To meet my goal I need to make a minimum of 5k at 2-5nl and fulfill or exceed my hours requirement. I will start all 2-5 sessions with 100bbs. No more than 1 re-buy will be allowed(stop loss of 1k). This thread will include: TR, rants, pictures, HH, and hopefully a fair amount of run good.

Weekly mini goals will be set on Wednesdays. Tentative Objectives for mini goals are as follows: Posting in Small and Mid Stakes NL Strategy forums. Mapping out obtainable steps in a positive direction: diet, fitness, mental growth, etc.

Within this time frame I will also be grinding 1-2nl along with small mtts. All games will be played on the eastern seaboard.

Mini goals: Either post 1 HH in strategy forum or reply to 5 with reasoning for actions. Consume 50 pages of current book. Mini goals to be reset on 12/26/2012.

I started my challenge last night at Delaware Park. Entered a new must move 2-5 game at 9:00pm. After the first hand I was stuck. From then on my stack peaked at 527 and was below 250 twice. Over a period of 6hrs of play I never re-bought. At 3:45 I was sitting on 475 and the fish at my table dumped the remainder of his chips to a player I was not targeting as weak. Just as I was about to swallow my $25 loss another mega fish came to my game, but then decided to go to the 5-10 game instead.

The 5-10 game was a converted 2-5 game that I had been playing before the conversion. I knew all the players and had the opportunity to have second nut position on two stacked fish, sitting directly to the left of a tight passive. Over 1 hour I turned 475 into 1471. I actually lost 250 my last hand raising AK suited to 100 in a straddled pot. Button Straddler calls, player who stacked fish in 2-5 game calls in the blinds. Flop comes JJ3. BB checks. I see bet 150. Button clicks to 300. BB folds. I consider going nuts on a board that is unlikely to have hit the button(who I just doubled thru and may be tilting), but decide to fold and lock up a win. Cashed out 1471.

For the purpose of my challenge. 6hrs 2-5 -$25.

The flower I was with said the picture I took of my stack blows. I don't disagree. I always seem to take terrible pics of stacks, that lack proper perspective.

http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/...ps2c8ec249.jpg

Also, I want one of these trophies.

http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5732adaa.jpg

After Saturday nights victory I decided to break until after Christmas. I was tempted to play on Christmas Eve, but resisted the urge to drive to Parx. The break is over. I am of the opinion that the games from now until NYE should be straight fire. With that in mind my mini goals this week will be centered around taking advantage of these games by playing a lot of hours in the prime time slots.

Mini Goals: Play 25hrs of live poker. Be hawkish when it comes to table selection. Exploit weak players, avoid thin spots. Plan out food before sessions begin. Recess every 4 hours for consumption. Recognize which expenses are +ev and expend $ on these expenses at the first sign of need.

Mini goals are to be reset on: 1/2/2013

5 hrs 2-5 +680

Total 2-5nl= 11hrs +655

Link to hand history doesn't work.

Picture was taken right before this hand went down.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/17...t-pre-1282138/

If I had to do it over again, I would bet bigger on the flop to induce more shoves and folds. I eventually made the fold and found better spots to chip up thru-out the night. By the time the river dropped the only hands I was beating were QJ, and JJ. That's to thin for me to call.

Based off physical tells I truly believe I folded the the best hand, but had I lost that hand my spirit would have been crushed for the night. My biggest leak is being a station. Leak averted.

Feeling very lazy today, but I'm forcing myself to put in a session. It's late, the people are tired. I am well rested. It is time to play more hours. To curb my laziness I am promising myself a Kindle Fire HD 8.9 Tablet if this challenge is completed.



My friend who is depressed told me today that he can't see the light at the end of the tunnel. I can't show him the light. You can't show me the light. At the end of the day, we all have to find it on our own.

I'm sure everyone has seen this. If it starts getting old, I think you may be infected with the gey.

LIGHT

2hrs -500
13hrs +155

Big swings. Bad result. Happened fast, left kind of stunned as I had over 1k twice within the 2 hours.

Table got short. Fish to my right doubles thru me. Hit and runs. in a 30+30+30+30+30+60+60+60+140+140+185+185=$980 pot. Money went in on the flop. Hand details are irrelevant outside of the fact that I made it 30 pre. Pot was donked for 60, guy to my right calls 60. I flopped super well and the board was dry. I raised to 200. Donker folds. Smooth calling loser shoves for 185 more. I sigh 90% sure I'm up against a set, but snap getting 4-1 never folding for that price. Was left with bit less than 5. Got AK in first position twice. See bet twice folded to raises by sets that were shown. Chipped back up to close to 500(4 handed) by just pummeling people in position.

Busted on hand, that I'll keep for me, myself, and I. I love how I played the hand. I hate that I lost 45+50+60+328=$483 playing it the way I did.

4.5 hrs +1101
17.5 hrs +1256

Winning feels exponentially better than losing.

"Suck it Trebek!"

4.5 hrs +505
22hrs +1761

Had to re-buy because sometimes monies get put into freezers. Continued to fight and locked up a victory.

Nice roll you're on. Any big hands of interest?

The goal of this challenge is meaningless.

You can have a 100hr breakeven stretch and then make 5k in 5 hours playing 2-5. A 100 hour sample of live poker is tiny.

I don't think you understand variance.

