Hi all,

I'm an experienced live player and 2+2 lurker. I've logged over 1500 hours and am currently losing to the rake in $1/$2 cash games. I'm down around $1,000 all time. I played most of my hours in 2013 and 2014. In 2015, I took a step away from poker and put to rest my dreams of being a professional player. In 2016, I found 2+2 and started to gain a better understanding of the poker world and learned some concepts I hadn't run across before. In the past two years, I've only played 34 hours of poker. I'm hoping to increase that in 2019. I'll try to play 100 hours in the next year.

I used to keep a journal and I wrote down my thoughts religiously after each session. I can say I've learned a lot about variance and how it can make you feel like the next Phil Ivey one day and like a complete idiot a month later. It is hard to separate your play from your results. My journal was mostly about results and how I was feeling about my results. I did come up with some good ideas and I do feel like I have a good handle on the emotional side of the game, but I don't need the journal anymore. I now keep my results in an app in my phone. I'm planning to post some on 2+2 after each session and get some feedback and I feel that will benefit my game much more.

My next session is tomorrow at the Horeshoe in Hammond, IN. Wish me positive EV decisions!

I played 6 hours and made $139. This was the longest session I've played in 3 years or so. Here's some hands:

Hero: tight, but hit three premium pairs, raised, never made it to the turn
V1: TAG
V2: Made a bad call earlier after being aggressive. Tag. Young hat and sunglasses wearer.

Effective stack: $173

V1 calls under the gun, Hero limps behind with 35 from middle position, V2 raises to $11, the blinds fold, V1 calls and hero calls.

Pot = $30

Flop-
J 5 7x


V1 checks, hero checks, V2 bets $22
V1 folds, hero calls


Pot = $71

Turn- 5


Hero checks, V2 bets $36, hero calls

Pot = $144

River-6x

Hero goes all in, V2 tanks and calls

Hero shows and V2 mucks

Net result = +$180

Hero: TAG
V1: The only LAG at the table. VPIP 50%
V2: OMC
V3: TAG

On to the hand-

Hero effective stack: $200

Preflop action-
V1 limps in, V2 limps in, Hero limps in LP with 66, V3 raises to $15 on the button, V2 calls, V3 calls, hero calls

Pot = $58

Flop-
Q6 4x


Flop action-

V1 checks, V2 checks, hero checks, V3 checks

Pot = $58

Turn- 7

Turn action-
V1 bets $22, V2 folds, hero calls, V3 folds

Pot = $92

River- 8x

River action-
V1 bets $42, hero folds



Net result = -$37

Hero:
V1: TAG with $200
V2: Short stack TAG
V3: TAG
V4: TAG

On to the hand-
Hero hand and position: UTG 22
Hero effective stack: $200

Preflop action-
Hero limps, V3 limps, V4 limps, V1 raises to $7 in the CO, V2 calls on button, the blinds fold, hero calls, V3 calls, V4 calls
Pot = $27

Flop-

2 8 6

Flop action-

Hero checks, V3 checks, V4 checks, V1 bets $25, short stack goes all-in for $51, hero reraises to $150, V3 folds, V4 folds, V1 folds

Pot = $152

Turn-7x

River-5x


Showdown-
V2 excitedly turns up 84, hero mucks. V2 says he put me on the flush draw.

Net result = -$65

In this first session, I made a two decisions based on things I have learned on 2p2. One was making sure I always had two tight players on my left. That was easy, because almost everyone at the table was tight. However, when the kid with the sunglasses left, (he lost his second buy-in after I had taken most of his first buy-in) I had a open seat in the area where I want to have two tight players. I took the seat. That decision could have been the best of my session, because the only LAG that I saw all day was the new player to join the table.

The other decision involved that same LAG. He initially worked up to a healthy stack, but at this point found himself short stacked and still firing away. He had about $100 and I noticed him making some bad SPR decisions. A few hands later, I exploited that. He straddled UTG for $5 and I open limped in late position with QTo. It folded back around to him and he raised to $25. I reraised to $100, more or less his full stack, and he folded. So, a quick $27 profit, that I never would have made in the past. If I can keep finding those little spots, maybe I'll be a long term winner.

