I played another $1/$2 session on Wednesday night. Sat down at the table at around 3:15pm, paid my time, paid my blinds, and my third hand into the game I was told by one of the players at the table that there was a $6000 Jackpot for bingo starting at 3:30pm. It's free entry, so there's 0 risk. I'm kinda cut that I paid my time/blinds without getting my full orbit in, but it's a small sacrifice to pay for a chance to win 6k. The bingo room was packed! usually there are about 250ish people that go to this thing, but that day there was about 500. Naturally I didn't win bingo, but it was still fun to play nonetheless. So I make my way back to the poker room and get seated back down at the same table that I was on before. I proceeded to play for about 6 hours and made a nice 115BB profit. It was a pretty chill session of poker. I was making hands and getting paid. Didn't have to think too hard in any spots. Avoided a cooler by folding 87 on the BTN to a $4 open. Flop came JT9 and sure enough the pf opener had KQ. I could have lost a large chunk of cheddar if I was the type of player who had a 25+VPIP. The pleasures of being a nit... ^_^'

So I was totally taking control over most of the action at the table for the majority of the session, but then someone sat down and changed the whole dynamic of the game. He's this young, arrogant guy who loves to splash around, needle the players and get tricky (which is the exact opposite strategy that I was using.) And he sat directly to my left. I didn't mind it so much though because my preflop game was a lot more solid than his and I believe he was more prone to making post flop mistakes than I was despite him having a positional advantage. These are the two hands we got involved in together.

Hand 1
Hero BTN ($360)
Villan SB ($75)
Action limp-folds to Hero with A9. Hero opens to $12, Villain 3-bets to $38. Action quickly folds to Hero, and Hero quickly mucks.
Villain haughtily shows 63

...so this kid is clearly the type to step out of line. If this particular villain were 100BB deeper I wouldn't even hesitate calling. But the fact that he put in %50 of his stack in from the SB after the BTN (who has the whole table covered) has shown aggression.....lead me to believe that it was very rarely going to be a bluff. The fact that it WAS a bluff is fantastic (for me). My investment into the pot was only $12. What this sizing does is basically leverages his whole stack where he's risking 100% of his chips against my $12. Because by raising to $38 this villain has effectively committed himself since he now can't fold to a shove. This puts me at a huge advantage especially if he's taking this line with ATC. The only way he can win is if he calls my open and is forced to play a pot out of position, or he 3-bets in a pot where he can't fold to a shove. My line is very low-variance whereas his line is super high-variance, especially since my BTN opening range is fairly narrow. Even though he showed the bluff in an attempt to put me on tilt, it actually had the opposite effect. I was relieved that his range in this spot was so wide, because it allows me to further exploit his laggy tendencies with much greater ease in future spots. Like..... if he had showed me a hand like 66 or KQ I would have been more tilted because it means that his 3-betting range is narrower, but I can comfortably 4-bet him since he's capable of doing it with ATC on a 40BB stack.

Hand 2
Action limp-folds to hero (BTN) who flats with T8 SB & BB complete.
Flop: 972
SB (the same villain from the last hand) bet $7, everyone folds, hero calls.
Turn: J
Villain checks, Hero checks
River: A
Villain bets $40, hero calls.
Villain shows 53

well.... it looks like I got schooled pretty hard in this hand. You could very arguably say that this should just be a fold pre given the fact that no one on the table is deep. But after this particular villain came to the table, I noticed people doing some strange things post flop, and I would take any chance to take a cheap flop in position. When this villain lead out on flop, I immediately put him on hearts. He just seemed like the kind of player who would bet his draws. So I called with the intention of giving up on heart turns. And firing on 100% of all non-heart rivers. Unfortunately, the turn made my hand which made it difficult to release when faced with a huge river overbet. It's an easy check-back for me on turn. His line is so obvious! Leading with draw, checking it when made. So transparent. I didn't bite. But that river bet was just gross.... I knew I was beat and fell in the tank....at this point the villain said "hurry up Dash, we all know you're going to fold". >__<'' ugh, hearing him say that just made me want to fold MORE! Everything that had happened in this hand was pointing to him having a flush and I knew it, but I just under-repped the strength of my hand SO much, plus the fishy nature of this particular villain is so apparent that I made a crying call. I wasn't the least bit surprised when he showed me his hand. I'm just a fish who can't fold a straight to a LAG's overbet.

Played another 1/2 session on Thursday night. Didn't do so well... Lost a flip early on. Then later, got it in pre with AK against an unknown short-stacker who had AA. Fell into the trap of having a high c-bet frequency which is not something you want to have when playing 1/2, i've come to realise. People are just too stationy at these limits. When I noticed myself calling a 3x open from the nittiest player on the table with Q3, I recognised that it was time to quit. I hadn't been on the table for long but knew that I wasn't playing my A-game. Left the session with a loss of $110, but could easily have lost double that had I kept playing the way I was playing.

hey man. Hmm, I'm not sure what tilt-issues you think that I have. I've always thought I had pretty good control over that aspect of my game. If my tilt was a real issue, I'd probably be broke by now?

I'm playing 1/2 for a number of reasons;
1) It's lower variance. If I do happen to make an error, it's not going to cost me as much money. Losing 2 BI at this limit is much less painful than if I were to lose 2 BI at 1/3 or 2/4.
2) Simply to rebuild confidence. I was losing multiple sessions at 1/3 and just felt bad. So continuing to play with such a defeated mindset is a pretty poor decision,imo. But after having a modest upswing at the 1/2 game, it's given me a good confidence boost.
3) It's less stressful. I'm wayyy over-rolled for 1/2 so the money doesn't really matter that much to me. I can just play poker and not have to worry about short-term results.
Plus...there's this mysterious entertainment value you get from 1/2. Some of the things people do/say in this game is just..... amazing o__o. You'd never see or hear anything like it in other games.

I'm aware of the high-rake... but I don't agree that it's bingo. 1/2 is very beatable. Maybe not long-term (i haven't bothered to run the numbers), but you can easily crush it in the short term. But I'm not planning on playing 1/2 forever, I'm just playing it temporarily until I'm comfortably rolled for 1/3 again and re-gain some of that much needed confidence.

haha, why do you think calling with more than 7:1 odds is a reason to take a break from poker? Maybe our definitions of "marginal" differs. There's a big difference between playing marginal hands and playing junk. Generally speaking, marginal hands can be great candidates to call pf because they have such a huge potential to make a strong hand. Whereas junk hands really depend on your opponent folding their hand. Doesn't have much potential in the way of winning by showdown... I usually only ever play junk hands if I'm in the BB and I can check. (there have been exceptions to this, but they're rare)

I'm not sure if I agree that playing like a nit is the only way to win at 1/3. It's definitely the lowest variance, but there are always going to be ways to exploit your opponents' tendencies, you just have to know how to identify them. But it's going to be different for each opponent you face. And you get a LOT of different player types at 1/3. There are LAGs, TAGs, nit-bitches, donkeys, splashy-whales, weak-passive, weak-tight, rocks, regs etc. I've played with all these types on 1/3. So claiming that only 1 strategy works for exploiting ALL these player types is kind of zany. That being said, I do feel that the best strategy for 1/2 is playing fit-or-fold, because most of the players you find on these tables are all calling stations who just aren't really thinking. If this were the case for 1/3, then I'd definitely agree that playing like a "superTAG" is the only way to win. But yeah, whatever strategy you decide to implement, it should be dependent on who your opponents are, not what the size of the BB is.

