Then, it was down to business. The games were good, a lot of action, some blind raises, very good table to be on. I had position on the biggest stack, but he turned out to be pretty tight. I had a bad TAG reg on my left and she was deep. She’s probably a marginal winner, but she thinks she’s better than she is and in case anyone who knows her reads this, I’ll leave the strategy of why she’s bad out of it. She’s also kind of scummy. She got reprimanded the day prior for going South, then was loudly complaining to a friend at another table about how dare they tell her not to take money off the table. So I saw her take like $40 off, and as she walked away asked the dealer if she was allowed to do that. He called the floor, they called her over and the dealer handled it poorly IMO. She asked who told on her, and the dealer didn’t say anything so I said it was me and she then launched into a tirade. IMO the dealer should just say they noticed in those spots to minimize confrontations. I also wouldn't be shocked if he saw it in the first place and didn't say anything because she plays probably 5 days a week there.

She claimed it was only $26 and was to go eat and I was a horrible person because she had $900 on the table, and what’s $26. I wasn’t going to make them go to the cameras, but I know she slipped her friend another $15-$25. I just said, well it’s the rule and I know you know that.





Black lady probably in her 40's? If so I was at her table the night she got reprimanded, and it was a total sh*tshow, although not totally her fault.

March 29 – “Through my peripheral, I see you scheming. / Stop dreaming, I’ll leave your body steaming.”

It was my first session at Delaware Park in a long, long time, and I’d have to bring my A game if I was going to book a big win. The game was soft, but a couple people came after me. Early on, though, I got a nice gift hand.

A few limpers to my big blind and I check with 78o.

Flop ($10): 788x

The SB bets $8, I call. There’s an LP call.

Turn ($34): 6s

Pretty good card. SB bets $20. I call, LP calls. I was hoping he’d raise. Hmm, ok.

River ($94): 9

That’s pretty much my gin card. SB checks and as I’m debating whether to go for the check-raise or lead out, I see LP stacking chips to bet about $40-$60. I check. He bets $50. SB folds, I move all-in for $212 total and he thinks for about 20 seconds and calls. Sorry, QT is no good.

After a failed big bluff, when I sensed weakness and called a check-raise with middle pair on the flop and then jammed the turn and got tanked called by flopped top pair (second pair after the turn), my image was kind of crap, so I overlimped in LP with 9To. I felt that raising hands like that was –EV because I was going to build huge pots. On the other hand, I had to take the opportunity to play pots in position against bad opponents.

Seven to the flop.

Flop ($14): T55x

An EP player bets $15. He’s a recreational player, a doctor or something, just drinking and having fun. I call, everybody else folds.

Turn ($38): A

He bets $15 again. I’m debating how to play it, as I feel like I’m chopping a high percentage of the time here, but he could also have hearts and have turned the A, or he could have flopped the five. I decide to peel and see what happens, planning to steal the pot from chops on the river.

River ($68): 4o

He checks, I bet $35 and he tanks and folds.

Later, UTG raised to $6 and I was UTG+1 with JJ. It was an interesting spot, because he was a big fish drinking and having fun, but wasn’t raising pre-flop much. Normally I’d flat a UTG raise there, but I didn’t want to see 8 people call, so I 3bet to $20. Naturally, four people call, including UTG.

Flop ($97): 853o

UTG open jams $86. I decide to flat call it, which in hindsight I think was a mistake due to the draws – I should have raised. Regardless, everyone else folds.

Turn ($269): K
River ($269): 2o

He shows KT and his hand is good. I suppose that’s one way to play KT UTG.

Later on there’s one limper (UTG) and I raise to $12 in the CO with A8o. The blinds call and the limper folds.

Flop ($31): A73x

It checks to me, I bet $20. One blind folds and the BB moves all-in for $90 total. My physical read is that he’s on clubs. I saw him move all-in with a draw before and his mannerisms and demeanor are the same. I decide to trust my read and call. He has 68 and my hand holds for a $210 pot.

Later, there are a couple of limps and I limp the button with 58

Flop ($9): Q43x

It checks to me and I bet $7. Two calls.

