LOL @ the guy losing his mind from not chopping. Awesome. Subbed man GL on your challenge.

GL and I wish you much run good.

As an aside, how are you finding enough time to play with a wife and kids? I don't even have kids and I have a hard time getting away to get some sessions in. My wife has even resorted to quoting back weekly statistics at me (a la Thursdays being a bad day). "You win the most on Friday and Saturday nights so you shouldn't go during the week".

Give and take.

Sunday is usually Family Day, no poker allowed - no poker talk, no poker forums, no poker on tv, no podcasts etc. It is WHATEVER the family would like to do......and yes I get pedicures with my daughter....lol!

Some weeks it is tough. This week for example I only played Tuesday and today. Since Fridays and Saturdays are most profitable I usually do marathon sessions on those days.

You also have to be able to NOT play if you are asked to do something else...birthdays, family functions etc..

Just like anything else in a marriage it is all about compromise. Having kids that are high school age is a little easier too since I don't have the childcare issue to worry about.

If you are your spouse's WHOLE world and she has no outside hobbies or interests forget about it.

You just need to work out a compromise.

Poker will always be there. Your wife and kids could conceivably NOT be there if it gets out of hand.

Nice clothes, shoes, bags for the wife every couple weeks works wonders!


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Bribes...gotcha.

MDL 2/5 Weekly Update

1135.2 hours +$33520
5.9bb/hour

More or less a break even week. Thought I played well and enjoyed the sb vs bb mayhem. Won't be chopping anytime soon. Not quite as many hours this week due to real life commitments.

I did get absolutely punished with aces tho. Lost AA vs KK and the other KK 3 way all in when the kings ended up making a straight. Two hours later AIPF AA vs KK...K in the window. Then I flopped the nut straight twice in multiway limped pots, got all the money in and then had to go to my chip pouch after the river either paired the board or made back door suits.

Fortunately for me hands like the following are never too far away at MDL....

MDL 2/5 Friday 11:30pm

Merry Christmas Baby!

Villain in the hand is Scotty Nguyen's doppleganger. Right down to the jet black hair, shades , and "Baby" in every sentence. Super nice guy, talking people into straddling, putting out a HUGE gambling image but really playing super tight. The few hands that he has raised have all gone to showdown -AK,JJ,QQ,KK etc. He has been at the table all day and always has taken a decent amount of time for each decision. Very solid. We have been pretty much staying out of each other's way. He is getting ready to leave because he says he is getting tired and has to go back to Philly in the morning. He is sitting on $850 and I cover.

Villain limps UTG.

Folds to Hero in CO who raises to $25 w/AhQh.

Folds back to Villain who tanks for a bit and calls.

Flop $51
A33

Villain checks.

Hero bets $30.

Villain INSTA raises to $125 using all of his green $25 chips and says "This is the hand baby!"

Hero thinks for a second and calls.

Turn $301
6

Villain INSTA shoves $700 almost before turn card is even flat on the table.

Hero asks Villain, "How much is that?"

Villain laughs and says, "All of it!"

Hero apologizes to the table and tanks for almost three minutes then leans forward, sighs, and tosses in a black chip.

"Call."

River $1701
T

Villain says, "Don't worry. You good baby! Nice call." and tables QJ He then wished everyone good luck and walked away.

Rest of the table thinks "WTF just happened? "



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Nice and funny thread! Gl m8!

2/5 MDL Monday evening

Guess I was value betting....

Just got moved to the table and have no reads. It is my 3rd hand and I am UTG.

Villain in the hand looks like an overweight Ben Affleck with a goatee. In the five minutes that I have been at the table he has reminded everyone that he is waiting for the 10/25 game to "get rolling" twice and showed everyone his $2500 buy in of purples three times. His gold player's card is laying to one side of his uneven and disorganized $600 stack and his charging iPhone 3gs is on the other side.

Hero opens to $20 UTG w/KK

HJ calls $20.

Villain calls $20.

Flop $61
Q28

Hero bets $45.

HJ folds.

Villain Hollywoods then calls $45.

Turn $151
3

Hero bets $75.

Villain snaps $75 w/3 green chips.

River $301
6

Hero bets $125.
Villain snaps $125 with a single red chip.

Hero says, "Nice hand. You probably have me." and tables his hand.

Villain tables QT and looks confused when dealer pushes pot to Hero.

Hero wins $551 with pair of kings.

How I wished 10/25 was running.

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MDL 2/5 Weekly Update


1172.4 hours +$37832
$32.27 or 6.45 bb/hour

August turned out to be a great month.
+$11958 which is $58.99 an hour.