6 hours down and 94 to go toward my goal of 100 hours in the next year. I also accomplished my goal of posting some hands for feedback.

Best of luck!

53s hand I would have folded preflop both times, mostly check/folded the flop, and probably donked the turn (shoved as played).

66 hand I probably would have donked the flop (too good a chance this checks around multiways with the raiser in position). If V1 is laggy player I likely commit on the turn.

22 hand I probably fold initially and likely to the raise (depends how moron filled the table is and whether I'm going to get paid flopping a set in EP). I might lean towards donking (I don't hate check/raising if we think this flop will be bet). I might lean towards flatting the short all-in to induce the preflop juicer (although if he's juicing preflop and betting this flop then perhaps a shove is fine now).

But that's just me, others may disagree.

But like I mentioned in the Winrates thread, results-wise only getting in 100 hours a year you're going to mostly be at the mercy of the cards / variance. You're of course free to approach this endeavor however you see fit, but I would suggest simply having fun when you get your rare outing to be the number one priority (and not sweat too much over anything else, especially the results).

Ggoodluck!G

Thanks for the response GG.

If I'm just going to have fun, then I'm more dependent on the results, because everybody has fun when they're winning and it's not as fun when you're losing. Also, if I keep up 100 hours per year for 10 years, then I do have a significant amount of playing time. If I'm just going for fun and not trying to increase my skill level, I'll be a definite loser and then it really won't be any fun.

It's possible I might be biased because all I've ever done in poker is win at a fairly steady-as-she-goes (albeit mediocre) rate, and I do realize that part of the enjoyment of poker is likely winning / seeing our giraffe go up / etc., but overall if you're not having fun (or at least a pleasant time) at the table then you're likely doing something wrong.

I don't need the poker money I win, nor would I ever take on a second job that wins at the relatively small rate of income it makes me. Playing poker for any other reason than the enjoyment of the game itself (like any other hobby) is meh, imo.

Ggoodluck!G

Yes, I do have fun when I play, but part of the fun is the competitive nature of it. If I didn't want to be competitive, I would never play in a casino. I would just host home games with my friends. It's like a sport to me. I've learned more recently to keep my competitive nature internal and be more outwardly friendly with my competitors. I avoid any bickering and let things slide. It's much easier to play that way.

Oh definitely the competitiveness of it / strategy of it / etc. is a big component of the enjoyment, I agree. Very similar to sports, in that we can play hard (and yet also very sportsmanlike at the same time) and enjoy the competitive nature of the game.

GcompetitiveG

I played five more hours yesterday and lost $24. The table was mostly nits. I had some tough (for me) lay downs where I had tptk with AQ and AK. I had AA hold up in a heads up pot in position. I made it $10, got one caller, flop 234 with 2 diamonds. I bet another $10 and got called. Turn was Q, I bet $20 and got called. River was 8d. I bet $30 and got called.

The biggest hand I had all day was against an OMC. Effective stack is $127. It limps around with 2 callers to me in the CO with 107. I call and the button calls. The small blind folds and OMC raises to $5 in the big blind. Everyone calls and the pot is $23. The flop is J107. OMC makes it $15. It folds to me and I call. The button folds. The pot is $60. The turn is a 3. OMC bets $25 and I call. The pot is $110. The river is the 5. OMC goes all-in and I have $82 left. Given the action to this point and seeing a few times where the OMC got married to his pocket pairs, I put him on JJ+. I call hoping not to see JJ.



I've completed 11 of my goal of 100 hours with a profit of $115.

I've decided what I'm attempting to do in cash games is too boring. Today, I'm going to play a small tournament for $130 buy-in instead. I feel like tournaments will be more suited to my limited amount of time to play. I'll just have to get used to losing most of the time.

I lasted to level 6 in the tournament. Blinds 200/400 with 50 ante. I had AQo in middle position. The guy to my right limped and I decided to limp in behind. He is the main villain in this hand. He had been limping a lot and once with ATo. In hindsight, I should have raised instead of limping in. I had around 15000 and he had me covered. I had played in two hands against him. One time I c-bet with a double gut shot and then couldn't call a small all-in on the turn from a third player. He complained that I made him fold his 7, because another 7 came on the turn. Later I had AA in the small blind. I raised to 2200 and he called on the button saying, "Let's see a flop." I bet 4000 on the flop and he folded and I mucked. I think my image was a little loose. I had gotten caught in one other bluff and the double gut-shot hand caught me in a semi-bluff.

