8/30/23 @ Mohegan Sun: +$40

My triumphant return to live poker was a total snooze. Ended up at a super passive table of older regulars. Was looking for an opportunity to table change, but also because I showed up to play at 6pm, I was expecting the table to get better as the night went on and it just didn't? It's not the worst thing in the world though, as I had played with a lot of these guys many times before and I have a good idea of how I need to play to win against them. In these spots, I am playing a bit LAGgier than usual and trying to overfold anytime someone plays back. I also had direct position on the only other player who was raising with a wide range of hands, which was nice. Unfortunately I was pretty card dead for most of the night as well and didn't get a chance to play any big pots. I think I fluctuated between up and down $40 for 5 hours straight. At least I ended up winning though.

Here are two hand histories, with the caveat that neither spot is that interesting or that big (because I didn't have any bigger and more interesting ones to share).

J9hh

I raise MP to $7 (opening smaller than normal at this tight passive table). OMC in HJ puts in $2 because he didn't see I raised. CO (the loosest of the older players at the table, raising most solid pairs and good suited broadways) raises to $15. I stop the action and point out I had raised. OMC takes his limp back and folds, but the $15 stands. BB cold calls $15. I call for $8 more. $200 effective.

Flop: 9s8h7c (pot: $45)

Checks to cut-off who bets $30. BB folds. I have TP, a gut-shot, and backdoor hearts. This feels like a spot I am behind a lot but obviously I have a good hand and solid equity. This player is also playing his hands pretty face up on later streets. I call.

Turn: 9s8h7c Ad (pot: $75)

I check and CO snap checks back. I think CO bets here 100% of the time if he has an Ace or better.

River: 9s8h7c Ad 3d (pot: $75)

I bet $60 as a bluff. CO quickly open mucks TT and says "Yeah I was thinking I needed to hit the straight there once you called on the flop."

This is maybe a little OOL as a bluff. In theory, I don't think I need to turn this much showdown value into a bluff. But I also am watching this guy closely and I know he doesn't have a strong hand here. I also have a good image at this point, and the table is playing so passively that I don't think anyone is looking to call a big river bet with second pair to the board . I obviously could show up in this spot with a number of strong hands as well.

AcJs

Folds to me in CO and I open to $7. BTN calls off $75. Same Villain from above HH defends BB off $200.

Flop: AsTc8c ($20)

Check. I bet $10. Both Vs call. Pretty straight forward spot for me. Probably should be betting $7 here, but it's just easier to use only red chips, and $5 seems too small.

Turn: AsTc8c 4c ($50)

Checks through. I have NFD now but I don't think I can get much value at this point with my hand.

River: AsTc8c 4c 3d ($50)

BB leads for $25. I call. BTN overcalls? BB wins with K3cc

I think this was the biggest mistake I made all day. I called here quickly, thinking my hand was a good bluffcatcher with the Ac. I didn't give it a ton of thought, but I also recall thinking the bet was small so a flush was a bit less likely and that maybe I could even beat a hand like A9 betting as a block bet to get to showdown. I think the reality though is that this player type is just never going to be bluffing in this spot into two people, or at least not enough that I ever have to call here with one pair. I have tons of better hands (stuff like ATo, 88, even a hand like AK where I can sometimes maybe beat AQ).

I don't know what BTN overcalled with here but I'm certain I had the third best hand. I know I would have felt great if I folded here and BTN called and I got to see the showdown. Making these sorts of disciplined folds is an area where I know that I need to improve my game. Hopefully will be able to execute better next time.

Lol, I have those sessions too. Pretty sure I recently played a 1/3 NL session (within the last year?) where I was never up more than ~$30 nor down more than ~$15 over like a ~6 hour session... which I'm pretty sure I couldn't accomplish even if I tried (seriously, it means I would only just barely win enough once and a while to cover the last few orbits worth of blinds and nothing more). Although I'll also have the opposite sessions as well; my last two times out I've been stacked on just the second hand dealt to me, and yet both times I've booked solid 100bb+ wins. Variance is a funny thing.

Think I'm ok with the bluff on J9hh as we're targeting all KK-TT. And yeah, gotta find that river fold with TP on this runout this multiway against this player type.

GcluelessNLnoobG

Continuing to book small wins in relatively uneventful sessions. I am actually on a 4 session winning streak, but I'm only up just over 1 buy-in. This month is off to a good start though.

9/3/23: +$57 in 5 hours @ Mohegan Sun

Another sleepy session where I didn't really play many big pots. There were several bad players at my table, but there was also one guy who I have mentally tagged as one of the better players in the pool. He was two seats to my left. He 3bet me twice and I had to fold both times, which was unfortunate. He is involved in the below hand history, where you will see that he flats a 7.5bb ISO from the SB with 22, which goes to show that even the better players in this pool aren't exactly crushers.

QJhh

Two very loose players limp to me in the cut-off with QJs. I raise to $15. Tight player on the button cold-calls. SB good MAWG calls. 1 limper calls.

Flop: QT2 with 1 heart (pot: $60). SB checks. Limper checks. I check? I think this is a spot that I can bet small maybe, but I also like checking to balance a bit and also pot control since basically anyone else in the hand can have me absolutely crushed here.

BTN bets tiny, $12. SB check-raises to $30. Limper cold-calls $30. Hero??

