Hey PG&C,

As you can see by the join date, I've been around here reading for a long time. Not posting so much. That goes to my general introverted character. But this is perhaps my biggest weakness in more than one way. I've been entertained and inspired by a lot of threads in here, but maybe haven't gotten all that I could have out of them.

I've been playing poker for a really long time in some form...going back to watching my dad's thursday night poker game when I was like 8. And I have exactly zero poker friends. I've never had the benefit of going over hands with anyone other than a spirited back and forth between the two sides of my own brain. This is one thing I hope to get out of this thread: simply to post hands and benefit from the conversation and feedback.

Learning is the other aspect. Getting to a college level of soccer took a lot of hard work, but that hard work was simply getting out the ball and practicing. If I want to improve in poker I can't simply head to the poker room and play. I've neglected the studying aspect and this has definitely hampered my progress. Over the course of the last 8 years or so I'm certainly a winning player, but that is probably too generous a label. I have kept myself in a little bit of extra money, but not nearly winning enough to afford myself the freedom I hope to have while I am in this transitional period.

I'm a posting novice, so not sure if that intro was as brief as I was planning. Anyway…I've been bouncing back and forth between 1/2 and 2/5. However the 2/5 at Parx is a tough jump to make as the game plays huge. Either way, my level of play probably should dictate that I stay at 1/2 until I see some progress beyond my current ABCness.

If nothing else, though, thanks to the guys with active threads that I constantly follow for entertainment and great info. Perhaps I can contribute a fraction.

Got to Parx around 5 tonight ready to start this thread off well. Got my notes app ready and put my $300 on the table. I was sat at a pretty good table with a good mix of players.

Hand 1
In the first couple orbits I get J8 in the BB. Flop is 886 and it checks around. On an A turn I lead for 10. UTG+2 calls. River 4 and I lead 25, he pretty quickly makes it 70. I think for a minute and muck. He is kind enough to show A8.

Hand 2

200 effective. MP opens 12 and I call in the CO with 33.

Flop: T88dd. He bets 20, I call.

Turn: 9x. check, check.

River: 4. check, check. mhig.

I'm sure this is something less than optimal, but I'm not exactly sure where and how. Do I need to bet turn? Is anything I beat going to call on the river?

Hand 3

I open to 12 with A6dd. CO and BTN call.

Flop: 763r. I lead 20, both call.

Turn: A. I bet 35 and only the BTN calls.

River: T. I bet his last 75ish. He quickly folds.

In this hand, I found myself wondering if this is a situation I can identify as a triple barrel when I don't have it. I didn't really expect a fold here. I def didn't expect a snap fold.



Unfortunately I don't have any other noteworthy hands. I got it all in KK vs. AA and couldn't catch up. I flopped a boat and a guy gave me $300. And on a AJT22 board, I beat KQ with JJ. All in all a nice little session. I hope to be able to have more hands to talk about in the future. Just have to stay away from FPS, which happens sometimes when I think about interesting spots and talking about hands.

6 hours
+460

I'll be at Parx Monday if anyone wants to meet up. They are running a promotion, I think, where they are giving away $1k per hour to the high hand. GL all.

Monday I had a solid lunch at Panera and showed up at Parx around 3pm. The room was absolutely packed. I don't think they were expecting so many people to show up for the promotion. They had to cancel the tournament that night because they didn't have enough dealers. I ended up playing til 5am. Weird session…I don't think I played a single pot over $150 or 200 the whole 14 hours.

After going back down to 1/2 from where I was playing for a short while at 2/5, I expected to have some issues dealing mentally or emotionally with dropping down, but thankfully that hasn't been the case. Getting my ass beat at 2/5 showed that my game badly needs improvement. That combined with this thread helped me focus on how much improvement was needed. Even if nobody replies in this thread, writing down hands has helped me recognize the lack of understanding that I have for my own play.


Hand 1

A new table opened and the 2nd hand I have K3ss on the button. 4 limps and I limp

Flop ($12): K63

CO bets 10, I call.

Turn (32): 8

CO bets 15. I raise to 50 and take it down.


