Pretty sick day so far. Up $3500.

Got 3rd in a $109 15k GTD on Bovada and crushed some more 2/4 PLO before the big MTTs started. Kinda bummed I busted myself out of the 150k GTD today though... should have been able to find an easy fold but treated it like a turbo and assumed villain was shoving a draw or pair + gutterball. It's bs, hopeful ranging, and I need to eliminate that from my thinking if I'm going to do well in slower events.

Hand in question... effective stacks = 10k, blinds 2/400, tourney average = about 7500 but there's still 800 people to go.

I raise to 400 UTG+1 with KsKd. Folds to sb (nitty fit or fold type) who calls and bb (table chip leader, plays lots of hands, don't think I saw him lose a hand at showdown though... which makes my call worse) who calls.

Flop comes 6c 9d Tc.

Checks to me, I bet 800, sb calls, bb raises to 2400. I probably could have found a fold here, but with the board so wet I don't hate the first call so much. BB folds.

Turn = 5s.

Villain shoves, I tank call like a donkey, and he has the nuts 7s8d.

Definitely should have found a fold there. Ah well.... doing well in the $270, 50k GTD so far, and that's all i'm playing until the bigger turbos later tonight. Don't really like playing the massive minefield $10+1 anymore, as I'd rather just be playing cash then.

Let's see if I can't have 2/3 5 figure days .

March 30

There's no beating around the bush. I got my teeth kicked in last night. Proceeded to lose practically every important flip in all MTT's, and then did the donkey thing and tried to make the night exciting by playing more 10/20 PLO. I spotted an exploitable aggro donk and just "knew" I could take his money.

Today I feel Knish from Rounders in my head saying "Maybe. Maybe that 10/20 game is a game that can be beat. But you KNOW you can beat that sweet lil 2/4 came. Cmon. Don't put all that in play." -8k later and I'm officially banning myself from anything higher than 2/4 until I hit 50k.

I didn't even play that bad, but I lost 2 flips, 1 of which was a 9k pot where my OESD and flush draw bricked vs. mid set. The thing that separates gamblers from professionals is discipline, and last night I was a gambler. I'm going to take a couple days off to enjoy what I've done so far, recover, and get back to being a pro.

Current Bankroll: 24.5k.

Subbed, rooting for you. Definitely improve that bankroll management and it seems like you'll be well on your way.

Also, if you want to cut out diet soda, I highly recommend using stevia as a sweetener. I barely even desire soda anymore - I'll have maybe one a month, if that. I just brew my own iced tea so I know there are no bad additives, then squeeze a half a lemon into a pitcher and drop it in, and mix in some stevia. It tastes delicious, it's got 0 (well, negligible) calories and no bad additives.

If you ever travel up this way (Delaware, Philly, AC) to check out games, let me know.

sorry to hear that man, gl on the recovery. as long as you learn from the mistake you will be fine.

Good luck - subbing

no doubt man ill shoot you a pm next time im there. how often are you going? il like to mix it up because live gets soooo boring.

Going there today as a matter of fact. Their promo through the 9th is a high hand from 6-10 where the prize is a $3,500 non-transferrable ticket to the ME in Hollywood. Obv. chances are slim to none that I hit it, but the 1/2 and 2/5 tables should be good for the next week.

Took 6k off of Bovada to have a bit of a live BR.

New rules going forward:

I will not play anything higher than 2/4 PLO, 30/60 Limit, or a 162 MTT online (once the BDPO is over).

I will not play anything higher than 2/5 NLHE, 2/5 PLO, or the $365 Black Chip Bounty at THR live unless I satty into a bigger event or get backed.

I'll re-evaluate things once I get back above 30k.... and probably still not change them until 50k.

Also will be investing in a RunItOnce membership, since their elite videos seem to get all sorts of rave reviews from folks here.

PS: Thanks again all for the kind words/support/subs . I'll definitely hit people up if I visit AC or Vegas anytime soon. Probably not unless I win the 150k GTD,, but ya never know.

April 2

Welp.... got to the Hard Rock at 6pm and sat down to what I thought was a dream 2/5 PLO table. Lots of multiway action with people betting and 3betting all sorts of garbage pre. Managed to lose 2k in 3 hours when my all-in EV on the day was probably +2500. I lost 3 60/40 hands for 1500+ each and an 80/20 hand for 1k. I won 1 pot that was more than 400, when it was flush over flush. Lost my last 1200 with AA on a A3Tcc board to a rich OMC guy that couldn't fold Q6c. Ah well.... here's hoping for some run good. That game is too good.... I just need the BR for it.

Current BR: 22k. Probably going to play tonight's BDPO event and maybe the late 33+3 turbo. GL me lol.

