Much better this week. I got back about 4 of the 9 buyins I had lost previously. I'm still seeing some leaks I need to work on based on my stats, it's just getting tougher and tougher to find the spots to improve them. I need to make it a point of emphasis to flag the spots where I think I might be making mistakes in nodes where I know I'm off to see if that helps.

I'm not even halfway through the Upswing lab. Holy crap there's a lot of material in there. I try to get through about 15-30 minutes of it per day. I'm not even sure I'll finish it this year at that pace. And by that point it will be time to go back and get a refresher on the stuff I've forgotten. It's tough to stay up to date on this game.

The good news is I'm out of the red gambling this year. FanDuel had a same game parlay promo of bet $200 get $100 free-bet. While I hate SGPs, mainly because good luck knowing the true odds, there's got to be some good EV from that one. It had to be on a wildcard game. I went with the Dolphins to cover, the over to hit, and Josh Allen over his passing yards total for final odds of +477. After placing the bet my wagering progress didn't increase, and I realize they snuck a "4-leg" requirement into the bet. FanDuel SGP promos have always been 3 legs, but they're getting cheap on me. So I doubled down. Same bet but with Skylar Thompson over his yards as well for +672. They both binked and I cleared over $2K on that one. With that, my poker winnings, and some other rungood, I'm back in the positive on the year.

I'm definitely seeing an overall drop in promotions. DraftKings and Barstool were two of my biggest profit centers and they are mostly gone. Caesars is still OK, and it looks like that will be where the bulk of my action will be this year assuming they keep it going. It will take some insane rungood to make anywhere near as much this year as last.

As for more poker, I played a few weird hands.

PokerStars - $2 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BB: 120.16 BB
UTG: 100 BB
MP: 93.62 BB
Hero (CO): 129.47 BB
BTN: 70.05 BB
SB: 147.37 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 7 8

fold, fold, Hero raises to 2.5 BB, fold, SB calls 2 BB, fold

Flop: (6 BB, 2 players) 7 A 7
SB bets 1 BB, Hero raises to 4.5 BB, SB raises to 8 BB, Hero calls 3.5 BB

Turn: (22 BB, 2 players) K
SB bets 20.9 BB, Hero calls 20.9 BB

River: (63.8 BB, 2 players) T
SB bets 115.97 BB and is all-in, fold

SB wins 62.3 BB

I didn't think I'd be folding the river but the flush gets there and these types of players tend to be face up with their bet sizes.

PokerStars - $2 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 3 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (BTN): 101.5 BB
SB: 98.73 BB
BB: 183.24 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has Q Q

Hero raises to 2.5 BB, SB calls 2 BB, BB raises to 12.7 BB, Hero raises to 27 BB, fold, BB calls 14.3 BB

Flop: (56.5 BB, 2 players) 8 K 3
BB checks, Hero checks

Turn: (56.5 BB, 2 players) 3
BB bets 37 BB, Hero calls 37 BB

River: (130.5 BB, 2 players) 9
BB bets 119.24 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 37.5 BB and is all-in

BB shows K Q (Two Pair, Kings and Threes)
(Pre 35%, Flop 91%, Turn 98%)
Hero shows Q Q (Two Pair, Queens and Threes)
(Pre 65%, Flop 9%, Turn 2%)
BB wins 204.5 BB

Fellow poster crzytimes got me on this one. It felt like KQs was the bulk of his value range and I liked my blockers. I guess I'm supposed to range bet the flop small though, so I missed that. Playing direct underpairs to the board is still weird to me. In single raised or maybe even 3-bet pots, having a PP just below the top card seems to be about the MOST checked hand there is. But I guess some spots like this the range is just so strong we can be it all. I take some comfort in the fact that no matter which branch of the game tree I went down this hand is a very high% stackoff.

PokerStars - $2 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 141.98 BB
SB: 100 BB
Hero (BB): 119.08 BB
UTG: 69.38 BB
CO: 117.73 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 9 Q

fold, CO raises to 2 BB, fold, fold, Hero calls 1 BB

Flop: (4.5 BB, 2 players) T 4 K
Hero checks, CO bets 1.5 BB, Hero calls 1.5 BB

Turn: (7.49 BB, 2 players) J
Hero checks, CO bets 7.12 BB, Hero raises to 25.26 BB, CO calls 18.15 BB

River: (58.01 BB, 2 players) K
Hero bets 37.68 BB, CO raises to 88.98 BB and is all-in, fold

CO wins 131.86 BB

I'm fairly certain this one is OK. Villain is kind of fishy and can maybe lose his mind with Kx sometimes, but I think vs this action I'm supposed to fold, but I really didn't like it.

I hate how little I left behind in the river KQ vs QQ). Not sure if I thought we were both deep or if I had too many tables open and just clicked a button in the midst of all the beeping.

You’ll def get it back. Nice SGP hits!

I think the right play is to go geometric there and get the money in with 2 half pot bets. I had sort of made the decision after I checked back the flop that I wasn't folding on any runout unless it was an ace. While range bet flop may be the theoretical play there, I think I still like checking back a dry board like that with a lot of hands and just let guys who over-probe fire away (I don't have enough hands vs. you to know if that's true, but I think it's a common leak).

I clawed back about 4 more buyins this week to get closer to even on the month, so that's good. In my last 50K hands I'm running at about 3.5BB/100 at 200NL. I'll take that. I'm not going to get rich, but it's about the $$ I want out of this side hustle. If I can maintain or improve on that, I'll be happy. I won't completely rule out moving down to 100NL as my winrate there has been much higher and the tables seem softer, but for now I plan on trying to keep seeking out fishy tables and playing my best poker at 200NL.

As for other gambling, it was a swingy but ultimately positive week. After scoring about $3K earlier in the week on some deposit bonuses and other promos, I dropped about $1.5K over the weekend between more promos and poker. But overall the money is heading in the right way, so I'm pretty happy. It's sort of been decided that there won't be any "big" family vacations this year that I have to try and pay for, so that takes some of the pressure off. I'm hoping to build up a pretty large roll/savings this year. My house could use new windows and I don't even want to think about how serious of a setback that might be.

The other good news is that my wife is now planning on going back to work. The kids are getting older and don't require as much constant parenting, so it's finally looking like an option. While that likely means I have to pick up more around here and less time for poker, it's good for our overall financial stability. While I make decent money, both at my job and on the side, there's still been some budget sacrifices that have had to be made, and her working again would take off some of that pressure. Life is good these days. Let's hope it continues.

Let's see, I'm sure I can find some fun poker hands in here somewhere...

This felt like a solid bluff. I wonder if a river jam gets him off it? I didn't think I was aggro enough to earn these kinds of hero calls.