Hand 2

I seat changed to the left of the spewy guy at the table. He opens utg 12. I raised to 35 and he calls.

Flop (73): K63r

He checks, I bet 30 and he calls.

Turn (133): 8x

He checks again and I bet 60. He folds.

Looks like when noting this hand I forgot to note what my hand was. I think I had AK, but what I did write down is that I always struggle with how to adjust my c-betting when in a hand with sticky players. Usually this results in me playing weakly and sub optimally.

Hand 3

Same player opens to 7, I raise to 20 with JJ, sb cold calls and the original raiser calls.

Flop (62): K85

They check to me and I bet 30. The sb calls and the original raiser folds.

Turn (122): K

He checks and I put him in for his last 55. He thinks for about a minute and calls with QQ.

River (232): brick


Hand 4

3 limps and I complete in the sb with Q9

Flop (10): QT4r

Checks to btn who bets 10. I call as well as the bb.

Turn (40): 3

Checks to the button who bets 20. I raise to 65 and the bb cold calls without much thought. Button folds.

River (190): J

Check, Check and his TT is good.

I still think my raise is good because when the button bets the turn into two people, I feel that he has a good Q, but that is usually not enough to call a turn raise at 1/2. And of course after just calling 10 on the flop, the bb could have a wide range of nonsense. I should also note that at the time my image was very solid.

Hand 5

UTG+1 opens to 10, I call on the button with 69ss. The sb and bb call.

Flop (40): 952r

He bets 40. At 1/2 I'm pretty much always reading this as strength. But this guy was one of the more active players at the table. I had just enough doubt to call thinking that a fold is just too weak. Other two players fold.

Turn (120): K

He bets 15. This makes it pretty obvious what he has. This is almost always TT-QQ. However I don't know if this is the kind of guy that will get stubborn. I wasn't willing to find out though and I just called.

River (150): A

He checks and now I have more incentive to get him off his hand. So naturally I check and proceed to hate myself.

He shows TT and wins.

Hand 6

Table breaks and I'm put at a 5 handed table. It's about 4 am now. The villain in this hand is pretty active.

A couple ep limps and I raise the button with 53 to 15. BB and ep call.

Flop (48): 346

ep donks 50. I raise to 125. He thinks for a minute, says I probably have QQ and folds.

That was sorta my session. Never made a big hand and got paid off. I won't complain though as I was never 2nd best in a big pot either. I was happy with the pots I was able to pick up without a made hand. Probably played something like my B game.

Any input is greatly appreciated. I should be back at Parx either Wednesday or Thursday. I start classes in January and since quitting my job in the city I've got nothing but time on my hands.

Won 110 btw.

At parx now...started off pretty hot. Up 400 or so in the first hour and a half. Activate jinx now.

So the doomswitch wasn't quite activated. Though I did end up casing out about 100 less than that which was roughly my high point. One minor mistake with aces, but other than that just a whole bunch of nothing for the rest of my session. Pretty happy with my game since the start of this thread. I'm not forcing anything, which was my big problem. Hand reading still needs vast improvement. I will be starting Applications of No Limit Holdem, which will begin the off the felt work that I mentioned in my opening post.

I also realized that I didn't exactly explain what the thread title meant..good way to start a thread. I'm gonna be starting school soon. I already have an undergrad degree from a few years back, but I'll be going back to take some undergrad classes to fill the prerequisite requirements to apply to med schools for physical therapy. I've got some money saved up though so I can relax for a while. Not forever though as I'll be in school for a few years. I'd much prefer if i could substitute a part time job with heading to the poker room. That is where this thread comes in…some improvements in my game are very necessary in order to be able to rely on my poker game and winnings to keep myself afloat during school. And of course I love poker and will always play in some capacity…and winning is much more fun, after all.

Only had a few interesting hands from my short session yesterday.

Hand 1

The second hand I sit down I get in a hand with the big stack at the table. 2 limps and I raise KK to 12 in the sb, ep calls.

