Yea… in hindsight, I should have most definitely folded.


home cooked dinner for two: garlic steak with garlic potatoes/eggplant/mushroom kebab.




Got it in, earlier this week



I played a session a few nights ago, 3/5 blinds. There were already a few tables going, but I was just sitting at a new table with 1 other guy. We were waiting for other players to come fill up the table. 2 more people sit down within 20 minutes or so, the dealer with us asks everyone if we want to play 4 players. player 1 says yes, player 2 says yes, player 3 says yes… now to me. I say, “No, I’ll wait.”
The rest of the players just glare at me, especially the eldest guy. I get it, time is money and you’re literally dying a slow death. But why play a completely negative EV game? The drop is too da** high.

20 minutes later, another guy (Middle Eastern guy) sits down. Old white guy asks me, “NOW can we play?”
Still not my favorite spot, but like a pushover, I look up from my phone and say “Yeah.”

Super short session, waited almost 40 minutes, but ended up playing for 30 minutes.

5 handed:
First hand I play is T6o on the BB.
Mid Eastern guy limps in CO, back to me. I check. Heads up to flop.
flop 744r
I check, he check
turn 9 (no draw), I check he check
River comes a 5. Board is 744 9 5,
I check with my Ten high, Mid Eastern guy just mucks. I scoop pot without having to show my Ten high.
I can’t imagine that I had him beat, it simply doesn’t make sense. Unless he literally had deuce-three. But great, I scoop a pot that wasn’t supposed to be mine. (see, this kind of sh** wouldn’t happen online.)

A few hands later, Mid Eastern guy loses a huge pot with his under full-house, his A4 on a QQ449 board against AQ. He still has about $160 behind.
The very next hand, I peek down and see JJ in mid position. I open to $16.
Young guy in CO calls,
Mid Eastern guy makes it $42.
Back to me. I have about $180, on the table. I also didn’t bring any additional money, for stop-loss reasons since I lost so much last time. I don’t insta-shove. He hasn’t shown any signs that he 3-bets light. I can imagine most people in V’s spot 3 bet TT+ AQ+, which I don’t have crushed. Then I take into consideration that he lost a huge hand just before. I add a few more hands into his range, and find the shove button.
Guy behind folds, Villain calls.

Flop comes 6 5 9.
not good for the additional hands that I put in V’s range.
Turn is an Ace. Definitely not good.
River is a Ten. Board is *659* A T.
I table my Jacks, knowing I’m likely beat.




GL on everyone's saturday sessions!

several lines about cards , 1 blurb about girl wtf

No extra rebuys, lol!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That is not a stop loss, more like a stop play.

Dude..this is bad. How can you say "i don't see too much more value" when there's a steaming guy who has limp/open folded a river and gotten it in pre with 88? Packing up and leaving is the exact opposite of what you should be doing here.

Eh, kind of depend what KK's BR is right now. If he has a sufficient number of buy in's in it, then yes he should stick around and keep playing. If he's a bit tight buy in wise right now, I think cashing out and 'protecting,' a profit is probably the right thing for him to do.

Playing with a meaningful percentage of your BR on the table in a 5 handed game at that is a high risk situation. Sure there is reward to be had along with that risk as well. But he could cash out here. Go get something to eat and then come back later to a full ring game with whatever his initial buy in was and put himself in a much lower risk situation. Sure the reward might be a bit lower to, but it's not as if he isn't still making money. He still is.

KK shouldn't be playing short handed period in my opinion. Bankroll is one consideration and another consideration is game dynamics. In my experience, live grinders tend to be very poor short handed players. KK is tighter than most grinders. His best attribute is his patience, which serves him well in a full ring game.

If he wants to play more short-handed games he will need to learn to open his game up more. This is not an easy transition IMO. Personally, I think he does just fine in full ring. Also, this guy was ready to spew off but that is pretty typical for players at this stake. It's not like KK is struggling to find good games.

