Going to get right back at it tomorrow.

If anyone hasn't read Rob Farha's thread, I suggest you do that. It is a terrific thread and inspired me to make this one and grind hard at live poker.

He started off at 1/2 stuck $2000 over 50 hours. I'm sure he ran terribly and played bad at times as well. But he had some great posts while he was on that enormous downswing. His confidence was never shaken and he knew he was capable of playing well and crushing 1/2. I think that's a great lesson for me to learn. While I have made some mistakes over my first 25 hours, I've also played really well in some spots. Much better than my opponents. I know being stuck $150 is nothing over 25 hours, but it still stings and I want to climb out of it.

Rob's Thread << (link)

Thing I need to focus on tomorrow:

1) Hand ranging. In the QQ vs. AA hand, I stopped ranging completely and just spewed off $250. It was absolutely an emotional decision. I need to stop with emotions at the table and just play solid poker. The biggest thing with that, though, is that I need to always always always be thinking about my opponents ranges. I don't think about that enough. Goal: Tomorrow, I will think about everyone's range for every hand that I'm at the table for - even if I'm not in the hand.

Thing I did well today:

1) I'm proud of myself for not tilting off anything after losing with AA vs. Q5, set over set, and then with KK vs. 73s. The old Duke definitely would have tilted off another couple hundred bucks. But I kept my emotions in check and didn't do anything stupid.

However, I need to take the next step beyond just not spew-tard tilting. I need to stay on my game. After I started to lose those hands, while I didn't spew off another buy in, I definitely regressed to my C-game or D-game. I stopped thinking about ranges, I stopped evaluating my opponents, and I stopped paying attention to the action. The next time I take a beat, I absolutely MUST stay on my A-game no matter how difficult it is to do that. Maybe I can take a walk to clear my head to help myself do that.

Glad you read that thread, I think theres a lot of things you can learn from there that applies to your current situation. I agree that sometimes its so easy to just revert to complete donk spew mode and stop thinking about all the things that made you a great player to begin with. Any time you catch yourself making a terrible play you need to step back and either go get some air or just leave completely. Its easy to fall into these traps and every good player experiences the same thing. The players that crush the game know how to control it, the drunk gamblers just go deeper down that path.

Subbed. Good luck bro. Have enjoyed reading your posts in LLSNL.

Good luck buddy. Grind Hard, study hard, own. I recently finished grinding my way through the $1/$2 games at foxwoods and am playing $2/$5. its a whole new (better) world. All I can really advise is to put in a ton of volume, and to make friends with players of a similar skill level. Having homies to talk to will be massively helpful to your game.

Jesus, down $700 in my last 10 hours.

Today, it felt like I just straight up missed every single flop and also ran card dead for hours at a time. Even the few times I did end up with a hand, I either didn't get paid or ran into a puke spot where I'm never ahead.

Made some plays with blocking and speculative hands to pick up a bunch of cheap pots, though, but there were 3 guys at my table who played super loose. I couldn't do much to exploit them when the cards weren't coming.

I don't think I'm playing as badly as my stats show. Raising pre, missing, c-bet/giving up constantly adds up.

Back at it tomorrow morning. Going to keep a level head and trust my ability.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using 2+2 Forums

great read so far good luck and subbed

No offense, but $700 isn't running bad. It's just over two buyins. I have lost that in two hours. And come back and profited.

You really sound like you have the online mentality of multi-tabling. Game isn't fast enough for you. You're not picking up and winning enough hands.

Guess what? Sometimes I go 3 hours without winning a hand. It happens. I remember one night I was in there: One of the tightest nits in the room comes to my table. He says: 'I just folded for four hours. Then I got AA and more than doubled up. Got two callers.' See, they don't pay attention unless they think are bullying. You can literally fold for 4 hours, turn your AA face up and get paid off.

Good luck. Should see you there sometime this weekend.

Yea I hear you

I used to play like 12-20 tables online. I will admit to getting frustrated when I have to fold for hours and get absolutely no spots to make plays. Then when I get AA and flop a set they fold to my c-bet.

You're right, though. I'm only getting 25 hands in an hour... Folding for two hours sucks but its like the equivalent of like 10 minutes if you're 12 tabling online if my math is right. That's not too far fetched.

