run pure, kick their #sses .

.Arrrgggghhhh!!!! Well, sometimes the rungood isn't with you. I was short with 13bb got AQcc UTG+1 and limped (obv planning l/rr) , 3 limpers to short stacked BB who shoves for 5k, I shove for 5.5k and one of the limpers calls.

AQ vs AJ (BB) vs KJ limper. King right in the effing window!!!! FML


Prize pool is insane today to

oh wells, back to the normal grind and i'll probably take another shot at the big game on Friday, so the thread may fall off the first few pages for a while. No worries it will come back

Effed right in the a. Sorry dgi

It's difficult to completely crush cash games and then transform into a killer tournament winner.
Obv you understand the dynamics are way different.
I find myself playing cash game style in tournaments when it's totally wrong.

Ex. Opening early with mid and low suited connectors and pp

3b w above mentioned oop and running big bluffs on these super nits playing low buy in tournies.

4b way to light and trying to steal.

3b In these low stakes tournies are the same as a 3b in 1-2 very snug range.

Anyways it's still fun to play but don't beat your self up.
Your an amazing cash game player who gets tons of respect from 2+2
Keep crushing the cash games and WE WANT MORE NOSEBLEED STORIES!!
Glgl

Well, thought I'd post the prize pool, took them till level 7 to get all the alternates in.



So sick...

Well, hopefully I'll get a sick five figure or six figure score before this thread runs its course.

If u don't mind, what is your hourly rate for each stake level ($1/2 vs $2/5,etc) in cash games and what is the sample size in each?

Great thread, following you either I'm not a cash player, but this thread is awesome. I always loved seeing live cash games played and watching them so I hope you the best getting up to nosebleeds and seriously crushing the limits!

GL! Subbed and following!

I wanted to avoid answering this because when you post winrates it inevitably leads to pissing contests and sample size arguments from online players that believe you need 100,000 hands in order to have any confidence... but since I'm being asked so much on here and in my PMs I'll go ahead and answer.

My 1/2nl stats are kinda convoluted because we have 1/2nl and 1/3nl in this area and I just combined the two and I'm way too lazy to tease out and separate them to pull out a winrate for each.

My winrate for them was about $35/hr with my play being split 50/50 between the two. I have over 2,000 hrs logged over the past couple of years

My winrate for 2/5nl is about $51/hr based on my last 1,500 hrs logged

I only have 200 hrs logged in 5/10nl and above so confidence intervals for those winrates would be pretty wide and not worth posting. I mean, i've only played 3 sessions of 10/25nl and 1 session of the Bay 101 5/10nl (which is really a 10/20nl). The rest of my hours are mostly from 5/10nl at Lucky Chances, Thunder Valley, and Venetian spread out over the past year. I won't have any confidence in my "high limit" winrate until I have over 500 hrs logged so that would be about 50 - 60 sessions (lets hope I have that many )

Great job on the thread a GL obviously!

Nice meeting you last week

Thread just went up to another level. gg

Update?

Where the HH from the cash? And tourney results!

Hiatus confirmed

Sick thread, you're a hero for us LLSNL grinders keep it up

He is in Vegas. Givem a few days.

Gotta live them stories before you tell them Good luck op

DGI if you are in Vegas, lets meet up hoss....

I need you to smack me around and tell me to stop being such a nit in tournaments.

Read thru whole thread/Great thread/not sure how I missed this up to now.

Can you talk about how you deal with the personal challenges you face with your lifestyle, like finding time for family/friends/romance? Finding time for leisure activities/working out etc/trying to be well rounded in life? Traveling alot?

I've been trying to play more hours this year (my goal is 1250 hrs in 2013) and it's really a grind, especially as I get older(I'm older than you).thanks

Hey guys, sorry for the hiatus I have a lot of stuff going on right now. Like I mentioned a few pages ago, I took a significant portion of my winnings and invested it in a product development idea (invention) that I have had for a while so I'm working on that and playing poker. After the WSOP my time will be spent 90% on my product development and 10% on poker. I'll share details on my invention when my patent paperwork comes back from the patent office in a couple of months. Plus, I'm grinding my roll for Vegas and will be back in Vegas soon to satty my way into the Main Event .

Also, I didn't want this thread to turn into my daily blog and wanted to limit it to shot taking or perhaps the occasional sick 2/5nl session that I have.

