Thanks, yea I did end up jamming from OOP and he folded.

Brutal session this weekend.
Week 3 - May:
2:25 +$273 @ 2/5
11:35 -$656 @ 1/2
Online BR (lol): $0.87 (binked another free roll)

This week just got off on the wrong foot. About 10 minutes in, and I raised one hand AQo I think and missed the K high flop, got bet off the hand and folded. I could have tried to rep the K but found no need to run some elaborate multi street bluff our first real hand. Next hand I pick up is JJ, I'm $580 effective and raise over 1 limper to $25 and it goes 4 ways. Flop comes J63ss, I have no spade. I lead $70 into about $100 and get raised to $230. Folds back to me and I jam. Guy snaps me off with KJss and binks turn. First buy in down, that was fun. I re-buy $500 and grind it up to $1373 before the game breaks. Obviously I draw the low card and am put back on the list to re-join 2/5. I figure I'll go play the $273 at 1/2, double it up and then come back to 2/5 when a seat opens up.

As you can see the 11.5 hour 1/2 session that ensues is a disaster. I started out playing well and just getting out drawn super often. It was a slow bleeding where I was never stacked but I kept adding on a black chip or two to stay near the $300 max buy. I got out of line a few times but my reads were spot on and I was showing down winners. The table thought I was looser than I was because I was sizing aggressively in position. But I still had a range advantage most of the time. I finally get myself in a spot to save my session. The hand of the night for me was JJ. After losing the $1200 2/5 hand with top set as a 70/30 favorite it was time to try to replicate that in 1/2. I straddle the button and pick up JJ. I raise to $29 over 4 limpers ($22ish of dead money in there before my raise, I guess I could have gone a little larger but whatever). Short stack calls, and the player to my right raises to $258 lol. His sizing and body language reeks of weakness. He was also obscuring his last $70 which I should have noticed but it didn't matter much. I call, the short stack calls for less ($100ish). All the money is going in regardless of the flop as I have him covered and the pot is like $625 with $70 behind. He has JTo and the flop comes KQ4r. He puts it in. I'm already sick that he probably outflopped me but I have to call getting almost 10:1 since he has some spaz like this in his range. I bink the J on the turn that I didn't need and then he binks the 9 OTR. $765 ish pot isn't bad for 1/2. He scoops, short stack had an underpair. Probably 20 mins later I raise pre again with JJ. Same short stack guy 3 bet jams AKo with the same $100ish stack. I call and lose the coin flip on the river. This late in the session I decide my A game is long gone and it's time to book the loss. I rack up my remaining chips and leave. Better luck next week. At least I logged a bunch of hours.

Good luck with this mate, results still pretty sick overall.

Thanks I'll need it. Appreciated.

Awesome cash win, depressing tournament fail.
Last week of May:
2:25 +$1918 @ 2/5
2:31 -$150 @ 5k Guarantee MTT
Online BR (lol): $0.87

Wrapped up May earlier this week with my second live tournament run. The players are so bad but it's really hard to find a format that allows me to survive some run bad and card dead stretches. The best I could find for single day shots was a 25 minute blind level 5k guarantee. You start plenty deep at 250 BB but the 25 min blind levels mean you have to continue to chip up to keep from playing a short stack. First hand I got in trouble I had QQ and opened to 4x pre got a few callers. Checked to me and I bet over half pot in position on a J high flop. Guy insta calls. Turn is blank I fire again, he check calls again. River J and he donk leads huge. Ok, I fold. Then this guy barrels his flush draw and hits on the river. He's a station and will never fold so I lost the minimum. Missed a few other boards after raising strong Aces and getting donked into. These guys are raising and calling so wide its gross and I still cant beat them. I was eventually forced to 3 bet jam my last 11 BB with A6o. I got called by K9hh and flop the Ace but dude makes a flush. I'm not at all confident about our WSOP run next week but I'm hoping with 50 minute levels and a deeper stack I can maneuver a bit better and pick up at least one big hand early that holds so I can gain some momentum.

ACR has been pretty much out of commission since their failed upgrade so not much online action lately.

The saving grace for the week was my second best cash session of the year (best if you include the high hand bonus). In general I ran really bad as usual. It was an ACTION table and there were some changing dynamics. But I got super lucky when it counted most in three hands that defined my session.