Why do you think it's 1/3 that's making you a worse player? Do you think playing higher limits will help you improve? Coz I've railed $5/$5 and I guarantee you that there are the same player-types at 5/5 as there are at 1/3.

I haven't been going to crown as often as I used to, but I'd love to have a chat next time I'm there. It'll be good to catch up!

Played another $1/$2 session at crown on Saturday night. Played for about 5 hours and made $60. Didn't play any hands that were that note-worthy.

I've been doing a bit of thinking recently. I'm considering taking a premature shot at $2/$4, despite having a roll of only 6K. But I want to make sure that my decision to take a shot at a higher limit will be due to sound reasoning rather than an impulsive decision made from tilt. Honestly, I have been rather frustrated lately that I've had to drop down stakes from being on a downswing when all my other poker friends (who are at a similar skill level as me) are finding great success making thousands of dollars with ease playing at higher limits. Yet I'm still stuck playing the micros. But I know that frustration and jealousy is definitely the wrong motive for taking a shot.

The reason why I'm considering taking a shot now is because the $2/$4 games at my casino have just become really juicy! There are a lot of satellites and qualifier events held at crown for upcoming tournaments like the WSOP and whatever else, and people are busting out of these satellites and hitting the $2/$4 tables. I think it'd be a mistake to not capitalise off these people when they're coming off of tournament tilt. It seems like this is an opportunity I should be taking advantage of. I think with good table selection and setting a stop-loss of 1.5 BI, taking a shot might actually be worth my while? I'm still undecided though...

thoughts?

Subbed

If the game looks good, 1.5 BI shot-take is a good option. Assume you've lost the $ the minute you sit down, anything extra is gravy. With this assumption don't think negatively, think positively. The minute doubt creeps in your mind, end your session, whether you're up or down.

I just came off a 2 week trip to Melbourne and I can confirm the 2/4 tables are extremely juicy. Also since the game plays deep and usually 150+bb deep after a while there's a lot less variance than short stacked games.

to be honest, I assume I've lost any amount I bring to the table regardless of what stakes I play, even at my regular game. I mean, of course I expect to make a profit because I try to make as many +EV decisions as I can, but I never come to a table with the mentality that losing isn't an option. It's a good frame of mind to have though because it helps you from playing scared-money. I'm looking forward to scoping out the 2/4 tables. I expect them to be the most lucrative on friday/saturday nights, so I'll keep an eye out and try to avoid a reg-filled game. This thread is lacking in the chip-porn department so hopefully I can show some hairy stack-pics in the near future.

I played another 1/2 session Sunday night. Played for about 5 hours, made an $80 profit
Biggest hand for the session:
Hero BB ($480)
Villain UTG ($160)
Action limp-folds to Hero who raises to $17 with TT, UTG calls, everyone else folds.
Flop: 962
Hero leads $40, Villain tank-shoves All-in, Hero calls.
Turn: 4
River: A
Villain shows AJ

I was making 8x and 9x opens with all of my preflop hands that I decided to VPIP. People on this table were calling so wide and continuing with bottom pair... such a loose-passive table, it was great. But even when calling stations take an aggressive line, it's not always indicative of strength. Once the board came 9 high I was never folding and more than happy to get it in with this villain who had shown some pretty spewy tendencies. For some reason I guess this particular villain thought that the only way he could win the pot was by..... trying to get me to fold? It was pretty clear I wasn't folding given my pre-flop/post-flop betting, but bad/spewy players aren't really thinking. In any case, despite losing the pot I was happy the way the hand played out. I set up the hand in such a way where my opponent was forced to bluff *shrugs*

There was another big hand I got involved in with this one lady who said that she had to leave at 4:00pm. Well, when this hand started, it was quarter to 4. I'm in middle position and the big stack at the table who's UTG opens to $6. This guy's betting patterns were very consistent and obvious. Whenever he had a pocket-pair, the size he'd open for is the number of his pockets. And whenever he had AK/AQ type hands he'd bet $12. Action got folded to me and I had AK I wanted to get heads up with this guy because I already know he has 66. So I raised it to $22. It folds around to the girl in the BB (who has to go soon) and she goes All-In for $110. The initial raiser fumbles around for a bit and folds his hand, and I sigh-call. She shows JJ, I show my AK. The board runs out something like T9586r. The lady was clapping and laughing and celebrating and the guy who was UTG goes "oh man, I had pocket sixes"

So I lost a flip and I lost a 75/25 for a total of $270. Finished the session with an $80 profit, but I can't help but imagine a universe where I'm on the winning side of those two hands.... But thinking about what COULD have been isn't really conducive to good-poker. I know that short-term results are inherently insignificant but still...... *sigh*

well, i've had an interesting week of poker this week. Playing some $1/$2, making some prop-bets, meeting some new people, sharing in poker-related discussions off the felt, but most importantly, playing home games! I was invited to play in this underground cardroom that holds a low-stakes cash game once a week and I went and played there for the first time with a friend of mine. This particular game is insanely good. Good in the sense that my edge against the other players is through the roof, it's well-structured, it's perfect for my financial situation and it's safe! It's 100NL, players start with 200 big blind stacks so it's super deep, there's no rake, you get a "free" meal when you play, an average of 4 tables are running simultaneously and none of the people there are regs. I'll give you a taste of some of the things I saw at this game. There was one villain who blind-bet 60BB from UTG, called a min-3-bet with a raggy ace, and check-folded post flop. This particular villain was doing this all night. There was another villain who was over-potting as a bluff, and almost no one on my table folded to a pre-flop open. No one was folding a draw, very rarely were people folding middle-pair, and I even saw one guy call a bet out of position on 2-streets with K high/no-draw. There was also a TON of people showing their cards face-up to the table. These players are just giving away free information on how they play. This. game. is. good. Given my skill-edge against these players I should have expected to make at least 2 and a half to 3 BI, but I only managed to make $85. I'm looking forward to the next game.

$1/$2 has been somewhat break-even this week. I made $520 one session, then lost $200 the next, won $80 the following session, then lost $320 the next. I really shouldn't be having $300 losing sessions in a game where the BI is $80. When that happens, it's usually due to the fact that I'm making decisions based on boredom rather than weighing up the likelihood that a particular decision will be profitable long-term. Managing boredom and having a lack of patience is definitely a part of my game that I think is solid, but admittedly, there are also times that I struggle with these and I need to focus on correcting it.

One of my close poker-buddies offered me a proposition the other day, and it's inspired me to add a new goal to my poker-journey. The goal is to travel the nation playing poker games inter-state in all different casinos and cardrooms. I've never once played poker outside of melbourne, but I think it'd be great fun and a good learning experience to travel to all different parts of australia playing poker.

Another one of my poker buddies offered me some good advice earlier in the week. He told me that I could be using my spare time much more effectively by finding new ways to be productive. I spend a lot of time throughout the week doing absolutely nothing and it's a colossal waste. So I'm going to try and see if I can get some part-time work, update my CV and perhaps start earning some income that doesn't suffer from variance.

I've recently discovered that one of my other poker friends has had some singing experience and used to be in a band that had gigs around town. We have a similar taste in music and he invited me to jam at his place. Me on guitar, him on vocals. Something that I'm really looking forward to, especially since it's been ages since I've played guitar. The idea of balancing my poker with hobbies and a part time job is actually really appealing to me. I've known people who've regretted making the decision to become a poker-pro and have subsequently developed a feeling of hatred towards the game. I think that's largely due to the fact that people lack that balance and can then get consumed by the game. I hope that never happens to me.

Despite being in the biggest downswing of my life, I actually have really bright visions for the future of my poker career.