I don’t believe Villain is going to do this every time. You have to realize that in live poker they might not have stat trackers hovering over my head, but seeing someone’s face as they stack you will leave a lasting impression. He has the sample size of 1 ai against me, and I had JJ. How much more do you think he’s going to overshove a marginal hand into me?

That’s exactly what I’m thinking. I could be more comfortable BR wise… but unlike other many other people on PGC, I actually make real money from time to time.



Let’s just say, I have about $800 worth of repair I could do on my car, but I just wouldn’t at the moment. Remember, my BR and liferoll are one and the same. So some month I may be technically in the black from cards, but I might be in Red in overall expenditure. The tradeoff is, unlike other many other people on PGC, I actually make real money from time to time.

If anyone know’s a good (honest) and reliable mechanic that won’t rip me off in the soCal region, please let me know.



Thanks for the compliment, I think haha
I do believe patience is a great attribute, especially in the games that I play. But I don’t believe my short handed game is all that bad given the right situation.

For instance, back in my college days, 5-7 handed games were my jam. It was a psychological battle about frequency. I felt super comfortable playing those games, even more comfortable than playing the $200 at commerce. The reason why, was that I played 100 bb’s deep, and there was no HUGE rake, so the more hands I played, the more I would win.

The same doesn’t hold true in these high rake games. The more hands you jump into, the more rake you play. Unless your opponents are dumping money in the pot with valueless hands, you shouldn’t be trying to steal a 2 bb pot, bc after the rake/drop, that pot will be a .125 bb pot.

derail, but I would love to start a small blinds, no rake, deep, short handed homegame with some other peeps. Just for funsies.

Sorry Melichile, I didn’t mean to cut that part short. She’s a nice girl, but I’m still feeling her out. Last time I really opened my heart to someone, I got really messed up and I don’t want to turn into those old stoic men that don’t give a fu** about anything. More to come about her on our next outing, I promise.

Yep, I posted a thread in LLSNL a few weeks ago about short handed rake and all the responses I got were that I just needed to work on my short handed game. Amazing how many player don't pay attention to the effects rake can have. When your playing 5 handed and paying 30-35 bb/100 in rake, the best player in the game might make a very small hourly profit, and that's only if he's heads and shoulders above the other four players, besides that no one else is profiting besides the house.

Where is all your other money coming from? Is it from the book?

Yes, finally, I don’t feel like the only crazy person. Going from Full ring to short handed, they decrease rake by a dollar or two, but it still doesn’t scale down all that well. You need dumpers and whales to see any sort of profit.
I always appreciate the comments from the virtual grinders, but they fail to realize other live factors that may contribute/take-away from your bottom line, including rake issues and angling issues.

I agree with this entirely.


Sales have been pretty strong given I’ve put in 0 time and effort into marketing, but you have to remember it’s a book. You’d have to sell a significant number of books in the hundreds to thousands to possibly to see any sign of real income. (It's crazy but I've seen some poker books sell for $500-1500 each, and in those situations you'd only need to sell a few.)
I take some tilt time off here and there, but poker is my main source of income for many months/years to come.

I’ve been sending 100-200 to my parents every month to help them with insurance payments, so that decreases my liferoll quite a bit.
I’ve made a little bit upfront from the book, but I see that as long gone as of last year. If I could make $200/month in passive income by the end of the summer to help with that, that would be a blessing.


In unrelated news, I’ll be passing through vegas around the 27th of June to meet up with another 2p2er, but I don’t think my roll can handle an entry into a bracelet event so I’ll probably end up playing live cash games
Lets just all run good during the summer!!!!!!

KK, just wanted to say I really enjoy your old thread. I followed your old one and will catch up on this one over the next few days.

Run well!

Thanks bud, I really need the positive energy. It’s good to see you again.

Last night...
I had one of the quickest sessions of my life. I come in after the button. My first hand I see is AJo. I don’t like this hand amazingly with $200 (40bbs), but I know it’s good enough to raise in LP with two limper MP. I open to 20. BB calls, 2 limpers call. Pot is $80.

