Family bowling time. This is what the holidays are made of.
So, if you don't hit the head pin, you can't really get a strike. I seem to be struggling with this concept.

Played today and had a nice session, but it was cut short. It felt really good to come back after a holiday break. I spent a lot of time studying, so I felt like I was seeing things pretty clearly at the table. Updating from my phone, so I'll write up a couple hands when I get home tonight.

2 players had a weird situation where the floor had to be called. I think his hands were kind of tied, but it was still crappy.

Pretty big pot on the turn, the player in position 3b preflop, and made a pot sized bet on the flop that was called. The turn made the board something like 278Tr. The player oop took all his chips (~$200) and started pushing them towards the line, and just before they crossed the line, his opponent tossed out a $5 chip and said call. The player pushing his chips immediately stopped and said he didn't do anything yet, and he wanted to check.

The floor was called and the player pushing his chips said he hadn't acted, and because the opponent technically acted out of turn by throwing the $5 chip in, that should stand as a $5 bet. The floor agreed, and angle shooter called. River put a 4 card straight on the board, and angle shooter ships $200. The guy in position was pretty mad and tilt called and lost to a straight. Everybody took angle shooters side except for me. But I'm not sure if there's another possible ruling within the rules.

Played two sessions since last updating.

12/28
2:10 +$157

12/29
6:35 -$700

Not much to say about the first session. I ran a few hands by some friends, and I made the same mistake twice about not taking a bet/fold line on the turn.

Here is one of the hands.

1/2 Casino
3rd hand at the table. 1st hand I stacked somebody with a flush. Have no reads on anybody except that the villain in the upcoming hand cold called a 3b to 40 on his own button straddle.

3 limps to me in the BB, I make it $15 with 99. 2 callers including above mentioned villain.

Flop ($50): 723

I lead $28, only V calls.

Turn ($106) J check/check

River ($106) T, I check, he fires $130. I call.

I'm fine with the river call, but as mentioned, I should betting the turn and folding to a raise.
____________________________________________

Second session I'm still reviewing. It was pretty miserable. The 2/5 game went off with some players that I typically bum hunt at 1/2. I doubled up one of the marks with JT vs his 44 on a JT4 flop, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
I played my butt off though, so I'm happy with the longer session. Hoping to figure a few things out in my review session. Will post anything interesting I come across. Also working on some goals for the new year.

What was your reasoning for betting $28 on the flop? Obv for value, but don't you think if they'd call $28 they'd call $30? If you're targeting 7x and spades, I think both of those hands call even $35. I don't think there's a real need at these stakes to make sure ur sizing is the same for ur whole range, because people just aren't paying attention so you won't get exploited for going a little bigger here. Might be a spot where you could be squeezing out a few more dollars. Just a thought.

Hollywood running a big promo today and schedule no dealers. 5 tables running at 11:00am and 37 on the list. People are pretty mad.

You're a great author, enjoying the reads. Keep it up you're getting noticed!

Thank you, I appreciate the kind words, I hope this thread continues to gain traction!

12/31
4:15 -$250

Down swinging a bit right now. The action has been pretty good, but I'm just an onlooker as pots are being shipped from one fish to another, then to a decent TAG. And I'm like

In my last review session I decided that I was c-betting and barreling frequently with a bad image. It's a good lesson to learn. You know that feeling when you can't get any bets through, and before you even bet, you have that feeling it's going to get called? Well your image is probably butt.

I used to think sitting down at the table with blank slate for an image is a great opportunity to develop a loose splashy persona, that can get us paid off in the near future. But if we aren't making any hands in the beginning of the session, we'll be developing a losing image that makes the game harder for us. I'm learning that it's better to play a narrower range early in the session, iso a little less, and play a solid TAG game to begin. Once I have a winning image going for me, it's much easier to get c-bets and barrels through later in my session. I'm sure you've left a session saying "Wow, people folded when I wanted them to fold...and called when I wanted them to call" It's not random chance...it's based a lot on our image.

