Punted off $994 at PLO6H/L right after writing the last post. Its amazing how much mindfulness I put into live poker and PLO.... yet, all it takes is a new game ( in this case PLO6H/L) to really expose some of my leaks. It is a great lesson and helps with humility and maintaining beginners mindset.

Financially it took me almost a year to catch up to my prior net worth highs of 2021/2020. The last time I had the current amount of $$$ I do now, was May 2021. What a process and finances had been so low on my totem pole of priorities until age 28/29.... that I can say its a learning process to go with the ups and downs of the markets/poker/life circumstances.

Lot of changes seem to be on the horizon for New England poker. Chasers poker room got sold to Churchill downs..... it will be very interesting to see how the PLO scene plays out now that Boston Encore has reopened partial hours ( M-TH 10AM-8PM)

In the middle of my work week now, so looks like we are going to finish this month off at $8223 over 110 hours. Pretty proud of the volume I put in. Ran super well, definitely had some mental game leaks coming off of big wins... that needs to be looked at.

Cheers !

Headed down to Foxwoods for Saturday night and all of Sunday. Should be good, excited to kick off April. Will start off at 2/5 but I’m sure the 5/10 will be running so who knows.

I will be working one less shift in fitness starting in May. My new Fitness work schedule will be 20 hours instead of 23.5. But I will be starting the week at Tuesday 4pm versus Tuesday 7 AM so that will allow for more poker flexibility on Mondays. Funny thing my biggest two sessions were both late Monday nights of last month; the +1810 Tampa 2/2 session and the $4770 PokerBros score.

Been great with meditation and gratitude lately, have been mediocre about getting to the gym. Better than I had been but still below my standards.

I have also written myself a mental checklist I now rehearse every time before playing live poker. That has be SUPER helpful to keep me focused on the bigger picture as to how I am alloying half of my “income” from poker.

ProfitRoll: $56,950

Thanks for reading, and cheers to spring !

It’s been a solid trip so far at Foxwoods.

Up a few hundred… the 2/5 PLO is one of the worst PLO games I’ve played in during the day time. Very very slow play and extreme tightness.

Played the 5/10… ran it up a bit +785. Big hand was opening KK6Jhhcc on the button to 60, 1200ish effective. BB and CO calls.

(210) Q410hhd … BB checks, and aggressive CO leads 210, we flat. And BB folds.

(630) Q410hhd 9d…. Gin card

He bets 500, we ship for 925 total. He calls.

(2480) Q410hhd 9d… river Jh…. He had 101099hh and we win.

Roll: $57,526.

Wanted to talk about some sobriety topics today.

Background: I have been sober for 15 months now, but the first time I was in detox was 2015. Spent Dec 2015- June 2016 going from detox/ quarter house/ halfway house. It was at age 24 and I literally was a mess… I was not the kid who at 18 years old, you would have ever expected to be in that spot 6 years later.

Getting sober for the first time was the hardest journey I have been through in my first 30 years of life. Alcohol withdrawals are no ****** joke and the mental devolving I had done from age 20-24 was intense. I stayed sober for about 14 months back then, until I experimented with drinking again for a few more years.

Current: I was in such a bad headspace all week, and just really feeling super down. Was even having dreams/ nightmares about relapsing all week… And it dawned on me that this type of headspace used to lead to chaotic benders, just drinking 24/7 and then being so deep in withdrawals that I was forced to keep drinking until some type of detox.

Was almost in two car accidents today. One was an older driver blindly merging, and the other ( way more unacceptable ) … was someone blowing a red light bad and almost T-boning me on a side street near Wayland country club.

And it is amazing because, I almost feel as if these two close calls were a reminder from God/ Universe that life is a wild fragile thing, and to see the big picture rather than getting caught in my own daily melodrama..

This year I have done some serious growth, but I am unsure I can continue to grow without outside mentorship. And I wanted to write this out because it is a reminder to everyone that we know ourselves; and no matter what the area is, we tend to know in our intuition when we need outside help to grow.