"I've known people who've regretted making the decision to become a poker-pro and have subsequently developed a feeling of hatred towards the game"
Tends to happen when they underestimate how hard it is to actually make a living long term from this game, and cant handle the game when they just keep breaking even/losing. Coming up to 4 years as a fulltime pro now and starting my journey well underquipped for the task at hand...I can honestly say my love for poker grows stronger each and every day!
KeEp Up tHe GrInD!

Went to the casino on wednesday night and played 1/2 for a few hours. Ended up making a $176 profit. I got into this one hand where the dealer at the table made a mistake. I'm in the BB with 83. Action gets limped to me and I check it. Flop comes K97 The person who is in the SB starts celebrating and clapping his hand and I look over to him confused and realise he's happy because he had $10 on a flop-chase bet. [flop-chase is a side-wager at crown poker tables where you can bet on either red or black, and if the flop is all the same colour, then you win 7:1] So this guy is happy because he bet 10 dollars on black so he's expecting the dealer to pay him $70. He proceeds to check and now action is on me. I have every intention of check-folding this flop but I wait because the dealer hasn't paid out the man's flop-chase bet. Usually that's the first thing dealers do when there's a winning bet. So I'm waiting, and then the dealer puts a clock in front of me and starts a 10 second count-down. I ask him why he hasn't paid out the flop-chase bet and he said he'd do it after. Okay.... well whatever, now I only have 6 seconds left, and I decide to just let it go down to zero. Well, as soon as the clock reaches zero, the dealer takes my cards and slides them into the muck!! O__O wtf?! I jump out of my seat and yelled, "what the hell are you doing!? I'm not facing a bet! It should be an automatic check! why did you muck my hand!?" The dealer didn't seem too phased and just said "it's too late now". The Floor Manager sees a commotion at the table and asks me to explain the situation to him, and I did, and he seemed to be very understanding and was actually on my side. He said that the dealer did in fact make a mistake. But he said the same thing to me as the dealer, "there's nothing I can do." Pissed off, I sit back down in my seat and just give the dealer a look [who happens to be off in his own world]. The Floor Manager comes back a minute later and asks, "would you like a drink?" I replied, "Is it on the house?" He said, "yep," took my order and came back with my drink. I racked up, cashed out, and was thrilled to score a drink for my $2 share in the pot. Pretty good deal, pretty good session.

I ended up meeting with a friend later for a drink and a chat..... and a smoke [still haven't managed to cut-down yet]. Hours pass by, feeling pretty good with myself, I decided to head back down to the poker room and check out what games were open. Since I was feeling confident, and the games I was scoping looked fairly soft, I decided to register for a $2/$4NLHE game. Probably not the best decision, as I ended up losing $273. I don't think I played terribly, just got into some unfortunate situations. Made a set of sixes on the river when action got checked back on the turn. A guy in EP lead out, and I raised him, and he tank-called with a straight. He turned it. o__o. The only river in the deck that costs me money. Another hand where I flopped 2 pair and it got counterfeited on a later street and was forced to fold. Another hand where I had an OESFD check-called all streets only to have it brick off. I won a few pots as well, but my shot-taking wasn't that satisfying. I'll have to pick a better time to jump on a $2/$4 table, a time when I'm not feeling so impulsive, but still feeling confident.

So for the whole day I booked a loss of $97.

I went up to the smoker's lounge upstairs and saw this pretty girl sitting on one of the sofas. I asked if she minded if I took a seat next to her and she said, "go ahead". We started chatting and eventually we figured out that we had some mutual friends. I asked her if she was at the casino alone, and she said that she was there with a mate. Well her mate walks in a few minutes later and I recognised her too. In fact, now I know where I've seen these girls before! They were both playing at the 25c/50c home game that I was at only 6 days prior. I guess it's not that big of a coincidence, but the home game is like a 40 minute drive from the casino. I wasn't expecting anyone from the home game to be there. Well, the three of us are chatting and then another group of people come in and sit next to us. 2 lebanese guys, 1 aussie and 1 Italian girl. Well... there's an interesting story that unravels with me and this Italian girl, but it's a story best saved for another time xDDDD

Fast-forward a day later and I'm at the 25c/50c home game. Very profitable night. Bought in for $100, left with almost $600. I honestly believe that this home game is going to save my bankroll. I only wish it ran more frequently xD

Got an invite from a few highschool friends to go out for dinner at a restaurant at the Crown Complex, tonight. Had a good meal. My friends wanted to muck around on $10 blackjack for a bit despite my disinterest. I was happy to rail them, but had no intention or desire to play myself. After a few minutes of scoping out the tables, I noticed a really soft $2/$4 game was running. It had just opened up and NONE of the players that were there were regulars. They were all new faces and looked like your typical pub-poker newb. Half of them bought in for $200 and I knew that this game was going to be soft. Perfect time to take a shot! I registered for $2/$4, got seated at a bad table, but was able to get transferred to the table I had marked pretty quickly. Sat in with a full stack, eager to jump inside this marshmallow pit. There was ONE person on the table that I was worried about. He was a fellow grinder, but his speciality is in tournament poker. I'm still unsure how his skillset translates to cash-game poker but I know he's a thinking player. Luckily I have position on him. And fortunately he left 10 minutes after I sat down so I didn't have to worry at all. I had full control over the table now. Played for about 2 hours and only played about 3 or 4 hands. I nitted up. Probably didn't have to play so nitty since the table was fairly soft, but since I'm not even rolled for $1/$3, I decided that a conservative approach was best. It didn't take me long to double up. People were bluffing rivers with Ace high, calling off their stacks with second pair/no-kicker... it was just loose and idiotic some of the things I was seeing on this table. Well, I suppose I wasn't the only person scoping out the floor looking for good games. A person has now just filled an empty seat and he's a reg. A reg who's a crusher. A reg who normally plays $5/$5 and higher. I do have position on him, but even still.... I could tell straight off the bat that he was going to be a nuisance. The first hand he played, he raised preflop and then check-raised big postflop [I wasn't involved, just obseriving]. I .... was not interested in sticking around. His presence alone changed the whole table dynamics and I wasn't prepared to clash stacks. The game was no longer juicy, so I decided to rack up, cash out, and book the win. $422 profit. I consider that a successful shot-take. I think I'll keep my shot-taking to a bare minimum. Only on weekend nights. The casino was packed this night, too. Not only on the main gaming floor, but in the poker room as well.

My plan is to continue grinding 5c/10c online, $1/$2 Live on weekdays, 25c/50c Homegame on Thursdays [+an additional 25c/50c homegame that runs on saturday nights that I've just recently been invited to], and the occasional $2/$4 shot-take on weekend nights. If I can play solidly and grind these games profitably, my BR should recover quite well and put me in a position where I can grind $1/$3 on a regular basis again with more frequent shot-takes at $2/$4. And if I can continue to run/play well at that point and continue to see growth in my BR, who knows... maybe I'll be playing $2/$4 regularly. That would be pretty sweet.

I've just done a quick run through of some numbers and I'm approximately $250 short of having 40BI at the $1/$3 level. Pretty good news since I've recently been having the most epic downswing of my [still-early] poker career.