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Also, missing every single ****ing flop and then getting snapped when I c-bet frustrated me a lot. Over and over. This one guy owned me with that. I'm pretty sure he floated my c-bet one time then took it down on the turn. Which is super standard online but for some reason I hate to get beat that way live.

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Another brutal day...

9 hours, down $463

In total, I'm stuck about $850 over 39 hours.

Running bad and making big mistakes in certain spots. I still think I'm way better than anyone else at my table but I can't hit a flop at all or get paid off the rare times I do. In addition to that, I'm playing way too aggressively pre-flop and spewing a bit post-flop when I'm not sure what to do. I probably need to calm the **** down and take a few seconds before each action to think.

Going to take some time off to replenish my bankroll a bit. I'm working about 35 hours in the next four days so hopefully I'll add roughly $200 to my roll in that time - and another payday coming next Monday also.

The plan going forward is to scrap the morning sessions from my rotation and grind the night sessions only. I'll be playing hopefully every Friday and Saturday night and then also mix in some mid to late-afternoon sessions as well.

I'm definitely not quitting; I'm just going to get better. I really do want to improve my game and beat 1/2 and I can feel myself getting better after each session. Hopefully the results show it soon and I start playing the way that I feel I'm capable of playing.

Next session will either be Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday depending on when I work and such.

gl buddy. Just keep working hard and staying focused, results will come, even if it feels like nothing is going your way right now.

Went down to Atlantic City last Friday night and played for 14.5 hours at the Borgatta. It was the longest session of poker I've ever played and at times it was a lot of fun, at times it was very boring.

I had a few stretches of hours and hours where I was completely card dead and it was so frustrating. Especially since I was at a very good table for the last few hours of my session.

Eventually, I ended up down $102 on the night.

Had one pretty rough beat where I folded for two hours before picking up KK. I raised to $40 a $10 open and a few calls. Got called in one spot. Flop was XX3, shoved against a shortstack, he calls with 43o. Turn 3, River 4.

Other than that, I did make one mistake where I value bet too thinly on the river.

AT in position on a A99TQddd board that completed a flush on the river, which I didn't see. I bet/bet/bet and got called by KTdd. Should have saved myself $75 on the river by checking back.

That was probably the only big post-flop mistake I made all night. I played super nitty the entire night pre-flop since a lot of pots were going multi-way and others were playing pretty loosely. I tried to loosen up in position but didn't get good enough hands or good enough spots.

I just need to keep up what I'm doing I think and continue to improve my hand reading ability. Next session I play will be Friday, hopefully I can win. Five losing sessions in a row and stuck $1260 over my last 33 hours hurts.

Total Hours: 53
Profit/Loss: -$955

Going to start grinding 1/3 instead of 1/2 since I don't really have a strict poker bankroll - just a budget. This is definitely not due to chasing my losses or whatever. I just feel it is much more profitable to play 1/3 than 1/2.

Bankroll: $2100

^ only 7 buy-ins, but I can add about $250 to that every week from my job.

I played on Friday night and finally had a winning session after six losers in a row. It felt so good to just win. I feel that 1/3 is definitely a better game than 1/2. Even the 200NL live games at Harrah's that I played on Friday night a couple weeks ago was semi-nitty and passive. This 1/3 game, however, was so good. There were many more raises, much less limping, a lot more people going balls out with wide ranges, 3-bets with TT, call-downs with top pair, big (ill-advised) river bluffs, drinking, bad strategy discussion, less short-stacking, and waaaaay more aggression than 1/2. I'm pretty confident that if I can hold off on that one big mistake that I seem to make every single session, I can crush this game. I played well the other night, and for the most part I'm happy with my play. Despite that, I can't come off too happy because I made a huge mistake on one hand.

I called a raise with 55. Villain called as well on the button and I was first to act post-flop. Villain is a loose/solid player who has a good idea of what he is doing. He plays too many hands pre-flop but doesn't play fishy post-flop. I haven't seen him bluff or do anything out of line in a few hours of playing with him.

Flop (4-way, $60): 853r. I lead for $30, everyone but villain folds, villain raises to $85. I call.

Turn (HU, $230): T. I check, villain bets $105. I call.

