Hello, my fellow degens. I've decided to start a thread to keep myself on point with regards to poker, to gain knowledge from all of you fine folks, and because I enjoy writing. This first post is kind of a bio/how ya doin’ thread that talks about my goals and me; there will be a trip report tomorrow detailing my glorious return to Foxwoods after 3 years of not being in a casino.

Sorry, but I will not be quitting my day job (not that I have one to quit at the moment), documenting how I pull down $100k over the next year, or thrilling you with my balla lifestyle. I’m a full-time student who will be graduating in December, and quitting would be a little foolish at this point, y’know?

Well why the hell would you even read this? I’m sure the vast majority of you won't, and that’s ok. I’m not a pro, and I will be the first to tell you that unless you're a novice-intermediate player, I may not have anything super useful strategy-wise (yet). However, as I'm a wrinkled old man on the verge of turning 40 who has lived a little, occasionally I hit the nail on the head about things in life you can be working on away from the poker table (and people sometimes tell me this). I am very, very, very big on correcting life leaks. Every now and then I’m amusing, too.

Why exactly am I spending the time doing this again? Shouldn't I be setting up a blog or something? Maybe I'll do that too. Here’s the thing, though – and it’s a little bit different than the normal “OMGZ I WILL BUILD A BR AND GO PRO TOMORROW”: I am working towards becoming a solid winning player on the side while I finish school, re-enter the job market, and work towards getting re-established as a LAN admin. This isn't just all going to be me rambling – I will be looking for advice and posting hh’s, even though I know my play will often be slaughtered. I’m looking forward to it.

Do I want to be a full-time player? Very, very much. I believe in my ability. I believe I have the temperament for this. I’m finally willing to put the effort in – something I never really tried to do in the past. I have a passion for the game bordering on mania. I've worked out many of my life leaks – honestly, I think I have an advantage over people half my age. How many of you want to tell me that most 20 year olds have their **** together to the point where their life leaks will never override their ability? For every smart, young, and talented winning pro (I highly recommend RobFarha and Aesah’s threads if you haven’t already subbed), there are probably 50 who flame out or **** up. Youth is often wasted on the young – it was on me.

“But…but…youreoldpokerisdyinghealthcareretirements avemoneygodyourecrazy!”
I’m heard this all before.

I know who I am. I've worked in the corporate world. I will never, ever be thrilled about a day job. Ever. It’s just not in my nature. I’m not delusional, however. Compromises have to be made, so down the part-time rabbit hole I go.

So if you’re not asleep: welcome. Tomorrow’s post will be more fun. Hell, maybe I’ll get started on it now. I promise good times, hand histories, and chip pr0n.

Good luck! Have confidence in yourself sir

Honored, Don. If I wind up as half the player you are, that will be a coup.

Just spent 90 minutes on the trip report and it needs a lot more time. The few hands I can remember have too many holes. Instead of lying through my teeth, I may have to renege on the hand histories for now. Definitely throwing it up tomorrow, and I have more sessions planned...

Intro: Bad Beats and Rounders

Before Monday night, I hadn't played a hand of poker at a casino in over 3 years. My last hand went something like this (no notation, just a quick bad beat story for flavor):

I had a little bit of money to burn, so I jet down from Bridgewater, NJ to play at the Borg and revel at the wonder of it all (no FW, you wish you were as nice of a casino, you only got the slogan first) and play some $1/2. I have been patiently awaiting a hand worthy of my attention while I observe the table and settle in. I haven’t been there an hour.

I pick up 108s and limp in MP with a stack of approximately $185. I get one caller to my immediate left. The heavens unfold, trumpets blare, and variance gives me a bj in the form of a 7 9 6 board. I try to slow my breathing, and bet about 2/3rd pot while I pray this guy has a hand.

To my delight, he does. He re-raises me, and we get it all in. Villain has a set of 7’s. OMG FAME FORTUNE AND HOOKERS HERE WE GO what the **** a river 6? Why do you hate me so, math gods?

