I played a 5 hour session on Sunday where I won $15 (lol) in two hours at $2/5 and $300 in three hours at $1/$2. I felt really bad afterwards because I made a big mistake in a 400bb pot at $1/$2 where I bet/called a fish's big turn raise with 1 pair in a SRP (AKo on AQ3Jdd). He ended up having a huge combo draw (T9dd) that missed on the river and I won a huge pot, but afterwards I realized that it was a spot where I would almost never expect a loose passive player to bluff. I thought this guy was capable of overplaying a worse top pair which is why I called, but I think in hindsight that not folding to the raise is a big losing play, even if Villain occasionally has a bluff.

Going to play again today. I definitely did not play anywhere close to my A game on Sunday, so I'm hoping that I can get there today.

2/28/24 @ Mohegan Sun: +$207

I don't feel like I played particularly well today and neither of the tables ($1/$2 for 2 hours; $2/$5 for 3 hours) were particularly good. I lost a lot of small pots, but I won two really big ones which allowed me to book a win. Here are the hand histories.

JJ

$1/$2. Loose Passive old guy opens $12 from EP. I had not seen this player open raise yet which was concerning to me. It's also a big size. I just call from CO. HU.

Flop: 9c7s3h (Pot: $24). He bets $18. I call.

Turn: 9c7s3h 4h (Pot: $60). He bets $35. I call.

River: 9c7s3h 4h Jh (Pot: $130). He bets $25. I raise to $125. He tank calls and I am good vs KK no heart.

I don't think I can do anything different on flop or turn, although I didn't feel like I was very likely to be ahead on the turn. My plan was to fold if Villain bet big on a blank river. On the Jh, once he bets $25 I think he never has a flush (and he never has a straight from pre-flop). I thought about raising small to $75 since I need him to call 1 pair. Then, I thought about the size of the pot relative to the size of the bet, which made me want to size up. I also don't think this is a spot I would ever want to bluff raise, because I think he always has a big overpair and fishy old guys hate folding overpairs. So if he's unlikely to fold, I figured I should size up. My image was also pretty bad a this point since I had been losing.

There is probably an argument to be made about 3bet/folding here pre-flop.

QcQh

I open UTG $20. BB (40s WG, one of the more action players at the table) calls and says "I'll give you some action"

Flop: Tc8c5h ($40). BB check. I $15. BB raise $40. I call.

Turn: Tc8c5h Qs ($120). BB $75. I raise $200. BB call.

River: Tc9c5h Qs Jc ($520). BB quickly donks $125 (I have about $250 left) and I call right away. He says "two pair" so I show and win. Guessing he had JT or T8.

I think I played this hand well. I did not consider folding to the small flop raise, especially with the backdoor draws. I think he can raise draws and worse value easily. I don't think 3betting makes sense. I'm happy I raised on turn since there are so many bad rivers. It sucks that I got the worst river card in the deck. I don't think I can jam river even though it's just a minraise. I also don't think folding is an option against this tiny sizing even though the board sucks for top set.

--

So yeah, it's nice to make top set on later streets! Would recommend. After my session, I also played some video poker to get a free beer at the sports book and I won $50! Should be playing again on Sunday so expect another update here soon.

3/3/24 @ Mohegan Sun: +$319

My upswing to start the year continues! I had a solid win at $2/$5 (see: hand history below) and a small loss at $1/$2. I ended up leaving a pretty good 2/5 table early which I didn't feel great about. I know that the feeling of winning a big pot and then slowly losing it back to become up-stuck can be tilting for me, so I just booked a win. At some point I am going to have to overcome these sorts of mental game leaks.

At my $2/$5 table, I saw two guys shovel over 200bb each into the pot with Q9o and QTs on Q545 in a three way 3bet pot. Q9o opened pre, QTs called BTN, SB (JJ) 3bets to $150, both guys call. On the flop, JJ bets $150 both guys call. On the turn, JJ checks Q9o bets $225, QTs jams $900, JJ tank folds, Q9o snap calls. After the hand, Q9o guy said "Yeah, I'm not folding for only $1000." Obviously this is the exact sort of player that I want to be playing against. It is a little intimidating though, because $1000 actually means quite a bit to me, as it's a pretty big chunk of my bankroll still.

I also had an exchange with my neighbor at the table that I found amusing. We were both graduates of UConn and were talking about the Men's Basketball team's dominant win earlier in the day. He asked me how many times both the Men's team and the Women's team had won the National Championship during the same year. I answered that it was twice, in 2004 and 2014. I'm something of a UConn super fan and I know all sorts of useless trivia. But he didn't believe me! He kept arguing, saying he knew it had happened 3 or 4 times. He also said he was pretty sure another team had accomplished this same feat, while I assured him that this was not the case. At some point I just gave up. Again, I think this is the exact sort of player I want to play against. This guy was so sure that he was right but had no interest in looking up the answer. He also could not recognize that he was talking to someone who is more or less an expert on the subject. I think there are some obvious parallels to being a fish at poker here.

