Last night, we reached a milestone for the year! Kind of sad that it's taken a full 4 months, but we finally won 4 sessions in a row.

Last night was also a massive anomaly. I received AA as hole card three different occasions. I did not receive JJ, QQ, or KK once. I also did not receive AT, AJ, AQ, or AK once. As far as card distribution goes, I think that's one of the stranger ones I've experienced.

Not much really to say about the session. I will say that tables 6 months ago that I thought were awful, I'm starting to picture some weaknesses and have confidence enough in my game to not picture them as awful. Instead, they're just not good. One hand I do want to point out, and this is about flop play. UTG limps. UTG is a early 50s white guy. Plays very speculative hands. I definitely have an edge over him. I see AA UTG+1 and raise to $25. Folds to BTN who calls. Earlier in the session, I think value bet him with 75o on a 92347 board and was good. BB calls as well as UTG.

Flop ($100): K62
BB checks, UTG checks. I bet $70. Think this is the right number. K won't fold, diamonds won't, etc. Folds to UTG. UTG min raises to $140 with $200 behind. I think I have two options here.

1. Jam, hope to get called by diamonds. Can be attractive since I don't have Ad
2. I can call, getting a decent price, and fold on K or diamond turns. Think he will be jamming on any turn card.

In the end, I flat getting 4.5 to 1 on a call. I just need to find 2 combos to get the right price here.

Turn ($380): 4
He jams. Not a great card. Any A-hi diamond bluffs get there. The best I could hope for is AdKx. So I fold???

4.25 hours
+$563

4 days until vacation.....I NEED IT

So I started reading this thread and I am somewhere in Feb and had to google MAWG. Then saw MABG. OK. Then MAAG with (asian)<- in parentheses. I started to think do different races really play that different? Then I saw MA Egyptian Guy and pretty much just lost it laughing. You young guys are the worst.

Still checking out your thread from time to time--still one of my favorite threads. Keep up the good work snapz! Have a great vacation as well!

Haha thanks for reading the thread!

As much as I hate saying it, different races really do play similarly.

Your typical middle age white guy is generally more conservative. Not looking to bluff, not looking to play large pots without large hands. The typical middle age black guy tends to be a bit looser, a bit more on the gambol side. Middle aged Asians are almost always the biggest gamblers and definitely prone to spew. And an acronym I've yet to pull out, MAHG (Hispanic), are usually very unpredictable. While it's not always accurate, it's a good general guideline when facing an unknown player. There are exceptions, of course, but it's usually not far off.

Thanks Ed! Hope all is going well with you. I'll be sure to have some pics when I get back, 4 more work days and one more poker session away.

Last session for a bit of time. Not too much really happened. A failed squeeze attempt, a heartless bluff attempt, a good calldown, etc. The table wasn't bad at all during the entirety of the time I was there. Two hands I want to post up here. First one, weak player limps UTG. An unknown, early 30ish white guy who had been very aggressive up to now (and on tilt) raises to $25. I 3bet KK to $85 in BB. UTG folds, MP calls.

Flop ($175): A72
Yay. I check. He checks back

Turn ($175): T
I check again. He may have a Tx, maybe JJ/QQ that'll call, but that's about it. He bets 4 green chips. I call.

River ($375): Q
Not the greatest card imo. I check. He throws in 7 green chips now. So now for some hand reading. I block a bunch of AK. I block the same amount of KQ. I don't block AQ, but then again I don't block J9 or QJ or JT or 98s. Maybe he throws a bet out with AJ, but past that probably not. QT definitely. I'm getting better than 3:1 on a call, and given his aggressive nature so far, I decide to call. He mucks and MHIG.

Other hand. A MAAG limps in MP. I've played MANY hours with him. I'm comfortable saying I know a lot of his game. He has a little more than $100 behind. The aggressive guy from above raises to $20, and an unknown player flats OTB, looks competent. I see AQo in the SB. I have 2 options:

1. I can 3bet for value to ~$90
2. I can flat, and plan on the MAAG jamming, the agro guy (who is on tilt) calling, and then repopping it.

I choose #2. Much larger chance of me getting HU with MAAG with more dead money. As expected, he jams for $110 total. Aggro guy calls. BTN tanks for a little bit before folding. I 4bet to $430. I could jam for $900, but I don't think that leads to anything. He thinks for a bit before folding. Ironically, BTN said that he had planned on doing exactly what I did after the hand if I wasn't left to act. The board ran out 379J3, and his T9o wins the pot. Aggro guy says he would have made quads.