So like Mikey McD and his A9, I am stuck with this festering sore of a memory for years. Why? I wasn't working at the time and going to a casino violates rules number one and one a of poker: don’t play with scared money/always play properly rolled. My “little bit of money” burned, I hit the road.

Cue the ‘Rocky’ Soundtrack

Years roll by. I pay off debts. I go back to school. I finish an internship. I read my poker literature and keep up with the game, but never really have my heart in it because I know that I cannot afford to take a stab as a super-broke student. Every check barely keeps my head above water; it’s just not feasible.

As time rolls towards the present and the grasp of poverty and the time constraints imposed by school loosen from my throat, crushing an easy home game with friends causes me to realize something with startling clarity: poker is once again something I want to make hobby numero uno. It hasn’t died. There is still too much damned money to be made, even if only part time, and I have invested far too much time in the game to just walk away from it. Perhaps more than any of that: I just love the game.

So the mmos, mindless net surfing, movie watching, and all of the activities I used to save money and kill time go byebye. I decide that I am going to study this like it’s my ****ing job and my life depends on it. And I do. I study my core curriculum of 2p2 books + a few others over and over and over again. I read hand histories. I install ‘Stove and ‘Zilla. I read wells – which leads me to Bart Hanson – and absorb. Gym time, car rides, and jobs on the side doing virus removal/workstation repair are now filled with podcasts.

I decide to budget a little student loan money towards at least a couple of buy-ins. Home games are hard to find here; casinos are a haul no matter what direction you’re looking at. I steel myself for the possibility of cracked hands, but I know with 100% accuracy that in order to become good at something, you cannot just study. Will variance rape me again and leave me stranded on Busto Isle until I graduate and find a good job? Perhaps, but eventually you have to play the game.

Back to the Future…Present

Months of trying to cram everything into my brain in advance of my return to the poker arena slip away into weeks, into days, into a glorious morning that sees me cashing my check. Poker study had fallen by the wayside a bit, as I spent 2 weeks zealously searching for a proper used car. My girlfriend and I drive down to pick it up. Now I have reliable wheels. The tumblers fall in place.

Sunday is the day – except that it isn’t. I spend too much time between the sheets with the little woman and decide to spend the rest of the day on errands.

Monday is the day to head up to Hollywood Casino and impose my will on the only legal poker room in Maine – except that **** them and their $6 rake. Simple math tells me it’s not worth it until they start their promotion (which starts in October), so I head my new used car down 95. I feel impetuous, crazy, giddy.

[IMG]http://s23.************/5yy697y0b/IMAG0075.jpg[/IMG]

Ahhhhh. I know that place.

History Repeats Itself

I stalk the tables, trying to find some semblance of action at high noon on a Monday. I take my seat to the right of two friendly gents in their 60’s, trying not to be crushed under the weight of sensory overload and adrenalin. My thoughts flit incoherently through my somewhat over-caffeinated brain:

ok effective stacks are…this guy opened pf with…these guys are passive…jesus everyone is passive…wtf this guy just beat me with 106o…nit nit fish reg fish ok definitely a good table…goddamn it slowdown and relax cowboy

I catch myself complaining about dead hands. I realize I’ve been at the table 45 minutes. I shut up, and do my best to combat the 9 year-old-on-Mtn-Dew routine.

I look down at two black kings. My heart starts trying to jump out of my chest like an Alien on crack. I wonder if Sigourney Weaver will sit down and play a hand next. Action comes around to the player to my left, who raises to $8. I’m drooling. I don’t even pay attention to stack size, player characteristics, nothing. The blood flowing through my head is deafening.
I raise it to $25. Oh boy, my first pot! I’m king of the world! I’m…being 3-bet to $56 by the older dude to my left. Errrrrrrrrrrrk stop. I pull myself together enough to ask how much is left in his stack. $50. Well, so much for getting away from this now. I put him all in and of course I’m looking at bullets.