I'm feeling good. My poker game has changed a lot over the years. When I started, I was a super weak-passive player. As I've grown, I've developed more TAG-y tendencies with the occasional line of creativity, and recently [due to my downswing] I've been playing a NIT strategy. Not a scared nit that can be easily pushed off of hands, but a nit that's also capable of betting for thin value. At least that's how I have perceived my development over the years. I think there's some debate over what a nit really is. Most people use this term in a disparaging tense in order to embarrass or maybe coerce "said-nit" into loosening up. But I think playing a nit strategy can be a very viable strategy if implemented correctly and doesn't necessarily reflect that person's reluctance to put money in the pot without the stone-cold nuts. But maybe I'm just confusing the word nit with TAG? In any case, I think both player types can find lots of success in poker if they know how to do it well and still be able to exploit their own table image. Which is something I'm trying to perfect. I have had very little experience with implementing a LAG strategy. I don't think it really fits in with my character but someday I would very much like to experiment with this style and hone it to perfection. After all, LAGs are the most difficult playertypes to play against, so it'd make sense to get some practise with it. Maybe once I'm properly rolled for $2/$4, I'll muck around at the lower limits and try and see if I can improve my LAG game there. I believe that a true poker player should know how/when to change gears. But some people only have 1 or 2 gears in their box, and these gears are usually rusty and often malfunction. Whereas a crusher will have 5+ gears in their box and they're well-oiled and perform at a much higher level. I'm actually somewhat appreciative of my June/July downswing, because it's allowed me to improve my NIT-strategy and given me practise with the best way to manage said swings. I wonder if I'd ever improve as a player if I only ever experienced upswings....... Is $ won worth it [in the long run] if you never improve as a player?

a somewhat disappointing night tonight.
Got to the crown and sat at a $1/$2 table. Ran my stack up to $280 after a couple of hours of play and then proceeded to get felted. This is really bad. Not so much the money aspect of the loss, but because I can't even remember what happened that made me lose the stack. Since dropping down to 1/2, I've stopped taking notes on hands I played. Mostly because the hands I played were generally very ABC and didn't require much analyses. But if I'm building my stack up to 140BB and then losing it all in the span of half an hour, then it means I'm doing something wrong. I must have made a lot of mistakes. There was a hand I semi-bluffed with, got called, missed my draw but hit top pair which didn't win at showdown. Lost a large portion of my stack there. Another hand where I value-betted top pair on three streets only to get flatted by someone who had me one-pipped. And then another hand where I 2-barrel bluffed with AK, rivered an Ace which was no good by showdown. There were more hands that I VPIP'd where I lost and most likely misplayed, but I just think once I got that 140BB stack I started getting silly. Definitely wasn't playing my A-game. After I got felted, I got up from the table realising that I no longer had an edge. Went upstairs to get a snack, had a smoke, had a chat with a friend. It was still early in the night and I wasn't really all that satisfied with the way I played. After I took a break, I recollected my thoughts and made the decision to scope out the floor to see if there were any soft tables open. Well I found a $1/$3 game that was 5-handed and none of them were regs. I used to play 1/3 everyday, so I recognise all the regulars. The people on this table looked pretty inexperienced and there was only one person on the table who had a big stack. He was some old guy that had a glass of beer next to him. I took a seat to his direct left. Bought in for $200. Didn't make many hands but was able to run my stack up to $276. Raised with top 15% pre and c-bet on flop when missed only to get it folded around. This happened like 4 times. The table gave me lots of respect. After a few orbits, players from a broken table then came to fill the empty seats and half of them had like $1500+ stacks. I racked up and left. So for the night I booked a $4 loss. Slightly disappointing since I was up $200 initially on my 1/2 table and donked it off in spots that were probably bad. But happy to have recovered somewhat when I sat back down.
Lesson: don't let a 3.5BI stack affect my game. Playing deep is something I still need lots of practise with.
Good news is, one of my poker buddies who has recently become serious with grinding made a $1300 profit that session. Always makes me feel good knowing that my friends are winning. Even if at times I may experience a tiny bit of envy.

I don't anticipate that the 1/3 games will be THAT soft during the week. So my plan is to keep grinding 1/2Live, playing +EV hours (or at least trying to), grinding 5c/10c online, and playing my regular 25c/50c home game. I'm happy. Very close to getting that 40BI bankroll for 1/3 again!

fairly disappointed with myself at the moment. All poker players have leaks and weaknesses that they need to manage and also strengths that they pride themselves on. Personally, I've always found comfort in knowing that most of my opposition lack discipline and have a really hard time with resisting temptation whereas I'm pretty controlled, know my limitations and try my best at making the best decision. Whether it's avoiding pit-games, not playing when I'm on tilt, not playing when I'm tired, etc. But tonight I broke some rules....and did something slightly out of character.

Started my session last night on 1/2, lost $200. On tilt, I registered for $2/$4. Played like **** and ended up getting it in with 9 high, which cost me a $1.1K pot. Not only did I make lots of mistakes on 1/2, i.e. being too passive, check-calling knowing that I'm behind hoping to suck out, but I also made the mistake of allowing my tilt to put me into a game that I'm wayyyy under-rolled for. I wanted to be somewhat calculated in my strategy for taking shots at 2/4. But instead I opted to jump up to get my losses back quickly. I probably could have, but I was just playing like an idiot. After I busted on $2/$4, I was feeling really upset with myself and booked the $600 loss.

I took a smoke-break, had a coffee, chatted with a friend, then went back down to the poker room and noticed that there was a $65 step1 satellite for the ANZPT. I thought f*** it and made the decision to play it. Well, I ended up winning it and now have a ticket into the step2 satellite. It starts tonight, but there's one on Friday night too, so I think I'll use my ticket for that one. Assuming I do well in the step2, I'll have a ticket into the main which is worth $2.2K *fingers crossed* Probably unlikely, but I still like to fantasise about running deep in the main and making the FT..... ahhh, it would be so sweet....

I never thought I'd need more help with this, but I have to work harder on discipline and tilt-control. I used to think it was one of my strengths, but I suppose I was wrong. I can't be dumping $600 a session because of poor decisions. Just not acceptable. I'm going to take a break from live poker for a few days. We'll see.

Definitely look at this closely, you can't let these things occur and unravel. Make a mistake, fine. Compound mistakes, not okay. Control your tilt, physically disallow yourself to jump stakes you're not supposed to play by bringing only enough buy ins for current stake. You might miss that 2-4+ whale game but the negative outweighs the positive if you jump stakes while tilting.

really good advice. I can forgive myself for making 1 mistake, but it's the compounding of numerous mistakes that is unacceptable. I know this. It's why I opened my post with "I'm really disappointed with myself". It's a huge leak that really shouldn't be expected from someone who's only source of income is poker. I don't consider myself to be a "pro" per se, but since I don't have a job, I really can't be making these kinds of mistakes. Not only will it hurt my roll, but it'll hurt my emotional state and my chances to improve as a player. I'm going to resist the temptation to chase the 2/4 whales. I don't deserve to be playing at that limit yet anyway, and my roll is definitely not large enough to support any losses at that limit. From now on, it's 1/3 and lower until I can get a 5 figure roll.

Pretty good news to share. I played my thursday night 25c/50c home game last night. Played for 7 hours and made a $335 profit. I've only played this game three times so far, but every time I've come away with a win. In total I've made a profit of $855 post-rake at this game. I just wish it ran every night. The game is so easy to beat. The players there have no idea how to play a 200+BB stack, I see them making so many pre/post flop mistakes, it's unreal. They bluff in the wrong spots, they call with a range that's way too wide, they don't make thin value bets. And I've set up a nitty table image (which is somewhat accurate of my playing style in this game) but I often exploit this image I have and take down pots with air uncontested. There was one hand I played against a guy who opened pre with AK. I called out of position with 66, and he folded to my turn bet when the flop was K high after we both checked the flop. (I was unimproved) These players give me respect when they shouldn't and they pay me off when I fill up. It's great! If this game ran every night, I have no doubt I could make over $1000 a week.

