Blue

Blends are for plebs

I was waiting for that comment. The truth is that's total nonsense.

The scotch snob BS mostly sits well with people who think they know everything about scotch and like to have some sense of superiority over someone who may love a blend. I've had plenty of single malts that just taste like ****ing dirt and I'd MUCH rather have a Johnny Walker Black label over it.

That's not to mention the Blue label, which is probably considered one of the top in the world, period. They aren't the same, and they aren't supposed to be the same. To make a blanket statement like all blends are bad and the singles are where it's at is just incorrect, as are almost all blanket statements.

If anyone told me an Oban or Laphroig 10 is better tasting than Black label simply because it's a single, I'd laugh in their face. If you like the taste of peat, I guess you ate a lot of dirt as a kid. I don't understand this strange fascination with the overpowering taste of peat. It tastes like crap.

I don't know a ton about Scotch... I just know Glenlivet tastes good to me and I'm told it's a good Scotch lol...

It's just a matter of preference. If you like very distinct, strong, overpowering flavors you might prefer certain single malts. Personally, I think they taste way too strong of peat (dirt/earth) and smoke. I'd have to have a specific reason to drink most single malts, as the taste will literally stay with you until the next morning (and waking up with the taste of dirt/smoke in your mouth is just ew).

The blends (JW Black) have a smoothness and a drinkability I simply prefer. I love JW Black. It's easy to drink and it's available everywhere. I can drink 3 of them or 10 of them. I can almost never do that with single malts, I just get sick of the taste after just a few.

What annoys me the most about it is the unwarranted snobbiness of it, and most of that comes from people who don't know jack **** about jack ****, but want to seem like they do.

woodford reserve ftw, leave scotch for cigar day

If we're throwing in bourbon suggestions I highly recommend Angel's Envy

Angels is good but nothing beats woodford imo

Hi cuserounder,
First off, I want to thank you for posting and sharing your thoughts, as well as the hands / games you play here on this thread
Reading the thought process and the breakdown of hands from someone who actually plays the game live , has been a big help to me in learning the game, So thank you

My question please is.....
When you first started out playing the $1/$2 NL Live games,
what size Bankroll did you start with?
And what was your risk of you bankroll , as far as a percentage ?

Just as an example,
if the minimum is $100 to buyin , and you started with $1,000 , then that would be 10% of your bankroll " risked " per game

I'm trying to give myself a fighting chance of playing the $1/$3 NL live games down here in Tunica,MS ( which is near where I live ),
and I currently have $1,500 to put towards playing Live .... I may can get it up to a $2,000 bankroll by the end of next week

The minimum buyin is $100 , and the max buyin is $300
My thinking is to buyin for $150 , and that would give me right at 12 buyins

Anyways,
just wanted to get your advice , as well as other members

Thank you again for starting this thread

You know you're in a good game when you make an 80bb 4bet with AK the villain can only jam or fold to given stack sizes and he flats, someone else flats KTs and you all get it in for 100bb more on a 732 flop. Lolpotodds. Lol King ball on the river. Ship the 5.5 buyin pot!

Playing .05c/.10c with the relatives again?

Nope... 2/5 with some new friends. Crazy game.

You're welcome... glad you've enjoyed it and it's helped!

I basically ran it up from $300, and I don't think I ever bought in short. So my first session I had 100% of my roll in play. Obviously the risk of ruin is high but as long as you have another source of income that's fine... You can add to your roll a few times until you run it up.

This is really hard to advise you on. The games should be really soft at the 1/3 level and buying in deep should maximize your winrate but I don't know anything about your skill and whether you're better at 50bb or 100bb. How many hours of live poker have you played? What's your winrate? Do you feel more comfortable playing a 50bb stack or 100+? What about your opponents?

For me, buying in short would probably add significant variance and risk since I'd be able to use less skill. I'd say if you gave me 5 150bb 1/2 buyins and I was trying to run it up on a prop bet my ROR would be below 5%. I think it'd be higher if you gave me the same roll and made me short buy. I did have a 2.4K downswing at 1/2 once though, FWIW, and I'm a 12.5bb/hr winner at 1/2. So it's certainly possible to busto 2K at 1/2.

Bottom line: If you're a good player, comfortable 100+bb deep and you can replenish your roll, I'd suggest buying in for the max and quitting/table changing any time you have 3x the max buyin or a certain percentage of your roll on the table and potentially at risk (covered by a villain). I'd suggest a 2 buyin stop loss. You don't need to be as careful about protecting your roll until you've grown it a bit to warrant protecting.

