Good session tonight. Only played for three hours, and I was tired. I like to have an active day, eat healthily, and have some mental down time before I play live. I think it, along with my breathing routine, but my brain in the best possible condition to be disciplined. But if it’s the only day that I’m active, I’m probably just wearing myself out.

Thankfully, I’m headed to the beach for ten days of activity, sleep, and poker study. Every time I play live it’s reiterated to me how much money I’m losing because I’m not trying to advance my knowledge very much. This next week will either be the jumpstart to more robust studying, or at least a boost to what I know now.

The live game has officially slowed down.

I can keep track of pot sizes, but it’s not yet automatic.

I did the hand ranging I needed to do.

Bet sizing was pretty good...I was getting a lot of “good bet” and folds, I did want some calls but I’m not in complete control of that.

Kept my head, didn’t level myself.

Stood up when the run good ended and locked in a profit.

What mistakes did I make? Probably many, def all that stuff I don’t even know about.

I’m thinking about all the things I still need to learn, and it all looks like $$$ to me. If I don’t follow through, it will be one of the biggest missed opportunities in my life.

What do you make of a player like this?

White guy in his early 40s, soft, dressed in a t-shirt. If he wasn’t playing poker I could see him playing WoW way too seriously. Prolly on the spectrum, as they say. Played a lot of hands, did a lot of calling pre-, but seemed to have the goods at showdown.

Except- he limped in in early position, then flat called a three bet with 32s. So...I don’t think he’s that silly all the time, but how do you range someone like that?

At the beach, baby! Sunned, swam, peed in the ocean.

Read a bit, reviewed a couple hands in the LLSNL forum. Will likely play a bit online tonight.

Will definitely pee in the ocean tomorrow.

Forgot how brain dead I am at the beach. Did some reading and reviewed some hands in the strat fora, played two frustrating sessions, got in a lot of spots where I was completely lost. Forgot to note the hands so I’ll have to dig through them later.

Riding waves is the best exercise. I’m busto for shark teeth this year. OMC’s and their wives are the shipitholla ballers in the shark teeth game, I’m still just a fish. The bikini scenery is very strong this year.

Either the waves were very rough today or I’m getting too old to ride them. Came out of the water with my trick knee complaining, my back aching and a brush burn.

Haven’t had a winning online session this vacation, but I played better last night at least. I’m down to five-ish bi’s online, I’m going to have to stop practicing and bear down.

Still on the schneid wrt shark teeth. Haven’t even found a piece of sea glass or a nice shell yet. Variance is ridiculous in the beach combing game.

Vacation is officially over. I ended up tan and tired. I finally found a couple teeth and a sea urchin quill, which looks like those straight pins you find in new shirts, and are a cool pink and purple.

My dad told me he’s proud of me, which was nice. Spent the week with my youngest daughter, the longest the two of have spent together without her sister and mom. I told her how proud I am of her.

Poker: zero winning online sessions, reviewed maybe five strat threads all week, and read about ten pages, much of it I didn’t really grasp. Back to live play on Saturday.

2+2 is turning into a huge time suck. This site is barely a strat forum anymore.

Reviewed some strat threads. Not sure if I’m making any correct decisions, or even know if the OP is making mistakes or not, but I enjoy ready others’ responses and seeing how it jibes with logic and what I do know.

Probably won’t do any other poker related stuff tonight, other than watching some vlogs, which is mostly just entertainment. I’ve been running around all day and I’m pretty tired.

But, now that my vacations over, I’ve got a long stretch of regular live play and the biggest roll I’ve ever had. Can’t wait to play this weekend. I’m going to try to get into a rhythm of reading, studying hands, strat ONLY pods, and online practice, just a little each night and try to build on it.

And I’ve decided Im going to push myself to get better. Mother Cannabis reminded me how I’ve NEVER gone for broke, not in any of my other hobbies, not professionally, not in sports, even though I lived and breathed football as a kid.

I have some knowledge, I have some potential. I want, just once, to realize my potential.