Weird spot. Obviously I don't like my hand much facing a nit's bet, a checkraise, and a cold call, but I'm also getting an insane price (over 4-to-1) and I have good backdoors. Maybe the SB is just making a move against what looks like a super weak bet from the BTN? Anyway, I ended up folding. The BTN folded too.

Turn is a K. SB $35. Limper call. River A. SB check. Limper jams for $75. SB tank calls with 22 and limper has AQ.

Sad result for me in one regard, because I would have made the nuts and won a big ass pot if I had seen the river. But also a good one, because I made a correct fold and lost the minimum in a spot where it's pretty hard to only lose $15. Found myself a little annoyed at the BTN for not checking back, which would have virtually ensured I would have seen the river. But also reassured myself that thinking stuff like that is useless fishy behavior.

9/5/23: +$90 in 4 hours @ Mohegan Sun

This session was defined by the presence of an extremely loose and aggressive player 2 seats to my left (and later 2 seats to my right, after I found the chance to switch seats to gain position on him in a hopefully not obvious manner). It was brutal to watch this guy blast off against everyone else at the table while I couldn't pick up a hand. I was proud of my pre-flop discipline this session, and I thought I executed well in some small spots, which allowed me to book a small but respectable win.

AQo

Here's a quick pre-flop spot that confused me a bit. In this hand I am the effective stack at $175. I start my session buying in for 100bb and don't usually add on or top up until I feel comfortable at the table, which in this case took a while given the aggro guy.

I open AQo from UTG+2. I think this was my first open of the day.

Fishy player flats from UTG+3.

Loose older guy flats from BTN.

Solid middle-aged guy 3bet squeezes BB to $35.

Hero?

This is a player who I have encountered before. Unfortunately I don't have a great recollection of how he plays, but I know that he is at least decent. Later I saw him 3bet with AQo and then he ended up leaving the table for $2/$5, but I didn't have this information at the time.

I feel like all 3 options are on the table here. I'm not a huge fan of playing AQo potentially OOP in a 3bet pot, but the size of the 3bet is so small. I also think I get a lot of respect if I 4bet jam here. I have seen the regulars in these games make absurdly tight folds facing 4bets, and I have a good image. I should have decent equity against his range. I'm also not really sure what to make of the sizing either. Someone who is decent should know that this raise is much too small? Is he begging for action with the top of his range? Or trying to mitigate his risk with the bottom?

Anyway, I made the nitty fold and the other players folded too. I don't think folding here can be too big of a mistake since I don't really know much about my opponent's range. AQo isn't exactly the nuts in this spot even if he is more on the loose/aggressive side.

--

You know it's been a boring stretch of poker when the two hand histories shared involve check-folding the flop and folding to a 3bet pre-flop.

Fortunately, I continue to win at 10NL as well. Feeling pretty good about where I'm at poker-wise right now. Looking forward to playing live on Sunday.

9/10/23 @ Mohegan Sun: +$197 in 3 hours

Nice little session on Sunday. I wrapped this one up early in favor of hanging out at a brewery with my brother (who was playing at the same table as me). A small leak in my game is that I regularly choose to end winning sessions early, while extending my losing ones longer. I think this is pretty typical. I know I tend to play more confidently when I'm winning though, and the tables I'm at when I'm winning are more likely to be softer tables where I have solid reads on my opponents. So really, I should be staying longer, not shorter. I'm still a mental game fish in that booking a win actually really matters to me. I feel like I am shifting my attitude slowly on this, but it's definitely still a problem.

Playing at the same table as my brother (who is an above average player but less experienced and studied than me) is not ideal from a "capture as much EV as possible" perspective, but it is fun. It's nice to be able to talk through our hands afterwards, and compare our reads of different opponents. I think that makes us both better players, so there is certainly some legit value in playing together. Other players occasionally insinuate that we might be colluding (sometimes jokingly, sometimes not) which is unfortunate. The reality is we probably softplay each other a little bit, but no more so than would be typical between friends at the table. Certainly I've seen far worse collusion going on between the older nitregs who play every day with each other.

Here is one hand history. Feel pretty comfortable saying this was the biggest mistake I made all day.

KcKh

Villain (BB) in this hand is a late 50's/early 60's white guy who appears to be an ex-Marine. We are sitting next to each other and he is being friendly. He is not a good player. The first hand at the table, he overlimped the SB with AA and rivered top set after betting out the whole way. In that hand, he gave off several physical tells of strength. Since then, he has been very loose passive. He is extremely sticky. At one point, I saw him call a river overbet on a 4 flush paired board. He said "I have nothing, I just want to see what you have." The other player had the nut full house.

Several limps to Hero in SB with KK. I raise to $17. Villain cold-calls BB off $125 stack and all others fold.

Flop: Ah8c6c ($38). I check. Villain bets $20. I call with 2nd pair and BDFD. This is a spot I would often bet out small (this guy will definitely call with worse) but I chose to check here. My plan is to fold to turn aggression, unless my equity improves.

Turn: Ad8c6c As ($68). I check. Villain bets $30. I call. One of the better turn cards for me, and villain has sized down a little. I think there is a better argument for folding flop than folding turn.