A hand w/thoughts.

1/2 Casino
I sat down about 2 rounds ago, I've been very chatty, having some laughs, won maybe 2-3 small pots without show down.

Main villain is an older man who always wears a veterans hat. His opens consist of premium hands, and his pre flop flats consist of premiums, suited broadways, and a few suited connectors. He's the type to call a little wider against younger guys, because obviously they never have it.

I'm in MP and open A:K to $12, BTN calls and V calls in the SB.

Flop ($36): KJ7

V checks, I bet $25, only V calls.

Turn ($86): 8

V checks, I bet $50, V calls.

River ($186): J

V Checks. Cool, a flush. This is an interesting spot imo. It's very important that we range our opponent here. At first thought, it's easy to go for value, maybe bet $80-90. I think that's wrong. We have a blocker to the K, but if he does have a K, after this river he probably folds them all to $90 except maybe AK. QT folds. TT folds. 97 picks up equity on the turn but folds the river.

So the hands that we're left with are hands that call, but they're all bigger hands. Maybe he held on with AJ, JT, J9. He can have flushes here such as Q9, QT. He can have a straight with T9. I think all of these hands call bigger bets. We might as well bet $140-150 and take our chances, since he's folding all his K's and missed straight draws for $90 anyway.

So I bet $150 and he folds. But I'm pretty sure he's hanging on with a J since it's hard for me make runner runner flush, plus I'm a young guy that doesn't know the tribulations of Vietnam and I could be bluffing.

I'd really like some feedback on this theory. So please chime in. If you think going for smaller value is better, please tell me. Have a great new year!!

-Bob

2016 Goals

I'm going to take a page out of the tennis instructing book. When I work with students, we like to set goals that are broad and short, at least to begin with. I believe this is better so they can:
-Achieve a goal quicker
-Fail, and have another go at it sooner.
-Realize progress faster
-Gain confidence

I'm going to start January by setting 2 week goals. I feel this is better than setting a yearly goal, because being married with a newborn poses lots of improvising and may change the landscape of my schedule. I'm confident I can commit to 2 week goals at a time right now.

Jan.1 - Jan.16th
[ ] Play 45 hours
[ ] Win $1,350
[ ] Watch 12 videos

Let's see how this goes. The 12 videos don't include session reviews and 2p2 work. These goals seem reasonable to me, and I'm much excite (borat).

I'm over being salty Ohio State didn't make the playoff, but damn, MSU. Way to set the Big Ten back years last night.

Interesting spot, hoping for some thoughts.

1/2 NL

Main Villain is an old nit. Never light when he raises. Nice guy. Always tells me he thinks i'd a good player.

Sub Villain is very loose passive. He never folds top fair. Pretty much a station.

Sub Villain is on the BTN and straddles to $5. I am in the SB and first to act with JJ I raise to $20. Main Villain 3b's to $40 (this is always always always big pairs or AK). BTN calls, I call.

Flop ($120): AJ6

I check, both villains check

At this point, Nit Villain either smashed this flop (AA), or hates this flop (KK or QQ). He'd bet AK 100% of the time.

Turn ($120): Q

I lead $60, both villains call.

River ($300) 6

What am I supposed to do here? Nit Villain either has me smashed or held on with KK. Loose Villain likely has 1 pair. I feel like these are my options:
1) Bet planning to fold to a raise from Nit, and call/raise Loose Villain.
2) Check/Call a bet from Nit, Check/(Call or Raise) a bet from Loose Villain.
3 Check/Fold a bet from Nit, Check/(Call or Raise) a bet from Loose Villain.

How deep are we in the above hand? I would assume nit V is either going to fold with KK or raise with AA/QQ, and loose V is prob gonna call with a lot of aces and 2 pairs, so I would bet whatever amount you think loose V will call with Ax (which I expect him to have a good bit here) while not committing yourself to the pot so you can fold to a raise from nit V. If we're like >300 deep on the turn,I bet like 100-125 or so and fold to a raise from nit V. If we're <300 deep I think I just check and call a bet from loose V and as weak as it sounds I fold to a bet from nit V, because he's 100% checking back KK here and if he puts any more money in I think we're crushed.

