Just table changed to the table with the SB from the T9 hand two days ago. He already turned a gutter on me in the first orbit lol. I feel like this'll be a fun session

Put an end to the losing streak today! Went to the track for a workout after work today, which is something I will be doing more often now that the weather is starting to get nicer, and then headed right over to the casino.

Got initially seated in a pretty bad game; but saw our good friend who had the A8o in our T9dd hand a few days ago (who will now forever be referred to as "OG" since another guy at our table happened to be from the same area as him and said he was an old school gangster in manhattan. I lean towards believing him since OG is about 80 years old and looks/acts the part) and switched over to his table as soon as a seat was open.

I am honestly not sure if I ran well or ran bad today lol; the session was so swingy. I think overall I played well, but definitely a few spots I would do differently. Even though OG didn't end up staying long, the game was still great and I stayed later than I expected which ended up paying off. I will let the hands do the rest of the talking since it's already late:

h1: OG limp EP; limp; me K8cc 30 BTN; OG calls 1k eff
($65) Flop KJ7ssc; x I bet 40 he calls
($145) Turn 9cc; x I bet 100; OG raises to 300; I call
($745) River Asss; x x I lose to T8o

Turn is a standard x back but I wanted to squeeze as much value as I could out of this guy and unfortunately it backfired. Considered turning my hand into a bluff on the river for like half a second then remembered who we were playing against.

h2: EP limp; I raise K8cc 25; limper call
($50) Flop AQTr; x I cbet 25 he calls
($100) Turn 7o; X I bet 75 he calls
($250) River Jo; he donks 125; I raise to 450; he folds 89o face up

Somehow find a way to get called by worse on the flop/turn here....pretty quickly knew I would never be bluffing this guy ever again and luckily he stayed for my entire session lol. Will refer to him as "indian guy (IG)"

h3: IG limp; I raise 4h4s 25 MP; OG and IG call
($75) Flop: AA2dd; x I cbet 35; both call
($180) Turn: 8o; x x OG bets 65; fold; I call
($310) River: Kddd; x x OG wins with KhQd

h4: I'm in the straddle; EP raises 30; OG calls; I call AdTx
($90) Flop: QJ3ddd; x x EP cbets 45; OG calls; I raise to 215 and they both fold

h5: 2 limps; raise QQ 35; 3 calls
($140) Flop: Q89r; x x bet 100; call; 2 folds
($340) Turn: Acc; bet 200 he folds

h6: Straddle; limp; I raise AKcc 50; IG calls behind and BB calls. both ~700 eff
($170) Flop: AhJsTs; BB donks 60; I call; IG calls
($350) Turn: Ad; BB leads 65; I call; IG calls
($545) River: 5o; BB had blind bet 140 before the river came out. I called; IG folds and MHIG vs A6ss

Hate how passively I played this hand. In a previous hand; the BB had opened with 66 in lp and got 3 calls. Flop J86dd; x to him and he bet 20 into 140 to induce (which worked). The combination of that HH + me just being a bit MUBSY from losing so much recently definitely led to me playing this incorrectly and missing a lot of value. Flop flat is just fine but gotta raise turn vs this size

h7: Limp; I raise KQo 25; call; limper call
($75) Flop QhJh7x; x I bet 45 only limper calls
($165) Turn 5o; x I bet 100 he calls
($365) River 6o; x I jam 320 eff; he calls and I lose to 89o

Rip. He had a black chip I didn't see until after he called but I still would have jammed river. Woulda sized up turn a little more if I had known that though.

h8: Open 77 utg 20; 3 calls and BB 3b to 125 (650 eff); I 4b to 420 and everyone folds

BB was new to the table but I know him and have very specific reads on him in this spot. He does this with like 94o type hands pretty frequently lol so def going with 77 vs him

h9: Straddle; MP opens 25; 3 calls; I squeeze KJo to 160 and everyone folds

h10: Straddle; I open AJdd 35 EP; IG calls; call; straddle calls
($140) Flop AcQcTx; x x x x
($140) Turn 4ccc; straddle bets 55; I raise to 155; IG cold calls; fold; straddle folds
($505) River: 5o; x x I lose to 44

Flop check is okay but with no clubs in my hands probably should just cbet/fold to a raise. Unlucky to run into 44 ott here

h11: Limp; IG 30 in EP; folds to my bb I 3b to 140 with KsKx he snap calls (900 eff to start hand)
($285) Flop: J74ss I bet 125 he calls
($535) Turn: 5o; I bet 280; he tank folds (claims AQ lol)