Tried to read tonight, too tired to get much out of it. I did listen to the new episode of the Just Hands pod.

Had a short, good, online session tonight. Played mostly by feel. I did some rudimentary hand ranging, but a lot of hands were dictated more by pot odds and other factors.

I imagine it’s like that a lot of the time. I don’t necessarily have to range every opponents hand every time. Who knows? I do know I have pretty good instincts regarding where I’m at in a hand.

I got a bluff through, and knew what I was trying to rep, wasn’t super clear what I expected to fold. There were four to a straight by the river, I felt confident my opp hadn’t hit it.

Tomorrow Ima try to do some hand review.

Now, I’m going to smoke some triangle kush and think some poker. Prices here are going up while THC levels are going down. The humanity!

I’m not sure if it means I’m in better health, or just getting older, but I was comfortable in my jeans after work- I didn’t need to change into shorts to avoid being overheated. That may seem like a small milestone but I’m an old man, I’ll take anything I can get at this point.

Reviewed some strat threads, listened to some good strategy podcasts. Had a short online session ending in me getting stacked when I gii pre with kings and ran into pocket aces. Flop was KAx, good game. So I got coolered twice in one hand lol. Villian limp 3! out of position and at the time I felt pretty confident because I’d squeezed him twice in the past ten hands or so, and I thought he might be raising a bit light out of frustration. Nope.

I’ve been thinking about how I’m constantly trying to supplant my instincts and experience with more GTO play. I’m not sure that’s entirely the best path. I do believe I have a pretty good ‘feel’ for where I am in a hand most times. Perhaps I shouldn’t be trying to stop following my instincts, I should be using game theory strat to test those instincts in real time, or as an adjunct to my instinctual play. Not sure how that changes what I’m already doing- I certainly need the edge from thinking more than my opponents are. Maybe it’s more of a mindset thing. Don’t see my experience as a liability, or the paramount thing I rely on, but as another tool to use in conjunction with hand ranging, etc.

Big news! I’m planning my first poker trip for October or November. I’m giddy as a school girl, but I don’t even know where I’m going yet. I’m looking to take 2-3 days and go somewhere not ridiculously far to drive. I’d be open to a short flight somewhere, but it would have to be a cheap flight, because I’m a nit. So, driving would be MGM National Harbor, the Philly casinos, Sands in Bethlehem, AC, maybe West Virginia. I could do my regular casinos and just commute, but that’s hardly fun. Flying, I guess, would most likely be limited to Pittsburgh, Boston, or Cleveland. So exciting!

It’s looking like Pittsburgh may be my destination. Two casinos, I’m somewhat familiar with the city, and I love western PA.

It’s a four hour drive, which is annoying but better than two flights, Uber/rental car, etc. Go up on a Friday, play the lesser of the two casinos that night, find something fun to do in the city on Saturday, play the other casino that night, maybe a Sunday morning tournament (if any), then home.

Live play day!

Very excited to play today, hopefully I won’t be too eager when I sit down. Just like being scared, being overly confident at the table is -EV.

Goals are to play with smart aggression, stay level headed, play ABC, and work on hand ranging. I’ll happily accept all run good, but I’d feel better with my play if Im able to use my poker judo with less premium hands successfully.

I may try to take notes on an interesting hand, but I’m not sure the game will move slow enough (from my perspective) to do so accurately.

Definite LOL live session last night, ending in me, stoned AF, calling the poker room after I got home.

Still processing, full report soon

what a session last night. A thrill ride, right up to the last hand! (And beyond!)

The characters:

- Scumbag #1: Third seat on my right. The type of guy who at first comes across as the skilled guy who’s the life of the table, better than everyone else who just can’t catch a break from these fish drawing out on him until you realize he’s just a bad loose passive player who tries to bully info from people. He and his buddy accepted a drink from a reg at the table, then proceeded to order at least 3-4 beers each “on his card” without asking.

-Scumbag #2: Second seat on my right. A somewhat better player who started friendly but got more angry the more he lost. Seemed potentially violent. Buddy of Scumbag #1, he slipped chips to him to spew away. SB2 was more frustrated with SB1’s constant inane chatter than anyone else by the time they left.

