An NJ Grinder's Journey as a Pro
03-20-2018
, 06:36 PM
03-20-2018
, 11:58 PM
03-21-2018
, 12:25 AM
Parx $2500 Day 2
Restarted the day at 1PM with 167K at 1200/2400 with hour long levels.
As I drove home after being eliminated at 2:30PM I felt really motivated and excited about the future. I really did not think I would ever get to the point of being pumped up after what would seem to be a really disappointing loss.
Only seats 2-8 were filled with players who bagged from the day before and the table wasn't awful but wasn't soft either. Justin Liberto in the 2, Ryan Eriquezzo in the 3, Greg Fishberg in the 4, guy I assume to be tough cash game player in the 5, me in the 6, Canadian dude in the 7, and to my surprise, the rec player who won the 6 max is in the 8 (guy from last post with 43o>my AJ on K52J6 and 55>KQ). I did not expect to see him playing a $2500! Ari Engel then buys in and is sat in the 9, and a young kid I don't recognize is in the 1. The kid in the 5 seat, who was hilarious and talks a lot and acts like an idiot the way I tend to do at live tables, tells Ari he looks like Jesse Eisenberg. Then he tells me I look like McLovin. Then someone else tells Ari he looks like Michael Cera. So I ask the 5 seat who in the room could be our Jonah Hill to complete the Super Bad trio. He says we'll go recruit Joe McKeehen and the table starts cracking up.
The more live tourneys I play the more I notice a correlation between buy in and relaxation/fun level of table, and it's probably the opposite of what might seem obvious. The bigger the buy in, the more often I find myself at the table with a bunch of fun people who realize that the result of this poker tournament is not going to change anyone's lives. Win or lose there's no reason to take yourselves too seriously. At the same time, when we're involved in a hand, there's a lot of thought going on and people are respectful of that. But between hands it's a blast. The fact that I wasn't going to be able to continue having fun and battling with those guys was what bummed me out the most about busting, not the money or the sense of "failure."
There were really only two hands of note that led to my undoing. The tourney was fun in the fact that despite being 70BBs deep, every time I entered a pot I felt like it could be the last one I played of the tourney. But it also felt like a double was possible. People were not at all afraid to fling the money in.
I open to 6K at 1200/2400/300 with A8hh UTG1. Ari flats the HJ, Justin Liberto is on the button and asks to see how much I'm playing. Both big hands I played today I felt like I got a bit of a live read on the situation; neither of them helped very much but my gut feeling about what was going on proved to be correct based on the hand I was shown. Justin flats, Ryan calls the SB, and we go 4 ways to the flop.
Flop (29K): K33hh
I continue for 10K and only Justin calls. I started the hand with 150K and Justin covers.
Turn (49K): K33hh 8x
I check and Justin bets 31K. I've talked about the hand at length with friends since it happened and I'm fine with how I ended up playing it, but there are certainly a few different lines that could have been taken. I feel Justin has KQ here a large percentage of the time due to live reads but we do still beat a few flush draws as well. In any case, it's 31K to win 80K meaning I need 28% equity to call strictly based on pot odds. Assuming my A's 8's and hearts are all live, I have 30% immediate equity with the added implied odds of possibly getting paid when I make my hand, so I call.
River (111K): K33hh 8x 2x
Check check and I lose to KQ. The idea of betting turn and jamming river sounded quite intriguing to me for a few reasons, but trying to fold out KQ might be too ambitious, and the structure of the tournament is nice enough that I elected to x/c turn and realize my equity without danger of going broke.
My final hand of the tournament came at 1500/3000 against, of course, the rec player from the six max. Folds to my button where I have 85K with the SB sitting out and only our buddy in the BB. I make it 7K with 98cc and he looks at his cards, makes a face that suggests he is about to fold, and then calls. I don't think I've ever been more sure of a live read before than this one. He has a bad hand that he really isn't crazy about peeling.
Flop (19K): QJ4cc
He checks, I bet 8K, he does something I've seen people do right before they fold, looks back at his hand again, and then calls. Once again, he does not seem thrilled about calling this flop, and I think his hand was weak pre. I think he has a decent amount of 4x and probably some bad Jx as well. Based on flop reaction alone I'd think there's a decent amount of 55-88, but based on pre I don't think he had a pocket pair. I know this all sounds absurd to be making assumptions like this based on live reads, but I can't overstate how confident I was about these reads.
Turn (35K): QJ4cc 3x
He checks and I have 70K back. In some spots I might want to check back to avoid getting x/jammed on, but I think here it's quite important to put a lot of pressure on his 4x and Jx. I think the bigger I go the more likely he is to fold. I also think going big commits me so that it makes it harder for him to say **** it and x/jam as recs sometimes do with hands they don't know how to play. Also, when I bet 25K and he shoves for 45K more, I now am getting the price to call, whereas when I go smaller I might not be getting correct odds to call off. There would be 130K in the middle and I'd need to call 45K to win it, meaning I'd need 26% equity to call profitably, and with 12 outs I'd be getting just about that. I bet 25K, he shrugs and says all in, I call and he has 43ss. All of my assumptions were correct, this play works as long as the turn isn't an off suit 3, and we brick 12 outs on the river to bust. Whatcha gonna do?
Restarted the day at 1PM with 167K at 1200/2400 with hour long levels.
As I drove home after being eliminated at 2:30PM I felt really motivated and excited about the future. I really did not think I would ever get to the point of being pumped up after what would seem to be a really disappointing loss.
Only seats 2-8 were filled with players who bagged from the day before and the table wasn't awful but wasn't soft either. Justin Liberto in the 2, Ryan Eriquezzo in the 3, Greg Fishberg in the 4, guy I assume to be tough cash game player in the 5, me in the 6, Canadian dude in the 7, and to my surprise, the rec player who won the 6 max is in the 8 (guy from last post with 43o>my AJ on K52J6 and 55>KQ). I did not expect to see him playing a $2500! Ari Engel then buys in and is sat in the 9, and a young kid I don't recognize is in the 1. The kid in the 5 seat, who was hilarious and talks a lot and acts like an idiot the way I tend to do at live tables, tells Ari he looks like Jesse Eisenberg. Then he tells me I look like McLovin. Then someone else tells Ari he looks like Michael Cera. So I ask the 5 seat who in the room could be our Jonah Hill to complete the Super Bad trio. He says we'll go recruit Joe McKeehen and the table starts cracking up.
The more live tourneys I play the more I notice a correlation between buy in and relaxation/fun level of table, and it's probably the opposite of what might seem obvious. The bigger the buy in, the more often I find myself at the table with a bunch of fun people who realize that the result of this poker tournament is not going to change anyone's lives. Win or lose there's no reason to take yourselves too seriously. At the same time, when we're involved in a hand, there's a lot of thought going on and people are respectful of that. But between hands it's a blast. The fact that I wasn't going to be able to continue having fun and battling with those guys was what bummed me out the most about busting, not the money or the sense of "failure."
There were really only two hands of note that led to my undoing. The tourney was fun in the fact that despite being 70BBs deep, every time I entered a pot I felt like it could be the last one I played of the tourney. But it also felt like a double was possible. People were not at all afraid to fling the money in.