This line is totally fine but don't mind checking a street with the Ks

h12: 3 limps I complete A7ss in sb; BB raises to 30 everyone calls
($150) Flop: A93r one spade; x to BTN (guy from h8) bets 125; only I call
($400) Turn: 7hh; x he bets 225; I jam for his last 250; he calls
($1350) River: brick MHIG

TBH don't really think I need the 7 ott vs this guy but it was nice to have anyway; he didn't show so not sure

h13: 2 limps I raise A7cc 30 BTN; IG calls BB; limpers call
($120) Flop AhQx4h; IG donks 50; fold fold I call
($220) Turn: 8o; he jams 210; I call and chop vs A7o

This one seems pretty marginal. A7 right at the cutoff of hands where I am happy calling/easily folding


That's it - got into a lot of hands today which was nice after last session. Played for 4 hrs 15 mins and won 1185

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10K Challenge Update
Sessions: 19
Hours: 90.75
2,017/10,000

h1: lol, well played. Nothing you can do but reload and get ready for more spew.

h6: What raise sizing would you use and is the plan to raise/fold?

H11: Good time not to mix in a check, I like the bet vs IG. Got to go for fat value, especially when he's chasing every gutter and god knows what else.

What a juicy game.

I wouldn't raise/fold in h6; would be getting it in. We should be ahead very often after the action so far and there are too many combos of worse Ax (especially since the only A left is the As which opens up the AsXs combos) and draws to fold this strong of a hand.

Not sure what sizing is best tbh -the stack sizes are a little awkward; I don't think a jam is unreasonable but I would probably raise to ~280 and then jam rivers.

Nothing too eventful today. The game started off very splashy but got not as good towards the end of my session. I played okay, definitely messed up a few streets.

h1: limp; LP raise to 10; me 40 QdQh CO; BTN cold call; LP calls
($125) Flop 89Tdd; LP donks 200; I call; BTN Folds
($525) Turn 3ddd; he x; I jam for his last 175; he hesitates for a bit and calls
($875) River 3x; MHIG

h2: 2 limps; I raise JTdd 30 LP; 6 calls (lol)
($180) Flop Ad5d4x; x x x I cbet 115; folds to limper who is last to act who raises to 320; I call
($820) Turn Ax; he jams 400; I fold

Flop cbet is pretty suspect; I'm not really a fan

h3: Open ThTs 25 UTG; MP call, BTN call, same v as last hand 3b BB to 125; I call; MP call
($400) Flop J97cc x; I bet 215; they both fold

h4: 3 limps; I raise ATss 35; limpers call
($140) Flop T74dds x x x I bet 100; same V calls
($340) Turn 6o; x I bet 215; he raises to 500 w/ another 500 behind; I tank fold

This guy was playing pretty aggro so it pained me to fold this one. X back turn call river bets is probably the better line; betting this turn seems a bit ambitious vs an aggressive opponent. However he was calling down really wide in other spots so it's not too terrible.

h5: Open TsTd 20 UTG; 2 calls
($60) Flop: 753cc I cbet 35; MP raise to 85; fold; I call
($230) Turn: 7o; x x
($230) River: 8o; x 165 (w/ like 225 behind); I call and lose to 88

lol - on the river I knew if i lost it was going to be to 88. This line should pretty rarely be a bluff but he also really only has 88 for value so don't think we can fold for this price

h6: UTG raises 20; 4 calls; I call QhJs in BB
($120) Flop T95r; x around
($120) Turn 8ss; x to CO who bets 25; BTN raises to 75; SB cold calls 75; I 3b to 325; everyone folds

I mean, my hand is so face-up here but not sure what else I can really do. CO, BTN, and SB were all fish so just gotta hope one of them can't fold 2p/bottom straight/combo draw etc. I was 1k eff with CO/BTN and about 600 eff with SB

Played 4 hours and won $97 lol. Will be back at it tomorrow and may be playing with a LLSNL celebrity who is in the area

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10K Challenge Update
Sessions: 20
Hours: 94.75
2,114/10,000

h2 cbet is burning $$$. somebody has an ace (or better) and they are not folding it.

h2 is quite bad as JB mentioned (lol 7 way hands)
h4 is totally fine.