.... Large Big Mac Deal, you just blew my mind. I had never heard of variance before. I asked my sister about it and she said, "google it silly", I did. WOW, so basically it said that there is a measure of luck within this game that prevents me from earning my exact EV every time I play.

Now that I understand variance, I now know how silly it is to create hypothetically obtainable goals within manageable time frames. Thanks for the perspective.

Chicken Tikka Masala, Lamb Biryani, Garlic Naan, Mint and Tamarind Chutneys already pushed aside. Nom nom nom nom nom. No more hours to report.

22hrs +1761

Doing mini goals reset now. I'm about an hour from midnight on the east coast.

Mini Goals:
1)Play 20 hrs of Poker: I tried for 25 last week and got in 16. These 16 hours were played comfortably and while I felt at my best. Pushing myself from 16-25 hours seems like a gross tug. 16-20 sounds like a reasonable target.
2)Add more HH to LLSNL: Within these HH include profiles of Villains.
3)Run: I think building back my running stamina may give me more lasting power at the tables. If I ever plan on running deep in big events, I need to build up my stamina. Big tournaments are essentially marathons.

Mini goals to be reset on: 1/9/13

It seems to be standard operating procedure for me to bust my first buy-in at Parx. Played pretty terribly over the first 90 minutes. Re-bought, got really pissed at myself, started playing smarter poker. My game broke, new table went pretty well... Had over 3500 at one point. Cashed out 3151.

5hrs +2151
27hrs +3912

Nice job sir. Was this last night? I was at table 26. Parx 2/5 is such a great game. So many random spewtards and some of the regs can be outplayed by 3 betting and floating.

Thanks, I benefited from a reg who went on complete soul tilt. Kinda surprised me as I've played with him a few times and he always seemed to be a rock. The night before last he got lost and couldn't leave for whatever reason.

I took last night off. Enjoyed wine/thc some reading of forums and a bit of a book. I'm considering some hours tonight, but it is more likely I will just destroy my upper body and eat copious amounts of calories. I've already had a productive day. Preparing for a big Friday 2-5 session.

Nice run keep it up

I am curious if I have ever ran into you although probably not, I play 1-2 and I usually alternate between Sands,Parx,Foxwoods,and Mohegan.

Can we also get some history..strictly live? how long have you been playing?

Nice session!

I seem to play really well after spewing off my first buy-in. I need to find a way to play my A game from the get go. I've been giving it away early of late. Anyway, I burned my first buy-in then settled in and ground out a win. 1000 in 1743 out, gg.

6.5 hrs +743
33.5 hrs +4655

Max loss on the way. Hanging around short stacked. I played 1 hand terribly, then put myself in another terrible spot. HH to come. Total fail on my part.

4hrs -1000
37.5 hrs +3655

FUC*K

Don't let the downswing take you off your A game

I want to go to Miami pretty badly. I'm thinking maybe I could go to Mardi Gras this year. The games in New Orleans have to be crazy at that time of year right? I want to be in the Phl area for the Super Bowl, but after that maybe I could hit the road for a while. I love new poker rooms. I feel so fresh whenever I'm in a new environment.

I thought the session was starting well.... I fold both hands in the bb and sb to opens.

Next hand on button. Ep2 limps, Ep3 limps, highjack opens to 15, cut-off calls, I look down at AKoff. Sitting on 500, everyone has be covered except for the highjack who has 300. I elect to 3-bet to 65. Folds to high-jack who slowly calls 50 more(though it was obvious he was calling the whole time). cut off folds. 155-5(rake)150. Hero effective stacks are 235. Flop comes K35 rainbow. Villain bets 100. Hero calls. Pot 350. Effective stacks 135. Turn A spades giving me top two, but also putting two spades on the board. Villain takes an hour to stack his irrelevant stack into the pot. I snap, river J spades. Villain stands up and throws down his cards saying nut flush.

Villain goes on to ask me how it feels to have my aces cracked. How he knew I had aces the whole time. After stacking up his $600 pot he immediately asked a roaming floor man for a table change... Seemingly immediately uninterested in the game. Constantly getting up and walking around. Just standing away from the table doing nothing.



I got thru the first 90 minutes thinking man "I am a rock right now". I chipped back up to close to 450 over about 90 mins. Then something went wrong in my head. I sometimes do things that I know are wrong and I feel will cause negative results, but just do them anyway. Ep2(fish, mid 30's limp calls out of position, makes poorly thought out river bluffs, usually plays 1-2, came to the game with 400. Has lost a few hands to me but is still up a bit, oily red hair, oily skin, crappy shoes) limps, EP3 limps, MP3 limps, Hi-jack limps, Button limps, sb calls. I look down at 89 hearts and decide that I just want to take it down now. I raise to 55, it doesn't take long for oily ginger to call. All other enemies are vanished. Pot 140, effective stacks 395. Flop comes 833 one heart. I bet 75. Villain immediately calls. I am immediately hit with the oh **** this assh$le just limp called me with an over-pair feeling. I plan to shut it down on the turn. Turn 2h giving me two pair with a flush draw. I couldn't help myself I knew I had a pot sized bet left. I shoved, he snap called with queens. I brick river. GG sir. This villain is never folding an over-pair here. I just put in all my money on the turn for no reason. I bet If I checked he would have bet a number that I could have called. If not no big deal. Just a really bad impulsive decision. More bad plays to come.