I open to 6K at 1200/2400/300 with A8hh UTG1. Ari flats the HJ, Justin Liberto is on the button and asks to see how much I'm playing. Both big hands I played today I felt like I got a bit of a live read on the situation; neither of them helped very much but my gut feeling about what was going on proved to be correct based on the hand I was shown. Justin flats, Ryan calls the SB, and we go 4 ways to the flop.
Flop (29K): K33hh
I continue for 10K and only Justin calls. I started the hand with 150K and Justin covers.
Turn (49K): K33hh 8x
I check and Justin bets 31K. I've talked about the hand at length with friends since it happened and I'm fine with how I ended up playing it, but there are certainly a few different lines that could have been taken. I feel Justin has KQ here a large percentage of the time due to live reads but we do still beat a few flush draws as well. In any case, it's 31K to win 80K meaning I need 28% equity to call strictly based on pot odds. Assuming my A's 8's and hearts are all live, I have 30% immediate equity with the added implied odds of possibly getting paid when I make my hand, so I call.
River (111K): K33hh 8x 2x
Check check and I lose to KQ. The idea of betting turn and jamming river sounded quite intriguing to me for a few reasons, but trying to fold out KQ might be too ambitious, and the structure of the tournament is nice enough that I elected to x/c turn and realize my equity without danger of going broke.
My final hand of the tournament came at 1500/3000 against, of course, the rec player from the six max. Folds to my button where I have 85K with the SB sitting out and only our buddy in the BB. I make it 7K with 98cc and he looks at his cards, makes a face that suggests he is about to fold, and then calls. I don't think I've ever been more sure of a live read before than this one. He has a bad hand that he really isn't crazy about peeling.
Flop (19K): QJ4cc
He checks, I bet 8K, he does something I've seen people do right before they fold, looks back at his hand again, and then calls. Once again, he does not seem thrilled about calling this flop, and I think his hand was weak pre. I think he has a decent amount of 4x and probably some bad Jx as well. Based on flop reaction alone I'd think there's a decent amount of 55-88, but based on pre I don't think he had a pocket pair. I know this all sounds absurd to be making assumptions like this based on live reads, but I can't overstate how confident I was about these reads.
Turn (35K): QJ4cc 3x
He checks and I have 70K back. In some spots I might want to check back to avoid getting x/jammed on, but I think here it's quite important to put a lot of pressure on his 4x and Jx. I think the bigger I go the more likely he is to fold. I also think going big commits me so that it makes it harder for him to say **** it and x/jam as recs sometimes do with hands they don't know how to play. Also, when I bet 25K and he shoves for 45K more, I now am getting the price to call, whereas when I go smaller I might not be getting correct odds to call off. There would be 130K in the middle and I'd need to call 45K to win it, meaning I'd need 26% equity to call profitably, and with 12 outs I'd be getting just about that. I bet 25K, he shrugs and says all in, I call and he has 43ss. All of my assumptions were correct, this play works as long as the turn isn't an off suit 3, and we brick 12 outs on the river to bust. Whatcha gonna do?
03-21-2018
, 02:31 PM
I think villain was the type who could legit say "2x pot, I think you have a draw, I call with my 54!" on turn so I'm fine with my sizing, and honestly I can't really see myself 2x pot shoving value there ever so he'd probably be right
. Think my size might actually have more fold equity than an overbet shove. Also risks less chips and gives me the option to jam river if I think it makes sense.
03-21-2018
, 06:44 PM
Quote:
LOL, you're not kidding.
I played the Parx 300 with Thai Ha and he was in for 17 bullets. Also he has the record for most buy-ins for that event (22) and he ended up breaking even on it by making top 20
Great update as always.
You gonna be down in AC for Spring Open? I'm heading down the week of the 16th and playing the Monster Stack and Almighty.
I played the Parx 300 with Thai Ha and he was in for 17 bullets. Also he has the record for most buy-ins for that event (22) and he ended up breaking even on it by making top 20
Great update as always.
You gonna be down in AC for Spring Open? I'm heading down the week of the 16th and playing the Monster Stack and Almighty.
. I remember him being in for 22 (I think it was actually 21) bullets in that $300. I was at the table next to him when we made the money and I looked over and said "Congrats Thai, we made it!" He responded "Shut up Dan!" in his accent it was really funny. I will more than likely be playing a bunch of the BSPO events, if we meet up you can buy me a beer
03-22-2018
, 10:19 PM
03-24-2018
, 02:09 AM
Let's Play Some Cash
In the spirit of bbissick, primarily an online cash grinder, making back to back posts in his thread detailing his live tournament escapades in the past week or two, this post will detail my dive into online cash today!
I was planning on taking today off but couldn't help myself and started playing cash, deciding that I would stop once I'd played 500 hands. A modest session of course, but given I was only 3 tabling it took a little over an hour. I was 3 tabling 1/2 and then followed a whale to a 2/5 table for a few hands. The graph:
As you can see I did not run great. There was zero feeling of tilt throughout the session.
Mental Game of Cash vs Tournaments
When I face a bad beat early in a tournament, it's annoying. I lose my buy in and have to re-enter or find a different tournament. I wish I had won. But it's not really that big a deal.
When I face a bad beat at the final table of a tournament it hurts. There are a lot of buy ins on the line and losing this 80/20 counts for way more money than losing one to start the MTT. But if it's a tournament I usually play, I'll get over it.
When I face a bad beat deep in a tournament I'm taking a shot in or sold action to because it's a big buy in, ****!!! It really ****ing hurts! AA<KK with 9 left and 28K up top in a tourney I had all of myself in 3 years ago hurt really bad! I still remember how the king on the turn felt! Tournament variance is sick because you don't get to pick when the beats happen. How you run at a specific final table can dictate how your entire YEAR goes results-wise!
Facing a bad beat in cash only sort of compares to the first example above. I faced a few silly ones today:
PokerStars Hand #183581547723: Hold'em No Limit ($1/$2 USD) - 2018/03/23 19:02:11 ET
Table 'Eridanus' 6-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: pokerarb ($204.07 in chips)
Seat 2: SauceOnYou ($252.11 in chips)
Seat 3: Batiatus10 ($200 in chips)
Seat 4: monkeyman067 ($217.60 in chips)
Seat 5: Ainmhithe ($154.84 in chips)
Seat 6: keith1983217 ($139.29 in chips)
SauceOnYou: posts small blind $1
Batiatus10: posts big blind $2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to monkeyman067 [Jd Js]
monkeyman067: raises $3 to $5
Ainmhithe: calls $5
keith1983217: folds
pokerarb: folds
SauceOnYou: folds
Batiatus10: folds
*** FLOP *** [2d 5c 6d]
Ainmhithe said, "Sup Sauce U chillin"
monkeyman067: bets $7
Ainmhithe: raises $13.18 to $20.18
monkeyman067: raises $39.82 to $60
Ainmhithe: raises $89.84 to $149.84 and is all-in
monkeyman067: calls $89.84
*** TURN *** [2d 5c 6d] [Ad]
*** RIVER *** [2d 5c 6d Ad] [7c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
monkeyman067: shows [Jd Js] (a pair of Jacks)
Ainmhithe: shows [9d Td] (a flush, Ace high)
Ainmhithe collected $309.68 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $312.68 | Rake $3
Board [2d 5c 6d Ad 7c]
Seat 1: pokerarb (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: SauceOnYou (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: Batiatus10 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: monkeyman067 showed [Jd Js] and lost with a pair of Jacks
Seat 5: Ainmhithe showed [9d Td] and won ($309.68) with a flush, Ace high
Seat 6: keith1983217 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
After the above hand, villain wrote "owned" and left the table. Not only do I lose the pot, the fish I could get it back from instantly leaves.
