Nice thread man. Already well on track, as expected! Nice work, gl ! I'll be checkin in to see how it goes.

5 minutes into Dizzy's session he flops top set 3-way in a 4bet pot

5 minutes into my session I flop TPTK with AK in a 3-way 3bet pot ... but the dude has KK

c'est la vie

Gl dizzy!

Stop jinxing him johnny. Man up.

Thanks bro! The thread has been giving me run good so far

🙃

Ty!

Haha all good; no such thing and jinxes

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Took a much needed nap after going to bed @ 4 AM the past two nights. Gonna get ready and head to the casino for another session. I usually never get to play this much on a weekend but my girlfriend is traveling so gotta take advantage.

I have an interview for a promotion at work tomorrow morning so I won't stay too late but should be able to do 5-7ish hours

Lol like fourth hand I'm dealt get AA; ep 20; 2 calls. Me 125; PFR folds and one of the callers goes all in for 155; other guy folds. I obv call and expose my hand and the other guy shows 33.

Guy next to me: "you may as well muck your aces now; there is for sure going to be a 3 on the flop"

Flop QQ3; turn 7 river 3 🙃

-10k/+10k

what do you think would happen first if you tried this 10k challenge at 1/2?

my money on the downside

Good thing I'll never have to find out

Just wrapping up the session; stayed a bit longer than expected. Booked a small loss in a buttery soft lineup lol. Just didn't run great / couldn't pick up hands. Gonna post a quick update when I get home before I go to bed.

Good luck. Are you in Australia? Where are you playing?

So like I said, this 2/5 game I was in was straight-up downy soft for the entire 7.5 hours I played. Almost everyone was loose/passive with some big donators; and it was the kind of table I'd have to get coolered at to lose any significant amount of money (which of course happened to us a couple of times lol) I unfortunately didn't make many hands but did a good job grinding it up by winning small/medium pots. Not a ton of interesting spots but let's get into the hands below.

so we lose the ~$350 pot AA < 33 which is obviously nbd.

h1: CO limp; raise Q8cc 20 BTN; limper calls
($45) Flop: QJ8hh; he donks 45; we raise to 115 and he calls
($275) Turn: 5hhh; he donks 235 and we fold

h2: main spot limps; we iso AKdd 30 MP he calls
($65) Flop: AT4dd; x I bet 25 he calls
($115) Turn: Tcc; x I bet 50 he calls
($215) River 4ccc; x I jam 180 he calls and wins with KJcc

h3: 6 limps; we raise 40 KdKc BB; 4 calls
($170) Flop JT9cc; x, we check, EP bets 115; folds to SB who raises to 250; we fold; EP jams 500; SB calls

EP has A4cc; SB has J9hh. Of course the board runs out 5s5d

h4: limp; BTN raises to 30; we call 33 SB; limper calls
($90) Flop A45r; x x BTN cbets 25; I call limper calls
($165) Turn Qhh; x x BTN bets 40; I raise to 215; they both fold

This guy had already shown he could fold top-pair + obvious weak sizing

h5: raise 20 AJdd UTG; 3 calls
($80) Flop JT6dd; x BB donks 40; I call; other 2 call
($240) Turn Ahh; x x; I bet 100; LP folds; SB raises to 500; bb folds; I call
($1240) River 5o; he jams 260; I sigh call and lose to KhQs

This is really the only interesting hand of the night. On the flop we can definitely raise the donk bet for value; but with this specific combo I think there is a lot of value in just flatting and letting dominated draws continue. On this turn I honestly almost checked...which feels a bit MUBSY but is probably fine/may have been better. Still plenty to get value from though and we can size small so I went ahead and bet. When SB x/r using this sizing (and with only $260 behind) this spot really sucks. He has KQ so often here and I'd happily fold AJ without the nut-flush redraw or AA even... but I think with this combo we just have to go with it. We have 28.4% equity vs KQ and he can still have AJ/AT as well as some (very very rare) bluff/combo draws. Overall just too much equity to fold imo. A case can be made for folding for the last $260 on the river when we brick but if he ever has a worse/same hand that is just a disaster. I guess if I'm never folding river I may as well just stick it in on the turn. Meh spot overall but not that upset with how I played it.