In hindsight, there are two things that my over-excitement blinded me to:
1. Min-raises, especially from non-skilled players, often scream “I want to make money, but not push you away completely”.
2. I paid no attention to his range. What is a 60-year old nit (granted this wasn’t even an hour in and I had seen little play) 4-betting me with here? AK? No. QQ? Hell no. KK? With 2 left in the deck? Seen it before, but certainly not too likely. I’m not playing 10/20; there isn’t leveling going on here. He has AA in this situation 99/100, and I think this was a fold.

Enough, Hollywood

For about ten minutes, a kid to my right is really playing up the ‘durrrrrrrr’ image:
“Is 2-5 really that different? Really? Huh, how, why? Ohhhh, that sounds crazy…”

Meanwhile, homeboy is making pointed statements indicating he knows what he’s doing, and entering comments/hh’s into his phone. He gets so bad with the questions that I actually laugh and shake my head. He stops.

Tailspin

My past experiences with online poker saw me playing both too passive AND aggressive, bluffing at the wrong pots, trying to bluff stations off hands, yet being a 22/7 type and limping into too many pots. Reading thorough old logbooks of my play is always a guaranteed wince session.

I begin to fall into the old habits. I lean over the table like a vulture, waiting impatiently for hands. I top off with another $120 and watch my stack dwindle back down to $220. I’m forcing it, pushing, getting frustrated. I start to doubt myself. “You’ve learned nothing, you’re down $180 in an hour plus gas, you’re a spaz, you’ll never learn, take up knitting….”

I tell myself to shut up and calm down. I play more solid values. I use position. I drink water instead of soda; caffeine is as much my enemy as anything at this point.

I’m not sure whether this next hand was me pushing edges out of desperation (especially given my poor image at this point) or subconsciously starting to realize just how passive people are here. I guess I’ll never know. But it was the turning point of the day:

Edit: I've gotta find a hand converter. What do you people use for live hands?

cliffs: I bluff river when i sense weakness with nothing but bp, villain folds

It didn’t make me my money back. It did greatly restore my confidence, however. I crawled back to exactly $300 and decided to go to lunch around 3:30.

Lunch

If this post wasn’t - even by my standards – so damned long, I would go into more detail about the amusing story I overheard involving 2 waitresses at the Hard Rock Café, talking about pocket rockets and how they cured road rage.

I ate well. I chilled in my car. I gathered my energy.

Poker is Pretty ****ing Far From Dead

The next two hours saw me slowly clawing back towards the magical $420 mark. Then the tourists started sitting down, and…wow.

A really nice kid with Tourette’s sits down with his friend and proceeds to dump pot after pot on double barrels, overplaying weak holdings time and time again.

The funniest pot of the night occurs when I have AQs in the cutoff with about $350. Board comes out A7xA7, with a flush coming in on the river.

Kid excitedly reraises me all in on the river. I sigh and call, expecting to see quad 7's, or at least a chop.

He turns over 83s for the flush. What? Really? Yeah, that actually happened.

It just gets better from there. Two nice girls from my state sit down at the table. I get bullets, 3 bet pf. She calls. I get her all in on the turn when I spike a set, only to see that I was nearly drawing dead on the flop because she had flopped a set of 5’s. Rungood.

A mean-looking dude sits down and proceeds to dump two buyins in the space of 30 minutes, one of them when I call him down with MP and he was trying to triple barrel with AK. Soul reading.

I carefully attack weakness, winning a few big pots by 3betting (smart people – an engineer, a dealer from another casino) nits out of pots with little other than BP and draws.

Yeah, Monday night in the middle of CT during a recession. Clearly, poker is dying, dead, gone, and there is no reason for people to continue to study.

