This thread was inspired by reading through WhirlingDervish's 2019 PGC thread.

I am 27 years old, been in a relationship for about 5 years, work from home, etc. My goal is going to be to play 500 hours, and make $10,000 in 2020.

I will post any interesting hand histories that I encounter during that time frame. PLEASE feel free to critique my play, I would love to learn from more experienced players.

This thread is going to be all $1/$2 and $1/$3 games until I reach my goal, and only then would I take shots at $2/5. I have the money to take shots but don't want to dip into my life roll whatsoever once I start establishing my roll at $1/2.

Start: $200
Goal: $10,000

Session 1: $1/2
The first game is really limpy, though people are calling $12-15 raises with speculative hands. Very straightforward game - no real 3b bluffs shown down in the time I was there.

Hand 1: Hero goes into the tank

MP2 ($130) raises to $6
CO($160) calls $6
SB(covers) calls $6
Hero - BB ($200) calls with 47

Flop ($24): 227
Checks around

Turn ($24): 4
SB checks
Hero checks
MP2 bets $20
folds to hero who makes the call

River ($84): K
Hero checks, villain shoves remaining $104, hero goes into the tank with the following thought process:

He's basically doing this with A2 only, or nothing. At this table, I don't think he's going for value with a rivered AK or KQs. I block both 77 and 44, diamond flush draw he could have picked up on turn missed. I don't think he ever does this with 8s-QQ, so I'm coming down to AA (which never raises to $6 at this table), A2, or a whiffed draw. I tanked for about a minute...



Hand 2: Hero gets value

MP2 Limp ($160)
CO Limp ($200ish)
Hero ($330) raises to $18 with AK,
SB ($300) flats (older gentleman, pretty tight so far), everyone else folds.

Flop ($42):
AJ4

SB checks
Hero cbets $22
SB calls $22

Turn ($86): J
SB checks
Hero bets $50
SB calls $50

River ($186): 8
SB checks
Hero thinks for 20 seconds and bets $70.
SB calls $70

This is a spot I've been working on - getting thin value. In the past, I would have checked the river thinking what worse hands will call me, or being afraid of the check-raise. I thought about the action before, and the player I was against (pretty tight, position aware). Also, it's $1/2, most people would be tempted to bet the river OOP to make sure they don't miss value with a boat/trips, so I was essentially targeting a weaker ace. If I got xRaised by this specific player, I think I would have to fold.





Session Results:
11 hours, 49 minutes
+ $318
$26.9/h

Got another session in today, few hands to share.

Hero value owns himself

UTG (Hero, 120 eff) raises to $12 with QQ
MP1 calls , everyone else folds.

Flop ($27):
J34

Hero cbets $17, MP1 calls

Turn ($61): 7

Hero cbets $27
MP1 calls

River ($115): 9

Hero shoves for last $64




Hero goes for thin value on river

Hero in UTG+2 ($330 effective) raises to $12 with KJ
CO calls
BB calls

Flop ($37): JT5

BB checks
Hero bets $12
CO folds
BB raises to $35
Hero calls $35

Turn ($107): 2

BB checks
Hero checks

River ($107): 7
BB checks
Hero bets $35



Session Stats:
Duration: 5 hours, 25 minutes
Result: + $291

Total Stats
Duration: 17 hours, 14 minutes
Result: + $608
Hourly: + $35.25

Played another session, took two coolers an hour in for $400, but got back to a positive night. I'm posting three hands (the last two where I did NOT play them well at all). Overall, I think I had a good night thought-process wise but these last two hands I posted were not along that line...

All $1/3:
Hero tries for the Hero call

HJ ($250) raises to 15
I call in CO ($300eff stack) with KQo
Button calls
SB calls
BB calls

Flop - 5 players ($75): AK8
Checks around

Turn ($75): 3

HJ bets $40
I call $40
Folds around
River ($155): 2( or )

HJ tanks for 20 secs and bets $100
I go into the tank and start thinking through the hand and what makes sense here. The only hands I can see him checking as the PFR in a 5-way pot are AA or KK which doesn't need much protection here, even then I think he'll bet small to get some value. His bet on the turn could have been a combo-draw (QJ, or JT), but since the A is on board I'm not too worried about him having had a P+FD with an ace.