PartyGaming - $2 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

MP: 101.3 BB
CO: 129.53 BB
Hero (BTN): 128.51 BB
SB: 101.09 BB
BB: 198.01 BB
UTG: 101.5 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has T Q

fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 2.5 BB, fold, BB calls 1.5 BB

Flop: (5.5 BB, 2 players) 9 2 8
BB checks, Hero bets 2.6 BB, BB calls 2.6 BB

Turn: (10.69 BB, 2 players) A
BB checks, Hero bets 15.15 BB, BB calls 15.15 BB

River: (40.99 BB, 2 players) 7
BB checks, Hero bets 33.57 BB, BB calls 33.57 BB

Hero shows T Q (High Card, Ace)
(Pre 60%, Flop 32%, Turn 20%)
BB shows 9 J (One Pair, Nines)
(Pre 40%, Flop 68%, Turn 80%)
BB wins 106.62 BB

I made a bit of a loose call IP vs. an undersized 3-bet and was handsomely rewarded:

PokerStars - $2 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

CO: 100 BB
Hero (BTN): 129.43 BB
SB: 123.67 BB
BB: 100 BB
UTG: 127.78 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 5 8

fold, fold, Hero raises to 2.5 BB, fold, BB raises to 8 BB, Hero calls 5.5 BB

Flop: (16.5 BB, 2 players) 7 9 6
BB bets 4.71 BB, Hero raises to 21.43 BB, BB raises to 92 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 70.57 BB

Turn: (200.5 BB, 2 players) A

River: (200.5 BB, 2 players) 5

Players agreed to run it twice.

Turn #2: (200.5 BB, 2 players) 3

River #2: (200.5 BB, 2 players) 4

BB shows K K (One Pair, Kings)
Board #1 (Pre 81%, Flop 4%, Turn 0%)
(One Pair, Kings)
Board #2 (Pre 82%, Flop 4%, Turn 0%)

Hero shows 5 8 (Straight, Nine High)
Board #1 (Pre 19%, Flop 96%, Turn 100%)
(Straight, Nine High)
Board #2 (Pre 18%, Flop 96%, Turn 100%)

Hero wins 99.5 BB
Hero wins 99.5 BB

I wonder if I should have raised here. I tend to just call down IP in 3-bet pots. Villain is a LAG. Folding river seems out of the question even though I knew it was no longer happy time.

PartyGaming - $2 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

MP: 75.75 BB
CO: 119.68 BB
Hero (BTN): 104.5 BB
SB: 61.45 BB
BB: 121.36 BB
UTG: 215.14 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 9 A

fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 2.5 BB, SB calls 2 BB, BB raises to 11 BB, Hero calls 8.5 BB, fold

Flop: (24.5 BB, 2 players) 2 9 A
BB bets 7.5 BB, Hero calls 7.5 BB

Turn: (39.5 BB, 2 players) 4
BB bets 22 BB, Hero calls 22 BB

River: (83.5 BB, 2 players) 4
BB bets 65.5 BB, Hero calls 64 BB and is all-in

BB shows J T (Flush, Jack High)
(Pre 45%, Flop 33%, Turn 18%)
Hero shows 9 A (Two Pair, Aces and Nines)
(Pre 55%, Flop 67%, Turn 82%)
BB wins 210 BB

As a renowned tight wad, I hate expenditures like this. A lot of our lower floor windows were becoming "foggy" / etc. so we had about a dozen panes replaced at a cost of ~$14K, but that was probably ~5 years ago (pre-pandemic prices). Still irks me when I look up at our new master living room window, which are fog free, but in the correct light you can make out these "crop circle"-like images in them, sigh. Didn't bother with replacing any upper floor ones, or even some other minor ones on the lower floor, and probably never will.

GcluelesstightwadnoobG

I'm looking into replacing the hardware on these not all that old (25 years or so) casement windows. I have a few windows now that we don't open because they can't be closed easily and it's very annoying.

I'm done with January. It could've been worse. I am still considering a semi-permanent move down to 100NL if I can't get my 200NL winrate up. This months results sort of have me wondering:



It did feel like once upon a time the 100 and 200NL pools had similar players. Nowadays though the 200NL regs seem a notch above the 100NL ones. I'm competitive, but I'm not sure it's worth it. I'm going to stubbornly keep grinding at 200NL for a while longer to see if I catch on, but maybe I'll try to mix in more 100NL just to see if my winrate. Although last year I was better at 200NL than 100NL.

Promo chasing went well. I was up over 6K until I hit a nasty $1500 downswing today. Still though, a nearly 5K month. That's enough pocket money for the stuff I want to do.

We saw Bone Thugs 'n Harmony last weekend at the casino. We hit up our first buffet since COVID and it was amazing. We went back to our room to pregame but were too full to put hardly any booze down. I cut up a bunch of edibles and started popping them about 20 minutes before showtime. Every so often during the show I would just toss one back. I ended up doing way more than normal, but was mostly functional. Despite Bizzy Bone not touring with the group, they can still play the hits. The best part of these shows is often just watching the opening acts really get into it, then they come back out later and did some free styling after the show. Those shows are fun, I'd like to do at least 1 or 2 per year.

This hand cracked me up pretty hard. I have no idea what hands raise that turn then fold to that size. I'm pretty sure I'm glad he folded.

PartyGaming - $2 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

MP: 191.88 BB
CO: 101.5 BB
BTN: 142 BB
Hero (SB): 100 BB
BB: 160.89 BB
UTG: 100 BB

Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB, CO posts penalty blind 1.5 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 3 BB) Hero has Q A

fold, MP raises to 3 BB, fold, BTN calls 3 BB, Hero raises to 15 BB, fold, fold, BTN calls 12 BB

Flop: (35.5 BB, 2 players) J 5 7
Hero checks, BTN checks

Turn: (35.5 BB, 2 players) Q
Hero bets 17 BB, BTN raises to 62.33 BB, Hero raises to 85 BB and is all-in, fold

Hero wins 181.33 BB

Well, my stubbornness paid off a bit as I managed to 20x my previous months winnings at 200NL, racking up a nice + 10 buyin week. To be fair, there was some run good in there as I'm 5 buyins over EV, but both winrates are pretty good, so I'll take it.

I was just reviewing some hands and while I'm happy with the results, this was a weird one. I think strong hands turned bad runout are sort of a weakness of mine. Especially in these narrow range spots. It's very easy to massively over or under-fold if you're not careful. I tanked this river for a while and while I sort of knew I had to call I didn't like it.