***** Hand History for Game 193164813 *****
$1/$2 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Friday, March 23, 20:15:26 EDT 2018
Table Plainfield (Real Money)
Seat 4 is the button
Total number of players : 6/6
Seat 1: ILovetheDough ( $312.45 USD )
Seat 4: TUNAMAC ( $292.30 USD )
Seat 2: irish29 ( $100 USD )
Seat 5: luchael ( $193.99 USD )
Seat 6: mj23style ( $446.58 USD )
Seat 3: thething ( $418.96 USD )
luchael posts small blind [$1 USD].
mj23style posts big blind [$2 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to mj23style [ 9d Ks ]
ILovetheDough folds
irish29 raises [$6 USD]
thething folds
TUNAMAC folds
luchael folds
mj23style calls [$4 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 3c, 3h, 9s ]
mj23style checks
irish29 bets [$12.28 USD]
mj23style calls [$12.28 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Qh ]
mj23style checks
irish29 bets [$35.48 USD]
Your time bank will be activated in 6 secs. If you do not want it to be used, please act now.
mj23style is all-In [$428.30 USD]
irish29 is all-In [$46.24 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ Ad ]
irish29 shows [ Ac, 8s ]two pairs, Aces and Threes.
mj23style shows [ 9d, Ks ]two pairs, Nines and Threes.
mj23style wins $346.58 USD from the side pot 1 with two pairs, Nines and Threes.
irish29 wins $198 USD from the main pot with two pairs, Aces and Threes.
Fish at the table desperately tries to give it away but to no avail.
THERE WAS ZERO TILT AT EITHER OF THESE HANDS! The realization that I am rolled for this game, that I will normally win there, and that I've won a lot in equity terms just had me so numb to any of these losses. The all in EV line on the graph is so comforting. I've heard people say that before but never played cash so couldn't really relate, but it makes so much sense now. Theoretically if I play a bajillion hands I'm gonna make exactly the amount of money the all in EV line says I did. So if I'm rolled for the games I'm playing (I am) and I'm going to play an infinite amount of hands (I'm a pro so I will certainly play quite a few) then I'm just grateful that there are fish who stack off in these spots who still play these games! Today's session was seriously exciting in terms of how in control I felt in terms of my general strategy and how relaxed I was when facing some somewhat ridiculous beats. More cash games on the horizon for sure.
But on the tournament front, ACR has come into play, and I am already up a few thousand on the site. Watch out world
In the spirit of bbissick, primarily an online cash grinder, making back to back posts in his thread detailing his live tournament escapades in the past week or two, this post will detail my dive into online cash today!
I was planning on taking today off but couldn't help myself and started playing cash, deciding that I would stop once I'd played 500 hands. A modest session of course, but given I was only 3 tabling it took a little over an hour. I was 3 tabling 1/2 and then followed a whale to a 2/5 table for a few hands. The graph:
Spoiler:
As you can see I did not run great. There was zero feeling of tilt throughout the session.
Mental Game of Cash vs Tournaments
When I face a bad beat early in a tournament, it's annoying. I lose my buy in and have to re-enter or find a different tournament. I wish I had won. But it's not really that big a deal.
When I face a bad beat at the final table of a tournament it hurts. There are a lot of buy ins on the line and losing this 80/20 counts for way more money than losing one to start the MTT. But if it's a tournament I usually play, I'll get over it.
When I face a bad beat deep in a tournament I'm taking a shot in or sold action to because it's a big buy in, ****!!! It really ****ing hurts! AA<KK with 9 left and 28K up top in a tourney I had all of myself in 3 years ago hurt really bad! I still remember how the king on the turn felt! Tournament variance is sick because you don't get to pick when the beats happen. How you run at a specific final table can dictate how your entire YEAR goes results-wise!
Facing a bad beat in cash only sort of compares to the first example above. I faced a few silly ones today:
PokerStars Hand #183581547723: Hold'em No Limit ($1/$2 USD) - 2018/03/23 19:02:11 ET
Table 'Eridanus' 6-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: pokerarb ($204.07 in chips)
Seat 2: SauceOnYou ($252.11 in chips)
Seat 3: Batiatus10 ($200 in chips)
Seat 4: monkeyman067 ($217.60 in chips)
Seat 5: Ainmhithe ($154.84 in chips)
Seat 6: keith1983217 ($139.29 in chips)
SauceOnYou: posts small blind $1
Batiatus10: posts big blind $2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to monkeyman067 [Jd Js]
monkeyman067: raises $3 to $5
Ainmhithe: calls $5
keith1983217: folds
pokerarb: folds
SauceOnYou: folds
Batiatus10: folds
*** FLOP *** [2d 5c 6d]
Ainmhithe said, "Sup Sauce U chillin"
monkeyman067: bets $7
Ainmhithe: raises $13.18 to $20.18
monkeyman067: raises $39.82 to $60
Ainmhithe: raises $89.84 to $149.84 and is all-in
monkeyman067: calls $89.84
*** TURN *** [2d 5c 6d] [Ad]
*** RIVER *** [2d 5c 6d Ad] [7c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
monkeyman067: shows [Jd Js] (a pair of Jacks)
Ainmhithe: shows [9d Td] (a flush, Ace high)
Ainmhithe collected $309.68 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $312.68 | Rake $3
Board [2d 5c 6d Ad 7c]
Seat 1: pokerarb (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: SauceOnYou (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: Batiatus10 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: monkeyman067 showed [Jd Js] and lost with a pair of Jacks
Seat 5: Ainmhithe showed [9d Td] and won ($309.68) with a flush, Ace high
Seat 6: keith1983217 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
After the above hand, villain wrote "owned" and left the table. Not only do I lose the pot, the fish I could get it back from instantly leaves.
***** Hand History for Game 193164813 *****
$1/$2 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Friday, March 23, 20:15:26 EDT 2018
Table Plainfield (Real Money)
Seat 4 is the button
Total number of players : 6/6
Seat 1: ILovetheDough ( $312.45 USD )
Seat 4: TUNAMAC ( $292.30 USD )
Seat 2: irish29 ( $100 USD )
Seat 5: luchael ( $193.99 USD )
Seat 6: mj23style ( $446.58 USD )
Seat 3: thething ( $418.96 USD )
luchael posts small blind [$1 USD].
mj23style posts big blind [$2 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to mj23style [ 9d Ks ]
ILovetheDough folds
irish29 raises [$6 USD]
thething folds
TUNAMAC folds
luchael folds
mj23style calls [$4 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 3c, 3h, 9s ]
mj23style checks
irish29 bets [$12.28 USD]
mj23style calls [$12.28 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Qh ]
mj23style checks
irish29 bets [$35.48 USD]
Your time bank will be activated in 6 secs. If you do not want it to be used, please act now.
mj23style is all-In [$428.30 USD]
irish29 is all-In [$46.24 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ Ad ]
irish29 shows [ Ac, 8s ]two pairs, Aces and Threes.
mj23style shows [ 9d, Ks ]two pairs, Nines and Threes.
mj23style wins $346.58 USD from the side pot 1 with two pairs, Nines and Threes.
irish29 wins $198 USD from the main pot with two pairs, Aces and Threes.