Turn ($25): A

It checks to me, I bet $20. The BB raises to $50. He’s got over $200 left and I cover. He seems like a decent, but losing player. He’s running bad and losing today and seems to be getting frustrated, but I’m a little wary of this raise, so I just call. It’s basically either the nuts or air, so I think calling is the right play.

River ($124): K

He insta-bets $65. In order to bet that quickly, he basically has to have the J or a bluff. I just stare at him. Earlier when he had a monster and bet at someone, I picked up a read. This one does not match. Now, I don’t have a confirming read on a bluff to go on, but I don’t believe he has a monster, and thus, I believe I’m good.

I count out the $65 and he looks disgusted. I actually think this is an honest reaction, as he quickly then begins bopping to the music on his headphones to cover it up. I call. He shakes his head no. I say, you have no spade? And he doesn’t show his hand so I table mine. He mucks and can’t believe I called with the 8, nor can the table.

I think my hand reading and people reading are big strengths, and I’m going to trust them in spots like this. He’s basically nutted or bluffing, so the read is important in that spot.

Later there’s a UTG limp and I make it $12 from the CO with AJo. He calls.

Flop ($23): AQJo

He checks, I bet $15, he calls.

Turn ($51): K

Not the greatest card, and while AT can be in his range, I don’t see him showing up with AK or AQ here, and KQ, KJ, QJ and hearts are possible. I can get value from all of those on this turn, so I bet $30. He calls.

River ($111): 5o

He checks and I contemplate betting, but decide to check behind and MHIG.

Final result: 7.5 hours, +$503.

There was a funny moment when two guys who had been playing a lot of pots together both flopped straights, and the older guy flopped the high end and the younger guy the low end. The old guy shows, and the young guy says, "I have a little one."

The old guy goes, "It gets bigger when you get older," going for the obvious innuendo.

The board runs out clean and I say, "But it's harder to make it last until the river."

LOL @ Table talk.

Nice session man, looks like your getting out of that silly downswing.
Your reports are very detailed and I like it for that. I'd recommend getting one of those apps for android/iphone where you input each session (Hours/$ made ) and it generates a graph for you. We viewers would really appreciate that ( or maybe just me but I read everyday )

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK bro

Thanks! I have one of those apps, but I don't remember how to take a screenshot or export the picture - do you know? I have a Galaxy S4.

Which App are you running? I haven't looked into it personally, but I imagine worst comes to worst you can screenshot what you have open and export as picture? little bit of a hassle I guess.

I think it's called Poker Income Tracker - I don't know how to take a screenshot in general, though.

- When you want to capture a screenshot, press and hold the power and home buttons simultaneously. You will get visual confirmation around the border of the screen. The screenshot can then be accessed from the notification bar.

Just press the Home button and Power button at the same time.

Edit: Oh man too late haha

I played yesterday and I'm working on the TR now... But I can't decide whether to play online tonight or go to DP. Part of me wants to kick back and have a solid dinner at home and play. Part of me wants to have a chance to get this month's live play out of the red.

March 30 – “I chose a half measure, when I should have gone all the way. I’ll never make that mistake again. No more half measures.”



Last night I faced a new problem, which I hadn’t dealt with before in a session. A player was using the button straddle on my SB, which is fine. It’s –EV for me but I can deal with that one since I’m not making much money out of the SB anyway. However, he was also doing it out of his CO, my button. I made a few mistakes here. He had about 800-1200 in front of him at various points, so I didn’t want to seat change away from my spot. However, given that I couldn’t use my button as effectively, my EV was way down.

I tightened up my opening range in the button since it was UTG preflop. That was a half measure. I should have taken a full measure, either:

1. Seat change to my left somewhere when possible.
2. Straddle my button to pre-empt his CO straddle.
3. Open a wider range on the button, but smaller than I normally would against a straddle and use my position post-flop.

I also may experiment more with straddles in LP to see how people react to him. Me playing my button tight probably made his CO straddle +EV. It gave him the button a majority of the time, and he was thus last to act preflop and on every street and playing bigger pots in this scenario.

Other than that, my night was defined by calling down bad in two spots. The guy on my left was 3-betting very aggressively and I again took a half measure instead of a full measure. I should have picked spots to 4B him light, but instead I called him down with a mediocre hand and ran into KK for about $200-$250.

