Eventually, fish will notice you're that kid who doesn't tip, ergo playing for a living, and there goes your action. Don't be that guy.

How would you like it if you only got tipped on pizza orders of more than $100?

+1 to tipping them but this is just lighting money on fire. Don't tip anywhere near this much.

gl OP

If you tip this much you are destroying your win rate, you are saying you tip $2 when you win a pot that was heads up to the flop and they c/f to your c bet? Major leak imo if you are. My rule is there must be a flop and the pot has to be at least $50, to which I'll give the dealer $1. If I win a pot that is $200+ I adjust accordingly.

this is pretty much how I approach it except I'll give 2 or 3 if a pot is over 100

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i tip what i think is appropriate. i'm not going to take away from duke's thread any more than to say i've done just fine.

destroy my win rate? sure it's lower because of tips, but that's my choice and i can live with tipping an extra 1 BB/hr and making 1 BB/hr less. i don't play for a living. i play to make additional income. i work and make a decent salary.

#enddiscussion

Gl subbed. Also I only tip on pots over a predetermined amount. Different for each stake

Just as a background of myself, here is a post I made in the LLSNL chat thread:

It is in response to another poster. I don't mean to call anyone out but it really is a response to a lot of people who are down on their luck or stuck in a position in life where they're not happy, but refuse to do nothing about it.

10/4 report:

This was a rough session for me. I started out losing about $130 when my AA lost to Q8.

Two limpers to me (main villain has $130 behind), I make it $15. He calls, another guy calls.

Flop ($45): Q85r

I bet $30, villain raises to $60, other guy folds. I call. He has $60-65 behind.

Previously, I've seen him lead in a mutli-way limped pot on the flop with bottom pair. I don't know if he's capable of doing this kind of thing regularly or in a raised pot. However, with that read, I decided his range was wider than just two pair and sets. I thought he might have Qx sometimes and that he may be bluffing a small portion of the time too.

I guess I should be shipping here if I think he can have Qx? I wasn't sure at the time if I'd get called by worse hands, but looking at it the next day, I think I would be called by an AQ/KQ/QJ for only $60 more. I decided to call to keep those hands in his range and then I'd just shove turn if checked to.

Turn: Ten, makes a 2-flush board.

He ships. I'm getting 4:1. Can he top pair here? I don't really know much about him except that he plays a very wide range, likes to limp/call a lot, and has lead out in a limped multi-way pot with bottom pair. He can easily have Q8/Q5/85 here FWIW because he plays those hands for a limp/call sometimes.

-----

Anyway, ended the sessions at -$273. Had my KK cracked by AK all in pre-flop for $125ish.

I'm also going to focus more on isolating limpers pre-flop with a wider range. I think I have been doing this but I've been unsure about it. I read a very old COTW that gave some good insight, though, on this subject and now feel way more confident to iso with hands like A6, A2, K9s, etc.

I want blockers mainly (Ax, Kx, Qx) against 1-2 limpers and stronger hands for a chain of limpers. Against fit of fold players and limp/folders, I think I should be isolating a much wider range than that even. Against stations, I should tighten up and bet a more value-range.

If anyone has any thoughts on isolating limpers, please chime in.

One question that I do have is how profitable is isolating limpers in a game that is raked highly such as 1/2? Does it become much less profitable or not profitable at all? I know that it is extremely profitable in normal games because limpers are generally so terrible, but when they're dropping $1 automatically from every flop and taking 10%/$5-max on top, I'm not sure. Anyone have thoughts on this? In the morning and afternoon games I play, there are sooo many limpers who play fit or fold post-flop and it feels so profitable to just isolate them every time. But should I be doing it wide despite the rake?

omg please dont turn this into a tipping thread

$6 in rake is really high. find somewhere else to play

gl bro

it's 10 percent up to $5 plus a $1 BBJ that only gets dropped at - I'm pretty sure - $20.

the two other games close by are $4+$2 or $5+0. Is $5+0 really that much better? i don't think so.

6 (5+1) pretty standard. Not sure who does less?

Next session will be Monday morning

some things I want to focus on:

1. Loosen up in late position
2. Isolate the weak-tight limpers more often from in position
3. Exploit the weak-tight, fit or fold limpers from the blinds as well by raising/c-betting weaker hands along with my stronger hands
3. Don't automatically c-bet; evaluate the board texture first

I had a lot of success early in my session isolating the weak-tights but the game quickly became very stationy so I had to abandon that strategy.

I ended up bouncing back really well today after the losing session Friday night.

+$117 today at 1/2

Not too many interesting hands, everything went pretty standard. I did make a perhaps much too nitty fold, though:

Hand History:

3 limps, SB completed, I checked 42o in the BB

Flop (10): 642r

SB bets 7, I call, everyone folds

Turn (24): 5 (2 diamonds on the board)

SB bets 12, hero folds

He had been very nitty and passive up to this point. He didn't really bet out without a strong hand and I couldn't see what hands I was beating. Now, I'm wishing I had called because he could do this with an overpair at least and maybe even more than that.