Fish at the table desperately tries to give it away but to no avail.
THERE WAS ZERO TILT AT EITHER OF THESE HANDS! The realization that I am rolled for this game, that I will normally win there, and that I've won a lot in equity terms just had me so numb to any of these losses. The all in EV line on the graph is so comforting. I've heard people say that before but never played cash so couldn't really relate, but it makes so much sense now. Theoretically if I play a bajillion hands I'm gonna make exactly the amount of money the all in EV line says I did. So if I'm rolled for the games I'm playing (I am) and I'm going to play an infinite amount of hands (I'm a pro so I will certainly play quite a few) then I'm just grateful that there are fish who stack off in these spots who still play these games! Today's session was seriously exciting in terms of how in control I felt in terms of my general strategy and how relaxed I was when facing some somewhat ridiculous beats. More cash games on the horizon for sure.
But on the tournament front, ACR has come into play, and I am already up a few thousand on the site. Watch out world
03-26-2018
, 01:04 PM
America's Cardroom
So at the urging of pretty much everyone who plays online and knows I'm a professional poker player, I have begun playing on ACR. A strange and wonderful thing has happened as a result of playing ACR that I would never have realized would happen before I started playing. My mental game has improved because of it.
I didn't realize how poor my mindset was on the NJ sites until playing a bunch of ACR fields and then coming back to the NJ sites and feeling, well, different. The past month has seen me make what I think is easily the biggest leap in skill level I ever have before. It started on February 15, about 4 days before I left for Las Vegas. I told myself that I would grind hard the next 4 days and hope to build the roll up a bit before leaving for Sin City. The 4 days went well and I made $7000, but the more important thing was that I put my head down and grinded. Before then my roll was shorter than it ever had been before and my motivation to play was very low. I plowed through that and did my job.
Las Vegas Changes My Career
Las Vegas was a two week period that I think I'll look back on in the future and say "this is where my career changed forever." Cashing 4 tourneys in 5 days, winning the tournament at the Wynn, those were great things and made the trip very enjoyable. But they are not anywhere near the most important part of the trip. For two weeks I got to talk poker strat with a group of guys who are all better than me at the game. They're all very nice people too which made it so easy for me to tell them about hands I thought I botched and ask how to play them better.
Lately I've been thinking back to when I was considering the online backing deal since I was considering taking it again recently. The coaching I would have received would have been invaluable. At first I declined the deal because I didn't think there was any way I was going to lose money on the NJ sites in a 6 month span, so all I'd be paying for was coaching. Then recently after I took the shots at Borgata and the roll got crushed, I again considered taking the deal. But something kept holding me back. I guess you could call it pride or ego, but I still felt like if I worked hard enough I could make the leap to becoming a better player by myself. I thought that I could figure out whatever I was going to be taught in those coaching sessions on my own. I just didn't realize that I needed to be pushed the right way.
So in Vegas I used the resources I had to think about and study the game in a way I never have before. I constantly got to talk, in person, to my friends, who are great players, about any spot I was curious about. And I'd ask a lot of questions. I didn't want to know what to do this hand. I wanted to know what to do in this spot. Why am I doing this as opposed to this? Why should I pick this sizing instead of a bigger one? Does population actually fold to a x/r on this river with top pair? You'd really bet 60% of your stack and fold to shove with bottom boat on the river?? You're that confident he can't be bluffing there??
So many questions like this that led me to understand bigger concepts and begin to apply them in the live setting. Playing live also helped me learn at the proper pace; with only one game to think about at a time, I could call on all the information I had been receiving and try things when the spots arose. I think my favorite example of this was when me and my buddy Ali both busted a tourney before everyone else so we walked the strip before getting some food at the Bellagio. I told him about a hand where I defended 32s, x/c 552, x/x 8x turn, x/x A river, lose to KK. I told villain I might have missed a bet on the river. Ali didn't like a bet on the river, instead suggesting that maybe a x/r could have been cool. "But he hits that river a lot!" "Yes but he also bets that river at a very high frequency. People over bluff this card, and will value bet Ax, so when we have 43 or 5x it's a fun spot to x/r for value. This could be a could hand to include as a bluff." I'm writing this as I understand it now, he said something along these lines but might not have been exactly what I wrote.
So a couple days later I'm playing the Wynn $1600 Main and I defend 87o and get the 655 flop. I x/c and the turn 9 goes x/x. River is an A. Literally 48 hours earlier I would have led this card every time. But even though it's not the same spot as what Ali and I discussed, since I actually have the goods now and the previous hand I had bottom pair, I was able to apply what we talked about and check for a third street in a row. I think this hand is a good example of how quickly I'm able to learn when I'm being fed good information and good reasoning behind it. I literally applied what we'd talked about at the first chance I'd gotten. Villain bet river, I x/r'ed and got called, and made considerably more chips in the hand than I would have had I seen that spot 2 days earlier.
The entire trip was filled with moments like this, and it's funny because I think I played my best poker the 2nd week of the trip, where I bricked everything, as opposed to the 1st week where I cashed/won everything. I came back to NJ full of confidence and excitement to continue learning and improving and putting ideas into action. I bricked the Parx $550 a few times, bricked Harrah's AC, bricked Parx $1600, and bricked Parx $2500. The level of frustration/tilt after these few weeks was lower than it ever could have been in the past.
Confidence
The Vegas trip not only instilled me with new poker strategy. It gave me the most confidence I've ever had. I now feel that I'm going to make the right decision in every spot. I also feel that if I'm not sure what the right decision is that I know exactly how to figure out what it is later, and I'll no longer be clueless in that situation. I've begun playing quite aggressively and almost find myself wanting people to play back at me for the challenge of it. I feel so comfortable post flop that I want you to 3b me so I can peel and think of a way to maximize value post. I've started opening every hand at specific tables and daring someone to do something about it.
I get back from Vegas and begin playing ACR. The fields are huge so I can play $10-$30 MTTs and just try to grind up a roll on there. Some tourneys are 10K and some are 5K starting stacks. What I found happening with these big field MTTs was that I would get the stack up to 70K or whatever and there would be no jitters. We're so far away from the FT that there's really no point in getting excited or nervous about this stack. Flash back to NJ MTTs. Every time I'd start to build a stack I'd get nervous! Since 70K starts to get close to FT average in these small fields, I'd start to choke up and not want to "blow it" or something. That feeling has disappeared due to ACR. The mindset is now to just chip up non-stop with no fear.
Patience
So with my game at a level it hasn't ever been at before, my confidence way up, and my desire to play and learn at an all time high, I knew that it was just a matter of being patient and waiting for results. They would come. I was hoping they'd come before I leave for England on Friday the 30th, but in any case I'm in good shape. I'm having a lot of fun. I've just been waiting on the results...
The Wait is Over!
Three deep runs found me 3 tabling after 1AM. Been a long time since I've done anything like that. I found myself near the lead with 2 tables left in a $30 $25K on ACR (over 1000 runners)! And with $5500 up top that was by far the smallest sweat of the 3 remaining tables. I was running over the WSOP $215 40K with 12 people left (had 1M of the 4M in play and was opening virtually every hand) with $11K up top, and had over 100BBs in the ACR $265 $1M!! For a quick minute I had the chip lead with something like 550K at 5Kbb from 10K starting.