Subbed GL sir. I really think you need a bigger roll even to play 2/4 or 2/5 Omaha though to be honest if you're going to play in such volume. As you said, even against donks your edge is usually only <55% which in the long term will you will be +EV but that in itself would make me considering moving down to stakes where I have at least got 100+ buy ins in order to deal with a massive downswing. Regardless, I hope you run +EV in the future

Heh.... you're probably right. I'm borderline for 2/4, and the live 2/5 game has a near mandatory straddle with a 1k buyin so it plays more like 5/10. It's just so hard to resist such an obviously beatable game. I'm confident any adequately rolled .5/1 online reg would destroy the table. Typical table = 2-3 regs, 2-3 nut peddlers that only know check, fold, or pot, and 2-3 people splashing around with anything suited or connected (doesn't have to be both).

That said, i'll probably remove that game from my playlist as well for now.... or only play it with profits from the day if the table is like it was today.

You seem to handle the negative variance well which is great obv. gl turning it around. Playing at a level where you have more buyins would definitely help your long term sanity playing this game for a living but as long as you are willing to move down if it keeps going bad you should be fine. I know you said you only need 20 something k based on the variance model for 2/4 plo to have a low risk of ruin but some very good players have had 100+ buyin downswings at plo (granted usually in games that are probably not as soft as the bovada games, but plo is a sick game)

Heh.... I've taken enough bad beats in life that a little downswing in luck at the table is easy to just brush off. I'm more concerned about correcting any mistakes/playing better than I am about the end result. The bright side is, even with a bunch of beats I'm still up 2k since the thread started lol..... power of positive thinking .

PS: bought the RunItOnce elite membership and am only 1 tabling tonight so I can check out some of the content.

Subbed.

#PlayWell

runitonce will be great value for you, tons of good plo content

Lol went from top 10 stack with 40 to go in tonight's BDPO PLO event to busto in 35th, 5 short of the money. Lol donkaments.

Repopped a guy for 1/2 of his average stack with AA67 and a suit pre, he calls with J945 (double sooted lol.... but I had his clubs blocked and the Ad blocker).

He happily calls off the rest on a Jd9d4d flop and holds.

Bustout hand = even more lol. 3 limps at 500/1000. I'm in the BB with 20k, SB is 6th in chips with 39k. I've got Qc4cTs6c, he has Ad5dJsKc. Flop comes beautiful Tc 2c Qd. Action goes check, pot, fold to sb, call. Turn brick 7s. check pot sb shove (lo-fkn-l I love you Bovada), river a non-club 9. GG. No top 5 stack. No monies for you! Continue to run like **** lol. Ah well..... this is gonna turn around eventually.

April 3

End of the downswing one time? Woke up early. Hopped on to a couple 2/4 PLO tables on Bovada and autopiloted to +800 in 2 hours. The one time I made a play on a paired board when the villain 3bet me pre, he called down 3 barrels with AA lol. Decided then it'd be easier to value own the table than try to bluff fish. Going to go for a swim/soak up some of this sun..... and hopefully the run good continues tonight.

Current BR: 23k.

April 5

Took a couple days off to unwind and refocus and they were well worth it . REALLY happy with my play tonight. Was very focused and able to gather good reads on people on 3 tables at once. Final tabled BPDO Event # 58 for 1500 counting bounties, the 55+5 35k for another 1500, and a random 12+1 turbo for 500.

I did make a boneheaded move that cost me a lot of EV in the Omaha event. Shoved 8TJQ with 1 suit on a shortstacked limper UTG with 12 to go. Obviously they had AAxx and held on a Q 2 7 rainbow flop. If I just call, I save half of my stack and would be able to be a lot more aggressive vs. people trying to move up the pay ladder. Just saw weakness and pounced while paying attention to another hand. Ah well.... live and learn.

Also should note that I worked out, went swimming, and felt very refreshed/mentally alert before starting today. Definitely need to make this a pre-game routine going forward.

April 6

I'd give myself a B+ today. I got 5th in BDPO event #70 (109 turbo) for 2500. Lost a flip with 5 to go that would have made me chip leader..... shoved 550k at 30/60k with 78s in the sb and bb called with 33. He held on a 46x flop lol . Also cashed in the 35k GTD, a couple smaller tourneys, and made ~1k at 2/4 PLO today.

The B+ is because I donked myself right out of the 150k. 240 left, 180 cash, Average stack is 35k and I'm sitting at 60k at 15/3000 and decide to go after the table chip leader (effective stack 140k) who keeps limping from every position and crushing small pots. Note, I'd been pretty TAG up until this point and had only shown down pairs/big hands at this table. I decided to try to take advantage of my image.

He limps from the HJ, I make it 10k to go with Kd9d. He calls. Flop comes 3h5hQd. He checks, I bet 13k, he calls. 9h turn check check. River = Qh. Any other heart and I shove here, but It's so obvious to me that he has at least a Q that I don't see him folding for 26k into a 76k pot. I surrender, he shows KcQs, and I lose a flip soon after to go from well above average to out of the money.

