Hey everyone,

My name is Joe and I live in Cincinnati, Ohio. I am 22 and I just graduated from college in May. I have a full time job for a decent company and make a decent salary but I LOVE poker. My job is pretty boring so far so about half the time I am on the internet studying poker or reading about other people's experiences with it.

I mostly play live 1/2NL at the casino in Cincinnati. I play some online but don't really manage my online BR. I usually just play a $20-$50 MTT every once in a while for fun or play the 5 cent tables just to pass some time.

My poker history thus far is pretty brief. I turned 21 last summer while working as an intern in Columbus. I always liked watching poker on TV and playing the occasional home game in college with my friends, which I usually dominated, so I wanted to try out the real thing. In my first session, in my first hour, I doubled up after flopping the nuts and then lost my whole stack a few hands later on a terrible play. I had AA and there was a raise to $8 in front of me, I reraised to~$25 and got one caller. The flop came 962 rainbow. I thought I was made so I immediately announced all in (for ~375 into a 60 pot!). The guy snap calls and shows pocket 99. Needless to say, I did not catch on the turn or river.

So in my first hour of real poker I had a huge high, a huge low, and a crashing realization that even though I could beat my friends for $20 I had no idea what I was doing. I quickly bought and read a couple books and learned the basics. Most importantly, I learned I might want to get a bit more patient . So, I tightened up, and tried to not get too excited anymore.

Over the next couple months I played probably 15-20 hours a week and made around $500. Then school started again and I barely played during the fall semester. It was about an hour drive to the casino and I didn't feel like making it. Over winter break I started going and did really well over a short period of time(+$1000), so when the spring semester started back up I still tried to go about once per week. I was only playing about 8-10 hours a week, maybe, but for about three months I was on a ridiculous downswing (-$2000). I got beat by so many rivers so often that I couldn't believe it! At one point I lost 4 times in a row when i went all in and each time I was ahead going into the river. I started to question my skills and thought about quitting poker altogether. That only lasted for about 3 weeks and I had to go try again. (BTW, we are up to after I graduated and started my job.) In 2 weeks and about 50 hours I was running like God and was up about $1600 over the 2 weeks. Since then, I am down about $400 over my last 40 hours or so.

I just want to tell my story as an average person trying to get better at poker. I have the analytical skills and I am pretty good at reading people and picking up tells. My biggest issue is by far the emotional side of poker. I know that I get too high after a big hand and too low after a bad hand or session. I get too attached to a good hand and make calls when I "know I am beat". In the past couple weeks I have figured out EXACTLY what my opponent is holding and still called and lost a couple of times.

I'll take any advice I can get, whether about a hand I post, how to control my emotions better, or any general advice.

If you kept track, I'm up about $1000 in live play. Let's see where it goes from here. Hopefully you follow my story

Realize that 2K downswings are more or less "normal". As tough as it is, when you get it in good, you need to realize that anything that happens after that is irrelevant. Biggest piece of advice anyone could give you is build up a support system where you talk over hands with players that are better than you. Post constantly in the strategy sections. Use 2+2 to your advantage. GL and make some money

The 1/2 game at Cincinnati Jack is pretty soft but the higher caps in Columbus make it a much better option. You need a bigger bankroll to have long term success at 1/2. I would advise putting $500 on bovada and start at 25nl. This game is very similar to live play. Build your BR there to at least 5k. At that point, if you are making more than $25 an hour avg, stay playing online and move up stakes. If not, take it out and play live 1/2. Don't play live tournaments unless it is a big value once in a while deal. GL. I live fifteen minutes from Jack. PM if you have any questions.

I agree I would rather play at Columbus. I go to Jack cause its closer. I'm about to move to Blue Ash area so I am hoping to start playing more.

Thanks for the advice on online. I have never really taken online seriously up to this point but I will make a deposit and stick to the 25NL game. How much of a bankroll do you think I would have to have for 1/2 live? I haven't ever actually set aside a bankroll.

Thanks for the advice. I'll definitely post hands going forward.

I would go with $4k. Pretty standard advice. You can go with less but it will impact your play negatively. It is so much easier to play correctly when you are fully rolled.

I played the other night and lost my $200 buy in but it was a ridiculous night. In my first 3 hours I was up about $750. Then, I doubled someone up that called a $12 preflop raise with 39o. From then on I got rivered twice and probably gave away $100 based purely on tilt.

