Yeah, I was kind of annoyed when the third party said "chop?" in that first hand. It was a younger kid who clearly didn't know better. I've been guilty of doing that sort of thing before I knew what was what, so I wasn't going to make a big stink about it, even if it had cost me half the pot. I'm realizing now that I never said anything to him about it afterwards (I am very non-confrontational by nature) which was a mistake because how else is he going to learn?

On the second point, I try hard not to overestimate any of my poker abilities, but I do think I am better than average at figuring out what fish are up to before other players do. Honestly might be a case of "it takes a punter to know a punter" or something like that. In particular, I think this is an edge I have playing in the anonymous online games on Bovada, where other regs are too often acting on autopilot and not adjusting fast enough to the weaker players at the table. lol @ squeezing from the blinds with T9o by the way, that's pretty out there.

Excited to update this thread with my year end results. I slowed down playing poker quite a bit over the holidays. I actually played an online session on Christmas Day (had some free time and figured the games would be good) but it went really poorly and I felt really out of control. Have only played online once since then but I've played live twice and have felt pretty good.

Here's what my results looked like:



As far as live poker goes, I'm happy with the amount of volume I got in. I don't have tons of free time and live an hour from the nearest casino, but was still able to play more live poker this year than the rest of my poker "career" combined. I'm happy I was able to win a bit, but I really do want to try and get my winrate up next year (need to play better and need to play in better games). I also want to continue to take shots at $2/$5.

For online, I think it's pretty safe to say I ran like God this year. I am proud of how I played this year and of my results, but I'm trying to be sure that I am realistic about my expectations moving forward. I know I am a big winner at 5NL on Bovada (as soft a poker player pool as can be found anywhere) but I also know that I'm not going to be winning at anything close to 15 bb/100 at 25NL (and certainly not above that) in the future. I've had mixed results at 50NL so far and I'm not totally sure that I am going to continue playing that stake in the future. I think my plan is to withdraw some money and move back down to 25NL for a bit. We'll see though. It would be nice to play the whole year at one stake so I can build up a significant sample of hands.

Here's a graph of my whole year (I only started playing online again in April FWIW) in BB won across all stakes.

Excellent results.
Good luck at the tables, and have a fantastic new year!

1/2/24 @ Mohegan Sun: +$295 in 2.5 hours ($1/$2)

My first live poker session of the year! Had a fun evening where I went to see my beloved UConn Huskies (the defending National Champions of college basketball) play before settling into a short late night poker session. I started this session at 9:30pm and finished at midnight which is much later than I normally play. The game I was in was good, but not great. Part of the problem was that for long stretches, there were a number of tiny stacks (sub $50) at the table, which I failed to adjust to. I honestly probably should have sought out a different table with deeper stacks or even gone up to $2/$5. I chose not to though, mostly because I was winning right away in this game and knew I wasn’t going to be able to play for too long.

AsTs

UTG straddle $4. Folds to me on BTN. I open to $15. BB (older Euro guy I’ve played with before who is pretty nitty) calls BB. Straddle fold. $350 effective as BB and I have the deepest stacks at the table.

Flop: K54ss (Pot: $30). BB check. I bet $15. BB call. Pretty standard bet from me. I think his range pre-flop is pretty strong/tight. I would rule out AA and KK since I think he 3bets those, but nothing else (so he can have AK, QQ, etc).

Turn: K54ss 8h (Pot: $60). BB check. I bet $55. My thinking here is that Villain will have a very difficult time calling here with anything worse than a K. I think he has a middle pocket pair often enough. I also have a good amount of equity if I do get called by Kx. Getting raised would be unfortunate, but I am guessing he would raise small enough that I could still continue. My plan is to shut it down when I miss on the river. I think I have finally learned from my past mistakes of trying to bluff players like this off of TP+ on blank runouts. Once this guy calls the turn, he isn’t folding the river once spades miss.

After I bet, BB tanks. He is acting as though he has a very difficult decision. After a minute or two, he puts together the chips and kind of slams them down in the middle, as if making a frustrated call. My read is that he is very strong here and is trying to give off a reverse tell to try and induce me to bet the river.

River: K54ss 8h 2s (Pot: $170). BB check. I bet $150. He calls. I show. He shows his cards to his neighbor and then mucks. Guessing he had a set or something and wanted to show that I put some sort of sick beat on him.

I thought about the river sizing for a while here. My read was that Villain was strong in this hand, but obviously this is a pretty dynamic river. I wish I had noted if the King was a spade or not, because a hand like KJss or KQss is the only way V can have a flush here. My first instinct was to bet smaller to ensure a call from Kx but then I thought back to the turn and decided to go bigger. Can I jam here?? Would be $265 into $170. I think this would look really strong, and a nitty and experienced V might be able to fold a set facing that action.

In the end, I’m happy with how I played the hand and with how I played this session (for the most part at least). Looking forward to playing more poker later this week. Nothing like a nice win to get you excited about playing poker again.

1/6/24 @ Mohegan Sun: +$300 in 3 hours

Really good start to the year with back to back nice winning sessions. Was at a great table today. I did leave a little early to lock up a win (I am still something of a mental game fish in this regard) but only after the two worst players at the table busted and were replaced with boring MAWGs. I felt good about how I played this session, but in truth I wasn't in any difficult spots at all. This is also the second session in a row that I was up money instantly and then coasted afterwards.