Not sure if in hindsight I regret the move. He did get lucky to catch a piece since I'm cbetting all flops and he only has a few flops he can go with, but it obviously cost me.

BR is back up to 27k and climbing .

Side note: How do I post hands from Bovada to make them pretty/replayable on here? I'd like to make my thread a little easier to read for everyone. PM/formatting tips appreciated <3.

April 22

So I took a small self-imposed hiatus after the last weekend of the BDPO. I took a series of soul-crushing beats in the Main, Second Chance, and 150k that probably cost me thousands in equity.

Example:

In the 300k GTD, 160 to go with 130 paying, I've got a top 20 stack (70k) at 2k/4k blinds. I get AJ in the SB, folds to HJ who has me barely covered (85k) and he limps (he'd been making it 2x typically, but i'd never seen him tank/limp.... it screamed weakness to me). I make it 12k and he calls.

Flop = 3 5 Q.

I lead out for 18k and he calls...

Turn = J.

Here's where I possibly spew, but I'm almost 99% certain I'm ahead. You could argue for checking and letting him stab at it, but he had been pretty passive for the hour or so we were at the table together. I don't think he bets any floats/draws if I check, and I'm not about to let him draw for free.

I shove..... he SNAP calls.... for like half an instant I'm like oh ****.... until he flips over As8s. For the next half an instant i'm thinking about a top 5 stack going into the $ and the 85k to first.... bink spade on the river gg me.

---
In the second chance, I get it in with AQo vs. AQo just inside the money, again with top 20 stack vs. a guy that covers me. Board runs out 4 spades and he has the As. GG me 30 minutes after the last bad beat lol..... no 20k for me there either.

---
In the 150k I made a move that's worth discussing.... I was amazed that got snapped off, but maybe someone can tell me if I told a bad story.

Blinds 4/800, 240 to go with 180 paid.

Villain #1 (UTG, pretty ABC from what I can tell) has about 18k,

Villian #2 (UTG+3, LAG, if I had to guess i'd say he's playing 1/3 hands taking advantage of the bubble) has 32k.

I'm in the HJ with 28k. Was moved to the table maybe 45 minutes prior and hadn't shown down anything but premium hands so far. I'd say my image is pretty TAG. Average stack at the time was roughly 20k.

UTG makes it 1600, UTG + 3 calls, I call with A7 (my first mistake?)

Everyone else folds and the flop comes 993

UTG checks, UTG + 3 takes maybe 10 seconds and bets 5200 into a 7k pot.

Right away I disregard UTG and the sizing here is very skeptical. His standard cbet was typically closer to 1/2 pot. I feel like he's either taking a stab at it, or protecting a mediocre hand. I decide I'm going to take this pot away from him, and maybe slow him down for the rest of the bubble.

I call the 5200, UTG folds.

Turn comes Q.

He leads out for 7200. I shove for ~13k more. He SNAP calls.... no hesitation with 66.

River = brick and GG me.

Thoughts on the above hand are welcome and appreciated lol.

After that I decided to take some time off of online poker, since there wasn't much going on for the rest of the month anyway, and just study/focus on live play. I took a week off to unwind/gather myself/study via RunitOnce videos and some MTT forum threads and then started going to the local Hard Rock on the 11th.

Long story short, I'm CRUSHING 2/5 NL and the 2/5 PLO game that beat me up the first time.




Did I mention crushing? Lol. Up 16k in 2 weeks. Current BR is at 43k and the Tampa Hard Rock is hosting its first ever huge tournament series next month, featuring a $3,500 $1 milly GTD tourney. I'm still going to play online Sundays and randomly when I feel like it, but I'm really going to be focusing on my live MTT and PLO/NLHE game for the forseeable future.

If I bink anything decent next month, I may even reconsider skipping the WSOP this year. One time? Lol.

Anywho, for those of you brave enough to make it to the end of this, I offer cell phone ass.... cuz **** thread savers that you can google .

Cool pic of money bro.

The A7dd hand seems like total spew to me.

Subbed.

Yeah, I sorta agree in hindsight. I mean it's one of those plays where if it works I'm only marginally better off than I was before, and if it fails I'm out of the tournament. I just like being the aggressive one at the table close to the $ and don't like when other people try to take that role from me. I guess it's a leak of mine that I need to rein in my fancy play syndrome a bit.

Congrats on the recent heat! Are you saying you plan to play the $3500 event?

Most likely. I may sell pieces, depending on how well I do in the rest of the series leading up to the ME, but I've done really well at the smaller WPT Regional Events and would feel pretty comfortable taking a shot assuming my BR is still where it is now or better come May.

Just caught this thread and was liking it and then ..shazam..nothing. Hope all is well.