Good luck on the goals, man. My goals for the first two weeks of January:
[ ] stack NeneHilario

Everybody was about 500 effective

Subbed (got to give another Ohio man a sub!) and good luck in 2016!

Thanks for the sub, might be my first one! I see your quote under the avatar...Big Crew SC fan here. I went to the finals, left pretty disappointed haha.



So with my goals set for this 2 weeks, all I have to do is play. I put in a 6 hour session on the 1st and lost. Much like last session, I'm in great games, watching 6 high flushes get called by 2nd pair. I'm just not getting in these spots.

But here's what's getting to me right now. All of my big hands are folds lately.
Here are two hands from this session that happened within 10 minutes of each other.

1/2
v1 ($800) - I have been beating this guy up. Very aggressive preflop. Known to make super spazzy plays, as well as big folds. Just very unpredictable, but definitely bad. He's directly on my right, so I've 3b him preflop about 4 times, and raised his c-bets 3 times.

v2($500) - Woman who is probably late 70's. Kind of a staple in the room, everyone says hi to her. Tends to be respected when she raises, but have seen her lead/fold on occasion.

Folds to v1 in the CO and makes it $12. I call on the BTN with K9($550)
v2 comes along from the BB

flop ($35) QT6

v2 checks, v1 c-bets $20, I raise to $55 trying to get him to spazz, v2 raises to $190. v1 folds.

It's not a terribly hard fold because this 78 year old lady isn't raising to $190 with a J high flush...She's probably more likely to have QQ if I somehow have her beat. Which is obviously infinitely worse than her having a J high flush.
_____________________________________________
Second hand - Ten minutes later - Might sound similar.

v1 ($800) - same spazzy villain from the first hand. Same dynamic between him and I.

v2 ($400) - abc grinder kid. Plays face up, folds pre flop a ton. Probably a slight winner overall.

v2 limps in mp. v1 makes it $12 from the HJ. I call with 45 in the CO. v2 calls.

flop ($35) J73

v2 checks, v1 cbets $20, I make it $55, v2 raises to $180, v1 folds.

I'm frustrated and fold face up. Villain is friendly with me and shows 6, says "your straight flush wasn't coming". He's a pretty tight player and would never bluff here without the A, so obviously he had me beat.

All in all I guess these folds are a form of crushing the game. Worse players would lose more $ in my seat, but sometimes it's tough to find solace in it. I'm fine with my pre flop play given there's a dynamic with v1.

But overall, that's just where I am right now. 3 straight losing sessions and my big hands are folds. Blah. I took a 2 day break and the 3rd was my birthday. I'm looking to get back at it tonight or tomorrow night!

6 of 45 hours played
-$480
2/12 videos watched

Thanks for reading.
-Bob

Oh snap, just booked a Vegas trip first week of Feb.
But it's a slots only trip. Just kidding, gonna see Britney Spears too.
Kidding again, gonna play an arse load of poker.

Just poppin' over to the casino now. Getting Canes first though. I have no idea if Raising Canes is a national fast food joint, but it definitely should be. Today the lady in the speaker was like "Cluck Cluck Chicken Chicken...which combo box are ya' diggin'?" Those are the words I needed to hear pre poker session.

Gonna cut into these 45 hours now. My 6 readers want to hear some good news!

Rungood Bob!

Breaking: NeneHilario leaves casino with more money than he entered with.

So I won modestly last night, but it felt like the Cavs winning the championship. I played tighter than I typically would, I didn't run particularly well, but it was still really nice to win. To be honest, there are no interesting spots to share, so I'll recount 2 weird things that happened.