I'm only going to share one hand history. This hand has actually stuck with me a little bit. I think I might have made a mistake on the turn here.

AA

UTG (short stack fish) limp. UTG1 (grumpy fish driving the action) raises to $5. I am on the BTN and 3bet to $20. SB (very old Asian man in a mask - very nitty) cold calls SB. UTG limper calls. UTG1 PFR folds. Very weird pre-flop set up. I would normally 3bet to $25 here ($20 doesn't even really register as a re-raise to most players I think) but I went smaller because I have AA and want action. I have a tight image at this point as well. Seeing the result makes me wish that I had gone more though.

UTG has $70 back. SB and I are $350 deep.

Flop: Q86r (pot: $60). Checks to me. I bet $20. Both players call. SB calls very quickly. I honestly don't know how to range this player. What Qx does a tight old Asian guy cold call a 3bet with? Especially when I block AQ. When he snap calls flop I think he is very strong.

Turn: Q86r 8 ($120). Checks to me. I check back? I think this is a mistake. I was a bit worried about SB having a set on the flop, but the 8 means that is less likely. I also thought the 8 was a great card for the UTG limper's range, but it doesn't even matter since he is so short. To be fair, I don't know how easily I can get 3 streets multiway from just top pair from the SB nit. And the UTG player will stack off with any Qx on the river.

River: Q86r 8 T ($120). Checks to me. I bet $100. SB snap calls. UTG folds. My hand is obviously good.

It seems most likely that SB had a Queen here. I guess maybe KQs or AQ, since he cold called a 3bet preflop. I feel like betting 3 streets might have gotten me more money from Qx, though I did get a big value bet paid on the river by checking back turn.

I also think it's possible he had KK? If this is the case, I definitely think I left a lot of money on the table.

I don't know how much it's worth worrying about not getting max value here. I do think this hand is an example of me not really taking my time and thinking clearly on the turn though, which is something I've struggled with in the past.

I've played a couple short sessions recently:

4 hours of $2/$5: -$1092

4 hours of $1/$2: -$95

Not in love with how I played in the 2/5 session which is frustrating. It was one of those days where you just can't win a hand which I think got to me a little bit at the end of the session. I reviewed my notes and I don't think I made any huge mistakes, but I certainly could have lost less if I played my A game.

When I initially moved up to 2/5, I did so under the pretense that it would be for a shot of two $500 buy-ins. Right now, I'm down $708 in 19 hours of play. Even though I haven't lost the full $1k, I think I'm going to take a step back for a bit to rebuild my confidence and bankroll at 1/2. I think I've gotten some good experience at 2/5. I haven't played in any spectacular games, but I have encountered some really awful players. I've also encountered some good ones though, and on the whole the average 2/5 player seems to be considerably better than the average 1/2 player. I still see a lot of mistakes though, including a lot of loose passive play and bloated multi-way pots.

I think I still have an edge at 2/5 but the edge is diminished by the fact that I have very little experience with the other players and by the fact that I have a very limited bankroll. Sometimes I feel like I am a bit intimidated at 2/5 which I think will go away with time. It's impressive to me that virtually everyone at Mohegan Sun 2/5 buys in deep. When I buy-in for 100bb at a new table, I seem to always be the shortest stack. I would love to get to the point where I can buy in for the max of $1k and feel comfortable, but I'm not there yet. The vast majority of pots are raised (as opposed to limped) which is refreshing for me to see. In some ways, playing in raised pots against players with relatively normal raising ranges is more comfortable to me than against the frequent limpers of 1/2.

The other thing about 2/5 is that the rake is dramatically less, given that it is the exact same as at 1/2 (10% up to $6 plus $1 for BBJ). With lower rake and deeper stacks, I should be able to win more as I get better at poker and more comfortable with the new stake. For this reason, I do think I should strive to get to the point that I'm playing 2/5 regularly as soon as possible.

So where does that leave me? My goal for this year is to have an impressive winrate at 1/2. I want to play better and more disciplined, and I want to game select better. I also want to save up money to continue to shot-take 2/5 when it looks good. I think I'm in a good spot right now. I haven't had as much time to play online and study as I would like, but I will get back to that as well.

You don't have to feel at a disadvantage when buying in short. You are playing a 100bb game is all and you just want to know the differences in how to play certain aspects on your range. there are some pretty important differences to know between 200bb and 100bb stacks that aren't too crazy to learn especially if you have good 100bb fundamentals. the bankroll stuff is pretty huge though as you buyin at 200bb. much easier to take the shots at 100bb as it can limit some of your losses if you are then going back to 1/2. i probably would say you have an edge on a good amount of the pool at 2/5 when playing your A game and it sounds to me like you may have been stuck in your B or C game in that session and that really reminds me of where i was struggling when i was making this same jump.

that said congrats on dusting 1k in a session? feels good right? you gotta take those steps and put yourself in these positions as far as mental game to improve.