Hand 1: Poker gods do exist
As noted, this table is action and guys are betting, calling, and 3 betting super wide. Example HH: I raise pre to $25 over 1 limper and Older semi maniac V 3 bet me to $75 with 95hh. I defend with KTss because he's a maniac. Flop comes K93dd. I check to V and he finds a x behind somehow. That's a first. Turn is some blank, I bet $130 he calls. River 9c, I check he bets $260... it's him so he can have missed diamonds and air along with 9x. I call and see the bad news. That type of night. So I'm down to about $300 and call a single raised pot from the CO with 67cc. I'm not making a habit of calling this wide but given position and price I thought I could see a cheap flop and fold easily if we miss. Flop comes 599cc. Flush draw and a gut shot with a straight flush 1 outter possible. Checks to me, I check BUT bets and gets called by the SB, folds back to me and I decide to jam. 9x will call but I have decent equity there. Only 4 combos of 99 and 55 to worry about in a raised pot right? Wrong. BUT calls with a flopped full house 95o. SB folds. This same BUT flopped a boat against my over pair with 78o earlier but I folded that hand as I had 78 in his range. 95o not so much. But wait, the miracle 8c hits the turn so not only to we double up plus some, we also win a high hand promo with the 9 high straight flush. So instead of re-buying we are back in business. I'm pretty sure this is the first 1 outter I've hit since I started tracking in 2014.

Hand 2: Do I look like a punching bag?
Given it's an action table. I just feel like my pre flop raises are getting 3 bet way to often. And not just by Mr Maniac. So I raise to $25 over one limper with 99 and get 3 bet to $75 again from this guy who's running super hot and crushing the maniac. Calling down light, bluff catching, some impressive spots. Anyway I don't have odds to set mine with a $650ish effective stack but I'm putting AJs and AQ in his 3 bet range so I'm going to hope for a low flop and play aggressive on some boards without a set. Poker gods continue to oblige. Flop is something like 963hhx. I'm in position. He bets $100, I call. Turn is a Jx, he checks. I bet $210, he calls. River is pretty blank. He checks, I put the last $250 or whatever it is in and he calls. We scoop he doesn't show.

Hand 3: Yep, there's a target on my back.
LAG reg has regressed into sLAG / maniac territory. He got shoved on twice by the maniac and once folded top pair on a J high board (they were both like 3k effective). The next time he only had K high and was considering calling down shove from maniac on the river. I'm like, how do you guys get to the river with K high and there's like 1.5k in the pot? At any rate he had made it clear that he was down then got it all back and now he's back down. Aside from the two big pots he lost vs maniac he ran a big 3 street bluff against the only other semi quiet TAG type and tried to rep the hand the TAG guy actually had. All that to set up this hand. I make another light call Vs maniac in position with ATdd. I gave up 3 betting this light because they always call and we will have to double barrel to take anything down. I should be folding but the table is so ripe I want to be in if I can make 2 pair +. Flop comes T82ccx. I check, LAG V donks $100, mainiac and everyone else folds back to me, I flat. Overpairs should have been 3 betting pre from the blinds unless he's getting fancy. He can have flush draws, straight draws and just two over cards or a smaller PP as well. It goes to heads up which is good. Turn pairs the board 8s. V bets $225ish. The real decision point was probably the flop but I make it here. I'm not sure what exactly it is but I'm sensing weakness. We've played before together and he knows I'm pretty capped here and my value range is thin. I would play flopped sets like this but I'm probably overfolding top pair (and also we shouldn't have overpairs here) against his aggressive lines in our history. At any rate, I decide to go with the read and bluff catch continuing in position and only raising a river T. Probably spew for the most part but with this guys recent downswing I feel like he's semi tilting. River comes the 2c. So there's 2 pair on board and the FD came in now we literally have a bluff catcher. I do have a bunch of flush draws in his range. He insta fires $500 on the river. I thought I mini tanked here but V later called it a snap. I did hate the clubs but felt like all of his air would be taking this line too, AK, AQ, AJ, KQ, KJ, QJ, J9... granted he's 3 betting a lot of those combos too but if he's trying to sell a slow played overpair maybe he has a few slow played AQ type hands too. Maybe my ranging is way off but I had kind of decided on the turn that we were calling down non K, Q, rivers. Long story short we call. V is sick, he can't believe how we make such a weak call. He literally says, "That is not like you". After turning over his J9o. I'm not planning on making a living out of hero calling on horrible boards Vs 3 barrels but it felt damn good to have gotten away with it this time.