Flop(28): 972r

I bet 20, he raises to 55. In the absence of any other information, you look for indicators of how someone plays. At a 1/2 game, more often than not the big stack at the table will not be a fit or fold type. This at least opens up the possibility that he is capable of making a move. A generalization, to be sure, but something. I call.

Turn (138): 4

I check, he bets 45, I call

River (228): 4

I lead for 125, he thinks for 30 seconds and folds.

I'm not really sure about this hand. I later learned that he was a pretty active player and the most likely player at the table to make big bluffs. But before I learned this, how should this be played to maximize value. Is the river bet just an outright mistake since he may only have either a set or air?


Hand 2

The next orbit I play a hand with the same villain. I raise to 12 with 9Tcc from the co, and the villain calls from the bb.

Flop (27): T62cc

Villain donks 20. I'm not sure if a raise or call is more appropriate here. I call.

Turn (67): 8x

He checks and I bet 35. He doesn't take too long before raising to 145. I really haven't seen enough of this guy to be able to correlate raise sizes with hand strength. But I feel like theres still a pretty good chance my pair is good. That along with my gutshot and flush draw mean Im obvi never folding. I still think for a little bit to not give him any information about the strength of my hand. I call.

River (357): Qx

He leads for 100. This is relatively small compared to pot size. But at 1/2 this is still a huge bet. A huge bet in terms of how I can consider how he feels about the bet. I'll just be honest and say I wasn't sure what hand to put him on. After the last hand we played though and my basic reads about the type of plays he may be capable of, I at least had a decent amount of air in his range. Whatever I thought, I took about a minute and then called. He said "you're good" and showed K7dd. What would I have done if he shoved the river?


Hand 3

MP raises to 10 over 1 limp. I raise to 35 on the btn with KK and mp calls.

Flop (75): A73dd

He checks to me and I bet 35. He doesn't take that long and calls.

I'm not necessarily always putting him on an A here. In fact, I remember hoping no diamond came on the turn. It was not a diamond...

Turn (145): Ks

Now I'm saying in my head, "how can he not have an ace, obvi". He checks to me and I bet 90 trying not to be too much knowing how scared most 1/2 players are with 1 pair. He shows me the Ace of hearts and folds and I vomit in my hat.

I left after about 5.5 hours +$294.

If anyones got any insight into any of these hands, I'll gladly listen. Should be back at Parx this weekend. See ya out there.

I spent Friday and Saturday at Parx and ended up with a couple more small winning sessions. Perhaps its my playing style or my personality in general, but i don't really ever seem to have any big winning sessions. However having no losing sessions since the start of this thread is not exactly something to complain about. I definitely made plenty of mistakes though, so plugging those leaks will lead to bigger wins. So lets focus on that.

I can't be positive because of the small sample size of live play, but I think I ran into trouble this weekend playing as if it was a Tuesday or a Wednesday game. My raises were getting 2, 3, or 4 callers, as opposed to the 1 or 2 I'd get during the week. This will obviously decrease the effectiveness of my c-bets. And of course these c-bets are bigger in a pot with more callers. So I basically just decided to tighten up and play pretty ABC. Although on occasion something came over me in certain spots where aggression just seemed appropriate…with varying degrees of success. Ended up the weekend +341.


Spew

First couple orbits of a new game that opened, 1 mp limp, the HJ makes it 12, the CO calls, I make it 35 to go on the button with A3dd. The HJ and CO call.

Flop (110): A82cc

Checks to me and I check as well. I think I was so ready to cbet and take it down with air on the flop as is most likely to happen here, that I had a seizure when I actually flopped an A and checked due to said seizure.

Turn (110): J

HJ checks, CO bets 30. I'm obviously not folding, and I think I should read this small bet as weak. I decided to call as I didn't see the value in raising. It would protect my hand, but what else? Small raise? Would a bigger raise look so full of **** that I'd get called light? HJ folds.

River (170): 7

CO leads for 80. Whatever the case was on the turn, this is a almost always a strong hand. As is often the case though, one mistake leads to another. I call and get showed 9T for a rivered straight.



Nice to get lucky

2 limps and I raise to 15 on the button with JTss. Both blinds and both limpers call.

