Hey guys!

I'm a 27yo amateur £1/£2 live cash game player in London. The games are usually quite deep, with deepstack games frequently being £1k deep and playing a lot like a £2/£5. I've played regularly about 5 days a week for close to 6 months, usually in weekday evening after work and friday night-saturday mornings.

I'm a slightly winning player at these stakes and have accumulated a nice roll so far. I play some online poker too, mainly NL25 zoom but not as much as I'd like to due to the volume I put in online.


The reason I'm doing this blog is for motivation, track my progress in all aspects of my live, hopefully network with some other London grinders and get some feedback on some hands.

Poker goals for June 2015 - June 2016

[] Move up to £2/£5
[] Keep updating this blog with HH and results from each session
[] Work away from the table on my game, analysing my ranges against other regs in the style of Matt Janda.
[] Open looser preflop, as I think I currently play a little too tight.
[] Make less ambitious moves i.e. spew less against whales/call stations (see below!)
[] Really nail down maximising value using bet sizing in these games

I'm a full time bridge engineer, and honestly probably put a bit too much of my life into poker and would like to explore other activities like yoga and go out a bit more (I'm sure a few of us probably have the same issue too). I'm really dedicated to getting better, and looking forward to seeing what happens this year.

Good luck to all!

Played a session today, with a couple of interesting hands.

Hand 1

£1/£2 £750 effective.

Hero is BTN with K :d: J :d:

MP raises to 12, HJ calls, CO calls, I squeeze BTN to 50. MP calls, BTN calls.

Flop JhTh8s Pot £150

MP donks £75, CO calls, I raise to £225, MP folds, CO calls.

Turn JhTh8s Qh Pot £675

CO Checks, I check

River JhTh8s Qh 6s Pot £657

CO checks. I shove £475 into £657. CO tanks for a while and calls with AQss

Summary

Think this is probably one of the worst hands I've played in a while, and not ashamed to say so.

I like the squeeze preflop as the original PFR is quite loose, and people call 3bets so lightly in these kind of games that I think squeezing here for value is fine.

I think raising the flop on this extremely wet board is ok. I think the original PFR and CO can have a lot of flush draws, pairs plus draws so I think raise folding is fine? Interested in comments.

River is prob a blughhhh as the CO feels committed and is prob getting an OK price even though the pot is very big in absolute terms. I think when he checks he absolutely never has a flush either. As a note the CO lost a big £1.8k pot all in preflop AA vs AK (he never showed, but there was a K and Q on the board) so probably not the best time to do this. I'm specifically trying to get a Qx and AJ to fold as I don't think I have any showdown but think just checkign would have been much better and giving up effectively.

Hand 2:

£1/£2 deepstack, £750 effective.

MP limps, CO limps, BTN limps, I complete SB with 65hh BB checks.

Flop 8s 4s 2h Pot £10

I lead £7, only BTN calls who is quite loose preflop, likes to make moves occasionally.

Turn 8s 4s 2h 6c Pot £24

I check, BTN bets £25, I call.

River 8s 4s 2h 6c Tc £75

I check, BTN bets £55. I think for a while and call. BTN shows 97o for rivered straight.

Summary

I think I played this hand OK, when the BTN flats I think his range is fairly capped and only really reps 66 or 86 or 53 which he can occasionally have. I think theres enough flush draws and gutshots in his range on the river to call, and dont think he's ever valuebetting an 8 or T on the river. Interested in thoughts on this one?

I think both hands are misplayed, just because you did put to much money into marginal spots at tables where a tight ABC (with exploiting live poker things like opening to ridiculous amounts) style will make you a) more money and b) is less swingy.

Hand 1:

the 3bet is meh. I would probably 3bet AQ+ and JJ+ .. value, value, value. Yes I think overcalling with KJs is better than 3betting, as we are super deep and should be able to control good flops and get value on great flops.

Hand 2:

meh. Hand is over after checking OTT. I am unsure about the lead. I don`t like it, but I think you have to keep firing, if you decide to lead out here.

Thanks proBono,

Hand 1

I think flatting pre is fine, but think in the games I play people open too wide. I think theres value to squeezing in position with suited broadways that play well post flop.

Hand 2

In retrospect I prob should have check/called flop, even though I have double gutter and bdfd. In live poker I generally have a rule of thumb if the pot is 4 way or more I either give up as people call so wide.

On the turn I think cc is OK as the caller can have all kinds of hands, and I think a good percentage of the time I'm ahead here with the caller having 2nd pair (on the flop), flush draws and the like. I think barrelling is OK too but think I have enough SD value with the 6.