totally agree on h2 #ripmoney

Pretty similar today to last session. Game was decent but nothing too crazy. Played well overall besides a few small mistakes, just couldn't really get much going.

h1: Straddle; EP opens 35; 3 calls; I call 5d5h in BB; Straddle calls
($210) Flop: 764dd; x, straddle donks 150; PFR calls; folds to me and I raise to 450; Straddle folds; PFR jams 800; I call and brick out vs 76hh

Fine with this one besides my flop sizing being way too small (I thought I had 5 blacks in my hand when I put them in; but even still I would prefer a sizing between 650 and all-in). This straddle's donk does not mean strength here and we should have a lot of FE vs the PFR's overpair/FD heavy range on this board texture, and even when we do get called we will have good equity. Ofc we run into very close to the top of EPs opening range (and still have 38% equity).

h2: Open A5ss UTG 20; 3 calls
($80) Flop QJ4ss; I check; x; CO 40; BTN calls (both ~300 eff); I raise to 240; everyone folds

h3: Open KK 25 EP (extra dead $7 this hand); 3 calls
($100) Flop: J43r; x I bet 55; call; LP shoves 85; fold; I call; other guy rejams 210 more (not a legal raise but we just let it go lol); I call
(Main pot: $355; Side pot: $420) Turn: J; River: brick

LP wins main pot with KJ; we scoop side-pot; other guy doesn't know

h4: Open QJdd 20 UTG; UTG+1 3b 60; UTG+2 cold-call; I call
($180) Flop: QJ6ccc; x x x
($180) Turn: 2o; I bet 130; UTG+1 calls
($440) River: 9o; I bet 365; he tank folds

Nothing horrific here but I think my sizings can be better on both streets. Turn seems like a good spot for an overbet; while on the river I think I got too greedy. Tough for me to have a lot of bluffs on the river here so probably should be sizing closer to half-pot since UTG+1 is a thinking player/not a fish.

Played for 5 hours and only played 4 interesting hands (2 of which aren't even interesting lol)...signs of a pretty boring session. Folded pre/played very small pots for most of the night. Was able to grind back from the early pocket 5s hand and end the night only down $358.

Also - as I eluded to in yesterday's post; LLSNL's own Mikestarr was in my neck of the woods this weekend and we were able to meet in person and play at the same table for a bit. He didn't stay long, but it was long enough for us to both get stacked lol (me with 55; him QQ<AA pre for 50 straddles); so no run-good for either of us. Also very disappointed we didn't get to play an epic hand against each other. Mike seems like a really nice guy and it is always fun to get to meet people from the forum in person and play some hands together.

Just about 100hrs into the challenge. Things going much worse than expected but just gotta keep grinding it out / playing as well as possible and we will get there.

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10K Challenge Update
Sessions: 21
Hours: 99.75
1,756/10,000

H2...I put you on a FD but I actually thought it might be a huge draw like AsKs or AsTs
H3..why is it not a legal raise?

Parx has not been good to me so far and I thought this was the City of Brotherly Love?

LPs shove needs to be a legal raise (aka $110 or 2x my bet) to reopen the action.

I think I check here pretty much always even without a cause it sets up such a clear call on most turns vs most players. Also we risk getting blown off our hand with good equity by a club draw vs some players. Getting value from a flush draw isnt that great since we arent that big of a favourite yet and we arent strong enough to really punish draws ott when we are a big favourite cause we will value town ourselves too often. I guess we are thinking bb is heavily weighted towards AK/ AQ here? Makes a bet a bit better but I think we have plenty of other hands we can bet here instead.

Duh

Yeah this makes sense. My bet really doesn't accomplish much besides protecting my equity so I don't really love it either. My default play here would be to check as well; I just felt like I was never going to win the hand if I x'd flop here

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On a positive life note I got promoted at work on Friday. (Not great news for the 10k challenge though lol). My work hours won't really change much but for at least for the first few months I am going to be much more focused on work and will be staying at the office later which will cut into my poker sessions. Running/lifting has also been taking a lot of time away from poker (which was expected), so I expect my # of hours in 2018 to be drastically less than in 2017. All good stuff though, got a solid pay bump and poker isn't really going anywhere. I still plan on playing at least once/week and I will most likely be hopping back into T/T games as long as they look good/I feel good mentally.