So the big blind checked and we saw an A74X flop. The villain bet 1200. I reraised to 4000 and all others folded. He went all-in and I called. He had A4o and it held up. Looking back, I probably could have gotten away from it. If he doubted my raise, he would have just called instead of going all-in.

Oh well. I got more of my afternoon back. I liked the atmosphere of the tournament. Players weren't on their phones and were paying attention to the action. I think I'm okay with losing more often.

This week I lasted to level 11 of the tournament. I finished 13 out of 52 entries. I feel like I'm starting to get the feel of tournaments. Players are much more skeptical and call lighter than in cash games. I attempted a big bluff when it seemed likely I hit 3 of a kind, but got called all-in by pocket aces. After that, I played a little looser and ended up tripling up all-in. Later we moved down to two tables and I raised against a limper in late position with A7 suited. I got reraised all-in and called and lost. I was then short stacked again and made it all the way to 13th place. On my last hand, I called a raise in the big blind with J5o and went all-in on 588 flop. Pocket tens called and I was finished.

If you want to get better, stop limp calling and start raising. Poker is ALL about initiative. A strategy that involves limping and to a degree calling a lot of hands won't be a very profitable one. Ignore what others do live and watch some basic training videos, then try apply those fundamentals to your live game. GL Sir

Thanks for the advice. In tournaments I definitely see the benefits of raising. I'm getting many more folds and taking down the blinds and antes. In cash games, I was limping a lot, because players can easily reload and are just trying to hit flops and you can't get many folds pre-flop. I'm sure this is different in online games or higher stakes live games. For $1/2 NL live, you have to have a lot of limps preflop. I can make more of those limps, limp folds instead of limp calls. In early position, I have a lot of limp reraises, but I think lower pocket pairs will still be limp calls.

Live and online are no different, fundamentally the game is the same. You can heed my advice or not - limping a tonne of hands won't be a profitable strategy.

Forgot to say, subscribed! and gl on the tables. Apologies if my above post sounded crude, not my intention.

For now I am playing live tournaments, so I will be heeding your advice. If I return to the cash games, I may try to raise more often. I was raising, but the hands I chose to post about all happened to be limps.
I didn't take any offense to your post.

I've missed the cash in three tournaments now. I've been reviewing some old threads on 2p2 and have seen how important it is to have the right thought process. Integral with that, it is important to be thinking while playing. Often, I have observed that I'm not really thinking. I'm just playing and caught up in the roller coaster of gambling. In my last tournament, I had a hand where I was doing some thinking, but my thought process wasn't right.

The hand was against an old man. I had seen him in two hands of note. In one hand, I took note that he limped with AK. That's all I remembered about that hand. The second hand, he raised with AA and got called by A9 of clubs. I remember folding Q6o on the button. The flop was Kc Jc 10h. The old man bet and was called. The turn was the Ace of diamonds. The old man checked and called a bet. The river was a blank. The old man checked and his opponent went all-in. The old man called.

So, from those hands, I could safely say this old man is tight and passive. However, I wasn't able to correctly use this information when I got in a hand with him. I had been raising more than others at the table and raised with Ac Jh in middle position. The old man called me on the button and everyone else folded. The flop was something like 6d 9c 3d. It was a perfect flop to bet against this opponent. If he calls, I know he hit this flop or has an overpair. If he folds, I win the hand. My thought process was short circuited. All I could think about was this old man probably had something better than AJo. So, I checked. The old man checked. The turn was like an 8 of diamonds, putting three diamonds on the board. My thought was that the old man checked the flop and now it is safe to bet. The old man checked both his cards and called. This should have been an obvious tell that he had a diamond. If he didn't, I would have won the hand. The river was a fourth diamond. I bet about 3/4 of the pot as a bluff and was called. The old man had Kh Jd for the flush.

Had I at least been thinking on the turn, I would have avoided the bluff on the river. Had I been thinking for the whole hand, I would have won on the flop. Lesson learned. Be thinking, not just playing.