I'm consumed by the clicking sound of shuffling chips and obnoxious casino goers. It's close to 12:00 am and I'm sitting at a 1/3 NL table with about 400 behind me, and a couple of interracial kings in the pocket. I raise from under the gun to 23, a number I like to use to show respect to Michael Jordan from time to time. I get one caller UTG+2 and we see a safe J high flop, 2 hearts.

I continue with a lead of 38, and after deliberation my opponent raises the action to 138. I think for a moment, reliving the last two times he repopped me off a decent flop. I give him a good long *** you bro stare and after considering all options I move in for my remaining 350 or so. I didn't come here to fold kings to your heart draw re-pop. He tanks for a bit relieving me to believe he doesn't have JJ or aces, and after a few minutes I hear "okay let's roll, I call."

Convinced I'm beat when the third heart hits the turn I let out a sigh, knowing that getting it in good in this game is all I can do regardless of outcome, making good plays pays off in the long run, not good runs. The ace of spades peels off on the river and he shows queens. Surprised I flip up my kings and ship the pot, taking back most of my opponents stack and a lot more than he's got off me all evening. It feels great. Soon after, the table breaks and I decide to leave after a short session as opposed to choosing another table, logging a +740 weekend.

I'm a 21 year old student and I've been playing full time for about 2 months now. I started online in high school using prepaid visa gift cards when I was 16 and after some quick loses I fell into a good routine and was consistently making good money grinding sng's and low stakes cash. Friends that knew what I was doing were impressed and wanted to get involved. Poker was blowing up, but on the out when I got involved. I missed the golden era by about 2 years, but was still happy with the way things were going. I felt like I was on top of the world. Friends were making 8 dollars an hour working at a grocery store and I was printing money from the my bedroom, with minimal expenses.

Fast forward to my senior year, and I'm #1 of my high school tennis team, contemplating playing in college. Even with late arrival I was struggling to make it to my 830am advanced placement U.S History class after 12 hour grind binges, and my grades proved it. After realizing I wasn't going to be able to do anything with tennis, I decided to take some community college classes and play online for a living. Good plan right? Wrong. Because after a few months and my 19th birthday I log on to start my session and am greated by the rude awakening that is the UIGEA. "Due to government regulation in your country you can no longer play in real money games." Are you ****** kidding me. I was just fired from my self employed job, and just like that I became CEO at unemployed.

Good thing for me I had enough money saved to last me, and I became a college student. I completed a year and a half and since then recently turned 21. I tried keeping my game sharp during the 2 year hiatus, frequently playing a 2/5 home game and adapting to live cash and low volume. I continued reading, training, and priming the fat off my game playing with the best players in my small Midwest city, which isn't saying much.

I've now taken a semester off and plan to return again this spring if all goes south, or I guess if things just don't go way north. Regardless I want to get a degree and have a backup plan. Now, were up to date. I'm 21 and playing this game that's crushed the expectations and dreams of many, while flourishing others in its path. I have an edge. I can continue to sharpen that edge, and the goal is simple. Realistic? Far fetched? Maybe. I'm not exactly setting monetary goals, but by this April I aiming to have 20k more in profit, while playing 1/3 and 2/5 professionally at the local card room that has games running every day and at least one trip to Vegas completed. From there I'm either climbing to the top, or I'm going to return to school and reevaluate a safe, feeble alternative. Join me in this adventure!

I've been on a good six day schedule, taking Sundays off. It seems to be perfect because I'm not getting burned out from too many hours, and I don't think I could handle anymore time off. I love working, it's exciting and I'm free. I'm my boss and the hours are set how I want them. I use the day off to clear my head, and get prepared mentally for the next week with some studying, while organizing the last.

I've been feeling pretty alert all week, and although my diet is kind of spewy right now I've been working out rigorously for about 4 years now so I'm in pretty good shape. I thought this was going to be my first losing week since I've started, but I ended up having a good turn around for a solid profit, bringing me closer to a 2k+ month strictly playing 1/3 NL.

As of now my monthly profit is sitting at $1,442 which I'm pretty happy with, leaving me with $18,558 to go, and I can't wait to get back to the tables and crush tomorrow.

Managed to end up at an 8:35 showing of the critically shunned "Runner Runner", and I honestly thought it was pretty decent. One website review has it at a 9% recommendation over 103 reviews leading you to believe it's horrible, but I didn't think it was too bad at all. I doubt they could've made Affleck's character a bigger douche though lol, but it was hilarious at moments. It makes you wonder how well the highest-ups for the main online sites are actually doing, and the type of business that was going on prior to black friday. I know that I would 100% rather be associated with the behind the scenes as opposed to the playing, that's for sure.