I also called down the guy on my right with two pair when he had a straight. He limp-called 57o from the CO vs my button raise of A4 and turned a gutshot, then I rivered aces up and paid off $115.

Finally, I lost a big coinflip in a $645 pot, getting most of it in on an 8s5s3x flop with AsTs vs KhKd.

Final result: -$600 in 5.5 hours.

I'm still debating whether to play live or online tonight... I'm -$396 in 93 hours of live cash play in March and want to give myself a shot to turn it profitable, but I also don't want to be forcing things.

I was going to play online, but now I may not have a choice - no games running above .05/.10 and that's only one four-handed game. I'll give it an hour or so and then decide.

damn. that sounds pretty rough for online games. Bet you can't wait for Delaware and NV to combine player pools.

I have discovered the poker crack cocaine that is short handed PLO. I'm only playing .10/.20, and the players are AWFUL. I suck and I know that, and I'm way better than half the table and no worse than the other two. Plus it's so much fun.

Great thread. Subscribed.
Food for thought: my initial impression is that you think your table image is more solid than others do. Not a criticism, just something to consider.

Thanks... What do you mean? That I should be bluffing less?

I do not know about frequency, but you describe some hands where they are clearly not buying what you are selling.

All i really mean is that you should think about other players perceptions of your play, whether correct or not, sound different than your perception of your play....

Plo will trash your nlhe game.....

Yeah that has happened a few times. Maybe I'm better at calling down light than moving people off of weak hands. I wonder if my attire (usually track jackets and matching hats, as I've shown sometimes) adds to that. I've had some bluffs that work, too, though.

I think perhaps some players see me as active and over aggressive based on my preflop/flop play and incorrectly apply it to larger bets and later streets.

What do you mean about trashing my NLHE game?

March 31 - "I've been up and down and over and out and I know one thing. / Each time I find myself layin' flat on my face, / I pick myself up and get back in the race."

Let's start with the good news: March is over. I'll crush it in April. I'll do the graph and other stuff like that tomorrow and set some April goals, but man, I'm glad March is over.

I ran bad and played poorly online tonight and lost like $375 or something like that. I ran JJ into KK against a terrible loose player and couldn't fold, then ran QQ into KK against a guy who was playing back at my 3B all night. I wait til I pick up a hand and then boom, stack off to KK.

PLO was awesome until I got sucked out on about as badly as you can in PLO I guess. Some dude chased me down with an overpair against my flopped trips when a flush draw hit and made his boat. I bet and he raised. I had the nut flush blocker and didn't think he'd raise a non-nut flush on a paired board, and my read was that he didn't have the flopped trips/boat, so I thought he was on a pure bluff, which he had been doing repeatedly and called with trips, top kicker and saw he had rivered the boat.

Beyond that, it was one of those nights where you don't quite know if you're running awful or getting absolutely just owned and demolished. You're value betting top pair good kicker and getting raised over and over and folding, you're running into better made hands, etc. I haven't played online in a while, so maybe the games changed and people who used to not play back at me are doing it now and I'll have to adjust. For now I'll chalk it up to running bad so that I don't start spewing. I'll tighten up a bit, cause these are the games I usually run over, and see what happens. Maybe some people found my thread and know what I was doing, who knows.

I had my total roll at $8,000 about a week into March, and I'm pretty sure it's around $5,700 right now, so that sucks. It's not looking good for playing any of the WSOP Circuit events in Philly in April, unless I go on a big heater.

March Recap & April Goals - "Men lie, women lie, numbers don't."

So let’s take a look at the month of March and set some goals for April. We’ll start with the results.

Online Results in March: +$519. Hours/hands unknown, I’m still working on that. I started with around $1,500, ran it up and withdrew $400 to the live roll, and it’s now at $1,619, so +519

Current Online Roll: $1,619

Live Cash Results in March: -$396 in 93 hours
Live Tournament Results in March: -$208 in 8 hours
Total Live Hours: 101
Total Live Results in March: -$604
March Live Hourly: -$5.98
Current Live Roll: $4,122

Total Bankroll: $5,741

Total March Results: -$85

Live Cash Game Chart to Date:



Live Cash Game Stats to Date:



Best Pictures From March







Original Big Goals: 0/2, Four Pending

[X] Goal #1: Bankroll at $4,000 on 1/23

I had $3,450 then.