After a bit, we played like half an hour of round by round 2/5 NLHE and 2/2 PLO with a really good line-up....4 handed! Unfortunately I couldn't get too much going.

4.5 hours
+$200 (+$145 2/5, +$55 OH)

That actually gave me a nice little bump. I never went through the numbers until last night, but overall from the end of January to the middle of March, I went on a $6k downswing. That's pretty hard to recover from, but my hourly for the year is finally in negative single digits, up $40/hr from what it was 2 months ago.

#we'recomingback!

Vacation was most grand and wonderful. The 16-hour drive to and from wasn't even bad either. Unfortunately, every day down there was either almost or above 100 degrees with no rain...except the last night we were down there. And I got sunburnt pretty badly using SPF 50! That's how awful the sun was.

Anyways, the condo we rented was amazing. $1k for an entire week, each morning waking up to...



The beach was great as well. I've never been to the edge of a continent before where all you see is blue. It kind of takes your breath away. All that water, for as far as you can see. And the power of it too. A funny thing I thought during the time because, well, I'm like that. If someone the human race could mutate into an affinity for salt water rather than fresh water, how dominant would that species be?



This picture is exactly why I got sunburnt and am currently peeling everywhere. Notice the sun. Notice the lack of clouds. Sunday-Friday afternoon, this was the norm.



The next picture is a view of the sunset from our back balcony. So picturesque. Perhaps the most relaxing part of vacation was sitting back, watching this sunset while reading Tommy Angelo's Elements of Poker (thank you to my girlfriend for getting that for me for my birthday) and sipping on some summer shandy.



We went to Universal Orlando on Wednesday, which was my girlfriend's birthday, to see all of Harry Potter World. I have to admit, I too was a bit excited for this trip even though it was for her birthday. Picture of Hogsmeade. For those who know the books, they had Olivander's wand shop here and not in Diagon Alley. Kind of strange imo. If you ever go, you also have to have the butterbeer. Also, shout out to Danny at the Gringots ride. He hooked me and my gf up by letting us go into the expresslane for the ride, letting us skip a half hour wait.



And the final sunset (that we could see) was on the beach. This was actually taken right before a dolphin couple started swimming alongside the no swimming signs and jumping out of the water.



I highly suggest everyone take vacations if they can. It was extremely relaxing and much needed.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now, back to real life. I'm a bit relieved now that vacation is done. The last month or so my schedule has been so irregular and I've had so many events or travels that it's been taxing. It's going to be good to get into a routine.

And as we were driving back, me and my gf talked. Probably our most serious talk. She is completely behind me 100% if I ever take my full-time poker shot. We discussed at length and it seems like this will happen sooner rather than later. A huge thing with her is that there is more flexibility. She wants to travel a bit more, but with our current schedules it's not possible. She also wants me to be happy, and she has dealt with someone who was self-employed, so she knows the ups and downs of it.

Why do I want to do this sooner rather than later?

-I have about 6 months of living expenses saved in an emergency fund.

-I do, eventually, want to start a family. We've talked about this, and decided that we want to move away from our roommate to live by ourselves (not kids or anything) in September 2018. It is much better that I take the shot sooner rather than wait and be in a cluster**** when this happens.

-I'm honestly fearful every day that I could go into work and not have a job (not due to work performance)

The lead up to this is going to be more volume. Squeezing Friday nights in, putting in an extra hour on weekday sessions. Putting in maybe an extra half hour each day I study material or work on ranges. Ideally, this will be done by the end of July. Realistically, probably early to mid September.

All my breaks and distractions are finally done. Let's get to work.

Go for it man. Glgl

Quit and play full time


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If you're passionate and ready go for itttttt

Thank you all for the words of encouragement! It's pretty much a sure fire bet that it will happen. Again though, I just need a little bit more of a cushion before I do.

---------------------------------------------------------------

My local casino welcomed me back in the way poker can welcome you back - a big kick to the nuts.

On Tuesday night, they had either 1/2 or a 2/5 NLHE and 2/2 $5 bring in PLO mixed game going. I go into the OH mix. It's actually a very good game. At the beginning, there is this massive VIP and at the end, it was even better.