What I feel I did well:

· Range analysis
· Maintained and took advantage of a strong image
· Shifted gears often
· Attacking weakness postflop
· EP discipline/positional
· Took breaks, stretched, stayed alert
· Quit when I was tired
· Maintained a friendly table image

What I need work on/Reflections:

· Holy dear god in heaven that I don’t believe in, people are passive, and I did NOT take advantage of it. So many mw flops seen by people with $8 who were holding absolute garbage. Definitely going to 3b more preflop.
· Squeeze plays on button/last action: 2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-15 fold. Happened at least ten times. Had so much **** on the button, would have looked them up with so much as a sc but for the life of me I always seemed to be holding 94o when someone ran that play. Probably could have 3b to $45 and taken it down with regularity.
· Table talk. I wasn’t dissecting ranges at the table, but I was certainly talking WAY too much about strategy by my standards.
· Continue to solidify fundamentals: efficiently calculate po, io, SPR. Read more hand histories. Submit as often as possible. Try to find time to continue to read/study core curriculum (school/gf/gym/pt jobs/semblance of a social life = god so time consuming)

Closing:

So important it gets its own space:

Bart Hanson mentions an incredibly relevant point in his last podcast that I knew, but didn't really practice enough: At low limits, most people are not calculating ranges and properly putting you on hands, thinking on multiple levels, or really approaching anything close to advanced play.
Don’t overthink! One can make a nice profit by simply avoiding tough spots, being aggressive, and putting people on the bus to Valuetown!

Oh, and as promised:

[IMG]http://s5.************/5uo08106v/IMAG0080.jpg[/IMG]

Hey SS,

do you plan on playing any tournaments or will this be strictly 100% cash game 1/2nl and 2/5nl grinding???

good luck, subbed

Another poster I respect. Excellent.

I will absolutely be playing tournies, have had several final tables at the $100 bi level in the past, plus many satellite cashes online and a $2600 score in a $3 rebuy once. More concerned with building up a br vs. easy competition at the moment.

Thanks man.

ps: if anyone wants to let me know what they use to convert hand histories for live play, I'd appreciate it. Very much looking for advice on hands.

thanks!

Quick one, feeling neither loquacious nor energetic, so I'm going Letterman-style:

The Top Ten Reasons You Should Find and Play in Home Games Immediately

note: I'm talking about your average friendly home game, not a home casino full of competent players

1. Because my Christ people are bad
   This isn't a HOHOHO I ARE GOD OF THE POKERZ statement; just being factual. It's estimated that 50 million people in this country play poker, with maybe .01% of them being solid, winning players. In the space of 4 hours tonight, I saw people go broke multiple times on wild river bluffs, minimal 3 bets anywhere unless it was a bluff or the mortal nuts, 5% psb f-t-r: it was Candy Land.
   
   This isn't some isolated occurrence, either. I'd guess that I've won in 65-70% of all home games I've played. Do you like free money? I do. Learn how to become a marginally decent player and you can have some too.
   
2. Free Booze, Weed and Food!
   Good hosts provide this, and when it's your turn to host the game, you can too. Provide an atmosphere that people are happy to gamble and relax in.
   
   Just be careful that you don't have too much fun. A couple of drinks tonight and I turned into an impatient calling station for an hour. Don't have too much fun if you can't handle it. No reason to lose money. Let them get ****ed up on nicotene, booze, and weed.
   
3. Because it's fun
   Let's face it, grinding is boring. Studying is awfully boring. Take a night to unwind and play just for fun.
   
4. Networking
   How do you find local games in your area? Get invited to as many home games as possible, don't be an *******, and branch out from there. It's not all about poker, either. Have balance in your life. Get out and play with friends just because. Talk to people about jobs; you never know who can get you a foot in the door at their company.
   
5. Practice your moves
   This is a perfect environment to practice in against weak opponents. Practice calculating pot odds/io. DON'T practice stealing - 90% of pots will be mw. Consider it practice for low-limit games when the tourists sit at the table. Your average home game player is going to be either a. Super Action Bluffy Bob b. Calling Station Carl c. Walt the Wonder-Nit d. weak. Vown them.
   
6. Because you could use a break
   It's fun to play in an environment where you're not surrounded by regs and semi-competent 2p2 addicts every night. Relax. Enjoy the fact you're in a danger-free environment.
   
7. Save the gas money/travel time
   I have to drive 3 hours to get to FW. Barf.
   
8. Rake? What's a Rake?
   Again - not talking about a home casino. Friendly home games don't have a rake; it's just people getting together for a friendly game. No reason you can't make a little profit though!
   