-The OMC’s OMC. Directly to my right. Acted out of turn 50% of the time. Asked if it was his turn the other 50%. Held up the game to make adjustments/repairs to his hearing aid. Showed down a four card straight. Limped AK, KK, and 34o from early position.

-The Autist. Solid player, aspiring GTO robot, no personality. Hid his face so I couldn’t read him while I considered calling his ten dollar bet into a twenty dollar pot. Discussed strategy like it was a dick measuring contest. Stacked his chips into one tall shaft. Short with small feet.

-Poker Boy. Really, really, young, lanky guy who was very nice and clearly had Aspergers. I won a pot from him and I felt bad, like I’d beaten a kid. He was seriously crushing on one of the female dealers. She would’ve killed him.

-Several random MAWGS wearing ball caps and T-shirt’s. Mostly calling stations. I heard one of them say that I “was doing it right, punishing limpers, being aggressive...” He continued to play very passive and too tight.

I’ve had a real streak of getting premium hands right as I sit down. Tonight, I sit down to two black tens. The OMC’s OMC limps UTG, I pop it, it folds back to him and he calls. I flop open ended, bet and get called. Turn is another king. Checks through. River is an ace, completing my straight. I bet and get called. Villain sighs and flips over AK unhappily, until someone tells him he has a boat.

The first half of this session was downhill. Whiffed flop after flop, then went card dead for about two hours.

I made a tilt-y shove with the nut flush draw and it didn’t come in. I was getting needled by Scumbag #1 every time I defended my blinds or squeezed him (he was in my CO). At first, it was fine, ask me what I have, ask me what I’m going to show, I’ll give you a smart ass (but friendly) reply making it clear I’m not doing either without getting paid. After the fifth or six time it was just him begging, which got annoying. The only redeeming thing from it is that he folded nearly every time I raised.

At the three hour mark, I was tempted to just tell him to be quiet, that I knew he wasn’t going to call, he knew he wasn’t going to call, the OMC’s OMC knew he wasn’t going to call. (I can’t confirm this is true, he may have been asleep at this point.) Just fold and stfu, or flip the order, as long as the stfu’ing happened.

I had zero ability to range anyone all night, even when things picked up. Too eager, too tilted from losing and getting needled. I’d ask “what’s this guy’s range” and the only response would be the brain’s equivalent of white noise. Nothing.

Eventually, I realized I needed to do a mental reset (I had to take a leak). Did that, walked around the casino (got lost. This is a small casino, but I always get lost in it. I’ve been there at least ten times). Once I’d sat back down I reminded myself that I shouldn’t shed a tear for losing any of the money I’m playing with. It’s dead to me. I could set it on fire and it wouldn’t affect my life.

That really helped me relax and just enjoyed playing. I fell back on my instincts and knowledge, and treaded water through a cold deck for about an hour. Finally, I started catching cards and I methodically started applying the pressure. I stole blinds, bet when I had equity, got some bluffs through, and got out of the way when I had nothing. Ended the night up, overall.

I’m unhappy that I couldn’t do any serious hand ranging, but I learned something: most of the people playing at these stakes play pretty much the same. You’ll have the outlier lag or uber nit player, but most everyone else is playing pretty straightforward. Once I determined who was limping kings preflop and figured out Scumbag #1 wasn’t any good, I felt very comfortable following my instincts. I would’ve done better if I’d been able to range people, but I’m not running across many people I want to avoid. I need to remember this- it’s going to help my mental game a lot.

Good things:

1. I’m able to track the size of the pot nearly 100% of the time.
2. I used smart (I guess) aggression. I was punishing limpers regularly.
3. Bet-sizing was pretty good. I got some losing hands to call me.
4. I got myself out of tilt and found a calm positive mindset mid game.

