Another, well, kind of interesting update.

I get to work yesterday to find out, hey the trainee thought my location was too far away from her. Even though, you know, you get reimbursed for the travel. Sooooooooo they took it away from me. Which got me into a dangerous mindset last night. Mindset of, if I have a winning session, I'm turning in my notice this morning. If I don't, I'll wait a little bit.

Two limps. Some young kid who looked all serious like a Doug Polk wanna be raised to $20 in HJ. This was his second iso-raise in a row, and 3rd VPIP'd hand out of 4 or 5 he had been at the table. Oh, I was at the 2/5. I see AJ in CO. I decide to 3bet to $70. One of the EP limpers flats and Doug Polk flats as well.

Flop ($220): JJT
BIIINNNNNKKKKKK. EP checks, Doug Polk checks, and I bet $140. EP folds, Polk calls.

Turn ($500): 4
We have like $315 behind. Doug checks. I make a MASSIVE mistake. I bet $190. My incorrect thought process is that I don't want him out of the hand, but I want to bet something so that he has a sigh call on the river. Thankfully, he jams. I call, the river is a 3 and my hand holds.

This hand I'd really like some feedback on. Once I bust Doug Polk's doppelganger, one of the better regs in the casino sits to my right. He opens to $20 in UTG+1. I see JJ UTG+2, about $900 effective.

Merits of flatting: keeps his range wider, gives the rest of the table (who weren't world beaters) the chance to come along

Merits of raising: bloating the pot IP, potentially taking the pot down now

I elected to flat. Might be a slight mistake. This player who recently triple barrel bluffed and was close to 100% VPIP 3bets to $85. UTG+1 asks him how much he has behind, toys with a jam, and then flats. The 3bettor IP has $215 behind. What is our move?


3.5 hours
+$775

So in a session I tell myself I have to win, I only record the largest win since coming back from vacation.

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

So I have my resignation note all typed up. I hid it in my office. And I start thinking and reviewing the numbers again. My BR right now is very comfortable for the 1/2 game, which has a deep stack structure. I've said it once and I'll say it again, I wouldn't be surprised if $25-$30/hr is sustainable at that game. I don't know my true winrate because I don't have a large enough sample splitting my time between the two.

But my BR for 2/5 would be, for a pro, in shot taking territory. I probably could build it up to comfort territory, or I could just do that and keep on working until it happens where I don't have to take out $1500 a month. A couple of extra weeks won't hurt and can only help.

Hand that **** in brother. I handed mine in today as well. Such an excellent feeling. :')

Big ****ing balls. Best of luck to both you guys.

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

With regard to JJ hand:

If you jammed instead of flatting, would the competent player have called?

As played I would probably 4bet jam with the intention of isolating the 100% VPIP guy (and hopefully taking down the pot pf), but then again I'm no "world beater" either. Lol.

Curious how it played out.

Re JJ I think eirher is fine but prob lean closer to jamming.

Grunch. LOL@the title, mom+the climax, that's some pornhub freaky **** lmao.

I can't wait honestly. The prospect of having to talk to someone about a job that won't pay their bills just makes me feel dread every time. Along with the multiple rejections because of the pay being too low.

I thought about overjamming. It kind of seemed like UTG+1 wanted a call with his mannerism, but apparently not.

The flop came Q85r. UTG+1 checks, MP jams, UTG+1 calls with a little hesitation.

Turn 3

River K

MP flips over KQs ftw. UTG+1 mucks, but I'm certain I see a face card. So he has either AQ, QJ, or JJ. I honestly think it was JJ.

Haha terrible choice of words, did not thoroughly think that one through.

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

2 mistakes today. First one, I came to the casino with 3 max 1/2 BIs. Wasn't really intending on playing 2/5, a little tired. So I shouldn't have played. But I did anyways because I only recognized 1 player at the table.

Two real hands of note. This first one there is a BTN straddle (dumbest thing in the world, but WE). 5 players limp. I have AxT in HJ and limp as well.

Flop ($80): AKQ
SB jams for $160, folds to an unknown Asian guy who calls. I have $510 behind. I decide to jam. There are only 6 combos of hands I don't want to see, and the way he kind of postured over it I didn't think he had 4 of them. He tanks and tanks and makes the call with JT

SB has KK. I'm only a 43/57 dog for the side, and the main we all have between 30 and 36%. I love the jam imo, have a bunch of FE and some seeming dead money.