River (HU, $440): A. I check, villain bets $510 ($320 effective), I fold.

Flop was a mistake. I should have check/called. I don't like check/raising in this spot because I've been getting a ton of credit and respect at this table. People are folding to me more than anyone else and not playing back at me. They're not calling me down lightly or anything. They always seem to think I have a hand. They also make comments about it like, "this guy hasn't played a hand since the Bush administration" or "did you flop another set?" when I bet into them. Check/raising would then fold out so many hands I have crushed. Check/calling under-reps my hand. Leading is okay but not as good as check/call because leading probably gets everyone to fold a lot. Checking maybe lets them take a stab with a weaker hand and then continue to bluff or catch up on the turn when I check/call flop.

From there, its hard to judge the rest of the hand because I messed up the flop. When he raises me, he has a wide range because there is a chance he could play back at me this one time. I've been using my image to raise and bet a bit more but its not something I'm sure people are catching on about. I say he has 8x, 2nd pair, an over-pair, or a set. A lot of this range can't stand too much more heat so I elect to call and check turn to him rather than 3-bet. By checking turn, I let him bet.

On the turn, the check/call was a mistake and too passive. I was scared of the better sets. I should check/raise here, though. Even though I fold out a lot of his weaker hands, those hands are rarely bluffing river and rarely calling a big river bet. I'm not getting value anyway from his bluffing hands so I should really be targeting JJ, 99, T8, and 33. I don't think he can fold any of that to a small-ish check/raise. If he shoves, I think he can do it enough with JJ/T8/33 for me to call.

The river is an obvious call because he can shove worse hands enough. 33, A8, T8, bluffs, maybe AT sometimes... I butchered this hand pretty badly.

------------

Two hands later, though...

I raised KK, got called by a loose/donkey player. He was making big bets post-flop and didn't like to fold. He was pretty aggressive. $300 effective.

Flop (HU, $30): Jh 9h 8x. I bet $20, he makes it $55, I call.

Turn ($140): Brick. I check, he bets $100, I shove, he calls.

River: Ax. MHIG

Against this player, I should have 3-bet the flop. When he raises me on the flop, his range has so many hands that I beat. Any Tx, any flush draw, his big top pair hands, and of course his monsters. I don't think he folds any of that range to a 3-bet and he shoves a lot of it too. He can easily put me on so many drawing hands if he has top pair and if he has a draw, he's obviously never folding because these types of players don't fold draws.

-----------------

And the hand that finally pulled me out from a bad session:

$520 effective. I limp 77 from early position. A solid TAG grinder-type reg raises to $15. I call.

Flop (HU, $30): 875cc. I lead for $20, he makes it $55, I make it $140, he ships like $500 total, I call.

Turn/River complete straight draws, fade flush draws and MHIG.

On the flop, I know he c-bets this 100% of the time. His range is likely two overs, over-pairs, 88, and two overs + flush draw. If I check/raise, I think I fold out a lot of that. If I lead, however, my hand looks weak and could induce a raise from the air in his range. By leading, especially since I limped pre, my range stays super wide - anything from middle-pair, gutters, top pair, flush draw and straight draw.

When he raises, he could have a lot. He could have nothing sometimes, he could have a draw that he is semi-bluffing with, or he could have an over-pair that he is trying to protect. Against air, I'm not getting much value on the turn and river anyway. Against draws, he's not folding. Against an over-pair, my range has so many draws, that he still probably can't fold no matter what. So I think 3-betting is clearly better than calling here.

For anyone who decided to read, let me know what you think.

Bankroll: $2600

1/2 stats: 53.17 hours, -$955 (-$17.96/hour)
1/3 stats: 8.67 hours, +$415 (+$47.87/hour)
2/5 stats: 1.5 hours, +$462 (+$308.00/hour)

I am so stoked to go play tomorrow. I always have this weird feeling before sessions like I'm not prepared or I'm forgetting something. So here are some things I want to focus on tomorrow; I'll re-visit them after my session and see how I did.