In the midst of my worst downswing playing online since I started this blog. It feels like the games I am playing in are amazing but fish are just making the nuts against me every other hand. Plus I've been losing flips and taking all sorts of other bad beats. I'm running 6 buy-ins below my All-in EV in the last ~1500 hands alone. At times I've tilted a bit which sucks, but in general I feel like my mental game is stronger than the last time I dealt with a nasty losing stretch like this. That said, I haven't been playing too much lately and will probably take another break after losing a couple buy-ins in a short session tonight.

I've also been experimenting with playing on Global Poker, which has been fun. The process of feeling out a new site and a new player pool is enjoyable for me, and it's nice to be able to take advantage of their generous deposit bonuses. I like playing on Ignition a lot more though.

Hey thanks, I appreciate your words here! Yeah the $1k loss was definitely a milestone for me, though I don't think I really appreciated it at the time. That session (-$1300 total) was my biggest losing live poker session ever (in dollars, not BB). As I grow my bankroll and get more used to playing $2/$5, I'm sure this type of loss will roll off me like it's nothing. I've been buying in deeper at $1/$2 lately which is a good step I think.

Looking forward to playing some live poker again tomorrow. Will report back to this thread sometime soon I'm sure.

1/21/24 @ Mohegan Sun: +$560 in 5 hours ($1/$2)

Really happy with this session. I think I played my A game today or pretty close to it and also happened to be run great. Played super disciplined and solid and then executed in a couple big spots to get max value. I'm also happy that I didn't quit this session early to lock up my win which is something I've done in the past. Just realized today I was at a decent table and playing my best so I should ride it out. The end result is that this is my biggest win at any stake since June (aside from the time I won a high hand promo).

This session started with me being super card dead. I don't think I VPIP'd a hand for the first 45 minutes or so, and then the first pot I entered I had to fold to a limp re-raise. There was a time when I first started playing live where these stretches would be really tilting to me but I actually felt great folding hand after hand today. It helps that this stretch came at the start of the session (when I am at the peak of my patience) for sure. I feel like executing by making a bunch of disciplined folds in a row helped me get locked in for the rest of the session.

TT

Fish straddles UTG. EP limps $4. I raise BTN to $20. BB (old woman - nit, think she always has a very good hand here. $200 stack and I cover) cold calls. Straddle fold. EP call.

Flop: KKK (Pot: $60). BB leads $20. EP folds. I call. This is honestly kind of concerning. I don't know what this player's 3bet range looks like (if it even exists) so I wouldn't be surprised to see QQ, JJ, or AK here. Even AA can't be ruled out. Raising feels like an overplay but obviously I'm not folding TT here.

Turn: KKK 9 ($100). BB check. I bet $30. BB call. When she checks, I feel a lot better about my hand. Maybe she has 77 or 88? I think I can get some value here but I don't expect a big bet will get paid off by worse.

River: KKK 9 2 ($160). BB check. I bet $50. BB fold. I thought about checking here but decided that I'm OK with value-owning myself sometimes and that I should try to eek out some more value from a hand like 88. I guess I misjudged this situation because another player at the table told me that he saw BB's hand here and she had JJ. So I accidentally bluffed her for less than 1/3 pot on the river. Kind of a crazy swing because I think I get stacked against a lot of players in this set-up (BTN vs BB TT vs JJ in a straddle pot on a decent flop) but instead I win a nice pot.

KJs

Clueless old man limps. I raise $12 from HJ. BTN (LAG-y fish) calls. Limper calls.

Flop: Ad4dJh (pot: $36). Limper check. I check. BTN bets $15. Fold. I call. This player is stabbing super wide so this feels like the easiest check-call of all time once the limper folds.

Turn: Ad4dJh Jc (pot: $66). I check. BTN bets $20. I raise to $70. BTN kind of smiles and says "wow, you got anything?" before calling. I want to fast play my hand against this guy because he is definitely the type who will pay off with an Ax hand as well as the type who will call with a FD here. My hand feels like the nuts, but AJo and 44 are certainly possible. I think Villain's table talk is pretty strong.

River: Ad4dJh Jc Th ($206). V has about $250 back here. I bet $100. He snap calls and shows J7dd. Wish I had bet bigger here but I was trying to target Ax. Didn't think V ever had a J here, but I should have considered a Jx of diamonds hand. T is an interesting river because KQ completes and JT improves to beat me. I wish I could say V would have folded J7 to a jam, but I don't think this guy is ever folding trips so I probably left $150 on the table against his particular holding.

K5dd

Middle Aged Woman opens CO to $6 off $400 stack. BTN (short stack guy who busted tournament earlier) calls. I defend BB.

Flop: 6s7s3d ($18). I check. CO check. BTN bets $7. I raise to $25. CO cold call. BTN shrugs and folds. Thought my hand would make a decent bluff against what is probably a wide and not super strong BTN. I have a great image at this point and I think most players understand that this low flop is very good for me when I call BB. That said, once CO cold calls here, I think she is very strong (overpair plus or strong draw) and so my plan is to shut it down.

Turn: 6s7s3d 4c ($75). Yahtzee. I bet $100. CO calls. I don't think this is an overbet in theory, but I decided that my read was that this player is strong and I had seen her get sticky in another spot so I went for it. I still have plenty of perceived bluffs as well with the front door flush draw and maybe 89.

