i've been a live breakeven recreational player for about a year. pretty much equally split my time playing 1/2 NL and ~$100 MTTs until the beginning of may when i decided i was a better tournament player and switched to tourneys only. did that for about 5 weeks, was down a couple buyins and wasted many boring hours getting bubbled... kind of got sick of that grind.

played a cash session just to change it up, banked $400 in a few hours, but more importantly felt i played really well and that a kind of light switched on. i was suddenly seeing the cash game as well as i was always able to see the tournament game. finally felt like i was able to consistently be aggressive and find good spots, which was always what was lacking in my game.

played 4 more sessions since, all in the green for $1327 total over 20 hours ($66/hr). i know, laughable sample size, and obviously i must be running ridiculously good to have numbers like that. but more importantly than the numbers, i feel like i have a great handle on the game and that so many players are just so, so bad. i also feel like i'm getting much better at pinpointing which players to play which way, another previous weakness of mine and obviously a huge part of the game. i don't see any reason i shouldn't be able to sustain a winrate of something like $20/hr at this point if i truly play my best.

why $4K in a month? that's what i estimate to be an acceptable income if i ever manage to go pro. i do not believe i am currently good enough to do that, but i want to give it a go in the short term and see what happens. who knows. so anyway, i started june 10th and am up $1327 thus far. to reach my goal, i would have to amass $2673 by july 10th. i estimate i'll get in 100 hours, requiring a winrate of $26/hr. i believe at my true skill level, this is less than likely. i am going to take on the challenge however.

will post results and graphs.

6/13
cash: +$423 in 5 hours
tournaments (2): -$170 in 3 hours
total: +$253 in 8 hours (+$31.63/hr)

Month of June 10th-July 10th overall
+$1580 in 29 hours
+$55.90/hr

played really well in 1/2 today. just felt like an easy game, finding spots and taking down pots without hitting a great deal of big hands. played at 3 separate tables, and every one was just an absurdly passive limpfest riddled with poor play. my rungood is definitely still continuing in the form of not getting coolered or sucked out on for any big pots, and probably also in the form of people i bet at with air happening to not have hands more often than usual. i'll take it while it lasts.

as for the tournaments, didn't particularly play well and lost a couple flips. to be honest, the whole time i was sitting in the tournaments i felt like i was wasting time that could be spent on the more profitable 1/2 game. so yeah, i'm gonna try to stay away from the tourneys for awhile.

this is really the only interesting hand i can think of from the entire session. i'm pretty sure i just... completely mangled this one.

--

Effective Stacks: $300

Preflop:
Villain raises to $10
Hero (in position) 3-bets to $25 with QQ
Villain calls $25

Flop: Q73
Villain Checks, Hero Checks

Turn: 9
Villain bets $25, Hero calls $25

River: 4
Villain bets $25, Hero raises to $70, Villain calls

Pot: ~$250
Hero shows QQ (three of a kind queens)
Villain shows KK (pair of kings)

--

so, i went into slowplay mode on the flop, which is something i virtually never do because my image (and actual mode of play) is decidedly loose-agressive. however, i just couldn't see him calling a bet with anything other than kings or aces here, my initial read is that he's not that strong, and it's the safest board in the history of hold 'em. so i decided to check behind and try to induce a bet on the turn.

he bets the turn. my read at this point is AK or an underpair which will obviously not call a raise, so in the hopes of inducing a river bet i just flat.

then the river works out the best i could have hoped for given how the hand had played out, and i end up with a $250 pot.

if i just fire at the flop aggressively, it's highly likely we're getting the stacks in and i double up.

lesson learned: when playing a style based on aggression and unpredictability, just value bet my hands and don't bother getting cute with it (there are exceptions of course. looking back, this wasn't one).