River: Ad8c6c As 6h ($128). I check. Villain says "I guess I'll put the rest in" and jams for $58. I say "Wow, full house huh?" and he says "Are you calling?" I say no and try to engage him a bit more but now he is pretty still. I thought he looked slightly uncomfortable, and acting a bit differently than the previous HH where he had top set with AA. The speech seems strong though.

This is a spot I struggle with. I have the Kc which I know is bad. But I still have one of the absolute best hands I'll ever have here after checking 3 times. The draws have all bricked. The bet is for less than half pot. This is blind versus blind against a player with a wide and unpredictable pre-flop range. I can't just call when I have the nuts here, right?

I don't actually know that this guy is capable of a triple barrel bluff. I do think it's possible he could have some kind of spazz here occasionally. Ultimately, I think I just have to fold to players like this. I know that players who crush live low stakes make folds like this all the time, even when theory and pot odds dictate might dictate otherwise.

Obviously I called and he had A4dd. Oh well.

Fortunately, I rivered a flush the next hand against the same guy and got most of it back when he called my river raise with top pair no kicker. Made several other big hands to book the solid winning session.

9/12/23 @ Mohegan Sun: -$570 in 5 hours

Man, poker can be brutal. Trying to decide which hands I should post from this session because there were a bunch. I punted a couple times but in general just ran really poorly. This was a high variance spot for me, where there were several action players with big stacks at the table. This isn't a situation I've been in very much recently, and I was really excited to battle and try and book a big win. Didn't work out unfortunately. Feel like I've been running really bad in the big spots this year.

Honestly, when I left the casino I was feeling pretty dejected and thought I might take a break from poker. It really sucks to wipe out 5 small wins in a row with a big loss. But after the drive home, I felt a lot better. I would play again tomorrow if I could.

I will probably post a couple hand histories from this session on 2p2. Might do a thread in the strategy forum on at least one. Here is a simple one where I played good and ran bad. Just feel like complaining for right now.

AKhh

I open EP to $10. 1 call in LP. Young aggressive player 3bets SB to $45 off a $245 stack. I don't really think there is any 4bet size that makes sense here for me. $90 maybe? I just jam. He thinks for a bit and then calls with 2h2d!?!

Painful board runout of QhTd5d 3h 3c. So many outs on the turn, with the flush draw, gutter, and two live overcards. Other people at the table congratulated my opponent for making a great call pre-flop. He said he thought I had AK, of course.

what would you have done if you had AA/KK?

Do that.

Yeah, this is the question I was asking myself after the hand. Villain said he called because he doesn't think I would jam with AA or KK. Obviously his call is still a torch if I only make this play with JJ, QQ, and AK though.

Clicking it back to $90 is 36% of Villain's stack, so I'm committing myself at that point, but I guess the average Villain doesn't know that. It also leaves an SPR of less than 1, with Villain having $155 and there being over $180 in the pot. A true minraise of $80 is an option too I guess.

Often when I have AA or KK, I'm trying to make it look like I have AK pre-flop, so I think jamming would be a good play. I also think it's the correct play because of stack size.

In this exact spot, clicking it to $90 would have won me the hand though. I also think I could have won if I just called pre-flop, but I don't think I'm ever doing that against an aggressive player with a cold-caller behind.

Actually, YES! Maybe not a pure minraise but making it 2.2x or so is fine if you want to have some sort of 4bet bluff range. Also dont be afraid to flat big hands IP. It's ok to give your opponent room to make more mistakes postflop than preflop. I've flatted many 3bets with AK+ just to give my opponent room to hang himself on the right kind of textures. The table is usually dumbfounded I didnt 4bet that range, "so risky" while I misdirect and shrug my shoulders saying "I just needed to see a safe flop"

Thanks for the feedback. I probably did not give enough consideration to flatting in this spot. AKs is a lot easier to play post-flop and being in position against this guy is an advantage that I give-up by jamming. I'm sure he blasts off on A or K high boards, and it would be easy enough for me to realize my equity on a board like QT533hh.

I have been doing a bit more flatting 3bets with hands like AK and QQ live, mostly because my opponents are 3betting such a tight range. At the same time though, I see players make absurd plays facing 4bets (opponents have open-folded hands like AK and QQ to me, as well as like, you know, calling off with 22) which makes me want to keep playing aggressively.

I'm glad I posted this hand as I didn't think I had that much to think about regarding the pre-flop play.

I did end up posting a hand from this session in the strategy forum. I think I absolutely butchered the hand and the final result is pretty bizarre. https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/1...-donk-1826425/

Going to post an update on my online results tomorrow. Things have been going very well over what is still a very small sample of hands.

Here is a hand history from yesterday. I play on Bovada/Ignition so I can see the whole cards of my opponents even when there is no showdown. This strikes me as one of the bigger blunders I've made recently. I have been trying to fold more on rivers (big leak of mine) and especially to river raises. The opponent in this hand I had tagged as a fish, which should be obvious based on his play. I figured he had Ax so I value bet for a big size. As soon as I bet, I actually pre-clicked the "Fold" button, because I figured that if Villain raised me on this board there was no chance I was good. So of course he raised and I instantly folded.

To be honest, I have no clue what the hell Villain was thinking with the river jam, but I'm realizing now that for the price I was getting, I probably just have to call for the spazz factor alone. I think I would call this spot with AK always, because then at least I beat AQ which might jam for value. And then obviously I have tons of full house combos.

