Boo!

I subbed back in December, just forgot to tell you!

In addition to my 2 week challenge that ends on the 17th, today I am starting a separate challenge. I've been thinking a lot since I booked my Vegas trip, and I don't want to have to win a few buy ins just to cover the expenses while I'm there.

I think it will be a fun challenge to use Bovada to try and cover Vegas expenses prior to the trip. I'm not a huge online guy, but I think it's perfect for this type of challenge.
The goal will be $1000 profit prior to the trip. At any point that I hit $1000 profit, I will stop the challenge and cash out.

Good luck to me, I will post regular updates, along with my Live 2 week challenge.

Thanks guys!
Bob

Ah, thank you!! I hope you are enjoying the journey


My wife is off maternity leave now, so I'll be getting in a routine where I put my son down around 10:00 pm and head up to the casino overnight. Because now in the mornings I'll be home chilling with him/playing online. I'm actually pretty excited. It's weird, most my friends aren't even in relationships, and I'm
27 with a wife and kid. Lol they think I'm crazy for it.

Anyways, headed up to the casino soon! Gotta knock out this Live Challenge.

-Bob

Swingy Session

Last night I played the graveyard shift, and I was pleasantly surprised. I'm going to start doing this more, the action was fantastic, even for a Monday night. I think Columbus does pretty well for a city that isn't too big and isn't known for action.

Definitely had some interesting spots, but first something that bothered me. I know I have written about this in the past, but can we please stop being Professor Poker at the table? It's like 1 a.m. and it's me, 2 decent regs, and a barrel of fish. Kinda forget the hand, but I filled up on the river and bet close to pot, the guy folded. One of the grinder kids says something like "There goes Bob with the super polarizing bet". I don't even acknowledge the comment, but one of the weaker players says, "What do you mean, polarizing?"

Cool, here we go.

Kid: "Well, he can only have a bluff or the nuts there, he's never going to bet pot with 3rd pair"

Guy: "I don't understand, why not?"

Kid: "Because if he had 3rd pair, he might be able to win at showdown"

Guy: "I've never really thought of it that way"

Good job bro, you did it. I know even bad players can draw conclusions about things like polarizing bets, but this just annoys me. Somebody from 2p2 had a quote saying "I spent x amount of years trying to convince everybody how good I am at poker...I've spent the last year trying to convince everybody how bad I am"

Gonna post some hands in a little bit.

Session 1/11 - 5 hours
+$67

2 Week Challenge
30.5/45 hours played
+$600 ($1,350 goal)
6/12 videos watched.

Vegas Expense Challenge
Not Started - 23 days until Vegas

Easy road to completing the Vegas Expense Challenge: play water69 HU on bovada for 24 hours. Maybe less.

Pretty sure you misread Challenge as Charity.


UPDATE:

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





Vegas Expense Challenge
[ ] $1,000 profit online before leaving for Vegas (22 days left)

Is there a way to track results from Bovada and post graphs? I feel like that would be more fun for the online portion of the challenge.

The most common ways is bovada hand converter or card catcher in conjunction with HM2 or PT4.

Thank you. I hope either work with Mac.

pt4 has a mac client but no idea if BCC or BHC do, and not sure if the mac bovada client writes hands in a format that could be converted. You may be sol but can ask in the bovada card catcher / hand converter threads in the commercial software forum.

Thanks Foz! Hopping in that thread now. Appreciate it.

Bands I listen to most during sessions

-The World is a Beautiful Place and I'm No Longer Afraid to Die
-Pianos Become The Teeth
-La Dispute
-This Will Destroy You
-Godspeed You! Black Emperor!
-Lydia

If you read this thread and you aren't super familiar with live poker...it's hard to explain some of the dumb **** that happens at casinos. It's really hard not to say something to these people...but we gotta keep the mood light.

For example: right now there is a middle aged reg in seat 1 who folds probably 95% of his hands preflop, and complains every. single. hand. about how bad his cards are. But the worst part is that he looks at his cards, puts them down, goes on his phone and fiddles around. When it's his turn, the dealer has to tell him it's his turn...but instead of folding, he just grunts, letting the dealer know it's okay to take his cards. Cmon dude...just fold your cards like a normal person.

Not sure why this annoys me so much, but I'd really like to punch his face.

