Total Profits $13,516
2020 Profits $3,255
Cash pile $7,500

Just some notes...

I survived the downswing and have added a stripe to my arm. At the lowest point I had seen approx a $5,800 downswing and had around $3,500 in poker cash and was feeling devastated. November and December was the worst I had ever run and it was more of a an emotional challenge than expected. I was able to end the downswing as we entered the new year and have been on a nice run since then. I am winning 75% of sessions this year so far and I am on an upswing of about $4,000. The bankroll is healthy again and I am looking to run the cash pile back up to $10k as my next goal.

Total profits since May 4th: $13,289
2020 Profits: $3,128
$7,240 in poker bankroll cash on reserve

Summary: We are playing well, making a few great value bets in recent days,,, taking some beats, losing coin flips, battling it out, improving discipline and trying to follow-through with my reads.

I was doing slightly better financially but I had just a $200 losing session and a 1-hand $400 losing session after that.

There were two huge coin flips in the last few hours. One was a 4-way all-in pref-flop, about $500 in the pot with me having everyone covered. K-K vs 3 inferior hands and I was about $45% to win it all.

The second, I went to a new poker room and sat at about 4:30 am. I had $400 in chips already that I brought and the $1/$2 games had a list (there is usually never a list at this hour as games are breaking). I decided to sit $2/$5 and just see a few hands.

The first hand, I raised to $15 UTG+1 with A-J offsuit. 3 callers and the SB ($1k+ stack) raises to $120. I saw some things in her physical movement that fell into a pretty specific category that I have been studying. I considered some poker theory elements...largely bet sizing and my stack size, also the general scenario of her position and this being my first hand. I made a sick read on the first hand and moved in for the $400 even. When the action got back to her she insta-folded, which sort of confirms that she really didn't have anything and was just running a squeeze play..

The problem... the guy to my immediate left gave the "going home" speech and called. He had me covered by about $15. The young gal was getting bettter than 3 to 1 on a call and she gave it zero thought so again I am pleased. The gentleman thought he was crushed because I just moved in $400, but he had enough. He turned over 10-10 and we ran the cards. I had earned a coin flip with an added $150 in the pot so I am pleased with the scenario.

I brought no cash with me, a first and only rare occasion, I just wanted to play the $400 I had in my pouch, this is usually fine for 1/2, so this was it for me. I am bummed that I lost $400 in a 1 hand poker session, but proud of the read that I made on the re-raiser and proud that I can still play with zero fear when I am in the game.

More work to do but this should be a GREAT year for me in the cash games! The bankroll is in safe territory. My reads are improving, my discipline is proving, my value bets are improving. I will be staying away from $2/$5 again until the bankroll gets rebuilt a bit more.

Profit: $12,621
2020 Profit: $2,460
696 hours total recorded

Hourly rates are between $13/hr and $16/hr depending on how I try to measure that over the full sample size. 2020 hourly rate is $23/hr. If I take out the high hand payouts (which I consider to just be rakeback) I can get that down to around $11/hr. That is not the real number that I earn, because I do receive those payouts However, when measuring BB/hr those should not be included, especially if you are going to try and compare your rates at different stakes.

My honest feeling about those numbers...

Pleased to be profitable but a little bit disappointed in the overall numbers. They DO however incorporate everything, including my biggest mistakes, my worst tilt sessions, the biggest giveaways, as well as all of the run good moments etc. It includes EVERYTHING.

I set out last year to prove myself as a cash game player and feel like I have done that but the hourly rate is not something to write home about at the moment. I am capable of better. Cash in the pile is what counts and right now it's all good there with about $6500 cash on reserve.

5 straight losing sessions has taken me down about $1,100 so I am a bit bummed right now. Im not enjoying the game as much as I was a few months ago so some changes might be in order soon. Maybe higher stakes, different games, or less poker.

Off to play now...

Profits: $13,617
2020 Profits: $3,647
Hours: 737+
153 hrs in 2020
Hourly: approx $17/hr overall
$23/hr in 2020


Less than 10 hours played over last two weeks... got sick, felt burned out, was happy to have made some money back after downswinging and having some real run-bad sessions more recently. Stepped up aggression has been a positive thing. More specifically, I have been playing KQ and A-10 offsuit more aggressively preflop. I felt like I had been dogging these too much and there were too many hands where I should have won but did not. Lots of great hands played recently, but the greatness came by way of physical tells so they dont make for great stories or hand histories on the internet.

$14,198
2020: $4228
Status: Almost fully recovered from the downswing. All good in hood. Coming up on 1 year since I started playing again. A bit more than 800 hours right now.

A fun hand vs a great LAG player...

UTG raises to $5. I'm not really sure what he is up to, he seems like a tightish player so far and so I decide to smooth call with AQ offsuit. Super LAG player raises to $20. The original raiser calls the $20. I feel like I have good reads on both players now from a mixture of physical tells, timing tells, and bet sizing. I decide to backraise for about $200 - all in. Neither player thinks too long and both fold, winning me just under $40 uncontested.

This hand is a great example of why I prefer the 100BB buy-in right now. There is a ton of fold equity if I am against 55 66 and some pairs higher than this. If I had a larger stack than $200 this type of move would start to become ill-advised. I would not do this with $300. The move can certainly work with a stack of $130 or $160 etc. However, $200 makes it a bit stronger with more fold equity.