Played some really good poker tonight. Had an appointment to get a fresh haircut late afternoon so I didn't get started until about 9:00 pm. When I showed up there were three 1/3 tables running, a 2/4 limit, 5/5 PLO, no 2/5 tonight. I got my max buy in of $300 and skimmed the tables, eyeing my prey. Big stacks caught my eyes as I noticed a "winner straddles" table, with a few 700+ stacks. I sit in the 5 seat, with my measly 100bb, and because there's no 75% rule, I was going to have to make it work.

For the first hour or so I wasn't picking up any good hands. I made a few select raises in position trying to get my share of the straggling straddles, but for the most part I was sitting patient. I usually have some sick Bose headphones that rock ice, but my phone was close to dying so I passed on them, which turned out to benefit my game and increase my focus.

I finally pick up a playable hand when I got QQ on the button, and I raise the straddle to 26, and UTG calls. We see a nice rainbow flop of 10 9 6, and I take the lead for 45 when checked to. UTG makes the call confidently and we see a J peel off on the turn. I bet 60, he flats. River is a 4 and I check behind, my queens are good! My next hand would come soon after when I pickup AK of hearts, on my straddle. I 3-bet to 36 after the big blind, a short stacked weak player, raises to 16, and I get 4 callers. Flop comes A 5 9 rainbow, and I bet 55 after it's checked around to me. All fold but one, the biggest stack at the table with about 1k behind. Turn is a 3, putting a second spade on the board and I check behind his, proving to be valuable, although I should have bet. The river is the beautiful Ace of diamonds, giving me a set, and without deliberation my opponent fires out for 100. Figuring he missed at this point and wouldn't call much more I just call the donation and he mucks, telling me he didn't think I had an ace, and had the second one not come he check folds the river.

Few hands later I get a spot to isolate one of the looser players at the table, who mentions he's been playing since noon and was pretty tired. Great. I pick up J9 of hearts and after his raise to 16 folds around to me, I decide to play. Flop brings a gin flop of 10 K 5, and he bets 25. I think about making a move here and bumping it up to 65, but choose to just call and see a cheap turn. Q of clubs peels off quite perfectly, putting two clubs on the board. I check and my opponent bets out 45, which I re-pop to 95. He contemplates for a minute or so and tosses it to the muck, telling me he had an ace and needed a jack. No ****, but I cant let you get there cheaply I think, as I let out a simple, "oh".

As for the last big hand I played this evening, I was exceptionally proud of my play. Like I mentioned earlier my focus was on point without my headphones accompanying me, and I felt pretty alert. Maybe my headphones we're a leak, I thought as I peaked at my 45 of diamonds on my button straddle. It folds around to a decent player with a bigger stack of about 900, and he raises to 16. I call, and the flop brings some bling with the 10 Q 8, all diamonds. The opposed lets out a sheepish bet of 20, which I bump up to 60. He thinks for a second, and makes it 160. Wtf. Did I really just get out flush flopped? He could have 9J I ponder, but he wouldn't make such a bold move with a dangerous board like that. Or would he? It would protect him from a 4th diamond coming out, crushing his straight, but it didn't add up. I ask if he'll show, surprised how even a perfect flop for a hand like this still puts me in a weird spot. I could min raise back, repping a bigger flush, but I figured he wasn't going anywhere and had at least a K high diamond. I considered all options, thinking if I flatted I could turn my flush into a bluff if a 4th diamond peeled off. It wasn't worth it. After about 3 minutes I toss it in the muck face up, receiving oooohs and ahhhhs from the rest of the table. He shows 79 of diamonds. Wow. Soon after I cashed out $638, netting me a profit of $338 and leaving me with $18,220 to go. Great start to the week.

Played a cold decked 8 hour session last night and couldn't really make much of anything happen. Convinced the 1/3 table I was at to switch up to winners straddle to take full advantage of a couple spewing action junkies, but unfortunately the cards weren't flowing and I missed out on about 1.5k that quickly made it's way to the 6 seat, directly to the left of the spews. I left my headphones in the car, thinking I'd try another session without them, which turned out to be a huge mistake as I embraced the fold for hours upon hours.

