When I played at Harrah's back in December the poker room was upstairs. Big area. There were a few guys you could tell read a book or two and thought they were pros announcing how big their folds were and making comments like "I'd only play that preflop for x amount blah blah blah +EV equity blah blah". As annoying as that is online it was pretty funny live.

Delaware Park usually has a nightly MTT but it isn't a huge field. Buy in vary's by nights of the week. Might make my way up to Parx one night. Heard similar things from other people.

lol, it's such a blessing and a curse to have the "I read a book/blog" guys at the table talking strategy. The curse is obviously making the clueless fish uncomfortable (and maybe giving them a clue), but at the same time they are telling you how to exploit them half the time.

If you want 2/5 it's worth the drive to hit Parx IMO. You wont be able to table select at Harrah's or Sugarhouse much and the must move tables are almost always better than the main games.

Girlfriend is going to South Carolina on the weekend of the 19th. Might be a plan. Definitely grinding a 12 hour degen session at least once that weekend.

LOL, if it's a Saturday I'm in!

It would. I work Satuday 9-5 so it wouldn't be a Friday. I'll let you know.

Started out March with a win.
3:43 +$811 @ 2/5 in for $600

I got a TON of pocket pairs and AKo. Didn't make any sets but I was able to book a solid win anyways. No really big pots but the small pots add up. First notable hand I get red Qs and open for $25, one call from lose but solid reg OOP. I bet $35 on T high flop, he x/c. Turn was blank, I bet $75, he x/c. River Ace. He checks I check back and take it down. Got AA like 3 times, two of them held. KK at least twice, JJ at least twice, I had almost every combo of PP and multiple of the big ones. Also thought I used my nit image pretty well.

Biggest mistake hand I'll post in LLSNL for feedback. Think my line was too fancy for no reason. Also ran another river bluff I'll post and a double barrel delayed cbet attempt to bluff catch. Didn't take notes though so I'll have to wing it a bit.

Overall feeling good to bounce back after ending March with a loss. I was also tempted to take a shot at the 5/10 as I saw a young kid that seemed to only sit it because the 2/5 list was too long and he hadn't called ahead. I saw him re-loading at the cage later and noticed a LAGgy 2/5 reg that I'd played with before. Then an aggro big game player sat that I saw playing 25/50 a few months back. Of course I didn't go for it but with tables like that I may take my first shot before the July time frame I was originally targeting.

Friend told me about ACR last week and I installed, mainly to play free rolls in my spare time at home. Got my first bink today, a whooping 75 cents lol. I'm going to sit it at 2NL and see if I can not get felted. Also bink'd a ticket to step 2 of this multi step free roll to a bigger tournament. It's kind of ridiculous as you have to money 5 steps then outright win step 6 to get into the big one but whatever. It's better than play money. Wish me luck.

Oh, are there any decent free HUDs? How much is Poker Tracker? If I pay is that what I should go with?

Poker tracker is like $20 and it works great would recommend. And it has a feature called leak tracker where it compares your frequencies to other winning regs and lets u know any big leaks u might have

PT4 website says $99.99 and ACR isn't on the list of supported sites...???

I played my first online cash session since Black Friday yesterday. Put 70 of my 75 cent roll on the table in a short stack 6 max 2NL game ($1 max buy in). Played 38 hands and made 10 cents lol. It was swingy too. I decided not to punt off my weeks worth of free rolls the first night so I booked a win.

Today after work I logged back on and late registered for the 7:30 $10 free roll, early registered for the next one, and late registered for a satellite free roll. The late registration paid off, back to back binks for another 75 cents. Finished 6th out of 615. I should definitely be able to play the $1 max buy 2NL table to pass the time now. If my online roll touches 10 bucks I'll go ahead and get the 30 day free trial of Poker Tracker and perhaps set some 2019 online goals as well. Who knew...

Poker tracker works on ACR u use the HUD for winning poker network

Thanks, planning to start the free trial after Easter assuming I have at least $10 online to play with by then.