Unfortunately, turn is 9 and the river is 6

Rebuy, then an hour later I raise AK to $40 in BB after 3 limps. The villain who had KK from above calls in MP and the others fold.

Flop ($90): 884
I bet $35. It's a bet sizing I've been seeing and wanting to experiment with on board where it's really difficult for an opponent to call multiple barrels. He calls.

Turn ($160): A
Well, that helps. I bet $75, and he calls.

River ($310): 7
Not the best card. I debate between checking and betting, but I just think he has too many Ax hands for me to check. So I bet $150. He raises to put me AI for $140 more.

Really?

After talking about this hand with a couple of people, I should have sized the bet smaller to get more calls from the targeted range or check/called. I tanked and tanked and eventually folded. Exploitative fold FTW. So river was a slight mistake, the second of the night. Asking him as I was leaving, he said he had 86o

Which, you know, if I'm folding AK there, the shove is super -EV because he is never called by worse.

I rack up after a little bit of time. Didn't bring enough for a third full bullet. And, you know, we can't win them all after the run I've been on

2.25 hours
-$930

Pretty bad overplay here imo. SB jammed 2x pot and this dude calls, and you think we have fold equity!? We have a ****ty pair and that's it. Think there's a massive difference here between AxJs and AxTs - as you can see by what they had, no one's ever light here otf.

It's pretty ***** unlucky for this dude to rock up with 86o after you raise to 40 pre. IMO we should go bet bet jam on this board because:

a) he should have plenty of Ax floats
b) if he has an 8 we lose anyway, so may as well go for max vs Ax
c) AJ/AQ will pay off 3 streets prob

Slightly bigger on the turn to set up a better size river jam imo.

I have to disagree here imo. Based on how long the unknown took to make the call, it's likely he has some two pair or pair + draw hand, far more likely imo than a straight. And if he ever has J with a pair, it's typically a fairly easy call for him.

But he tanked calling. And that's what made me think I had FE. Which, for the times he has two pair, I do considering he almost folded the nut straight. Putting it into flopzilla, he has just as many two pair combos as straights and AxJs. I'm 44% against that range. We don't really know what SB has, but unless he has AxJs or JsTx, then with the dead money I'm getting a better price assuming I'm behind. So if he folds even 2/3 of his two pair, then I think it's +EV. But again, he didn't fold, he had the JTo and held.

----------

Thought this was pretty interesting. Apparently I'm not the only person who feels this way. For a change, my girlfriend was the last one home last night as she was with her work friend. Turns out her husband and I actually worked together quite a few years ago at the same place I'm at now. He left too. His reason?

"He got tired of selling **** jobs wrapped in a paper bag."

I think the better question is, did you think that you had fold equity when you shoved, or did you realize that you had it after V took some time to make the call?

How did villain react, in terms of duration to call and enthusiasm with his call, of the initial $160 shove? Also, what was the effective stack size with the older Asian man? I am assuming that you had him covered.

Yeah, I thought I had fold equity. With his initial call of the SB shove, he tanked for a little bit of time before calling. So to me it seemed like his range was strong but not super strong. Like the two pair, pair + draw, straight range. I didn't have him covered, I was fairly new to the table and he was sitting on about $1200 to begin the hand.

My last day of work: August 3rd

The story of how it went down is kind of great honestly. I get in on Wednesday, and easily the best manager in the building comes into my office. She's not much older than me, but absolutely kicks ass at everything. She closes the door and lets me know that she put in her two week notice earlier this morning.

Are you ****ing kidding me? I was going to do that, I told her, but I can't now. But I don't tell anyone.

Fast forward to about an hour later. My boss comes in to my office. Apparently through the grapevine, he had heard that I was planning on quitting soon. As it turns out, my brother told his new boss that I was planning on leaving soon. Of all of my siblings, he is the one I thought would never say a word. Since he works at the same company, of course his boss tells mine.

Come on man. Let me have this moment!

Instead, I tell him about what my plans are. He gets it. It sucks, but he gets it and even tells me that I get bored a lot doing what I'm doing (because I literally get everything I need to get done and more in 4 hours). He does ask me to wait a week to put in a two week notice, so that he isn't losing two of his best staff the same week. I oblige. Works out pretty well for me also.

So, it's actually happening. It's about damn time.