It's funny. People at this home game see me folding my small blind in an unraised pot and they call me cheap and jewish and nitty and all this crap, but at the end of the night, one of the regulars at this game (who isn't good. Let's face it, all the regs at this home game are beyond bad) pointed me out to his friend and said, "this guy never loses! he'll be able to buy a new car soon!" hahaha! oh how I wish this was true.

I'm really happy that I was invited to this home-game. Everyone I play against at this game plays their hand face-up. I was making such accurate reads and paying attention to the betting action in hands I wasn't involved in, trying to put each villain on a hand. I'm no negreanu, but I was putting people on their exact holdings in multiple pots. My reading was good last night. I knew when someone was bluffing the river with Khigh, I knew when someone rivered quads, I knew when someone turned 2 pair. I was giving myself lots of pats on the back for each read I got right. Really boosted my confidence.

I played this one hand last week that I thought was note-worthy. Villain who's UTG views me as a super NIT. He openly said a few hands previously that I've only played 1 hand in the last 10 orbits and that I should "play sometime". This villain blind-raises to $2 UTG. The villain who's UTG+1 blind re-raises to $4. 3 people in MP calls the $4 and action's now on me. I have QQ. I re-raise to $45. I made it this size because most of these villains don't understand how to play deep and just call with almost ATC when they're dominated, regardless of the raise-size. Well, action folds around to the UTG Villain who starts to tank. He tanks tanks tanks, asks me, "why the heck would you RAISE so much?!" He looks REALLY pained like he doesn't want to call. He's squirming in his chair and furrowing his brow and looking confused. Then he says, "I raise!" and puts in $145. Action folds around to me. Stacks are $350 effective. In my head, I've insta-folded. But I tank too. I know what my perceived table image is, and he would NEVER 5-bet me with a hand worse than QQ. His hollywooding was an absolute joke. The only reason why I tanked was to observe his body mannerisms for when he has the "nuts". So that I can compare it to the next time he bets big to see if his physical tells differ in any way. Someone called the clock on me and I ran the timer down to zero and my hand was killed and he took the pot. Afterwards, I told the table I had pocket queens and no one believed me because they thought I would have "at least called." The following week, people told me that he was bluffing, but I approached the guy after the game had finished and asked him to put my mind at ease. He said, "you made a good fold, I had Kings." I actually didn't believe him. For some reason I think he's lying. I think he had AA, don't know why he'd lie though. In any case, I'm happy with how I played the hand. If I just 4-bet small and saw a flop, I'd probably lose a LOT more than $45 post-flop.

My step2 satellite is on tonight. If I can run deep and earn a Main Event ticket for the ANZPT, I'll be ecstatic. Wish me luck!!

Current BR: $7200

mmmmmmmm... pretty swingy session last night.

The step2 started at 7pm. Sat down feeling confident. The very first hand dealt, I was on the button and took 80% of my opponent's stack (he was sitting on my direct left) who bluffed me with Ace high when I flopped three of a kind. Pretty sweet. For the next hour I didn't play a single hand O___O just getting dealt junk every hand and forced to fold it. Didn't let it bother me. I understand just how precious chips are in a tournament and made sure to hold onto them until I know I have the best of it. Well, the gentleman who I almost felted in the first hand eventually busted and re-bought into the tourny and this time he got seated to my direct right. He chipped up a lot since re-entering into the tourny and since I was folding all of my junk, his stack climbed to a figure that had me covered. He was being really loose and seeing lots of flops. I was glad to have position on him, especially since I thought he wanted to take vengence on me for almost stacking him in the first hand. So! Blinds are now 100/200. Eff stacks are 4000. This Villain is UTG and opened to 400, I re-raised to 1100 with AA, action folds back around to him and he flat calls. Pot is now 2200. The flop is 3TJ. He checks. I have a little under 3900 left and I decide to ship it in. He SNAP calls. And I'm thinking, "wow, you flopped it?" I turn my hand over and he turns over KQ. Turn is a brick, river is an Ace. GG me. Looking back at this hand I think my AI on flop is kinda bad. I'm getting a LOT of worse hands to fold. After speaking about it with a friend, I think a more optimal line would be to bet maybe 1/2 pot on flop and Jam/Call Off on all turns. Pretty gross way to bust, though. Given his actual hand, I know for a fact this guy is getting it in on all Khigh/Qhigh/2-heart flops. He just got the one gin flop needed to knock me out. Well... good for him. He actually ended up winning most of the chips by the end and earned a Main Event ticket. Kind of ironic that the guy I almost knocked out, re-bought, knocked ME out, and then went on to win the ticket >_< haha. But I guess that's how it goes...

So I was kind of disappointed that I busted the satellite, but I was free-rolling it anyway, and I was excited to play some $1/$3. Well.... it was met with some some unfortunate results. Got coolered in one hand, got turned in another, got rivered in another. Suddenly, I'm stuck $300. O___O This is the hand I played where I got rivered. I'm a little unsure if I played it well. Given the banter that occurred once the hand had finished, I'm actually more confident I played it well, but during the hand I just felt like I was being somewhat of a POW.

Effective stacks $200.
Reads on Villain: Young guy, type of player who knows the poker lingo, sees himself as more competent than he really is. I noticed him stabbing in spots where it was clear to the whole table he had nothing. I also heard him use the word "standard" a lot when he was talking poker to other players at the table. Regardless, he's doing well, has about $500 in front of him.
Hero in the CO (AQ)Action limps around to Hero who opens to $11. Villain on the BTN flat calls, 2 others call and we're 4-way to the flop.
Flop: 6A8
Action checks to hero who c-bets to $15. Villain raises to $35, folds to hero, hero tank-calls.
Turn: 6
Hero checks, Villain bets $40, Hero calls.
River: 10
Hero checks, Villain bets $50, Hero calls.

If I was on the BTN this hand I'd probably open to $15, but since I was in the CO and had Phil Helmuth to my left (who I'm sure will frequently defend his btn) I didn't really want to play a bigger-than-necessary pot against him out of position. Once he calls, I don't really have much information on his hand strength. He could have any pocket pair below 99, he could have any two broadway cards, suited connectors, ace-rag, some junk. Could be anything that isn't top 15%. I'm confident with this flop, but don't want to bet too big. I remember I played a hand against an opponent where I opened pre with TT, bet big on flop with an overpair only to have him donk ship it in on the turn. He then showed the bluff. I posted this hand on the LLSNL thread, it really had me confused. The lesson that I learned from that hand is to not bet an amount that will inspire the kind of opponents who'll be tempted to outplay me to play back with a hand they know is no good at showdown. If the pot balloons, they'll do anything they can to take the pot away from me on later streets, even if it means getting it in lightly. So against these types of opponents who think they're a real cowboy and are willing to step out of line against me, I think playing a small-ball approach is optimal. So I bet $15 into a pot of $45. When this Villain raised to $35, I wasn't concerned in the slightest. If he had AK, he's not flat-calling $11 on the BTN, he's definitely raising. If he had a combo draw like a straight or flush draw, he's most likely just going to call my c-bet so he can draw for as cheap as possible. So I'm not worried about spades. The only thing I lose to here, is 66/88/68 and MAYBE A8/A6. But since I have an Ace in my hand, and there's an Ace on the flop, there aren't too many combinations of A6 or A8 he can have. So that just leaves air and weaker aces. I'm very confident I have the best hand, but I don't want to 3-bet him right here because he'll most likely fold his air/weaker aces. I want him to keep betting with worse. So I feign weakness by tanking and just calling.