Anyway here's three hand histories.

KQo

$1/$2. Whale limps EP. MP over limp. I raise KQo to $20 in SB. Only whale calls. $400 effective.

Flop: KdQh5d (Pot: $40). I lead $35. Whale calls.

Turn: KdQh5d 8s (Pot: $110). I $100. Whale folds.

I played several medium sized pots against this same player, including 3 with KQo. He was extremely loose and relatively sticky. After he folded turn in this hand, I questioned whether I had gone too big. I don't think I did though. I was trying to set up a reasonable sized river shove. While I do think it's possible this player might fold a weak King to this sizing, he has tons of hands that will continue (random two pair, combo draws, nut flush draw). I also don't know that this player type is so quick to fold a hand like KJo that he limp calls.

33

$1/$2. UTG limp. UTG1 (new player, younger guy) raises to $12. Three players call. I call in BB? UTG calls. Weird spot pre-flop but I think this is OK.

Flop: 7c4h3h ($60). Checks to PFR who bets $40. Folds to me. I raise to $120, leaving about $150 back for both myself and the PFR. Folds to PFR who tank folds.

I thought about leading flop here, but with so many players behind me I figured it was pretty likely that I would see a bet and/or some calls. I think the PFR may have folded an overpair though, which feels kind of bad. Maybe I can checkraise smaller given the SPR? Check/call is probably good too. I do think it is extremely easy for me to find bluffs here though. I have to remember to check-raise in this spot with draws in the future. It definitely looks strong.

AsAc

$2/$5. UTG limps. I ISO $25. CO calls $25. BTN calls $25. Limper calls $25. I have $450 and everyone covers.

Flop: KcQs7h ($100). Limper check. I check? CO checks. BTN bets $50. Limper calls $50. I raise $150. BTN thinks and asks to see my chips before folding. Limper calls $150.

Turn: KcQs7h Js ($450). Limper donk shoves for my remaining $275. I call right away. River is a 7. He hesitates so I show and he mucks.

I'm not sure about my play on the flop here. If UTG had not called, I would not have check-raised. Once he calls, I figure I can make things easy on myself and try to get the money in on the flop since I am never folding my hand at this SPR. The checkraise does look strong, but I assume fishy players will stack off here with worse (looking at the Q9o hand from earlier in this post for confirmation) for less than 100bb. If I get folds from JT, I'm not super worried about that. Even QJ has solid equity against my hand.

On the turn, I don't think there is any option, given I have an overpair and a gutshot and the bet is for halfpot. I have really good equity against a hand like QJ and Villain may play this way with a combo draw like K5ss or even just KTo that turns open-ended. Obviously the river was fantastic for my hand, but I'm not sure I needed it.

--

I don't think I'll be playing during the week this week, but I'm looking forward to returning to the casino over the weekend. I've also been enjoying playing 10NL on Global Poker recently, although I have only played about 1500 hands total on that site.

3/10/24 @ Mohegan Sun: +$265

Another win for me. Just feels so good to be winning this consistently. I know it is mostly positive variance, but it also feels like a lot of the work and time and thought I've put into poker is paying off. I feel locked in at the table and like I am playing my best. I feel super comfortable and confident (especially at $1/$2). And I'm having fun! Good combination.

When I got to the casino, there was one game of $2/$5 running short-handed. The game was 5-handed when I sat down and three of the five players were legitimately awful. I had planned on playing $1/$2 to start but of course I joined this table. I got off to a hot start but ended up losing a couple big pots. Then, the two biggest fish left at the same time and several mediocre-to-good regs replaced them. Eventually, I left 2/5 down $230. I think it was a good decision to leave. The table wasn't great, I was feeling a little tilted, and I saw a lot of good 1/2 tables scattered throughout the room.

I ended up getting seated at one of those good 1/2 tables. My first hand dealt at 1/2, I coolered a fish and was instantly unstuck for the session. From there, I ran like God for 2 more hours. Barely lost a single pot of consequence and ended up +$500 in 2.5 hours at 1/2. My seat was awesome. To my direct left was a young Asian LAG and to his left were two extremely loose passive VIP types. The LP VIPS were limping almost 100% of hands and the LAG kept ISOing to random small sizes ($6, $7, $10, $11, $12). It set me up for several nice squeezes, or just to play in position against a bunch of weak players.

Here are a few hand histories. Nothing particularly interesting. Last week I made a thread in the live strategy subforum about a hand that has been bothering me for a while. I got some good feedback I thought. I didn't post the hand previously because it was kind of embarrassing to me, but I saw some discourse on Twitter about how you can't get better at poker unless you are willing to share your punts, which makes sense to me.

--

AKo

$2/$5. I open to $20 UTG and get called in 5 spots (!!). It's a good game.

Flop: AdKh2c (Pot: $120). Flop checks around. I am trying to check 100% of hands OOP multiway but maybe I should be betting on this exact board? Still it's six ways!!