^Wow! You of all people can do this. Your discipline and work ethic will continue to carry you to success.

Congrats!

Gratz bro. My last day is also Aug 3! :')

Thanks! I'm excited to get this going and see what all these years of hard work has done for me.

In the midst of all of this, I didn't post a session recap for Friday. It was a fun session and could have been a +$1k day at 1/2 had I not gotten set over setted, rivered a boat and losing the minimum and the jamming QQ into a SS's AA.

First one, we're 7 handed and I raise QJ to $10 UTG+1. BTN calls. BTN is a relative unknown, had been playing tighter and older.

Flop ($20): 985
One hell of a flop. I bet $15, he calls.

Turn ($50): Q
Not the greatest card, but still think there is some value from T9/J9/T7/FDs/etc. I bet $35, and he calls.

River ($120): 8
The question here is can I get value? I honestly don't believe so. QT, maybe a suspicious T9, seems to be it. Everything else missed. I check here. He does something unexpected and jams for $110. I go into the tank.

-88 is 1 combo. Sets have to call flop and turn with the world of draws on the board.
-JT, unless specifically JT, also has to just flat the turn. I block JT, which is also good because I block 25% of nut straights
-76 has to call preflop, call flop, and call turn and hope no other draws get in.
-98 is a possibility. Could see a flat on the turn. But the flop....just a call seems suspect

After like 2 minutes of tanking, I throw the chip in. It just doesn't add up, especially with every single draw bricking within logic. He flips over KJo and I take the pot down.

And then against the same opponent. I open AJ to $10 in MP. I get 4 calls, including main villain in SB.

Flop ($50): A36
Checks to me. I bet $30. Probably should go to $35 here. I stunningly get 3 calls.

Turn ($170): 3
Checks to me again. I decide to go for some more value. I bet $110, and the guy in SB from above calls.

River ($390): 4
SB shoves for $122. Didn't see that coming. Going over logically though...

-33 is one combo 66 is 3 combos. With the A on board and the draw heavy nature of the flop, I again expect him to raise flop with either hand.
-Same goes for A3 and A6.
-A is not accounted for. Of all AX combos, I beat A2, A5, A7-AT and lose to AQ and AK
-Hearts also missed, as well as 54
-Only hearts hand that gets there is 75, 52, and A4

Given the great pot odds being offered and having seen him spazz once before...along with seeing roughly the same mannerism from him as the prior hand, I tank call. He flips over A7. And, I can't believe it, a Tiger Woods-esque fist pump erupts from me. 4 months ago, those are calls I would have probably stayed away from. Just stay with the "they never bluff at 1/2" mantra. With how far my hand reading has come, I made them and it just felt amazing. Kind of shocking to see a guy as even keeled as me at the poker table whip out the fist pump.

8 hours
+$518

One of the aspects I absolutely cannot wait for once I leave is not having to work before playing poker. I've been doing this for a year and a half now, and it's just taxing me mentally. Thankfully I've got either one or two weeks left (I'm not sure if I'll play after work my last week, just because I don't have to) of having to play after work.

And it showed. Tuesday I didn't play terrible. I played ok. There was one major hand of note, and the rest were smaller. But by the end, I was dead tired. So this super VIP limps. CO, an older guy who isn't impressive at all raises to $10. BTN, a very solid 2/5 winner calls. I have A5 in BB. This would normally be a good spot to 3bet. BUT with super VIP in the hand, I flat instead to keep him in. He obliges and calls.

Flop ($41): 689
Not an awful flop. I check, super VIP checks. CO bets $15. BTN calls $15.

So now I have two choices. The bet and call both look fairly weak. I can either call and hope to hit my draw and potentially overflush someone, or I can raise and take the pot down a lot more often than I should.

I raise to $65. This sneakily should also give me more outs. I should fold out hands like T8 or T9 that take away my 7 outs. The tradeoff for that is that I'm potentially against a much stronger range.

Super VIP folds, CO folds, BTN jams for $281 more.

Didn't expect that one. I'm ranging him on some sets, some pair + FDs, and maybe some two pair. The problem is that there is some frequency he 3bets 99. Less so 88 and 66, but there is a higher frequency he raises those on the flop. Overall, I'm giving him like 4 total set combos.

What about straights? Well, there was something that I'm not going to mention in this thread, but I was certain he didn't have a straight. I'm not sure if he reads this or not, but I don't want to give away secrets.