On the turn, the repeat 6 makes me even more confident that he doesn't have 66/A6/86. Betting here makes no sense because it will deter him from firing again with whatever he has. I make a quick call.

I'm expecting the river to go check-check a large percentage of the time. People on 1/3 (even the skilled players) very rarely 3-barrel bluff. It just doesn't occur that often. I think if he DOES have a weaker ace, he'd probably be content with just getting 2 streets of value and expect it to be a chop some percentage of the time. And if he had air, he'd probably shut down again since he most likely beats all draws (except for 97) So I was really expecting him to check. The fact that he bet really confused me. Now I don't think he has air any more. But if he had a full house, he would have bet WAY more than $50 on river. The pot is almost $200 by river. But his line also looks super value-y. Raises on flop, bets 1/3rd pot on turn, and 1/4 pot on river. I only have to be right a certain amount of the time for this to be a profitable call, but he can almost never be bluffing here, right?! I didn't really know what to do, but the information gained from calling was worth it, even if I'm behind, just to see how he plays. Because his line is really confusing.
Villain shows ATo.
Is this ever a fold on river? Is this ever a 3-bet/call-it-off on flop? After the hand finished, I asked him what he'd do if the river was an off-suit 2. He told me that he thought my $11 open pre was weak and he thought that his hand was ahead the whole way. He told me he still would have bet $50 on the river even if it was a 2. I believed him. Hearing that made me feel good about how I played the hand, but..... still not sure if it's just a bad beat, or if I could have played it in a way where I can avoid getting sucked-out on while still getting value from worse. *shrugs*

After I dropped $300 on this table, I kinda felt defeated and didn't really want to play anymore. There was also someone else on the table (who I was having a poker-chat with in the smoker's lounge who I could tell was somewhat of a novice) who was running like god!! hit every flop, had people bluffing into him when he had the nuts, never got out of line, just constantly showed winners. He had well over $1K in front of him. Seeing him rake in every pot without having to make tough decisions turned me off and thought that it was best to just leave the table and not get between him and his run-good.

So I got up from the table, cashed in my "top-up" chips that I had in my pocket and took a break. After a while I scoped out the tables and saw a vacant seat at a different $1/$3 table that looked super soft. I sat down and within a few hours made a $290 profit. I had no intention of "getting even" or chasing my losses, I just wanted to see if there were any good games still open. If the floor was reg-filled, I would have been happy to go home. Generally speaking, Friday nights are the best time to play because the ratio of fish:regs is at its highest and the games (especially 1/3) are really juicy.

This is one hand I think I misplayed at the new table.
Effective stacks $140
Hero BB (AQ)
Villain UTG+1: No relevant reads on this guy. Middle aged, asian.
Action limps around to the SB. SB folds (this guy who folded his SB becomes relevant in the next two hands I talk about). Hero raises to $18. Gets called in 4 spots. 5-way to the flop.
Flop: A35
Hero leads $30
Only Villain calls, HU to the turn.
Turn: 8
Hero bets $50, Villain raises AI for $90, Hero calls.
Villain shows KQ

I'm raising to $18 pre for a couple of reasons. A) since no one has shown any interest, this raise will often get through and I'll be able to collect the dead-money. B) I'll often get called by hands I have crushed.

Once I flop top pair, I'm happy to just go all the way with it. (Is this a leak? maybe the previous hand I lost AQ with affected my decision on this hand.)

My opponent has clubs a very large percentage of the time. I think if he had ANY ace, he's just ripping it in ON the flop. But just in case he had a hand like AJ with the Jack of clubs, I didn't want to check turn just so he could bully me off it by semi-bluffing all in, forcing me to fold. I'd rather charge HIM with a hand like that. I know players at 1/3 generally aren't turning top-pair into a bluff and will most likely just check it for showdown value, but I was too afraid that if I showed any weakness he could just rip it in on this turn with ANY thing and force me to fold. Is this turn always a check-fold? My thought process was that my opponent can surely call with worse on this turn, but MIGHT bet with worse if checked to. I'm still unsure if that's an accurate assumption...

I played a couple of hands against this one opponent that I thought was pretty cool. This villain is around my age, doesn't seem like he's had too many hours experience on a poker table. When I first got to the table he was complaining about how card-dead he was. Afterwards, saw him showing down pocket pairs and big aces. Plays fairly tightly, always opens for $10 with his premiums. Seen him fold Ace-rags when faced with a pre-flop open. He was sitting to my direct right. He asked me, "what were you writing in your notepad before?" I explained to him that I was just noting down any hands of interest that I'm unsure about to discuss with friends to see if I'm making any mistakes. He then asked me what I do for a living, and I told him I just played poker. I got involved in a couple of hands (that he wasn't involved in) where I took an aggressive line with air to win the pot. And before giving my hand to the dealer, I peeled my cards in his direction so that he could see what I had. I did this twice. I just wanted him to think I was capable of betting big with nothing so that he might consider calling me in future spots more lightly, as he's been fairly nitty this whole game. Well, after giving him this image of me being a splashy-reg who plays for a living, him and I got involved in a couple of interesting hands. And the image I gave him definitely factored in to the dynamics of how the hands played out.

Hand 1
Effective stacks $125
Hero BTN (62)
Villain CO
Action limps to hero who opens to $12, folds around to the villain who tanks and says, "hmm..I think you're stealing" and flat calls.
Flop: 7A4:heart
Villain checks, Hero bets $16, Villain announces, "raise! 40!" Hero insta-shoves, Villain seems shocked and tanks. Dealer counts down his 10 seconds and villain makes the call.
Turn and river brick off and I show my 6 high.
Villain says, "oh, you were bluffing!" and shows A2o

Alright so.... a little bit spewy maybe, but I actually thought I could out-level him here.
I almost always raise my BTN when action limp-folds to me. It depends on the table, but at this specific table I feel I have a pretty strong post-flop edge and I'm happy to play big pots in position against these players who are (for the most part) fairly passive even if at times a little bit stationy.
SO!
What is this villain likely to have that limps CO and tank calls an open out of position?
Since I've seen this particular villain fold weak aces to pre-flop opens, I was fairly sure that he wasn't calling my raise with an Ace. If he had a strong ace he'd probably raise it himself, if he had a middling ace he probably wouldn't've tanked for only $9 more. It's definitely possible that he has a weak Ace, but seeing as though I know he's capable of folding Ace-rag to an open, I think he's more likely to have a hand like K9, QT, something that has high card value/straight potential, but not that strong. He never has pockets here. If he has pockets he's snap calling my open. I also find it amusing how he said out loud "I think you're stealing" before calling. Wouldn't you want to keep what you're thinking to yourself? And not let your opponent know?