1. Find more bluff spots; don't just nut peddle

^This is a great post by a poster I have so much respect for in LLSNL. He probably doesn't even know I exist but I post-stalk him. In my last session, I pulled off two successful semi-bluffs with flushdraws. I raised flop against players who were tight, straight-forward, and somewhat thinking. I found a spot where I had some equity, position, and favorable villains and I acted on it. I want to find these kinds of spots more often in my games. This is also not limited to just post-flop semi-bluffs. I want to be able to spot situations where 3-betting light, 2-barreling, and isolating a limper wide are profitable.

Right now, I feel that I can iso really well and that this play is extremely profitable at 1/3. I would have done it more often my last session but playing with super loose maniacs made it impossible. I also feel that I know good spots to 3-bet light but this situation hardly comes up because raises are pretty infrequent (limps are more standard) and thus indicate strength. Also, many 1/3 players don't fold to 3-bets live. In addition, if someone does raise pre, there will almost certainly be multiple callers who also won't be keen on folding to a 3-bet. However, I'll continue to be aware of the play and try to implement it whenever it is possible.

Finally, not 2-barreling enough is a leak of mine. I almost never 2-barrel even though I understand the basic strategy of it and when to do it. Usually, if I c-bet flop and get called, I am done with the hand. Even if a card comes on the turn that is bad for my opponents range, generally, I'll just check/fold. Tomorrow, I want to look for spots where the relative strength of my opponents range is weakened by the turn card. If he is a straightforward player who has a fold button, I want to grow the balls to 2-barrel him. We'll see.

2. Always always always always actively thinking about opponents ranges; commentate the action in my head

This is something I don't really do until I'm put to the test and have to. Then I'll go back through the hand and assign my opponent some range. I'm not sure if a lot of my plays are just straight button-clicking auto-pilot or some subconscious stuff going on where I know what's going on but don't verbalize it in my head. I want to start to verbalize things in my head just to know that there is a clear thought process that goes into each action. I almost never verbalize anything in my head while playing but I don't really play horrible either so its not like there is no thought that goes into it.

3. Recognize spots where I have a lot of equity, and be aggressive

I feel I should be more aggressive with my draws tomorrow and other high-equity hands. While I do a good job of staying aggressive with my value range (Top pair, sets, flushes, etc), I think I can improve by being aggressive with the part of my range that isn't made yet but has equity. Flush draws, open-enders, combo draws, having overcards + a draw, etc etc



That's all I can think of right now. If there are more, I'll post them before my sessions starts tomorrow. I felt last week I played well overall. There were a few things I wish I'd have done differently, but overall, most of my play was solid. The mistakes I made, I learned from. It is mostly subtle-ish stuff like whether to lead into a limped pot with a monster or check... whether or not to lead with a flush draw in a limped pot... etc. The big mistakes I made were mostly brain farts where I wasn't counting the size of the pot correctly, wasn't value betting in a spot I know I should be, or something of that nature. As I adjust to live play, I'm getting better at things like that. I feel that I'm improving my overall game every day and that with time, I'll be very successful at live poker.

Points 2 and 3 are good, and logically extend to point 1, but dude, ATsai is talking about 2/5 and 5/5. Remember that you're playing 1/3. If you're looking for specific spots to bet non-nutted hands, great, but beware the FPS. Even 1/3 players catch on to this pretty quiclky.

GL today.

I still think there are spots to bluff in $1/3 (particularly when a flush card comes in) but you have to be more careful because there are weaker players who won't be able to lay down a hand that they attached residual value to.

For example, even if a flush card comes in on the river and we over-bet the pot some villains are always going to call because they flopped a set and there is no way they can get away from their hand.

Think of more a long the lines of the individual opponent instead of the stakes. There will be more weaker players in $1/3, so our bluffs figure to show less profit. But I think there are still some profitable bluff opportunities.

Haha, that happened to me last week when I shoved my turned nut flush into V for 150bb and he called with middle set. lolwat?

But yeah, I agree that your approach can work in the right spots if you don't get too fancy.

Played two sessions the last few days and I feel like my play has been good but the cards haven't fallen my way.

In both sessions, I doubled up early with a set but ended up +$94 in the first session and -$348 in the second one. I had a very interesting hand in the second session against a good player:

1/3, $450 eff

UTG limps, good LAG raises to $14. He is a typical grinder, pretty good, very aggressive. I've played with him before, he usually shows up with value hands but I imagine he's capable of bluffing when facing weakness. He barrels quite a bit and takes stabs when facing weakness. He knows I'm a tight and solid player. Just by the plays I'm making and my demeanor, I'm sure he suspects that I'm a thinking player. He's been raising liberally in late position over limpers.

