Yeah hand 2 isn’t bad by any means, I’d say at slightly higher stakes you want some flats with KK/AA (more so with A’s than K’s)

Issue at these stakes is there is various boards which will kill your action with K’s post flop.

December Results and 2021 Goals

A better month this time, certainly ran well too but made a few changes to my game after last month which look to be a small improvement.

December Results and Stakes:





YTD:





I'm glad to be in the green for the year, however small the amount. After coming back to the online tables in October I've been a bit shaky so just happy to be improving. I have a long way to go and the more I learn, the more I learn I don't know. I've invested in a training site which has been great and I've starting working with GTO+. I don't think I need to worry about playing GTO at these stakes or any time soon but having some awareness of it will help if and when I look to move up.

Going forward in 2021 I want to keep studying and improving, it would be great to try and make it up to 50nl but in reality my goal playing online is to just improve my game. I will be leaving my full time job in mid February to focus on a couple of new business ventures which will hopefully launch at the end of August. Alongside this I've put aside £10k as a live bankroll and will be going back to play more live cash again. This is very COVID dependent but I've always enjoyed the live cash games and having more time to play will be good. If I find myself in the £1/3 games comfortably at the end of 2021 I'll be happy with the progress.

Outside of work and poker I want to keep it up with fitness and general self improvement. We installed a gym at home during COVID and I've been taking Russian lessons for 2020, both of these I want to make more of in 2021.

Overall, leaving full time employment will hopefully give me more freedom to pursue other interests as well spending more time with my family and travelling, something that has been tough over the last few years. Putting this time into setting up a business or two is something I've always wanted to do and getting it in before children seems like a good idea.

I hope everyone I've been following on and off 2p2 over the last however long continues to crush and do well; Bena, Shipnickle, GazzyB and everyone else. Have an awesome 2021 everyone, good luck on and off the tables.

2020 Highlight:

Hi guys - would love to hear your thoughts on the turn situation here. Seems a weird line to 3b pre, not cbet and then x/r a 8 turn.

I only have 27 hands on villain but he is running 17/9/10 so you're seeing what I was seeing.

PokerStars - $0.10 Ante $0.01 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 146.7 BB
SB: 105.3 BB
BB: 100 BB
UTG: 117.6 BB
MP: 99.9 BB
Hero (CO): 285.2 BB

6 players post ante of 0.1 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.1 BB) Hero has Q Q

fold, fold, Hero raises to 2.5 BB, fold, SB raises to 10 BB, fold, Hero calls 7.5 BB

Flop: (21.6 BB, 2 players) 6 4 2
SB checks, Hero bets 6.8 BB, SB calls 6.8 BB

Turn: (35.2 BB, 2 players) 8
SB checks, Hero bets 14.9 BB, SB raises to 48.5 BB

is it too simple to say he has pocket 8s here

Possibly not - Im not sure someone that tight would 3b 88 at 10nl though, but we have small sample size on him so maybe his stats were wrong. Its also a pretty good flop for 88 but plenty of cards are bad for him so I'd tend to think he would cbet the flop?

Looking at this from villain's pov of view for a moment (and discounting the stats due to sample size etc, but pulling generally from small stakes zoom) perhaps he sees a big stack trying to buy the pot from the cutoff, 3bets you from the blind with a big ace, is happy to call your very modest bet on the flop, convinces himself you have QJo or something and tries to take it away after you bet 40% pot on the turn, which he might see as continuing weakness? Alternatively the 3bet was with air (from a polarised range) that hit this flop hard?

I could also see him washing up with A2s-A6s here too (particularly if one of the club combos).

How does your flop bet at 31% pot look to him in this game?

tl;dr I'd be surprised to see 88 here without something more solid on the flop, as you say, but think his range includes hands that lead to this x/r (and perhaps more so if his read is that your bets show weakness).

Thanks for you replies guys - much appreciated, here is the rest of the HH:

PokerStars - $0.10 Ante $0.01 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 146.7 BB
SB: 105.3 BB
BB: 100 BB
UTG: 117.6 BB
MP: 99.9 BB
Hero (CO): 285.2 BB

6 players post ante of 0.1 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.1 BB) Hero has Q Q

fold, fold, Hero raises to 2.5 BB, fold, SB raises to 10 BB, fold, Hero calls 7.5 BB

Flop: (21.6 BB, 2 players) 6 4 2
SB checks, Hero bets 6.8 BB, SB calls 6.8 BB

Turn: (35.2 BB, 2 players) 8
SB checks, Hero bets 14.9 BB, SB raises to 48.5 BB, Hero calls 33.6 BB

River: (132.2 BB, 2 players) J
SB bets 39.9 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 39.9 BB

SB shows Q A (High Card, Ace)
(Pre 30%, Flop 17%, Turn 7%)
Hero shows Q Q (One Pair, Queens)
(Pre 70%, Flop 83%, Turn 93%)
Hero wins 202.5 BB

I ended up calling down very much because of the logic outlined in Thuderbolts' reply. I have called down like this and been shown 66 etc. quite often so I'm wondering if in the long run it's relatively neutral EV so just make the calls and hope they tilt when I'm right and I hold it together when I'm wrong?