Only posting this next hand to illustrate one of the many benefits of being a nice/sociable person at the poker table. V in this hand was on my direct right and we had been talking/getting to know each other all night. Really ****ing cool/personable/successful guy. He also happened to be opening like 40-50% of hands preflop from any position (lol) so I was happy to 3b him very wide whenever I had anything at all playable (which was like never unfortunately ) otth:

h6: Straddle; V opens 40; we 3b 120 T9cc; BB goes all-in for 110; V calls
($350) Flop: T72dd; x I bet 130; he says "I am just going to call; but I have you beat" and calls
($610) Turn: 3ddd x/x
($610) River Ko x/x and he shows KdKx

Now obviously in this specific hand/runout I wasn't going to lose any more money to him anyway; but just shows that being a personable human-being at the table can go along way with some of the recreational players. It also just makes playing the game soooo much more enjoyable. This was one of the more enjoyable sessions I have had in awhile and I didn't even win money. Plus being nice/polite/social/fun is something everyone should do in life regardless.

Overall I played 7.5 hours and lost 299. Very happy with the session overall.

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10K Challenge Update
Sessions: 5
Hours: 24.5
4,113/10,000

thank you! and no, I am in the U.S. (east coast)

Sub’d, gl in your interview! Do your colleagues know you play poker? Always curious how much people talk about it and how it’s viewed in work environments.

I like your point about being personable/friendly at the table, it’s mind boggling to me how many early to mid 20’s people don’t realise this and the effect it has on the game.

Hoping you crush that interview! Let’s get some IRL run good

Thanks gents! Just finished up the interview; thought it went very very well so we shall see.

@wj294 great questions b/c I feel like I am in the minority here as far as this forum is concerned and I never understood why. Almost everyone I work with knows I play poker and they all view it very positively and think it is really cool. The team I work on is very young, with most people being fresh out of college, so I guess that makes it easier to talk about; but my managers know and even the head of our desk knows/talks to me about his close friend who worked at a bank but quit to play online poker for a living lol.

People are almost always very interested/ask questions when they learn I play to the level I do and it is a great conversation topic imo. I actually did my introduction presentation on "why poker is a game of skill and not luck" and a few people approached me afterwords talking about how they enjoy playing as well. We have a 0.25/0.50 home game with like ~10 of the guys I work with every once in awhile (and I am the biggest whale by far lol) and we also had a poker tournament at our company sponsored barbecue in the summer (I took third ). There are also a few people on the desk I am closer with that I am very open about my results with.

Maybe it is just the industry I am in or the nature of my team but I have never had a negative reaction to telling people I played poker on the side, and that goes for people outside of the office as well.

and obvious +1 to being friendly at the table and not understanding those who don't get it

What is your full time job?

I am a sales analyst for an asset management firm

Meh session today. One of those days where villains fold every time you want them to call; and raise or call every time you want them to fold. Couldn't get anything going and both of the games I sat at were not very good. Made a couple unnecessary mistakes as well. Was tired/frustrated and could tell it was just one of those sessions so I just quit earlier than normal.

An example: Straddle is on; I open JJ 35 UTG; everyone folds. Very next hand I straddle; pick up KK; and I get a walk

There was only one interesting hand and I did not play it well :

h1: MP raise 25; short-stack old lady station calls; we call T9cc BTN
($75) Flop KxQc2c; he cbets 45; lady folds; we raise to 180 he calls
($435) Turn Qo; he checks; I bet 110; he jams 700; I fold

Flop raise is really really bad. I can't be raising this texture here; I should be flatting especially in position. He just seemed like a guy that I could get to fold everything but 2p+ by the river, but my hand still is going to play better as a flop flat. We also just rep so thin; have terrible blockers; can't play well vs a flop 3b, are at a massive range disadvantage AND he just cbet pretty large into a wet flop with a shorter stacked station in the hand. so yeah...preeeetttttttty bad.

the turn size I actually like with my range here since the few value hands I do have are boats and he prolly makes a lot of mistakes vs that size. I was planning to jam all rivers I bricked on so I'm glad this dude doesn't know how to trap and we didn't lose more lol.

Played 3.5 hours; in for 1600 out for 1089 for -511

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10K Challenge Update
Sessions: 6
Hours: 28
3,602/10,000

Yeah flop raise is theoretically not great but you have the nuts and he bet 1/2psb so it can't be terrible exploitatively. Turn though I think we're better off taking the free card. Kind of a disaster that we get raised off our equity here even though it shouldn't happen that often - we basically have no fold equity with this size. But yeah I guess it doesn't really matter whether you bet or check or what size you use too much.

I think the flop raise is fine. Raising or calling is fine. I agree with Meale though. Once he calls I take the free card.

was planning on putting in a session today but ended up just going home bc I am exhausted, which was definitely the right decision.

probably won't get to play much in the near future but I will be trying to get sessions in when I can.

girlfriend's flight home got cancelled so looks like there will be poker this weekend after all. will most likely be putting in a healthy session tonight.