I 3bet AKo to $45. Villain calls.

Flop ($90): AT9r. I bet $50, he calls.

Turn ($190): blank, rainbow. I check, he bets $120, I call.

River ($430): K. I check. He thinks for a bit and goes all in for $229. Hero?

River seems to be an easy call. But I'd like to know what you think of the turn play as opposed to a more standard line of bet flop/bet turn/bet river?

I checked turn because I didn't think I'd get any more value out of most of his range. I thought if I checked, he'd bluff at it. I suspect he likes to call 3-bets pretty wide and I know he stabs at pots when weakness is shown. I expect him to fold JJ-KK if I bet turn and he probably folds his smaller aces. His shoving range if I bet turn will probably be quite polarized and that kind of scares me. Like AA will shove, but so will QJ and total air if he thinks he can get me off AK. Also, I think if I check, he will barrel turn a lot with weaker hands thinking that I've c-bet and now given up on the turn.

I checked/called river because I can't think of a hand that gives me value now. AT is probably the only one. Maybe AQ but I think he checks that back on the turn. I think he could bluff at it again, though, with his weaker hands now that I've checked twice in a row... but he's also probably got some value hands in his range too.

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Next session will be Friday night. My goal for that session will be just to stay focused on the game and my hand-reading thought process. I'm going to note down every hand that I VPIP and make sure that I don't have any major leaks that I am not realizing. I want to post all the hands from my session where I'm facing a decision of whether or not to c-bet and get opinions on it. The last couple of sessions have been rough with c-betting. I'm not sure if I have a big leak or I am just running bad on flops.

I just want to focus on betting to get worse hands to call and betting to make better hands to fold. That's what I need to think about when deciding whether or not to c-bet. Hopefully I can have a good session where I play well and run well too.

1/3 Stats: 22 hours, +$161, $7.32/hour
Bankroll: $3400

Had another losing session last Friday night :-(

Just going to keep on trucking... I managed to ATTEMPT to try to track every hand that I VPIP'd. I succeeded for about 90% of the time and failed about 10%. So I'm missing some super standard stuff but have every spot that was even semi-hard.

Friday 11/5 Stats: 11 hours, -$460

Hand 1: 1 EP limp, posted blind in front of me. I fold ATo in MP. too nitty?

Hand 2: Limp, limp, I limp behind A2s and fold to a raise

Hand 3: 44 on the button. 1 limp, a raise to 16, I call $225 effective. Fold on bricked flop. Probably a fold pre since I'm getting under 15:1. I called since I'm in position. I don't remember if the player was a horrible fish but I doubt it.

Hand 4: 64s. 1 limp, I limp and fold to a raise. Probably a fold pre unless I'm in late position, yes?

Hand 5: KQo EP. 1 limp, I raise to 15, only limper calls.

Flop (30): QXXhh. He checks, I bet 20, he calls.

Turn (70): Xh. Check check. Missed a v-bet :-(

River (70): Xx. He bets 65, I fold? I made this hand too difficult to play by checking the turn. River maybe should have been a call but I had no reads. I thought he only bets a flush here. But maybe he v-bets Qx since I checked the turn?

Hand 6: AKo in the BB. Tight but spewy player raises to 15. I call.

Flop: AXXdd. I check/call

Turn: Xd. I check/call

River: Xd (4-flush). I v-bet 20 into 60. He calls. MHIG.

Hand 7: AKo on the button. I open to 15. BB, new Asian player, calls. Flop Axx. I bet 15, he snap-raises to 45 in a quick/sloppy way. I call. Turn and river get checked down and MHIG.

Hand 8: KQcc. 1 limp, 1 raise to 10. I call from MP and fold to the limpers 3-bet.

Hand 9: $285 effective. T9s UTG. I limp/call and c/f a brick flop. I should just open fold this, yes? Limp/calling OOP can't be good here getting under 25:1 implied odds?

Hand 10: 99 in EP, $360 effective. I call a raise. Flop is 5-way.