Turn: AdKh2c 5h ($120). SB (MAWG, big fish) leads out $50. Folds to me. I call. All others fold.

River: AdKh2c 5h 8h ($220). SB leads out $100. I snap. He has AThh for the nuts.

I would have raised any non-heart river. Maybe I should raise the turn? Maybe I should bet the flop? I did lose the stone minimum against this particular hand (which is a benefit of checking flop) but I don't actually know that I played this hand particularly well.

AcQc

$2/$5. Two fish limp. I raise to $30 in CO. Both call.

Flop: Js8c3s ($90). Both check. I $35. Fold. MAWG white woman calls. $500 eff.

Turn: Js8c3s 7c ($160). Check. I check? It's a weird spot because I've picked up the NFD but I really don't want to bet and get jammed on at this stack depth. Maybe I should be checking flop if I'm not going to barrel this turn? I think I have a little showdown value too. Checking back here has got to be a fine play. Betting might be better though.

River: Js8c3s 7s Th ($160). She snap leads $85. The snap lead on a card that dramatically changes the board texture is always super suspicious to me. I had seen this player do a lot of betting previously, including with hands that didn't make sense as a bluff or a value bet (like she was just betting to bet, not for any purpose). For this reason, I thought about jamming river. I ended up folding. I regret not finding a way to win this hand, but I think I played it OK.

33

$1/$2. UTG+1 (reg, had been with me at 2/5) opens $12. Three unknowns call. I call in BB. Think pre-flop is borderline against the big open, but I am getting decent odds. Also I didn't drive an hour to the casino to fold a pocket pair in the big blind!! lol

Flop: J63r (Pot: $60). I check. UTG1 checks. Unknown bets $25. Young Asian calls $25. Random folds. I call. UTG1 fold. Good spot to slowplay I think.

Turn: J63 9ss (Pot: $135). I check. Unknown bets $75 with $100 back. Young Asian tank folds. I jam. Unknown snap calls J9o and I hold.

Cooler for Villain, even though his play pre-flop and on the flop is obviously bad. I played this hand fine but this is a pretty hard one to screw up.

--

Had a couple small interesting spots I thought about sharing but typing up hand histories isn't super fun and this thread is pretty quiet anyway. I still like making these posts though and I do think I get something out of it.

3/13/24 @ Mohegan Sun: -$628

Disaster $1/$2 session to end my winning streak. I played really poorly today. I was actually up $400 after 1 hour of play thanks to running great at a good table. I could tell I wasn't playing my best though, and I actually misclicked in a spot where I had a set of Aces and my opponent had a set of Fours. It was a weird spot but my opponent ended up saving their last $75 because I tried to raise and accidentally just called.

After that, I ran Kings into Aces AIPF in an automatic spot. That triggered the doom switch and I proceeded to lose every big hand I played (TP vs boat, TP vs flush in 3BP, TPTK vs turned straight). At least one of those hands was a pretty egregious punt on my end.

I finished the night off with this one:

HJ limp. CO raise $12. BTN call $12. I 3bet BB $60 with AA. CO call. BTN call.

Flop: K93r ($180). I bet $60. CO jam $400. BTN fold. I call.

Turn 3 River K. I lose to AKo.

I think this is the biggest $1/$2 pot I've ever lost. It's also probably in the Top 10 biggest pots I've ever lost in terms of BB.

It's a really bad beat but the reality is I was not playing well prior to this hand. I did play for a little while after. I made a couple good plays (including 3bet/folding QQ against the KK of my opponent) but couldn't get anything going.

I'm glad I didn't play any $2/$5 on this day. I did not feel any temptation to chase my loses at the higher stake which is good. I will be playing again this weekend and hopefully I can turn things back around.

Haven't posted in a couple weeks but things have been going pretty well for me recently. I think the session covered in my last post (where I went from +$400 on the session to -$650 at 1/2) kind of soured me on poker for a while. I have still been playing, but was no longer feeling as enamored/obsessed with the game. I think this is pretty normal after a miserable session, and it makes me glad that I am not a professional player. Have to give credit to the people who are able to weather swings far more brutal than mine day after day while playing for their livelihood.

I have a relatively busy and fulfilling life outside of poker and a few of my other hobbies (playing rock music; playing/watching basketball [go Huskies!!]) have been picking up. So it was nice to shift my focus a bit.

On Saturday, I had a big winning session (+$570 at 1/2; +$230 at 2/5) and had a good time playing with my brother, who also booked a nice win. Unsurprisingly, the positive variance has me feeling recharged. Looking forward to playing again soon. In the meantime, I will try and get back to studying, posting hand histories ITT, and contributing to the live strategy subforum on a semi-regular basis.

I guess I am on an extended break from updating this thread. I've played 3 sessions since my last post and am roughly breakeven (1 moderate loss, two small wins). My volume has dropped significantly this month, mostly because I have been busy and because it's starting to warm up outside. But also because I had been feeling less interested in poker in general (see my last post).