PartyGaming - $2 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

UTG: 86.18 BB
MP: 100 BB
CO: 28.5 BB
BTN: 102.2 BB
SB: 147.33 BB
Hero (BB): 126.71 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has J J

fold, MP raises to 2 BB, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 11 BB, MP calls 9 BB

Flop: (22.5 BB, 2 players) 5 J 9
Hero bets 7.01 BB, MP calls 7.01 BB

Turn: (36.52 BB, 2 players) K
Hero bets 23.35 BB, MP calls 23.35 BB

River: (83.21 BB, 2 players) Q
Hero checks, MP bets 58.65 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 58.65 BB

Hero shows J J (Three of a Kind, Jacks)
(Pre 82%, Flop 96%, Turn 98%)
MP shows 9 9 (Three of a Kind, Nines)
(Pre 18%, Flop 4%, Turn 2%)
Hero wins 199 BB

Now after showdown I thought that the 99 jam there was ambitious, and the solver agreed, it checks back 99 in this spot, (but does jam JJ/QQ). What I didn't realize is just how wide I'm supposed to call. It feels like anything not a Tx is a bluffcatcher, but apparently my 0EV mixed decisions calls start with AQ? I would not have found those calls. Same with AK. But any Tx and any 2pr+ is calling this.

Now on the other hand the solver mostly likes a check or bet small on this turn. Had I done that, and then checked the river JJ does fold to that much larger jam. IMO 4 straight board textures can be very tricky to play properly.

I feel like I've made some progress with regards to my aggression. I played a bit less nitty in some spots and went for a few more bluffs than normal, mostly to some nice success. That could be part of the run good, so I have to make sure to always be fine tuning, but it definitely felt like I was getting away with some stuff.

This hands was funny. It feels like this should never work, but damned if it doesn't get the job done occasionally.

PartyGaming - $2 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 166.12 BB
SB: 134.42 BB
Hero (BB): 157.61 BB
UTG: 289.42 BB
CO: 103.5 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has J 7

fold, fold, BTN raises to 2.5 BB, fold, Hero raises to 11 BB, BTN calls 8.5 BB

Flop: (22.5 BB, 2 players) Q 5 6
Hero bets 2 BB, fold

Hero wins 23.25 BB

OOP as the preflop aggressor is another spot where I'm still really learning the strategies. I know this combo needs to be played aggressively but I'm not sure if just triple off is right or if I should've gone for the flop xr. Most sims I run show a crap ton of checking OOP and that's just a strategy I need to really get used to. I'll sim this spot later (although I don't really have a good range to put in for CO call) just to see if the triple barrel is right. He tanked for quite a while on this one.

PokerStars - $2 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

CO: 173.82 BB
BTN: 104.69 BB
SB: 61.48 BB
BB: 104.5 BB
Hero (UTG): 179.09 BB
MP: 100 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has T Q

Hero raises to 2.5 BB, fold, CO calls 2.5 BB, fold, fold, fold

Flop: (6.5 BB, 2 players) 9 J 3
Hero bets 3 BB, CO calls 3 BB

Turn: (12.5 BB, 2 players) 5
Hero bets 7.92 BB, CO calls 7.92 BB

River: (28.33 BB, 2 players) 3
Hero bets 20 BB, fold

Hero wins 26.92 BB



I feel like I'm not supposed to check this flop, but betting a marginal hand OOP seemed unnatural. There's a lot that's unnatural about playing OOP that I'm getting used to. Once I saw this turn card though I couldn't help myself.

PokerStars - $2 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

MP: 144.48 BB
CO: 119.39 BB
BTN: 62.28 BB
SB: 287.7 BB
Hero (BB): 111.23 BB
UTG: 107.75 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 5 A

fold, fold, CO raises to 2 BB, BTN calls 2 BB, fold, Hero raises to 12 BB, CO calls 10 BB, fold

Flop: (26.5 BB, 2 players) 5 6 4
Hero checks, CO bets 9.32 BB, Hero calls 9.32 BB

Turn: (45.13 BB, 2 players) 3
Hero checks, CO bets 26.62 BB, Hero raises to 89.91 BB and is all-in, fold

Hero wins 96.86 BB

That's probably enough hands for now. I've got some promos to chase for Super Bowl week. Also my wife and I decided that thanks to some of my recent winnings that we have the funds for a Vegas trip we've been waffling on. We'll be joining her family out there in April. It's been a while since I've been to Vegas on a pure vacation. I'm ready to relax and drink by the pool.

I skipped a week of updating, mostly because a bit over a week ago I got sick. Really sick. I got strep, which I've had before and usually it's just an annoying sore throat. Not this time. High fevers and body aches that made me feel like I got hit by a truck, which then stopped and backed over me. There was about a 4 day window there where I was pretty much nonfunctional, so poker was not an option. The good news is I'm back on my feet and played some last week, to mostly good results.

I've spent a decent chunk of my bankroll lately on booking vacations for the year. So the good news is I've spent what I need to and still have enough to stick at 200NL. 500NL is probably a bit off still, but I'll be disappointed if I don't get back to it a bit this year. At least my winrate at 200NL is where I want it now. My first 80K hands at 200NL were at -4.16BB/100. My most recent 65K hands are at 4.46bb/100. I've gotten back what I've lost. Some of this is variance, but I think a lot of it is attributed to the coaching and study I've put in. I've forced myself out of my comfort zone a bit, and feel like I've maybe stabilized on a new normal baseline for my game, which is an amazing feeling. I still know I need work, and even have an idea of the spots where, but I'm a lot happier with my recent results.

My promo chasing has taken a bit of a hit. It's been mostly run bad, with poker keeping me even. For a while I was doing $50/hand at blackjack as I was getting some bigger promos that required over $10K in wagering to clear. When it works its great, but man that game can be swingy. I forget who in this thread warned me about having 7k+ downswings at $25/hand and man I believe it. I need to stay disciplined and mostly stick to $25/hand. I'm pretty sure the days of draftkings offering me $10K+ for wagering over a million dollars in a weekend is over. I haven't really had any good +EV promos from them in a while after making thousands the last 2 years. it was certainly a fun ride while it lasted though. There are still plenty of smaller regular promos being offered that are helping me keep my gaming income steady though. The swings can still be wild, but I'll take just about any +EV promo that comes my way.

Some fun poker hands.

Probably the nastiest cooler I've put on someone in a while:

PartyGaming - $2 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 4 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (BTN): 101.5 BB
SB: 104.63 BB
BB: 120.61 BB
CO: 175.92 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has T A

CO raises to 2.3 BB, Hero calls 2.3 BB, fold, fold

Flop: (6.1 BB, 2 players) K Q K
CO checks, Hero checks

Turn: (6.1 BB, 2 players) J
CO bets 2.02 BB, Hero raises to 10.34 BB, CO calls 8.33 BB

River: (26.78 BB, 2 players) 6
CO bets 163.28 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 88.86 BB and is all-in

CO shows Q K (Full House, Kings full of Queens)
(Pre 42%, Flop 95%, Turn 0%)
Hero shows T A (Royal Flush)
(Pre 58%, Flop 5%, Turn 100%)
Hero wins 203.5 BB

This guy was an unknown in one of his first hands at the table. I feel like maybe I made a mistake? It just felt like he could've been slowplaying a straight or set the whole way.