Put in ALOT of hours of which I think I played quite solid. Sample size is small but I think not chopping and increasing how much I 3bet in position instead of just flatting made quite a difference.

HHs to follow....






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Heh that chopping story is awesome. I chop because the rake structure here is horrendous ($3 out of the first $10 in the pot), but sometimes, people look at their hand and want to try to "run it" for a shot at high hand/BBJ. I make sure to tell them that I play it out and don't "run it", but haven't gotten in any interesting spots yet. Nice August btw, well done.

MDL 2/5 Friday 11:00am

Put to the Test Early

Just arrived at table and am UTG. Dealer asks for my player's card and if I would like to be dealt in.

"Sure!"

Hero ($500), while still standing, squeezes 77.

"20", says Hero.

As Hero sits down and unracks there are three field callers and the blinds fold.

Entire table has Hero covered.

Flop $81
JJA

Hero pauses for a second to quickly see who has called.

Two OMCs and a guy in his late twenties who could be Phil Ivey's long lost brother. He has one earbud in and is staring down the Hero Ivey style.

Hero checks.

OMCs and Brother Ivey all check.

Turn $81
7

Hero bets $50.

OMCs both fold.

Brother Ivey stares then calls.

River $181
Q

Hero bets $125.

Brother Ivey stares, plays with his chips, stares, then shoves $430.

Hero thinks, "F*ck, it really is Ivey."

Hero then apologizes to the table for tanking then tanks for about 90 seconds.

Hero throws in a green chip and prepares to reload.

Brother Ivey shows KT.

Brother Ivey then stares yet again, this time in disbelief.

Hero wins $1041.

OMC says, "Welcome to the table." Followed by, "I knew I should have taken that seat!"



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MDL 2/5 Friday 3:00pm

Poker is Easy.

I soon realized why the whole table was so deep. Brother Ivey was really Donator Ivey. I usually don't criticize other people's play but he quite possibly could be the worst "serious" player I have ever seen. He has reloaded numerous times over the last three hours and plays EVERY SINGLE HAND. Most to the river. Then complains about how his T2 suited loses but he had the odds to play it etc etc...His eerie resemblance to Ivey makes for quite the contrast.

Hero ($1350) is UTG +2.
Brother Ivey ($735) is in the cutoff.

Hero opens to $20 w/AK

Folds to Brother Ivey who 3 bets to $40 then stares, at Hero, yet again.

Folds to Hero who 4 bets to $120 then stares back at Brother Ivey.

Brother Ivey calls $80 while never breaking his stare.

Flop $241
943

Hero checks.

Brother Ivey shoves $615.

Hero simply tables his hand.

Turn $1471
K

River $1471
9

Brother Ivey mucks.

Hero wins $1471.

Brother Ivey reaches into his pocket, pulls out a leathery object, and stares at his now empty wallet.



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Heh, there's nothing quite like the wannabes that have watched a season of HSP and decide they want to take that to small-min buyin capped live NL games.

Had some random guy who I have never seen before come up to me at the table last night and tell me he was following this thread and how great of a job I'm doing.

He then flat out asked me if I could "spot" him a buy in. :what:

A full 5/T buy in.


WTF?

LOL!


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Wow that is mad sketch, a good rule is to NEVER give anyone at the casino money unless it's as a tip

So I follow up my best month ever by my worst week ever....all the sorid details to soon follow.....

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How is your average session 12 hours if you have a 9-5? Putting in 12 hour sessions after work? Or like 20 hour sessions on weekends and a few hours after work bringing average to 12?

Usually 4 or 5 hours in the evening during the week then marathons over the weekend. My 9 to 5 is actually a 4 day Sun-Wed @ 10 hours a day.

Currently I have 106 sessions for a total of 1214 hours or an average session of 11.45 hours. Handful of sessions on holidays or when family was out of town were 20+ hours.

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Weekly Update MDL 2/5

1214.4 Hours +$29842
$24.57/4.91bb an hour

OUCH!

Played 42 hours this week and was down $7990!

Or -$190.24 an hour!:banghead:

About halfway through the week I probably should have just shut it down. Lost just about every hand every session. Would love to blame it all on variance but multiple beats tend to cause bad play which sets you up for more losses which causes even worse play. For example yesterday flopped 4 sets in the first two hours and all were obliterated by the river. The following 12 hours were probably the worse poker I have played all year....observe

MDL 2/5 Friday 9:00pm

Villain is typical young aggro asian kid and is sitting on $1300.

Hero has $1550 but is actually stuck $950. Table thinks Hero is winning.

Villain overlimps 2 limpers in the Lowjack.