Monthly Goals [33:20 hours @ $50/hr] - May
Stake - Hours - Rate
1/2 - 17:44 - ($7.78)
1/3 - 00:04 - $0.00
2/5 - 25:07 - $107.34 (includes $450 / high hand bonus)
Total - 42:55 - $59.60 - Thanks to the last session of the month we hit our win rate & volume goals this month.
7 wins, 2 losses, 1 break even session

Yearly Goal Tracker - May [166:40 hours @ $50/hr]
Stake - Hours - Rate
1/2 - 64:47 - $33.93
1/3 - 00:20 - $363.00
2/5 - 112:02 - $76.16
Total - 177:09 - $61.25 - Last three months have been rough, good to see we're still above 50/h, and hitting hours for now. Hopefully we can continue to find some extra sessions next month.
25 wins, 13 losses, 2 break even sessions
5 Months down 7 to go!

Arrived in Vegas on Saturday to play the Sunday flight of the WSOP Big 50. It was quite an experience. I was pre registered online but wasn’t able to check in on Saturday night. The lines were insane on Sunday morning and I barely made it through the pre-registration line in time. I got to the Rio at about 9 am and sat in my seat about 9:55 just before the first hand.







I’ll spare the gory details but Day 1 was a brutal 14 hour grind. Plenty of ups and downs. More downs than ups but the important part is that we survived to play Day 2 on Tuesday (although very short). Here were the most crippling hands of the day:

Kings cracked:
LAG opens from early position with T9o, one caller I 3 bet to 4x with KK. Flop comes T95dd. checks to me I bet 2/3, LAG shoves. I tank fold as there are two draws out there but he has us covered so we have to be right. He shows top two.

The 1 outter:
The same LAG opens 2.5x from EP and I call from the BUT with ATcc (I had tried 3 betting but he’s just a station and if I miss I’m just donating). Goes 4 ways, flop comes T64cc, LAG leads with 88 no club. I raise with top top and the flush draw. He calls and hits the one card in the deck that can save him the 8d. Of course I miss the flush.

Trips vs Boat:
This one hurt the most. Level 13, last level of the day and I’m sitting 250k. Not really interested in going crazy but I wake up with AKo and open 12k BB is 5k, I get called by one of the big stacks. Flop comes AA3ss. We check, Villian is fairly new to the table but seems competent and not very spewy or LAGy. He bets 12k. We call. Turn is a 7x, we check, V bets 50k. We call. River 9s. V bets 50k, we call. V shows 33. I guess we lost the minimum but this one really hurt. Instead of going into day 2 with a more playable stack of 40-50BB I was pretty much cut in half by that last hand.

Was nice to have the day off today. Wish me luck tomorrow. If we can double up early there’s still a chance we can make the money.

I’ll start with a few more pics:


Pavilion room for day 2.


Lol starting chip stack.


Day 2D of The Big 50 was just as brutal as Day 1. I was the shortest stack of my table draw and had some strong players to contend with including at least one fairly decorated pro. I was completely and utterly card dead at a strong and aggressive table which was a sure recipe for an early exit. I played exactly 1 hand in level 14 and one hand in level 15. That’s 100 minutes and two flops. No limps, no steals. I had some opportunities to 3 bet light but as the short stack each opportunity was for my tournament life fairly close to the bubble. So the first two levels can be summarized pretty easily:

Opened late position with AQo early in level 14. 1 call from a loose aggressive sticky rec with bluffs on the button. I whiff the flop, no face cards and decide to give up as I know V is likely to call or even raise and the board hits his calling range harder than a PFR range. I check he bets I fold.

Level 15 I’m down to 9 BB and 3 bet shove over a pretty active mid position raise with JTdd. There were pretty much no unraised pots and this was literally the third best hand I saw in like an hour and a half. Folds around to the PFR who calls with 88. I flop two pair and hold. Finally won a race.