Hero caps his range on turn...does he get punished on the river?


Stacks are $300 effective, I cover

UTG ($300) limps - this guy raaaarely bluffs.
UTG +1 ($240) calls
Hero raises to $15 (should have gone higher) with AT
folds to UTG who calls
UTG +1 calls

Flop ($45): AQ3
UTG donks $15
UTG +1 calls
Hero raises to $55
Both call

Turn ($210): 8
UTG donks $15
UTG+1 calls
Hero...not thinking about how much is in the pot, CALLS (?!?!?!)

River ($255): J
UTG checks
UTG +1 tanks for about 40 seconds...




I played this hand terribly, but need to post this as I plan to learn from this. On the turn, I think I need to raise her, probably shove. I'm ahead of UTGs limp+calling range (he's not doing this with AJ or AQ, and definitely not better). I capped my range horrendously, after showing strength on the flop raise.

I'm gonna learn from this hand, it worked out this time though.


Hero misses a cbet and it costs him...



Hero is the effective stack with around $675.

UTG ($100) limps
UTG+1 ($325) calls - this guy is pretty drunk at this point and limp-calling a lot of hands
HJ calls ($275) calls
Hero (CO) raises to $25 with AJ
UTG calls
UTG+1 calls
HJ calls


Flop ($103): K73 - Dream flop for my range + flush draw!

Checks to hero IP who decides to check. - I think in hindsight this is a board I want to bet almost always. I have been trying to occasionally check my nutflush draws as the PFR, but 4-ways I think this is a mistake.

Turn ($103): 9
Checks to hero, who delay Cbets $60 into $103
UTG shoves his $75
UTG+1 folds
HJ tanks for about 30 seconds and decides to go all in over the top for $240

Hero tanks for a minute. I have the NFD, there's $478 in the middle, I need to call $180 more, so I'm getting 2.7:1 and need 27% equity to call.

Hero decides to make the fold, because I couldn't think of what hand HJ was shoving there that wouldn't lower my equity significantly (Was thinking Kx, a set, etc)



I put myself in this situation by not betting the NFD 4-ways after being the PFR.

Session Stats:
Duration: 4 hours, 12 minutes
Result: + $128

Total Stats
Duration: 21 hours, 27 minutes
Result: + $736
Hourly: + $34.31

GL dude! What is your poker experience/ back story? Which market are you playing in? 20/hr is a very reasonable goal.

Thanks!

So, I started playing poker about 4 years ago, my GF's brother introduced me to Bovada. I was terrible, but having fun. I was playing solely tournaments and managed to luck it into a few decent scores (1000-1400), but had terrible bankroll management skills.

Decided to actually study and read some books, start reviewing my HH, etc. about two years ago. I wasn't a big cash game person, but started really enjoying playing live poker about a year and a half ago, when my GF and I broke up for about and I started traveling the US (East Coast, Miami, TX primarily). I had the best month of my life (poker wise) this past January when I won $14k in the course of 3 weeks of MTT's on Bovada (best score was $3300 I think), but I blew through about $5k of that sports gambling after a few nights out...in Miami of all places, blew through the rest on enjoying myself the 2.5 months I was down on South Beach. Have 0 regrets on that as I had a great time down there with my best friend who lives there.

In live poker specifically, I was winning an unsustainable 22bb/hr for the first 200 hours I was on the East Coast (Sep-early Dec 2018), but I think that was primarily due to playing at the softest casino I'd ever been to (they only have 2 tables going on weeknights). It's a small town of about 5,000 people. Yet, somehow everyone has money but not much poker skill (I had heard from a person I befriended from around there, fellow poker player, that a lot of the folks were into dealing...and I don't mean poker cards).