This isn't the player I want to tango with or take small + or - EV decisions against at a 1/2 table. But given I crushed some of his range or I have 12 outs, I hesitantly call. We want to run it twice but can't. He has the absolute top of his range with 99. That hand has me at a 2 to 1 dog, but I catch a river K for the win.

3.25 hours
+$75

Thursday's session was not the best. Probably a major factor in that was just how difficult it was for me to have any sort of hand that I could value bet. I waited until my second to last hand for one of those. But I was tired. I was overconfident. I played bad. I ran bad.

There were two easy 3bet opportunities I just didn't make. There was one bluff against said super VIP from above that I shouldn't have made, even though 4 to a straight appeared on board and he physically hated the card. There was a call I made where I should have taken more time on it. All of these different spots where I played terribly.

It's not a bad thing for me to have a session like last night. In fact, I'd probably rather have this type of session now than later. I can learn from my mistakes and do my best to prevent a session like that from happening again. And it didn't cost me much at all.

3.25 hours
-$379

Yeah, it will be awesome when you have the extra ~40 hours a week to physically and mentally recharge between sessions.

): le I've got some time waiting for this GTA V lobby to load up.....

Friday was a solid session. It started terribly, but wound up great. And a situation occurred that I haven't really experienced before. BTN straddles. Two players limp, and I raise Q9 to $25 in CO. Both limps call. I had been bluffed once and shown, but since then had a fairly tight image.

Flop ($80): AT3
Checks to me. I decide to try and use my advantage and bet $55. One player calls, kind of hesitantly, and the other folds.

Turn ($190): 6
He checks. I had this feeling that he was weak and was either on a draw or a medium pair. I bet $95. To my chagrin, he jams for $13 more after like a minute of thinking. If he ever jams a draw, there is a chance I'm good. If he ever has an A, I'm dead. I say "****", throw the $13 in, and ask if he has an A. He flips over A8. I'm dead. I muck and tell the dealer to not worry about the river, no point. Never had that happen before where I just refuse a river card after calling an all-in.

Aside from that, there was a lot of small and medium sized pots that I took down. Was also fun because I tilted the crap out of this kid who looked like a reg and talked like a reg, but just had very substandard play. I would have loved to keep my domination of the table going, but I got the dreaded text 7 1/2 hours in.

7.5 hours
+$552

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

Last night was a very solid session. Within the first hour, I 3bet a reg with AA to $30 OTB. He opened to $12 in CO. He calls, we're like $350 effective. Also important to note is that there is a high hand promotion going on, so regs are very likely to limp a lot and play hands fairly passively preflop.

Flop ($64): Q63
He checked dark. I was counting out a bet and I could tell he was getting impatient. I bet $45. He insta jams.

****.

The only way I fold here is if I can put him on just QQ. There are only 3 combos of QQ left. There are 6 KK, of which lets say 1 plays this way. I also don't have A. So I sigh call. He has QQ for flopped top set.

That guy, an orbit later, then leaves. He stacked one player and me in the 20 minutes he sat down, then left. He's one of those ratholing scums, but it's ok.

I'm down $500 already. I claw and fight back. We have an absolute maniac sit down at the table. He straddles UTG, he's on like his 3rd $100 BI. One limp. A guy I know as a probable small losing 2/5 player raises to $15 in CO. He's also a tournament player. I call with 44 OTB. UTG and limper calls.

Flop ($60): AK8
It checks around

Turn ($60): 4
Well, ummm. UTG bets $20. CO calls. I raise to $60 and they both just call!

No heart please no heart please

River ($240): 7
Yassss! UTG checks, CO checks. Info on this CO player. This is the guy about 7 or 8 months ago who I triple barrel bluffed AKs on a T-hi runout and he called his stack off with QQ. So I go kind of large and bet $150. UTG folds. CO thinks and tanks and says "did you outflop me?" of which I'm happy about. I have the best hand now. He tanks for a little more, then calls. My hand is good. He told me later that he had a big A, so probably AQ or AJ. He was also confused as to why I bet so big, because surely I wanted to get paid off.

.....

I know I keep saying this, but I cannot wait until it's just poker. Towards the end I just felt so tired and depleted. I may not even play next week while working just because it's so tiring. But after being stuck $500, being stuck $81 and just hanging tough feels like a $1k win!