Flop comes A67r. Checks to me. I bet half pot, $40.
Mid eastern BB calls. MP Korean guy calls. Pot is $200.
Turn comes an off-suit Jack. I hit top two!
Checks to me again. With $120 behind, I shove all in.
BB calls. MP folds. Pot is $440.

River is a 5. Board is *A67* J 5.
BB waits for me to show.

I table my top two. I’m thinking, please don’t have a set, please don’t have a set…



I feel like a run bad over the weekend is coming. I hope I'm wrong.

If you don't put in volume then the run bad is going to hurt a lot more. Fact is that hand was pretty standard stuff. Everyone loses like that, especially at 40bbs. However, if you only play 1 hand in a session then you are just riding the variance train.

BTW, prefer a larger raise pre over limpers with a value hand. These guys are going to call more and the more they call the harder it will be for them to fold when they hit a piece (and that's good for you).

KK, bringing one buyin to a 40BB game is not a recipe for success. Thinking you are going to run bad rest of the day after getting beat one hand (pretty standard hand BTW) is a recipe for failure. Hope you spend some time to work on your mental game.

You guys are right... I was saving up the multiple buy ins for the weekend games, bc it's so much more positive EV... Went into the casino with 600, busted 400 a lot earlier friday than I wanted to.
I'm too ****ed up to post the hand that busted me, so i'll post it tommorrow.


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/colorado-city-will-use-15-million-cannabis-tax-revenues-to-help-the-homeless-a7027236.html

this is definitely a step in the right direction.

I may be ******edly optimistic, but I just feel like June is going to be my month. I need it to be my month.

Good luck man. I hope that you're doing well. If you need June to be your month then maybe consider getting a temporary part-time job just to have a cushion. It should help you not have to play less than optimal.

beating a dead horse here

It might have to come to that one of these days, but I think I'd rather be dead. If you know of a job, where I don't have to listen to someone above me, lmk.

It’s funny the things you think of when you’re high.
I was just laying in my bed, thinking about one of my previous sessions, and remembered the exact detail of my opponents and the hands that I played. It played out like a full color movie in my head. I felt like I played the hand great, but got sucked out on/coolered. I remember posting it a few months back on my old thread, and someone just blatantly flames me, but doesn't consider that it’s a live hand of poker. not online. it plays differently in so many spots. like, thousands of different spots. It’s frustrating AF.

The thing is, I don’t think there are as many live grinders on 2p2, or even in the world. I don’t know exact numbers, but I think live cash game pros are a dying breed. There are the live tournament rounders, the online cash game penny grinders, but live grinders who can actually prove that they are a live winner long term? It’s a endangered breed.

I just wonder where all the used to be pro players are going. I saw an interesting thread on 2p2, <link> that depicted pre 2009 or so games were so soft, and simply knowing about selective starting hands would ensure a high win rate. Where there is free gold to dig, there will be free agents running into the market. But after the tightening, after BF, where the **** did all the pros go? did they transition into a day job? are many just at home, on welfare and ****?

I can’t imagine having all of this freedom that I do, then going back into a cubical. It would be like if Abraham Lincoln said, “all you slaves are free,” and then saying the next day, “LOL, just kidding.” So many dreams, so many people probably quit their careers, quit their school, because they thought they could make 5K a month playing poker forever. They must have been crushed by the cruel reality.
Galfond was lucky. Alot of our "Heroes" were lucky, they spawned at the right time. They cashed at the right time, before the widespread sharing of poker secrets that would solidify the game worldwide.

the few winning players that are left... We're the lucky ones.

There are plenty of players making > $5k per month all over the world playing poker. Both in online cash games and live cash games. The games you play don't support playing for a living. The 5/10 1500 max game at the commerce for instance actually can support a decent living. And there are plenty of live regs playing that game day in and day out for a living. Some do better than others I'm sure. You won't meet any "live pros" playing in your 40bb max game. It's hard enough to beat the rake in that game. $5 blind games and higher with 100bb+ buy ins can reasonably support someone if they put in decent volume and are solid winners and don't have bad degenerate tendencies.

