Poker has been apart of me for around 20 years off and on. From 8 tabling during the poker boom online at 18, to grinding low stakes and paying off chunks of college tuition. The only problem is life was always in the way of really pursuing poker more seriously. In the last year I’ve picked up playing plo. I’m a math teacher by profession, but have benefitted from my poker experience and skill as additional income. In this thread I’ll update you on my sessions and progress as I build up the roll and commit to poker for the first time.

prove you're a math teacher, if two cars are traveling from the same starting point at the speed of light then how many hours of homework do you arbitrarily assign each night?

Haha, well I'm not a fan of arbitrary homework so I don't think I've ever assigned more than 10 problems on a single night. Also for a long time in my school homework had no point value so students were given the option to do as much as they felt was needed to help them learn to take more ownership over their learning. I also think that for 90% of kids homework is unnecessary. If you teach it right in class and they practice it that's all that's needed. Those who it comes easy to already get it and those who need the most practice aren't going to practice it.

GLGL

Played a 6 hour session last night in a local casino as we are off of school this week. 2/2 PlO and bought in for 300. I like to buy in low in this game and go with hands early as I found myself all in on the 2nd hand I was dealt and the first hand I played lol. UTG with QJ98 double suited so I made it 8. 4 guys called before the button made it 30. I decided to go with it and wanted to isolate so I potted it. After I potted everyone folded to the button who repotted putting me all in. We ran it twice and he had AA27 no suits and even though on the first board I flopped a FD, a pair, and turned open ended I didn't hit anything. Second board was just about the same and he scooped. So I reloaded for 300 and off again. After being card dead for a while and just running bad I added on for $200. The table was really good and I had a very good read on it so I knew it would turn around eventually. After finally hitting a few hands I sort of overplayed a couple and left some $ on the table, but built my stack to around $2100. It was getting a little late and I was about to book a solid win when we get involved in the last hand of the night. For a little context my high point on the session was around $2200 and after I potted pre-flop and the guy on my left repotted to $300+ the villain in the final hand called the $300 then my repot all in pre-flop. In this hand I had AAJ10 ds and the villain of the final hand of the night had J998 with 3 diamonds (Yes he put around $500+ all in with this hand). There was the 3rd player who was all in for around $400 (who only wanted to run once) and we never saw his hand. Needless to say we ran both boards for the side pot and chopped because the villain hit a 9. The first board counts for the main pot which had the 9 in it so somehow I ended up losing around $400 on this hand. After dipping down we built back up to the $2100 leading into the final hand of the night.

I find myself in the bb with 5788 ds hearts and clubs. There's been a straddle from almost all players in the game so after 2 callers the next guy makes it $20 and there's 4 callers before me. This has been a standard raise and although I don't normally like my rundowns to be this low and especially having a gap here, but I call just to see the flop and play cautiously. The two people after me call and we are 7 ways to a flop with the pot at $140. Flops 369 with 6 9 clubs and 3 of hearts. The clubs in my hand are 7,8, and the hearts are 5, 8. I probably could of checked here for pot control, but I think that there's so many people that probably pot this with so many to act after me and it gets even more bloated so after the SB checks I bet $70. I know this is a more aggressive route, but I want to see where I'm at and sort of make any tough decisions earlier. I get two callers which are the button (Villain from All in who had J998 3d) and the sb who just busted and reloaded. The turns a jack of hearts and sb checks, I check, and Button guy puts in $300 and has around $120 more. The sb says screw it and puts his last $300 in and its onto me. I'm honestly torn on this one as I can fold and probably call it a night at around $2,000, but I have so much that can probably win it here. Honestly I should of thought a little more about my clubs being covered with 2 others in the hand and that's the biggest lesson in this I think I learned. I really thought that a nut flush draw with the way the game was playing would have potted on the flop and asked to run it twice. This was a little bit as to why I bet $70 because I thought that top set or nut flush draw would just jam and I'd have to make a choice to only be against 1 player. But as you can tell I said screw it as the pot was around $1,000 or so. In my head I thought that if I hit the straight, clubs, hearts, or my set I might be good here so I put in the $425 which the button called his remaining $125 and we went to the river which I assumed we'd run twice. This is where the villain side steps and although all night for around 3 hours he's been there he's ran everything twice and me and the sb say we will go twice he says, "No I'm only going once this time". I'm not sure what that was all about but jeez now in a $1500+ pot he decides he wants to go once. We run it once and a 6 hits the river and the button flips over 69A2 for top 2 and getting the boat on the river. Ughhhhh. Worst part about it all besides him running once is I flipped the cards on the deck and I hit it on the 2nd board so we would of chopped. Also the villain immediately says he's done and racks up so I do the same. If I stayed I probably would of blasted everything off even if I thought I was playing fine. So instead of leaving with 2k I rack up and leave at $1550. Booked a solid +$750 but a little unsure if I shoulda committed to the last hand. Afterwards the sb said he had nut clubs. This makes me realize it was a bad call, but I was looking at it like how many times am I going to be in a spot where a 5, 10, 8, or heart where I have to put in $400 to win around $1000+ with his remaining $125 guaranteed to go in. I also looked at it which could be wrong, but I thought to myself well if I hit any of my outs I'm sitting with around $3300 or so and if I miss I'm still at around $1500. This probably isn't the right way to think about it, but the chance to have a $3300 stack in a 2/2 game was also too enticing for me. I could of sat and ran the table into the next day with that kind of stack. Either way I racked up and booked the win. On to the next one.

Omaha isn’t the great game, it should be called the pain game. I’ve been playing on the Pokerrrr 2 app a lot more and was +840 last week so I had to pick up my cash. Got convinced to sitting in a 5/0 game, but it plays more like 5/10. About an hour in I’m up around 1k. 3rd to act and 2 limpers to me with AA95 A9 H. I make it 20 and get 6 callers. Flops A109 rainbow and I lead for $40. Guy on my left calls and turns a 10. We all know where this is going…… I check the turn he leads for $125, I make it $300 which he calls after asking how much I have behind. River 2 and I lead for $400 which he raises pot and after about a minute I fold. Yes, he had 10 10 of course. Probably 5 mins later I rack up at $700 and call it a night +$200. Why oh why Omaha? Why couldn’t I get a brick on the turn. Just why does he have to get quads in the biggest spot of the night against my aces full. Oh well, back to the grind.