Once checked to on this flop, I'm betting 100% of the time, with the intention of shipping it if raised. Apart from the obvious semi-bluff reason, I 3-bet him because I know HE knows that I'm a creative player who's capable of bluffing. So he's going to expect me to bet 100% of all flops. If that's the case, he might think that he can easily re-steal the pot with ATC by repping an Ace himself since he thinks I have an ace so infrequently and will expect me to fold to his check-raise. So by re-raising him, it applies max-pressure and puts him in a really weird spot where he can really only be comfortable calling if he has AT or better. And I know he doesn't have a strong ace because he'd most likely raise it himself preflop. I was honestly expecting him to fold a large percentage of the time, but even if he DOES call, I have outs to a flush with a backdoor to a straight. And I know my outs are live because he's never check-raising a flush draw on an Ace high board. And honestly, I think if stacks were deeper and he had 50BB more, he'd be way more likely to fold his raggy ace, which is a fantastic result. The fact that he only had $70 left probably meant that I didn't have much fold equity, but I just thought he was more likely to have no pair than top pair. I'm really happy that he raised me on flop and called my shove so lightly. He was by far the nittiest person on the table and now he's loosey goosey. Time for Act II

Hand 2
This hand was literally 4 hands after the previous one I played with him.
Hero BB (T7o) Action limps to the SB (same villain as before) who slightly motions a fold, holds onto his cards a bit longer and reluctantly throws in $2 for a call.
Hero checks. 5-way to the flop
Flop: J J 8 rainbow
checks all around.
Turn: 9
SB bets $10, Hero raises to $30, folds back around to SB who flirts with some raising chips but just calls.
River: K
SB bets $40, Hero insta-shoves, SB quickly calls, Hero shows, Villain asks, "is that the straight?" takes a while to table his cards and then opens J7o

As soon as he bets $10 on turn I know he has a Jack. He's loosened up a bit, but not to the point where he's going to rep three of a kind in a multi-way pot out of position. He's definitely not at that level. I know he hasn't filled up because he seemed REALLY reluctant to make a call from the SB. If he had a connecting hand like KJ/J9, he's calling from the SB a lot quicker. So I'm 99% sure he has a raggy jack. I'm expecting him to lead river a lot and I was relieved to see that it was a high card. I'm more scared of a 5 or 6 river because he's more likely to fill up with those. I insta-ship just like I did when I had 6 high the previous hand we played together, and if he's calling my All-Ins with top pair no kicker, there's no way in hell he's folding three of a kind. You could say that I just got lucky against him. But I sort of feel like I won the meta-game. It sounds really arrogant, but I set the stage perfectly. He was the nittiest guy on my table and he was sitting on my right. I showed him a couple of bluffs and then afterwards he started to loosen up and play hands like A2 and J7. He'd probably never consider playing these hands if he thought the table was tighter. After that hand, the table got short-handed so I opted to rack up and cash-out. Finished the night basically break-even.

Sizing in the first AQ hand was far too small. Given that we're opening over limpers, and have a V who is calling our opens with a lot of dominated hands, we should go as large as they will call, even if we will be OOP. I'd go at least $15 pre here, possibly as high as $20 depending upon how much the Vs have been calling. On the flop we make TPGK, we need to bet for fat value against all the Ax which they are going to be calling with. If we bet a more normal sizing of about 2/3 pot, then we can easily fold to a raise; whereas by betting as small as we did on the flop, we can induce raises from hands which we beat, as well as hands which have us crushed, leaving us in the dark. As played, given his horribly small sizing, I'm fine with the call-down here.

On the second AQ hand, pre is fine, but on the flop given the pot is $90, we should be betting at least $50 here, probably closer to $70, allowing us to easily shove turn. We're committed on the turn regardless as played, and he's calling off with any A here.

62s hand is obviously spew pre. If we have a good grasp of how the Vs play post-flop, AND have deep stacks, then it's OK, but we have neither here, and as such just fold pre. When we get raised on an A-hi board, unless V has a history of making moves against the PFR on an A-hi board, they always have at least an A, and LLSNL villians don't like to fold TP.

T7o hand is WP since his hand is indeed fairly face-up as Jx, sure we sometimes value-own ourselves against a Jx boat, but LLSNL villians don't fold trips, especially when there is no flush possible, and not a 4-straight.

GL OP, continue to post so we can continue to follow your success!!
thanks!

mann, this bet-sizing debate is so tricky. Whenever I bet big for fat value, I potentially get owned by a bluff on later streets, and whenever I bet small I leave myself in the dark on whether I'm way ahead or way behind. It really seems like there's no right answer sometimes. Should I just auto 2/3rd pot it with my big hands and call off on later streets? Do you think small-ball strat is only effective for tournament poker, and not cash? What's more important, betting big for value, or betting small for pot-control? Coming up with the optimum bet-size is something I still need more practise with. I usually have a plan for what my bets aim to accomplish but there are so many different variables involved, i.e. opponent-type, relative-hand strength, betting tells, pot size, perceived table image, history, etc, that it makes it confusing on what the right amount should really be. I guess the best way to get better at knowing optimal sizing is just putting in volume and try to get as much practise in as possible. Poker can be pretty straight forward, afterall there are only three actions 1.fold/check 2. call/bet 3.raise. So you have a 33% chance of making the most +EV decision. But when you factor in moves like 1.check/raise 2.bet/3-bet/fold on multiple streets with the ADDED variable of sizing and what different kinds of cards can come out on later streets...... man, that sh*t just gets infinitely more complicated. Now it's more like a 1% chance of making the most +EV decision. Good analysis though. I definitely agree that I make less mistakes by just betting on the larger side for fat value. It just means I have to suck it up and be disciplined enough to make hero-folds in the event that my big value bet DOES get raised >_<'' fvckin poker! I love it!!!

It's funny. In theory, like... if I were to look at this HH from a third perspective, I would be confused as to why the Hero c-bet so small on flop relative to the size of the pot. It doesn't make a lot of sense. But in practise, I failed to really take the time to think about it. My mistake here was not noticing how big the pot grew and not thinking about an appropriate size. I sort of just picked up a handful of chips from one stack and threw it in the middle. It's rare that I do this kind of automatic action without thinking. Making it $50+ makes way more sense.

Yeah, stack-depth is really the key component on whether opting to open from the BTN with a hand as bad as 6c2c is +EV. If stacks were closer to 1k effective, I'd prefer it much better. Next time I opt to take this line, I'll make sure to consider stack depth.

hey man! thanks for the post. Every word of support gives me more motivation to improve and reach my goals. If you have any tips or advice to share with me, I'd love to hear your opinion. I'm always happy to learn. From anyone, whether it's a pro or a newb. And if you have any questions about anything, feel free to ask me ^^'

there were 2 extra hands that I played in the last session that I neglected to mention. I didn't take notes on either hands, because I didn't feel the need to. But I'll post them anyway for sheer lol-value.

I can't remember the details of this hand, so some of the actions, player positions, specific cards may be incorrect.

Villain1: is first to act post flop and made a huge error on the turn.
Villain2: is second to act post flop and is ******ed.
I was on the BTN with 86 Action limps to me and I made it $15. I get around 3 callers, 4-way to the flop.
Flop: T93
I can't remember what happened on this flop. I think it goes check all around?
Turn: 7
Villain1 checks, Villain2 bets $16. Before I get a chance to act, Villain1 slams $50 in the middle and tables his cards face up! o___O He showed 99. The dealer then told him to wait because he acted out of turn. I don't know HOW he forgot that I was still in the hand. But when he noticed I was still in it, he put his cards back face-down. I had already seen them, and he KNEW that I had seen them. Also, somehow Villain2 didn't see them. The only reason why I know this is because he told me that he didn't see them after the hand had finished. The other weird part about Villain1's action was that when Villain2 bet $16, he wasn't all in. So why he tabled 99 before Villain2 could call is beyond me. They weren't friends and didn't know each other. I ask the dealer to confirm what the amount is I have to call. I make the call and Villain1's bet stands. Villain2 only has about $40something left and makes the call. And I also call, crossing my fingers PRAYING that the board doesn't repeat!!!!
River: 2
Villain1 checks, I wait a few seconds and throw in an absurd pile of $25 chips to put Villain1 AI. If I didn't know what Villain1 had, I wouldn't have bet such a ridiculous amount. Villain1 looks confused as hell and doesn't snap call. I guess he was thinking that I had a busted flush draw and knew that I couldn't win at showdown so was attempting to bluff him off his hand, even if he knew I knew he had trips. But sure enough, he makes the call. Before anyone's cards are tabled, Villain2 points at Villain1 and says, "his straight is good." I table my cards. Villain1 slams his cards face up, jumps out of his seat and angrily storms off in a rage. Villain2 mucks. Lol?!?