Flop (75): K86ss

Checks to me and I continue 45. Only the bb calls.

Turn (165): Qx

BB checks. I bet 110 and he relatively quickly puts me all in for my last 80, I call and I'm bailed out by…

River (545): 9

He showed 66 as the dealer was burning and turning. One thing I'm wondering is what should my play be on the turn if I don't pick up the straight draw.


More spew?

I raise to 15 from mp over one limper with 7Thh. Button only calls.

Flop (35): Q86dd

I lead 20 and the button calls.

Turn (75): 6d

I lead for 35 and get another pretty quick call.

River (145): Ax

I lead for 65. He thinks for a while and finally calls with the king high flush. My standard reaction is to beat myself up for spewing, but I'm not sure. I thought the paired board, the flush, and the river A made it a pretty good board to get my opponent to fold a lot of hands. Now I doubt the villain here is folding really ever, but regardless I think maybe a slightly larger bet is in order here. Maybe 80 or 90. Not sure it matters actually.


I really look forward to sitting down at 2/5 again, but I def need some more time at 1/2. Even though nobody seems to be reading this thread it has really helped me pay more attention at the table and not go on auto-pilot. Though I'd like to expand the conversation from just me and myself to maybe include another human being. Anyway…good luck at the tables.

Matt

I spent Thursday-Saturday at Parx and it was quite a weird few days. I started off with my biggest winning day since the start of this thread. +1194. Just a really good table with a couple of really inexperience players willing to bluff big and often and lose a bunch of money. Then the next two days I proceeded to have two wins under 100. One of which was a whopping $9. Overall, it was obviously a nice weekend, but super frustrating.

If I can figure it out, I'm gonna change the title of this thread to more accurately show what I'm trying to do. I'm hoping to set myself up to reliably make some money while I'm in school. So I am eyeing $25/hr and 30 hours/week. Which would total $9,000 by the start of February, which is about when classes start. I know it's all a small sample size to rely upon, but its a start and at the very least I will have banked some cash to give me a cushion if it all goes to **** after that.

So here are the numbers in the few weeks since the start of the thread.

Total hours: 64.5

Total profit: $2493

Hourly: $38.7/hr


So the hourly rate is on track(obviously in no small part due to one giant outlier session), but the hours are not. I'm usually going down to Parx for one or two days during the week and then the weekend. The win streak is still going which feels nice, but is not everything.

Lets keep it goin!


Matt

Whats up guys. Only got in a couple sessions at Parx this past weekend. One of which included my first losing session this month. What made that more of a bummer is that it was at 2/5 instead of 1/2. But overall it was still a plus weekend.

So I showed up Friday looking for a 2/5 game. They were just about to call a new game and I took my seat in the 1 spot. I don't know why but I like the 1 and 9 seats. I am not really a fan of starting new games. Not sure, but I like to show up when there is already a dynamic going on…guys already on tilt, guys stuck a bunch, drunk people. I feel like people with bad tendencies sit down and are capable of playing their best game right off the bat. Of course still plenty of value to be had. Anyway, I started up a bit. Taking small pots here and there. Played for about 5 hours and was only up 100 or so and then got in a cooler on an AK5 board and my AK was no good against KK. Even managed to turn a flush draw but couldn't catch up. I was starving so I decided to get up and go get dinner. Afterward, I was pretty tired actually so I just called it a day.

I got up the next day and could have just licked my wounds and hopped in a 1/2 game, but I had committed mentally to a 2 buying go at 2/5(provided that I found myself playing my game and not scared due to the jump). I wasn't so I found a 2/5 game and things right off the bat went my way. Then doubled up big set over set. I dropped a couple hundred back unfortunately, then after 6 hours called it a day +1123.

I am still not totally rolled for 2/5. But I'm not drastically under rolled either. See how I feel next time I get to Parx. Probably Friday after Thanksgiving. Been staying at the Extended Stay near the poker room. Its the cheapest around at $60, but still a bummer to put that up 1 or 2 times a week. My expenses are relatively low though so I don't mind. Plus its nice to feel like I'm getting away. Is that lame?