Bad things:

1. Ranging was a big miss, and this concerns me. It’s turning into an issue. I’m just not making progress, I’m really going to limit my potential if I can’t do this at the table.
2. I won a huge pot on my last hand and just racked up and left.

so I get home after last Saturday’s session, rip a bong, and it hits me that I went south with that last big pot.

Being high, I overreact and...call the floor manager at the casino. I had some half assed idea about identifying the people I was playing with, offering a free roll with the money. I don’t even know. What I do know is that the floor I’m sure got a laugh.

He was cool and diplomatic about it, but he basically told me to gtfo with that stuff, and that I would surely be watching my money walk out of the poker room in the near future, and that the players carrying it wouldn’t feel bad about doing what I did.

I certainly won’t do it again, but if I do, I hope I won’t make a fool out of myself.

Crazy session last night at a new casino. Off the table hijinks, plus comedy! (Bluto analyzes a hand)

There's a WPT Deepstacks series going on at Rivers in late at October, might want to check it out.

Thanks for the tip. I’m going earlier in the month, I’m visiting colleges with my eldest the rest of the month.

Which burgh room do you like better?

I've only been to the area once maybe 5 or 6 years ago, but Rivers was way better.

I was able to play again tonight, and it was ah, definitely a change of pace.

Tangent: this session was at what I’m realizing is my home casino, which I’ve named the Comfort Zone Poker Room. More in the update.

Which may not be for a couple days.

Friday afternoon, I head down to a small, rural casino for my first session there. I start the night off right by locking my keys in my car. Gah.

If that isn’t bad enough, this casino, which I’ll call Country Casino, apparently is in a no go zone for locksmiths. Every locksmith who’s website said they covered the area didn’t cover the area, which is odd since that’s the exact opposite of what their websites said. Furthermore, they were all stumped when I asked for a referral to anyone who DID cover this apparent locksmith dead zone. One guy asked me if I’d tried google. I asked him if he was asking that question seriously, and how he thought I’d found him in the first place. He laughed.
Finally, I reach someone willing to risk the ancient curse against locksmiths who dare help people where I’m at. He’s a couple towns over, and he has to fight traffic so it’ll be about 45 minutes.

An hour and a half later he arrives, which is odd as the town he said he was coming from was only 15 miles away. He opens my car, I pay the dummy tax, and he asks me what I play. I say poker and he’s like “really? I just called in my name to the list, I should’ve given them yours as well!” So that’s where he was, running home or to an ATM to get his roll.

Of course, when I get seated he’s at my table. He’s a reg and not a bad player, and some of the players and dealers are joking with him about how I got the worst locksmith ever, and how I’m out to win my $75 back.

The session starts out like the last few have been- a lot of run good, a lot of easy decisions. My smart aggression game is on point. This is really one of the best things I’ve brought with me from my limit days- punish limpers pre flop. If I a have an advantage after the flop, push it, but fade away like the mist if I’m not good. Making anything larger than a half sized bet freaks people out at this level, sliding a hundred stack across the line has a big psychological impact no matter what the size of the pot.

Of course, hand ranging was minimal, which was fine for most of the night, until it wasn’t.

I’m up a buy-in, and I’m in the midst of winners tilt. Worst tilt ever, because you don’t know you’re in it until it’s too late...

V1 is a fit MAWG who seems to have some money irl and is a professional having something to do with construction. He’s two seats to my left, and started regularly calling my pre flop openings about an hour or two into the session. Seems pretty competent.

V2 is here for the gambool. Young dope who seems tipsy but isn’t drinking. Has gone through ~400 in the last hour. I won a nice pot off him earlier when he called down with pocket fives on a board of all overcards.

My image has to be TAG, and I’ve been showing down with winners all night.

V2 has the effective stack with ~150, I cover V1, I have a little over ~650, he has ~500

V2 puts out a $12 button straddle, I raise to 65 with AKo in mp, V1 calls in the hijack, V2 calls.

V1 pre range (big blind): 77s-99s, all suited broadway hands except AKs, AKo AQ, AJ, AT, A9s, A8s. He has been calling a lot of my raises pre, what other hands could I add? T9s? 98s?