Hand 1, depends on Villain, was that big AA vs AK hand before? Sounds like he's the type who can't find a fold button no matter what.

A button raise could look suspicious to them so they don't put you in AA or KK.

And yeah, checking river would be best, donks aren't folding top pair.

subbed, glgl

gl man, subbed!

Always happy to see more London grinders in here! GL!

Today went decent, was reasonably card dead (as often happens in Live Poker) and think I played pretty well. Games were OK, I got the last train which is typically when they get much better (unfortunately I have work next day ) Just posting a couple of hands that need a bit of analysis to get some conversation going and to remind me to review later on.

Buyin: £1200
Cashed Out: £1324

Roll: £10305.50

Hand 1

£1/£2 £400 effective. BTN is a fairly aggressive TAG who can make moves, and hands like JTo UTG and is capable of squeezing.

I raise UTG+2 to 10 with AQ. MP2 calls, MP1 calls, CO calls. BTN 3bets to 55. Folds to me, I 4bet to 125. BB ships it in for about £400 and I fold.

Summary : I think folding this is OK. I think there's some EV in making the 4bet as it only needs to work about 55% of the time but the edge is thin and is obviously a reasonably high variance play. I think its fine just to let it go as I'm not sacrificing a ton of EV and theres so many glorious spots in live poker. I think calling is OK but I don't like calling with offsuit broadways OOP that are bluffcatchers until the river, maybe thats what some of you would do instead? Doing this play definitely broke my goal of trying to just play more ABC spots and taking the easy money, building up a bankroll.

Hand 2

£1/£2 £700 effective. CO is a whale.

I open J J UTG to 10, only CO flats.

Flop: J T 8 :diamond. Pot £23

I check, CO bets £15, I CR to £50, whale flats.

Turn: J T 8 . 3 Pot £123

I sigh, and cbet £75, whale folds.

Summary Really gross turn especially as I block all the top pair combos, interested in knowing what the best line to take here is? My default is just bet fold turn and river but maybe theres more creative lines to take? Help appreciated! I think check raising the flop is the best play as I need to build a pot, and think this is a board the IP player will stab a lot with all kinds of flush draws, gutshots and middle pairs to protect and the like as I block so many top pair combos - again line check would be handy!


GL and run good all !

Hand 3

(From different day)

£2/£5 £1000 effective. BB is a very aggressive 3better, 3bets any offsuit ace, broadways and other kinds of bs.

I open BTN to 15 with J 9 , BB 3bets to £50 I call

Flop: Q T 3 Pot £100

BB checks, I cb £65, BB calls

Turn: Q T 3 4 £230

BB checks, I bet £150, BB calls.

River: Q T 3 4 2 £550.

BB checks, I tank...

[I]Summary/] Good triple barrel spot? I think the BB is fairly capped here and has a ton QJ, KQ type stuff I think an overbet on what was a rainbow flop would get through. Unfortunately I checked it back like a complete p*ssy and he showed QJo, good lesson in if you're going to bet the turn you're going to have to shove the river. My argument at the time was if the BDFD gets there I can bluff more gutshots and straight draws but in reality this is not a balanced player and he is absolutely capped at KQ here.

Quick update! Today went pretty badly as far as winnings concerned, but think I played well. Was on a good DS with two whales, unfortunately couldn't get a piece. Saw a ridic 3k pot with 54ss vs 88 vs JTss AI on turn on Qs8s2s 7h, not sure how the reg calls it off with 54ss. To be honest its kind of comforting how some of the biggest winners in these games make terrible mistakes like these in deep games.

Buyin: £1500
Cash out: £930

Hand 1

£1/£2 £400 effective. SB is same TAG as last time, squeezing and 3betting a lot as per usual.

I open Q Q UTG+2 to £10, he 3b to £50 in SB, I 4bet to £125, he ships it for £400. He shows up with kings, not too much to say about this one. Against a lot of players I'd 100% flat this or even fold against certain people, but against a good aggy reg with this history I'm getting this in all day. Not a good start still though.

Hand 2

£1/£2 Deepstack £600 effective. CO is spanish reg who is pretty loose pre and can barrel effectively, not the most aggro of all regs though.

Folds to CO who raises to 12, I flat T 9 on the button HU.

Flop 8 3 3 Pot £27

CO bets £20, I flat.

Turn 8 3 3 J Pot £57

CO bets £40, I raise to £120 and CO folds.

Summary Think I played this fine with some decent if not great equity on a dryish board, tbh I dont rep much on the flop but I don't think the CO has much in his range either.

good luck man will be following