Right now poker is my main focus and my goal was to make enough money to do my product development idea. I really only see myself playing poker professionally for maybe one more year. I wanted to make about $100k - $200k with poker and roll that money into a business (I have various business ideas).

I'm not near as balanced as I'd like to be. I got a gym membership and have been trying to work out after my sessions and have been hit and miss with that. My family lives in Texas and unfortunately Poker is illegal there thanks to the super right wing hypocritical Nazi's in that state that have no problem with the State lottery or bingo or horse racing but managed to declare casinos evil and illegal. There was an initiative on the State ballot to allow poker but Gov. Rick Perry vowed he'd never allow any casinos (or poker) in his state. Thankfully, that douche bag ran for President and everyone got a first hand look at how stupid he is so he won't be winning the next election in Texas and hopefully the next guy will be more poker friendly...

I haven't been dating much because my life isn't as stable as I'd like yet. My goal is to settle down once I get stable and in my mind, stable means having $100k+ in the bank and having my business up and running so hopefully within the next year.

I visit my family during the Thanksgiving/X'mas season and will be doing a trip to see them after the WSOP.

Where is the fam. in Texas?

I'm from Dallas but live in Austin.
The local casinos give texas gov TONS of cash every year to keep casinos out.
It's b.s.

Session # 5, - $3,000

Every dark cloud has a silver lining, or at least that is what I'm telling myself with this session. The bad news is that I had my first losing session and my streak is over. The good news is that I feel that I've finally completely lost my high stakes jitters.

Through this session I started out on my B game, elevated to my A-game and played great for a while but unfortunately I took a few hits and kept hitting a glass ceiling at $6k and then I fell back to my B-game then D-game and F-game and then rally backed to my B-game then unfortunately hit a cooler hand.

I like starting the thread off with a pictorial representation of the table, well today the table was a mixed bag.

It started off like this


and then it evolved into this



Before progressing to this



So this was by far the craziest and best table i've been at. Also, the two really good players (best in the area for this game) were at the table and I was able to hold my own against them which I'll get to in a minute.

Table set up. Initially the table started off with 1 nit, 2 very readable Old man coffees, 2 aggros, 2 decent TAGs, and 1 TAG pro. Skill wise, I felt very comfortable and think that I was probably equivalent to the pro and had a decent edge over everyone else.

I bought in for $3k and played fairly snug for the first 30 minutes, raised a couple of times from LP to $100 and took down the pots with a c-bet so managed to chip up to $4k before my first big hand.

I decided to target one of the aggros who was raising fairly light. I was BB w KQ aggro raises from MP to $75 (standard raise at the table was $75 - $150), two callers, I 3-bet to $275, aggro calls, LP folds, TAG calls from HJ, 3-way action eff stacks $3k I cover.

flop($900) J T 3
I bet $375, aggro calls, TAG calls

Turn($2025) 4
I bet $1,400, aggro folds, TAG folds

I felt pretty good about this hand since i'm repping an over pair and figured I have 19 outs so pretty much half the deck. Plus my image was semi-nit and "that guy plays so tight" so was confident a double barrel would win the hand.

After this hand, the two really good players showed up and a Super Aggro Whale SAW. Now we've got two aggros + a Super Aggro Whale. Just to give you an idea of the action, here is the craziest hand I've seen at this table.

Aggro raises from EP to $75, TAG calls, aggro calls, SAW raises to $375, TAG calls, pro raises to $1100, folds around to SAW who ships it for $4k, pro tank calls

Flop(9k) J 4 2 7 3
SAW shows KQ, pro shows 99

SAW shrugs, reaches into his pocket and pulls out 4 more purples ($1k chips) and tosses them on the table like "whatever"

The craziest thing was that this SAW had no 3-bet or 4-bet folding range. He 100% would 4-bet shove if you 3-bet him. He did this 5 times within an hour. He would typical 3-bet to $325 - $425 and when he was 4-bet around the $1k range he would just insta ship it. Out of the 5 times he did this he was only called twice. Both times he was called he had KQ and lost and just shrugged and reloaded.