You can have all your titles back in about 20 days when I can finally shake this ugly avatar.

Ginmyabsence,MikeStarrtemporarilyfillinginasPresid entOfTheAvatarlessClub,hopetheThursdaynightmeeting wentwellG

sigh; disappointing session. my mental game is not where it needs to be and I need to get it back on track. I am playing okay for the majority of the session but just making too many costly mistakes that shouldn't happen.

games were meh today due to bad weather. I was playing very very aggressive at my table w/ a lot of 3-betting pre and winning hands w/o showdown for the most part. Here are some of the bigger ones:

h1: open A5dd 20 EP; 2 calls
($60) Flop: QJTdd; I bet 50; 1 call
($160) Turn 9o; I bet 200; he jams 1k; I fold (he shows a Q lol)

one of those hands that reminds me how exploitatively we can play vs these droolers and that some people at these stakes have no consideration for anything but their own hand. shouldn't have taken this line vs and unknown fish. woulda been very nice to just have one of my 16 AK here obv lol.

h2: limp; I raise 45dd 25 MP 4 calls
($125) Flop: AJ2ddd; x x I bet 70; next to act calls everyone folds
($265) Turn: 3o; I bet 225; he calls
($715) River: 3o; I jam 525; he tank folds AJ

h3: I open j9cc EP short handed; bb good pro calls
($40) Flop: QJ6r x x
($40) Turn: 7cc he leads 35; I call
($110) River: 5o; he leads 165; I call and MHIG vs T9dd

h4: I open QhTd 20 CO; BTN calls
($40) Flop 923hh; I bet 25 he calls
($90) Turn 8hhh; I bet 65 he calls
($220) River 7o; I bet 145 he calls with 56hh

not really the best run-out to 3barrel + I half-assed the river sizing; so not that happy with this one. he ended up having a flush anyway so w/e

h5: EP 15; call; I 3b AsQh 75 LP; EP calls
($165) Flop QT6r; x me 75 he calls
($315) Turn 5hh; x me 175; he min-raises to 350; I jam 710 eff he calls
($1735) River brick we lose to KK

getting min-raised really ***** tilts me for some reason and these spots are annoying af when I am 3-betting/barreling as much as I am but I just need to learn to fold. he's obviously never bluffing turn and never x/min-raising worse... I just level myself. These are hands that ruin sessions.

h6: open QcQs 20 LP; 2 calls and bb (same guy that had KK in h4) 3b to 100; I 4b to 270 and he calls
($580) Flop KQ2cc; he tank checks; I bet 200 he snap calls
($980) Turn Q; x x
($980) River To; x I jam 600 he tank folds

quads in a 4b pot are nice. I was close between x turn vs bet turn very small. sucks to not get stacks here - pretty sure he had worse than AK

h7: limp; I raise A8hh ep 25 3 calls
($100) Flop 873ss; x I bet 65; short stack jams 250; folds to me i call
($600) Turn Q; River J we lost to T9dd

h8: EP 20 (same KK dude); call; me 3b 85 KQcc BTN; EP calls
($190) Flop: 689ddh x x
($190) Turn: Khh x; I bet 100; he x/min-raise to 200; I call
($590) River Thhh; he bets 100; I sigh call and lose to 66

no excuse for this one, I was just frustrated. we already know this guy x/min-raises value and can't fold the turn. river is just lol...I was going to jam as a bluff but he only had like 300 more back and I took too long thinking about it (and should have just folded) but tossed in the call that'll never be good the 13% of the time we need it to be. posting for shaming purposes.

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going to try and focus on getting better sleep and exercising going forward which is something I have gotten away from. going straight from work to the casino is tough and I haven't really been doing the right things I need to do to stay mentally/physically sharp and it is definitely negatively affecting my play.

played for 6hrs 45mins and lost 594 - challenge going the wrong way

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10K Challenge Update
Sessions: 7
Hours: 34.75
3,008/10,000

1) I bet your entire bankroll he had KQ. When people show one card, the other card is almost always a card that gives them a nutted hand

5) Yikes...the old min raise. Oldest trick in the book. Gotta gotta fold when they do that ****.

7) I dont think A8s can be profitably raised from EP, but I know plenty of good players who do it.

8) DeJaVu...but you already know.

I like everything else. Fold 5 and 8 and you save $735 and have a winning day.

H1 oh ya 1000% he had KQ. I didn't say "and he showed a Q lol" to mean I didn't know what he had; just to illustrate the fact this dude is jamming 200bb with a naked king when I just potted flop/overbet turn with every AK combo in my range and only a few Axdd bluffs.