Needless to say, the 10NL games on Bovada/Ignition are extremely good. I have been playing solid and have been beating up on fish pretty hard. I will go more into it when I share my graph, but I'm planning on taking a shot at 25NL soon. I've played maybe 3k hands total lifetime at 25NL, so it will be a fun challenge. I know there are still tons of fish at that stake on this site.

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

BB: $12.25
UTG: $11.39
MP: $0.91
CO: $10.12
Hero (BTN): $9.85
SB: $11.45

SB posts SB $0.05, BB posts BB $0.10

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.15) BB has 4 5

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.15) UTG has Q 8

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.15) MP has 8 9

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.15) CO has K 8

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.15) Hero has Q A

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

fold, MP calls $0.10, fold, Hero raises to $0.40, SB calls $0.35, fold, MP calls $0.30

Flop: ($1.30, 3 players) J A 4
SB checks, MP checks, Hero bets $0.20, SB calls $0.20, fold

Turn: ($1.70, 2 players) A
SB checks, Hero bets $1.50, SB calls $1.50

River: ($4.70, 2 players) T
SB checks, Hero bets $3.25, SB raises to $9.35 and is all-in, fold

SB wins $10.64

This is very conventional wisdom, and like most conventional wisdom it just doesn't hold up to scrutiny.

OP I enjoy reading your HH's as I mostly play online but I have been extensively researching fish and how to max exploit them so I like putting myself in your shoes when combing through the action.

For the AKhh spot, you absolutely can never 4bet there. Most opponent's have a very low 3%s range and you are in position so just always call (I'm also assuming you have a postflop edge which you should want to exploit).

It doesn't matter what you do with AA/KK (you should jam) because balance is only an idea. You never balance against Fish and everyone that you play is a fish (relatively speaking). You shouldn't even balance against regulars unless they are very very good. And no one playing 1/2 is that good (honestly probably no one at 2/5 or 5/10 is even that good).

With the KK hand you need to be cbetting small for range because of how wide the Fish is. The problem with the board type is Fish love Axs hands and Ace Broadway hands so when they bet OTF/OTT/OTR it is very likely they have an Ace.

The plays I'm telling you to make are all backed up by MDA so I'm not just guessing on what to do, we can use huge samples of data to formulate the best plan and highest EV action.

Good luck and looking forward to future live HH's.

P.S. Fish don't understand relative value and only think in absolute terms so we need to call with the AQ because we beat worse Ax. This concept is actually something that took me a long time to understand because regular's don't think in these terms.

Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate your perspective on these spots. Mass data analysis is really interesting to me, especially with regards to data from Ignition, since it is not possible to track stats on individual opponents longterm. I was reading your thread in the online strategy subforum about whether unknown fish are aggressive or passive on average and thought it was really eye-opening.

I will be playing another live session at Mohegan Sun this afternoon, but this morning I am reviewing my most recent online 10NL sessions. I've reached 5k hands at 10NL, having started again at this stake back on 8/22/23, so I thought I'd share the graph of my results. As a reminder, I play regular tables and only 3 at a time, so I don't put a ton of volume in despite playing most days.



Obviously I am on a pretty sick heater right now playing online, both at 5NL (where I was winning 27 BB/100 over 10k hands) and at 10NL, where I am up 10 buy-ins over 5k hands. I know I am a solid winner at 5NL, and I have a 35k hand sample which suggests my 10NL winrate is closer to 4bb/100. I think I am playing better right now than I ever have before, but still I'm expecting things to slow down online at some point. I'm enjoying looking at spots on GTO Wizard, and I'm still reviewing the results of all of my hands the next day.

It's also a good reminder for me about how few hands I have at live poker. I've played about 500 hours of live poker total, combining 1/2 1/3 2/5 and a tiny bit of Omaha. That equates to around 15,000 hands, the same amount that I've played online since starting this thread. I know for a fact that 15k hands is nothing in the long run, and that results can change really quickly. 500 hours feels like a lot but the fact is nothing about my results so far is very meaningful.

Ultimately, I view online as a fun challenge and a good way to practice. Ignition in particular is interesting because, similar to live poker, you have to make judgments about the players you are facing after only a small sample of hands. I don't envision myself ever being a winner at midstakes online, but I would love to get to the point where I am confidently beating 25NL.

I also am fantasizing about the day that legal online poker is available in Connecticut. Right now, online poker is legalized but no operators are offering games because our state is too small to bother with. I understand games are super soft in new fenced-in play pools, so I hope when that day comes I am ready to put in a lot of volume at the highest stakes that are possible for me.

9/18/23 @ Mohegan Sun: -$363 in 5 hours

Another frustrating one. I think I played pretty well for about 4 hours today and then tilted at the end and lost some extra money. I think by the end of the session my attitude was pretty self-defeating, which is an issue. Feels incredibly frustrating to be down $900 in the last two sessions. Right now I'm +$49 in 245 hours of playing live poker this year which feels bad. I need to remind myself that 245 hours is only about 8000 hands, which is not a lot. To be breakeven despite having gone on a huge downswing is not bad and would be normal even for a solid winner (which it's debatable if I am or not).

I didn't play any big or interesting post-flop spots this session. For my biggest pot, I flopped a set with 55 after ISOing two loose passive limps on the button. A shortstack limper checkraised All-in on A56cc and I won (didn't see his hand, sounded like an Ace). I played at two tables, both of which were good, with lots of limping and some fun, action players.