Effective stacks: $90
The second funny hand I played was against Villain2 from the previous hand, and a random girl who played ATC. Villain2 is UTG and blind-raises to $11. He's been doing this all night, busting and re-buying, rinse and repeat. The girl who is UTG+1 flat calls with $31 left. Action folds around to me. I know the lady has nothing, and I know that Villain2 is bad plus tilted because he's been openly contemplating to the whole table that he wants to have a smoke and jump on a $2/$4 table. I have K9. And I have the whole table covered (Almost $600). I look at Villain2 and say, "I think I'm ahead of you." And I proceed to make a 3-bet to $55. Action folds back around to UTG. (If anyone cold-called or raised, I was shutting-down/folding.) Villain2 starts showing his hand to his neighbours and one of them says, "oooh, I like that hand!" Villain2 seems uncomfortable and doesn't really want to call. He tanks, but finally says, "alright, let's gamble!" and he goes All in for $90. The lady throws in her change. As the dealer is sorting out the side pot/main pot, I show my 9 and keep my high-card hidden. Villain2 says, "It's okay, I know you have pockets." I tell him that I don't have pockets. At this point he shows the 9 O__O ****! I'm really hoping he doesn't have A9hh. But if he had that, then I don't think he's tanking. So I should be in pretty good shape here.
Flop: AJJ
Villain2 says, "I have the Jack." urgh.... fml!! I say, "really?!" and he says, "yep"
Turn: 7
River: 3
The lady tables her cards first and shows Q6
I don't show my other card and neither does Villain2. We're both holding our respective 9s in our hands with our kicker underneath facedown, like in a stand-off situation. Normally I show my hand straight away, but this was a weird situation. Thinking he had me beat, I just wanted him to show his Jack so that I didn't have to reveal to the table that I 3/bet to $55 with junk. I say, "It's okay, I can't beat you. If you have the jack just show it." The whole table then tells me off saying that I have to show first. So I submit and table my cards. Villain2 then starts nodding and looks like he's about to fold. I say, "omg?! really? My hand is good?!" He tables his hand. 98 I ship it! After the hand had finished, the neighbour who saw Villain2's cards before me said, "fvckin' hell! I would have won! I had KQ!"
gg me.
also, I like how Villain2 says, "I have the Jack" in an attempt to make me rage-muck. It's not the first time I've seen amateurs angle-shoot like this.
This is why I love live poker. You just don't get to experience this kind of thing online....

i generally really hate putting in monster sessions, but I ended up playing for about 16 straight hours last night. Felt wrecked afterwards. The only reason why I stayed on the table was because it was a REALLY good table. Half of the people there were calling stations, there was one guy who was bored and getting it in pre with Q9o, there was another guy who was opening from EP with 72o, betting 3-streets with air, etc, and just a bunch of people making serious mistakes both pre and post. I probably wouldn't have needed to stay for as long as I did, but there was one station at the table that I was CONSTANTLY doubling up. There was one hand where I raised from EP with 88 to $10, player to my left 3-bet to $35, station called, I called. Flop comes K85. I lead, 3-bettor folds, station calls. Turn is a 6. I continue firing out big, station calls. River is a 9, I ship it, and he snaps with T7. There was another hand where he opened to $10, got called around, I 3-bet to an amount that puts him all in with JJ, everyone folds, but the station. He has ATo. We run the board out and he turns an Ace. Then there was another few hands where I was opening big with top 10% he calls, I whiff and he somehow turns the nut-straight and I'm forced to fold. Also got coolered in one hand where I got it in with KK and ran into AA. Just bull**** hands like this. If I just held in all of these spots and didn't get coolered, I would have made a bunch of money. But I was in for $600 and my stack was constantly moving from $150 to $800, back down to $150 then back up to $800. I was playing solid and getting it in good but somehow couldn't win when I was expected to win a large percentage of the time. Verrrrrrry frustrating session of poker. But again, I couldn't leave the table despite receiving constant suckouts because the table was just THAT good, and I was easily playing the best poker than anyone else at my table. I wasn't letting my frustration dictate my decisions, because I knew that eventually if I keep playing the same game as I was then the checks will come. Unfortunately, after my 16 hours of play, I only had a $200 profit to show for it It might sound whiney of me to complain about being up for the session but I really feel like I deserved to have profited more this session. My edge was insanely high, but kept getting hit with the cold side of the deck.....

I noted down a couple of hands I played where I felt I made a mistake. I'll post them later. uhhhhhh... slightly annoyed about my run-bad.

Current BR: $7400

There was a hand I played in my last session that I didn't take notes on but I want to share it anyway just because I really liked how I played it.

At this point in the game, I have the biggest stack on the table with about $500. I've been playing relatively tight since the whole table is very cally-stationy and only really getting in there with premium starting hands. As such, most of the pots I've been getting involved in have been AI situations where the pots have been really big. This has given me a fairly loose-aggressive table image. To go with this (coupled with the fact that I have the biggest stack) I'm a young guy who wears a hoodie at the table.

Villain is UTG and he has openly expressed a distaste for me. Doesn't like my hoodie, doesn't like my attitude and is clearly envious of the fact that I have a bigger stack than him. Before this hand, the Villain had JUST won a $100 pot, he's sitting on around $275.
I'm on the BTN with Q6. UTG limps in, and surprisingly action folds around to me. I raise to $11. SB folds, BB calls and UTG calls. 3-way to the flop.
Flop: QQT
Action checks to me and I c-bet to $15
SB folds and Villain calls.
Turn: 2
Villain checks, I quickly check behind.
River: 3
Villain checks, Hero tanks and bets $70, Villain thinks and calls somewhat confidently.
I show my hand and he mucks in disgust.

Nothing too complicated happened in this hand, but I think it's a good example of playing against your perceived table image. This villain expects me to c-bet on almost all flops. Him calling immediately tells me that he has some kind of 10. So he's going to show up with AT/KT/JT quite often. It's possible that I COULD have missed out on value by checking back turn. But he might choose to fold river if I take a bet-bet-bet line. And just in case he DIDN'T connect with the board, I wanted to give him a chance to fire a river bet with his air. Afterall, he doesn't like me and would be happy to bluff me. Once he checks back river, now I know he has showdown value. I'm 95% convinced he has a 10. So I decided to bomb. But I probably could have made it more since he calls fairly quickly.

Another reason why I really like taking this bet on flop-check on turn-bet on river line with made hands is because it gets called sooooooo frequently. I've mentioned this before. It's referred to as "the suicide bluff." Where you make a c-bet, then when it gets called you decide to check back on turn. Then when your opponent checks river, you can't win at showdown and feel forced to bet big. DO NOT DO THIS. It ...is ....suicide. Your opponent will assume your check-back on turn is weak and think you were just c-betting flop with air and will level himself into a call on river. This is a bad line to take as a bluff. But as a value-line, I think it works almost 100% of the time.

After that hand, I went and took a break with some friends and when I got back to the table (only 10 minutes later) that same villain only had about $50 in front of him. WOW! It looks like that hand he played against me put him on tilt..... Perhaps next time I won't take that break, so I can reap the benefits of tilt-monkeys.