Hi All,

I'm a former online LHE player who converted to live LO8/mixed games several years ago. I mostly play in local private games, and found decent success initially as seen below:

My first 1.5 years playing live:




The games I play in are very soft, often 7-8 way limped pots and very few aggressive players. The prevailing wisdom is that split pot games are much less volatile than LHE and my results gave me a false sense of security.

Then this happened:

Last 9 months:






I have a full time job, poker is just a hobby that I take seriously, but losing real-world amounts of money is starting to become stressful to me. My wife is expecting our first child in November this year, and I want to take this time as an opportunity to reevaluate my life and habits and make some positive changes in my life. Here's my plan:

* Play poker less often. Quit when tired, quit when losing. Don't play in bad games. I generally manage pretty well in terms of tilt, but after such a bad downswing losing does effect my emotions which is a drain on my life in general. Quit any session after losing 25 big bets.

* Eat better, exercise at least 3 times a week, lose at least 30 pounds by the time my baby is born. Currently 6'0" 245 pounds.

* Spent time on hobbies outside of poker. Read, go for hikes, play tennis, etc.


I plan to use this thread to provide updates on my results, my weight, and some accountability to my goals.

Fairly positive week so far. Ate healthy other than a work five guys lunch (is anything healthy there?). Just played a short 10/20 LHE session, ended up +65$, not much but maybe a light at the end of the tunnel?

A few notable hands:

hyperlag raises UTG, lag 3-bets HJ, I cap TT in BB.

Flop: 924

I bet, hyperlag raises, lag calls, I call.

Turn: 5

I check, hyperlag bets, lag raises, I call, HL 3-bets, lag caps, I fold.

I don't often cold call 2 bets and fold to a cap on the same street, it crossed my mind that LAG might have been trying to isolate HL with the 2nd best hand but once he caps I just decide he has to be very strong.

LAG ends up having A3o.


Hand 2:

UTG lagfish straddles, I have JJ and 3-bet, HL caps, Button calls, lagfish calls, I call.

Flop: Q75

All check to HL, he bets lagfish calls I cal.

Turn: 9

HL bets, LF calls, I call.

River: 6

check to HL, he bets, LF raises, I fold, LF shows 82o


Looking back I prob should have led into HL and let him raise on the flop.

What a day!

I played a 15/30 HOE game (/w 1/3 kill) yesterday. Started the day in the hole a few hundred and got buried for $800 after 5 hours or so. Almost every session has been like this and I just felt so awful and desperate at this point, and probably should have gone home. I actually prayed to God to let me get a win, I'm an atheist and I've never done that before, that's how bad things have gotten.

Then about 8 hours in, still down $500 or so, I suddenly get hit by the deck. I end the day up ~$1150, my first four digit win since last October!

Best hand of the day (Omaha hi/lo):

I have A248

I limp UTG, two whales limp in MP, laggy guy raises in HJ, BB calls, I decide I have enough hand to 3-bet against this lineup, everyone calls.

Flop is 235

BB checks, I bet, whales call, BB calls.

Turn: 235T

BB checks, I bet, whales call, BB check raises, I know 100% he has one of the straights but I know the whales are never folding in this huge pot until the river so I 3-bet, all call.

River: 235TQ

I bet, all call, and I split with no one! BB and whale 2 shows 46 for the straight. These massive freeroll/scoop hands are just so great and profitable in H/L games and I really feel like I haven't had one in 6 months, I just feel great all around at this point.

I started a new PJ filter called "Fresh Start" for games since I've started this thread. Nice to look at a positive graph for once:




So just to track, my current stats:

Week 1

Winnings since start of thread: $1225

2014 Winnings: -$8407

Current weight: 243 (-2 pounds)