The two biggest pots I lost were both pre-flop spots. The first one I think is pretty standard and the second one is probably a punt by me.

AKss: A loose passive player opens to $10 in HJ. This guy has open-raised maybe 4 times all session, but he limps an extremely wide range, previously limp-calling a big raise from me with T8o. BTN calls. I am in SB and I 3bet to $50 off of $260. Folds back to HJ who jams, having me just covered. BTN folds and I call. He has AA and I'm dead on the flop.

Getting AKs All-in for 130bb with a little bit of dead money shouldn't really be a big debate, but I always question myself when I'm playing against these mysterious loose passive open-raising ranges. If V has QQ+ AK I'm getting the right price. If he has KK+ AK the call is breakeven. So the question is does he play AK like this? Going back to my hand with AKs vs 22, does a big 4bet jam weigh someone more heavily towards a vulnerable hand like AK or QQ? Does AA/KK sometimes make a small 4bet instead of going All-in?

I would like to think I could have gotten away from AKo here. I'm not going to spend too much time worrying about this spot ultimately.

AQo: I open to $10 in EP. BTN whale calls $10. BB squeezes to $37 off of a $128 stack. BB is a younger white guy who has the look of a good poker player, complete with chip-shuffling. However, I have seen him make a couple nonsensical plays recently (like ISOing SB with A5o and running a multi-street bluff against a fish on 98xQx), and he has just topped off for $60 to get up to this 65bb shortstack. I thought this guy would be capable of squeezing light, and might be a bit tilted. I jammed for $128 effective and he called with AKo and won on an Ace high flop.

The reality of this hand is that I was probably the one who was tilting at this point in this session. This is a a spot where my opponent is very likely to be strong and there isn't really any fold equity or much dead money, so 4bet jamming AQo for 65bb seems like a losing play.

QQ: I open UTG to $10. Solid smug guy 3bets $25 from HJ. Folds to BB loose passive who cold 4bets to $50. $250 effective. I saw BB limp UTG with 83s previously, so he is very wide but he is not aggressive at all. Earlier in the hand, as soon as I raised, I saw BB start grabbing a big stack of chips right next to me. He seemed very strong in that moment, and like he really liked his hand. I tank fold. HJ calls. Flop Axx BB check HJ bet BB call. Turn K BB lead HJ snap fold. BB shows KK, HJ claims QQ.

Nice to make the right play here. I haven't folded QQ very much pre-flop, but this seems like a pretty standard spot in which to do it.

Every time I feel like I run so bad, I make sure to carefully go over my session. And without fail, I find a lot of hands that were misplayed.

You can't call the AKss or jam the AQo. Both of those hands are 100% folds preflop.

The AKss looks tempting to call because in a solver it's a call but your opponent's are very unbalanced and will have AA/KK almost always (you learn in MDA that blockers don't matter in a lot of spots because of how much they underbluff).

You also can't extrapolate based on what someone did in a completely different node. Just because someone raises and triple barrels does not mean they 3bet light. And just because someone can shuffle their chips and "looks good" doesn't mean they are doing it either.

You are leveling yourself way too hard off data that doesn't correlate.

My biggest piece of advice for playing 1/2 is way over fold vs 3bets. It doesn't matter what you think your opponents are doing, lean on the data.

I don't play 1/2 NL so I'll admit I don't have a handle on sizing / what $ mean / etc. versus the 1/3 NL I play, but...

AKss:

When a passive guy who almost never raises opens to 5x, I'm giving him credit. So I just happily flat my AKss, especially with no real significant dead money in the pot (given a few extra callers I would more happily get behind a 3bet), especially with this hand (that plays well multiway in high SPR pots where we're cool with keeping Button and even BB) in. Again, I don't have a handle on what $ mean in 1/2 NL, but it seems a little punty to be calling a 4bet jam against this player type, imo.

AQo:

Tough against this guy. I probably would have gotten this amount of chips too given this dynamic (although I would have likely limp/reraised it in based on my style). ETA: Whoops, I thought his A5 was a 3bet. If he hasn't shown some light 3bets, AQo always hits the muck for me here.

QQ:

Nice fold, imo.


A decent part of live play at small steaks is making ridiculously exploitable overfolds, cuz a decent percentage of the population simply isn't going nutso / bluffing / etc. at the frequency "they're supposed to" / etc. Last session out, I couldn't bring myself to fold KK preflop for the 5th time; after a lot of thought afterwards, it really was a trivial fold given the dynamics, even at only 100bb, but I just didn't make it cuz of some entitlement / putting in 1/3rd+ of my stack / whatever.

Gthey'renotplayingbackatme,they'renotplayingbackat me,they'renotplayingbackatmeG

Agree with what Doodoo and GG said. These are huge variance neutral EV at best, and usually at 1/2 and 1/3 you have lighted all your monies on fire. Which was confirmed. Throw your solver out the window for awhile. Unless you play 5/10 with pros it will level you more than help you.

Thanks for the feedback, all.

I agree that the AQo jam is a punt by me, so not gonna get into that much. I knew I punted at the table and it is even clearer looking at the hand history now. Interesting point from DooDooPoker regarding me extrapolating based on what this player did in a different node (thinking the range they ISO limps with correlates to what they 3bet squeeze the BB with). This is something I do all the time without really thinking about it.