9. Because seats usually need to be filled
   Did someone get wind of the fact that you're a competent player? Guess what? They don't care. If you're not an arrogant jagoff, it's all good. You're another person to chill with and potentially add money to the pot.
   
10. Did I mention how bad people are?
    People often play NLHE like LHE in home games. They don't know about pot odds and proper bet sizing. Use this to your advantage.
    
    Two hands from closing time: I pick up AKs on the button. It goes 2-2-2-2-2 (this is .25-50 btw - and it means nothing, people are calling with any two for the most part) I pop it to ten pf. The guy who just bluffed off his entire stack with nothing calls.
    
    Flop is 1097 rainbow. He bets $10? into a pot of $30ish. I call with overs, knowing his range is about 50% pf and I've got him dominated.
    
    Turn is a K. Yahtzee. He bets $20 and I put him all in. He had called pf with K8o for an oesd and bricks the river. $70-80 on a draw. ezgame

Should have probably been up at least $80, but like I said, $40 beats a hole in the head. Good people, networking, and $10 an hour to **** off? Sign me up.

For the 2.3 people who wondered why I haven't updated this: school is a bitch and having a gf is time-consuming!

Overcoming Ladder Anxiety

This will be an easy concept to understand if you have played the popular RTS game StarCraft (2). In SC2, you can play custom-made games where the pressure is almost completely off, or you can can play the ultra-competitive Ladder Mode, where the games are ranked.

The better you get, the more ridiculous the competition gets. By the time you are getting to Diamond, you're playing against people who have played for years, are insanely good, are bright teens with fast minds and fingers, play this game as their only hobby and study it, or all of the above.

So that leaves you with something called Ladder Anxiety, where each game brings the fear of running into a series of good players, losing repeatedly, and and being bumped down from the rank you fought hard for. If you are ultra-competitive, it's stressful to have every game be intense and difficult. Otoh, it's also one of the greatest things about the game.

It should be pretty easy to see how this ties in with poker. I'm a college student on a limited budget. I don't play with scared money, or I wouldn't be playing at all. But the spectre of loss can be a difficult demon to exorcise. I routinely ask myself the following questions. Per the title of the post, I will also offer some suggestions for dealing with it:

What happens if I get repeatedly stacked? I can't afford/handle this.

The dream situation: you get all your money in pf with AA, only to be called by a donkey with K2 who flops a flush. Your flopped straight gets rivered by a boat. Variance is a cruel mistress.

Play within your roll! Being well-funded is probably the best way to combat fear of variance.
Play short! If you are on a budget or shot-taking, it is never a bad idea to feel the game out and be a little cautious. If you know you deserve to be in the game, then eventually you are going to have to play the game to become proficient at it.
Understand how variance works. Do you believe that some people are luckier than others? Dealers give you bad cards? You're due? All a crock of ****. Now granted, if you're on this site you probably know this already, but you never know.
It's really unlikely. Can the scenarios I listed happen, and over a short course of time? Sure. Is it likely to? No. Understand one of the key things about poker: save for a few bankroll considerations, it is never a mistake to get all your money in as a favorite.

Poker is very much a skill game. But it is gambling. If you can't afford to lose at all, you shouldn't be playing in the first place.

Am I ready? I haven't been studying enough.
I'm too stressed. Too busy. Should be doing homework. Long drive.

You cannot get better by only studying the rules of the game. If you are serious about your 'education', you have to invest the money and play.

Are your other life concerns too pressing? Then take care of them and don't go! If you know you are going to play poorly because you're distracted/sick/tired, it is NOT +EV to just 'push through it.' Poker is as much about discipline and focus as anything else.

Unless you're a complete novice (in which case I would a few hundred hours of reading and study first), you can always benefit from time at the tables when it comes to practice.

I'm gonna get outplayed. I'll get re-raised in tough spots. Better players will eat me up.

Sometimes we all do! Accept this as part of the game and learn from your mistakes. Take notes, mental and otherwise.

Are you playing at the right level? If you're rolled for 5-10 but not ready/having a bad day/your dog died, then you don't have to take a shot! Don't let your ego force you out of your comfort zone. Make moves up when YOU are ready.