For me, this outside growth is probably in the form of getting back into therapy or back into being a consistent AA member.

Thanks for reading

Golf season is in full swing and with my personality I definitely get into phase addiction, so poker volume has been very reduced in April.

With that said, ran extremely well in a short amount of hours this month.

Had a 5 way all-in in a crazy spot, Hero (1100) wakes up with AAQ10DDSS in SB, MP (750) makes it 20, 4 calls, we make it 120, MP makes it 435, ( call for less 165 from MP2), allin for 450 HJ, button (950) calls, and we reshove for 1100....

So its a 5 way allin, with 4 side pots, we have AAQ10, main pot is $825 and total pot is around $3400...

($3400) Q93r Jcc (Button yells yes :/) River is a offsuit 8..... we say straight and flip over Q10AA, I hear straight.... and see a KJ1010 for nuts.... BUT it is from the short stack.... so he wins $825 and we scoop the rest for about a +1800ish profit on one hand. Wild stuff. Button ended up having KQ94cc and MP had AAK8ccc. Very fortunate.

Golf handicap is down to 15 which is very exciting cause I used to shoot like 110s... new Driver and a lot of working on my swing has been great.

Volume has been pretty low in April, kind of planned as it is first month of golf season and I had been above 100 hours Jan, Feb, March... anyways we had a whacky session last week !

Second hand we get stacked for 1k with AA102hh, 3! button to 90 (1k) over an aggressive opener (1.2k) and a call of 20, only original raisor calls.

(210) q64 r checks, we bet 150, he flats.

(510) Q64 6hh giving us backdoor hearts, he checks we bet pot, was really trying to target KKxx.... was a pretty large mistake in hindsight as this is a good card for our range but its better for the top of his range... anyways I bet pot, he check raises us allin, its like 320 more so we have a pretty easy call. River is a blank, he shows qq65... lol yikes.....

Buy back in for 1k..... 2 hands later we have JJ63cc and there is a promotion that hour for hitting quad jacks, as well as a high hand, so we end up calling a raise of $30 from HJ we wouldnt have otherwise called.

(210) 7 ways J of clubs is window...... J92cc.... checks around to button short stack who shoves for 170, call, we reshove allin, CO who has us covered rips it in, and MP tank folds.

Main pot (720) Side pot (1620) I say out loud... 3 of spades and 3 of diamonds... turn is a 2 of diamonds and river is 3 of spades... we flip JJ and are good, short stack had KKxxcc and other played had AQccJ9....

So we get in for 2k in first orbit... and end up getting it back plus 400.

Total Roll is now at $58,944 and up $10,438 in 2022.

Also got my handicap down to a 14.7 in golf which I am extremely pumped about, been playing a lot.

Not working Tuesday AMs anymore starting next week which should allow for more poker going forward, very excited to have some more flexibility !

Cheers !

Crossed the 60k profit roll threshold !

Had a really wild session. Won 3 big hands

1. AAQ2ss open to 30 in CO. 4 calls.

Q76ss… checks to us, we bet 80 and get check raised for BB stack, everyone else folds and we call.

(840) Q76ss Ks A

We scoop against a set with our nut flush draw.

2. AQ4Khhh, call 15 MP, short stack 3! to 65, call, call and we close action for 50 more.

(265) 108J hhs

Checks to button ( 980) who bets pot, 265, folds to us, we make it 950, fold and he’s allin.

(2125) 108J hhs Qs 3c …

We flip nuts and scoop !! Very fortunate, our nut flush draw/ wrap gets there on turn and holds

3. AAJJddhh

3! Out of SB to 110, 2 shorter stacks get it allin, 390 and 260.

(1050) 1096ddh 5d 4h

We flip nuts and take it

Big night !

Where u putting in most of the live plo volume?

I play all over New England; the main PLO games that run are at Foxwoods, Chasers (NH), Boston Billiards (NH), (used to play Encore Boston), and home games.