River: 6s7s3d 4c 9s ($275). Not a good river. I briefly considered checking but ultimately decided this would be a good bet/fold spot. I bet $100. CO shrugs but calls very quickly. I show and she shows 33. I think I won the absolute maximum here, which is not something I can say very often.

--

Again, super happy with how this session went. Getting a big win after being crushed by variance online recently (as well as losing a bunch of money at 2/5) is super clutch. It's still amazing to me how easy poker feels when you are coolering people and how difficult it feels when you are on the other end. I'm hoping I can keep this positive momentum going by playing another live session in a couple days.

Your reflections on the swings of poker and how the game can feel easier when things are going well highlight a crucial aspect of the mental game.
Managing emotions during both upswings and downswings is key to long-term success.

Keep up the good work, and may the positive momentum continue in your next sessions!

Earlier this month I withdrew about $1000 from my Ignition account with the idea that I would use this money to bolster my live bankroll and to cover some miscellaneous life expenses. I had grown my account balance from $50 to $1250 in 8 months and figured I would be able to grind it back up if I left myself with $250.

Unfortunately, I promptly went on a 10 buy-in downswing at 25NL and my account is empty! Pretty foolish to play 25NL with only 10 buy-ins, but I figured that it would be OK as long as I didn't run super bad. I'm not planning on reloading at the moment and will instead play on Global for a little while, where I still have some deposit bonuses to play through.

Even after this downswing, my results at 25NL overall are very good. I would have liked to play for another 10 or 20k hands, but it is what it is. I'm sure this isn't the last time I'll play that stake on Ignition.



I have 80k hands total from Ignition on PT4 with more volume at 10NL than any other stake. I would estimate I played about 100k hands untracked prior to downloading PT4 which is a shame. Most of the untracked volume was at 5NL which after a learning curve, I did really well at. I enjoy playing online but I vastly prefer playing live. I wish I lived closer to a casino so I could play more volume live, but it is what it is.

1/25/24 @ MGM Springfield: +$51 in 4 hours

Pretty slow and dull session, but I'm happy I got out to play again and it's nice to mix it up at a different casino. It's also nice to book a small win! The difference between winning and losing today was that towards the end of the session I got it All-in with AKo against a loose shortstack's KK in a straddled pot and I hit an Ace. I played very tight and disciplined up to that point, so it would have been pretty frustrating to get coolered in that spot.

I don't really have any interesting hand histories to share. I don't think I was in any difficult spots all session. I got a couple small bluffs through. I also got a limp re-raise through with AKo from the SB in a BTN straddled pot, which is something I've been meaning to try. The fact that you can straddle from anywhere at this casino is an interesting dynamic. There also seem to be more younger and solid players in this player pool which is different from Mohegan Sun. In general, the games are more action-packed but that wasn't really the case on this night.

I folded QQ pre in one spot which seemed pretty obvious. A fishy reg opened to $12 from UTG. I had noticed him opening to smaller sizes previously so I was on high alert already. I 3bet MP to $35 with QQ. It folds back to him and he takes a second before jamming for about $320. I snap folded and he showed AA which didn't surprise me at all. It would have been interesting if he had 4bet to a smaller size. Obviously his play is pretty bad and lost him a significant amount of value from me. I think if the hands were reversed I would have won a big pot off him. I recently re-read Tommy Angelo's essay on "Reciprocality" (interesting and beneficial read, but obviously a bit dated) and this is certainly an example of that.

I should be playing again this weekend which I'm looking forward to.

1/27/24 @ Mohegan Sun: +$810 in 3.5 hours ($2/$5)

I started at $1/$2 today but I saw some fishy looking players on the list for $2/$5 so I decided to take a shot. A new 2/5 game got called soon after I arrived at the casino and it ended up being a good one. There were a couple of tough regs, but also several loose fish including one guy who was losing huge.

I played really tight and disciplined and didn't get into too many spots. I won a flip with QQ against the AK of a short stack fish (fish open $30 UTG, cold call $30, I raise BTN $100 folds to fish who jams for $300 and I snap call). Then I lost a bunch of small pots in a row before I ended up winning these two pots.

KQss

EP (5/T reg, good player) raises $15. Two loose players call. I squeeze to $90 from BB. EP calls. Others fold. I start with $550 and EP covers.

Flop: QhJh8c (pot: $210). I check. EP checks.

Turn: QhJh8c 4c (pot: $210). I bet $125. EP folds.

Pretty simple hand but I think the flop is interesting decision. I thought this was a board I would want to check a lot and that this hand made sense. At the same time, I don't know how often EP is going to make a random stab here. And with TPGK in a 2 SPR pot, I am obviously committed here so maybe I should just bet flop and jam all decent turns.

I don't think checking is a big mistake ultimately. Pre-flop is an either/or spot I think, but I have a nice tight image and it's obviously a great squeeze spot. Would suck to get jammed on though, and I wouldn't put it past EP to jam pretty light here for 100bb.

AKdd

UTG (young guy, seems OK but clearly too loose) opens $20. I 3bet to $75. BB (big losing player) cold calls $75 off $400 stack. UTG 4bets to $250. I jam for $650 total. BB snap folds. UTG sighs and says "I think I went too big and now I can't fold" before calling. He has AQcc and I win unimproved on T3392.