The WSOP MTT was the first to end for me, and fortunately it did not end with me being eliminated! I played heads up for 56 minutes against a reg who got mentioned on bbissick's thread the other day. He berated Jerrad for seemingly no reason at Harrah's. I actually like this reg but his behavior towards Jerrad made me so mad so I was really hoping to get the best of him in this heads up match, which we started virtually tied at 2M and 40Kbb, about 50BBs to start. It reminded me a little of the Wynn tournament where we each started 75BBs deep.
Here is the big pot he won off me:
Here are some of the big hands I won against him:
DAMN this win felt good!!!
I eventually lost JJ<AQ and then JTs<JJ the next hand to bust the milly in 45th for $2300. $2300 on $265 for a 45th place finish! A lot of NJ majors don't pay 45 players! And despite being 1/12 at one point in the $30 $25K, I busted 11th for $300ish. I also cashed the Party $320 $100K GSSS Main and sattied into the $500 6 max on Stars (did not cash, Jerrad knocked me out that bastard). I made about $12K overall on the day and now have some nice financial breathing room before I leave for England on Friday. My passion and desire for the game are as high as they have been probably since I moved into this house to begin my career as a pro. I believe my skill set is as high as it's ever been as well. I'm really excited to see what the future holds!
So at the urging of pretty much everyone who plays online and knows I'm a professional poker player, I have begun playing on ACR. A strange and wonderful thing has happened as a result of playing ACR that I would never have realized would happen before I started playing. My mental game has improved because of it.
I didn't realize how poor my mindset was on the NJ sites until playing a bunch of ACR fields and then coming back to the NJ sites and feeling, well, different. The past month has seen me make what I think is easily the biggest leap in skill level I ever have before. It started on February 15, about 4 days before I left for Las Vegas. I told myself that I would grind hard the next 4 days and hope to build the roll up a bit before leaving for Sin City. The 4 days went well and I made $7000, but the more important thing was that I put my head down and grinded. Before then my roll was shorter than it ever had been before and my motivation to play was very low. I plowed through that and did my job.
Las Vegas Changes My Career
Las Vegas was a two week period that I think I'll look back on in the future and say "this is where my career changed forever." Cashing 4 tourneys in 5 days, winning the tournament at the Wynn, those were great things and made the trip very enjoyable. But they are not anywhere near the most important part of the trip. For two weeks I got to talk poker strat with a group of guys who are all better than me at the game. They're all very nice people too which made it so easy for me to tell them about hands I thought I botched and ask how to play them better.
Lately I've been thinking back to when I was considering the online backing deal since I was considering taking it again recently. The coaching I would have received would have been invaluable. At first I declined the deal because I didn't think there was any way I was going to lose money on the NJ sites in a 6 month span, so all I'd be paying for was coaching. Then recently after I took the shots at Borgata and the roll got crushed, I again considered taking the deal. But something kept holding me back. I guess you could call it pride or ego, but I still felt like if I worked hard enough I could make the leap to becoming a better player by myself. I thought that I could figure out whatever I was going to be taught in those coaching sessions on my own. I just didn't realize that I needed to be pushed the right way.
So in Vegas I used the resources I had to think about and study the game in a way I never have before. I constantly got to talk, in person, to my friends, who are great players, about any spot I was curious about. And I'd ask a lot of questions. I didn't want to know what to do this hand. I wanted to know what to do in this spot. Why am I doing this as opposed to this? Why should I pick this sizing instead of a bigger one? Does population actually fold to a x/r on this river with top pair? You'd really bet 60% of your stack and fold to shove with bottom boat on the river?? You're that confident he can't be bluffing there??
So many questions like this that led me to understand bigger concepts and begin to apply them in the live setting. Playing live also helped me learn at the proper pace; with only one game to think about at a time, I could call on all the information I had been receiving and try things when the spots arose. I think my favorite example of this was when me and my buddy Ali both busted a tourney before everyone else so we walked the strip before getting some food at the Bellagio. I told him about a hand where I defended 32s, x/c 552, x/x 8x turn, x/x A river, lose to KK. I told villain I might have missed a bet on the river. Ali didn't like a bet on the river, instead suggesting that maybe a x/r could have been cool. "But he hits that river a lot!" "Yes but he also bets that river at a very high frequency. People over bluff this card, and will value bet Ax, so when we have 43 or 5x it's a fun spot to x/r for value. This could be a could hand to include as a bluff." I'm writing this as I understand it now, he said something along these lines but might not have been exactly what I wrote.
So a couple days later I'm playing the Wynn $1600 Main and I defend 87o and get the 655 flop. I x/c and the turn 9 goes x/x. River is an A. Literally 48 hours earlier I would have led this card every time. But even though it's not the same spot as what Ali and I discussed, since I actually have the goods now and the previous hand I had bottom pair, I was able to apply what we talked about and check for a third street in a row. I think this hand is a good example of how quickly I'm able to learn when I'm being fed good information and good reasoning behind it. I literally applied what we'd talked about at the first chance I'd gotten. Villain bet river, I x/r'ed and got called, and made considerably more chips in the hand than I would have had I seen that spot 2 days earlier.
The entire trip was filled with moments like this, and it's funny because I think I played my best poker the 2nd week of the trip, where I bricked everything, as opposed to the 1st week where I cashed/won everything. I came back to NJ full of confidence and excitement to continue learning and improving and putting ideas into action. I bricked the Parx $550 a few times, bricked Harrah's AC, bricked Parx $1600, and bricked Parx $2500. The level of frustration/tilt after these few weeks was lower than it ever could have been in the past.
Confidence
The Vegas trip not only instilled me with new poker strategy. It gave me the most confidence I've ever had. I now feel that I'm going to make the right decision in every spot. I also feel that if I'm not sure what the right decision is that I know exactly how to figure out what it is later, and I'll no longer be clueless in that situation. I've begun playing quite aggressively and almost find myself wanting people to play back at me for the challenge of it. I feel so comfortable post flop that I want you to 3b me so I can peel and think of a way to maximize value post. I've started opening every hand at specific tables and daring someone to do something about it.
I get back from Vegas and begin playing ACR. The fields are huge so I can play $10-$30 MTTs and just try to grind up a roll on there. Some tourneys are 10K and some are 5K starting stacks. What I found happening with these big field MTTs was that I would get the stack up to 70K or whatever and there would be no jitters. We're so far away from the FT that there's really no point in getting excited or nervous about this stack. Flash back to NJ MTTs. Every time I'd start to build a stack I'd get nervous! Since 70K starts to get close to FT average in these small fields, I'd start to choke up and not want to "blow it" or something. That feeling has disappeared due to ACR. The mindset is now to just chip up non-stop with no fear.
Patience
So with my game at a level it hasn't ever been at before, my confidence way up, and my desire to play and learn at an all time high, I knew that it was just a matter of being patient and waiting for results. They would come. I was hoping they'd come before I leave for England on Friday the 30th, but in any case I'm in good shape. I'm having a lot of fun. I've just been waiting on the results...
The Wait is Over!
Three deep runs found me 3 tabling after 1AM. Been a long time since I've done anything like that. I found myself near the lead with 2 tables left in a $30 $25K on ACR (over 1000 runners)! And with $5500 up top that was by far the smallest sweat of the 3 remaining tables. I was running over the WSOP $215 40K with 12 people left (had 1M of the 4M in play and was opening virtually every hand) with $11K up top, and had over 100BBs in the ACR $265 $1M!! For a quick minute I had the chip lead with something like 550K at 5Kbb from 10K starting.