But I wound up running like dog crap, again, in PLO. I got solid hands few and far between. A lot of it though was like J987ds. Flop comes AxJd2d, giving me pair + FD but just a terrible flop overall. The guy on my right wound up having AJXX with nut diamonds (I xf flop).

My bustout hand for the night, the first time I've actually busted out in 3 1/2 months, had my head just scratching. There is a limp, I raise JT98hh to $20 and get 4 calls. I'm like $400 effective at this point.

Flop ($105) Q93

Not a fan of this mini wrap. But this is like the bottom end of my potting range. I can have AAxx, KQJT, QQxx, etc. So it checks to me, I pot it, guy to my left calls and all others fold.

Me and this player have some history together. He is a good player, I think his only "leak" is that he plays a few too many hands preflop. He can get away with it though because of his postflop ability. He knows I'm a solid, tighter player.

Turn ($315): A

This is a great card for me. It smacks my range fairly hard. I jam, he thinks about it for a little bit before calling. We RIT and I lose both pots against JJT6.

(I'm pretty sure that was a tilt call from him, he lost a $3,500 pot about 1/2 an hour ago at 2/2 PLO)

This next hand I posted on CLP. I can delve into my thoughts here all I want to because I'm lost at what I can do better in the hand.

A MAWL (middle aged white lady) opens to $20 UTG. Fun fact: I know she doesn't have a premium hand when she does this, because she has always limped in with big pocket pairs and plays them conservatively preflop, for the trap. Let's get that squared away. I see KJ and decide to call in MP. A very loose player also calls OTB as well as SB (irrelevant).

Flop ($85): K43
SB checks. UTG bets $50. She also tends to overplay quite a bit with top pair or other hands. But she doesn't fold top pair hands either. And listening to some prior podcasts, I've learned that hands like these, when a player has a hand they deem strong, they're not folding. So if I fastplay, I'm basically drawing to anywhere from 9-12 outs. So I'm kind of stuck here. We started the hand like $500 effective. I decide to call. BTN calls as well.

Turn ($235): T
Interesting card. UTG bets $100. If there is a spot in the hand where I may have the most success in raising, it's right here. But I think it may be as a bluff. And again, I don't think she is good enough to let TP go, if she has TP. I go back and forth between both decisions and decide to flat. I did notice that BTN was going to fold, so he was irrelevant at this point.

River ($435): 3
She fairly quickly says "same bet". And from some studying that I've done, the same bet is typically a bet that a player makes when they have a hand they don't know what to do with, but don't want to call a large bet. Ironically, these same bet bettors typically don't fold either if you raise a large amount. So it's like a middling showdown type of hand. I'm getting better than 5 to 1. If she has QQ and JJ SOMETIMES, then it becomes a call. I don't think she has a set. We could also have the same hand, but I think it's unlikely.

I decide to call, not feeling great about it, but LOL POT ODDS. She tables KQ. I'm taken aback a bit because I didn't think she would thin value bet that hand. Then I remember, she didn't thin value bet that hand. She bet because she had literally no idea what to do with that hand on the river.

3 hours
-$1,100

-------------

Last night's session, I got to play exactly what I wanted - 2/5. Let's be serious here, I am starting to study PLO but my bread and butter is NLHE.

I started the session out fairly well. I stacked probably one of the better players in the room with 66 against his 33 on a K643Kdcdcc board. He preflop raised, I flatted. It went checked flop, I flatted his turn bet, bet after he checked river and jammed over his raise. There is only a handful of players in my room that I'm taking that line against, and he's one of them.

Other than that, the session was like pulling teeth. The players weren't necessarily great or good. My card distribution was in the bottom 10% possible (like Tuesday night). And the few times I did open, I got 3bet and was at the absolute bottom of my range. It was actually just 4 times I was 3bet, 3 of them by one specific player. This specific player is overly agro. It just so happened that each time he three bet, I had 75o, 97s, and J8s.

This same opponent, for some reason, also decided to start talking about how much easier and more profit you can make on the weekends compared to the weekdays. How much worse the players play on weekends, how everyone plays the same on weekdays. That's **** you don't say aloud at the poker table. At some point I finally chimed in and say

"I think this is all just a bunch of pure dumb luck."

Shut them up about the skill real quickly. Of course there is a bunch of skill in poker, but it's bad overall for others to know that and get intimidated.