If I remember correctly the bubble popped after the first break in level 16. It was pretty awesome to make the money in my first ever WSOP event.
This pick was from the hand over hand period just after the bubble I think.


Shortly after the bubble I actually started picking up some hands and stealing blinds pre. Then our table broke and I got a MUCH easier table where I was able to chip up to over 500k after making a few hands and then doubling through getting AA to hold vs KK. Unfortunately the table broke again and I was back to a tough table. The dream ended in back to back hands in level 19. Something like this:

I open AQhh from the CO to 2.5 BB and the BUT shoves for 10 BB with TT. I call with 8.5 BB behind. Flop comes QJx, turn K, river 9s. Ouch.

8.5 BB left, folds to us in the HJ. Stacks behind us are all 25-40 BB and no super active players but only one orbit in at a new table. We go for it and shove 89hh. BB calls with A4cc. Flop come 567cc. Sweet the nuts, just have to fade the... whoops Kc on the turn. That’s all she wrote. Finished in the low 800’s out of 9171 entries for a $1001 payout.

I guess busting out always sucks but I was happy to make the money in my first WSOP event. If I win that AQ flip I fold the 89 and have a good shot at Day 3. Oh well. Still decompressing. Probably no poker till this weekend. One 2019 goal has been accomplished. Back to cash.

Well done cashing in your first WSOP.

Thanks, playing was on my bucket list. Cashing was icing on the cake.

Not so triumphant return to cash this weekend.
Week 1 - June:
5:25 -$1,200 @ 2/5
00:10 +$100 @ 1/3
Online BR (lol): $1.12

Not much to say about the weekend session. Sat 1/3 waiting for a 2/5 seat to open and played a quick two hands banking a quick $100 profit. Gave it all back plus a $500 re-buy at 2/5. Maybe I should play a full 1/3 session next week...

I cant say I didn't run into some entitlement tilt this session. After playing with tons of focus last week against a wide range of talent levels. Coming back it was interesting to see how much tougher the average 2/5 table was vs the average table at The Big 50, even after the bubble. And yet, I couldn't muster the patience to play optimally against these guys. Their biggest leak is calling too wide pre and floating too much on the flop but they consistently hit top pair + against me all night. Eventually I ran a multi street bluff with 35hh that I posted here:

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/1...bluff-1745229/

That was the first buy in. The second buy in was mostly getting JJ twice and not being able to get anyone to fold. First time I 3 bet pre got called in two spots, flop an overpair and get called in one spot. He turns the K. I check behind then call a value bet on the river and he shows K9dd. If I posted a hand where I called K9dd OOP to a three bet and then floated flop with 3 clean outs I'd get flamed to death. Then I get JJ again and A2o opens EP to $10, gets a few callers I make it $65 from the BB and get called in three spots. This time he flops the Ace, I entitlement tilt jam just under a pot sized bet. He snaps with two players behind. Everyone else folds and I brick out. Normally I can just check / give up here multi way but for some odd reason I decided to punt it off repping a big Ace. It seems like it should be really easy to just make a good top pair and pile it in but in 5 and a half hours I just couldn't get anything going. Oh well, gotta play better next week.

Confidence booster 1/2 session.
Week 2 - June:
3:53 +$601 @ 1/2
Online BR (lol): $1.12

Was playing 1/2 while waiting for 1/3 and 2/5 and got a really nice table. I stacked up from $300 to $400 fairly quickly and there were 3 other players with 400ish stacks and one with about 950. No seat was particularly impressive, so when I got called for 1/3 I decided to stay as the big stack was calling super wide pre and doing some bullying post with what couldn't all be strong hands based on frequencies. I stayed for the big stack but ended up busting two other players in the process. About 30 mins before I left the big stack showed me how right I was to stay:

Big Stack straddles from the BUT to $4. Couple limps in front, I fold, more limps behind. Big stack raises to lol $19. Player to my left limp re-raises to $100 with AhQs, folds to big stack who flats with Js8d. Flop comes A73sss. Player to my left (We'll call him Hero) leads for $100 with about $125 remaining after the bet. Big stack pauses and then starts counting out raising chips. Hero announces "Whatever it is I call" and puts the rest of his chips in the pot before Big stack even bets. Big Stack still goes all in and gets called drawing to runner runner. The spade hits but obviously Hero still scoops. I'm convinced poker isn't dead and vow to play more 1/2.