Thanks for your reply cuserounder,
I really appreciate it, very Informative

I'm leaning towards the same way in which you began ..... That is to take $600 , and buyin in for $200 for 3 games , or maybe buyin for $300 ( the table max ) for 2 games
I know that my risk of Ruin will be high as you mentioned, but I'll hold back another 3 FULL buyins just in case


Buying in Deep each time is the way I want to go about it,
but then there's that trade off of.....
1. If buyin for $200 , I could play 7 times
2. if buyin for $300 , I could 5 times

My thinking is to start with $300 , and if I go on a cold streak, then back it down to $200, and try and get my roll up.
Buying in for the Max each time, definitely allows for putting Max Leverage in your favor as a player


A few questions please, regarding the following ....
" Bottom line: If you're a good player, comfortable 100+bb deep and you can replenish your roll, I'd suggest buying in for the max and quitting/table changing any time you have 3x the max buyin or a certain percentage of your roll on the table and potentially at risk (covered by a villain). I'd suggest a 2 buyin stop loss. You don't need to be as careful about protecting your roll until you've grown it a bit to warrant protecting. "


1. 3x the max buyin would be $900
so would this mean that a player should leave the table when they are up
+$900, or does it mean when you're up +$600 profit + the buyin ( $300 ) = $900 ?

2. a 2 buyin stop loss , would be when you're down -$600 for the day?
Best to call it a day at any point that this happens and live to fight another day

Well thank you again for taking the time to help me out,
I very much appreciate it

I think you are overestimating your skill or underestimating variance, most likely a combination of the two.

I know where to find very weak-tight 1/2 games where I can play a very low variance style, and I can alter my style to minimize variance and table change a lot to protect my roll if necessary. If I had $1500 at 1/2 I'd be able to keep a low ROR. With my normal style my ROR (and winrate) would be higher.

It may be higher than 5% but I'm just throwing a number out there. Maybe it's 10%.

At the end of the day, a talented player shouldn't short buy 1/2 as long as they can replenish their bankroll if they bust it.

5% probably isn't far off, I'd guess it's in the 5-10% range, assuming cuse doesn't LAG it up as much as he does with a bigger BR

I agree

The key is making sure that you are in fact one of the top players in your games. I'm basing my advice on you being a great player, but obviously I have no idea having never seen any of your hands or anything.

I was just sort of throwing it out there. I'd say if you are up $600 and have $900 in play, and a villain covers you (or you cover any villain who is $900+ deep regardless of your stack), you should table change to protect your roll. If you aren't as confident in your skill or your edge on the table, you could quit/change tables to protect your roll as soon as you double up. Just keep in mind if you're sitting with $600+ and nobody else is over ~$300, you effectively only have $300 in play.

That's correct. The odds that you're playing your A game after losing 2 buyins as a less experienced player are pretty low, and it's just not worth it. Manage the losses and protect your bankroll.

You're welcome, good luck!

Thanks guys - yeah, I wouldn't LAG it up the same way. I'd apply pressure on smaller pots and try to create a smoother ride. Maybe this is me being pretty arrogant, but I'm confident that I can find 1/2 lineups that I could be profitable playing blind at this point, until I face a raise.

Obviously it wouldn't be optimal but the point is that there is enough money to be won with sustained small aggression that I am very confident that if I had to, I could minimize swings in those games.

I agree 10% is much more reasonable, just thought under 5% was highly unlikely

March Part 2 – Results for March 26-31: “I built it from ground up. / I started out with my basement and builded my house up. / I’m rich off opportunity, money gon’ pile up.”


Thursday, March 26

There’s not too much to share from this session. I ran poorly, getting coolered a couple of times, but hung in there and got a decent result out of it.

Results: -$50 in 8 hours, 6 minutes


Saturday, March 28

I started out in $1/3 and quickly got into $2/5.

Results: $0 in 4 minutes at $1/3

Hand No. 1

I limp 55 UTG. There are two more limps and the SB raises to $25. I call and the button calls.

Flop ($81): J52

We’re about $700-750 effective. The SB fires $50. I make it $170. He ships it in for $725, and I snap call.

Turn ($1,531): Q

River ($1,531): J

He proudly shows J8 and I quickly table the winner.

From there I proceed to get 2 outed for $900, then get thin value from a TAG. For my next trick, I catch an AQx flop with AK in a 3bet pot against QQ, but I do lose the minimum by never raising post-flop.

Results: +$1,290 in 8 hours, 57 minutes at $2/5


Sunday, March 29

I start out in a $1/3 game, and nothing too exciting happens.

Results: +$36 in 49 minutes at $1/3

Hand No. 2

I’ve got two whales on my right. The first one limps and the second one makes it $15. I pop it to $45 with AK. The BB cold calls, the limper tanks and makes it $145. The second whale snap calls. I 4-bet to $400. The BB tank folds and I see either a 9 or a T flash on the way into the muck – likely a pocket pair. The first whale tanks and calls, the second whale tanks and calls.

Flop ($1,245): 723

The limper jams about $600, the whale snap calls for about $550, and I tank and call off my last $480.

The first whale tables QQ. “You’re good right now,” I tell him.