PokerStars - $2 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (UTG): 118.66 BB
CO: 97.5 BB
BTN: 99 BB
SB: 100.5 BB
BB: 121.41 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 9 8

Hero raises to 2.5 BB, CO calls 2.5 BB, fold, fold, fold

Flop: (6.5 BB, 2 players) 4 8 5
Hero bets 3 BB, CO calls 3 BB

Turn: (12.5 BB, 2 players) 9
Hero bets 7.92 BB, CO calls 7.92 BB

River: (28.33 BB, 2 players) 3
Hero bets 22.88 BB, CO raises to 84.09 BB and is all-in, fold

CO wins 72.59 BB

Looking back at this one it looks bad. Although the OB on the river is only repping Kx+. If I remember right this villain seems a bit nitty with river bets. Checking in the solver does indeed show K6o as being a toss up hand, so pure fold vs a nit might actually be right. Pat on the back for myself I guess.

PokerStars - $2 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

UTG: 49 BB
MP: 85.36 BB
CO: 137.45 BB
BTN: 152.2 BB
SB: 180.58 BB
Hero (BB): 101.5 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has K 6

fold, fold, fold, fold, SB raises to 3 BB, Hero calls 2 BB

Flop: (6 BB, 2 players) Q K K
SB bets 1.5 BB, Hero calls 1.5 BB

Turn: (9 BB, 2 players) 5
SB bets 6.42 BB, Hero calls 6.42 BB

River: (21.83 BB, 2 players) 9
SB bets 31.11 BB, fold

SB wins 20.74 BB

I lost another week of play after Michigan got hit with some severe ice storms. Thankfully I managed not to lose power, although many people did, often for multiple days. But unfortunately I did lose cable for almost a week. While I was able to use my 4G unlimited plan phone as hotspot to keep the streaming TV going, I opted against using it for online poker. I instead just took the time off, did some more hand reviews, but mostly video games and movies. I do think I need to invest in a backup generator, and a UPS for my PC and router just in case the power blinks during storms, which has happened.

Once I got back up and running, it was back to the tables. The first few sessions went OK, then I got hit with one of the biggest losing sessions I've ever had. -7 buy ins during a 3 hour session. KK into AA twice, AKs into AA, and flush over flush in a 3-bet multiway pot. That was 4 of them. It also felt like there were multiple 4-bet pots with AK that came 89J and I just hated life.

So this is one hand that I'll take a look at. Iso spots are a bit of uncharted territory. I maybe use charted ranges as a bit of a crutch, but in spots like these I know I need to adjust. But with KQs I'm not cold calling, and I'm not folding, so 3-bet it is. Thinking about it more, I guess at 100BB depth I don't really need to adhere to the 4x OOP, and can probably size down a little bit to more like 3x to keep it manageable. I may start doing that. Postflop I just clicked some buttons. I like the c-bet as this hand turns pretty well. But when I whiff, blech. I can either shut it down or decide since I'm at near bottom of SDV to go ahead and barrel off. I think BXB is probably the worst move.

PartyGaming - $2 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 102.78 BB
Hero (SB): 100 BB
BB: 46.19 BB
UTG: 87.4 BB
MP: 129.94 BB
CO: 105.36 BB

Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has Q K

UTG calls 1 BB, fold, fold, BTN raises to 5 BB, Hero raises to 19.5 BB, fold, fold, BTN calls 14.5 BB

Flop: (41 BB, 2 players) 5 2 J
Hero bets 10 BB, BTN calls 10 BB

Turn: (61 BB, 2 players) 3
Hero checks, BTN checks

River: (61 BB, 2 players) T
Hero bets 33 BB, BTN calls 33 BB

Hero shows Q K (High Card, King)
(Pre 42%, Flop 27%, Turn 14%)
BTN shows A J (One Pair, Jacks)
(Pre 58%, Flop 73%, Turn 86%)
BTN wins 125.5 BB

Similar spot. I have no idea what he had. His raise is probably not a thing in theory, but what can I do.

PartyGaming - $2 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 140.38 BB
Hero (SB): 119.08 BB
BB: 116.55 BB
UTG: 79.13 BB
MP: 171.13 BB
CO: 100.36 BB

Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has J T

UTG calls 1 BB, fold, fold, BTN raises to 5 BB, Hero raises to 20 BB, fold, fold, BTN calls 15 BB

Flop: (42 BB, 2 players) 5 8 Q
Hero bets 11 BB, BTN raises to 120.38 BB and is all-in, fold

BTN wins 171.88 BB

This one was tricky. Guy is sort of a nitty fish. I think fold is right but sometimes you never know if guys just overplay weaker Kx, and maybe KJ is too good to fold. I told myself as long as he doesn't shove the river I'm probably calling it off.

PokerStars - $2 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 4 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 156.09 BB
SB: 109.67 BB
BB: 89.66 BB
Hero (CO): 197.24 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has K J

Hero raises to 2.5 BB, fold, fold, BB calls 1.5 BB

Flop: (5.5 BB, 2 players) K K 7
BB checks, Hero bets 1.73 BB, BB calls 1.73 BB

Turn: (8.95 BB, 2 players) 9
BB checks, Hero bets 7.23 BB, BB raises to 18.7 BB, Hero calls 11.48 BB

River: (46.35 BB, 2 players) 6
BB bets 66.73 BB and is all-in, fold

BB wins 45.35 BB

Reviewing some of the hands I actually don't think I played too horribly. Just a rough session where the coolers went the other way and some big pots went up in flames. I've got some hands to deep dive though, that's for sure.

Promo chasing was down this week as well, leading to an overall poker + gaming loss of around $2k. It stings, but I've gotten used to these swings a bit. In some good news as I was writing this post Charleston's basketball team that I have $250 on tonight went from down 5 at the half to up 2 in the 2nd half, so if they can hang on and win that will be a nice swing back in my direction. Hopefully some nice rungood is right around the corner.

The 'promo chasing' seems so incredibly -ev.

Quite the opposite. Unlike poker where EV is a function of skill and hard to calculate, the promotional EV of most of this stuff is incredibly straightforward, even for sports betting.

For example, Caesars offers a deposit bonus of 11%, up to $110. Deposit $1K, get $110 in bonus money. It requires a 15x playthrough, where blackjack only counts at 20%. So $110 x 15 x 5 = $8250 playthrough at blackjack required. Playing perfect basic strategy blackjack results in a house edge of 0.4%. So the EV is $110 - (8250*0.004) = $77. There's some variance in there, as ending up either +/- $1000 on something like this isn't all that uncommon, depending on the bet sizes chosen (which doesn't affect EV, just variance and time required). But I've made over 6 figures in 2 years doing this stuff.