I think this is very straight forward on my end. I 3bet to a larger size because the BB had already cold-called one of my 3bets, and I think UTG is really sticky as well. UTG looks really strong here since he commits himself but obviously my hand is good enough to go with. Nice to be way ahead and to hold.

--

The AKs hand is actually the biggest pot I've ever won at $1375, which speaks to my inexperience at this stake. I didn't want to play super deep for very long (especially since the fish at the table were all shorter) so I racked up soon after. Really nice session for me. Very happy to have some success at 2/5 after the recent big loss.

I played two 5 hour sessions of live poker this week, which is nice. I am trying to get more volume in lately. I'm feeling good and enjoying playing, plus my results have been really nice to start the year. I also am going to make a run at maintaining my player's club status at Mohegan Sun which will require me to get in some extra sessions before the end of March. I might have to degen it up in the pits on a "Triple Status" day too, but I think it's worth it.

Earlier in the week, I played a 5.5 hour session of entirely $2/$5 which is new for me - usually I start off at $1/$2 for a bit. The game I was in was great at times, but I was pretty card dead for a while. I also played later at night than I usually do. I think I left around midnight. The game was incredibly good after 11pm, with a couple tilted fish who were limp calling huge raises with incredibly wide ranges. Unfortunately, I ended my night with a huge punt: a desperate hero call against one of the tilted fish. His line confused me, and I knew he was tilted, so I called a big river bet with an underpair to the board and got shown trips (he limped from UTG1 and called a 6bb raise with 85o, so good luck to him I guess). I'm not going to post the hand because it's shamefully bad, and I know it's a mistake. I know that I need to cut down on these sorts of punts in order to be a big winner. I also know that I am most likely to make these sorts of plays when I'm tired and stuck and a little tilted. So maybe it's time to stop playing when I'm tired and stuck and a little tilted? One day I will learn.

Yesterday I played both 1/2 and 2/5. I played at 1/2 for a while at a good table where I think I played well. I saw a new 2/5 game starting and the line-up looked soft enough so I moved up. Ended up running insanely hot for 90 minutes before I was called to move to the main game. The main game was filled with solid older regs so I decided to just book a nice win and move back to 1/2, where I played for another hour before I had to leave. Going to share a couple hand histories from yesterday's session.

QThh @ $1/$2

Unknown old guy limps. I raise HJ $12. CO (MAWG action player running hot) call. BTN call. BB call. Limper fold.

Flop: Jc9h7d (pot: $48). BB check. I check. CO bets $30. BTN fold. BB fold. I raise to $85 with $150 back. CO tanks. Asks to see my stack. Then, he folds a J face up. I go to muck and he says "Queens are good" so I show. I generally try not to show my hands but I knew I had a tight image and I want action from this guy.

I think this is basically my best semi-bluff hand. I also know this guy is super wide, even betting into multiple people. I didn't expect him to fold top pair to a single raise, but I thought he might have a hand like T9o which might call flop and then fold to a turn jam. A 1 pair hand will be in a tough spot when I jam a brick turn, and I have plenty of equity. If he 3bet jammed flop, it sucks but I have to call. When he folded his Jack he said he thought his options were All-in or fold, and clearly he was thinking about jamming.

AKo @ $2/$5

I open $20 from CO. BTN (MAWG, seems loose) calls. HU.

Flop: Q56r ($40). I $15. BTN call.

Turn: Q56 A ($70). I $60. BTN call.

River: Q56 A K ($190). I $175. BTN calls pretty quickly and obviously I'm good.

I think I played this hand well, and I'm happy I was able to get a good amount of value. I do think I could have gotten more by overbetting river. This is such a great run-out where he has plenty of two pair hands that will never fold. It's kind of hard for me to have a bluff, although I would definitely play 78s or 98s in this way.

AhQd @ $2/$5

UTG limp. UTG1 (fishy older Asian guy, limps a lot but raises as well) raises to $20. UTG2 (fish) calls. I am UTG3 and am weighing my options but decide to call. Folds to limper who calls. This is a really nice spot to be in position with a good hand. I think a 3bet squeeze is probably better, but I am always pretty cautious when players who normally limp alot decide to ISO from EP. Also I am still a bit uncomfortable playing $1k deep, which is the case here.

Flop: AcJcTd ($80). Limper check. PFR $25. Everyone calls.

Turn: AcJcTd Tc ($180). Limper check. PFR $30. Fold. I call. Limper fold.

River: AcJcTd Tc 6x ($240). PFR bets $150. I fold?

Turn and river here are weird spots for me. He bets so small on the turn, so I think I can call since he might have worse Ax or even KK. Then, he sizes up river, which I don't think he ever does with a worse hand than mine for value? This guy doesn't seem like the bluffing type, but maybe he is taking advantage of the fact that I look a bit weak here. Not sure about this one. May have made a couple different mistakes in this hand.

AhAd @ $1/$2

(This hand is 1 hand after I doubled up a short stack who had KK and jammed over my 3bet pre-flop. I had AQ that hand and didn't show after KK flopped me dead on K77)

I open EP to $10. Three players call.