So, needless to say, I had a raging boner for this guy (damn, that sounds pretty gay ) so I'm chomping at the bit to get a piece of him before all his money is gone. Then finally I pick up AK in MP, he is on the BTN and aggro is to my immediate left. Eff stacks $5k, I cover, SAW has $4k

EP raises to $75, I call, Aggro calls, TAG calls, SAW raises to $375, EP calls, I 3-bet to $1100, SAW calls (goddamnit where is my insta ship? ) everyone else folds

Flop(2.5k)
K 9 2
I bet $1,100, he folds

Right as i'm about to crack this session wide open I run into my first cooler

I'm on BTN with 66 vs aggro in EP and a decent TAG in HJ.

Aggro raises to $150, TAG calls, I call, everyone folds, heads up, eff stacks $7k, TAG has me covered.

Flop(450) A Q 6
Aggro bets 250, TAG calls, I raise to $800, Aggro calls, TAG calls

At this point, I feel pretty good, I seriously doubt TAG has QQ or AA and aggro's range is as wide as the gap between Lindsay Lohan's legs. I feel TAG should have AK and AQ in his range a lot here and I think aggros range is heavily weighted to AX.

Turn(2850) K
action checks to me, I blast the pot for $2500. Aggro tanks and almost folds but after a while he calls. TAG folds

River(7850) 5
Aggro shoves, I puke fold, aggro shows A7 FML

Yuck, so I took that hit and dropped back down to around $4k ish. I took a break and walked around a bit to reset

A little later I decided to target the 2nd best player at the table. Part of this was ego and also part of this was to basically get over the mystique I had for the two better players. I'm in the HJ with 75s, eff stacks 4k he covers.

He raises to 100, I call, BB calls.

Flop(300) J 4 2
BB chks, he bets 200, I call, BB folds

Turn(700) 2
he bets 200, I raise to $550, he folds

I know, not really an earth shattering hand but it basically just allowed me to feel more comfortable at the table and get over the last remnants of any jitters that may have been lingering. After I did this a couple of times to both of the better players I 100% felt comfortable at the table.

Unfortunately, I ran into a couple of hours of being completely card dead and one of my biggest leaks surfaced, that is, I tend to overcall when card dead when the action at the table gets crazy. There were a series of leveling wars going on between the TAGs and the aggros and the SAW and with all that money sloshing around I couldn't help but try to limp/call my way into some of it. To be clear, I didn't do anything too crazy like try to make any moves, but it doesn't take too many limps and or limp/calls of $75 - $150 raises until you've bled through a significant sum of money.

I should have just folded for 2 hours as that is part of poker. In fact, its a part of my game I normally pride myself on. But I think I was getting a bit tired at this point (was reaching the 7 hour mark) and I had been grinding hard all week to build up so I could take my shot this Friday. Also, after the cooler and a couple of other dings I took I had dropped down to about $5.5k. So, if I had just folded for 2 hours I probably would have been at $5.5k-ish, but instead, I leaked through about $1.5k limp/calling and getting involved in hands that I had no business in.

This is the part where I played my D-game and F-game

Once I got down to $3.5k I took a walk to reset and refocus. Then I came back to the table and folded for 30 minutes like I should have been folding all along and then I pick up KK in the BB.

During my D-game and F-game my image probably coverted from semi-nit to semi-donk. I had beat one of the pros in a couple of smaller pots that probably had him scratching his head a bit. This pro is very aggressive as long as you let him retain the initiative. He will triple barrel and he has no qualms bluffing or going for seriously thin value for stacks. he routinely buys in for $10k so he is well rolled.

Its important to note that right before the KK hand, I had limped UTG with 88 and called his BTN raise pre and then I called him down on each street on a Q 2 7 4 K board and my 88 was good and I could tell that bothered him.

So, the very next hand I get KK in the BB, he raises $200 from the CO, I call, heads up. Eff stacks $4k he covers

Flop($400) 4 2 2
I check, he bets $300, I call. My plan here really was to let him barrel off. Like I said above, he is very aggressive if he retains the initiative and to me it felt he was upset from the previous hand.

Turn($1000) Q
I check, he bets $1,000, I call.