Flop (55): 985dd. I lead 35, guy calls, tight/spewy player c/r to 300. I shove. Other guy calls all in. Tight/spewy calls.

99 vs. 76 vs. ATdd I come in 3rd

Hand 11: 99 in SB. 1 limp, I raise to 15. Limper calls.

Flop (30): 87x. I bet 20, he calls.

Turn (70): A. I check/fold to a $22 bet. Kind of awkward, any advice on how to play this better?

Hand 12: T9hh in the BB. I call a $10 EP raise with 3 callers in front.

Flop (5-way, $45): AK6hh. I check, guy bets $25, I call, original raiser calls.

Turn (3-way, $120): Ax. OR checks, guy bets $50, I call, OR raises to $150, guy calls, I fold? Even though I'm getting 4.7:1 on a call here, there is a decent chance the c/r means the OR has a boat here. Even if he doesn't, the other guy could.... if neither do, they must have AQ-AT meaning that some of my outs are possibly no good. Should I have called or is my fold correct?

Hand 13: J8s on the button. 2 limps, I call. 5-way pot.

Flop (15): 962hh. I check, bluffy/aggro bets 15, limper calls, I call.

Turn (60): 7x. Bluffy/aggro bets $45, I call?

River (150): I miss and fold. Fold pre obviously. But turn call shouldn't be too bad, right? I'm 2:1 to hit a straight or a flush and getting a bit over 2:1 on a call, plus I'll win whatever little he has left in his stack when I hit.

Hand 14: 2 limps, I limp behind with A5s in LP? is this a fold pre?

Hand 15: 1 limp, I raise to 15 with KQo in MP. BB calls, limper calls.

Flop (45): Q75cc. BB checks, limper checks, I bet 25. BB raises to 75. Limper folds. I fold? W/o reads obviously impossible. He was a passive shortstacker who was pushing all in with his good hands, hadn't seen him get out of line much. He looked uncomfortable this time and made a face when I asked him "how much behind?".

Hand 16: 75cc UTG +1. I raise to 15? Fold pre, right?

Hand 17: 65s UTG+1. 1 limp, I limp behind? Again I should have folded pre, yes?

Hand 18: 86dd UTG +1. 1 limp, I limp/call a raise. Fold pre, fold to raise?

Hand 19: A7o in the BB. I check my option 4-way.

Flop (4-way, $12): A98r. I check/fold to a limpers lead. Too nitty?

Hand 20: 85cc on the button. I limp behind a couple limpers and c/f brick flop. Fold pre?

Hand 21: QJo in LP. 2 limpers, I limp behind and c/f a bricked flop. I can probably iso here sometimes and fold sometimes depending on the villain? I'd like to iso guys who can possibly limp/fold or maybe those that will either call too wide on teh flop and fold turn/river without strength OR someone who is very passive and plays there hand ABC post-flop.

-------------

Looks like I could have saved myself some money by just folding pre in early position more often with speculative hands and not limping behind with garbage like 85s even on my button.

My next session is going to be tomorrow, I'll play 1/3 but if the game is as bad as it was last Monday, I'll look at some 1/2 tables. My goal for tomorrow:

Tighten up in early position. Don't open speculative hands and don't limp behind with those hands either. Just fold a lot and only play premiums

Question: What should I do with pocket pairs in early position?

----------------------

1/2 Stats: 53 hours, -$955
1/3 Stats: 33 hours, -$299
2/5 Stats: 1.5 hours, +$462

Bankroll: $3300

Awesome that you're writing down all the hands. dgi doing it too.
I didn't read them all, but hands 5 and 7 seem that you're missing serious value.
As you said, bet turn on hand 5.
Hand 7, at least bet the river. I think I like the turn check here (but that is read dependent, and could be a bet against this villain, with this particular sloppy raise otf - not sure). I think you said bet the river, so in both cases, it looks like you know what you need to do. I just noticed that this is like THE most important thing according to many smart posters here. Value bet the hell out of the fish. It appears you're not doing that basic thing. (I think I err by overbetting, but it appears you're nittified.)

Will go through each hand real quick just to give some initial thoughts. take it for what it is, this is pretty much a blanket analysis lacking any solid reads just based on what I think a decent approach is for playing solid/abc at 1/2. You don't provide your position in every hand which may make it harder



yeah, your spot on. def tightening up from ep, and would COMPLETELY eliminate l/c speculative hands oop. lets leave that for the fish.