Are you at a table full of sharks? Why are you there? Get the money as easily as possible. If you've accurately assessed that the weakest player at the table isn't bad enough to make money from (or you are the weakest player) then move! Again - ego. Don't be a slave to it. Remove machismo from the equation.


Make this your mantra: I'm a poker player, and a good one at that. I will become better. I'm not afraid of loss or failure and I can subjugate my fear. Eventually, I will have none for the level I'm at.

Think I'm headed down to the 'Woods on Saturday. May you all flop quads - just not against me.

Midterms in 285 - Network Hardware tomorrow night, then TXHE 215 - Crushing LLSNL Friday at Foxwoods.

Poker Manager Pro loaded on the phone, full tank of gas. There will be blood, sweat, hand histories, and hopefully more chip porn.

Nice, keep writing, I like your posts mate. btw you are 40 or did i missunderstood?

Thanks, man. Much appreciated. I probably enjoy writing more than I do poker, but it's hard to make any money from it.

You heard correctly. 40 in January. I am a firm believer that age is just a number. I have to spend more time in the gym, watch what I eat, get my sleep, and even then I'm a wreck after a 10 hour session.

However, what I have gained in wisdom and drive more than compensates for any mental agility I may have lost as I wander into middle age. There is still a ton of money, fun and excitement to be had from poker if one prepares oneself properly, and I intend to see this through to the end this time. Life has just been busy as of late - school does have to come first, and keeping the gf happy is +EV.

Barring something horrible, I will have an update come Saturday. We will see where variance leads me!

Cliffs: would really love feedback on the hand histories, thanks! Gave each one its own heading if you’d like to skip through all of my blathering.

Poker is an incredible amount of work, and Friday night’s session proved just how very far I have to go before I can consider myself a solid, winning player: it was something between bad and abysmal, could have been avoided had I made a few key adjustments, and I very much look forward to working on the mistakes I made.

I have at least 3 hand histories this time too, thanks to my purchase of Poker Manager Pro (Android, love it, highly recommended so far). I am hoping for some feedback! I’m also hoping that novice readers can learn a thing or two from my mistakes.

So what happened at Foxwoods? How badly did I get stomped after my +700 sesh from last month? Read on and see…

Session Lesson #1: You have to review to progress.

I’d rather not be taking hours to write this up, displaying my bad play for the entire world to see. I’d rather not spend $9 on a phone application I may only use 2-3 times a month. I’m still worn out from the drive back after a 14 hour session (3 hours each way), followed by a costume party and boozy sleep. I’d like to just lazily chill out, watch the Sox (ok, so I wrote this over two sessions), and go to bed early. ‘Tis the season to get headcolds, fa la la la, la la la la.

Too bad. I learned something the hard way from my online playing days: trying to improve by spending all your available poker time at the tables is foolish at best. You have to analyze your sessions for errors, review questionable hands, study literature, etc. Otherwise, you could make the same mistakes for months or even years!

Tonight, my learning consists of this post and hopefully, the feedback I get from the hand histories.

Session Lesson #2: Poker is a game against yourself.

No, that isn’t just new agey, self-help book twaddle. I will say it over and over and over again: you have to work on your life leaks as much as your game leaks, or you will not succeed.

You want illustration, right? Of course you do! Let’s jump in. Years ago, when I would play online, I was a smoker. For those of you who are not morons and keep nicotene out of your system, it is one of the closest things to slavery you will ever know. You budget for cigs. You plan your time around smoking. You get irritable when you don’t have high enough nicotene levels. In short: it is an incredible distraction that will detract from your game; obviously it’s –EV for your life, but let’s move on.

So what did I do? Took me literally years, but I quit. Now I don’t miss hands, **** with my blood sugar, pay the price of a car payment every month, or otherwise get distracted during play just so that I can soak certain receptors in my brain with a drug!

If I can overcome that hurdle, I must have worked out all the other kinks, right?

