No long intro or back story. I’ve been around poker for a little over 10 years. Ran it up a million times, gone bust a million times (including a brief stint playing full time where I crashed and burned). The goal is simple: $100,000 profit. No timeline. No stipulations.

I haven’t played live cash in roughly 6 months other than a few 1/3 sessions at The Orleans in February when I was jet-lagged and everyone else I came with was asleep. Been grinding tourneys on Bovada with basically no success, fired and busted some WSOP circuit events, and completely punted on the bubble of a MSPT main event most recently (I had a 12X starting stack with 3 levels left in day 1). I was planning to be in Vegas right about now with a whole slate of tourneys to fire, but here I am stuck at home, busto again looking to run it back up.



I’ll be playing basically whatever I feel the best game in the room is but hopefully mostly 2/5 NL, mix in some 1/3/6 PLO, and I’ll still be firing any tourney with a decent guarantee. Here’s my YTD:

GL in your journey!

Instead of playing live I would go online, play small stakes and figure out how to win. Hate to be harsh but if you haven't had success in the past 10 years then clearly what you're doing isn't working. Learn to beat small stakes online and then go back at the live scene.

I appreciate the input, but maybe I was misleading. I’ve never had a losing year and have made probably somewhere around 100K lifetime. Not that that’s very significant, but I don’t really have a question of whether or not I can win consistently.

I’ve mostly ended up busto due to away from the table stuff and not handling downswings well.

Played a 2/5/10 session last night. I was a little rusty and probably played too many hands (passively) pre, although I do think people don’t adjust their preflop ranges enough (or sometimes at all) when the straddle is on and they end up playing too tight. Played 4.5 hours and ended up -$1032

Interesting spot within 10 minutes of sitting down. Table is 7 handed.

It’s my straddle and a middle aged recreational reg who I’ve seen play some 10/25 opens to $35 in the LJ, young Asian kid in the HJ makes it $105 and it folds to me in the straddle with just under $600 back and I look down at JJ

Didn’t really love any of my options here. I’m never folding, didn’t love any plan for navigating the flop if I call and likely go 3 ways OOP with a SPR under 2, and I felt like a cold 4b doesn’t get called by worse very often.

After more thought I think I might actually like calling the best and then just looking to gii on safe flops, but I think I was still a little bit in tourney mode and decided on the more aggressive option and made it $325, LJ folded and the HJ sigh shoved. This is probably a range that has me smashed, but I put in my last $250 or so.

HJ had AK and we got out-ran.

I think the trickiest part here is my stack size. If I’m a little bit shorter I can just shove pre fairly profitably and if I’m deeper I can 4b/fold, but it just didn’t feel like there was a good option with my stack.

lmao, subbed. gl dude.

can't believe this thread hasn't been flamed to death

are you genuinely playing on a 10k personal loan?

Genuinely. And same.

Although I think most people would have the same reaction, I don’t see how that’s not better than playing on stake giving away 50% of your profits.

In a perfect world I would just have a bankroll and not owe anyone, but if I have to owe, I’d rather pay 8% APR over 5 years and just hopefully pay it off early.

if you lose on a stake you don't owe the money

there's absolutely no indication you're a winning player

I guess you’ve never heard of makeup?

I also have ~5K hour sample of live cash w/ a WR of ~$20/hr. I don’t have much of a sample at all of live tournies, just basically the couple hundred hours I posted above getting absolutely smashed. My numbers aren’t anything spectacular, but I’m pretty confident I’m a winning player in live cash games.

i don't think you understand how makeup works

so you borrowed $10K to buy yourself a job that pays slightly above McDonalds if it works out?

seems suboptimal but what do I know

If the investor is negative on their original investment, you have to keep playing until you pay them back or else you have to make some sort of a deal to get out. That’s my best understanding but I’ve never been on a stake.

I’ve never heard of a deal where the player is completely off the hook for the total of the backer’s investment.

It’s not a job, it’s a hobby that I do for enjoyment that also happens to pay me.

Most people’s hobbies cost them money so if I make any money at all, I’m happy.

I also believe I can make more than $20/hr, but that’s not worth arguing since it’s all opinion until it happens or doesn’t.

Fired 2 bullets in the Bovada 150K ($162) last night. First bust-out was AQ<66, and second bust out I had 88 vs 97o on 68T flop and went bet/bet/shove right into the flopped nuts and didn’t improve.

Goodnight cruel world, I’ll see you in the mornin’

ok in OP it wasn't clear that you have a job already and just doing it for shits and giggles

still unclear though why you needed to borrow $10K to do it

I have what I consider to be a good job. I can contribute anywhere from $300-$500 a month to poker and prob more once my wife’s new business opens in the fall. My payment on the loan is $200 so I can afford it.

I have no cash bankroll on hand because in the past 6 months I had to replace my AC/Furnace and Roof totaling about $17K

yeah it sounded like you were unemployed and took out a 10k loan to earn fast food wages

Stock market and crypto have not been kind to me this year either.

Regarding my job though fwiw, I would like to cut back a few hours at work and grind poker a few more hours if I can make enough $$ (somewhere around $30/hr). I highly doubt I would ever try to play full time again, but I’ve always been happiest when I’ve been working around 25-30 hours at my job and then supplementing my income through poker.

There's a growing (?) trend to think of straddles/raises as BB even in cash games.

Against the $35 open you have 17bb and JJ ..
Against the $105 3-bet, you have less than 6bb and JJ .. Easy shove (especially if you are going to suggest 'tournament' mode of thinking) unless you're at some of the 2/5 tables in my area where 3-bet ranges are super tight. GL

I could see considering the straddle the BB, which case I’d have just under 60bb to start the hand. Not sure how wise it is to consider the open raise to be a BB.

Regardless, you’re probably right that it’s rarely wrong to gii with JJ at that stack depth against anyone who isn’t a super nit.

Gonna be in Indianapolis for a tattoo convention this weekend, anyone know anything about the action in the casino there?

There is a Horseshoe Indy thread you can search for .. but all indications are that there's plenty of action in that area including charity games which can play very big as well. There's information in the thread on how to find the charity games and the casino is on the Bravo App.

As with any given day/night in a poker room it will be dependent on who shows up and if you can get onto their table.

I would definitely pay close attention to the Dealers as there is probably still a wide range of skill in that room. You may want to act/play a little 'unaware' and ask about any room rules where you don't want to be caught off guard in a Floor ruling. GL