I would begin by just trying to play every hand possible in position. your not giving too much up by just limiting your ep/mp range to only premiums, and just folding everything else.

this is by no means optimal, but i think its an important part of the learning process as you begin to strengthen your post flop play.

Of the few things I noticed about your post flop game, I'd say just begin by working on your sizing when betting for value otf, while assigning a range that you can get value from, and then you are already partially set up to begin planning your actions for the turn. That way when you bet your 99s on the 87x flop, and the turn is an A, you don't freeze up and just check, and then default to c/f.

Like most players, your not value betting ott and otr enough from what I saw.

Thanks Fogo for taking the time to do that. I focused on your points today during my session and was able to force myself to fold everything but premium hands in early position. I also reminded myself to v-bet more often when I am ahead of my opponent's range.

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I had 1 big hand the entire night, the rest was pretty standard/card-deadness/no-action. The 1/3 game didn't get good until later in the evening so I played about 3:40 of 1/2 and won $291. I was card dead for most of the 3.5 hours but did double up my stack on this hand:

1/2, $325 effective with 100% VPIP, post-flop calling station Asian lady. She overvalues her hands a lot and calls with any piece on the flop. On the turn and river, she'll continue with 2nd pair or better.

I raise ATs in MP to $12. She calls from the blinds.

Flop ($24): AK3r. She checks, I bet $15, she calls.

Turn ($44): Ar. She checks, I bet $35, she makes it $100, I call.

River ($244): 3. She checks, I shove for $200, she calls.

Villain tables K7?????????????????????????????????????

The guy to my right goes on tilt from being card dead and not being able to get in on the fun.

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Later on, I move to 1/3 and play this hand against a competent and probably good player.

EP limper. I have QQ in MP and raise to $15. Villain calls from the blinds. EP limper calls.

Flop ($45): KXXhh. check, check, I check

Turn ($45): blank. check, check, I bet $30, Villain calls, limper folds.

River ($105): check, check

Did I miss a v-bet on the river? I thought his range was Kx, missed flush draws, and pocket pairs under a King. I didn't think any worse hands were calling me. I thought a weak King was possible but would not fold.

If he bets the river, I'm probably calling. Is that correct? I've seen him bluff missed draws before and he's competent and aggressive enough where his range isn't just top pair in this spot. Also, since I checked the flop, he should know I never have a king and be more willing to bluff at it and less willing to v-bet, correct? If he has a weak king, he probably has enough showdown value to check/call.

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Not really any other interesting hands. I flopped a set at 1/3 and got it all in with a 50bb ABC reg who had a flush draw. He got there on the river

Then later I flopped two pair against him on a 67Xss board. Turn was 9x. River was 8s. I check/folded after betting flop and betting turn

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Overall, I think I played very well today. I didn't open too wide UTG, I didn't get involved in pots against calling stations without good hands, and I was able to value bet river in the AT hand where I think some players might just check back since they're likely chopping or folding out anything else with a bet... but I knew she never had a better hand and she was a terrible station so I shoved and got called.

Also, after the 76 hand where I had to check/fold... I decided to get up and call it a night earlier than I expected to. I have been on a bit of a losing streak lately and decided to book the win for the benefit of my mental state. Also, I was feeling hungry, getting a headache, and the table wasn't really that great. Getting up early was definitely +ev tonight.

The next session will be Wednesday evening and I really cannot wait to play. Until then, I'll spend Tuesday night after work continuing the work on my game. Here are my objectives:

- Continue to post in LLSNL hand history threads
- Listen to Bart Hanson podcast
- Watch Bart Hanson videos
- Look into training sites
- Watch Raptor strategy videos per recommendation of I believe Avartia in LLSNL chat thread
- Read all the PG&C threads of winning live players that I'm way behind on

Hopefully I'll have time to do that all tomorrow night when I'm home!

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1/2 Stats Today: 3.67 hours, +$291
1/3 Stats Today: 1.5 hours, -$98

Bankroll: $2800

Had to pay $267 at Jiffy Lube for preventative stuff for my car (I deliver pizza) and paid $100 for college loans. Oh... and no more sports betting for me

Goals for December

In December, I want to put in some super sick volume. The next time I'll be able to grind will be December 2nd. From the 2nd through the 30th, I'm going to be shooting for 275 hours of poker mixed between 1/2 and 1/3.