[X] Goal #2: Bankroll at 8,000 by March 31

Technically I had it for a day, but now I’m way back under it. So that’s a miss.

[??] Goal #3: Winrate of $30/hr over first 300 hours

I’m at about 248 hours and a winrate of about $14.57 an hour. So basically I’d have to win 5,400 in the next 50 hours to get there. I’ve had sessions of 1K+ so that’s possible, but highly unlikely to be reached.

[??] Goal #4: Bankroll at $50,000 by 12/31

This goal is still reachable, but it’s going to require running good enough to move up to 2/5 within the next couple of months.

[??] Goal #5: Play a WSOP Event in 2014. I’m thinking the Millionaire Maker ($1,500)

I won’t play this if my roll is below $9,500, as I think having $6K for 1/2 NL and 2K to take a shot at 2/5 is more important.

[??]Goal #6: Satellite into the WSOP Main Event (I’ll allot a thousand or two to this if things are going well)

This would require a bankroll of 9,500 + satellite money. This one is decreasingly likely, unless I hit a big score.

April Goals

Poker in blue, health in green, life balance in red.


[ ] Play 150 Hours Live
[ ] Bankroll At $8,730 by 4/17 to Play 2 Events at WSOPC at Harrahs Philly
[ ] Finish Poker Tells Book By 4/7
[ ] Read Professional No-Limit Hold 'Em By 4/30
[ ] Get Bonus Comps at Borgata (I have $50 waiting if I swipe my card)
[ ] Play 25 Hours Online
[ ] Total Bankroll at $9,500 by 4/30 (will set aside MM)
[ ] Do 4 Cycles of Bulletproof Rapid Fat Loss Protocol
[ ] Go to the Gym 10 Times
[ ] Weight at 220 by 4/30
[ ] Play at least 3 Rounds of Golf, break 100 twice.
[ ] Attend a game/event/other for fun. Basically do something fun out of the ordinary.


Week 1 Goals (April 1-5)

[ ] Play 10 Hours Online
[ ] Play 8 Hours Live
[ ] Read some of Poker Tells Book
[ ] Plan a trip to Borgata/WWW this month
[ ] Start a Bulletproof Rapid Fat Loss Protocol Cycle
[ ] Practice Golf


All in all, it was a rough month of March, but we'll move on and improve. I'm going to spend more time on game improvement and will have a lot more time for poker and health after 4/5, when my broadcasting schedule really opens up. I have a good feeling about the month of April. Shark on a heater baby!

Epic post buddy seriously. I love how you lay it all out there on whats going on. I personally could give 2 ****s about live, not my thing but your going about it the right way.

I have buddies who I refer to this thread to get an idea how to take their live game seriously. They can't even commit to writing on paper Money $ / TIME. Care-free thinking poker is a gift and no work is needed.

I tell them read this guys thread, how he profiles players, positions, what he thinks etc etc. They can't even tell me about a hand they played when we discuss it without having some sort of ADD slip up and just confuses the **** outta me.

What I'm saying is, YOUR leading by example for my goons

Thanks! I've always been the analytical type and I like to take that stuff seriously. I definitely get annoyed when I'm discussing a hand and someone can't remember stack sizes, position, etc. That stuff is all critical to proper analysis. I like that I can go back in this thread and see what I was thinking in the past, how I've grown as a player, etc.

April 1 - Part 1 - "I don't want to waste my time, / become another casualty of society. / I'll never fall in line / become another victim of your conformity / and back down."

That song came over my iTunes today - Damn, I haven't heard that in years. Don't know how I stumbled onto it in my music library.

I'm going to call it 2.5 hours of online poker. I played solely online 6-8 and was one-tabling while working this afternoon for a couple hours. The end result was -140. The nits were making hands and I had to bet/fold a lot of cbets, and I got coolered big twice. Once in a $109 pot against a very bluffy reg fish who made a full house against my flush on the river. The other, I picked up AK vs. QQ vs. AA 3-handed on the button vs. a reg who was 3betting me a ton (QQ) and a fish who just rebought for $20. I raise to $1.50, reg 3bets to $6, BB jams $20, I call, reg jams 50 more, I call.