Hope everyone is having a great day!

Update: Same reg just asked FOR A WHOLE NEW AUTOMATIC SHUFFLER...and got it.
Of course he won the next hand, because...that would happen.

Him winning the next hand would put me on life tilt.

Hey guys, it's finally the weekend. Since I last updated, I was able to get in a couple live sessions, and also a few sessions online for my vegas expense challenge. My two week live challenge that ends on the 16th is looking bittersweet. With a couple days left to play, I should crush the 45 hour mark, I'll get all my videos watched, but the profit goal may be a stretch. I'll probably get another 10-12 hours in before the 17th, but $1,350 will be a challenge. Still possible! On the bright side, the Vegas Expense Challenge is going well!

I'm a little bummed out, but I think that achieving the hours goal is better than anything else. I know I'm playing well, and 45 hours is really nothing. I'll be the first to admit when I'm running well, and tbh I'm just not right now. I'll post my results below, but first a hand:

Poker Club 1/2
So this poker club is a pretty crazy place. The 1/2 is 75% match stack, but nobody really follows it. I'd say the game plays like a very loose 2/5 game, and the average stack is around $800-$1000 by midnight, and some stacks surpass $2k.

V ($900) is the deepest player at the table. Early 40's, large beard. I've seen him open more than his fair share of pots. He's not very good, I've heard him say fishy things like "I don't even know how I got into this pot". His sizings are a bit larger than everyone else it seems.

Hero ($270) - I'm playing a solid TAG game, not getting too involved, not limping into any pots. Haven't won many pots, but I'm chatty and talking about soccer a lot. I had only been there about 45 minutes.

UTG Straddle is on (1/2/4). V UTG+1 makes it $24. I'm in the SB with AK. I call. Heads up.

Flop ($55) 743

I check, he bets $35. I flat.

I can be good here some of the time, I can rep a flush if a heart peels
(I have A), and I shouldn't be in too bad of shape as is. I think folding here is just pretty weak.

Turn ($125) A

Now I think he's checking back most of his range. I'm trying to decide between check or lead...If I lead, I believe I'll get calls from pair+draws, 88-KK, and any worse Aces. I don't really want to let it go check/check because a lot of rivers kill the action I get from AQ, AJ, and maybe big pairs.

I decide to lead $75. He takes about 10 seconds and moves all in.
I have half my stack in...My bet of $75 could be viewed as a semi-bluff. I think most of his range before my bet is still pretty viable.

I call.





Thoughts on this line?


UPDATE:

2 Week Live Challenge
Jan.1 - Jan.16th
[ ] Play 45 hours
[ ] Win $1,350
[ ] Watch 12 videos (9 watched)






Vegas Expense Challenge
[ ] $1,000 profit online before leaving for Vegas (20 days left)

Update: guy at my table has had 9 red bulls. Getting concerned.

Given your stack size in the AK hand, the money was just going in. I think you're good here more often than not and you just ran into the top of his range. I think besides the game playing very loose, another point about this club that the other readers may not know is that the game typically plays much more aggressive than your typical 1/2 game. Obv not all villains are the same and reads are important, but all things considered, I can't get my chips in fast enough in that spot.

I agree about this particular club. More aggressive and looser than your standard casino 1/2. I'm getting it in as well.

I just checked out that first band and they're pretty dope. This will destroy you is pretty awesome as well. I like to listen to a lot of Pink Floyd due to the long instrumental breaks in between lyrics. It helps me keep my concentration.

I took a few days off from posting. From my last update, you saw I dropped into the red for the month, so I wanted to take a deep breath and go to battle. I put in some solid sessions at the casino and I'm feeling good.

I'm at a little bit of a crossroads when it comes to 1/2NL live. This may not be a popular view, but trying to apply certain aspects of my studying just isn't great for these stakes. In yesterday's session, I realized how many times people buried themselves compared to how many times I induced it...and without question, my money was coming from taking advantage of massive mistakes that people made without being provoked.

I think I need to focus on keeping things simple at this 1/2 bankroll building phase. Obviously need to stay sharp, be better than my opponents, and get value...but I also need to remember that I can't expect non-thinking players to think. Of course I will keep reviewing and working to get better, but I have a better understanding of what it takes to win at this level right now.