I am starting to feel more motivated though, partly because I've been playing online again. I discovered a new site to play online poker on which is insanely soft. I started on the site with $25 of free play which I've since run up to over $500 without depositing a single dollar. I've been really aggressive with shot-taking higher stakes because of how good the games are. At some point I imagine they will get worse, but for now the 50NL games I've been playing in feel softer than 5NL on Bovada or 1/2 live. It's also possible that I am just running really hot with regards to which players I am sitting with, but I don't think that's the case.

I will be playing live again this weekend which I am really looking forward to. I have also been enamored with the idea of branching into other avenues of advantage play which has been really exciting to me. Part of the reason I ended up on this new online poker site is that I have been seeking out online casinos which offer exploitable deposit bonuses. I've done really well with this in the past and have had some good luck this year as well. I also made $5 advantage playing a slot machine at Mohegan Sun last weekend which was the most excited I've ever been about winning $5 lol.

I have been playing a lot more poker lately. I played live twice last week (+ $750 in 7 hours of 1/2 and 2.5 hours of 2/5) and have been playing a ton online. I think this is the most volume over the shortest amount of time that I've ever put in online. I don't know that it's possible for me to track my hands on this site but I've been playing for a couple hours every day basically. The games are seemingly always good and I've been feeling obligated to play at times I don't normally play online poker as a result.

For a while, I was doing incredibly well playing 50NL on this new site. I was up about $1200 before I hit a rough patch. I've since lost about 5 buy-ins, but it feels a lot worse than that because I feel like I've been playing really badly in a bunch of big spots. In addition to losing flips, it feels like I keep getting the money in bad. Part of my problem is I have seen so much insane **** on this site (just the other day a guy cold-called my 100bb 3bet jam with JTs) that I am no longer giving credit to anyone for actually having a good hand, even when passive players take incredibly strong lines against me. Need to re-set and figure out how to find the fold button again.

I also think that I need to stop myself from playing when I'm tilted. This has been an issue in the past that I've struggled with. I have been finding myself trying to fight through tilt because the games I'm playing in are incredibly good and, even though I have made some huge comebacks, the result is often that I just end up making poor decisions in really high variance spots.

I think I will try to study more this week and maybe get back to posting hand histories ITT and in the strategy subforum. The reality is I should probably cut down a bit on my online play and try to be more focused and intentional. I am playing live again on Thursday which I'm looking forward to.

Updating this thread for the first time in a couple weeks.

Online play: For about two weeks, I put in a ton of volume on the site Stake.us, which you will see me reference in the two previous posts. As I mentioned previously, I ran up $25 in free money (which I got from signing up with Ryan DePaulo's affiliate code lol) into about $1200, mostly at 50NL. The games on that site are incredibly soft. That said, I started running poorly and punting, so I decided to withdraw the rest of my balance. I was spending a lot of time playing and it was negatively affecting my day-to-day life which became a problem. It would have been nice to keep winning and maintaining a nice balance with the rest of my life but it's OK. I'm happy with how much I won and now I've moved on to other projects. Would definitely encourage anyone reading this to give that site a try. I'm not an expert but I would be surprised if anyone who played on Stake.us didn't agree with me that it is the softest of the gray market public online poker options in the USA.

Live play: I have played twice since my last post with good results (+$187 in 6.5 hours of 1/2; +$297 in 1.5 hours of 2/5). I am continuing to take quick shots at 2/5 and have been running really well. I should probably be playing longer sessions but I feel strongly compelled to hit and run once I've won 100bb or so. I think the money just means too much to me right now. At some point when I have a bigger bankroll I expect I will feel more comfortable playing longer sessions and buying in deeper. I expect there are some regulars in the 2/5 pool at Mohegan Sun who view me as a short-stacking nit but it is what it is. I've played 50 hours of 2/5 since late November 2023 and am up about $2k which has greatly exceeded my expectations. 1/2 has been incredible to start the year as well. I've put in 100 hours so far in 2024 and am winning over 12bb/hr which is far above my usual winrate. I'm definitely sunrunning (last session I won a four way pre-flop All-in with AA against three short stacks with KK, JJ, and KTo lol) but I feel very comfortable and confident. I did take a fairly standard bad beat the other day at the end of a session (I had 88 and got it All-in on T8Xtt in a 3BP against Villain's AA, which rivered a set) but I think I handled it really well and was able to grind a bit of it back before quitting the session at an appropriate time. I think I finally have an appropriately large bankroll for this stake as well which is nice.

Will be playing again sometime this week. Looking forward to it per usual. Also planning a couple poker trips out of town for this summer which I'm excited for.

Gonna post some hand histories, which I haven't done in a while. I wasn't really feeling typing these up for a while but I do think it's good for me to review my hands and this is a good way to process stuff.

Two small and weird 1/2 hands and then one from 2/5.

AJdd

Three limps. SB (MAWG, waiting for 2/5) raises to $6. I 3bet BB to $25. Folds to SB who calls. $400 eff.

Flop: 567ccc ($50). SB checks. I bet $15. He calls.