Got absolutely smashed this weekend.
5:27 -$1200 @ 2/5 in for $600 x 2
1:00 -$300 @ 1/2
For total -1500
Online BR (lol): $1.62

Played bad and ran worse. I was definitely over confident starting off the month with a win instead of a -2200 hole like March. Was anxious to implement some additional aggression per feedback from last weeks hand histories but it all went so wrong. The only good things that happened at 2/5 were me getting JJ to fold to my 4 bet with AKo and squeezing the straddle with J9c, flopping an open ender and turning the straight heads up. Set up a less than pot sized river jam and V folded. Other than those two hands it was pretty much doom and gloom. In addition to running into the top of everyone's range I was definitely being targeted by the most exploitable players at the table and I still couldn't win. The frequencies were undeniable. These same Vs were folding to other players but would call my raises, 3 bets, and cbets at near 80% frequency over 5.5 hours. The runouts were so nut low that I'd always have AJ+ with no pair or I'd have second pair on QJT93 and get donked into huge OTR. I wasn't c-betting 100% either.

When I finally got premiums they still tried to punt to me but binked river. I have QQ and open $30, same two callers. 983r, I bet 2/3, Mr Sticky calls, turn T, I check expecting him to try to steal since I have the straight blockers, he indeed fires $100 OTT with AQo drawing to chops and 3 outs. He's also never folding to the x/r with the gut shot and if I was running well I should x/r here but since I'm running like death I give up some EV and flat. I call and he binks the A on the river. Somehow he checks behind so I lose the minimum. Then a drunk guy who bluff raised $952 on the river with 97o in a raised pot on a AQ744sss board and got called by the flush takes his turn. I get AA, mid position opens $15, I 3! to $60, drunk guy calls with A7o. Flop 982r, he leads $50 and has so much air I can't raise. Turn is the 6 and he checks, I bet $120 into $235 and he calls. River 5 and he leads $200. Given his HH I have to call and he announces "nothing", so I'm tabling my AA the same time he tables his A7o. Dealer then tells him he has a straight. At that point I knew better than re-buy. Figured I'd just grind the short stack while I reflected. With only $140 left some guy opens $25 and I jam. Drunk guy calls with Q9o vs my AKs. Hits a 9. I was getting action like I was LAG but I was actually PFR a TAG range. It was crazy. While actual LAGs were getting folds. So I proceeded to go sit 1/2 for a while and punt off a stack there. Ran into AA, from an action player who had just opened KJo from UTG+1 and called a 3 bet vs KK and made a straight. Flop was A high so it checked around, he only had to call a turn bet to get there but calling the 3! OOP with KJo... At any rate, naturally I get KK the very next hand and he has AA. He opens $15 again and I make it $50. He goes $150... I go to the car.

It's amazing to me how thin the line is between crushing and getting crushed. Admittedly I played bad and didn't list all of the blunders here but it's rather sobering how close you can be at any given point from transitioning from crusher to crushee. On the bright side, I only need to book a +689 over the next week or two to get back even for the month. I'm usually pretty good with tilt and it doesn't bother me to lose to other strong players but on occasion when Vs do everything wrong and still get there almost every time it's just brutal.

Got smashed again the weekend of the 19th
4:35 -$600 @ 2/5
2:38 -$300 @ 1/2
For total -900
Online BR (lol): $0.11

I don't think I played as bad this week but there were a few hands I botched. Biggest hand I ran QQ into KK, was happy not to get stacked but I think I could have exploitatively folded. Maybe I'll post the hand for feedback but I think most would say I lost the minimum. Then at 1/2 I ran into set over set for a 450 hit. I had JJ against QQ and the flop came QJ3... Pretty much lost all hope for saving the month of April. Downer... better luck next week I guess.

Epic comeback session the last weekend to end the month.
0:09 +$121 @ 1/3
6:46 +$1799 @ 2/5
For total +$1920
Online BR (lol): $0.11

I thought I played pretty will this weekend but after posting a hand history maybe I just got lucky lol. I also can't say that I didn't push the session longer just to try to get even for the month. Maybe one of the blessings and curses of tracking are these arbitrary goals. The table was really action for the first 4 hours or so but then the last hour or two was tougher but I was so close I decided to go for it. The two biggest mistakes I made were playing soft or fancy on the river where I should have been focused on value. Most of this was due to my losing streak, I know it shouldn't effect my game but I was ok with limiting winnings in these large pots as long as I was also limiting my losses. So there's definitely plenty room for improvement still. Just happy to get out of April without being in the red.

Monthly Goals [33:20 hours @ $50/hr] - Apr
Stake - Hours - Rate
1/2 - 03:38 - ($165.14)
1/3 - 00:09 - $806.67
2/5 - 20:31 - $39.48
Total - 24:18 - $13.62 - Significant miss on win rate & volume this month. Honestly just happy to break even.