Total Hours: 75.75

Total Profit: $3,916

Hourly: $51.69/hr

My hourly goal of $25 is still in hand. But I started off hot and its a very small sample size and that could go away really quickly. More hours are in order and I will look to do that…especially if I can play 2/5 consistently and have good enough results to justify a hotel room more often.



See ya out there.

Matt

following, gl man!

Subbed, keep it up man!

Wow, great to know people are reading. Thanks for chiming in, guys.

Well it was a good weekend.

Woke up the morning after Thanksgiving at my dad's place. All that family time made was more than enough and I was ready to get back to the felt and continue my good month…and end it on a good note. Got down near Parx and then had myself a good lunch…not too much tho…thats a problem for me by the way. Eating waaayyyy too much at once.

Unfortunately since 2/5 is less comfortable for me than 1/2, I keep forgetting to take notes. Some sessions I forgot to record a single hand. Right off the bat things went well. Perhaps that also contributed to my lack of notes. It came easily and I can't recall any tough spots. Admittedly I am purposely playing a very low variance style and staying away from marginal situations. After a quick 3.5 hours I was +513 and decided to go check in the hotel and relax for a minute and get dinner.

So after a month of getting a room down there 1-2 nights/week, I walk in without a reservation and the cute Hispanic girl at the desk recognizes me and says, "I didn't see your name on the reservation list." There has never been a word between us not related to the business of checking in and out so this was a most welcome surprise.

I return to the poker room a little later and play another relatively short session of 5.5 hours. I'd like to say that my session length is not related to my profit/loss, but that just isn't true. Especially when I am transitioning between 1/2 and 2/5, I am happy to lock up my win, get a bite to eat, and come back for a fresh start. I go back to my hotel room that night up a tidy 1232.

I get to Parx the next day pretty early. Around noon. It was a pretty good table and this hand came up pretty early. A few limps and I limp on the button with 45. Flop is A34. Checks to me and I bet 20, the small blind raises to 55 and I call ready to fold the turn when I miss. Turn, however, is a 2. He leads for 100. I don't like too much histrionics, but I figure this had to be a tank for me, but I eventually just call with my straight. River is a T, and he thinks for 10 seconds or so and checks. I figure I'm really not supposed to have a 5 here so I shove for around 350. He folds and I wonder how bad my shove is.

My other hand I noted during the session, is a situation I think is important to my future success.

There are a couple limps and I raise to 25 with KJ on the CO, button calls as well as the EP limp.

Flop($87): A93

He checks, I bet 45, the button folds, and EP calls.

Turn($177): 2

He checks, I bet 85 and he calls.

River($347): A

He checks and I check. I really did not think he would continue on the turn with a spade draw. I thought an A seemed most likely. Probably a weak A, but now trips nonetheless. Also if he has spades then I have showdown value with K high. I didn't think I got two calls from 2nd pair or worse. And obviously any move I make here will cost more.

He showed 94. Should I be able to put a hand like this in his range?

I finished that session up a disappointing 202. It was disappointing as it was another relatively simple session and things went my way for the most part.

I took another break a little disheartened, but feeling good overall. I have no notes from my evening session Saturday, but the only note that matters is +1090.

Without realizing it, I ended the weekend up 3k. I'd say my second biggest couple days of playing poker with the exception of one weekend I went to Vegas when I was much younger and decided if I won, I was just gonna keep playing higher. I started that weekend playing 1/2 and was playing 5/10 by the end and had I think a 5k weekend. Anyway…this was nice.

This also completes my first month since starting this blog. And deez the results:



Total Hours: 94

Total Profit: $6,953

Hourly: $73.97


Well I can't really complain about anything. All I can say is that it's a truly tiny sample size and at 2/5 this is nothing and can disappear quickly. But more importantly I need to show myself this is something I can rely on. School will start in a couple months and I'd like to be able to rely on it. I will also probably be putting in some volunteer hours at a physical therapy practice, so not dumping hours at a job would be ideal.

Let's keep it goin.