Turn: 567ccc 8c ($80). SB checks. I check back.

River: 567ccc 8c Kh ($80). SB checks. I give up. He wins J8ss

I like my play pre-flop (could maybe go to $30?). I don't really understand what this player was doing pre-flop but obviously it's great for me. I really don't like how I played post flop. I think I should just give up on this flop. If I do cbet, maybe I should consider bluffing river for smallish? I don't really have many other hands to bluff here that aren't AJ and AQ and he should not be very strong in this spot.

ATo

Folds to same villain as previous hand in HJ. He limp $2. I raise CO $12. V calls. HU. $500 eff.

Flop: AJTr ($24). V checks. I bet $7. V calls.

Turn: AJTr 8cc ($38). V donks $25. I call.

River: AJT 8cc 5x ($88). V $35. I call. He wins with 88.

Again, bizarre play from my opponent pre-flop. After seeing him raise small several times (showing down J8s in the previous hand) I thought his late position limping range would be extremely weak. I don't like my flop sizing here but I figured he was likely to be drawing near dead and I wanted to induce him to bluff or continue light. When he donked turn, I figured he had turned a flush draw or was taking a stab with some kind of garbage. On the river, facing a very small bet, I think I should probably raise for value? V can easily have a worse two pair that will call. It worked out that I lost the minimum here but, again, I don't like how I played this one.


AJo

2/5. EP limp. I $25. BB (unknown MAWG) calls. Limper (competent older reg) calls. $550 eff.

Flop: A44cc ($75). Two checks. I cbet $25. BB raises to $80. Limper folds. I call?

Turn: A44cc Qx ($235). BB check. I check back.

River: A44cc Qx 4 ($235). BB bets $130 and I snap. He loses with 55.

The flop is the decision point I was most concerned about in this hand. I am trying to make some disrespectful folds facing strong actions in live poker. When BB check raises multiway on an Ace high board after the PFR cbets, should I just be making an exploitative fold here? I figured it was easy enough for him to have clubs and think he could rep 4x. I also think sometimes a small cbet will induce someone to raise for protection with a TP hand (although I do lose to AQ which V may flat the BB with 100% of the time). I figured I could proceed with extreme caution on later streets. As it worked out, I think V punted pretty hard by giving up turn and bluffing the nut-worst river to bluff on. I guess I could raise river but why? I don't think quads takes this line so I have the nuts but I don't think I can get called by worse.

--

Will try to post some more hands in this thread moving forward. I am overdue to make another thread in the strategy subforum as well but I haven't had too many thread-worthy hands of alte.

Keeping up the pattern of updating this thread every few weeks or so. Things have been going well for me in poker and in life. Have been on an upswing playing live for months now which is awesome. Really trying hard not to take it for granted.

Last week I took a trip down to Atlantic City. Only my second time ever playing poker down there. It’s the first time I’ve ever gotten a fully comped hotel room which was fun. I stayed on the boardwalk and played at all 3 rooms, putting in the most hours at Borgata as one might expect. My brother came too which was great.

Outside of poker, I did some AP slot play and a lot of bonus hunting on the online casinos down there. It’s crazy how many options there are for online casinos in NJ compared to CT. I wish that I had planned things a little bit better but I did well enough. I won $700 online and probably played $10k worth of online BJ, betting between $5 and $30/hand. Played in a really dusty $1/$2 NLHE game at Harrah’s where I was playing BJ on my phone the entire time trying to clear a deposit bonus which was kinda fun. There are still thousands of dollars worth of bonuses available to me on various sites so I plan on making a few more trips down there soon to take advantage. I am also getting more comped room offers now thanks to a large AP slots play my brother and I did on a juiced-up “Rich Little Piggies” machine we found at Tropicana.

I had a nice net win playing poker as well, and got some decent volume in. I was down about $300 going into what would be my final session but I ended up running like God at a really good $1/$3 table. I flopped two sets against the same fish and ended up rivering a boat against his nut flush in one of them for a full stack. I also cracked two sets getting it in against two short-ish stacks with KQhh vs 44 and 55 on 456hh. I played a little $2/$5 as well and flopped top set of Queens in a four-way 3bet pot. Not going to pretend that I played incredibly to win in any of those spots, but I’m not going to apologize for running hot either.

Will be playing more at Mohegan Sun this month and should have a session or two up in New Hampshire next month. Looking forward to it.

I am going to be trying to play live twice a week for most of the summer. Hoping to play once on the weekends and once on Thursday, starting tomorrow. On Thursdays this summer, Mohegan Sun offers "Triple Status Points" everywhere in the casino, including the poker room.

At Mohegan Sun, Status Points are how you climb up different levels of the Player's Club. There is obviously a good amount of monetary value in moving up in the Player's Club, mostly because you receive a monthly allowance of Choice Credits (which can be exchanged for comp dollars or free play, among other things). In addition, Status Points can trigger "Achievement Awards." Achievement Awards vary from player-to-player. For me, I get a $25 Achievement Award every time I hit 19 Status Points in one day.