There's one hand that's burning through my head, and I can't believe played out the way it did. I look down at 66 in the big blind, which about a month ago was my favorite hand. Straddles on the button and the small blind raises to 15 total. I flat, UTG calls, and one of the aggressive spews calls. Flop comes 8 A 6, two clubs. I check to the raiser, only because I'm 100% sure this guy is firing here. It checks through to him and he bets out 60. I think about it for about 40 seconds, trying to figure out how to get the most value out of his AK. The ace of clubs is out there so I'm not afraid of the flush, and I 3-bet to 125. Almost instantly UTG, a younger women raises me to 210 total, and aggressive spew raises all in for about 500.

The original raiser the most lost expression on his face I've ever seen at a poker table. He's done with his hand and after about a minute he folds, and the action is back on me. How ****ing sick. This girl is average at best, and she's not doing this with anything other then AA or 88, and spew is clearly drawing. I can't seem to find a spot that puts me ahead and I toss it in the muck after about a 4 minute halt, leaving me with only about 100 behind. It's 100 more to win about 8, but I'm not calling for another dollar when I know I'm beat. UTG calls and flips over 88 and spew has J3 clubs. Turn is a blank, and the river brings his club, and breaking the higher set. After the hand the original raiser says he had AK, and the table couldn't believe I had sixes, basically saying they're not folding there for anything and they don't believe me.

"When you're beat you're beat, what's the point of investing another cent into a nearly dead hand", I say convincing a few and sparking a debate. Interesting game we play. I play another 4 hours or so and end up bringing my losses back up to small loss, I'll update the totals after tonight's session.

Closed out the first four weeks of my challenge with a pretty decent weekend, although a few losing sessions this week knocked me down to a 14.64 hourly win-rate. I've noticed a few leaks that I'm going to adapt in during tomorrow's sesh, including opening up my range a bit and check-raising draws more. I only managed to get 107 hours in this month, which I'm not unhappy with, but I want to be putting in at least 30/ week with at least a $20.00 hourly.

I've got big expectations for month two, going to put in at least 8 hours tomorrow and start off refreshed after taking today off. Started reading "The Mathematics of Poker", and about 1/4 through "Let There Be Range", both extremely valuable and dangerous to a high stakes reg, but at my current stakes LTBR is too advanced to work in, but it can't hurt.

Played a long 10 hour session today, which started as a boring day at the office, ended up being a pretty decent night, and start to month two. My Bose QC15 were bumping my spotify playlist as I picked up a few decent hands but couldn't really manage to make much happen. During the first four hours or so the table kept filling up with nitty shortstackers, forcing me to loosen up my range a bit, without any real results. Then my phone died, forcing me to make small talk with my fellow degenerates who had a few things to say about my table aggression. Bored and getting hungry, I take a nice dinner break and get $15.00 prime rib meal, for $.34 cents using my accumulated .75/ hour comps. It was delicious.

I floated along, constantly staying around a 100bb stack, until about 1:00am, the last hour of my session. I picked up AA UTG, and made it 23 to go. Douche nozzle to my left calls, along with the guy two spots from him. Flop is close to perfect bringing J A 8, two clubs. I lead out for 35, douche raises it to 70. I ask for a count until I notice the next guy, a young ametuer, starts counting out a raise. I tell the dealer its doesn't matter anymore, and immediately as the re-raise is pushed across I get to say those two lovely words. "All in", and I'm instantly met with a call. I let him know I have top set, and I can see the disappointment in his face as he flips up his JJ. He has me covered and I scoop up a nice $700 dollar pot. 9 hours of grinding, all for a few key pots. The table started to wind down, and about 45 minutes later I too decide to call it a night. I totaled a profit of $543, breaking the +2k mark, and leaving me with $17,884 to go. I'm pretty excited to see what this month has in store, and I'm going to be throwing in at least one 2/5 session per week pretty soon, just not sure when. Maybe at +5k. Thanks for the support guys, I appreciate all the feedback.

Took today off to help my good friend and roommate move in. He recently graduated college and is a studying player grinding a bit online, looking to make something out of it. Had a few drinks earlier in the day and just finished a solid workout, relaxing in the hot tub now skimming through part two of Jared Tendler's "The Mental Game". Back at the grind tomorrow, and possibly arranging my first Vegas trip within a few weeks. Managed to find a round trip flight for $115 total, and a 4 star hotel package that's throwing in a free night for around 500 total, ships ahoy! I have a feeling things are about to get fun.

Surprised no one has posted here yet.
Fascinated by the live poker scene and am really enjoying your writing style.
Consider me a fan and a subscriber.

Best of luck sir!

Thank you! I appreciate the support!