Flop: KcTc5s ($40). BB check. I check. EP (older misreg type) bets $20. Folds to me. I raise to $75. He calls quickly.

Turn: KcTc5s Td ($190). I jam for my last $125. He snap calls with AcKx and I hold.

Nice cooler going my way. Happy I found the XR here, because otherwise I may not have gotten all the money in against this guy given the board pairing turn. At first I was kind of scared of the T pairing but then I realized that V never has a naked Tx hand when he bet/calls flop multiway. So the T is great because it reduces the number of hands that beat me.

I am trying to check a lot more when I am OOP to multiple players (see: QThh hand history) and it works out really nicely sometimes. I think it makes a lot of spots easier to play, and it's nice to know that I am uncapped when I check (which my opponents are not always going to understand).

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Overall this week I lost small at $2/$5 and won small at $1/$2. On the year, I am up a lot at $1/$2 and down a buy-in at $2/$5, which feels right. Happy with how things are going and I have been putting in a little bit more work off the felt which feels good.

Its not exact because of the limper, but I think calling is probably better 200bb deep with AQo, and you should 3bet it more if you were at 100 or 150 bbs. I agree odd spot post flop and i don't hate the fold on the river especially wihtout a good read.

in the AA hand, I'm probably betting for value there but I love what you said about checking multiway especially OOP. pots go multiway so much and once i realized i could check hands like AA it made a huge difference.

Thanks! I just double-checked the charts I use and you are correct on the pre-flop decision with AQo. Glad I didn't screw that up. I keep thinking about the river fold in that hand and wishing I had called. At the same time though, there aren't really any natural bluffs I can think of for V. Basically has to be turning a pair into a bluff, which I guess is possible. Maybe I chop or beat enough Ax to call though, since the price is pretty good.

AQ is a tricky hand in general. I'm using GTOw and with a UTG open, UTG1 and UTG2 call you should be 100% folding AQs and AQo in this formation. it takes into account the rake. My best guess is especially in these formats with high rake we want to be playing for stacks as much as possible and maybe AQ is just too dominated in this formations by AK to be comfortable doing that so we should just fold? It really opened my eyes alot going through that.

generally early pos opens with multiple callers we are supposed to be very tight in theory.

I've looked at the GTOw live charts before but haven't spent a significant amount of time studying them which is probably a mistake. I know it is tighter than I usually play and doesn't allow for very much cold-calling. In general, my pre-flop game has shifted in this direction (tighter, less cold-calling) over time. That said, I know that when my opponents are bad (the players in front of me have too wide of a range and will make big mistakes post-flop; the players behind me are not squeezing enough) I can deviate more from optimal play. I would like to think sneaking in here with AQo in a soft line-up is OK. Folding can't be bad though.

2/7/24 @ Mohegan Sun: +$120 in 5 hours ($1/$2)

Nice midweek session for me. As I mentioned in a previous post, I am trying to maintain my Player's Club status at Mohegan Sun, which entails putting in more volume than usual until the current period ends (April 1). Today was a "Double Status" day which is good because my hours count twice towards my goal, and also because it fills up the poker room.

Playing 5 hours today ended up earning me $70 in casino comps: $10 in "Momentum Dollars" which are earned at $2/hr in the poker room; $10 in "Player's Perks" which is a daily offer to me in February; $25 from a "Personal Achievement Award", which I get for earning 19 Status Points in one day; and $25 from a "Momentum Achievement Award," which I get for reaching 250 total Status Points since October. This money will go towards food and also gas at the Casino's gas station. Nice to get some rakeback which will offset the considerable costs of driving to the middle of nowhere twice a week to play poker. I am fortunate that Mohegan Sun has one of the best comp situations in the country, as well as slightly lower rake than the other nearby rooms.

My table today was really good. Several big losing players rotated in and out, and I was able to get involved in several bigs pots against them. Unfortunately, I did get coolered in a spot where I 3bet QQ from the BB against a fish's SB ISO. He flopped top set with TT on T8463 and I doubled him up (easy enough considering he started the hand 75bb deep). I did get lucky against a different fish though: He ISO'd two limps to $7, I 3bet BTN to $30 with AKo, he jammed $150 total with QJs, and I called and won on an Ace high flop.

I got into one pretty weird spot that I think I misplayed. I made a thread about it on the Strategy subforum: https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/1...-99-a-1833734/

There was a long list for $2/$5 when I arrived but I was happy to relax a bit at $1/$2. Once my game got going, I didn't feel like I wanted to leave it for what would inevitably be a tougher 2/5 line up.

Have played a couple sessions since my last post and broke even between them. Speaking of breakeven - I am now up $2 over 33 hours at $2/$5 since I started shot-taking. I still don't feel totally comfortable at that stake and I don't think I've played my best poker yet, but things have improved. I'm pleased with how things are going overall, especially since my $1/$2 results have been great recently.

Going to share two hand histories from a session I played yesterday.

AA

$1/$2. I open UTG $10. Middle aged Indian guy (seems fishy, but unknown) calls in LP. HU. $200 eff.

Flop: KT6r (pot: $20). I bet $7. V raise $20. I call.

Turn: KT6 Jx ($60). I check. V bets $40. I call.

River: KT6 J 4 ($140). I check. V tanks and Hollywoods a bit before jamming for $130. I fold.