River($3,000) 6
I check, he puts me all-in, I call
He shows AA, nice hand sir, FML

The KK hand left a bitter taste in my mouth. I don't want to be results oriented as obviously the hand could have played out way differently. I didn't mention it but we had been involved in a few hands earlier and though V is pretty aggressive he folds when you push back at him when he has nothing. I had raised him in earlier hands and he had a pretty good knack for folding so last thing I wanted to do here was raise him off his range which should be fairly wide and include a fair amount of bluffs or even AQ, KQ type hands or pockets that he is turning into bluffs and of course just airballs and whiffed flush draws or he's floating to rep the flush (he is definitely capable of doing that).

Against this V, I'm not sure I don't go broke here as I've seen him put smaller stacks all-in in similar spots...

So, this was my first losing session.

It was a roller coaster ride and if it makes any sense, I'm kinda glad I got the losing session out of the way. I also feel like this session was a bit of a blood letting, that is, getting rid of some bad diseased blood. I played my D and F game in this session but I recognized it and reset and refocused. Its moreso just an indication that I have been grinding too hard. When I play too many hours in the week and grind too hard I tend to have D and F game sessions and that is what happened here. I was at a dream 2/5nl table the night before and made $4k in that session. It was one of those tables where I could not leave because it was just too profitable and I ended up playing until 4:00am.

I know that may come off as an excuse, but that is also a part of poker, that is, managing your schedule.

Every session that i've had prior to this one, I treated the big game like my World Series. I got to bed early, I woke up well rested, would eat a good lunch, and come to the game fresh, bright eyed and bushy tailed... This was the first session where i really didn't do that. I went to bed around 4:30am, woke up around 11am, ran some errands, got to the casino around 2pm and played... And I think that definitely had an impact on my play.

So, I'm going to add a rule to my list of rules requiring that I get 8 hours sleep before I play the big game.

As for Vegas, I'm setting a goal of grinding $6k this week M-F before I head over to Vegas Saturday. My Vegas goal is to satty my way into the Main Event. I'll also take a couple of shots at the big game in Vegas and see if I can't go on a sick run.

I'll hook up with you next weekend

Sorry, couldn't help myself.

This is an amazing thread though. Love the analysis. Being able to see the different levels of thinking through a hand is awesome.

Curious if you were planning on bet/calling turn with 2k behind with KQdd on JTxydd

I got family in San Antonio. I love Austin, to me, the San Antonio - Austin part of Texas is the best part of the State if not country. Those are great cities to live in except for the summers which are brutal and the mosquitoes which are like the plague. Especially in San Antonio, way too much standing water around and the mosquitoes are like a plague of locusts

yeah, I'm rarely putting half my money in the pot to fold. Once I bet turn, I'm committed. If I'm shoved on, there is still the possibility (though small) that my villain has a FD or SD as well and my KQ can be the best hand. Also, pretty much half the deck enables me to beat most of my villains' ranges except for sets, and even if i'm up against a set, I have a decent # of outs (15) and that is not too shabby. But I was also sure my K and Q were live and that if I hit them I'd also be ahead of my villains. So really its half the freaking deck. No way I could fold.

You know, I was going to something I don't think has ever been done on here, I was going to post an entire session. I recorded every single hand I played and right before i was going to post it, that day, about 5 different people came up to me talking about this thread.

Now, my normal session postings on here are just 3 - 5 hands out of an 8 hour session, so based on that, its impossible to determine my VPIP and overall style of play. In fact, if anything my postings will create an unfavorable bias in my perceived image since in my postings based on samples of my postings I'm giving equal weight to my bluffs, value hands, and monsters when in reality bluffs represent a small portion of my game. Likewise, with my postings its hard to get a sense of how often and in what situations I'm willing to value bet with and or my various ranges from various positions.

However, if I posted an entire session, it would be possible to derive that. So, I thought better of posting that session. Sorry.

When I move up permanently (knock on wood) to 5/10nl and 10/25nl then I will do that for a 2/5 session and post one in its entirety. Hell, I may even pay someone $100 to animate one of my 2/5nl sessions to include a voice over commentary by me. In fact, I will make that pledge. If I manage to move up permanently to 5/10nl and 10/25nl before this year is out, I will post and animate an entire 2/5nl live session to include commentary and analysis

But back to my regular postings. I will post one of my 2/5nl sessions this week and then hopefully I'll grind up enough to take another shot Friday before I head to Vegas Saturday

Here's hoping this becomes a reality; very cool! I will definitely hold you to it. glgl