Played a short 4 hour session today, on which seems to be my worst day of the week. I'm -$1500 on Wednesdays alone, and although I've come out ahead every week since beginning my challenge, Wednesdays are eating away my profit. I got stuck pretty early when I called a raise to 21 with my AK of spades, and three of us see a flop of K 8 5, two clubs. First position leads for 25, call station calls as a call station would, and I raise it up to 70. First guy folds, other calls. Turn is a 3, and it checks to the river. The K of hearts peels off and villain goes all in, and I call with about 150 behind, thinking he missed and was attempting to bluff me off. Wrong. He flips up 88 for the winning hand, and I reload another 300. F*ck.

I throw away most of my hands for about an hour, stealing a bit when position allowed for it. I couldn't get any action out of this table, and to make matters worse I had an old "play for fun" guy to my right who wouldn't stop going on about Vegas and how it's all luck. I shrug off the nonsense and put on my headphones, putting me at peace with strobe by deadmau5 rattling my ears like I'm at a live show. I consider moving tables, but one breaks soon after and ours fills up.

Coincidently, the only other tricky spot I got into tonight was with the same exact hand, the AK of spades. I've lost twice with it now, and this third time I was determined to make it work. I open for 16, and I get one caller, an old newcomer. Flop comes A K J, and I lead for 25. Old ass dude, makes it 50 to go and I shove all in with my two pair thinking I should be ahead here. He calls and I have him out stacked by about 100 and flips up AA, of course. I decide to call it a night, booking another loss on a dreadful Wednesday. I'm still up $43 for the week, but I'm probably taking Wednesdays off from now on.

Going to be putting up some sick volume in the next 3 days, in preparation for this Halloween weekend. I plan on going all out and getting shwasty at a near by university which happens to be the #1 ranked party school this year, but I definitely need to make sure I'm hitting my numbers before hand. Partying with sloots is great and all, but it's way more fun when you've got the bank to make it drizzle. Debating on either a Miley Cyrus costume, a muff diver scuba suit, or just a big dick outfit, which surprisingly attracts loads of girls. A friend of mine did it last year and girls were coming up to him asking him to "lick the dick" lol. Regardless these next few weeks are going to be a blast, and to top it off my first Vegas trip of the thread is booked for November 4th. Yipppp

good luck

Much appreciated, thank you!

Really surprised by the lack of love for this. The OP was awesome, really enjoyed the style.

I think there are, by your own admission, a few leaks in your game at the moment, based purely on the info you provide here, and aiming for just shy of 7bbs per hour seems optimistic in a live setting to me.

Wednesdays seem to have a trait with a lot of live grinders as far as being losing days. Not sure if this is due to more amateurs playing and thus increasing the variance due to their unorthodox plays or what but something I want to look into myself.

I've been going to the Hippodrome in London recently and have seen that the quality of play there is goddam awful. It's a pretty big poker room and casino and is immediately visible when you leave Leicester Square station so attracts drunks in the evening and tourists during the day. Added to that there is also Chinatown round the corner so you get a lot of big punting Chinese businessmen come to play.

Question - in a normal session what is the ratio of music to silence for you?

Thank you for joining in! Honestly I probably only have music going for maybe 25-30% of my session, and almost always just on one ear. The rest of the time they're wrapped around my neck. As for Wednesdays, it's a mystery to me. Seems like they always bring the sickest beats, with Monday and Fridays being my best days. I appreciate the feedback, and I'm curious as to what leaks you're spotting.

Just read through it all and I'm not sure what it is but it tends to lean towards the re-raise amounts and cbet amounts into multiple players OOP. EG in the 4 way AK hand from the straddle with 4 callers the $55 bet seems awfully small into a pot of $144+ - Appreciate it is a rainbow flop but what are we expecting to call $55 here? Were we aiming to get re-raised?
As the hand plays out we miss value on the turn and understandably just check call the river as no real value in raising. My point is that - assuming you were second to act after the flop, thus with 2 players to act behind, one of which holding a 1k+ stack, and the flop is sexy enough for us to be able to safely assume that we are ahead (afterall who calls a straddle for $6 and is happy to put a further $30 in? 2 players apparently - set mining 12bbs :S ?) should we be checking here to these loose action players that will likely bluff into you 60%+ of the time and for likely 50%+ of the pot?

I think that our bet of 1/3rd pot is intended to attract multiple players into calling however it is unlikely that people who flat a straddle and happily put in a further 10bbs are holding an ace. If they were set mining and have hit what next? If they pop it to $150 what do you do? I reckon in spots like this we miss the value in checking our AK.

Just my 2 cents - could be way off though. (Apologies if it makes a difficult read, was typing and thinking and haven't re-read it)

That makes perfect sense, I'm aware that my bet sizing is something I need to work on, thanks for putting it into perspective like that. Looking back I could've easily been put into a really tough spot if I didn't have a pretty tough image in that game.