So I pretty much bled away all night. The best hand I saw in a 2-hour stretch, kid you not, was JTo in the BB. And this is how the hand played. Some TAGgy looking guy opened to $20 in CO. BTN, kind of tilting a bit, very meh player, calls. SB, the lady from above, also calls. I toy with 3betting, it might be better in this circumstance with 3 other players but relative position. I decide to just flat.

Flop ($80): 973

SB takes a LONG ****ing time. I'm in seat 1, she is in seat 9, and at some point because I can barely see her I ask if it's my turn, a genuine question. Nope. She's just taking a minute. She decides to bet $40. Don't think she is all that strong. Good thing is that this flop shouldn't necessarily connect with CO's range, and I've got a bunch of cards that can come that are good for me. I flat. CO folds, BTN calls.

Turn ($200): K

That, technically, is one of the cards that can hit me. She checks. I decide to check back. I think BTN will bet very wide here, pinning SB and myself as weak. Sure enough, he bets $95. SB folds. I look at his stack size. He has like $225 remaining. I don't want to jam and make it look bluffy. I raise to $285. 33, 77, 99, maybe 97, K9, etc. I can get him to fold my hand, hands like 7x, maybe low PP, 88, and it's rare that his hand is nutted. He jams for $330 total. ****. I call. At least I have 8 outs.

He turns over 99. I literally run into the exact top of his possible range. River is a T and I don't make my straight.

Looking over it, I think this is an ok spot to bluff. If he does ever think both me and SB have a 9, and we're just scared of the K, then all of his pairs and draws worse than a 9 can correctly bluff. Bluff needs to work, what, less than 50% of the time. And even when what happened, happens, I still win 1 in 6 times (closer to 1 in 5.5 times because I know he isn't going to have any of my outs). 3x3 sets, 2 97s, 2 K9s. Vs 88 (6), 87s (3), T8s (3)....just more hands imo that I can fold out where I do credibly rep the set.

And even with such a ****ty distribution of cards, I lost just a tiny bit. That bluff spot works, I wind up being up like $600.

3 hours 6 minutes
-$184

------------------------------------------------------

The prior two sessions, I've been trying to be more talkative, attentive, etc. Makes the game better, I wind up having more fun, and it's more me. I've stopped bringing in the clunky headphones. Let's be honest, everyone wants to have a good time at the poker table. Nobody wants a table full of TAGs grinding with their headphones on.

How does this hit you?

How much money are you trying to put away? Life roll? Bank roll?


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The only way it can hit my range is specially K9. It sneakily gives me a double gutshot, which adds to my outs and can be a potentially scary card for my other opponents (they aren't putting me on a range, just OMGZORZ OVERCARD)


The closer I get, the more guarded this number will be. Liferoll, 10k gives me about 7 to 8 months of life expenses. BR, I'm looking for something between 20-30k. This number is smaller than prior because I have a new understanding of ROR and feel confident that if I fail, my resume is good enough that I could get a 15 or 16/hr job.

I'm sitting in my driveway right now. Girlfriend and roommate with roommates boyfriend sitting on the deck. I don't want to go in.

Just dropped $1600 in one of the fishiest 2/5 games I've played at in a long time. I'm now down almost $3k since vacation. And I just ponder. Maybe I suck at poker. Maybe it's all just a ****ton of variance. Maybe it's a mix. Maybe I need a break.

I watch and do all this training material. Value bet the **** out of everyone. Hand read. Be aggressive. Maybe I'm missing these spots, but I don't think I've been able to have a true, confident value bet in a while. I haven't had hands to 3bet. No blockers, no value.

Maybe I need to rethink my strategy. Maybe I need to suck it up.

One thing is for sure. I still don't want to move from my driveway. Actually, two. I'm still going to do whatever the **** it takes to make it and to be the best player in the room. Watch the **** out everyone, I'm coming for you. With more intensity than ever before.

But for now, I gotta get out of the driveway. God help me.

So after Sunday night kind of pissed me off, I took a step back and realized that I needed to get back to basics. And stay there. You know, I may know more now than I did a year ago or even 6 months ago, but there really isn't much complex stuff I need to know to beat the games. The complex stuff comes in handy against the complex players.

I played 1/2 last night. No shame. Get back to basics. I don't know if it was the line-up or just the general level of play, but I felt truly confident in almost every decision I made. That being said, I made two large mistakes. Here's the first one. An EP player limps. This maniac guy raises to $10 in MP. I flat KJ in HJ. We can make a case for 3betting this guy with this hand, and I did think about it. 3 other players call, the BTN, SB, and EP.