I ended up also playing some 2/5 after giving 50% of myself to a buddy. He put up $250, I put up $250 and I played for a little while.

I nitted it up the entire time pretty much as the action was pretty heavy. One player in particular was super super aggressive. He was constantly raising over limpers and c-betting. One hand, he called down two streets with A3o in a 3bet pot on a XX3X board. He must have put in close to $500 with that hand and won the pot vs. AK.

Hand History:

Anyway, there are a few limps, this aggro player raises to $25 which is standard and expected. He could have sooo many hands. I don't expect him to go anywhere if I 3bet. So I make it $100 with AQ.

Folds to him, he calls.

Flop ($225ish): Qxx 3 clubs

He bets $200, I shove, he calls. He shows KQ with the flush draw. Brick, brick.

Needless to say, that entire endeavor was terrible considering my bankroll and I'm just thrilled that I ran good. Thanks to the advice from my friends in LLSNL, I will not be playing anymore 2/5 until I've beaten 1/2 over a considerable sample size and I'm decently rolled for the game.

Next session Wednesday.

I want to focus on:

1) Stay tight in early position. Today, I made a raise from UTG+2 with QJo at the 2/5 game where there was tons of action. People were willing to see flops and weren't "respecting raises". That should be a fold pre.

2) Adjust to the table better. Today at 1/2, I was bullying the table for the fist 30-60 minutes by isolating limpers, c-betting, and just being aggressive against the tight/passive players. However, the game got stationy very quickly. I need to be able to recognize this and not continue to press on with my weaker hands when I don't have as much fold equity as I had previously.

3) Stay tight when the game is stationy. I don't remember an specific examples, but I'm sure I tried to force the action pre-flop against looser calling stations.

4) Pay attention, stay on my game. I kind of wandered off my game and wasn't really thinking during my last 40 minutes at 1/2. One hand, there was some limps, a raise to $12, and I had 55 from the SB. I decided to fold getting good not great implied odds. My rationale was I'm out of position and the implied odds aren't great. In reality, if I spike a set, who cares if I'm OOP? And I only need 10:1 to setmine. I definitely had more than that. I should have called. Flop was Q5Xhh and I hated life.

Stats (1/2):

Hours: 20.42
Profit: $306
Hourly: $14.99

Bankroll: $2490

Only read the first post so far but subbed. I have a very similar thread on here - most of my sessions in there are at Harrah's Chester. Lately I've been splitting my time between there/Parx/occasionally AC. My starting bankroll was also around the same size as yours, and I also deliver food haha...Thai though not pizza.

The rake is what it is in live poker and $5+$1 sucks but it's not obscene. I think the accepted ceiling for the best $1/$2 players in the room with rake/tips included is about $20/hr. I averaged $26/hr in there during summer/fall 2012 over a small sample size of 428 hours. There were a few Parx or Borgata sessions in there with $1 lower rake. I just went through a major downswing and my hourly for 2013 is only $11.6/hr, but I've also gone through some stretches of very poor play. I have 1245 hours logged total since January 2012 with probably about 75% of them at Harrahs and my hourly over that span is $16.5 - with 5 2/5 shots in there which went miserably (lost over $2500 overall), plus I think I've played much worse than I'm capable of in 2013 because of mental game leaks. So that should be much higher. I think $20/hr is a good mark to shoot for but I believe it's possible to beat those games for close to $25/hr.

I'll check out your posts and see if I can offer any useful feedback. Shoot me a PM if you want to meet up on a day we're both grinding. GL.

When do you usually get to harrahs? I'm definitely down to meet up

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I usually start anywhere between 5 and 7.

These four points are all issues I've dealt with before. Regarding #2 - I play a similar style and can't stress enough how important it is to remain cognizant of your image at all times. Being a young kid especially - some people are just going to assume you're FOS every time before they even see you play a hand. Sometimes for me it's the opposite - I'll sit down and play very tight early on and just be completely card dead for an hour or two, and then I'll eventually start loosening it up from LP with a tight image. The hands you show down can also factor into your image. If you run hot and show down a few nutty hands, your c-bets and barrels will usually begin to work at a higher frequency. Bart Hanson talks about this. Conversely, if you're running bad and stuck, people will generally be more likely to look you up with marginal hands.

Yeah, I agree.

I've bought into the fact that live poker against fish, in regards to your own image, will be more about winning image vs. losing image rather than tight image vs. loose image.

Fish aren't really paying attention to your tendencies unless you are being obscenely tight or loose. Even then, they don't really know how to adjust to anything. However, winning vs. losing weighs bigger in regards to judging what kind of player you are from their perspective.