RE: AKs, I am surprised that there is consensus amongst 3 players with very different styles that my hand is a clear fold in that spot. I guess I shouldn't be surprised though. I know that players are under 3betting at 1/2, and I know that they are 4betting even less. I need to get better at making these sorts of disrespectful exploitative folds. I am always able to find some sort of excuse to justify the call. I definitely lean a little bit too heavily on what to do "in theory" in spots like this, even though I'm far from an expert in modern poker theory, and even though modern poker theory is irrelevant in many 1/2 spots. Glad I posted about this hand, despite feeling like it was a standard cooler.

The QQ fold happened before the AKss fold (probably should have put those hands in chronological order) and I had also folded 99 to an old guy's small 3bet (he showed me KK afterwards, and there was nowhere near enough stack depth to set mine). I think part of what happened with the AKss hand is that I got tired of folding good hands to re-raises. I think that would fall under the umbrella of entitlement tilt, which is something I've noticed I have an issue with.

I played my longest 10NL session in a while this morning and lost 3.5 buy-ins, including a horrific call of an overbet jam 200bb deep on KK4Q3 where I had 33 and my opponent had KQ. Part of me wants to take a break from poker, and another part of me wants to play as much as possible. I am going to have an opportunity to play live again on Wednesday. I think I will take tomorrow off from playing online and do some constructive study. If I'm feeling good (confident, motivated, well-rested, etc.) on Wednesday morning, I'll give it a shot. If not, I'll skip playing.

One nice thing that happened during yesterday's session is that I reached the Mohegan Sun status points milestone which upgrades me from the basic "Core" membership card to the "Ignite" card. This means, among other things, I get 10% extra rakeback/promo dollars ($2.20 per hour, up from $2/hr, which can be used for gas, food, etc) as well as an additional allowance of promo dollars to use every month. I can also start earning promo dollars for playing on Mohegan Sun's online casino.

Normally would not be interested in playing -EV online casino games, but Mohegan Sun's online casino (run by FanDuel) offers incredible deposit bonuses every week which I have been taking advantage of for the last six months. Four days a week, they offer a promotion where they will give you 10% additional casino credits for making a deposit (deposit $250 to get $275 in credit, deposit $500 to get $550 in credit, etc). In order to cash out the casino credits, you only have to play through them one time. So I will play through the bare minimum required at a game with a 99%+ RTP (like online blackjack using a basic strategy chart) and then snap cash out, often the same day as my initial deposit. I'm up around $5,000 in the last six months taking advantage of this promo, which means I've played almost $50k worth of online blackjack hands which seems absurd. This is something which is only available to people who are playing from CT as far as I know. Looking forward to being able to earn additional promo dollars from this online play.



Reaching this second tier of Player's Card has been a goal of mine for the past couple months, which is why I've been playing almost exclusively at Mohegan Sun. Will probably play some more sessions at MGM Springfield soon, where the games are a bit more action. I'm also taking a trip to Dallas, TX with family in October, and I plan to play some $1/$2 down there which I'm really looking forward to

Couple things on your long posts. You say you are going to be studying, what does that mean? Because getting out the GTO solver and looking at some spots is not going to help you much. However if you cue up some old CLP call in youtubes or one of my favorite guys who rarely posts to the youtubes, has a massive knowledge of GTO, and basically has you throwing GTO out the window in a lot of spots and looking for exploitss, AlvinTeachesPoker. His online and live advice both work for live 1/2 and 1/3. Either of those are going to get you more in the mindset about how you should be thinking about hands instead of just looking at your own hand strength like in your AKs spot. Or only looking at certain board textures and what to do on those textures.

Second thing is about confidence etc. some of my best sessions happened when I did not feel like going or had doubts. Sitting at the table and nit fold for a few hours is better than sitting at home. The most important thing you can do is hand reading at actual 1/2 and 1/3 tables and you cant do that at home. You dont even have to be involved in 90% of the hands to do this. Until you are only surprised once or twice a 6 hour session by holdings of every villain showdown, you are not doing a good enough job hand reading.

Perhaps the biggest trait (not sure its a skill? Maybe it is and is the most important one?) in 1/2 and 1/3 and maybe higher is patience. Making the right play at the right time and not forcing the issue or making some play because you think it will keep you balanced. Or you watched a GTO sim say to 4b your A5s at 20% frequency. Or a GTO call down that before you ever knew about solvers was an obvious fold at 1/2 and still is. Villains basically tell you what they are holding at these stakes. And what they will call with etc. that is where you make your money.

And the majority look at your image as thisÂ…..what does his preflop open and 3b ranges look like? Does he call down light? Do his checks mean he is weak? Does he bluff a lot? How often does he raise with a draw or worse? Thats pretty much it. 95% of players arent looking at you with much more complexity than that and can still win at these stakes going no deeper than that if they are good at it. And so you need to be keenly aware of what your image is in those regards to any player who thinks beyond his own cards. And then make sure your strategy in regards to your image makes sense. Not in regards to GTO vs perfect playing robots.

Interesting point on playing when I don't feel like it or am doubtful. What you say makes sense to me. I do try to handread as much as I can when I'm not involved in hands. Watching other people play poker is often very interesting to me. The reality is I'm probably on my phone too much these days. Next session I will be better about putting it away and being more engaged with what the rest of the table is doing.