4 hours
-$81

Been a while, hasn't it?

Nope, I didn't go busto. In fact, I haven't even played live since last Sunday. **** just kept piling up. There was a day last week where I had to be here instead of play. Then Wednesday my car starts acting funny. Try to take my car to the dealership where I got it from. They can't get me in until Friday. August 4th. What kind of crap is that?

Car gets worse on Thursday. I decide **** it, I'm going to an overpriced commercial mechanic who can look at my car NOW.

Mechanic calls after looking at it. He tells me what's wrong but that he wouldn't work on it. He wouldn't work on it because, apparently, my car is still under a powertrain factory warranty and I should be able to get the work done free of charge.

An honest, good mechanic. Who would have thought?

Good thing too that I didn't wait, I line up an appointment with my car maker's dealership first thing Monday morning. My car barely drives because the engine is getting too much air. The air is causing the engine to almost stall anytime it stops. They tell me they'll give me a call with what it is. I get a call 4 hours later. They already fixed it. It's been a known problem with my car brand, so they're used to it. So if I would have gone with my roommate's dealership, I still wouldn't have a driveable car. They got it done and it cost me nothing. Always shop around.

Also doesn't help that my girlfriend and I are both sick.

So goals that were attainable I just couldn't get to:

-60 hours. 43 hours. Would have achieved if not for above occurrances.
-Finish both books. I completed one of them, just not the other.
-Keep on studying. I've done very well at studying any chance that I can get.
-Stay motivated at work, even though it feels like a dead-end job. Well this one couldn't be more obvious. I just couldn't do it.

I'm making the final preparations for when I leave. It's starting to hit me. I won't have this job to rely on anymore. I must be the consummate pro. And I think I'll do just fine. August goals? They're on the next post. This pretty much ends my recreational chapter of poker. I won't play again until after my last day of work.

So now that poker will be my sole source of income, what does that mean for my August goals? Well, I've always had a disdain and disgust for those "pro" players who play less than, say, 30 hours a week. You have as much time as possible and you only want to play 25 hours a week? That's pathetic. That's lazy. If poker is your only source of income, why play 25 hours a week and limit your potential? And people who claim burnout? Suck it up buttercup, you get burnout in the real world at a real job.

That being said, here are my August goals. All goals start as of August 6th

-Play a minimum of 40 hours each week
-Study a minimum of 5 hours per week
-Whenever I play online, treat it as practice and not as much relaxation
-Experiment with which days/times are best for playing, while keeping a balanced life with my girlfriend.

Good luck in August everyone!

Looks good bruv, GL gl

Stoked about this new chapter in this epic thread. Keep bringing your discipline and hard work and you will do great!

Excited for you, Snapz. Best of luck.

Just make sure your gf understands you need to play Friday-Sunday or your not maximizing your potential


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks everyone! Meale, I just found your thread. No doubt I'll be following your journey! It's kind of nice, now that I have time I can actually read different threads and be more in tune with some of the strategy or other PG&Cs other than just a couple. And as for my gf understanding, we've already discussed and she knows that I'll be playing at least one of the Friday/Saturday nights. Don't want to play both imo because keeping her happy is more important in the long run than the extra $10/hr I may make.

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

This first weekend has been a **** show for my house in general. I've had a "spit mug" next to me for most of the weekend. I've been coughing up mucus a ton, although I've been better today. Thankfully, I don't have pneumonia. **** if I get that again. The one time I had it, I ran a 105 degree fever and hallucinated that I was a letter inside of a video game. But, my girlfriend does have pneumonia. And our roommate has bronchitis. I just have a cold that's trying to turn into something worse.

All records I keep starting tomorrow will be separate from my prior records. This way I can get an accurate representation of how I'm doing, how playing 40+ hours a week keeps my mind sharper, etc. Because of a favorable financial situation, this first roughly month most of my play will be at the 1/2 game. I can add enough to my roll from a month of that so I get to be comfortably rolled for the 2/5 and higher games. Putting it this way, a 10 BI downswing at 2/5 right now would be more devastating than a 10 BI upswing would be advantageous comfort wise, but I'm not far away at all from the reverse being true.

Today is the first day that I would have had to work at my old job. It hasn't sunk in yet since I'd sometimes take Sundays off, and I was overdue for one anyways. It'll sink in tomorrow, and tomorrow is when we get to work boys!