I followed up my -7BI session with a -5BI session, so that was annoying. I clawed some of it back this week, but there's been a lot of coolers in there. Flush over flush, KK into AA 3 or 4 times, running into the nuts postflop in some others, just not great stuff. Overall I'm down about 9 buyins on the month. It's not bankroll crushing, but it's definitely annoying.

I did play some interesting hands that I'll be studying a bit more.

This one was fun when I did it, and it was against a regular villain who I know sometimes reads this. At second look I'm not sure I love it. Pretty standard open KK pre, get called in 2 spots, and get an A high flop. When it checks around and I spike the NFD, I figure it's a small lead spot. I have good equity and can get value. The river bricks, and I think at the time I could get away with a small blocker bet. Looking at the board this is probably a mistake. Then vs. the raise I don't *think* can call, as I just don't beat any thin value raises and my hand is a shitty bluff catcher. But I do have a nut blocker, so I went for it. I have no idea if this actually worked and got him off Ax+ or if this was just bluff vs. bluff. But I figure my 3-bet jam range here looks pretty strong and it's not that unreasonable I play a club draw this way.

PartyGaming - $2 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

SB: 233.06 BB
BB: 135.47 BB
Hero (UTG): 100 BB
MP: 104.45 BB
CO: 242.46 BB
BTN: 102.2 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has K K

Hero raises to 2.5 BB, fold, fold, BTN calls 2.5 BB, fold, BB calls 1.5 BB

Flop: (8 BB, 3 players) 5 A 4
BB checks, Hero checks, BTN checks

Turn: (8 BB, 3 players) 8
BB checks, Hero bets 2.49 BB, BTN calls 2.49 BB, fold

River: (12.98 BB, 2 players) 6
Hero bets 4.05 BB, BTN raises to 18.29 BB, Hero raises to 83.5 BB, fold

Hero wins 113.27 BB

This hand was annoying. I probably should've sized up the 4-bet given the depth. I called because I had the K but maybe that's a mistake. It's probably an in theory call but that river jam is just super nutted. Also I'm probably supposed to bet flop. I'm really trying to focus on my OOP game right now. It's hard to get used to all the good hand checking we're supposed to do, but 4-bet pots are a different animal.

PokerStars - $2 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

MP: 177.83 BB
CO: 120.61 BB
BTN: 161.95 BB
SB: 110.33 BB
BB: 114.91 BB
Hero (UTG): 150.69 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has K K

Hero raises to 2.5 BB, MP raises to 7.88 BB, fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 21 BB, MP calls 13.13 BB

Flop: (43.5 BB, 2 players) 6 7 2
Hero checks, MP bets 13.86 BB, Hero calls 13.86 BB

Turn: (71.22 BB, 2 players) T
Hero checks, MP bets 27.89 BB, Hero calls 27.89 BB

River: (127 BB, 2 players) 5
Hero checks, MP bets 115.08 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 87.94 BB and is all-in

MP shows 4 A (Flush, Ace High)
(Pre 33%, Flop 19%, Turn 25%)
Hero shows K K (One Pair, Kings)
(Pre 67%, Flop 81%, Turn 75%)
MP wins 301.38 BB

Note to self overbet jams are way too nutted to be doing this ****. I went with my gut here which was oh so wrong. Nice bet from villain.

PokerStars - $2 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

CO: 102.5 BB
BTN: 214.17 BB
SB: 117.14 BB
Hero (BB): 100 BB
UTG: 102.97 BB
MP: 109.13 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has Q J

UTG raises to 2.5 BB, fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero calls 1.5 BB

Flop: (5.5 BB, 2 players) Q 4 2
Hero checks, UTG bets 1.72 BB, Hero calls 1.72 BB

Turn: (8.94 BB, 2 players) 8
Hero checks, UTG bets 15.02 BB, Hero calls 15.02 BB

River: (38.98 BB, 2 players) Q
Hero checks, UTG bets 83.73 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 80.76 BB and is all-in

UTG shows 8 8 (Full House, Eights full of Queens)
(Pre 54%, Flop 13%, Turn 100%)
Hero shows Q J (Three of a Kind, Queens)
(Pre 47%, Flop 87%, Turn 0%)
UTG wins 199 BB

Here's more of me trying to "protect my check range" or whatever. I considered a river fold given this runout, and probably should have. But I'm losing a big chunk of money here no matter what.

PartyGaming - $2 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 121.04 BB
Hero (SB): 100 BB
BB: 100 BB
UTG: 148.23 BB
MP: 90.38 BB
CO: 105.98 BB

Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has K K

fold, fold, CO raises to 2.5 BB, fold, Hero raises to 11 BB, fold, CO calls 8.5 BB

Flop: (23 BB, 2 players) T 9 6
Hero checks, CO bets 6.52 BB, Hero calls 6.52 BB

Turn: (36.03 BB, 2 players) 2
Hero checks, CO bets 24.17 BB, Hero calls 24.17 BB

River: (84.37 BB, 2 players) J
Hero checks, CO bets 64.29 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 58.32 BB and is all-in

Hero shows K K (One Pair, Kings)
(Pre 80%, Flop 15%, Turn 5%)
CO shows 6 6 (Three of a Kind, Sixes)
(Pre 20%, Flop 85%, Turn 95%)
CO wins 199.5 BB

looking at my DB I got stacked 11 times last week in about 6000 hands. 3 or 4 may have been avoidable. That's not great. Almost all of them were against other good players in my pool. Being a part timer I don't think I can ever really beat these guys, but I at least want to level the playing field to increase my overall winrate. I have a rough study plan of trying to watch 45-60 minutes or so of training videos on upswing daily, on Mondays reviewing my notes, studying ranges, and just satisfying other general poker curiosities I have. Then on Tuesday I'll focus on hand reviews from the past week. The rest of the nights I'll play when I can, which last week was actually a lot. Please just no more KK into AA for a bit, I've had my fair share for a while.

It's been over 2 years now since deciding to take online poker seriously as a side hustle, and I feel like only in the last couple months does it feel like I've finally settled in. I know these sample sizes are still too small and that variance could play a big part, but there's no denying that I'm not the same player I was when I first got to 200NL.

For reference, my first 80k hands at 200NL:



And my most recent 77k hands:



It's been an interesting journey. Going back and reading my 2021 posts I was mostly a fish on a heater, taking very aggressive bankroll shots. I went from a $100 deposit to playing 200NL, and even some 500NL, in a matter of months. I was even holding my own at 200NL until the downswing hit. It's well documented in this thread towards the end of 2021/early 2022, I won't get into it again. But it was a bit humbling.