Total: $14,830
2020: $4,860

My previous high was $14,947. I had a few streaks where I was above the $15k profit marker today but had a few issues come up. It had to do with me running bad but I definitely gave away at least $200 that I didn't have to give away. It was a crazy day with mixed emotions and a little bit of tilt at the end of each session.

A strange session after waking up at 9PM... The morning session (6am thru afternoon) included a high hand bonus of $500, and ended with me losing about $500 in just a few minutes at the end of a 9 hour session. I fell asleep and woke up to try and bluff a pot and this started a nasty chain of events highlighted by semi-bluffs that didn't work + failed to improve. Without the HH bonus I would have lost about $130 on the session but instead was a $370 winner. I was still steaming at how the morning session had ended when I woke up and went to play again.

The evening session started with this... I limped with q-9 offsuit, flopped gutterball, someone backraised to $65 and I moved in for $200. This is not how I normally play, but there we were. I had picked up on a physical tell that I overweighted vs the other tells that I could see and this was a mistake. I put him on the open-ended draw, which I was beating, and decided to go with it. We missed, but this started a very strange session. Next, we sucked out after getting it all-in vs flush draw and pairing my high card while against a larger flush draw. At this point I was tilted and only 10 minutes into the session. Next, a monstrous multi-way pot where I had AA and it held up to get me to around $800. A few suckouts and cold decks against me, and a few bad calls later, I cashed $730 after being in for $500. It all took about 1.5 hours and there was more drama on hand. This may have been the first time I have really gone on tilt in 2020. It ended with me rivering a lower straight vs someone and doubling them up for about $80... they then asked to see my cards after I called their all-in. This steamed me up good and then we broke the table. I was lucky and I made money, but I feel like I need to end my current tilted state. Crazy day and perhaps a fitting way to get back near my pre-downswing peak.

Live, Learn, Move Onto Next Session. Don't forget everything that I learned while recovering from the recent downswing. Play tightish, don't tilt Game selection is huge... traveling the extra 15 minutes to the better casino is always worth the drive.

Total $16,047
2020 $6,077
Total hours: a bit more than 800 (774 recorded)
Total hourly: approx $19
2020 hourly: approx $32

Did not simply just finish recovering from the downswing... I blasted through the barrier with one of my biggest sessions ever. +$1,440 profit in 5 hours at $1/$2. In for $200 out for $1,640

I have tons of stuff written up about the session because I am on cloud 9 right now, but it is all pretty sloppy so I don't think I can post all of it.

... from my +$1440 session above.

I was already thinking about a few AQ offsuit hands from previous sessions and had something in my mind already when I woke up this morning.

I was imagining a scenario where I have been pushing hard and playing hard and have such a table image. Now - $5 straddle on board and maybe 4 limpers for $5. Rather than slow play, or make a normal play, why not take a look at stack sizes and physical tells, determine the temperature and just make it $100 to go. I would not advise this play all of the time, but how often do you do this? Probably hardly ever... but in a session where I am pushing hard and deciding to have a crazy table image, this type of play has lots of additional value beyond just what you see on the surface... it adds to your image. so... we did this today with AQ and it worked. They all folded, but this built my image even further.

How crazy did I play and how hard did I push?

I submit these two hands as examples...

I played a hand where I raise with KQ offsuit. The flop bring something like 4-5-8 two spades... I fire $25ish and two callers. Turn makes it 4-5-8-4 and I fire $65, two callers again. River brings ace to make it 4-5-8-4-A, never completing the flush draw. One player only had about $30 left and the other had $200 left. I thought the player with $30 left had to have been drawing because he would have gotten the rest of his chips in on the turn if he had a made hand. I hoped I could sell the ace against Victim #1.... I could and I did. I bet $200 and they both fold. I had to show this one and it helped me make a lot of money because this was a monstrous triple barrel.

Last hand of the night... this is the type of action that I earned...

A player raises to $7 UTG. One caller. I am in SB with KK and make it $30 (I meant to make it $35 or $40 but think I miclicked). Original raiser calls... second caller in MP moves in for about $55-$60. I remember it was just enough to open the pot back up for me to raise. I was ready to cash out a huge win so was happy to simplify the hand. I also felt like I could start to rule out AA since he did not raise me back and I also knew that with my image I might get the action I have been trying to earn. I decided to go for it all. I raise 1 stack of greens for $500. He does not insta-call so I know Im good... but he does not inst-fold either. After about 1 minte to my surprise, he calls. He turns up A8 clubs.

I am a bit surprised and he even tells the table that he thinks the other player has the best hand but he thinks that he has me beat... obv putting me on KQ suited or worse. He was incorrect and he did not improve. It was a rush to run that board out there when he just needs to hit his ace, but this time my cards held true and we stacked yet another opponent. This was a fine end to a crazy session. I'm certain this last hand would not have occurred if I was not pushing the table as hard as I had been pushing.

Lesson: When you are catching the cards - keep pushing and pushing hard. Selectively choose spots to back off as well as overbet with good hands in order to trick opponents. The core of this strategy is to earn action... hope that you do pickup some hands and when you do you'll have earned some action you wouldnt normally get.

Total Profit
$16,507
Approx 875 hrs @ $19/hr
$5,925 of that from high hand and other promos

2020 Profits
$6,537
211 hrs @ $30/hr
$2,150 from high hand and other promos

Running good on high hands right now, taking down a $600 and a $100 in the last two sessions.

500 hours + 1 major downswing is the answer

Looks like my last post didn't make it so I edited this one in its place. Im hunkering down until coronavirus passes. Hopefully I can start the next leg of my cash game journey when the casinos open up again.