Typically you earn 2 Status Points per hour in the poker room. On Triple Status Point days, this means you earn 6 Status Points per hour. If I play 3.5 hours on Thursday, I earn $25 in comp dollars ("Momentum Dollars") or free slot play. This is on top of the normal 2.2 Momentum Dollars I earn per hour playing poker. So if I play 3.5 hours on Thursday, I will earn $33 in comps, or about $9.34 per hour.

On top of that, I will get closer to maintaining my position in the Player's Club, which has value in and of itself. And hopefully I can win at poker too.

--

The most valuable promotion that Mohegan Sun is running this summer is on its online FanDuel casino, mohegansuncasino.com (only available in CT). Every week they offer a deposit bonus worth 10% of your deposit, up to $100. There is a 1x playthrough on this bonus, which is exceptionally good, as far as online casino bonuses go. So every week, you can deposit $1000 and get a free $100. From there, you just play exactly $1100 worth of high Return-to-Player online casino games and then immediately withdraw your money. For me, this is usually 55 hands of $20/hand blackjack (99.6% RTP). It takes less than 20 minutes.

Mohegan Sun's online casino also offers various slot machine lossback promos. Lately, they have been offering 20% lossback on a "Game of the Week." Additionally, they have a "Happy Hour" promo where from 8pm to 10pm Monday - Thursday they offer 25% lossback on all games (including stuff like BJ, baccarat, etc), up to $25.

The best part? You can stack all of these promos on top of each other to play with a massive advantage. If you play the "Game of the Week" during the "Happy Hour" promo, you will get 45% of your losses back, for up to $100 of play. I don't know how to calculate the EV of this, but obviously it is a pretty substantial edge for the player. I enjoy messing around on slots but I'm not a fan of losing money to the casino, so this is a fun +EV way to get my slots fix.

Here are my lifetime results from grinding promotions on Mohegan Sun's online casino:

haha impressive! keep it up homie!

I had a nice win playing on Thursday (+$475 at 1/2) but couldn't play this weekend unfortunately. I don't actually think I played very well on Thursday, just ran like God. I will post one hand history from a pretty ugly spot I faced.

I've been losing still when I play online. It sucks because I feel like I am playing my best live recently, but I haven't been able to summon the same discipline online. It's probably good for me to get humbled a bit though. Losing online motivates me to study more, and sunrunning live feels like a huge reward.

QThh

Villain is MAWG. Think he's a regular in this room but I don't know his game very well. He has been open raising a good amount and seems to playing reasonably. We are playing 5 or 6 handed and he straddled the hand previous to this and commented "we need something to fight over." I won that hand and reciprocated by putting the straddle on myself (rare move for me).

UTG/CO fish limps. Villain completes BB. Hero raises to $30 from Straddle. UTG folds. Villain flats.

Flop: TT3r (Pot: $58). Villain checks. Hero bets $20. Villain calls.

Turn: TT3 5cc (Pot: $98). V check. I $60. He check/jams for about $250. I call?

River Q. I showed my cards after calling and was in the process of saying "I have a Ten" when I noticed that I had boated up. I say "I guess that must be me" and he flashes 55 in disgust before mucking.

Obviously insanely lucky for me. I think this turn might be a fold. One of those spots where I should call in theory (he can have worse for value I think? and can use a turned combo draw like A4cc as a bluff) but in practice I am way behind too much and no one bluffs here. Still I have trips with a good kicker (AT and KT seem somewhat unlikely for him as well) and I have as many as 7 outs so how bad can calling be?

I've played 3 sessions since my last post with mixed results.

On July 4th, I played both stakes at Mohegan Sun and had a losing session where I felt like I played well enough. I got coolered at $2/$5 (see hand history #1) but I felt like my opponent played poorly and saved me some money, which felt good.

Then I was able to find some time on Saturday to get up to MGM Springfield for the first time in a while. I only played $1/$2 there (the games are much bigger and wilder than at Mohegan Sun, so no need to play higher) but unfortunately I played awful and booked a big loss. I tried to force it in all the wrong spots and punted multiple times. This was the worst live poker I've played in at least a year I would say. I thought I was past the point where I was capable of spewing this hard but I guess not.

And then today, I had a nice win playing mostly $2/$5 at Mohegan Sun. I was losing most of the day but I thought I was playing well and I felt comfortable. Then, I caught a huge punt for a big double up (see hand history #2). I also hit a nice bonus on an AP slot play (Buffalo Link machine at 1380 buffalos) which was fun and resulted in a $175 slots win.

AhAd

Middle aged reg opens HJ $20. I 3bet BTN $60. Folds to V who calls. $800 effective.

Flop: 843r (Pot: $120)

V checks. I bet $60. V Calls.

Turn: 843r 7hh ($240)

V donks $120. I call?

River: 843r 7hh Qd ($480)

V $200 I call and lose to 44

I think I played this hand well. I thought about raising V on both the turn and the river (super thin on the river I guess) but chose to call because his line is pretty suspicious and I think this player type will overfold if I raise in these spots.