The WSOP MTT was the first to end for me, and fortunately it did not end with me being eliminated! I played heads up for 56 minutes against a reg who got mentioned on bbissick's thread the other day. He berated Jerrad for seemingly no reason at Harrah's. I actually like this reg but his behavior towards Jerrad made me so mad so I was really hoping to get the best of him in this heads up match, which we started virtually tied at 2M and 40Kbb, about 50BBs to start. It reminded me a little of the Wynn tournament where we each started 75BBs deep.
Here is the big pot he won off me:
Spoiler:
Here are some of the big hands I won against him:
Spoiler:
DAMN this win felt good!!!
I eventually lost JJ<AQ and then JTs<JJ the next hand to bust the milly in 45th for $2300. $2300 on $265 for a 45th place finish! A lot of NJ majors don't pay 45 players! And despite being 1/12 at one point in the $30 $25K, I busted 11th for $300ish. I also cashed the Party $320 $100K GSSS Main and sattied into the $500 6 max on Stars (did not cash, Jerrad knocked me out that bastard
). I made about $12K overall on the day and now have some nice financial breathing room before I leave for England on Friday. My passion and desire for the game are as high as they have been probably since I moved into this house to begin my career as a pro. I believe my skill set is as high as it's ever been as well. I'm really excited to see what the future holds!
03-26-2018
, 02:05 PM
Quote:
America's Cardroom
So at the urging of pretty much everyone who plays online and knows I'm a professional poker player, I have begun playing on ACR. A strange and wonderful thing has happened as a result of playing ACR that I would never have realized would happen before I started playing. My mental game has improved because of it.
I didn't realize how poor my mindset was on the NJ sites until playing a bunch of ACR fields and then coming back to the NJ sites and feeling, well, different. The past month has seen me make what I think is easily the biggest leap in skill level I ever have before. It started on February 15, about 4 days before I left for Las Vegas. I told myself that I would grind hard the next 4 days and hope to build the roll up a bit before leaving for Sin City. The 4 days went well and I made $7000, but the more important thing was that I put my head down and grinded. Before then my roll was shorter than it ever had been before and my motivation to play was very low. I plowed through that and did my job.
Las Vegas Changes My Career
Las Vegas was a two week period that I think I'll look back on in the future and say "this is where my career changed forever." Cashing 4 tourneys in 5 days, winning the tournament at the Wynn, those were great things and made the trip very enjoyable. But they are not anywhere near the most important part of the trip. For two weeks I got to talk poker strat with a group of guys who are all better than me at the game. They're all very nice people too which made it so easy for me to tell them about hands I thought I botched and ask how to play them better.
Lately I've been thinking back to when I was considering the online backing deal since I was considering taking it again recently. The coaching I would have received would have been invaluable. At first I declined the deal because I didn't think there was any way I was going to lose money on the NJ sites in a 6 month span, so all I'd be paying for was coaching. Then recently after I took the shots at Borgata and the roll got crushed, I again considered taking the deal. But something kept holding me back. I guess you could call it pride or ego, but I still felt like if I worked hard enough I could make the leap to becoming a better player by myself. I thought that I could figure out whatever I was going to be taught in those coaching sessions on my own. I just didn't realize that I needed to be pushed the right way.
So in Vegas I used the resources I had to think about and study the game in a way I never have before. I constantly got to talk, in person, to my friends, who are great players, about any spot I was curious about. And I'd ask a lot of questions. I didn't want to know what to do this hand. I wanted to know what to do in this spot. Why am I doing this as opposed to this? Why should I pick this sizing instead of a bigger one? Does population actually fold to a x/r on this river with top pair? You'd really bet 60% of your stack and fold to shove with bottom boat on the river?? You're that confident he can't be bluffing there??
So many questions like this that led me to understand bigger concepts and begin to apply them in the live setting. Playing live also helped me learn at the proper pace; with only one game to think about at a time, I could call on all the information I had been receiving and try things when the spots arose. I think my favorite example of this was when me and my buddy Ali both busted a tourney before everyone else so we walked the strip before getting some food at the Bellagio. I told him about a hand where I defended 32s, x/c 552, x/x 8x turn, x/x A river, lose to KK. I told villain I might have missed a bet on the river. Ali didn't like a bet on the river, instead suggesting that maybe a x/r could have been cool. "But he hits that river a lot!" "Yes but he also bets that river at a very high frequency. People over bluff this card, and will value bet Ax, so when we have 43 or 5x it's a fun spot to x/r for value. This could be a could hand to include as a bluff." I'm writing this as I understand it now, he said something along these lines but might not have been exactly what I wrote.
So a couple days later I'm playing the Wynn $1600 Main and I defend 87o and get the 655 flop. I x/c and the turn 9 goes x/x. River is an A. Literally 48 hours earlier I would have led this card every time. But even though it's not the same spot as what Ali and I discussed, since I actually have the goods now and the previous hand I had bottom pair, I was able to apply what we talked about and check for a third street in a row. I think this hand is a good example of how quickly I'm able to learn when I'm being fed good information and good reasoning behind it. I literally applied what we'd talked about at the first chance I'd gotten. Villain bet river, I x/r'ed and got called, and made considerably more chips in the hand than I would have had I seen that spot 2 days earlier.
The entire trip was filled with moments like this, and it's funny because I think I played my best poker the 2nd week of the trip, where I bricked everything, as opposed to the 1st week where I cashed/won everything. I came back to NJ full of confidence and excitement to continue learning and improving and putting ideas into action. I bricked the Parx $550 a few times, bricked Harrah's AC, bricked Parx $1600, and bricked Parx $2500. The level of frustration/tilt after these few weeks was lower than it ever could have been in the past.
Confidence
The Vegas trip not only instilled me with new poker strategy. It gave me the most confidence I've ever had. I now feel that I'm going to make the right decision in every spot. I also feel that if I'm not sure what the right decision is that I know exactly how to figure out what it is later, and I'll no longer be clueless in that situation. I've begun playing quite aggressively and almost find myself wanting people to play back at me for the challenge of it. I feel so comfortable post flop that I want you to 3b me so I can peel and think of a way to maximize value post. I've started opening every hand at specific tables and daring someone to do something about it.
I get back from Vegas and begin playing ACR. The fields are huge so I can play $10-$30 MTTs and just try to grind up a roll on there. Some tourneys are 10K and some are 5K starting stacks. What I found happening with these big field MTTs was that I would get the stack up to 70K or whatever and there would be no jitters. We're so far away from the FT that there's really no point in getting excited or nervous about this stack. Flash back to NJ MTTs. Every time I'd start to build a stack I'd get nervous! Since 70K starts to get close to FT average in these small fields, I'd start to choke up and not want to "blow it" or something. That feeling has disappeared due to ACR. The mindset is now to just chip up non-stop with no fear.
Patience
So with my game at a level it hasn't ever been at before, my confidence way up, and my desire to play and learn at an all time high, I knew that it was just a matter of being patient and waiting for results. They would come. I was hoping they'd come before I leave for England on Friday the 30th, but in any case I'm in good shape. I'm having a lot of fun. I've just been waiting on the results...
The Wait is Over!