Good luck bud.

I don't know if you follow other people PGC threads KK but this one is pretty good and inspiring for a live grinder and the dude seems to be the real deal.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/17...as-now-998922/

Pretty dope thread!

KK hope u rock June, that cubicle is no place to go.

via Imgflip Meme Generator

So I did two weekend sessions. Friday night I didn’t have access to my car, so a fellow 2p2er gave me a ride to commerce. Thanks again man, it was fun chillin and playing the same table, even if it wasn’t the most positive sessions for either of us. Busted everything I had in my pocket, ($160 or so at the $40 buy in game) because I didn’t have a chance to hit the ATM. I had made the executive decision to not play the $200 game because I was running on exactly 1.5 hours of sleep. So cynical me, I thought this was the start of my sh**ty summer run.

Buddy gave me a ride to my car and we parted ways at 3 am. For one night, I had to do it old school, sleep in my car for the night because my airBnB situation ran out and the next place wasn’t ready yet. For some reason, I still couldn’t fall asleep, so I hit the ATM for $300 and drove over to the next casino over to play an all night session until I could check into my next place.

at 7 in the morning, I got into my first massive pot with QJ.

Mexican guy (nice guy btw) had about $235, and straddles UTG to $10.
I’m right after him ($275 behind), and limp for $10 with QhJh.
Solid forty-five year old white reg MP ($185 behind) also limps for $10.
Black guy LP ($135) behind also limps $10.
Mexican Guy checks.
Pot is $45.

Flop comes 945.
Mexican guy checks.
I bet $25.
Solid white reg goes all in for $185. Which is weird. His stack has been pretty stable for the last 3 hours or so. I’ve never seen him overshove into a pot like this. So I don’t quite know what that means.
Black guy in LP shoves all in for $135.
Mexican guy just calls the $185, leaving $50 behind.
Back to KingKrab. I don’t fist pump auto get it in. Sure I have a flush, but it’s far from the nuts. I’m against 3 players, 2 spewey players, 1 solid reg. Probably one made hand, and two draws I’m thinking. White solid could have KhXh type hands, I don’t believe he’d do this with the Ace of hearts alone. Possibly a set, but this would also be a very weird play for a set. Why not call $25, try to bink a full house on further streets?

Like the professionals they are, everyone at the table starts to speculate what I have when I don’t insta fold or insta shove.
“He must have a baby flush.”
I say, “I think he (points at white reg) has the flush. I don’t want to call, but I have to call.”
And I start putting my chips in. Which was a mistake, because, both me and the mexican dude have chips behind, $50 more effective to be exact. So when I start sliding all my chips in, he calls attention to the dealer and says, “He said call.”
Like it’s not going to go in on the turn anyways… So I have a small stack of yellow chips behind to the turn.

Pot is $575. two people all in.
Turn comes Ace of spades.
Board is *945* A
I go all in.
Mexican guy calls.
River comes the 6 of clubs. *945* A 6.

Apparently I’m to show first,




I make a few good plays afterwards, and end up cashing out $900 from a $200 buy in.

I don't think that you can ever fold there. If you fold there then you basically can't play QJ

Against two spewtards and some bad reg shoving its a call, and your gonna get overflushed here often enough, but you need something like 25-30% equity which given player types you definitely have. White reg will never play a A/K-high flush like this. I also suspect he sucks and is not in fact a solid reg. Other two fishy guys are showing up with a few combos of 2pairs, sets, worse flushes, better flushes, or strong flush draws

Unrelated note: they're filming the movie "Sun Dogs" at Hollywood parks where I'm playing right now. Even said hi to Jennifer Morrison (emma swan) from the show once upon a time.

So there's a big chance that I might show up as a background actor