Yearly Goal Tracker - Apr [133:20 hours @ $50/hr]
Stake - Hours - Rate
1/2 - 47:03 - $49.65
1/3 - 00:16 - $453.75
2/5 - 86:55 - $67.14
Total - 134:14 - $61.78 - Last two months have been rough, good to see we're still above 50/h, and hitting hours for now. Hopefully we can find some extra sessions next month.
4 Months down 8 to go!

Am along for the ride OP. GLGL

I enjoyed your QJ hand and liked your approach and reasoning.

So I am a bit confused about setting hourly goals and then not going for thin value when running bad.

I feel you should ditch the hourly goals because a lot depends on card distribution which you can't control, running into coolers in big pots, getting sucked out on etc, etc.

Adjusting optimal play however based on running bad in previous hands is just bad and could derail your progress.

Thanks, I'll need all the luck I can get.

So the two thin value spots this week weren't really that thin. I just played badly in these spots for different reasons. In the first spot I was OOP and decided to go for the trap x/r on the river which was too fancy for the situation and underestimated the V. The V was fishy but I didn't expect him to have many check backs on the river with the strength he had shown. When he did check back I immediately knew I lit at least $500 on fire. The last spot I really should have went for and I agree that the goals and run bad kept me from getting all my value. This is just a leak I need to plug. When I loose two sessions in a row I tend to play big pots soft on the river. Work in progress but I'm getting there. The second spot I just decided he couldn't call much OTR unless he had me beat, but as we both know that's usually a crutch to mitigate risk. In reality I could probably have gotten another $500 there as well. The good news is, after booking a win I can put down the crutches and get back to my A game.

Go Go Go!

Just found this but have seen your threads in LLSNL. In, good luck.

Thanks, appreciated.

Started off May on the right foot.
1:29 +$28 @ 1/2
6:18 +$815 @ 2/5
For total +843
Online BR (lol): $0.11

Happy with my overall play for my first session. I had jury duty and got out early so snuck in what I was hoping would be a short session. Cruised along at 1/2 waiting for a seat and was up a quick $150ish in about an hour then ran QQ into top set of 9s and pretty much gave it all back.

Finally got to the 2/5 table and the run bad continued. I lost count of how many dominated hands out drew me. Also, was calling down a guy with a pair of Aces vs his pocket 2s and as he's barreling he picks up runner runner straight. I just slowly melt away my stack and finally wake up with AKo. I open $20 from EP and get 3 bet to $65 from the BUT. I 4 bet jam my last $250 or so and get snapped by 33 and miss. I hadn't planned on playing so I only had another $460 in my wallet aside from smaller bills. It's still early enough to grind some so I reload, and I'm glad I did. There weren't many notable hands as I was mostly picking up small pots by c-betting flop or double barreling. I pretty much only had A high or top pair for most of the night. Every time I would get up to $900 or so I'd take a hit. I flop top two in a limped pot from the BB with KTo, I lead out and get raised. I'm calling down and the guy hits a flush OTR. Worked it back up to $890 I pick up AA. These two ladies who had joined the table about 45 mins back were splashing around. One of them was clearly new and commenting how they usually just play home games and this table was not as fun and way to serious. One other player and I are trying to lighten the mood. Her friend is the V and was calling and raising a lot pre and was very aggressive post but never 3 bet pre. She had ran up a stack from about $500 to 1.1k. The last two orbits her PFR is like 70%. So I limp my AA from MP maybe 2 other limpers and V raises to $30 from the SB. I three bet to $100, folds around to V who flats. Flop: A36, she x, I x. Turn 3. She leads $100, I call. I don't even remember the river but one of the flushes came in I think. She jams and has me covered. I snap and sit there waiting to finally see what she's making all these moves with. She turns over KQsc. That was pretty much my session. I flopped a set of 6s after but only managed to pull a small pot as a K killed my action OTR.