About that confidence...
Week 2 - June:
8:42 -$790 @ 1/2
Online BR (lol): $0

So on the bright side, I'm loving the hours logged this month so far. On the darkest of dark sides the worst 1/2 single session loss I've had since 2014 is $800. There are a few of these, the last one occurring in 2017. So worst 1/2 loss in about 2 years. Made a few mistakes but really didn't play that badly. Played some really big pots and won the first couple then went on a string of losing about 4 or 5 huge pots in a row. This will probably end my 1/2 love fest for the month as I'm attempting yet again to dig out of a nice sized hole this month.

Oh and for added giggles I spewed off my $1.12 online BR at 2 NL. It's starting to bug me that I can't beat 2 NL. I'll probably still make a July deposit and get set up with PT4 and officially start playing micros online but I really thought 2 NL would be easier than this and I could just freeroll my way to a $10-20 bank roll.

Not sure if I'll get to play this week. Hopefully I can sneak in at least 3 hours over the weekend. We shall see.

Doom switch, ACTIVATE!!!
June of death:
6:35 -$600 @ 1/2
6:57 -$600 @ 2/5
4:04 +$61 @ 1/2
6:56 +$366 @ 1/3
1:22 -$862 @ 2/5
Online BR (lol): $0

I've fell behind in updating the thread so these updates wont have much in the way of specific hands just know that I ran bad, and played bad. Maybe my ego got a little out of hand with the WSOP cash? I don't know what it is but someone make it stop! First losing month of the year and it's a big one. Monthly and mid year update posts in a bit.

Monthly Goals [33:20 hours @ $50/hr] - June
Stake - Hours - Rate
1/2 - 23:14 - ($31.33)
1/3 - 07:06 - $65.63 - Maybe I should play more 1/3 to get out of this rut...
2/5 - 13:34 - ($193.83) - 3 sessions, all losses.
Total - 44:04 - ($2,940) - Good volume but super gross results.
4 wins, 5 losses

Yearly Goal Tracker - June [200:00 hours @ $50/hr]
Stake - Hours - Rate
1/2 - 88:01 - $16.70
1/3 - 07:26 - $78.97
2/5 - 132:36 - $35.22
Total - 228:03 - $29.50 - This single month has literally cut my yearly hourly rate in half. Just goes to show how fragile all of these numbers are in a small sample size. Only good news is the hours. We are over 28 hours ahead of schedule which bodes will for the 400 goal.
29 wins, 19 losses, 2 break even sessions

WSOP - Yearly goal complete. Played and cashed in The Big 50.
WSOP Event 3 - The Big 50 - 20:00 - Buy in $500, Cash Out $1,001
Hourly rate $25.05 / hr.

6 Months down 6 to go!

Halfway graph

Doom switch, continues in July
July:
6:50 -$1,200 @ 2/5
2:47 +$305 @ 1/2
Online BR (lol): $0

Volume is suffering this month too. Hopefully we can get it together soon.

Rest of July:
9:17 -$500 @ 1/2
2:25 -$1,100 @ 2/5
Online BR (lol): $0

I just cant win. The 1/2 session I did splash a bit but I got it in at least coin flipping every hand. I don't remember a single hand where I got it in bad. Last three big hands I got AA cracked the first hand, second hand I flopped a pair and a flush draw against a slow played set and turned an open ender to go with it. Missed 15 outs and checked back river luckily but the pot was pretty big. Then I got the last 30 BB in pre with KK vs 78o and dude made trips.

2/5 was similar. Missed all my combo draws and couldn't get overpairs to hold.

Monthly Goals [33:20 hours @ $50/hr] - July
Stake - Hours - Rate
1/2 - 12:04 - ($16.16)
2/5 - 09:15 - ($248.65) - 3 sessions, all losses.
Total - 21:19 - ($117.04) - Horrible volume and rates.
1 win, 3 losses

Only 4 sessions. Had a lot going on this month outside of poker. I promise I'm not playing as badly as the numbers say but I'm sure there's some tilt in there I need to clean up. Still looking over hands and trying to find leaks.