Think it's basically impossible for this guy to be bluffing here. I called flop and turn because I thought he might have some Kx that I beat, and because I should have solid equity against his value range. On the turn when I called I figured V would checkback river with his AK and KQ, and would shut down with a hand like QJ, thinking he had showdown value. So when he jammed, I just snap folded.

I think this hand is reasonably well-played. Maybe I should be betting flop bigger. If I bet flop big and I get raised and V continues barreling turn, folding might make sense.

56ss

$2/$5. Four handed. I open BTN $15. SB (unknown, seems reggy) 3bets $50. I call? $600 eff. Small sizing here and plenty of stackdepth. BTN vs SB in a 4-handed 2/5 game, I would expect to see some light 3betting. Probably could just fold though.

Flop: 8c8s7s (pot: $100). SB check. I bet $40. SB call.

Turn: 8c8s7s 9s ($180). lol. SB check. I bet $75. SB call.

River: 8c8s7s 9s 4h ($330). SB check. I jam $425. SB tanks forever. At this point, the table has broken and it's just me and V at the table. He tells me he has AsAx and verbally goes through what he thinks my range is. It felt like he tanked for 5 minutes but it was probably a bit shorter than that. Eventually, he ended up folding.

If V actually had AsAx here, I basically got owned. I think I took a pretty greedy line here. My thinking on the turn was that this is a spot where I don't have very many bluffs, so I want to go small. Plus, that gives V a chance to continue with hands like AK with a spade (maybe he even raises here).

On the river, I figured AK doesn't call for any sizing. So I'm targeting slowplayed overpairs (which may have a hard time folding because they feel under-repped) and monster hands like 99 or AsKs. So I figured All-in makes the most sense.

While he was tanking, V said he would have snap called $225. Definitely sucks to miss out on this much value.

Really, I'm not even sure that Villain's fold is good in the long run. Can't I have a worse hand for value here sometimes? Maybe not. It's hard to think of many bluffs too when he has the As.

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I'm playing another session tomorrow. I am hoping to play 10 hours a week for the next six weeks so that I can maintain my status at Mohegan Sun. I also just really enjoy playing and things have been going well lately, so why not? Will report back.

56s vs sb 3b should be a fold most of the time. I think you should have bet turn a lot bigger to size for a regular sized river jam (like bet $150, so river jam would be $350 into 480).

I would guess they did have AA, not sure what else calls two streets like that. I don't think people bluff for large sizes at those stakes enough, so that probably ticked him off. Not sure what triple barrel bluffs you would have either in this 3b spot. Maybe some Asx would be bluffed here, but probably the only offsuit Ax combo you call to a 3b are AQ and maybe AJ. Most of your bluffs would have to be offsuit combos and most of those don't defend to a 3b, maybe QT at some frequency as well.

RE: preflop - I am looking now, and I actually think 56s is a clear call here. I opened to 3bb and V 3bets to 10bb, so it's a smaller sizing than would be typical. In addition, we are 120bb deep. Both GTOWizard and Crush Live Poker have this as a pure defend at 100bb, and that's facing a 4x 3bet. I also didn't mention it in my post, but because this hand was played 4-handed, we are only paying half rake ($3 max) which makes a difference.

As far as postflop goes, I do agree with you that betting bigger on turn to set up a more reasonable river shove is a more effective line to stack an overpair. FWIW, GTOWizard's main line with my hand is 20% pot flop 33% pot turn 150% pot jam river.

I don't really know that I should be aiming to emulate GTOWizard playing low stakes live poker, and I can't pretend this is a spot that I have memorized, but I was trying to draw on what I know of theory during this hand. This is how I came to the conclusion that I should downbet flop, bet small on turn, and overbet jam river.

For Villain, GTOWizard is generally playing more aggressively (betting flop sometimes, check-raising flop sometimes, check-raising turn sometimes) and always calling river. Villain did well to lose the stone minimum as played though, so hat tip to him.

Losing session for me, but I'm pretty happy with how I played overall. I won $90 in two hours at a really good $1/$2 table. While I was playing I noticed that $2/$5 looked good today but didn't want to leave my table. A couple of the action players left though, so I moved up eventually.

I ended up playing about 3 hours at 2/5. I think this was my favorite 2/5 table I've played at yet: all pleasant people but a very soft game overall, with a couple big losing players. I didn't get a ton going and I had the loosest player at the table on my direct left so I played a lot of multiway pots OOP which isn't super fun. I was up small for the entire session until 10 minutes before I was planning on leaving, when I opened QQ in EP to $20. Two loose players called before a young Asian guy (aggressive pre-flop, seems like he is playing well) squeezed the SB to $125. I started the hand with $515 so I just 4bet jammed. I don't think I would want to call here with two players behind me? I do want to play pots with the cold-callers, but I would think jamming is the best play here.

Anyway, he had KK and turned me dead with a flush. So I ended up winning $90 at 1/2 and losing $490 at 2/5.

Here are two quick hand histories.

AhTh

$1/$2. I open EP to $10. Fish cold calls on my left. Young kid calls BB. $300 effective.

Flop: Ac2d6h (Pot: $30). BB donk $15. I call. Fish fold.