Chasers and Billiards were both bought this year by bigger entities so there could be a pretty large transition in the New England poker scene. Encore Boston I have not been back to since COVID, they shut down their 72 table 24/7 poker room and now only open 32 hours a week during M-TH, rake is ridiculous as well.

May was a very quiet poker month for me, played in a bigger home game twice this month, was in for $3800 the first time and out for $2800. Second time I played was in for $1200 to start and played this hand pretty early on.... its a $15 button straddle game with $5 blinds.... we are MP with A475hhdd and call $15, CO makes its $75, 5 of us see flop. We have the second shortest stack with exactly $1k behind

(375) Q63hhc We flop a massive hand here with nut hearts and the wrap... we check, aggro bets pot, preflop raisor allin for less, we jam for 1k... call and everyone else folds.

Main (1300) Side (1350) Q63hhc..... 2s 10c..... we turn the nuts and hold it there..... ship the whole thing.....

Ended up being a good finish to May as we didnt put in much volume and I was able to turn a small profit for the month.

I am finding that early golf season is very ( borderline addicting ) for me. I have already played about 25 rounds of golf in 2 months of nicer weather in Massachusetts. It eats into my poker volume for sure, as well as being pretty expensive..... As someone who is sober... there is something about golf that really allows me to escape. It is a healthier escape than what alcohol was for a lot of my 20s.... but its something I need to be more aware of as I feel the opportunity cost of the thousands I have already spent playing/buying golf equipment needs to be balanced more appropriately versus what I am trying to do in my career with my hybrid of fitness and poker !

My girlfriend of 3 years and I are planning to move in together in September so that is something I am looking forward to and will also give me a chance to be a little more responsible with making sure I get my poker hours in.

HUGE CELTICS FAN AS WELL AND AM SO EXCITED FOR THE FINALS !!! LETS GOOO C's !

One note I forgot to mention in the last post..... I do feel I have taken a big step in my macro level thinking of poker. My ability to detach from the current hand and think about how that hand is such an overall larger piece of the whole pie.

These two questions have helped me tremendously !

1. How does playing this hand either help me or set me back in terms of my overall goals in life and both poker. Does playing this hand in this way help me move forward in terms of EV ?

2. Am I playing in a non-optimal way that is basically a slap in the face to past versions of myself that worked hard to achieve what I have that allowed me to be in this spot in the first place ?

Cheers !

Lots of crickets in here which is a shame because your updates and story is excellent. GL with everything going forward.

Appreciate the read and the good wishes man !

Had a good first session in June… was pretty slow overall but at a great must move tables.

1. KK104r (1050) on button call 20… 6 ways

(120) KQ3dd… aggro preflop raisor bets 100 with 700ish behind, I call and one other call from MP.

(420) KQ3ddh 6h… checks to me, I bet 420 and MP folds, aggro calls.

(1360) KQ36Q he open jams 200ish and we call and win.

2. AKJ8sss call 30 on the button (1500). 4 ways.

(125) AQ2dd checks thru

(125) AQ2ddh 8h checks to me I bet 85… one call

(295) AQ2810c checks to me I bet 175 and fold

Nothing too crazy in these two hands but in for 1100 out for 1900 which is a very solid result.

Think the first hand is a great spot to use positional advantage with no backup to flat 100 versus repotting. About half the deck completes the diamonds or the wrap so good way to disguise our strength against aggressor and be able to play turns very well.

It’s been wild about half of my biggest hands over live play have been from top set KK, it’s a more disguised hand preflop ( usually ) than AA preflop and you will flop cleaner top sets since Ace plays into high and low wraps.

Cheers !

Hi Dave, ya i played on bros too. But i got greedy and upstakes to plo400 too fast after crushing the plo60 and plo100 for 5 weeks.
I hope i do have the patience to grind like you. i came from nlh background playing 400nl and 600nl. Plo is pretty odd for me because all the thin value on river becomes so bad. Almost nobody is calling you with worse. Everyone is so passive on the river.