Good luck to all


Matt

This Sunday I am heading to Iceland for a week with my roommate from college. We are flying out of Dulles in VA so I figured I'd stop by this Maryland Live place and see what all the hubbub is about. Anyone have hotel recommendations? I'd prefer to keep costs low, but it's not priority #1. Any other restaurant recommendations or anything are welcomed. Thanks.

Well that's the biggest pot I've ever won.

December is almost over and I've got a months worth of sessions to update. Not really a month's worth though. I went to Iceland for a week and also spent a few days at my buddy's place in VA. Only got in a short session at MD Live before my trip. Then was the holidays. And celebrating both hanukkah and xmas means less poker time.

If I can freakin remember how to post pics, I'll get a few Iceland ones in here.

Only played 8 sessions this month and my notes at 2/5 continue to suck. The only hand I can report actually happened last night and I'm pretty sure it's my biggest pot ever.

Preflop: UTG raises to $25, two MP calls, and I call the btn with 64. This player won a huge pot earlier with aces where he raised pre flop and continued to fire very big even in the face of a very scary board. He also did not raise very often. I thought those two things made it a nice opportunity. Since moving up to 2/5, I have been playing as tight as is humanly possible. A call like this would never happen in the last couple months, but I had built my stack to over $1k and wanted to open up a little. So obviously the flop is…

Flop(107): 578 Dat aint bad.

Effective stacks are $1k

Preflop raiser continues 50. MP calls. I didn't want to just call here. And with one caller, I thought raising to 150 would look very strong. I thought maybe over betting would be a good option so I raised to 250. Immediately after though I expect a snap fold from the villain, but for some reason he doesn't. To my surprise, he takes about a minute and calls. MP folds.

Turn(657): K

He checks. He has about 650 left. I have slightly more. I took a good minute sizing my bet here. I noticed one guy not in the hand start to make hand gestures and exasperated noises as I took my time. I decided on 400 which is too much probably. 300 or 350 is probably better. The way I play, I really don't get these calls very often so I wasn't expecting to, but I guess I really made it look bluffy(or semi bluffy). But more likely this guy just got stubborn with aces. He took a few minutes and put his head in his hands and grumbled. Then called.

River(1457): K

My heart pretty much sank. If he didn't have aces, a set was second most likely. But it didn't really matter as all the month was basically in already. When he doesn't immediately put his last 250 in though, i can relax. He checks, I put him in and he calls quickly and asks me if I have a set. I say straight and he is pretty shocked. Scoop.

So about $2k. I can't be sure, but I'll go ahead and say it's the biggest pot I've won.


Ended up being +1667 on the day.


December:

Hours: 39.75

Profit: $2,412

Rate: $60.68/hr



Since the start of the thread in November:

Hours: 133.75

Profit(Goal-9k): $9,365

Rate(Goal-25): $70.02


I have to be happy with this. Ive never really had this type of consistent success. I'm 20/23 since I started this thread. I have to say that despite the lack of replies in my thread, just writing it all down has made me more accountable…at least thats my best guess. I have been more focused and disciplined at the table, which is vital when playing as tight as I am.

I have to say though, right before this last session was the first session where I totally lost it. I didn't go crazy, but I got to loose and passive for the first time. Not crazy monkey tilt, in fact nobody at the table would have even noticed. So I'm happy that was the only time and that I was able to recover in my last session.


Both of my goals are in hand at the moment. In the past I have unfortunately gotten complacent after short bursts of success. Hopefully noting it here and recognizing(and maybe even some personal growth and experience) will fend off the complacency this time. It shouldn't be hard though…I read threads here by people with real sustained success, as opposed to my brief nonsense here.

So I've got a little less than a month left until school starts and i will need to keep the winning going. I'll play a couple more sessions before new year's eve at Parx and then it's right back at it in the new year.

Good luck to everyone.

A couple more sessions in the books. Parx was packed the last few days before new years. Played one session with a dude who must have dropped at least $10k over 5 or 6 hours. I managed to only get a whopping few hundred.

12/29: +815

12/30: +739



December Stats:


Hours: 57.25

Profit: $3,966

Rate: $69.28/hr


Good luck to everyone in the new year!

-Matt