100-200 hands at 5NL a day which feels like the right amount to me.

Congrats on being a winning player. Winning any money at poker is tough and the fact that you have won over 300+ hours is great, despite going on several downswings. Just being able to beat the rake ($120-150 per hour coming off table) is to be commended.

I am enjoying the hand histories and thoughts. Keep on posting them!

Hey, thanks for the kind words! I've been enjoying reading your thread as well.

I've played 3 sessions since my last post, most recently yesterday. The first two were both small wins (+$22, +$107) but I lost $342 yesterday. The session was pretty frustrating because I played 4 big pots immediately after sitting down and then the rest of the session was very slow. I think I am usually at my worst when I first sit down, not having any reads on many players, and not being "locked in" yet. So it's unfortunate all my big spots came early. I think 3 of the hands basically played themselves (one of which I got stacked AIPF with KK vs. AA) but the fourth hand has been eating at me a little so I'll post a hand history.

KcTh

EP limps off $300. This player had been limping most hands and had previously limp-jammed jack-high for $65 after I ISO'd AQs and a bunch of other players called. I re-jammed to isolate and won unimproved. I think he is limping pretty wide and is a weaker player.

Hero raises to $10 in HJ off $250. In game I knew that this was a bit too loose. I figured this is a hand I would open from this position in a passive line-up, so trying to isolate a weaker player with it when I have position can't be too bad. I think it's probably better to overlimp though, especially since I don't have my bearings yet on the table.

BTN flats off $175. This is a player that I've played with before and who I see at the casino regularly. It's been a while since we played but I know that he is a tight and passive player.

EP limp-calls.

Flop: Qc 9c 4h ($30)

EP checks. I bet $20. BTN calls. EP folds.

Probably an argument for checking here, but I think this is a good board for me, plus I have a nut gut shot, a good club, and an overcard.

Turn: Qc 9c 4h 7d ($70)

I bet $50. BTN calls.

Turn is a total blank. Again, I think I could check here and expect a free card a decent amount of time. But, I figured I was against a tighter player here and that double-barreling would get a decent amount of folds. I would expect weaker draws to fold, as well as underpairs like TT and JJ, and 9x if it's out there. I think some tight players might even let go of top pair here but that might not be true.

Once BTN calls, I think he always has a strong hand like top pair or a big draw. In game, my plan was to only continue on a club or if my hand improves.

River: Qc 9c 4h 7d 6c ($170)

The front door flush draw completes, and I block hands like AcKc KcJc and KcTc which I think would all be in BTN's range. In my notes on this hand, I wrote that the river was the 8c but I don't think that's correct because I think JT busted out so I put 6c instead. I should make sure I take better notes. I think a jam in this spot should get a good amount of respect and should look pretty scary. Against a tighter player, I would expect a lot of one pair hands to fold here, and I would think sets may have raised earlier. Felt like a good spot to go for it.

Anyway, I jam for about $100 effective. BTN sighs, shrugs his shoulders, and calls quickly with KK no club.

I was surprised to see he didn't 3bet KK although maybe I shouldn't be. I also kind of expected him to fold one pair on the river, but I guess he didn't have a ton of money behind. I also think when players under-rep their hands, they feel committed to showing down as well, which is something I should consider in the future.

This hand had me thinking about a couple things after:

1. Am I bluffing too much in this spot? My pre-flop play is loose here. I don't think I always isolate with KTo but I do isolate with KJo almost always. So I have a lot of offsuit hands with a club here that I can bluff. I think having the Kc is a good thing and I think bluffing All-in against a tight player on a scary river is a good thing to do. But if I get called quickly by 1 pair, maybe not? Feels like I've gotten caught bluffing a lot when playing live this year. If I'm playing kind of loose pre-flop and then possibly overbluffing certain spots, that is a significant leak.

2. How thin would I value bet this spot? I just need to get better about going for thin value in spots like this. I know players call too much at this stake, and I know that I do a bad job of taking advantage of this (though I do a better job than most of the other players in the pool). From OOP against a tight player when the front door flush draw completes, I think I would check with a good amount of hands that aren't flushes, thinking I can't get called by worse.

If I'm bluffing a bit too much, and then not going thin enough for value, I'm losing a lot of EV. It's crazy how hard this game can feel at times. I think that I am one of the better players in this player pool (and the fact that I am winning over 400 hours backs this up), but I also know that I am not a very good player yet.

I actually play in these exact games sometimes but I'm coming mostly from an online background and have done a good amount of research on fish tendencies from online (they have the same tendencies live).

So definitely over limp preflop with the KTo hand. Your hand is too weak to raise but the table is most likely passive so you will get to see a cheap flop.

X flop, if you do cbet it has to be smaller because Fish over fold a bit to smaller cbets but not to bigger cbets (relative to GTO).

Two-tone boards are worse to cbet with air in general because people like to play suited cards so your fold equity decreases.

OTT if you had cbet small you need to overbet here as B25-B120 is over folded.

The triple barrel when OOP is under folded so once he calls turn you need to give up as it won't be profitable.

Good luck

Hey, thanks for the feedback. I have always enjoyed when I've come across your posts in the online strategy subforum, though you are correct that my focus is more on live play.

I can appreciate that I misplayed this hand on every street. I can also understand why your line of betting small on flop and overbetting turn (and then giving up river) might be more effective. That would look something like betting $8 into $30 on flop and then $56 into $46 on the turn? It makes sense to me why fish would have trouble dealing with this line. I don't do very much overbetting in live games so probably another thing for me to work on.