During the first week of December, I'm going to grind hard at Harrah's 1/3 night games. Then, the first weekend of the month, I'm going to go down to Atlantic City and grind hard at Borgatta since I still have a free room at Harrah's Atlantic City that I must use by December 10th.

From December 10th - December 24th, I'm going to make a very serious effort to be #1 on the hours logged list. This past two-week period, the #1 player put in 147 hours. So, my goal for that 2 week period from the 10th through the 24th will be 155 hours.

Honestly, for some of those hours, I'll likely be on my C-game. But right now, I'm so motivated to play poker and study poker that I think for the most part, I'll be able to play close to my best despite the type of volume I'm putting in.

So, I'll likely take Christmas off, and after that, with hopefully $750 more in my wallet, I'll spend the 26th-30th at Maryland Live and try to grind more sick volume.

Its going to be a fun (I hope) month. I have some friends coming home from college too in a couple of weeks and I'll still be working 25-30 hours a week so I'll be sure to have that balance in my life.

Cliffs:

December 2nd-4th: Grind at Harrah's
5th-7th: Grind at Borgatta
10th-24th: 155 hours at Harrah's and get #1 on the hours log
26th-30th: MD Live!

If I am able to run at like even $10/hour for this challenge, I'll have enough to shot-take the Borgatta 2/5 $500max game which I hear is a very very good game.

My Progress

I really feel like I'm getting better and seeing things more clearly. While I still do make semi-frequent mistakes, I think I'm fundamentally making a lot of good plays and don't have many leaks that a lot of beginning players have. I don't call too wide, I don't play too many hands pre-flop, I don't play out of position that much, and I don't play pretty hands just because they're pretty. Also, however, I feel like I don't make a lot of mistakes that even TAG/LAG grinders make. I never call 3-bets too wide, I don't bluff every chance I get, and I don't get overly aggressive or make fancy moves like floats, 3-barrels, or 4-bet bluffs against rec-players.

That said, I definitely make mistakes. My bet sizing needs work. I feel that bet sizing should really be super exploitable at LLSNL because no one ever exploits you. I had a few hands the other day where I certainly could have bet sized better.

I'm also still having trouble keeping track of all the different things you have to keep track of at live poker. Pot size and opponents stacks come to mind. Often times, I have trouble knowing how much my opponent has behind and it sucks to ask "How much do you have?" when I have a monster hand.

There are certainly more mistakes but those come to mind at first. I'm hoping to fix up as many leaks as possible this week before I start to grind hard in December.

Stats

1/2: -$667 over 57 hours
1/3: +$52 over 50 hours
2/5: +$462 over 1.5 hours

Bankroll: $2850

Things I want to focus on next session:

1) More exploitable bet sizing; don't auto-bet 2/3 pot. Bet sizing at LLSNL can be exploitable and still be +ev because no one exploits you. While I already c-bet small and v-bet big on the flop when I'm leading, I need to do this when I'm raising in certain spots and when I'm either v-betting turn and river or barreling turn and river.

2) Value bet more on the turn and river. AQo in the BB. HU to the flop. A98ss. I v-bet and get called. Turn brings the 10 of spades and I automatically freeze up and check. This is a spot that is coming up a lot for me and I should be value betting. I think there is some serious reciprocity in this spot because I see many many bad live players check in this spot and miss value. Its quite easy for me looking from afar to say "he should have v-bet turn" but for some reason in the heat of the moment I just check and put them on the flush. I am value betting well on the flop, but anyone can do that. Value betting on the turn and river is where I'm leaving money on the table and I'll be working to fix this leak.

3. Continue to work on ranging opponents. This has been on every list I've posted and its something I just need to keep improving. I need to not only get better at knowing what my opponent has but also if he'll call with worse, if he'll bluff with his air/draws, and if he'll fold better. I have missed some value bets thinking "he can't call worse" when he certainly could.

Like I said, I have lots of leaks that I need to plug. I really just want to get better every single day and make every next session the best one I've ever played.