I should have shoved over the fish, which may fold out some hands I flip with. By flatting he can re-ship really wide.

It obviously bricked out.

Now there are basically no games running, and I'm taking a break anyway to watch the Flyers/Blues game.

April 1 - Part 2 - "Marshall you're no longer the man, that's a bitter pill to swallow. / All I know is I'm wallowing, self-loathing and hollow."

I got demolished again. There were no $.25/.50 games, so I sat at .50/$1. Here are the key hands.

UTG limps, a good LAG raises to $4 on the button. I call from the BB with 45, UTG (fish) calls.

Flop (11.88): K37

I check, fish leads $6.25. Button raises to $16.62. He has $118 behind, I cover. I decide to flat call, though I immediately wished I had raised. When I raise, I’m blasting the fish out of the hand a lot which I didn’t want to do. He folded anyway.

Turn ($49.40): T

I bet $30, villain calls.

River ($107.99) 3

Villain has $88.56 left. When he calls the turn, he’s good, so he probably has two pair+, and that was a terrible river card. I think his range is like 77, TT, KK, 33, KT, K7, K3, and bigger flushes. He could also have AhKx, AhAx, AhTx, Ah7x. I think he can pay off a smaller bet with some of those hands, so I decide to bet/fold $40 as a combination of a value and blocking bet. He snap calls AhKh. I guess my river bet saved me $48, so there’s that.

I should have folded preflop and raised the flop (though it would have lost me more in this case, that’s results oriented).

Later, I raise to $3 UTG in a 5-handed game with A2. The button calls. I have $108 behind, he covers. He’s been raising a lot of my cbets, floating me and just making my life hard.

Flop ($7.13): T24

I bet $5, he calls.

Turn ($16.63): 2

I check, because he’s been floating me a lot. He bets $13.12, I raise to $36. He calls.

River ($85.50): Q

I move all-in for $67.03, he snaps with T8

A few hands later, it folds to my button with AJ

I open to $3, the SB calls. He’s a fish with a penchant for massively overplaying his hands and bluffing a lot in scary boards. BB calls as well. Effective stacks are like $108.

Flop ($8.55): J4T

Fish bets $4.50. BB folds, I raise to $16. He calls.

Turn ($38.95): 8

He checks, I bet $30, he calls.

River ($97): 7

He moves all-in. Worst possible card against the worst possible player, because I’ve seen him do this in similar spots with complete garbage or turn a pair into a bluff in these spots. I call, he has 89.

So I went -$200 in 118 hands of .50/.1 and -$13.55 in .25/.50 in 27 hands. The session was 1.5 hours, so I played a total of 4 hours online today (4/1).

I've now lost over a third of my online roll in two days. The .50/$1 game broke as soon as I quit, so apparently they think I'm the sucker in that game.
I thought there were a couple fish in the game and two players who were good, but nobody I thought was better than me. Maybe I'm just running bad and that made me look fishy, or maybe I'm delusional. Either way, I'm not rolled for that game after this. If the .25/.50 games don't run any more often than they have, I may just pull out money and stick it in the live roll.

I have zero confidence in my game right now, if I'm being honest. This downswing is continuing and it's really f***ing with my head.

Hand 1: 3-bet or fold preflop. Calling in this spot is a leak. You will not be able to play profitably out of position against a good LAG without a strong starting hand.

Hand 2: I also fold this preflop but opening isn't too bad if you can play well postflop - which I'm not sure about given your description of the Villain. Postflop is well played.

Hand 3: Since you have a read that this Villain would donk-bluff the river with any of his draws that missed, maybe you can profitably call. But I would generally fold because he shouldn't be just leading into you as a bluff for a 2/3 pot size bet that has almost no fold equity. But if you think he would... then I guess calling is fine.

Don't play online right now. Its a tougher game. The regs are going to play back at you unlike live where you guys just mostly stay out of each others way.

Tighten up preflop and postflop if you're running bad and you don't have confidence in your game.

Keep your head up man. If it was all run good everyone would do it. It's these struggles that define us. Either we soldier up or tilt and go busto.

Enjoying the thread btw.