I would like to think I am a patient person at the poker table, but I'm sure I'm not as patient as I should be. Sometimes my patience wanes after folding for hours, which I think is a source of the entitlement tilt I referred to in an earlier post.

RE: studying, I've never actually used a solver before. Recently I've looked at some simpler online spots in GTO Wizard (which is a bit different from using a solver) but I agree that this doesn't translate well to live play (or even really to microstakes online, where I should be looking exploit my opponents in similar ways to live poker). I do think that sometimes incorrectly thinking about GTO muddies my thought processes for simple live spots.

Studying for me is watching videos (I like CLP and was a subscriber for several months, will check out AlvinTeachesPoker as well) or looking at hand histories (my own or maybe someone in the strategy forum) with the aid of simple tools like the PokerTracker4 equity calculator and the CLP live ranges. I watch a variety of poker content including vlogs and livestreams but I do not confuse this with studying poker. Not really understanding how to properly study poker has been an issue of mine, but I do feel like I'm getting better at it.

I lose my phone almost entirely at the table. Silent mode or DND mode. Look at and Respond to pertinent messages usually during dealer changes or spots I have 99% handle on all the villains still in a hand. Rarely ever look at anything but a quick email or message. Anything more than that is costing you money. One poorly played large pot because you were not paying attention every hand before is probably the cost of a new phone. Some guys are on autopilot and sit and look at their phones the entire time. Why even play those stakes if it is that boring or you are that good you can crush everyone without paying attention all the time? The only reason I could see is if your player pool is the same every day and you don’t like talking to the people involved.

9/20 @ Mohegan Sun: +$410 in 3.5 hours

Much needed big win today. Happy I went to the casino today. I reviewed my big loss from 10NL this morning and it got me excited to play again. I also knew that I was going to get lunch for free at the casino's VIP lounge (which I can access now with my new player's card) which I was looking forward to.

As soon as I got to my table, I noticed a player I had played with a few weeks ago. He is extremely loose and aggressive. The prior session I had seen him raise 40%+ of hands pre-flop, run multi-street bluffs with air, and 3bet light. After every pot he lost, he would re-buy for the maximum. He was stuck huge the last time we played, mostly from paying off in big pots with one pair. This session, I learned that he is a professor at Yale's School of Drama, and that he is a successful TV actor with a big role on a network drama. Gonna refer to him as Aggro Actor (AA) in these hand histories.

QQ

Hero opens to $10 off $180 from EP. Aggro Actor 3bets BB to $30. This seems like a close spot heads up. This guy is pretty wild though, so I kind of want to let him blast especially since I am sort of too short to 4bet.

Flop: Js3h9c (Pot: $60). AA leads $30. I call, continuing to trap on what is a great flop.

Turn: Js3h9c Jc (Pot: $120). AA continues for $60. This isn't my favorite card but obviously I'm not folding to this guy. I have $120 back which is just a minraise so I jam. I'm committed and he shouldn't fold anything of any value here. Can't imagine he would bluff river for the last $60 as well. AA calls and says "I need a club" so I show and he shows A2cc. River Ks and I double.

AQo

Two EP limps. Aggro Actor raises Cut-off to $10. I 3bet to $50 from SB off $350 (AA covers). BB tanks and folds. AA says "Queens again?" and calls.

Flop: Q75cc ($100). I lead for $30. I notice BB audibly groans at the flop. AA open folds AK. Surprised he didn't 4bet. BB says she folded QQ, which is also surprising but she is a middle aged woman who seems pretty nitty so I guess it isn't that surprising. One outer for me.

KQdd

One limp. I open to $11. Three calls, including MAWW from prior hand who folded QQ. She is in the blinds.

Flop: K22r ($40)

Two checks. I bet $10. BTN calls and MAWW calls.

Turn: K22r 5dd ($70)

Check. I bet $35 having picked up BDFD. BTN folds and MAWW calls.

River: K22 5 8 ($140)

Check. Great runout for me. I do think this player probably has AK pre-flop (don't think she 3bets it). It looks like I have a King here. Does she pay off a big bet here with KJ or KT? I just decided to bet $35 again, which is probably too small since she snap calls and shows KJo. Happy to get three streets of value here, but I probably left a little on the table.

KTdd

Aggro Actor opens to $10 in HJ. Extremely loose guy calls. I am on BTN. At this point, I am over 200bb deep with AA. Think this is a good spot to squeeze against two loose players but I just call. Blinds fold.

Flop: Ah9hQd ($30)

AA leads for $20. Loose guy calls. I call. Don't think raising makes sense and obviously I'm continuing with the nutshot and BDFD super deep.

Turn: Ah9hQd 7s ($90)

Checks through. Free card please!

River: Ah9hQd 7s 4h ($90)

Check check. I bet $65. I don't have a heart in my hand, but I can rep hearts well and I don't think either of these guys has a flush when the turn and river check through. I also think it's very possible both of these guys are very weak. This is a tough spot to call off with a weak Ace, and I wouldn't be surprised if one or both guys has a much worse hand than that. Both fold. I show because it feels like I have a tight image and I'm a fish who likes to show bluffs sometimes.