August so far. This isn't getting any easier.
3:26 +$509 @ 1/2
8:55 +$106 @ 1/2

TBH it feels good just to break even for a while. The reality is the first session I got stacked pretty early on. I open $15 from late position with AKdd, get called by both blinds. Flop comes A64dd. Checks to me, I bet $30, SB folds, BB raises to $100. I'm effective stack with about $300 behind. I rip it in and get crying called by 64ss. V boats up on the turn and no miracle river Ace to save me. Second buy in I worked it up to $1,109 and got out of there to book a win.

Second session was just demoralizing. Both tables I was at were deep and super loose passive. Vs did have aggression but it wasn't consistent enough to label them LAGs. They had bluffs too it was really frustrating to be owned by fish for so long. I missed a big combo draw early and topped up only to have a flush draw get there OTR and cripple me again. Then got stacked with an overpair that got called by top pair and made two pair. Third buy in I raise AThh OTB and get flatted by QQ. Flop comes AT5, QQ donk leads. I know this guy has no fold button so I raise to put stacks in play so I can jam all turns. Obviously the Q hits the turn and V checks. I bet and V jams but it's like $50 more. Ok fourth $300 buy in at 1/2. This is probably a first ever as I typically leave after 2 buy ins. I remember a few 3 buy in sessions but this is probably the first 4 buy in session. The table was just so good and deep and I didn't feel my tilt was that bad. There were a few questionable hands I'll post in LLSNL but overall I kept playing the same game. The tide really changed when the game broke degen hours and we moved to another table that was also loose passive with 2 stacks around $1,300 and 3 more around $600+. Despite getting AA cracked again at that table (where I should have folded river but tilt called) I was able to work it up to $1,306 and end possibly the first 4 BI session in the black.

Two sessions in before the 6th is a good trend for volume at over 12 hours already (more than half of last months total volume). The modest wins are also encouraging although I'd feel much better if I was able to generate these on one buy in. The saga continues. Wish me luck.

August week day session.
3:00 +$770 @2/5

In the last 6 sessions this is only my second win without a rebuy. It was short and sweet and felt great. It was super busy and I got a reg infested table but there were 2 spots at the table as well. Since it was so busy the floor pretty much declined my table change list request so we had to make due. You ever feel like someone is targeting you? That feeling hit me this session. A lose aggressive rec player to my left was playing a lot of hands. But he was folding post flop at a more normal clip and not calling every raise pre. I could be paranoid but it seemed like he was targeting the tighter players with his aggression and floats. First hand I open JTss in late position and double barrel my flush draw and miss. K and Q on board so I check river OOP and V blasts an overbet OTR. It looks super bluffy but he could actually have value and he could be bluffing with the best hand a lot. Obviously I'm not jamming here against said V and calling with J high is lol. NH. Second hand I open AQo and miss. I check an 8 high flop and he blasts away again. NH. Then I see him doing something similar to another TAG to his left. He called pre and floated, flop and turn, with K7o (no spade). The flop was all spades maybe 9 high. The turn was blank and the river was the Ks. He leads river for like $300 into $375ish and gets tank called by QQs. How do you float two streets with K high no spade??? Noted. Luckily I later got to stack him with AKo vs his K9o when we turned the K. Of course the river put 4 to a straight on the board and he bluffs at it again but after seeing him show down some ridiculous hands I decide to pay him off and we are good. Other than that, I made a couple of sets with 66 where PFR double barreled and picked off one bluff where I raised KQdd pre got 3 callers. Flop came JTTss and checks around. Turn is a blank 5x or something and BB leads for about 1/2 pot. We call. River is Kx and BB leads 1/2 pot again. We tank call and BB insta mucks.

This session gives me hope on three fronts. First, it's looking like we can get back to two sessions per week in the near future. Even if the second session is a super short 2-4 hour weekday run like this one. Second, we have proven it's actually still possible to run good and double up without a rebuy. Third, three winning sessions in a row. Let's see if we can stay focused and ride the wave.