Background post I made from LLSNL chat thead (to tell you a bit about my past):

I play down at Parx but mostly Sands in Bethlehem. Got a lot of friends from North Penn. Should try Sands sometime, I think the player pool is a lot softer being that the poker room is located with all the table games and drunk idiots come over from black jack on the reg.

If I may attempt to shed some light, you need to get a good grip on table selection. Play a table for a half hour, if it seems like there's some good players there and all the fish only have $100 you need to find a different table. I don't play mon-wends during the day. Wends at night maybe, if your going there during the day and playing with old nits and the regs, unless you can correctly exploit the regs its pretty unprofitable at 1/2.
I have about 900hrs at 1/2 and in that time I've learned that your gonna have to make strong hands to make money at 1/2. Isolating limpers wide correctly can add to your win rate but what you really want to do is just wait for value, wait to make great hands. Depending on the table dynamics Limp UTG with 56o, 79 and **** like that. You have implied odds with anything at 1/2 and a post flop edge. Connect, make good hands, extract value and most importantly fold and when raised. Those river villain raises against your aces on a dry board isn't a bluff unless you have a read. Doesn't matter your pot odds, its burning money. And Johnny Blaze is right about table image. Fish dont pay attention to your opening ranges and balancing bets. They pay attention to your chip stack, if your winning or losing as of late. Not playing a hand for a half hour then three betting otb pre to try and scoop up a pot and thinking you look strong because you haven't been active doesn't matter at 1/2. I hope some of this helps you man, good luck. The 1/2 grind is filled with brutal half their 100bb stack with 22 pre suck outs.

Play well my friend, following.

Hating life...... and the way I played and ran today

Feel sick about my play today. I'm pretty upset with myself with a couple of hands. One of them being a small mistake the other I think cost me a lot of money.

First hand was against this middle-aged Indian woman who spoke like she was straight out of the north Philly ghettos. Beyond that, she referred to every person in the room as "babe". It tilted the **** out of me.

I've played with her before, she plays any two cards to a raise if its heads up. "Eh, let's see a flop," she'll say whether she has J3 or 72 or AA. Then she'll check her nuts. Played with her on Friday night and she check/called river with a back-doored jack-high flush.

Hand History

I have AA and I raise to $15 over some limpers. It folds around to her on the big blind and she flats casually. She could have anything. I'm c-betting any flop here hoping she caught a piece.

Flop ($35) is 753r. She checks, I bet $15, she casually pops to $30. Her range is still pretty wide here IMO. She's usually very passive so this caught me way off guard.

Turn ($95): T. She checks, I check. I didn't want to get check-raised again since her range is so wide and her c/r still leaves me with no idea as to whether she has a set, two pair, straight, overpair, or straight draw.

River ($95): Q. She leads for $50. What does she do this with that I'm ahead of? All I beat is a bluff here and with the way she's checked her nuts on the river before, I don't think she's bluffing too often. I called in-game, but I think this is a fold. She could have 64, 2-pair, and sets. 88-TT were hands I thought may have c/r me on the flop. She's unlikely to lead for $50 with those hands on this over-card river. She's got me beat almost all of the time. I'm upset with myself that I couldn't release my hand because it was two aces.

Hand History 2, having a lot of trouble with this hand

Villain is a guy who is tight/straight-forward in raised pots but will play a wider range in limped pots. He has 3-bet once with KK; other than that, he has not 3-bet or raised in general much at all.

I raise to $15 in EP/MP over some limps with QQ. 1 caller, villain makes it $35 from the button. I call. Other guys folds.

Flop ($90): Q52hh. I check, he leads for $25. I raise to $70. He calls.

Turn ($230): Ace of diamonds. Sickest card IMO. I shove for $245, he calls. AA obviously.

Looking back, I hate my shove. His 3-betting range is going to be AA-JJ, AK, maybe sometimes AQs but we have blockers and its unlikely in the first place. He's leading flop with AA, KK, maybe AKo, and maybe AKhh. He's calling my check-raise with AA and AKhh.

So I get value from AKhh when I shove and get crushed by AA. What else can he have? I don't think there are any other two-heart hands he 3-bets with. Preflop, he's probably just flatting KQhh and AJhh. He actually might not even 3-bet AKhh, he could also just flat that sometimes.

So most of the time I think he shows up with AA. He's folding his KK every time. He's got 1 combination that we get value from and there's no guarantee he even has that 1 combo too often, if ever.

I definitely butchered this hand and I'm hating myself for it right now. I should have just checked to keep his weaker hands in. I think he checks back AKhh a lot after the strength I showed on the flop. KK is obviously checking back. And AA likely leads out. I can play perfectly against that. If the turn misses, I can just bet/fold as he'll shove his AA and just flat his AKhh.

God, I'm such an *******, guys. I'm so bad. Just beat the **** out of me, someone.

Total Stats

Hours: 24.67
Profit: -$155
Hourly: -$6.28

Bankroll: $1800

We all have our spewy days. File this one away under "lessons learned."