There's no doubt in my mind the decision to seek out coaching was the turning point. While it took a little while for me to internalize the lessons and really make the changes I needed to, once I did, things have gotten much better. Between that, and some of the self study stuff I've been doing on my own and through Upswing, I've made the necessary tweaks to my game to really turn the corner.

And I have so much more to learn about this game. It's almost overwhelming how much more content there is to consume and how many spots in my game I know need work. But at the same time knowing that I'm at least winning now, and with a lot more improvements to be made, that I hope to someday be even that much better than I am now. Even spots I know how to play, I can still refine my strategy and squeeze out more EV. There are a ton more exploits that I can find and use. If I had to guess, I have about 2 years (at my pace) worth of stuff that I know I need to study on. And those are just the known unknowns. Hopefully in the mean time I keep winning.

I've been contemplating some more 500NL shots. It's still something I want to be able to do, attack the biggest games when the lineup calls for it. I've been struggling to grow my roll as my spending and winning are matching pace quite well. I have some vacations booked up that will dip into my roll a bit, but hopefully the second half of this year can be focused on just growing the bankroll and making some 500NL swings easier to tolerate.

I had a mini-downswing of about 12 buyins to start this month. The good news is the next 2 weeks I've clawed back to near even. I can still have a winning month despite starting in a massive hole. As for other gaming, it was a nice week. I binked a 4 game parlay on the NCAA tourney that netted me $800, and the last leg was an O/U that I decided to hedge with a live bet that offered a significant middle opportunity. Well the total landed in the middle so I cleared almost $1200 on that. And if there's any Michigan fans reading, one of my legs of that parlay was on Vanderbilt, so that epic 9 point in less than a minute collapse made me $800. I'm running hot.

Well damn that wasn't how I hoped my week went, 1 breakeven and 2 losing sessions. The theme of these two losses was bluffs not getting through. One area that was definitely lacking in my game when I started this journey was my willingness to just rip in a good portion of my stack, if not the whole thing, on a bluff. I'm mostly over that fear at this point. But man it sucks when that's the difference between a winning or losing month, as it is now. I've also been disproportionately on the losing end of big pair vs. big pair in this stretch, but I can't do much about that.

As for the bluffs:

I know busted flush draws don't always make the best bluffs, but sometimes it's not clear what other bluffs we have in our range. . But I'll have my fair share of value in this line. I'll crack open the solver to make sure I'm combo selecting reasonable well, but this one stung.

PokerStars - $2 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (SB): 133.26 BB
BB: 100 BB
UTG: 106.95 BB
MP: 209.79 BB
CO: 117.18 BB
BTN: 120.57 BB

Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has A T

fold, fold, fold, BTN raises to 2.5 BB, Hero raises to 11 BB, fold, BTN calls 8.5 BB

Flop: (23 BB, 2 players) J 5 8
Hero bets 7.21 BB, BTN calls 7.21 BB

Turn: (37.42 BB, 2 players) 4
Hero bets 23.95 BB, BTN calls 23.95 BB

River: (85.31 BB, 2 players) 5
Hero bets 91.1 BB and is all-in, BTN calls 78.42 BB and is all-in

Hero shows A T (One Pair, Fives)
(Pre 32%, Flop 39%, Turn 20%)
BTN shows J A (Two Pair, Jacks and Fives)
(Pre 68%, Flop 61%, Turn 80%)
BTN wins 240.64 BB

Here I took a low % 3-bet hand preflop and emptied the clip in position. This one's probably not too bad actually, although I definitely have lower showdown value in my range. I liked blocking KQ.

PokerStars - $2 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (BB): 151.61 BB
UTG: 226.51 BB
MP: 228.17 BB
CO: 100 BB
BTN: 87.28 BB
SB: 73.59 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 6 K

fold, fold, fold, fold, SB raises to 3 BB, Hero raises to 9 BB, SB calls 6 BB

Flop: (18 BB, 2 players) 3 2 Q
SB checks, Hero bets 5.65 BB, SB calls 5.65 BB

Turn: (29.29 BB, 2 players) 4
SB checks, Hero bets 18.55 BB, SB calls 18.55 BB

River: (66.39 BB, 2 players) 7
SB checks, Hero bets 43.26 BB, SB calls 40.4 BB and is all-in

Hero shows 6 K (High Card, King)
(Pre 52%, Flop 13%, Turn 16%)
SB shows J Q (One Pair, Queens)
(Pre 48%, Flop 87%, Turn 84%)
SB wins 145.68 BB

I thought for sure this one would get through.

PartyGaming - $2 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 4 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

CO: 285.06 BB
BTN: 141.29 BB
SB: 35.52 BB
Hero (BB): 146.66 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 9 8

fold, fold, SB raises to 3 BB, Hero calls 2 BB

Flop: (6 BB, 2 players) 7 6 6
SB bets 4.25 BB, Hero calls 4.25 BB

Turn: (14.5 BB, 2 players) 7
SB checks, Hero bets 6.85 BB, SB calls 6.85 BB

River: (28.19 BB, 2 players) K
SB checks, Hero bets 23.11 BB, SB calls 21.43 BB and is all-in

Hero shows 9 8 (Two Pair, Sevens and Sixes)
(Pre 18%, Flop 29%, Turn 18%)
SB shows A A (Two Pair, Aces and Sevens)
(Pre 82%, Flop 71%, Turn 82%)
SB wins 70.04 BB

I hate bluffing into a range that's trips heavy but if I have plenty of trips for value I should have some bluffs as well and this hand seemed OK.

PokerStars - $2 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 4 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 102.5 BB
SB: 102.78 BB
BB: 502.57 BB
Hero (CO): 148.52 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has J K

Hero raises to 2.5 BB, fold, fold, BB calls 1.5 BB

Flop: (5.5 BB, 2 players) A 6 3
BB checks, Hero bets 1.73 BB, BB calls 1.73 BB

Turn: (8.95 BB, 2 players) Q
BB checks, Hero bets 5.67 BB, BB calls 5.67 BB

River: (20.28 BB, 2 players) A
BB checks, Hero bets 16.39 BB, BB calls 16.39 BB

Hero shows J K (One Pair, Aces)
(Pre 26%, Flop 6%, Turn 27%)
BB shows A J (Three of a Kind, Aces)
(Pre 74%, Flop 94%, Turn 73%)
BB wins 52.06 BB

Hopefully next week goes better. I don't think I've jacked my aggression to the point that I'm becoming exploitable. I just need to fine tune my combo selection and sizing in some of these spots I think.

those bluffs all look decent to me, could plug em into the solver i guess

Got busy and didn't update last week. March was a rough month. I hit a 15 buyin downswing to close the month out. The good news is through one week in April I've pretty much reversed it.