Three deep runs found me 3 tabling after 1AM. Been a long time since I've done anything like that. I found myself near the lead with 2 tables left in a $30 $25K on ACR (over 1000 runners)! And with $5500 up top that was by far the smallest sweat of the 3 remaining tables. I was running over the WSOP $215 40K with 12 people left (had 1M of the 4M in play and was opening virtually every hand) with $11K up top, and had over 100BBs in the ACR $265 $1M!! For a quick minute I had the chip lead with something like 550K at 5Kbb from 10K starting.
The WSOP MTT was the first to end for me, and fortunately it did not end with me being eliminated! I played heads up for 56 minutes against a reg who got mentioned on bbissick's thread the other day. He berated Jerrad for seemingly no reason at Harrah's. I actually like this reg but his behavior towards Jerrad made me so mad so I was really hoping to get the best of him in this heads up match, which we started virtually tied at 2M and 40Kbb, about 50BBs to start. It reminded me a little of the Wynn tournament where we each started 75BBs deep.
Here is the big pot he won off me:
Here are some of the big hands I won against him:
DAMN this win felt good!!!
I eventually lost JJ<AQ and then JTs<JJ the next hand to bust the milly in 45th for $2300. $2300 on $265 for a 45th place finish! A lot of NJ majors don't pay 45 players! And despite being 1/12 at one point in the $30 $25K, I busted 11th for $300ish. I also cashed the Party $320 $100K GSSS Main and sattied into the $500 6 max on Stars (did not cash, Jerrad knocked me out that bastard). I made about $12K overall on the day and now have some nice financial breathing room before I leave for England on Friday. My passion and desire for the game are as high as they have been probably since I moved into this house to begin my career as a pro. I believe my skill set is as high as it's ever been as well. I'm really excited to see what the future holds!
So at the urging of pretty much everyone who plays online and knows I'm a professional poker player, I have begun playing on ACR. A strange and wonderful thing has happened as a result of playing ACR that I would never have realized would happen before I started playing. My mental game has improved because of it.
I didn't realize how poor my mindset was on the NJ sites until playing a bunch of ACR fields and then coming back to the NJ sites and feeling, well, different. The past month has seen me make what I think is easily the biggest leap in skill level I ever have before. It started on February 15, about 4 days before I left for Las Vegas. I told myself that I would grind hard the next 4 days and hope to build the roll up a bit before leaving for Sin City. The 4 days went well and I made $7000, but the more important thing was that I put my head down and grinded. Before then my roll was shorter than it ever had been before and my motivation to play was very low. I plowed through that and did my job.
Las Vegas Changes My Career
Las Vegas was a two week period that I think I'll look back on in the future and say "this is where my career changed forever." Cashing 4 tourneys in 5 days, winning the tournament at the Wynn, those were great things and made the trip very enjoyable. But they are not anywhere near the most important part of the trip. For two weeks I got to talk poker strat with a group of guys who are all better than me at the game. They're all very nice people too which made it so easy for me to tell them about hands I thought I botched and ask how to play them better.
Lately I've been thinking back to when I was considering the online backing deal since I was considering taking it again recently. The coaching I would have received would have been invaluable. At first I declined the deal because I didn't think there was any way I was going to lose money on the NJ sites in a 6 month span, so all I'd be paying for was coaching. Then recently after I took the shots at Borgata and the roll got crushed, I again considered taking the deal. But something kept holding me back. I guess you could call it pride or ego, but I still felt like if I worked hard enough I could make the leap to becoming a better player by myself. I thought that I could figure out whatever I was going to be taught in those coaching sessions on my own. I just didn't realize that I needed to be pushed the right way.
So in Vegas I used the resources I had to think about and study the game in a way I never have before. I constantly got to talk, in person, to my friends, who are great players, about any spot I was curious about. And I'd ask a lot of questions. I didn't want to know what to do this hand. I wanted to know what to do in this spot. Why am I doing this as opposed to this? Why should I pick this sizing instead of a bigger one? Does population actually fold to a x/r on this river with top pair? You'd really bet 60% of your stack and fold to shove with bottom boat on the river?? You're that confident he can't be bluffing there??
So many questions like this that led me to understand bigger concepts and begin to apply them in the live setting. Playing live also helped me learn at the proper pace; with only one game to think about at a time, I could call on all the information I had been receiving and try things when the spots arose. I think my favorite example of this was when me and my buddy Ali both busted a tourney before everyone else so we walked the strip before getting some food at the Bellagio. I told him about a hand where I defended 32s, x/c 552, x/x 8x turn, x/x A river, lose to KK. I told villain I might have missed a bet on the river. Ali didn't like a bet on the river, instead suggesting that maybe a x/r could have been cool. "But he hits that river a lot!" "Yes but he also bets that river at a very high frequency. People over bluff this card, and will value bet Ax, so when we have 43 or 5x it's a fun spot to x/r for value. This could be a could hand to include as a bluff." I'm writing this as I understand it now, he said something along these lines but might not have been exactly what I wrote.
So a couple days later I'm playing the Wynn $1600 Main and I defend 87o and get the 655 flop. I x/c and the turn 9 goes x/x. River is an A. Literally 48 hours earlier I would have led this card every time. But even though it's not the same spot as what Ali and I discussed, since I actually have the goods now and the previous hand I had bottom pair, I was able to apply what we talked about and check for a third street in a row. I think this hand is a good example of how quickly I'm able to learn when I'm being fed good information and good reasoning behind it. I literally applied what we'd talked about at the first chance I'd gotten. Villain bet river, I x/r'ed and got called, and made considerably more chips in the hand than I would have had I seen that spot 2 days earlier.
The entire trip was filled with moments like this, and it's funny because I think I played my best poker the 2nd week of the trip, where I bricked everything, as opposed to the 1st week where I cashed/won everything. I came back to NJ full of confidence and excitement to continue learning and improving and putting ideas into action. I bricked the Parx $550 a few times, bricked Harrah's AC, bricked Parx $1600, and bricked Parx $2500. The level of frustration/tilt after these few weeks was lower than it ever could have been in the past.
Confidence
The Vegas trip not only instilled me with new poker strategy. It gave me the most confidence I've ever had. I now feel that I'm going to make the right decision in every spot. I also feel that if I'm not sure what the right decision is that I know exactly how to figure out what it is later, and I'll no longer be clueless in that situation. I've begun playing quite aggressively and almost find myself wanting people to play back at me for the challenge of it. I feel so comfortable post flop that I want you to 3b me so I can peel and think of a way to maximize value post. I've started opening every hand at specific tables and daring someone to do something about it.
I get back from Vegas and begin playing ACR. The fields are huge so I can play $10-$30 MTTs and just try to grind up a roll on there. Some tourneys are 10K and some are 5K starting stacks. What I found happening with these big field MTTs was that I would get the stack up to 70K or whatever and there would be no jitters. We're so far away from the FT that there's really no point in getting excited or nervous about this stack. Flash back to NJ MTTs. Every time I'd start to build a stack I'd get nervous! Since 70K starts to get close to FT average in these small fields, I'd start to choke up and not want to "blow it" or something. That feeling has disappeared due to ACR. The mindset is now to just chip up non-stop with no fear.
Patience
So with my game at a level it hasn't ever been at before, my confidence way up, and my desire to play and learn at an all time high, I knew that it was just a matter of being patient and waiting for results. They would come. I was hoping they'd come before I leave for England on Friday the 30th, but in any case I'm in good shape. I'm having a lot of fun. I've just been waiting on the results...