1) Very early in my session I table changed so I could sit with Glasses (he's mentioned early in my thread; total fish). The open seat was on his right, so after about 20 minutes I took a seat that opened on his left. So now Glasses was 2 to my right, and some kid with a hoodie and headphones was on my direct right. This kid never spoke the entire time I was there...but 2 hands after I moved, he aggressively threw his chips in a rack, and declared he was moving tables, and walked to another section of the room. Unfortunately for him, our table was short, and the floor told him he couldn't move. So instead of sitting back down, he waited at the podium for 45 minutes until our table filled so that he could sit somewhere else. I asked the floor what the hell happened, and the floor said "I don't know, the guy said somebody changed seats to gain position on him, and he felt it was very disrespectful". The floor also went on to say "I don't know how to describe half the things that happen in the poker room" lol.

2) I'm about to leave, going to play 1 more round. A bunch of limps to me in the BB and I check K5. Flop comes out K75. I check, and some old guy they call Frenchy bets $12, I raise to $35, he calls.

Turn Q. I bet $60, Frenchy calls.

River 8. I check, Frenchy....HAS FALLEN ASLEEP. wtf. WAKE UP DUDE. All I could think was:


So anyway, here's the best part. The dealer wakes up Frenchy, and he bets $55, I call, and he groggily turns over 77 lol can't make this stuff up.

Session 1/6 - 3hr 25 min.
+137

2 Week Challenge
9.5 of 45 hours played
-$343
3/12 videos watched

Just a thought, but I think you should make your money goals more longterm. I like the short term goals for most things, but anything that happens in terms of earnings within a 45 hour period is just gonna be largely due to variance. If it was me I'd make monthly goals for earnings at the very least. Probably more like every 200 hours.

Nice job on booking a win. Sometimes a small win is all it takes to get your confidence back and get you back on the right track. Good luck.

Yeah, I'm making this more of a challenge I suppose, to kick off the new year. But yeah, short term profit goals typically tend to be useless, id agree with that.


Off and running tonight! Got to the casino around 8:15, already seated and up a buy in. The casino itself is pretty dead, but the poker room is quite lively. I'll have new post for you guys tomorrow!

-Bob

Is 2 wins a winning streak?

I got home from my session pretty late last night, and I didn't feel like writing an update. My typical pre-sleep routine involves getting my son to sleep, and catching up with a lot of your pcg's. I still read many of them religiously, so I appreciate the time you guys put into them.

I'll post a better review tonight, but I'm already back at the casino this Friday afternoon.

One cool hand that made me feel like the downswing could be over:
EP raises to $12. Super LAG makes it $35. I have AA in the BB and raise to $65. EP folds and LAG ships for $180. My AA holds against AK.

Last night:
Session 1/7 - 4hr
+$386

2 Week Challenge
13.5/45 hours
+43
4/12 videos watched.

After tonight, it looks like my 2 week New Years challenge is well within reach.

I'm feeling so motivated after my last few sessions. It's unbelievable how different the game feels when we run near expectation. Sure, we want to stay level headed through the swings, but poker is so much fun when we're winning. That sounds nerdy to write, but its true. Poker is fun. I truly enjoy playing.

I've tried to pin point the biggest difference between my recent downswing and now upswing. If you've read my recent posts, you know I've had to fold some huge hands lately. I decided that narrowing my EP opening range, as well as my LP calling range, I could reduce the amount of sticky spots I face. In my last 3 winning sessions, I've seen a drastic decrease in borderline spots. I don't need to complicate things in a 1/2 200bb game.

Here's one of the more interesting hands from tonight.

1/2 Casino
V1 ($300) We been playing together for about 2 hours. His first hand at the table, I bet, c/c, c/c with 2nd pair and won. He's on his 2nd or 3rd buy in. Kinda laggy, but nothing too drastic.

V2 ($150) Older guy. Seems to be really tight, but weirdly calls all my raises preflop. (I'm a fish). But I think he's just trying to bingo something, becuase I've been aggressive.

I open AQ to $12 ($320) from MP, V2 and V1 both call in position.