Turn: Ac2d6h Td (Pot: $60). BB check. I bet $75. BB call.

River: Ac2d6h Td 7d (Pot: $210). BB check. I jam for $200. BB fold.

Weird board to get donked into. I guess this is usually just top pair? This player is open limping frequently and I haven't seen him 3bet, so me might have AK here and surely has AQ and AJ. Turn is the Gin card obviously. I think overbetting here makes sense. Ax of diamonds and 6x of diamonds never fold, and I would not expect AQ AJ or AK to ever fold. On the river, diamonds complete but I think I can still jam? A2s A6s A7s always call surely, and I think sometimes AQ or AK would call? Jamming might be thin after overbetting turn.

JJ

$2/$5. I open EP to $20 and get cold-called by the two loosest players at the table. V1 is on my direct left and is really splashy. V2 is on BTN and is loose passive, limping a lot and straddling frequently. I think both guys will bluff. $500 effective.

Flop: T52r (Pot: $60). I check. V1 check. V2 bets $25. I call? V1 fold.

Turn: T52r Kss (Pot: $110). I check. V2 makes a move to bet but checks.

River: T52 K 2 (Pot: $110). I bet $100. V2 thinks for a bit and folds.

This is the hand I have the most regrets about. As I've mentioned previously in this thread, I am trying to check a lot when multiway and OOP. But I think against these guys, I should just bet big. I had initially thought I might check-raise, but then I didn't want to shut V1 out of the pot with whatever trash he has. I also think check raising T52r is really strong, since there aren't a lot of draws I can have.

On the river, I figured this was the max that a Ten would call but I may have gone too big. I also could check river again to allow V to bluff or value bet a Ten himself, but I expect he would checkback a lot.

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I think I'm going to play again on Tuesday. Even though I lost $400 today I feel really motivated and excited to play again. Going to make sure I get some studying in before my next session.

I do like check raising in that spot at some frequency especially multi-way OOP. We can get some % of equity to fold and we will most likely know when we are behind as our move is strong. Lots of bad players float top pair after betting it. IÂ’ve been adding this to my game with some success

2/22/24 @ Mohegan Sun

Found some time during the week to play which I'm pleased with. I drove up to the casino straight from work which I don't often do. I was really excited to play all day though and I felt super good at the table - confident and loose.

I started out at $1/$2 at an awesome table. $2/$5 looked pretty reggy so I figured I would play at 1/2 for the entire session. However, after 3 hours I was up $160 at 1/2 and the 2/5 tables were looking a lot softer. So I switched over to 2/5, where I proceeded to win $800 in 30 minutes. As I've mentioned previously, I don't feel very comfortable playing deep at 2/5. In addition, some of the fish left and were replaced by guys I know to be tough regs. So I hit and ran after about 45 minutes. I kind of wish I had played longer, but ultimately I'm happy I was able to book a nice win today. My bankroll is at an all-time high right now, so hopefully I will get to the point where I am comfortable putting more money in play at 2/5.

Couple hand histories, both from $2/$5. I made some extremely basic pre-flop mistakes here, but it is what it is.

QhQd

Two fishy players limp. I raise $30 from SB. BB and both limpers call.

Flop: 8d6h2h ($120). I check. BB check. Limper 1 bets $30. Limper 2 raises to $105. I call $105. Limper 1 folds. Limper 2 tells me he has $270 back, which I didn't even notice (hard to tell stacks when guys are playing with $100 bills).

Turn: 8d6h2h 7d ($360). I jam $270. Limper 2 shrug calls with 98 and I hold. Limper 1 claims he had 87 but the river counterfeited him anyway.

My raise pre-flop needs to be larger here. I still don't have a great handle on pre-flop raise sizings in some of these nonstandard spots at 2/5, whereas the sizings feel automatic at 1/2. I'll get there eventually.

Flop is one of those weird spots you get into when you start checking overpairs in multiway pots OOP. I think my hand is too strong to fold here? I should probably 3bet jam, but I didn't realize how short Limper 2 was. Limper 1 may be uncapped in this spot too, although I think the small flop sizing indicates that his hand isn't incredibly strong.

Turn I could maybe check, but I didn't want to give a free card, so I think jamming is good. If he folds a flush draw with an overcard or a hand like 89 that has a lot of equity, that's not exactly terrible for my hand.

AcKc

Folds to me in CO. I open $20. BTN fold. SB (younger Asian guy, seems good) 3bets to $80. BB Fold. I call. $1000 eff. (I know this should be a 4bet. Scared money on my part I think.)

Flop: Jh8c6s ($160). SB $50. I call.

Turn: Jh8c6s 9c ($260). SB $110. I call.

River: Jh8c6s 9c Tc ($480). SB check. I $400. SB tank fold.

Flop is standard I think. Turn I kind of wanted to raise. Would be so nasty to get jammed on though, and I still have SDV. On the river, once he checks, I don't think he ever has a straight or a flush. He could have a set or two pair though? I should probably go smaller to get a crying call here. It's also pretty hard for me to have a bluff in this spot, which Villain said out loud while he was tanking. This sizing ultimately might be a mistake from me.

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Again, super happy with results. I'm playing again on Sunday. Hopefully can keep it going with another win.