Flop ($50): K75
Check, Check, MP V bets $20. I think calling here is best. We've had two natural checks and a player behind. Those players aren't going to call a raise without a range that has us crushed. So I call and SB calls as well.

Turn ($110): 9
SB checks, MP checks. This is a bet. I know it's a bet. I checked instead, and to be honest I don't know why.

River ($110): A
SB checks, MP checks. I'm fairly positive SB or MP would have bet out if they hit the A with like AX. Straights/sets and two pair aren't taking this line either. I also have ALL of the busted flush and straight draws. I bet $50. Not going to lie, this is a thin as hell value bet. SB tanks for a little bit before calling. MP folds quickly. I show my hand, SB's eyes get fairly big and he mucks.

Later, SB told me that the bet was just so polarizing that he had to call, but then realized I merged my range with that bet. It seems like a strange bet, but I knew exactly what I was doing and where I was with it. Again though, I shouldn't be in that spot to make the bet, I should be betting the turn and maybe then checking the river.

The second large mistake is here. Two players limp, including a brand new one who already got stacked a few hands prior. I raise KJ to $12 in SB. Both limpers call.

Flop ($36): J65
I bet $25. EP limper folds, new guy in CO calls.

Turn ($86): 4
I bet $35. I bet this much because I noticed he had about $100 behind OTT. I felt like it was either a small bet and then 1/2 psb OTR or just jam it in with the stack sizes. He thinks for a tiny bit before calling.

River ($156): 4
I check. He motions as if he is going to shove, then bets $35. ****. I tank for like 1 1/2 minutes. I'm talking while I'm tanking. I'm getting almost 6 to 1 on a call. But I'm going through the possible hands - what hands do I beat? What hands missed? What hands is he betting? The answer is none. I tell myself I should fold, I know I should fold, but......LOLPOTODDS. I call. He flips over T9

But that's fine. The very next hand, I get it back + interest when I get three streets with KT on a T92dxd27 board against 95s

It was a very productive session. I made a few mistakes, but I got some confidence and ran well enough to flop a couple of pairs here and there and made the most of it. Does suck that it took over half an hour to get a seat, but such is such.

2.6 hours
+$322

Dig a little deeper here. What do you think the reason was, regardless of how much it doesn't make sense. And then think what the reasons for betting here are? Why is it a bet? Why do you know it's a bet. You need to articulate clearly to yourself why instead of just going by feel or some sort of gut response.

Say to yourself when reviewing, this is a bet because we have the best hand just about always after a 40% pot bet, on a two-toned board. So it's a bet for both value and to protect our equity from draws. You're only going to get 2 bets in with this hand strength realistically and so it's important to bet early in the hand when you can get value from the weak pairs and drawing hands that won't call on later streets. Really clarify this when reviewing hands.

SB clearly doesn't know what he's talking about. We can have a fair few Ax combos and Kxhh as well as other Kx apparently. I think your river value bet was good but you know turn is a mandatory bet and a large one at that.

Realistically you're not going to get much fold equity when ISOing from the SB. The result will be a bloated pot with a not amazing hand in the nutworst position, oop to like 2-3 other players. Maybe go 7bb in a 1/2 game which naturally has lower fold equity pre - or consider limping in as well to reduce overall session stdev. No biggie tho by any means.

Flop is good. Turn, not so much. If he has a little over psb left, just jam the turn. Force him to make the mistake by calling off too much with too little equity. By betting 35 into 86, you're literally giving him the correct odds to peel turn making this play overall -EV. We need to force our opponents to make mistakes to profit in this game.

GLGL.

Nice read subbed!

I think its always good to be able to slow things back when you haven't had the results you wanted recently, either by playing tighter, not bluffing or similar.

H1, I would prefer just 3betting this to isolate to like $30 because a) This type of guys going to be quite wide b) Ideal spot is a HU pot Ip.

Flop looks good
Turn I would bet. I dont think its a travesty to not bet though, as your hand is quite disguised if all he draws miss on the river.
River wp

Hand 2 Pre looks good and flop.
Turn bet bigger, pot geometry is irrelevant if he's got a draw, he's never folding a FD with an OC so just make it 60. River is a call when you're getting odds that good it's just a snap really considering all the silly thingns you see in live poker.

gl!


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I think we all know this is a travesty.