Villain punted in this hand I think. On the flop, I was already trying to figure out how to size my bets to get stacks in on the river. I think there are several ways V could have gotten all my chips in this spot and he failed to do so. Even a checkraise on the flop would have worked because it would be easy for me to put him on JJ or QQ. So by leading turn half pot and betting 40% pot on river, he failed to get all my money in the cooler spot and then stopped me from bluffing with my air (which I am wont to do). I also think his pre-flop call is probably not a winning play, but I don't really begrudge him that.

AKo


30s WG (unknown but seems aggro) raises UTG to $15. Two fishy older guys call UTG1 and UTG2. I 3bet LJ $75. Folds to UTG who 4bets to $320. Folds to me and I jam for $625 total. Villain announces "I'm tilted" and snap calls.

Board is 9434Jsss and I win unimproved.

Obviously this is just a blow up from Villain. I think his huge 4bet sizing is really bad here. It forces my hand (either jam or fold pre) and I think AK is an easy jam because A) AK is a good hand and B) I assume he doesn't take this massive sizing pre-flop with AA or KK.

I think you played all the hands fine. I don't think I can fold trips in the first hand (Q10) given the dynamics that may have been at play. i just think that hand is too strong to fold given there are plenty of hands we do beat there. i could maybe find a fold with a live read in the flow of the game or something else i had picked up on but i think it was a cooler spot for everyone involved.

and yah you should have got stacked for sure in that AA hand. its maybe not the worst call but if you are setmining you need to be sure stacks are getting in when you hit and opponent has top of range. but this is a spot where even when losing money we actually made some.

I’ve played two sessions in CT since my last post and won in both. The second session was actually my biggest winning day ever (+$985 at $2/$5; +$275 at $1/$2). The session got off to a slow start but after two hours I just started running unbelievably hot. I played later into the night than I have in a while and even though I was pretty tired the next day, I still felt great.

I finally feel like I have a sufficient bankroll for $2/$5, which is a good feeling. I’ve kept my roll mostly in cash but I had to deposit a bunch of money into the bank this week because it just felt absurd to have so much sitting around (nice to get 5% interest too!). At this point I’ve played 68 hours at $2/$5, so I have some experience at that stake now as well. The player pool is obviously a lot smaller and so it’s nice to have a feel for how many different regulars play. There is no doubt in my mind that I’ve run above expectation so far, which is really fortunate for me. Obviously the dream when you shot-take is that you run hot to start out and get to stick around. I still don’t think of $2/$5 as my main game, but it also no longer feels foreign and uncomfortable to play.

Going to share a couple hand histories from the past week. I don’t think I played particularly well, I just ran hot. Both of these hands have some decision points that I have regrets about, but I don’t think either one is worth making a thread for in the strategy sub-forum.

T9hh

UTG (LAG young Asian) straddles $10. Folds to me on BTN. I open $30. UTGS V calls. HU. $600 eff.

Flop: 862r (Pot: $60). V donks $30. I call.

Turn: 862r J (Pot: $120). V checks. I bet $75. V raises $175. I call?

River: 862 J 7 (Pot: $470). V bets $150. I jam for $365 and he snaps. Later said he had two pair.

I think I could maybe raise flop here. I also kind of wish I had checked back the turn since this guy can definitely check raise a lot and I also don’t expect him to fold very much. When he basically minraises the turn, I don’t think I can fold a nut draw. Getting good odds and I know I should get the rest when I hit.

AQo

LJ limps. I ISO CO $25. BTN (good reg) calls. BB (LAG from above) calls. LJ calls. $1k eff.

Flop: QJ7 ($100). BB check LJ check. I check? BTN bets $50. BB calls. LJ folds. I call.

Turn: QJ7 Q ($250). Checks to BTN who bets $175. BB tank folds. I call

River: QJ7 Q J ($600). Checks to BTN who checks back in disgust and shows 77.

Absurdly lucky from me. I played very passively here but at no point before the river did I feel great about my hand. I think I should lead this river for small. I checked on auto pilot and I think this was a mistake. No one is bluffing here and I need to try to get hero’d by a worse full house.

–

I’m in New Hampshire right now for vacation but I’ve played a couple sessions in Manchester that have gone well. Really good games up here. Will make a post about those sessions soon.

Thanks for the feedback! Always appreciated.

I got back from a family vacation to New Hampshire earlier this week. Had a great time up there and managed to sneak away to play two short sessions at nearby “Revo Casino” in Manchester. I guess this casino was previously known as Filotimo Casino but had recently changed its name, although the Filotimo name was still in use on the chips and on some signs.

I played a 4 hour session at night and a 2 hour session during the day. I would say these were two of the best games I’ve played in all year. The games were super action (deeper stacks, lots of straddling, bomb pots every half hour) and the other players were generally awful.