I've enjoyed reading this thread so far - I've subscribed. Good luck OP !!

PS - eleanor60, do you play at PKR.com as 'Elz442' ?

Haha no sorry Joseph, I'm not Eleanor Gudger

Thank you, I appreciate the support. It's only getting better from here I hope!

Good luck!

Please stop saying 'lead' when it's just a cbet, though.

Thanks!

I show up around 4:30 pm Thursday afternoon, and walk past the front security guard who throws a friendly wave my way. I have a slight routine where I grab a cup of coffee to open up my senses, and since I usually go to the gym before my sessions, it helps. There's four 1/3 tables running, a 5/5 PLO and a few 2/5 NL. A table with big stacks catches my eyes and I choose to take seat 6.

The deck is not in my favor this week. Although, It's nice when you can pull out a profit using positional aggression, regardless of the hands, and book a profit. The only fun hand I played turned out to be hilarious. In hopes to be heads up with a fish of the table, an old gentlemen who I've witnessed making stupid mistakes all night. Mistakes I would soon capitalize on. I raise his straddle to 18 AJ diamonds, it folds around, and he makes the call. Flop is 6 8 7. It checks around, turn is a 10, checks again. River is a 9. Perfect. Instantly I reach into my stack of about 450 and throw out 100. If this would work anybody it was him. He calls after a few seconds of thinking, convinced were splitting until I flip over the J high straight, which was extremely obvious to everyone at the table, including the dealer who also had a slight smile on her face. Nothing like free money. It made zero sense to call 100 into a pot of 40, in hopes that the best you can do is a chopped pot, but the little tactics you can take full advantage of can prove to be very profitable, and I'm not complaining.

Going to get a workout in now then will be starting my session early so I can go all out tonight, full ****** style. Gonna aim for at least 5 hours tonight, and I'll update totals after weekend.

" Vegas dreaming, and fat friends"


Cold weather/Fall sucks. It's useless, I mean just get through the ****ty snow and unnecessary sludge and get warm again. There's no point in slowly transitioning with a rainy, dull couple months. The Midwest sucks in general. I want Vegas. I need Vegas.

But unfortunately soaking in this relaxing hot tub at the local 24 hour fitness is going to have to be my fancy resort pool substitute, at least for another week. I got hammered last night after a slightly winning session. It's the first weekend since my friend moved down so we went all out. I ended up bailing early, due to barely being able to walk. He ends up bringing a couple older girls home, I think 27 or so, and of course he brought two, leaving himself the decent blonde and trying to forcing me to occupy her plump friend, which wasn't happening. I had a pizza on the way and I wasn't about to share with the chubster, so I took it to the basement and chilled out, leaving him to deal with both and virtually cockblocking without any effort. Even drunk I'm too smart for that. They both leave soon after, success.

Anyway, poker. Yesterday's session only lasted about an hour and 45, I made a little over 100 and had to head out early. When I got up today I felt like complete garbage, even after getting a 10 mile cardio burn in at the gym and chugging two Gatorades. I felt like I got roofied honestly. Probably because I haven't drank heavily in awhile, so it hit me kind of hard. Reds strawberry ale is just too good, I think I downed 7 before we even got out of the house. I didn't end up starting my session tonight until about 9pm, and I decided to leave at 12. My volume is lacking, but I wasn't feeling like playing today at all so I'm happy with the slight 100 profit, and I'm going to play a long session tomorrow which is my usual day off, to make up for it.

My reads were on point this week. One hand I was pretty happy with starts with me on the button with a straddle of 6, and I look down at 69 clubs. It folds around to a mid-aged guy 3 spots to my right who has the most titling chip toss ever. He tosses them out with both hands and it bugs me just about as much as limit players wearing shades. He raises 18 in a weak fashion and I decide to make the call, just to outplay him. Flop is Q A 5, two spades. He bets out 18, and I quickly raise to 40. He chooses to call after thinking for a bit, making me think he's got a draw of some sort. The turn is a 9, and I fire 69. He flats it, and the river is the A of hearts. Good, I think, as he weakly throws out 40. Convinced he missed I call and he shows K10. He tells me how 80% of the time he's got it there and he's value betting his Ace, sure. I've played with this guy a few times now, and he's never successfully v-bet me so I let him know I'm not too worried and that he can play K10 off out of position against me all day.

It's basically been a pretty dull week, hopefully tomorrow can bring some fun hands. I'm up about 400 this week, gonna play 10 hours to close it out.