Turn ($2,685): 4

River ($2,685): K

The second whale snap tables KT as I table the winner to ship the $2,700 pot.

Hand No. 3

I’ve barely 3bet in like 12 hours, and when the button makes it $30 over a few limps, I make it $105 from the SB with QQ. It folds to the button and he 4bets to $230 with about $500 behind. I tank and slam it in and he looks disappointed and tank calls. The board runs out K high and MHIG.

I continue to play well and run good, and ship my biggest session to date.



Results: +$3,504 in 14 hours, 21 minutes at $2/5


Monday, March 30

My session gets off to a bad start when I run my table over before they take a stand and someone gets it in with 9T against my KK on a 9 high board with backdoor diamonds. Running diamonds ship him the pot, and I end up stuck.

Hand No. 4

The button straddles, there are two limps and I make it $50 with AQ. A limper calls.

Flop ($120): J92

He checks, I bet $80, he calls.

Turn ($280): 3

He checks, I tank and check with about $600 behind.

River ($280): 5

He bets $140. I tank and call, and MHIG.

Hand No. 5

The whale limps in the CO and I make it $25 on the button with 77. The SB calls and the whale calls.

Flop ($75): Q96

The SB checks, the whale bets $25, I raise to $75. The SB folds, the whale calls.

Turn ($225): 5

The whale bets $100, I tank and call.

River ($425): 3

He jams $405, and I go into the tank. He gives me a speech, I continue tanking.

Whale: “Wanna see a card?”

Dealer: “No.”

Me: “Sure. Should I pick one?”

He nods and I quickly tap one as the dealer is yelling for the floor. He shows me the 6, then turns it back over. The floor scolds us and interrupts the process of me figuring out what the hell is going on. At the ‘Shoe, you’re not allowed to show cards, even heads up in cash games. It’s a stupid rule, and they don’t punish you for it the first time anyway.

I don’t believe he has 66, because I am extremely confident he was weak on the flop. This cancels out all of his missed flush combos, but he’s capable of turning a pair into a bluff. He could have 56, but he could also have any 6x pretty much.

I call, he tells me “Nice call,” and mucks. At the ‘Shoe, I don’t have to show my hand, so nobody knows just how light I was.

Hand No. 6

The button straddles to $15, and a fish raises to $40. The whale calls and I’m in the CO with KQo and make it $140. The fish snap calls and the whale calls.

Flop ($435): K82r

It checks to me and I check.

Turn ($435): 8x

The fish bets $10 and the whale calls. I make it $160, the fish thinks and basically clicks it back to $330. The whale folds and I go into the tank. Finally, I call.

River ($1095): Ax

He jams $505. I tank about 2 minutes and call, and he fires his cards into the muck.



Hand No. 7

There are four limps, the SB completes and I make it $45 in the BB with JJ. There are three calls.

Flop ($190): 632

I bet $120, UTG calls. I’ve never played with him before, but a buddy told me that he’s a whale and a lot of action.

Turn ($430): 4

I check, he bets $200 and I tank and call.

River ($830): 4

I check, he bets $350, I tank and call and he shows A3o. He then racks up and heads to 5/T.

This is probably my fourth hero call of the night. Another grinder at the table gets my attention.

Grinder: “Do you have, ‘Try to bluff me,’ written on your forehead?”

I lift off my hat. “I don’t know, do I?”

Grinder: “You must, they keep trying.”

I smile and shrug.



Results: +$2,073 in 6 hours, 27 minutes at $2/5


Tuesday, March 31

My day starts with another brief $1/3 session..

Results: $0 in 5 minutes at $1/3

I proceed to then just get WHACKED in the $2/5 must move, getting stuck over $1,900 in under an hour. I make top pair against a set in a 3bet pot, make two pair against a weird turned straight, and make two pair against a turned flush against a bluffy aggro.

I then get into the main game and go on a massive heater, and five hours later I’m not only unstuck, but up $500. I just keep making hands and extracting value, before running up the biggest stack I’ve ever had at $2/5 – more than $5,200 in play. Unfortunately, the down side is that I basically break the game and there’s no other $2/5 running.



Results: +$2,595 in 11 hours, 6 minutes at $2/5


Goals for 3/26 to 3/31

[50] Play 75 Hours Live

It wasn't the goal, but it was respectable. I managed my time pretty well in relation to sleeping and being alert and capable enough to play sufficiently well to crush the games. I won't say it was my A game and I was perfectly rested, but I managed it well.

I'm also on a huge heater, and really enjoying it and having fun with everything, so I'm in a good place right now.

[X] Go to the Gym Once

Shocking, I know. I've got a new approach to my health for April, though.

Straight up destroying it, nice job keep it up!

Impressive finish to your March. Congrats on the big upswing.

Thanks pure!

Thanks! I've definitely enjoyed this one after experiencing long periods of negative variance.