--

I was up almost $500 after two hours of play. I was tempted to rack up but wanted to continue to sit deep with Aggro Actor when I had position. He ended up seat changing to my left which was a bummer. I only had 4-5 hours to spend at the casino, so figured it was safe to leave after 3.5 considering the table dynamic had shifted.

9/23 @ Mohegan Sun: -$38 in 5 hours

Kind of an odd session. I got coolered my first hand of the session (see: 66 hand) and was never above even. I made a bit of a comeback at the end, mostly because I kept getting dealt big pocket pairs and kept winning small multi-way raised pots with them. My table was full of nitty older regulars, but in general I thought the vibe of the table was good and it was super soft. There were a couple exceptionally bad players that came through and got stacked in ridiculous fashion, but never by me. I thought about table changing several times but stuck it out at this one, because it was low variance and easy.

If I had to rate my play this session, I would give myself a B- or a C+. I think I played well enough to win but I made a couple dumb mistakes, and I got kind of impatient at one point which led to me playing a bit too loose. I'm low on time so just going to share two hand histories.

6c6s

UTG limps. I overlimp UTG+1. This is a hand that I could go either way on raising or overlimping. BTN raises to $12. BTN is a middle aged white guy I've played with several times who I think is a good player and likely a winner in these games. UTG folds. I think it's because of spots like this that I would prefer to raise 66. I'm unlikely to get 3bet, so I will almost always see a flop (or steal the blinds), and I will have the initiative and an uncapped range. I think I should probably be folding OOP to a 6x bb ISO from a good player. But I called. $200 effective (my initial buy-in, this is my first hand played).

Flop: Kc4c2c (pot: $24)

I check. BTN bets $15. I call. I think this is standard. I believe this player has a relatively wide range and is c-betting often.

Turn: Kc4c2c 6d (pot: $54)

I check. BTN checks. I have the best hand always here I think.

River: Kc4c2c 6d 8h (pot: $54)

I bet $10. I hate how I played this river. I thought BTN was likely weak after checking back the turn, so I bet very small. I thought I could get called super light here, and that I might induce a raise as a bluff or for thin value if BTN has Kx. I think this is a bad play though, because I don't think players raise the river as a bluff or for thin value very often. I think I should just bet big here.

BTN raises to $30. I don't think he ever has a flush that bets big on flop and checks back the turn. I don't think he has a set either. So I should have the best hand almost always here. But do I just call this small raise of my very small bet? I decided to get cute and 3bet to $50. BTN snaps and has 8c8s which makes all the sense in the world.

I would have much preferred betting out $50 on this river myself. I also could have folded pre-flop. Not my best hand.

QcQs

Two limps. I raise BTN to $12. BB cold calls off $125. BB is a very loose and bad Spanish guy. He is limping a super wide range and doing a lot of stabbing with mediocre strength hands. When he has had a good hand, he has played more aggressively. UTG limper calls. Loose Passive short stack woman.

Flop: QhTh9c ($36)

Checks to me. I bet $15. Obviously not a spot to check back top set. Both of these players are pretty short. I think it makes sense to bet bigger on such a wet board. Even though I double block top pair, there is a lot that can call. BB snap calls. UTG folds.

Turn: QhTh9c 6s ($66)

BB check. I bet $35. BB calls. At this point, I was trying to bet in a manner where I could easily stack BB by the river. I think I should size up here again though. I don't need to worry about betting geometrically or leaving an appropriate SPR for the river.

River: QhTh9c 6s 4h ($136)

BB check. He has a little over $60 left, so this seems like a slam dunk jam even though straights and flushes are possible. I think sometimes BB will donk jam a flush, and weaker flush draws may fold turn. Since I block top pair and would expect T9 or a set to raise at some point, jamming here might be kinda thin but it's less than half pot.

BB snap calls with J9hh for the mega draw. Kind of surprised he played this hand so passively on the flop, since I expect even the most passive player to recognize the value of check-raising this hand.

I think this hand is clearly a cooler, but I would have liked to see myself bet bigger on the flop and turn. Could maybe even play this as a two street hand by betting $30 on the flop and $80 on the turn. Maybe that's too aggressive with top set though.

Had an extremely satisfying day of online poker today. I played an early morning session of 10NL and won two buy-ins. Was feeling good later on so I decided to take a shot at 25NL for the first time in about a year. I ended up winning two buy-ins at 25NL too. Ended the day up $70 which might be my biggest or second biggest winning day online ever in terms of dollars. When I started this thread I had $50 on Ignition and I've grown that to $450. It's not really enough to play 25NL if I were following a correct bankroll management strategy, but I have plenty of money in my live poker bankroll that I could always re-load online if need be. Running hot at the start of my shot-take is a big confidence boost and should help me stick around for a while without reloading.

Unsurprisingly I thought the games I was playing at 25NL were really soft. There were a number of regulars, but they seemed pretty tight and cautious post-flop and I wasn't put into any difficult spots. There were also a bunch of short-stacked fish who I ran hot against (stacking a limp-caller's K9o with AKs on a K-high board, flush over flushing a BTN cold-caller's 97ss with A8ss).

I've been dealing with some crazy button-clicking at 10NL recently, but I feel like I've been playing pretty solid in response. May start making some threads in the online strategy subforum. There are a couple weird spots that have come up recently against fish that I would like some feedback on.