No! Because as I sat down at the table and observed my play in progress, it became apparent that something else is going to have to go once and for all: caffeine. Y’see, my brain is always racing like a herd of antelopes as it is, and when you add in Poor Man’s Coke, my spaz levels approach ludicrous. Of course I’ve noticed this before, but I’ve always rationalized it:

“well I have to be sharp.”
“well it’s a long drive down.”
“well it’s a long session.”

**** all of that. It’s like the old parable from the bible about cutting off your arms and legs if they cause you to sin. Jesus wasn’t into masochism. He was saying: if something drags you down, get rid of it.

Never again will I start a session off with caffeine, ever. I am WAY too amped when I first get to the casino. I was FAR too excited. Is that a crime? No, but it’s –EV as ****. You should be calm when playing, not leaning over the table like a degenerate spastic, twitching while you wait for the next hand. Patience. Patience. Patience. If you aren’t going to be patient, don’t sit at the table!

So without further ado: I played like a spaz. After early aggression worked, I took it a bit too far and donked off a little pushing the edges. Trip 9’s lose to a boat. And then there was this hand:

Hand #1:

Villain is brand-new to the table, buys in for 100BB. I have him covered. I am nearly vibrating out of existence on caffeine and adrenaline.

I look down to see QQ (forgot suits) in EP+1 and raise to 12 pf. Villain calls. Pot ~$30.

Flop comes 5 Q 9 rainbow. I see no danger here (mistake #1) and figure my hand is strong enough to slowplay. I want to give this guy time to catch up with something, anything. $1/2 players are also very passive, and I am scared to bet it up (mistake #2).
Check-check.

Turn K. I’m salivating. The only coherent thought in my head is “man I hope he has Kx something so I can get paid”. I bet $25. Villain thinks a moment and bumps it up to $60, leaving him with about $120. Pot is now $115.

I’m not even spoilering this: he had J10s and I lament my sad fate. In hindsight, the only thing that really irks me is that I didn't even stop to think what his range was. I was nearly jumping out of my chair (inwardly) and didn't even care. Note: this guy literally lost EVERY SINGLE HAND over the course of the next two hours, playing about 70/7 the rest of the way. Call two streets, fold on the river. Sigh.

Does anyone just call here?

Double Presto Won’t Save You From Drowning When Your Skull is Full of Lead

Now I’m really screwed. I’m slightly tilted, still a little jittery, and I’m positive the table sees me as some sort of spastic, spewy noob whalefish (by this time, I’ve topped off with a couple of blacks twice and am just playing like dog****). I revert back to step one: dump everything but solid hands for the position and wait.

There is a reason that people play tightly: it works. Everyone is cautious (and rightfully so) of having sessions where you go card-dead for hours, so they sit around and wait for premium hands and maximize value. Furthermore, despite all the “poker is dead and dying” naysayers, I can assure you that you’re not going to see much evidence of this at a $1/2 table in a large casino on a Friday night. Be patient. Bad players will come, and if you’re ready (and lucky enough to be in the hand when your cards come back around), you can take their money. Viva la bumhunting!

So this is where I made my glorious comeback, right? No, this is where I continued to **** up. I flop kwad 5’s, but this time I go with a check bet bet line where the river bet of $55 scares them all away and I am sad. I nonchalantly flip in a black on the river in another nuttish pot and again scare everyone away. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. I call down a nice kid from Worchester with JJ and he kindly shows me bullets. My KK gets station-called down to the river, which of course binks them the flush.

Poor bet sizing, poor luck continues. 6 hours in, and I’m over $300 down. Then this hand happens:

Hand #2

Note: I’m well aware that I need to take better notes and be more aware of stack/pot sizes. Bear with me.
I pick up Q10s in MP with about $450. Villain is in EP, is smart, nice, and somewhere between a nittish and solid player. I have him covered. I raise pf to $8, I believe. 2 callers.

Pot is $30~. AJ9 rainbow, 1 spade. Check check.
Turn is a spade. Now I have 15 outs. V bets $22. I raise to $60 with my 15 outer. He pushes. Pot is $260~, $85 more to call. So I’m at about 30%, and the pot is laying me about 3-1. Am I getting proper odds here to call? Can I even factor in fold equity on villain’s part given that while not a fool, he is probably just playing TP? I sense much practice with poker math in my future.