Yeah that sizing looks good (it wouldn't have worked this time because Villain had top of his range here) but it will be profitable long term.

Just don't isolate too thin, if you want to isolate use hands that play well multiway and can cooler people (Axs to outflush them/pocket pairs to hit sets/JTs because you always have the nut straight when you hit)

Going to post an update on my online play. I am at about 10k hands at 5NL on Bovada since I started this thread (slow progress because I play short sessions of 3 regular tables at a time). As I mentioned previously, I have proven myself to be a big winner at 5NL in the past, having won well over 100 buy-ins (unfortunately all before I downloaded PT4). The games are still incredibly soft and I happen to be running like God over the last 5k hands, which has made for a somewhat ridiculous result. I know that I'm not a 27 bb/100 winner long term, but I do feel like I am comfortably beating this stake at the moment.

I have been reviewing every meaningful hand that I play on PT4, usually the next day. I am trying to consume some educational content related to online play as well, though my focus is still on live play. I am still making tons of mistakes. I know that I am still playing too loose as well, and that I am a bit too much of a calling station postflop.

Last night I played my first session at 10NL in about a year. Booked a small win which felt nice. The games felt very similar to the ones that I have been playing at 5NL, but my experience has been that 10NL has a few more decent players (most of whom play pretty tight) and less massive obvious punts. I am a small loser lifetime at 10NL, which I'm hoping to be able to change. I think I am a better player than the last time I played at 10NL. Last time I played at this stake, I frequently played when I was distracted and tilting, which I've been able to cut out this time around. Hoping I can continue to run well and win.

Have COVID-19 right now, so I'm on a short break from playing live. My last live session was on Saturday. I only played for 1 hour because I was at the casino with non-poker playing friends, but I did win $40, which is nice.

Fortunately, I am feeling pretty excited about playing online right now. With tons of extra free time, I've put in above-average volume the past few days, with most of it coming at 10NL. I've played 7 sessions (probably about 1200 hands total) and I have won all 7, which feels great. At 10NL, the time of day seems to greatly affect the quality of the games. 10am EST is a typical time for me to play, and these games are a lot tougher than the 5NL games I'm used to. I have played a couple sessions at 7pm EST which have been fishier, and I managed to play about an hour at 2am EST where I ended up at 3 of the softest 10NL tables I've played on. I'm up 7.5 buy-ins at 10NL so far, which is great, considering I was only planning on taking a quick shot or two.

I signed up for the free version of GTO Wizard to look at a couple online spots that have come up recently where I've been confused in game. This is by far the most in-depth study tool I've used, but it's been fun to poke around. Looking forward to continuing to get better. Would love to be able to definitively beat 10NL and maybe even move up to 25NL at some point, although that seems like a long ways off at this point, considering my online bankroll is ~$300.

Won another 2 sessions of 10NL this morning, despite getting coolered against a fish KK vs AA in the biggest pot I played. I am up around 10 buy-ins in ~1500 hands now. This upswing is another reminder to me of how easy and fun poker can seem when you are on the positive side of variance. I still enjoy playing overall when I'm running bad, but it is such a vastly different experience. Trying to make sure I don't become too overconfident. Also need to make sure that I am prepared to handle the reverse situation. Last time I was playing online regularly, I hit a spell where I could not win a hand and I think I handled it really poorly.

Here is an example of a hand I looked up in GTO Wizard after playing. Was happy and felt a mild sense of pride to see that I played the hand basically perfect. I am not very well-versed in overbetting (esp. not for 150% pot) so I wanted to double-check if this was an appropriate spot to do so. Also wanted to check to see if the computer would go for thin value on the river, but was pleased to see that this hand (as well as many stronger non-straight hands) check back river after overbetting turn. I was also impressed that Villain played his hand perfectly as well. I think this speaks to the increase in the skill level of the regs from 5NL to 10NL. Don't see a lot of players check-calling with TPTK BVB at 5NL.

Will continue to look up a hand a day for now.

Ignition - $0.10 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (BB): $12.80
UTG: $10.46
MP: $10.15
CO: $34.23
BTN: $9.35
SB: $10.61

SB posts SB $0.05, Hero posts BB $0.10

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.15) Hero has T 7

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.15) UTG has K 9

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.15) MP has 3 Q

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.15) CO has 7 9

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.15) BTN has 3 A

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.15) SB has A T

fold, fold, fold, fold, SB raises to $0.30, Hero calls $0.20

Flop: ($0.60, 2 players) 7 6 T
SB checks, Hero bets $0.19, SB calls $0.19

Turn: ($0.98, 2 players) 3
SB checks, Hero bets $1.50, SB calls $1.50

River: ($3.98, 2 players) 9
SB checks, Hero checks

Hero wins $3.79

Mental game is tough. You sound like you have a good handle on things.


In.
GLGL

Thanks, appreciate the words of encouragement. I think I am getting better on mental game for sure. Earlier in my poker journey, I thought I had a strong mental game because I didn't do things like rage after bad beats or chase my losses. Of course now I have learned through experience (and some study) that there are much subtler ways to tilt which can still be incredibly damaging. Still have a ways to go but I do think I am on the right track.

Planning on making my return to live poker on Wednesday. Looking forward to it.

If you are any bit unsure of the many different versions and expressions of tilt and mental game weakness go check out The Mental Game of Poker by Jared Tendler. I'm sure everyone has heard of it a bunch. It's been a massive help in my game having a tool to help understand and approach how to tackle emotion and "other" side of strategy is invaluable.