Hero raises to $35 from the Cutoff w/KK.

Folds back around to Villain who calls.

Flop $86
QT6

Villain checks.

Hero bets $50.

Villain thinks for a sec then calls.

Turn $186
9

Villain kind of sighs, shrugs his shoulders, tanks, then confidently bets $125.

Hero calls.

River $436
5

Villain snap bets $300 as soon as river is dealt.

Hero quickly mucks facedown.

Villain shows AQ and asks "Flush draw?"

Before Hero can answer douchebag young white dude at table starts in on IWTSTH regarding my hand.

Dealer tables my hand! WTF?

Asian kid starts giggling.

Hero decides to no longer tip that dealer.







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MDL 2/5 Thursday 10:00 pm.

*note some specifics, stack sizes, may be off in this hand as I lost my notes for Thursday so this is from memory.

He called you with jack high!

Villain 1 is an older asian guy who has been playing super aggro and donating to the table since Hero sat down. Raising any flush draw regardless of action or situation. He has Hero and Villain 2 covered.

Villain 2 is slender asian woman everyone knows. Super nice lady, fun to play with, likes to overbet with her good, made hands. She has $350.

Hero has recently reloaded to $500 as he had the pleasure of 4bet shoving AK into AA a few orbits before.

Hero raises to $25 over one limper from the Cutoff with T8.

Folds to Villain 1 in the small blind who calls.

Villain 2 calls in the big blind.

Limper calls.

Flop $94
793

Checks through to hero who bets $75.

Villain 1 plays with his chips then raises to $150.

Villain 2 shoves $325.

Limper folds.

Hero tanks, puts Villain 1 probably on flush draw, puts Villain 2 on minimum of 2 pair and also maybe on a flush draw, does some math, then shoves $475 total. .

Villain 1 tanks...looks like he wants to fold but ultimately calls.

Turn $1069, $300
2

River $1069, $300
4

Hero proudly tables T high.

Villain 2 tables 58

Villain 1 slowrolls the J2 and scoops the $1369.










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MDL 2/5 Monday 8:30pm

This MY table!

Hero has just sat down with $500. Straddle is on.

3 limpers to what looks like a homeless guy in the hijack with $100 who raises to 25.

Hero raises from the cutoff to $125 with AK.

Degen white tournament dude with tattoos on the button calls. He has Hero covered.

Folds to homeless guy who folds.:what:

Flop $316
AK7

Hero bets $150.

Degen insta ships $375 effective.

Hero calls.

Turn $1066
9

River $1066
7

Degen looks at me and asks, "Whatchoo gots?"

"I called you." I say.

"No I puts you all in."

Hero thinks to himself that tourney guys really are pieces of work and that he really isn't in the mood for the macho chest thumping BS that is the showdown.

Hero gives in and tables his hand.

Degen stands up and yells, "That's worthless! This MY table!" Then slams the A6 onto the felt.

I knew right then that this was not going to be a good week.

Degen wins $1066.



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I have 40 hours worth of similiar hands for the past week....may just take it easy this week and spend some of my hard earned roll on the family and reboot.

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WOW Thats a tough week.

IG--do you think playing 2/5 is better than 1/2? I play 1/2 at Live sometimes and can't believe the moves these players make. Its frustrating.

Were you playing on the 2nd floor Thursday? I was playing in the tournament on Thursday and a slender Asian woman caught my eye.

Love the thread--good luck.

Indeed I was on the 2nd floor Thursday!

Just my humble opinion but I really think 2/5 is currently the best stake to play at MDL. You can make decent coin if you play well, percentage wise the rake is way smaller than 1/2 and there are always 5+ tables going. 5/T is OK at times but unless you are really well rolled for that game it can be pretty painful. There also are not as many tables going so your game selection options are limited.

I played 1/2 for quite a few years and did OK but I REALLY over thought it and tried way too many fancy plays. I think live poker is really about getting to the $5 blind level as quickly as possible and progressing from there. If you are rolled for it or can afford it move on up!





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Not too much to update this week....

Started to remodel my master bath which ended up taking all week to do. I thought that it was going to only take maybe 3 days at most but I ended up having to completely replace some drywall and redo some outlet wiring.

As a result I only had one 8 hour session this week which was +$110. Nothing out of the ordinary just ended up being card dead with no good spots materializing. Only thing of interest was that I recognized NO ONE at my table for the entire 8 hours. All fresh, new faces. That has never happened to me before at MDL.

To make up for lost time I feel a few marathon 20+ hour sessions coming in the next few weeks....

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Back to the grind today.....hopefully 20+ hour session ahead....:what:

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