The last hand I played seemed like an "ok" play at the time but the more I think about it I should maybe have let it go much sooner. I got dealt AKspades as the BB. There was a raise to 15, then 2 calls, then the SB raised to 40. The SB had been playing like a crazy person for 2 hours. He was bluffing frequently and playing with trash. I reraised to 100. I figured the 2 callers would fold because the only hands they would call the 100 with they would have already raised with. The 2 callers did fold. The SB just called. I thought this was weird and started having doubts. I thought with AA or KK he would shove. He might call with QQ, maybe JJ but would also probably fold those hands to my big reraise. Anything TT or lower I assumed would be a fold. So I figure QQ/JJ or AK/AQs The flop was a rainbow T72, with one spade. The SB immediately shoved for 220.

My first thought was he had AK/AQ and was trying to buy the hand (again, he had tried this many times, and didn't seem smart enough to use those hands as a set up for this one.)

So I'm basically getting 2 to 1, so I need a 33% chance to win to call. I figure I have 3 Aces, 3 kings, and a backdoor flush. The 6 outs give me 24%, and the backdoor flush is another 4%. So I have 28% chance. I asked the guy if he had it and he said "I'm way ahead", and "I'll show you". When he said these things I had to put a decent weight on AK/AQ. I called and the turn and river didn't help me. He showed JJ.

Was my logic completely off? Should I not make the gap from 28% to 33% based on bluff chances? I still think in that situation (before I know he is ahead), that against that type of player, it is probably a profitable play, but maybe not by much. Should I just not risk that much money for such a close call?


Also, a general question about my night as a whole. I bought in for 200, ran to 950, and then lost my whole damn stack. Should I set up a system so that if I get up big, and then start losing I should get up to gaurantee a good session? Or should I just view it all as one big game and not worry about a big in-session swing like that?

Lots of stuff here ...

1) I love playing 2/5 at The Jack. Have booked 4 of 6 winning sessions there over that last 2 Summers when visiting King's Island.

2) Don't play 1/2 online .. the skill level is way ahead of 1/2 live. Play more like .05/.10 or similar ... AND TAKE IT SERIOUSLY or don't waste your time. It's not the chips value it's the skill level that you need to figure out online.

3) It's OK to 'cash n dash' so to speak when you win early. I also had the hardest time walking away when I planned on a 5 hour session and was up big after 90 minutes. Winning 3-4 BI at 1-2 is a great day where as winning 7-10 BI is very rare. A big stack at 1-2 puts a target on your back and even though you 'want' the call the 3-9 players come looking for you. On those nights go ahead and use your 'free' money to play some 2/5 for a short time to get a feel for it ... or just go home. Be respectful and play a couple of non-eventful orbits and just get up and go!!

3A) Just remember that because you have chips you don't have to use them. This is cash, not tournament and 'all' AK-type hands don't need to be played. Most cash players will not be bullied by your stack, so I just try to look at what the effective stacks are and adjust my 'exposure' to getting trapped into all-in hands for V shorter stacks.

3B) If you at all find yourself playing differently .. like limping with AA 'to trap' ... then get the heck out of dodge and go home!! This is the first sign of 'lock down' or 'scared money' and it normally ends badly.

Good luck to you in your new job. I like Cincinnati and have a very good friend down there, but he doesn't play poker so ... GL

A couple of things that could help.

Take regular breaks. I take a 20 minute break every 2 hours. I don't smoke so I just go out to a slot machine and play Candy Crush for a few minutes, check facebook, etc. I don't do this at the table so this gives me a poker free break and refreshes my mind.

Realize that when you get deep, you are probably not playing as correctly as when you are 100bb deep. That 97 off from the cutoff facing a raise was a fold when you started your session, but now it is just $12 of your $700 stack. If you are playing vs another $700 stack a call here may be correct, but vs $50-$300 stacks, it is probably not.

As for hit and running or leaving after a certain amount of buyins, I would say no. You should evaluate the table constantly. Have a system in place to gauge the current table. If the table is profitable, stay. If not, leave or change tables.

As for the AK vs JJ hand, it happens. I think preflop, your play was great. On the flop, there is a SPR of 1 remaining so a call off is pretty standard. I think your range here is fine but it is hard to say because live players may do this with KK or AA (strange but it happens a lot especially when they have the high hand promos) Over time, you will make money playing exactly the same way because some of the nitty players will fold JJ on that exact flop with MUTBS. GL

"That 97 off from the cutoff facing a raise was a fold when you started your session, but now it is just $12 of your $700 stack."

That resonates with me significantly, being someone who is also trying to build a bankroll from $1/2. Whenever I make a couple a large wins early in the game and triple/quadruple my buy-in, the hands that I make good money limping in in certain situations now become 12-15 dollar hands where I expect the same results in the late game, especially when I start getting less desirable cards. I will definitely remember this during my future games.