The first night I broke even (-$27 at $1/$2). I don’t think I adjusted particularly well to the game conditions. I definitely ran bad in some spots, but I don’t think I played particularly well. It is hard for me to be patient in games where money is flying around. And being patient is paramount in games where every pot is multi-way and no one ever folds. It’s also hard to be playing somewhere where you don’t know any of the other players or even how things typically go. At the first dealer change, it was announced that we were going to play a bomb pot, so I followed suit and ante’d $10 like everyone else, assuming we were playing NLHE. Of course, once I was dealt a 3rd and then 4th card, I figured out it was PLO. Then, I expected to see two flops being dealt. But no, just one. Easy enough to figure out on the fly I guess. I played several interesting PLO spots (although every PLO spot is interesting to me because I’ve barely played any PLO). I also had several big AIPF hands in NLHE (77 > AKo for less than 100bb; AQo < QQ for less than 100bb; AQs vs. A7s vs. A2o AIPF for a 3 way chop).

The second day, I had a solid win (+$315 at $1/$2). I was really card dead for long stretches but made the nut flush twice and got paid both times. I played much better on this day. The game was a lot less splashy but the other players (who I understood to all be regulars) were still mostly bad loose passives. This session I was very patient and felt in control. Unfortunately I had to leave early for a family situation, but I was very happy with the result. Really looking forward to playing up here again sometime soon.

I have been playing online poker again recently. I re-deposited about $100 and started back at 10NL, but I’ve since moved back up to 20NL and then later 50NL as my balance has gone up past $500. At first when I started playing on this new site, I was worried that the games would become much tougher quickly as other online poker regs found out about the games here, but that hasn’t really happened. I was also apprehensive about depositing/withdrawing money from the site, which kept me from being too aggressive with shot-taking and playing higher. I feel a lot more comfortable with that process now, and I also am starting to appreciate that the games may be good on this site for a while (it is, after all, low/microstakes online poker in a fenced-in USA based player pool). As a result, I have been trying to sharpen my online poker skillset. I’ve been spending more time on GTOWizard and have been listening to some mental game focused content. Obviously this stuff will help my live poker game as well. I also want to spend a little bit more time studying heads up play. I’ve been starting a lot of tables recently and have played hundreds of HU hands, including many sessions against the same reg. I think I have a better understanding of how to play heads up than most of the full-ring players on this site, but I know I am a fish in the greater scheme of things.

The most frustrating part about playing on this site is that I can’t track my results, use a HUD, or even conveniently look through my own hand histories. Downloading hands from Ignition to review on my PT4 database was my favorite part about playing on that site. I also really miss being able to see my opponent’s hole cards after 24 hours. Outside of that, I don’t really miss anything else about playing regularly on Ignition.

I’m sure my enthusiasm about playing online will wane as I start running worse but, for now, I am feeling excited and motivated about playing again. Will continue to periodically update this thread with my results per usual.

I also play regularly at mgm and Mohegan altho more 2/5 than 1/2. When 2/5 lineup sucks I’ll just stay at 1/2 especially at mgm with bigger stacks and bigger donks.

Let me just say, I feel your pain. I ran so incredibly bad last year that I had no choice but to take a LONG break. I’m not talking a few weeks, a few months, I’m talking 6+ months I didn’t play a single hand of cash game poker. I couldn’t win before that. I lost something like 18/20 sessions and couldn’t take it anymore. This is variance. It’s brutal AF. Missing every draw everytime, AA cracked everytime, set over set…you name it.

The only way to get my mindset out of the gutter was to just step away and forget about it all. It helped a lot.

Anyways I haven’t read your whole thread but I’ve seen your strat posts around and recognized we play in same places. Good luck to you on your grind back. I’ll try to read a few posts here and comment as this keeps rolling.

30% RB is pretty decent too.

30% is what Ignition offers? You need to sign up through an affiliate or something to get that, right? I never got any real rakeback from that site and I played at least 200k hands of microstakes there over the course of 2020 - 2023. I think that's my own fault though, as I was aware for at least some of that time that it was possible to be earning rakeback.

Hey, thanks! Taking a six month break seems like a healthy thing to do. This blog's titular downswing ended last fall around the time that I hit for $1k on one of Mohegan's "Mystery High Hand" promos. Since then I've been running well and playing better than I have in the past. I was also able to use that promo money to start shot-taking $2/$5 and I've been able to build up my bankroll quite a bit since then. My results this year have vastly exceeded my previous results which has been super encouraging.

I know there are a lot of folks that play at Mohegan/Foxwoods/MGM that post on this board. Always curious if anyone I play with regularly is a poster here.

No I mean on Global you get 30%. That's where I assumed you've been playing.

Oh gotcha. I played about 2k hands on Global last year (basically just played through the intro deposit bonuses) and enjoyed it. The rakeback is great.

The site I'm playing on is stake.us. I mentioned it by name in another post after I took a break for a while. The player pool is a lot smaller than on Global so it can be hard to get games going (and anything above 50NL is very inconsistent) but the other players are god awful.