This is a very motivational thread, really inspire me to go on a slow and steady pace.

But recently i also switch to plo5, plo4 is pretty dead on most apps except major sites and bros.

Oh, and did bros tax you on your winning.
I was tax 10%(win/loss + total rake). This is also why i up stakes.


plo5 is pretty sick, most people just dont fold. and most player fold to 3bet is also 0%.

Hope we could link up and discuss more on plo journey.

Absolutely, per my message the winning tax % was not something I ever had experienced, that’s a bummer you had that !

And yeah PokerBros seems to be basically PLO5 for higher stakes games nowadays and the only stakes you see multiple multiple tables is 3./.6

I haven’t checked out any of the major sites yet

Tough day on the markets today for everyone, really making me motivated to do some type of hours challenge as I have not been putting in quite the same volume as last year, goal is to match last years volume which was 895…

Thinking maybe a 50 hours every other week challenge ? Any ideas would be great !

Watching Celtics now, wild to see the Celtics in game 5 of the finals

Getting taxed varies per club/union/agent. Most players once they start getting taxed just move tbh as it's quite a big difference especially if you're playing PLO where you rake a lot which is inc. in the tax.

IN, GL!

What do you mean about GG zoom plo tables?

think* sorry for baaad english xD

Thanks for following !

Zoom tables seem to be a great way to see a lot of hands but you need to have a really sound GTO base. Id imagine the zoom games have to be pretty nitty compared to regular PLO games due to the ability to fold and see a hand so frequently after. It gives people more of an opportunity to avoid preflop mistakes.

Summer Dave is in full swing and between social obligations, my 20 hours of work in fitness and golfing; my live poker volume has been super lacking.

We are about to hit the midpoint of the year, for reference.... in 2021 we went 895 total poker hours for $24,424... with 599 hours of live play for $21,901. So clearly live is our more profitable path as we were at $36.50 an hour last year.

Thus far in 2022 I am on a similar financial pace, but most of that is because I final tabled an online $150 PLO 6max for $4770. My live volume has been lacking big time. At 264 hours of live play for $8335. The overall volume is okay, as are the results... 2022 to this point: $13,189 over 393 hours for $33.55/hour.

The issue is that since I only work 20 hours a week, I ideally want to be playing around 800-1000 hours a year. We are on pace to hit the bottom of that range, but the tournament score is adding in a bloated hourly.

My priorities have been off lately with how much time/headspace/money I have spent on playing and getting better at golf. I have come far ( shooting 115s to breaking 80 the other day and being a 12 handicap).... but that isnt helping with my financial goals and need to find ways to build it in to my schedule instead of building my schedule around golf.

Thoughts of a summer golf addict who should be playing more poker.... !

Subbed…

I play fw mostly but you’re making me consider more trips to chasers/bb

Thanks man !!

The Foxwoods 5/10 PLO is very good as far as Omaha games only… the 2/5 PLO game is one of the nittiest games I’ve ever played in, plus it’s 9 handed ( which makes it worse IMO )… obviously this is lineup dependent but the 2/5 can be very tight/ passive / slow

Reading the JNandez “Mastering Small Stakes PLO” book

Very good and knowledgeable for the most part….

The one thing I don’t agree with is like page five he basically says any type of open limping is bad and shouldn’t be done outside of PLO tournaments …

I really disagree with this and think it’s terrible advice for low stakes live.

Certain hands that don’t play well OOP against a 3! … but do play well against other limping ranges of more passive/ loose players can create a configuration where open limping can be very profitable.

Not advocating for a strategy of a lot of open- limping but the idea there isnt a % of our EP/ MP hands that play better as an open- limp seems wild.

In live PLO we are relying on opponents making more mistakes than us and sometimes an open- limp encourages that more than a raise would. **** especially in deep stacked games ****

Online poker id never open limp tho