I feel like my understanding of this game comes in waves. I'll be fumbling with a solver, watching videos, and all of a sudden boom, something I had been struggling with finally breaks through. The last few weeks I feel like I've really made a breakthrough when it comes to bet sizing. I have relied on the flop 1/3 range bet for far too long. While it has its exploitative benefits (many players, including me, over fold to it), sizing up in the right spots can add to EV even more. Lately I've been finding spots to polarize my flop range a bit more and size up. I love getting the tank fold with it because you know they had a trivial call vs. a small bet but the big one throws them off.

Another concept I've been working on is just attacking capped ranges. This was a fun one where I opened HJ vs a BTN call.

PokerStars - $2 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

CO: 78.07 BB
BTN: 105.5 BB
SB: 110.33 BB
BB: 100 BB
UTG: 102 BB
Hero (MP): 100 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has K K

fold, Hero raises to 2.5 BB, fold, BTN calls 2.5 BB, fold, fold

Flop: (6.5 BB, 2 players) 5 3 3
Hero bets 4.12 BB, BTN calls 4.12 BB

Turn: (14.73 BB, 2 players) 4
Hero bets 9.33 BB, BTN calls 9.33 BB

River: (33.39 BB, 2 players) 4
Hero bets 21.26 BB, BTN calls 21.26 BB

Hero shows K K (Two Pair, Kings and Fours)
(Pre 81%, Flop 92%, Turn 95%)
BTN mucks 9 9 (Two Pair, Nines and Fours)
(Pre 19%, Flop 8%, Turn 5%)
Hero wins 74.41 BB

Normally this board looks scary, and if it were HJ vs BB it absolutely would be. But against a BTN call his range is draw and mid pair heavy. There's not a lot of 3/4/5x, and I still retain a decent nut advantage in this spot. So I barreled away pretty well with KK against a good player, and he couldn't do much but just call and pray. According to the solver I screwed this one up as the turn, despite being a draw completing one, is still an overbet. I'm guessing it's because he is still mostly capped as this board interacts with very little of the BTN call range.

This is another fun hand. I've been looking into donking ranges from the BB, specifically low boards vs an EP open. I got one here and went for it. I wondered if I was maybe stretching the range construction a bit, but I figured with a gut shot it's a good time for it.

PokerStars - $2 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

UTG: 114.77 BB
MP: 101.5 BB
CO: 196.28 BB
BTN: 115.01 BB
SB: 154.16 BB
Hero (BB): 193.57 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 8 A

UTG raises to 2.48 BB, fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero calls 1.48 BB

Flop: (5.46 BB, 2 players) 7 6 4
Hero bets 3.46 BB, UTG calls 3.46 BB

Turn: (12.37 BB, 2 players) 6
Hero bets 17.63 BB, fold

Hero wins 11.75 BB

This time I got the turn right with the OB but the flop wrong with the larger bet, it's a smaller bet OTF. But as someone whose been on the receiving end of a few of these bets, it was fun to deliver one, especially as a bluff.

So there you have it. March sucked, but April is turning the corner and I have some new weapons in my arsenal. Although mostly it's just me starting to finally understand some of these more advanced concepts that weren't a huge part of the poker literature back when I first studied the game. I'm finally starting to understand how various ranges interact with the board and how that affects our bet sizing and range construction. Hopefully this leads to more continued upswings like I'm having now. Although table selection and fish busting is still where most of my profits come from. Because for every BB I win using a new betsizing option or bluff combo I've unlocked, I probably still get 10BB just value towning the fish:

PartyGaming - $2 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

SB: 152.58 BB
Hero (BB): 100 BB
UTG: 97.59 BB
MP: 103.17 BB
CO: 62.46 BB
BTN: 263.74 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 5 5

fold, fold, CO raises to 2 BB, BTN calls 2 BB, fold, Hero calls 1 BB

Flop: (6.5 BB, 3 players) 5 Q A
Hero checks, CO checks, BTN bets 4.09 BB, Hero raises to 13.64 BB, CO calls 13.64 BB, fold

Turn: (37.86 BB, 2 players) 8
Hero bets 15 BB, CO raises to 46.82 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 31.82 BB

River: (131.5 BB, 2 players) 4

Hero shows 5 5 (Three of a Kind, Fives)
(Pre 66%, Flop 93%, Turn 100%)
CO shows A 4 (Two Pair, Aces and Fours)
(Pre 34%, Flop 7%, Turn 0%)
Hero wins 130 BB

flop 1/3 range bet uhh, yea i was into that for a while, but looking at gtow more it's definitely not a thing on as many boards as i thought it was~

crazy with the KK that it has you 3 barrel so aggressively , i thought gtow likes way more passive OOP play

Right!? The key for me at least was finally getting some hands on training material that explained the types of boards we size up on and why. I still sort of simplify boards where the c-bet% > 70 and mostly using 1/3 as a full range bet, as it's unlikely we're ever getting exploited there. But I'm definitely looking for any and all opportunities to use a larger size where possible, and have a better feel for when those are now.

While being OOP really decreases your bet frequency overall, I think board texture plays a much bigger role. The 533 board was interesting. The BTN flatting range is going to have a lot of mid pairs and suited connectors that are drawing pretty slim. It has very little 3x, 55, and straight draws. The only hands that really get there on the turned 4 are 44, A2s, and 67s, all of which I have more combos of in my range then the BTN does. So we can just keep pushing that overpair and nutted combo advantage really hard and put his middling pairs like 99 in a shitty spot. I didn't look too closely at his side of the sim, but the parts of his range that don't fold are 0 EV vs my betting range. I just need to work on making sure I'm better at finding those turn overbets!

It was a fairly uneventful week. Mostly losing, but my yellow line stayed good, I managed to break even outside of losing more than my share of flips and beats. I'm also on an annoying promo chasing downswing as well, probably down about 3k or so there. It picked an annoying time for the swing, as I was really hoping to make a nice financial push for goof off money before my Vegas trip next week. The 2 things I was looking to blow money on were:

1. Upgrading my flight to first class
2. Getting a pool cabana for the day.

The first class flight is off the table. I've never done it, it would've been fun, but I would've needed a nice upswing to justify poaching the roll for it. The pool cabana can happen regardless of this swing and still will if I can convince our group to spend the day there. This will be my first true vacation to Vegas since COVID. It's 3 nights, we get in Thursday and head home Sunday. Most likely I don't get any poker in, which is mostly fine. I enjoy the drinking and wandering aimlessly portion of it, and there should be plenty of time. I guess I still have a week to try to bag an upswing to take some pressure off penny pinching on the trip.