Spo:
I call and river bricks. Dude has gone all in with TP/crappy kicker, A8s. Poker is dead.

The Path out of Hell is Long and Hard, But Really Exhilarating

Well that worked out well. Now I’m nearly $500 down, I have a 3+ hour drive to face, a party to attend, and I still look like some form of – hell I am playing like one too – super-fish. Tommy Angelo talks about quitting properly in Elements of Poker. I highly recommend you read what he has to say in that chapter, as it is an acquired skill and something we can all get better at.

I just wasn't ready though. No way did I drive down there to drop 5 bills. No way was I going to let the session end like this. And ffs, there were certainly no shortage of bad players at the table. So I did what I usually do: slowly ground myself back up on the backs of the really bad players. Will I be able to do this at $2-5? Of course not, but I am nowhere near ready for that now, am I?

It’s 2-3 am. I’m still down $250ish. Tables have broken 2x now, and I’m starting to get a little nervous. I really, really have to leave. I’m getting tired. The adrenalin is gone – which is usually a good thing in my case – but I’m noticeably tired.

My patience pays off. The last table of the night sees me sitting with a drunk super-LAG who is raising to $10-15 every other hand. KK holds up. My bluffs are working. My hands are holding up. My image is solid. I am on a tear, my spasticness has abated, and it’s time to make the final push. I bust a pretty Korean dental intern with AA. I am sitting at the table with this stack:

[IMG]http://s17.************/x24y76udb/IMAG0091.jpg[/IMG]

And then this happens:

Hand #3

Drunk LAG’s friend (to his left) is just as laggy, with several of his hands going to showdown with A high. Smart guy, but makes far too many loose calls preflop. The table is deepstacked, with 5 of us sitting at $700+. I have $900+.

I am in LP with AK. It is raised to $15 by LAG’s buddy and called by drunk LAG. I bump it up to $50. These guy have been routinely playing crap for large pf raises; time to make it real. I have showed down a couple of 3b hands with AA and KK when I’ve done this in the past. Both players call.

Pot $150~. I miss. Board is something like 8 3 10 rainbow. I check. LAG #1 bets $125. I have zero reason to believe he has hit a set, nor do I think he has hit 2p with something like 108. He’s loose, not crazy. I call. Drunk LAG folds.

Pot $400. Turn is another 8. Check check. Now I really don’t think he has much.

River 7. I lead for $125, fully expecting him to fold his A high, weak pair hands. There is also another galactic mistake I was making with this hand that I’m going to wrap up with, but I’ll get to that in a moment.

He raises me to $300. Bart Hanson yells something at me from the recesses of my brain about this never being a bluff. I take 10 seconds and fold. He had 77 and hit the boat on the river.

Session Lesson #3: Never, ever be afraid to lock up a small win given the variables.

Why this now? It should be readily apparent to those of you reading that my play in that last hand was especially terrible because I was afraid to lose. I think I could have pushed him out of the hand with a raise on the flop, or perhaps a healthy turn bet. Instead, I was timid, and what was constantly running through my head was the fear of things going wrong. I valiantly stuck around for another 90 minutes or so, but the end had come. Went completely and utterly card dead and sent myself home a $145 loser when I could have locked up a nice $250+ win after getting my ass kicked all night.

This is why I mentioned Tommy Angelo’s words. Have you been playing all day? Got things to do tomorrow? Don’t feel well? Small bankroll? It is not a crime to lock up a small win and leave. Was I crazy for staying at that table? No. Drunk LAG lost all of his $700 stack in the next hour – I just didn’t get any of it. However, given everything I had weighing on me, I would have left shortly after taking that picture. Had I been staying there, I would have played until I keeled over dead.

If the situation calls for it, then take solace in your small win and gtfo!

Educationally, it was a very useful session. Really hoping to get some comments on the hands I listed.

Thanks!

You need some non-respectable folks itt.

Subbed.

Heathens welcome!