Flop($36): AT5

I bet $25, V2 calls, V1 makes it $75, I call, V2 Calls
Since V1 is pretty laggy, I'm ahead of his range on this drawy board. He has worse A's, 2 pair, flush draws, broadways, air, and maybe a set of 5's.

Turn($261): K

I check, V2 checks, V1 bets $85.

This is such a live tell. I can easily take 55 and two pair out of his range now. This guy is decent enough to know $85 lays wayyy too good of a price for people to draw. And also, the K just never hits this guy. He's down to worse A's, flush draws, and air. (possibly top pair +NFD)

I ship all in for $235 total , V2 tank folds, V1 looks kind of defeated but calls.

River($720) 2 (yuck) (V2 who folded slams the table)

I table my AQ, he says he had an A and mucks.

Session 1/8 - 6hr 30min
+$570

2 Week Challenge
20/45 hours played
+$613 ($1,350 goal)
4/12 videos watched.

I'm working on a post about why I think live low stakes poker is here to stay for a while. I know a lot of these PCG's have thoughts on it, so I want to get my 2 cents out there.

Thanks for reading
-Bob

Nice results so far Bob. Will be interested to see your thoughts on LLSNL's environment/sustainability.

Agree with you about using hand selection to avoid marginal spots and keeping it simple at 1/2 will get you the money most days. Obviously, you probably can't maximize your potential winrate this way, but it depends on each persons goals when playing 1/2.

In a weak 1/2 game that's playing deep, I do believe playing a simple style can get us decently close to maximizing profit. Maybe it sounded like I was advocating nitting it up...

I think if we:
-play in position
-understand board textures and barrel accordingly
-pay attention so we can range opponents accurately
-take advantage of novice mistakes
...we can crush this type of game.

As a friend of mine recently texted me...stay 1 level ahead and you're a crusher, 2 levels ahead and you're getting crushed.

On the flip side, I've definitely noticed that narrowing my range has made it harder to get thin value as often. I think we're in an age of poker where people do take notice of how many hands we're playing, and make simple adjustments.

The style that will maximize winrate depends on what type of game we're playing in and what our image is. If we're at a table with several calling stations, then playing too many hands won't be profitable. On the flip side if we're playing against the scared money type players that are just waiting for the nuts so they can teach us a lesson, then obv open it up. There is no one style of play to maximize profits. Being aware of your image and what type of players you're up against, and then tailoring you're style to exploit the sh*t out of that is how you crush the game.

I also think what NeneHilario is referring to is a spot I find myself in sometimes as well. When you believe you have an edge over the competition, you always want to be playing a good bit of hands against opponents of lesser skill, as you alluded to. This concept can sometimes slowly develop into playing TOO MANY hands, then maybe you start playing too many hands OOP. And all the sudden you find yourself in some really -EV spots. I think of playing a LAG style kind of like walking a tight rope. Just one step too far can push you ever the edge, so you have to be able to recognize it and know when to dial it back a bit.

Yeah this is really important to me. Since we don't have the luxury of many card rooms in the area, and also don't see tourists, it provides both advantages and challenges. I think the obvious advantage is that we learn a lot about the player pool. The challenge is that they learn a lot about us. While balancing isn't on my list of most important live strategies, I do think the above mentioned facts puts balancing on my radar.

Last night I played a fair amount of hours with a disappointing (but not awful) result. This thread has already proven helpful in my quest to stick to a plan. To be honest, initially I thought the $ would be easier than the hours. It's proving to be opposite for this couple of weeks.

I know I usually write up a painstakingly long HH, but no real hands that you might find interesting. By the way, Vegas will be Wed 2/3 - Sun 2/7, I'll be staying at The Mirage. I have no rewards attached to vegas, so I had to shell out some money. I felt the prices were kind of high, but I just realized that's Super Bowl Weekend.....

*Does anybody have any insight whether or not the poker games are better that weekend?*

Session 1/9 - 5hr 30min
-$80

2 Week Challenge
25.5/45 hours played
+$533 ($1,350 goal)
4/12 videos watched.