Flop: K86r. V2 goes all in for around 85, I come over the top for $210, hoping to push V2 out of the pot. V2 RE raises all in for an additional 244.

V’s range after my bet and his reraise: KJ, KQ, AKo, 88s, 66s, Bluffs: can’t see any logical ones.

8 combos of KJ
8 combos of KQ
6 combos of AK
6 combos of 88
6 combos of 66

My raise was a mistake, as it left v2 with half a pot sized bet behind. I should’ve jammed, when his range was the widest. Realistically, though, he had a set. I knew it at the time.

At the table, not one word of the analysis above went through my mind. I KNEW he had a set, it was only a question of whether it was sixes or eights. I simply couldn’t give up this pot. My ego felt entitled to it. I knew I should fold, but just couldn’t. I know this happens to every player from time to time, and I can make big lay downs, but it’s deflating to feel so out of control.

Anyhoo...that erased the lights out night I was having. Ended up down in roll and down $75 in life money.

Had a short, productive online session during which I was focused in on hand ranging.

I think this is the best way to use internet poker as a practice tool- short sessions when my focus is sharp, and I can concentrate on one skill. This is how Im going to use it moving forward. Does anyone know how I can record my sessions so I can review them later? I’m playing on Ignition, on my mobile but using the web based version.

There’s buzz Stars is going to launch a PA facing site really soon (one time!)

My session from last Saturday, the day after I locked myself out of my car and punted off my stack, was COMPLETELY different. Oh, but not in a good way. My run good of the past month or so is over!

I sat down at a table of sticky limpers, which is fine, but it took too long for me to adjust. My “smart aggression” isn’t so smart when no one folds. Can’t c-bet too frequently when it’s regularly five to the flop. I tried to squeeze with A6s in the SB for 10x and got six callers.

Couple that with whiffing roughly 1287 flops, and falling into a cold deck pit for a couple hours and it just ate me up.

Even though I lost more money this night than the previous, I’m happier with how I played. I maintained a level head, even folded a straight I had the ass end of facing a bet on the river (Villian had the top end). Thanks to my nit limit days, I can fold bad hands preflop for days without tilting. Kept a count of the pot throughout the session and my bet sizing was fairly good. I did adjust my game, but I must recognize the need to adjust sooner.

To be honest, I was a bit too tired for my best game anyway. Folding every combo of Jack rag and whiffing flop after flop didn’t provide much opportunity to do hand ranging, but it wasn’t there when I needed it, either.

I had a great practice session on Sunday. It was short, but the goal was to have a short session with maximum focus on ranging hands. It went okay. If I can replicate that focus twice a week I should see results playing live.

I need to get a better idea of what a limping range looks like. All I know is that, in late position, it’s really wide, in early it’s only kinda wide. I’m not sure how many low stakes players are concerned about pre flop ranges, but limping seems almost like a personal, “how do I feel about this hand at this moment in space time” kind of thing. A woman playing at our table was limping just about every hand, but played well post, and being quite successful.

Unfortunately, my roll took a third hit last weekend. We need a new roof, and I’d planned to use winnings to cover the last several hundred dollars I’m short. Well, losing a third of my roll made me realize I need to do the responsible thing and use a big chunk of the remainder for the work. Id be in a spot if I kept losing AND couldn’t afford a new roof.

After setting aside the cash, I still have a bullet to play with. Plus some deity must still want me to play (probably so I can be further humiliated) because I’m unexpectedly coming into another bullet in a couple weeks. Play on! (Until I bust, at least)

Another good practice session last night.

Instead of just sitting there in hands I wasn’t in, I worked on putting the other players on ranges. In one particular hand I WAS in I was able to really assess where I stood post flop. I was going to fold, but v’s bet didn’t make sense based on the board and what I put him on. So I called, and won.

This is what I need to improve. If I’m able to do that sort of thing regularly, I’m going to see a positive difference.

I’ve been getting more sleep lately, and I’m feeling the difference. I also did some deep breathing before I started. Im surprised how just five-ten breathes helps my mental acuity.