1,000th post, and it will likely be lengthy. Unfortunately it's also back to the downswing. I guess technically it's all one swing.

3:44 -$1,500 @ 2/5
2:48 -$896 @ 10/10
3:41 +$104 @ 1/2
5:22 +$252 @ 1/2
5:50 -$600 @ 2/5
7:00 -$400 @ 1/2
1:08 -$600 @ 1/2
6:00 +$200 @ 2/5

Clearly I need to spend more time on study. Volume has been great this month though. As noted above I took my first 10/10 shot this month so another goal accomplished, although it didn't go as I would have liked. It was good to get to know which 2/5 regs play higher and how the game changes at that level though. I posted a couple of the 10/10 hands but not the last one. Hero is effective stack with about $850. Folds to Hero in CO with JTdd, we open for $40. Loose-ish BTN call. Tight-ish SB 3b to $160. Folds back to Hero getting 2:1 to call in position on the 3b. BTN is mostly capped and will likely call if Hero calls. I think folding here is fine but JTdd seems easy to play post in position and with implied odds of BTN coming along calling also seems fine. We call, BTN calls. Flop: 7d8c9d. Can't make this stuff up. SB leads for $250 into $490. We call to keep in BTN as there aren't many bad turn cards. BTN calls. Turn 4d. SB leads $400. Not the best spot but SB can have overpairs with 1 diamond here and sets enough that we cant really fold. Worst case scenario we always have the 8d for the straight flush. We only have about $200 behind so we stick it in, BTN folds. River is blank and we get shown A3dd. Just needed to fade 6 diamonds on the turn for the near triple up.

I thought this was by far my worst month but looking back, June and July were both worse. If we exclude the 10/10 I'm only one strong session from even this month. That session will likely come this weekend. Not going to press too hard for an artificial break even for the month mark but if the game is good I may stay if we are close.

The win rate goal seems far out of reach but I'm still feeling good about reaching all the rest of the yearly goals. Really missing those heater days. Where has the run good gone?

Last session the same guy flopped a set against me twice inside of an hour. Both times I had two pair. Then he turned a straight that also gave me 2 pair. I was able to fold the third one but the first two were pretty much coolers. It's not like I'm hero-ing it off with one pair or bluff catching light. I'm just running 2 pair+ into sets, boats, flushes, and straights. Whatever I have they have one better. If I can find a sunny side, it's that I'm still able to log some winning sessions within this doomsday streak of run bad. I literally lost count of the times I get it in on the turn against a known flush draw and they call it off to hit the river. That -600 1/2 session had 3 of them alone (plus and AA vs 77 all in pre where I got my AA cracked, yea they 4b back raise jam 77 into my AA and still win).

Monthly Goals [33:20 hours @ $50/hr] - August
Stake - Hours - Rate
1/2 - 29:32 - ($0.98)
2/5 - 18:34 - ($60.86)
10/10 - 2:48 - ($320.00)
Total - 50:54 - ($40.37) - Great volume horrible rates.
6 wins, 5 losses

Falling behind in posting ITT during the mega downswing. I don't even remember some of the sessions from last month (August). I just remember running into AA, sets, and getting outdrawn a ton. I could have probably folded more but really didn't play as bad as these numbers suggest. I always wondered about the crazy variance and downswing posts and how bad they could be. I'm getting a feel for it now. I'm no pro or crusher but this is truly some humbling stuff for a rec who used to believe he was solid and winning. On the bright side, I do remember my first 10/10 shot. I flopped the nuts with JTdd on 7d8c9d and ended up getting stacked by Ad3d. On to the next month.

September is picking up where June+ has left off:
4:39 -$600 @ 1/2
1:31 -$587 @ 2/5
4:51 -$413 @ 1/2
10:17 +$235 @ 1/2
5:00 +$80 @ 1/2
1:25 +$101 @ 1/2
6:10 +$706 @ 1/2

Forgot to add that freerolls are back on ACR so I binked another 95 cents last night. Even though the competition is LOL, finishing top 10 out of fields of 500+ for a few pennies is more fun than most video games or TV shows IMO. Think I'll continue to freeroll a few more weeks and try to put two binks together to sit 100 BB at 2 NL.