First week (and a half) of the year in the books! Happy with how I played this week although definitely room for improvement. It's been a while since I ran below EV and I ran into a few spots where I was always going to lose a stack or two. Given all of that I am really happy to have booked a small win and hopefully that's the pattern for the year.



I did have a fun situation with pocket 7s on both tables at once and hitting both quads and a set.



I have heard about these Cash Rake Challengs on Pokerstars where you need to earn a certain number of points to win some cash. I've never seen one of these but would be fun to get one and try and grind it out.

Work has been interesting, my new boss has started and I've started training him with what I'm doing. They haven't started looking for my replacement yet which could be problematic as a lot of people at my level will be on 3 months notice. They have asked if I could potentially stay on a bit longer but I'm keen to end my permanent contract. I have said I'm happy to continue as a contractor on a daily/hourly rate to train my replacement but I really don't want to extend my full time contract.

Our business is moving forward slowly, we're working with a designer on some initial products and branding. It's looking good but it's taking a little longer than I thought to get what we want done. It's a lot harder having to do everything remotely as I have always preferred working with someone in person. I am reaching out to friends who have been affected professionally by Corona wherever possible to give them some work on the project. It isn't much but anything we can do to get work to peoplewho need it seems like some good karma.

Looking ahead to live poker, the UK is back in lockdown and I don't think we'll be coming out any time soon. I have been planning to go and play a lot more live poker once I leave my job but that isn't looking too promising. There is always the chance I can go and play abroad for a bit but I guess I'll cross that bridge once I get to it.

Hope everyone else has had a good start to the year and long may it continue!

Good result dude ! The most important thing is that you are happy with your decisions runs good will coming.
Seven always coming right ?
Take care of you, I've seen that the situation is very difficult in London.
I hope to be able to read about your live poker adventures soon ! Fingers crosses

Hi Crunsh, thanks for your message. I'm happy with how I'm playing, or at least I'm very aware of what the mistakes I've made are and how to improve going forward.

Definitely love a 7.

London sucks at the moment but I had a negative COVID test over the weekend and I barely leave my house so being reasonably careful. I do see people every now and then when I'm out with the dog which is nice.

Can't wait to get back onto the live tables but the chances of that happening in London any time soon are looking pretty low. I'll just adjust on the fly with this, maybe I'll spend some time abroad once I finish work and wait for all of this to blow over somewhere warm.

Subscribed, good luck!

good luck,man!

Keep crushing man! I'm also in the 10z pool (as I think you know). If you want to swap SNs or chat on discord shoot me a PM.

Thank you, much appreciated.

Thanks

Have dropped you a PM, thanks for the nice post. Always keen to talk poker!

Haven't had one of these for a while!

Not the best week but I feel like I found myself in a lot of difficult spots with the second best hand.



I did manage to win a couple homegames for $84 and £180 which made the week profitable but I'd rather be doing it on the cash game tables.

Hey man, i didnt get one of these for 8 months, finally decided i was sick of no RB on stars so moved over to GG (but kept the pokerstars lobby open whilst i grinded) and within 3 weeks got offered a challenge. I think its well worth a shot cause grinding without RB is insane really.

glgl going forward looking forward to more updates

Hey - thanks, might be worth a go! I do have an accoount there, will look into the rake though, I think it is also quite higih?

Rush and cash rake is actually decent i think, but the positive is actually getting some of that rake back compared to 10cent chests on stars. Also it doesn't have to be permanent, just a few weeks until stars realise they've lost another customer.

I'd be surprised if Stars gives a f*** about losing me but I might give this a go.

Brag: Finally got the Poker Exclusive Challenge from Pokerstars, 2500 points in 27 or so days

Beat: Not a chance I am going to get it 1 or two tabling the stakes I play

Variance: Taking a shot at 16nl and not getting destroyed currently

Holy ****. They gave you 2500 points?

I have 1000 points (200 rake for 80 bucks back) and that is tough as hell. It was like 35k hands at 10z. I'm not doing it this month as it a lot and burnout as hell. Honestly I would say don't bother and hope they give you a lower one if you don't finish it.

For 2500 you'd probably need like 45k hands at 25z.

If I had left my job already and the casinos were still shut I think I could probably crush this out but with everything I have going on at the moment it's just not going to happen.

We've got some of the initial design work for our company done and I'm keen to get some feedback. Our name can be shortened to a 4 letter acronym and I'm keen to know how you guys read this logo, in which order the letters would be read in your eyes:



We have a number of difference configurations but if you could let me know which way you would read this it would be much appreciated. Also a little spoiler in the field the business focuses in!

I can't intuitively read it at all. Before I saw your question I had already asked myself wtf is that logo. It's a hot mess for intelligibility.

That said, I don't think this is anywhere near fatal. It's a recognisable logo and works as such. The problem is only there if this if you rely on this communicating your name (and expect people to see it on gear / clothing / whatever and be able to Google you).

I'd read it as SEDS, then 2nd guess myself and wonder if it should be EDSS then decide no, it's probably SEDS.

And then curse my old man eyesight cos there is no way I'm seeing that est. date.