So much for the right foot.
Week 2 - May:
6:29 -$1200 @ 2/5
Online BR (lol): $0.11

I think I identified some mistakes this session here which I've touched on before. There were a couple of spots where I should be 3 bet or folding pre where I flatted instead. In general I think I handle tilt fairly well but I was in some juicy games where I was often getting called pre by hands like 36s and 24o. They were hitting and getting sticky nearly every time. Or worse we would both hit. I have AJo and V calls with 36s. Flop naturally comes J63. V is donk leading and I'm calling down but the but gets big anyways and I take a nasty hit. Or I flop middle pair with AQ on KQ4 board and V calls down with 24o and hits two pair OTR. I generally lost most coin flips and my overpairs ran into sets and 2 pair hands. I did get lucky with KK vs AA flopping a set but that was pretty much the only highlight of the session. 3 betting instead of flatting with a range advantage would have led to picking up more smaller pots and being able to fold to significant action easier when behind. If I'm honest in hindsight I tend to play more aggressive pre and post when I'm running bad which may be a form of tilt. My final hand I three bet shoved 66 putting the PFR on a decent Ace but not AK. He snaps with AQo and hits. I was too short to set mine there and should generally fold, at least my read was decent. I guess I used all my run good with the one KK hand.

Binked another online free roll and re-punted the $0.75 online. I enjoy the freerolls to pass the time more than other non-poker games or TV shows that used to fill that time. I've now finished top 7 or better 4 times in field sizes averaging 577 for about a 5% cash rate as only the top 10 seats are paid, not 10%, 10 seats. Does this mean anything? There are probably at least 10 times where I registered and didn't play at all or got pulled away and blinded out or fell asleep or something but I'd like to think there is still some value in seeing flops, getting some tournament practice ahead of the WSOP and wetting my feet online.

Also played my first live tournament since 2017 and my second since 2015. It was a $125 buy in 5k guarantee rebuy single day tournament. The structure seemed fast though. It says 20 min levels but maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention because it felt like 15 mins. The starting stack was 150 BB but 20 mins later it's 75 BB unless you've been doing well. Of course I was missing most flops and getting raised off my mid pairs. There were two strong players at my table which I didn't expect. Then a third late registration player joined around level 3 who was also strong. Not sure how this compares to the average table as I busted just before the second break in level 6. After running JJ into QQ for a huge hit (luckily it didn't get all in) I was left short and had to jam A9o for about 8 BB. I got called by KQhh and the dude flops trips. I want to get at least one more live tournament in before Vegas, I'll look for one with a slower structure so I can maneuver a bit more and survive a hit without resorting to jam mode so early.

Tourney day cash:
0:16 +$5 @ 1/2 - Before the tourney. I really didn't think they were going to start on time but I got there early and was bored so I figured I'd see if I could hit a high hand promo or something. As soon as I sat down they got it started so I moved over to the tourney.

4:24 +$485 @ 1/2 - After the tourney. I actually doubled up super early but then gave it all back and was down to $90 before working back up to $785. Played fairly well but probably cbet too much. The games were sensitive to larger bets so I was a bit too eager to build pots. There were also guys trying to punt $80 or so pre with hands like QJs getting it in after a 3 bet then hitting two pair or a flush.

Overall looks like another tough month, at just $7/hr for the first 19 hours of the month. Planning 3 more cash sessions between now and the Vegas trip, hopefully I can sneak in a few extras and one more good live tourney.

Mixed bag here, overall happy though.
Week 2 - May:
4:54 +$890 @ 2/5
Online BR (lol): $0.00

So the bad news first. I've cashed 5 free rolls online now with average field sizes of 550-600. Three prizes of 75 cents, two of 95 cents. I don't remember all of the resulting cash sessions and I realize that all of the wins are less than 50 BB at 2NL. But I kind of expected to run one of the short stacks up and at least break even for a couple thousand hands to build confidence before making a deposit or moving up. It's legit concerning and disheartening that I'm getting slapped around at 2NL. Oh well, maybe the 6th time is the charm.

As for live poker I was able to put together a solid session. I thought I made two sizable mistakes but after posting the largest hand most people seemed to agree with my play so overall I'm happy with booking a solid win. Hand history posted here:
https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/1...-play-1743249/

Two more May sessions left planned for the 18th and 25th. I also plan to get another live tournament in the 26th ahead of the Vegas trip. Hopefully I can arrive to Vegas with some momentum and run and play well.

Didn't look at how you ended up playing that hand but the better the V, the more they will take into account that you are OOP which weighs you hand more to AK that doesn't want to play it OOP.

Therefore I jam OOP but I like to call and see a flop in position.

Against a fish - highly specific - fish dependent. A lot of fish will call or jam themselves if you can make your line look as scared as possible eg by min click backing to $400 or $410.