The Wait is Over!
Three deep runs found me 3 tabling after 1AM. Been a long time since I've done anything like that. I found myself near the lead with 2 tables left in a $30 $25K on ACR (over 1000 runners)! And with $5500 up top that was by far the smallest sweat of the 3 remaining tables. I was running over the WSOP $215 40K with 12 people left (had 1M of the 4M in play and was opening virtually every hand) with $11K up top, and had over 100BBs in the ACR $265 $1M!! For a quick minute I had the chip lead with something like 550K at 5Kbb from 10K starting.
The WSOP MTT was the first to end for me, and fortunately it did not end with me being eliminated! I played heads up for 56 minutes against a reg who got mentioned on bbissick's thread the other day. He berated Jerrad for seemingly no reason at Harrah's. I actually like this reg but his behavior towards Jerrad made me so mad so I was really hoping to get the best of him in this heads up match, which we started virtually tied at 2M and 40Kbb, about 50BBs to start. It reminded me a little of the Wynn tournament where we each started 75BBs deep.
Here is the big pot he won off me:
Spoiler:
Here are some of the big hands I won against him:
Spoiler:
DAMN this win felt good!!!
I eventually lost JJ<AQ and then JTs<JJ the next hand to bust the milly in 45th for $2300. $2300 on $265 for a 45th place finish! A lot of NJ majors don't pay 45 players! And despite being 1/12 at one point in the $30 $25K, I busted 11th for $300ish. I also cashed the Party $320 $100K GSSS Main and sattied into the $500 6 max on Stars (did not cash, Jerrad knocked me out that bastard
). I made about $12K overall on the day and now have some nice financial breathing room before I leave for England on Friday. My passion and desire for the game are as high as they have been probably since I moved into this house to begin my career as a pro. I believe my skill set is as high as it's ever been as well. I'm really excited to see what the future holds!
How are you playing on ACR? I thought they don't accept players from NJ?
03-26-2018
, 02:27 PM
03-26-2018
, 03:38 PM
Thanks!
I forgot to mention in my last post how instrumental Jerrad/bbissick was in helping my confidence and inspiration level. Talking hands with him in AC and seeing how incredibly far he's come in a relatively short time has been amazing. Watching him crush cash has made me realize how much room I have for improvement, how much more I could be utilizing the HUD, and has really gotten me thinking even more deeply about GTO concepts and how to properly stray from GTO to maximize profit.
And finally for some tournament swings perspective. Here are my last 8 days (only NJ sites included). Outside of yesterday (the 5 figure winning day) my biggest buy in during this stretch was $250. Up $8200 total, avg $1025 per day, essentially 2 winning days and 5 losing ones.
It's important to plow through the negative variance or you might miss playing on the day you were due!
I forgot to mention in my last post how instrumental Jerrad/bbissick was in helping my confidence and inspiration level. Talking hands with him in AC and seeing how incredibly far he's come in a relatively short time has been amazing. Watching him crush cash has made me realize how much room I have for improvement, how much more I could be utilizing the HUD, and has really gotten me thinking even more deeply about GTO concepts and how to properly stray from GTO to maximize profit.
And finally for some tournament swings perspective. Here are my last 8 days (only NJ sites included). Outside of yesterday (the 5 figure winning day) my biggest buy in during this stretch was $250. Up $8200 total, avg $1025 per day, essentially 2 winning days and 5 losing ones.
It's important to plow through the negative variance or you might miss playing on the day you were due!
03-30-2018
, 10:33 AM
Not Zo
03-30-2018
, 10:43 AM
London
We goin there.
At 10PM (so in about 11 hours) I'll be taking off from JFK to visit Max in London for about a week. We'll land there at 10AM there time on Saturday morning and stay until Sunday. I'm going with my roommate Tee Dubs and our friend Aaren, and we'll be meeting our friends Crissy and Collin there as well.
I've had probably the most adult past 12 hour stretch I've ever had in my life. I managed to force myself to fall asleep between 11 and 12 last night, probably the earliest I've gone to bed in a very long time. I woke up at 8:30, again the earliest I've gotten up in forever, and ran a bunch of errands, going to CVS for some travel stuff for the trip, TD Bank to deposit some money and make sure my debit card could be used internationally, and finally Kohl's to buy a rain jacket and some new boxers and socks. It was all quite boring and mundane and necessary.
Outside of literally packing my clothes for the trip I think I'm ready to go! I forgot to find an outlet converter that would allow me to plug things in in England but I imagine I'll be able to find them at the airport or somewhere in England. We'll be staying in a complex near one of the biggest malls in Europe (Westfield); I believe this place was actually used as the Olympic Village back when the Olympics were in London so that's pretty cool.
It'll be important for me not to fall out of a rhythm of playing poker when I get back from the trip. There's a casino in this mall apparently so Max and I might play live cash for a day or two. I definitely want to experience a card room outside of the States so even if I only play for an hour or whatever, it'd be cool to see how similarly/differently the room is run compared to what I'm used to. Max bought some action in some of my recent failed live bullets so he's just gonna pay me in his silly monopoly money so I won't have to deal too much with converting money
Pretty excited for this trip, guess now I just wait! Maybe play some ACR or NJ cash between now and around 7PM when we'll call for an uber to take us to JFK.
We goin there.
At 10PM (so in about 11 hours) I'll be taking off from JFK to visit Max in London for about a week. We'll land there at 10AM there time on Saturday morning and stay until Sunday. I'm going with my roommate Tee Dubs and our friend Aaren, and we'll be meeting our friends Crissy and Collin there as well.
I've had probably the most adult past 12 hour stretch I've ever had in my life. I managed to force myself to fall asleep between 11 and 12 last night, probably the earliest I've gone to bed in a very long time. I woke up at 8:30, again the earliest I've gotten up in forever, and ran a bunch of errands, going to CVS for some travel stuff for the trip, TD Bank to deposit some money and make sure my debit card could be used internationally, and finally Kohl's to buy a rain jacket and some new boxers and socks. It was all quite boring and mundane and necessary.
Outside of literally packing my clothes for the trip I think I'm ready to go! I forgot to find an outlet converter that would allow me to plug things in in England but I imagine I'll be able to find them at the airport or somewhere in England. We'll be staying in a complex near one of the biggest malls in Europe (Westfield); I believe this place was actually used as the Olympic Village back when the Olympics were in London so that's pretty cool.
It'll be important for me not to fall out of a rhythm of playing poker when I get back from the trip. There's a casino in this mall apparently so Max and I might play live cash for a day or two. I definitely want to experience a card room outside of the States so even if I only play for an hour or whatever, it'd be cool to see how similarly/differently the room is run compared to what I'm used to. Max bought some action in some of my recent failed live bullets so he's just gonna pay me in his silly monopoly money so I won't have to deal too much with converting money
Pretty excited for this trip, guess now I just wait! Maybe play some ACR or NJ cash between now and around 7PM when we'll call for an uber to take us to JFK.
03-30-2018
, 11:39 AM
Little bit of this, little bit of that.
That's actually me on the packaging too idk how they got that pic
03-31-2018
, 12:27 PM
Honestly I wanted to say something during the last year, but you seemed to be enjoying yourself, and there is nothing wrong with that. But a solid balance is key! Keep it up, and enjoy London.