So I took the money I had earned there down to Miami and enjoyed myself as I mentioned before. Didn't get to play too much poker live in Miami, though I think I was down a couple hundred overall in live poker there - and that's after a $1300 winning session in $1/$2). I wasn't tracking since every trip to the casino was in a not-sober state

Moved back home to >>>Top 10 populated US city<<< about 7 months ago, and made my goal to get 500 hours in 2020 + $20 an hour. Primarily though, I want to continue to get better at cash games live, while managing a BR before taking shots at $2/5 without dipping into my liferoll. This thread is to keep myself accountable, while also getting (hopefully) some feedback on hands over time.

Not much you can do here honestly, you have a half-pot bet left on the river and you should be trying to get value from Jx or even 10-10/88/66 that think you could have bricked the front-door flush draw. And you even block the backdoor flush draw. Anyway, crap runout but you played this just fine imo.

HAND 1: Bad players do this a lot, make weak little min-bets trying to set their own price to see the river. The more you think about how you can play these spots better in the future, the easier they become, and you've done that well here.

HAND 2: It's a tricky spot and I think there are good cases for both checking and betting on the flop. Theoretically I think choosing nut flush draws to check back is good since they have showdown value and don't get as much benefit to folding out other hands as lower flush draws do.

However, this multi-way, surely the showdown value of AJ goes down since we're against so many opponents. Plus, as you said, this specific flop is great for your range and not anyone else's. So I think you're good to bet here, BUT let's not let the fact that the HJ is a brain-dead idiot and kinda f*cked you out of this pot go un-noticed

Best of luck on your goals man. Sounds like you're thinking about poker better than 90% of the players at this stake already! GL GL

Guess I need to change the name of the thread to "$10,000 in profit", since live play won't be here for a while...

Since I last posted in this thread, won a few decent NBA parlays ($3600, $8200), used most of that on investing in companies I think were undervalued after the crash.


Started playing on Ignition again after a long hiatus (on May 1st). Running well so far.

Finished 3rd in a $25k for $2300 on May 2nd.

Played 10k hands of cash (small sample, I know), so far running at:

+$2800 net winnings
+$2100 EV Adjusted

And just finished 1st in the $22 3k on iggy for $1364. Not a bad start to May.

Will update and post some interesting hands from cash later tonight.

Alright, quick update before I go to lake house for the weekend with (hopefully very little) drunk poker!

Since May 2nd, currently up $6,186 between MTT's ($3976) and Cash ($2210).

Played 167 tournaments (~$30 ABI), currently at ROI of 77.5%, while cashing in just under 20% of my tourneys.

Cash game wise, currently at 11,500 hands (I haven't had a solid grind session in last 10 days):
https://imgur.com/a/rKICA0s

I like to track all my data in a Google sheet, where I enter all tourney data + cash data and it summarizes in a little report for me:

https://imgur.com/a/KfptaHg

Overall satisfied with results, blew a solid grand one night by drunkenly playing some slots...yeah lets not do that again!

So a wrapup post for May 2020, which was a great month of poker as well as in my personal life.

Personal life: I got engaged to my gf of 6 years, and enjoyed a nice weekend party w/ some friends/family.

Poker:
MTT: 225 tourneys, ABI $32.56, ROI 38.4% for a profit of $2816
Cash: 13,368 hands, +2787 EV, +1391 net
Total: +$4207 for the month of May

The last 10 days I played a total of ~1400 hands of cash, volume was really really low as I was focused on some work stuff this week and the personal stuff of course. Very happy with a 4k month though, here's hoping the next is just as good!

Some interesting hands:
Beautiful turn...


Punting stacks:



Took a shot at 2/5...not sure in hindsight about this call, but it worked out.



This would have been my biggest pot online...



FYI: BB had 2d2h, interesting line

Pulled out some cash for engagement ring, going to start a new roll at $400 to grind some spins (starting at $7 but will drop down to $2's if I drop to $200). Going to see what I can spin the $400 up to this month - no cash games, no tournaments.