I do like that you aren't like 90% of players and have the humility to move down to regroup. You are thinking clear and in my opinion this tells me you have what it takes to be a long term success. That AND the ability to be introspective. Your honesty in this thread is appreciated, and is what makes it top notch.

Was trying to find it in your thread, but what casino do you play at typically? Hollywood in Toledo? I'm originally from Toledo and have played there, but hate the 1-2 vs 1-3 (Cleveland Jack spreads 1-3). GL

I'm not too great with this quoting thing, and I don't have too terribly much time before I gotta go catch a showing of Wonder Woman. Anyways, yeah hand 1, not betting the flop is terrible. We have the best hand a majority of the time, and there are quite a few draws/pair + draws that will call a hefty turn bet.

Hand 2 was a bit of turn FPS. The flaw in my bet size thinking there was that he was going to call a less than pot size jam OTT when he misses. No, he just isn't. Jamming is probably better because, as I've said earlier in this thread, players are willing to put more money in on the turn than they are on the river.

Thanks for the subs, and thanks for the kind words. I've had a few dips while playing online poker, so dropping down every once in a while isn't a tough thing for me to do. Definitely a breath of fresh air.

Thanks! I don't play in Toledo and I've never been in Cleveland. Don't want to out my home casino, but it is in Ohio

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Instead of a long session today, my buddy texts me yesterday to see if I wanna golf. Now, for those of you who followed prior threads, I'm a terrible golfer. I have a competitive spirit in most things, but golf is not one of them because I suck so much. First time out in well over a year. Front 9 I shot a 56 (!), Back 9 I shot a 49, opening with a 10 (!) on the 10th hole. But it brought me back to poker.

The last 7 holes, I went +6. That is ****ING AMAZING for me (long story short, I have a slight physical impairment that no doubt limits my golf game a bit, but not much else). I was getting a little sore, a little dehydrated, my muscles were bleh because it was the first time. So how did I do it? I focused on the basics. Tighten my grip a bit. Don't turn my wrist. And play the right club.

That's literally what I've got to do. Value bet when there is value. Fold when raised (against most players). Play position. That's what got me here. I know who I can try the FPS stuff against and who I can try to outthink. But those should be the only people.

May wasn't overtly difficult. I went on a winning streak of sorts before going on vacation. Then I went on a losing streak of sorts, the kind I've been accustomed to in 2017. Then I snuck in a small winning session right at the end. Volume was fairly laughable, although being out of the state for a third of the month doesn't help matters either. May was, what it was. 27 hours, profit of -$755.

If I have scrambled thoughts, it's because the Halo: Master Chief collection is finally playing multiplayer games and I'm just finding this out a year and a half after buying it, trying it, and having nothing work.

What does June have in store? My girlfriend already knows that June and July are going to be a huge grind for me. I'm prepped and excited for the long grind (could do without the work days, but a plan is a plan).

-60 hours of poker play
-Finish both books that I'm in the middle of
-Get back to the basics
-Post more in either forum
-Continue hand review

A couple of sessions since the last post. Two things of note:

1. Holy hell there is a large difference between 2/5 and 1/2. The players are so much worse overall, whereas at 2/5 they may be competent, but still not good.

2. I can't pull myself out of this downswing to save my life.

Two hands in two session, both against maniacs, both where I have a huge hand relative to the board, and both where they flop flushes. Hand 1 is a mistake on my part. Probably one of those boneheaded plays. Middle eastern older guy, who so far has been playing fairly fishy, limps in EP. I see KK in HJ and raise to $12. Only he calls.

Flop ($27): J 83

He donk bets $7. He previously donk bet twice in roughly the same scenario with A8 on a AT44 flop - I raised him both times. I raise him here to $30. He 3bets to $82.

This here is a fold. Even from an absolutely awful player like this guy, it's a fold.

However, I convinced myself that since A) I never see players fast play a flopped flush on the flop and B) he's a fish - that his range is full of Ac combos. So I jam for $202 total. He calls, board runs out rainbow twos and he scoops the pot with Q9

The second one last night is just more of a bad run hand. A maniac playing ~95% of hands, talking non stop who also bets fairly frequently post flop limps in EP. A tilted old black man raises to $10. He just rebought and has a $100 stack. I have AQ in CO and 3bet him to $31. I'm 100% willing to GII against that guy, it's his third rebuy and you can tell he is tilted. Maniac in EP calls as does old guy in MP.