One more thing...If I can be honest for a second, I was really hoping this thread would generate more responses about the hands that are posted, or just have more dialogue in general. I really enjoy posting, and just typing makes me think deeper about my game, but I'd really like some feedback! So please feel encouraged to put your thoughts out there. Or maybe suggest a better way to post in order to engage readers

In this hand, the emphasis is on 1/2 live play specifically. I'm experimenting more with over betting as a bluff, because there's herds of people at this level that won't call with 1p, simply because its a lot of $ to them. They don't consider ranges, and even if they think the bet is fishy, they just don't want to commit the $.

V is very selective in starting hands. In one hour, I've only seen him play AK and
KK, and one of those times he couldn't let it go. We are $400 effective.

V makes it $12 UTG. SB calls. I call in BB with 85. Pretty much trying to flop big vs. a narrow range

Flop ($36) 239

SB leads $25. I don't love this spot because I think V raises a lot of the time, but also still has AK and AQ in their range as well. I call $25. V makes it $80. SB folds.

So it's $55 to win $165. It comes down to if he is going to pay me off if I get there, and I saw him get sticky earlier with a big hand. I flat.

Turn ($220): 4 gives me an open ender

Interesting card. I can't really c/c a big bet. We are about $300 deep. I think a shove here doesn't rep much, but against this player, even though I know he is sticky, I still think calling $300 with QQ-AA is really tough for a non thinker. So I shove. It was pretty much the only point in the hand I had decent FE.

Thoughts? There's non-thinkers that will snap fold this hand, and non-thinkers that will beat you into the pot. Just understand who you are dealing with.




This hand is for pure entertainment, I was not involved. But poker is alive, my friends. Player in this hand is referred to as "Escort Guy" because he was looking at escorts on his phone all night (was on my immediate left). Eventually he contacted one right at the table, asking "how much", "send me a picture first", and "in call or out call?"

My table is insane. 4 ways to the flop for $20 each. (I'm not in).

Flop($20): QT8

Player bets $15. Terrible Guy raises to $35. Escort Guy makes it $100. Player folds, Terrible Guy goes into the tank (he has like $300 effective).

Escort Guy starts telling him to fold, because he has a great hand. Terrible Guy is super pained, and eventually he turns up his hand....A9 (lol)

So Terrible Guy still can't make up his mind. Escort guy turns up his hand....88. Terrible Guy still can't decide (lol). Clock is called. With 5 seconds left he flats (lol).

Turn($235): 7.

Escort Guy shoves. Clock is called. Terrible Guy folds. Said he would have called if he realized the turn gave him more outs (lol)

Updated YTD results:

In Hand 1, I don't mind having the shove play in your arsenal against this type of villain. My only caveat would be it's obviously a high-variance play and we should have the bankroll to be able to withstand the swings of playing this type of style. I definitely think it can be profitable against the right type of players or with the right image.

I think it's always good to keep things simple. Some concepts that you may be able to apply against a good/thinking player will obviously not come up very often at live 1/2. That being said, this game is about understanding ranges, villains perception of you, and spotting villains mistakes/tendencies in order to exploit them. The countless possibilities of lines/actions in order to take advantage of those things is where it gets complicated. But at the core, the game is simple, so there's no need to complicate it.

As far as the HH's I think a lot of them have been pretty standard so far and that might be the reason there hasn't been a ton of responses. I think the more hands you post you'll get some responses on the more interesting/non-standard ones. Another thought is: the thing I like a lot about some of my fav PG&C authors is the off the felt stuff they talk about. I think adding that type of stuff every once in a while might generate some responses, but maybe that's just what I like to read.

Also, I love the shove OTT in the first hand. This is an example at 1/2 where we're completely unbalanced on purpose to exploit a V. We have no strong hands in our range here, but we know villain doesn't understand this and we're confident he'll fold his whole range to the overbet. Nh.

I'm not exactly sure how to describe my table right now. But it is of the awesome category. This is Ohio, so there's a brother and sister at my table that are COMPLETE rednecks. They are pounding Mountain Dews, hooting and hollering, and talking about nascar. Everytime they call a raise they say "I'll call the tomato"...I don't know why, but it's great anyway. And they're buying in for $400 a pop at 1/2.