Speaking of Upswing, I've increased my pace I'm going through the Lab there. The sheer amount of hours of content there are insane. But a couple of the coaches on there, specifically Gary Blackwood and Ryan Riske have put up some amazing content lately that's really helped me grasp some concepts I've been struggling with around bet sizing and range construction. I'm still on target to try and get through most of it this year, along with some HU stuff as I'm trying to expand out and start more tables and play more HU.

Speaking of first class flights - a few years back my old company sent me to Germany in one of those premium first class seats with a sleeping pod. Talk about HEAVEN...i could have flown around the world 3x and not cared.

Damn that sounds amazing. I'm not much of an international traveler (almost 40, no passport, weak), but that does sound nice. I've had some opportunities to take on work assignments with more travel but eh, with 3 kids at home it just creates more stress for everyone.

As for Vegas, I just thought it would be fun to relax in a comfy seat and get a few free drinks before we arrive. Maybe next year!

more like 100-1 ~

Quick update before Vegas. I'm coming off a fantastic week with 2 huge winning sessions, thanks mostly to some timely run good and some massive fish punts. I'm out of here on Thursday so those of you who bumhunt me on the weekends, you'll have to find someone else to chase. I probably won't play much poker in Vegas this time around, but if I'm lucky I'll be able to sneak away for an hour or two.

After this trip I hope to stay focused and keep working on the bankroll. I'd still like to get back to 500NL at some point this year but I'm not going to rush it and am not willing to play as fast and loose with my bankroll as I used to be. I definitely accomplished what I wanted to with my previous aggressive shot taking, and I know I'm not as good as the good 200NL regs, but I'm now able to identify leaks in a lot of the regs, and just need to keep working on my own. But in the mean time if I can keep having hands like this happen I'll be pretty happy:

PokerStars - $2 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 152.39 BB
SB: 243.06 BB
BB: 95.96 BB
UTG: 217.64 BB
MP: 105.93 BB
Hero (CO): 104.93 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has Q Q

fold, fold, Hero raises to 2.5 BB, BTN calls 2.5 BB, fold, BB calls 1.5 BB

Flop: (8 BB, 3 players) 5 Q K
BB checks, Hero bets 4 BB, fold, BB raises to 12 BB, Hero raises to 36 BB, BB calls 24 BB

Turn: (80 BB, 2 players) 2
BB bets 57.46 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 57.46 BB

River: (194.91 BB, 2 players) T

BB shows 3 K (One Pair, Kings)
(Pre 27%, Flop 1%, Turn 0%)
Hero shows Q Q (Three of a Kind, Queens)
(Pre 73%, Flop 99%, Turn 100%)
Hero wins 193.41 BB

Short update. Overall April was very successful.



Plus a small amount of untracked winnings.

If I can keep this up I'll start to believe that I'm not just the same guy that went on a 200NL heater a couple years ago before it call came crashing down.

Vegas was fun as usual. I didn't play a single hand of poker or even really gamble at all in 3 days other than sitting with my wife while we put about $100 into a few slots. The highlight was of course our day at the pool in the cabana. It was nice to get some VIP treatment for a day. I like this setup of completely living off my job and then using my gaming winnings as pure fun money. I may have a Vegas work trip on the calendar for later in the year where I can hopefully get some actual poker in next time.

My game selection is finally paying off a bit as I feel like I very often sit at tables with whales and watch them dump stacks to the other regs. The last few days I've been getting mine in.

PokerStars - $2 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (BTN): 116.88 BB
SB: 42.76 BB
BB: 101.69 BB
UTG: 287.44 BB
CO: 100 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 9 9

fold, CO calls 1 BB, Hero raises to 3.5 BB, SB calls 3 BB, fold, CO calls 2.5 BB

Flop: (11.5 BB, 3 players) 2 Q 9
SB checks, CO bets 5.47 BB, Hero calls 5.47 BB, SB raises to 39.26 BB and is all-in, CO calls 33.8 BB, Hero raises to 113.38 BB and is all-in, CO calls 57.24 BB and is all-in

Turn: (243.76 BB, 3 players) 9

River: (243.76 BB, 3 players) 6

CO shows Q K (Two Pair, Queens and Nines)

Main Pot [129.28 BB]: (Pre 39%, Flop 3%, Turn 0%)
Side Pot#1 [114.48 BB]: (Pre 46%, Flop 3%, Turn 0%)

Hero shows 9 9 (Four of a Kind, Nines)

Main Pot [129.28 BB]: (Pre 39%, Flop 69%, Turn 100%)
Side Pot#1 [114.48 BB]: (Pre 54%, Flop 97%, Turn 100%)

SB shows 4 T (One Pair, Nines)

Main Pot [129.28 BB]: (Pre 23%, Flop 28%, Turn 0%)

Hero wins 242.26 BB


PartyGaming - $2 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 91.78 BB
SB: 101.28 BB
BB: 133.98 BB
UTG: 138.56 BB
MP: 105.03 BB
Hero (CO): 135.46 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has K K

UTG raises to 2.5 BB, MP raises to 9 BB, Hero raises to 22 BB, fold, fold, fold, fold, MP calls 13 BB

Flop: (48 BB, 2 players) T T 7
MP checks, Hero bets 15.35 BB, MP calls 15.35 BB

Turn: (78.69 BB, 2 players) 7
MP bets 67.69 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 67.69 BB

River: (214.06 BB, 2 players) 7

MP shows K A (Full House, Sevens full of Tens)
(Pre 34%, Flop 19%, Turn 7%)
Hero shows K K (Full House, Sevens full of Kings)
(Pre 66%, Flop 81%, Turn 93%)
Hero wins 212.56 BB

PokerStars - $2 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (UTG): 261.09 BB
MP: 198 BB
CO: 108.43 BB
BTN: 103.88 BB
SB: 292.64 BB
BB: 104.13 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has A K

Hero raises to 2.5 BB, fold, fold, fold, fold, BB calls 1.5 BB

Flop: (5.5 BB, 2 players) T Q J
BB checks, Hero bets 2 BB, BB raises to 4 BB, Hero raises to 14.82 BB, BB raises to 25.63 BB, Hero raises to 258.59 BB and is all-in, BB calls 76 BB and is all-in

Turn: (208.75 BB, 2 players) 9

River: (208.75 BB, 2 players) 7

BB shows 4 4 (One Pair, Fours)
(Pre 54%, Flop 8%, Turn 0%)
Hero shows A K (Straight, Ace High)
(Pre 46%, Flop 92%, Turn 100%)
Hero wins 207.25 BB

There's 3 stacks that were just gifted to me. I guess KK vs AKs is going to go my way pretty often, but still for him to just punt it off like that was quite a surprise. Hopefully I can keep finding these tables.