Flop ($96): AQ8
They both check to me. I bet $61. A better bet size is $69 to get the MP AI. Maniac calls, MP folds. Maniac has like $130 behind.

Turn ($218): 5
Maniac donk bets $50. I crush his range with top two. I jam for like $80 more. He calls and just has, you know, KJ.

This hand was the first time I'd tried a play like this. I felt like it was the correct spot to do it in. 3 limpers, I raise QJ to $15 in CO, the maniac in UTG and a SS indian calls.

Flop ($50): T95
Checks to me. I cbet $31. Maniac calls. SS Indian jams for $90 total.

So...50+31+31+90 = 201. $59 for me to call. Or.......

I raise to $155 to get Maniac out of the hand. Dead money and I like my chances better being HU for the pot rather than 3 way. To my chagrin, maniac calls. (wtf???)

Turn ($395): 6
Maniac jams for $112.

Are you friggin kidding me?? I take like 2 minutes on the decision. 395 + 112 = 507. So I'm getting better than 4.5 to 1. I'm going to make a straight about 16% of the time. It's so close mathematically. I don't think my Q or J is good. What does he have that he's flatting flop with and jamming turn? Well, he could have a turned straight, a pair + FD, the 6 could have given him two pair......

I count out the chips, go to make the call....and then fold.

Maniac flips over 87

I would 100% do that hand the same way every time. That maniac just caught gin all night (there was another hand I'm not posting, but he called my pfr w 52ss, called a cbet on 664cxx, and raised my turn barrel on 3c that gave me a FD with overs)

I'm happy with the way I've played, sans the first hand which I definitely overplayed. That was bad. The others imo have been ****ty luck. So it's been pretty much the same ****ty luck since dropping down for a bit. $3k downswing in the 2 weeks since vacation after a very small upswing. Jeez, this year has been friggin brutal with poker. And yet I'm still not demotivated enough to stop trying.

(3.86 hours, -$57
3.6 hours, -$400)

Gl man !!! Discipline > Motivation

Thanks! Discipline is definitely where it's at. Definitely tough when you walk in and the floor just insta-puts you on a 2/5 list without saying anything. Must be respect then. Don't worry guys, I'll be back there soon enough.

---------------------------------------------------------------

I felt very vindicated, a popular term that's been thrown around by the White House, with the last couple of sessions. For those two, up +$85. But see, the strange thing is, I'm only up because I won a high hand promotion Thursday night for $250 and another one Friday afternoon for $500.

You see, for a consecutive 9 hour span between Thursday night and Friday's sessions, I had won exactly 1 1/2 pots at showdown. Even on Bovada when I ran bad, I could still win a few showdown pots. I just couldn't.

Two back to back hands Friday just kind of highlighted this. First one, there is a BTN straddle. Two guys limp. This guy who acted the entire time like he wanted to be Tom Dwan raises to $20. An old guy who I saw limp reraise earlier with AA calls the $20. I see QQ in CO and 3bet to $90. Everyone but the old guy folds.

Flop ($215): AT2
I see the old guy's hands shaking as he bets $100. Well, ****. I fold, he shows KK.

VERY NEXT HAND

Tom Dwan opens to $10 UTG. Old man calls again. I have KK in HJ and 3bet to $40. Great, I'm thinking. It's going to look like I'm tilting. BB, a brand new player who bought in for like $120, cold 4bets to $90. UTG folds. OLD MAN NOW GOES ALL IN FOR $300.

WTF. Come on. I really have to do this? After all this terrible luck, and now you're going to set me up like this??

I fold the KK. BB calls for like $30 more.

They BOTH have AA.

So, back to back hands, this old guy one ups both of my premium pocket pairs while I'm on this downswing...and I only lose 67bb from it.

I've played about as well as I could. I only ran two multi-street bluffs. Unfortunately, as has been happening, I ran into the top of both players' ranges. Before anyone says anything, one of the bluffs was at 1/2 against a 2/5 player that I know has a fold button and it seemed like a good spot.

Thursday, 4.1 hours -$151
Friday, 7.25 hours +$236

But hey, I guess I can't complain too much, the back to back promos helped tremendously. Kind of like the poker gods' way of saying "Look, we gotta send this downswing to you, we gotta give it to everyone at some point. But you're handling it as well as possible, so here's a token."

Nice fold.