Congrats on the promotion and good to see you’re getting a nice balance. Keep up the good work


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thanks man - appreciate it. I just have to remember how to win at poker again and I'll be all set

Lmao yep, let me know when you get there, I need some guidance myself .

Good luck, Man. I had a period of time where I went from being a winning player to just playing like ****, running subpar and playing even ****tier because of it. Eventually things should just click back into place.

Hope you get out of the rut and back on track soon.

Ty! Appreciate the kind words/encouragement.

I am definitely not worried about getting out of the rut - mentally I'm in a good spot and I know staying that way is the key to ride out downswings. I knew my graph wasn't gonna go straight up forever haha. The only tough part is not being able to get in much volume which leads to the downswing(s) lasting a lot longer in real time.

Let’s gooo! Congrats dude 8)


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Yeah, this is always the tough part as a rec player. A downswing over ~70 hours, another ~130 hours digging back to even, and there's a ~third/~half of your recreational year.

GcongratsonthepromotionG

Thought I was gonna book a big win last night but it unfortunately didn't work out that way. The T/T game looked very good so I hopped in as soon as a seat opened. I played okay; but the session really just came down to 2 huge hands; both involving sets:

h1: limp, EP raises to 50; I call 7s7c MP; we go SEVEN to the flop
($350) Flop: 972ss; x to me I bet 220; next to act action player calls; limper calls
($1,010) Turn: 5o; x I bet 330; raise to 1200 (1400 back); limper folds; I call
($3,410) River: Qo; I x; he jams 1400; I call and MHIG vs K6ss

I don't like my call on the turn - his range is going to be straights, combo draws, and some sets/2p - and vs that range I need to be jamming (or folding). I think I am going to have enough equity vs this guy to sigh jam it in ott which is what I should have done. I'm lucky that he bricked and still bluffed the river.

h2: mp1 limp; btn limp; sb check, I raise 8c8h in the BB to 60; limpers call
($190) Flop: KK8r; x I bet 50; mp1 raises to 220; fold; I call
($630) Turn: Add; x he bets 310; I call
($1250) River: 2o; x he jams 2k; I call and lose to AKo

I mean, maybe I can find the hero fold on the river here but I doubt it. I pretty much snapped it off tbh; wasn't giving him much AK after the limp/call pre but what're yah gonna do. V is a rec who is a bit spazzy/can bluff big and we have played together a lot before and both seen each other do spewy things plenty of times. I think I actually should 3b him small on the flop because of that - but no matter how this hand went down I am getting stacked. If someone was going to cooler me I am glad it was this guy and not some nit-grinder at least.

a few other small/medium hands but nothing that note-worthy. I did chop KK vs AA 200bb deep in the blinds at 2/5 while I was waiting for my T/T seat which was nice lol.

Played 45 mins @ 2/5 and lost 146
Played 3.5 hrs @ T/T and won 550
Total: 4.25hrs; +404

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10K Challenge Update
Sessions: 22
Hours: 104
2,160/10,000

Very first hand I play in 9 days I double up some tard for $425 who snap racks up and doesn't even play another hand. Good to be back

Aside from my own bad play, that is the only thing that really tilts me these days. In the last two weeks I have run into this 3 times (one of them for like 4-5k pot where guy hit a 3-outer)

Been very busy with work & other life things recently and have had very little motivation to get to the casino but figured I'd get a session in today. Very first hand I sit down; I am UTG and opt to straddle b/c who wants to be the nit who waits three whole hands for the button to pass them:

Hero straddles utg; limp; limp; MP raises to 35; BTN call; SB call; Hero peels AQo and 3b to 220; utg limp/jams 425 eff; folds back to Hero who calls
Pot ($940); board runs out 8 or 9 high and we lose to 55

He then snap quits and leaves the game as we pull 5 more blacks out of our pocket lol.

Other than that I played pretty below average. I was having a really tough time focusing on the game / focusing on making correct decisions today. I haven't thought much at all about poker recently with all the other stuff I have been busy with and the motivation to play well was just not there. At the worst I was stuck 900; brought it back to even; and then donked off a bit and ended dow like 600. So really not too terrible considering I lost 425 on the very first hand, but not great either. I didn't even write down any other hand histories; but mainly I was just bluffing too much at a table where you definitely wanted to be under-bluffing.

Not sure how much poker I will really be playing in the near future/going forward. Just a lot of other things that are more of a focus right now, and especially with the weather finally being nice there are many more enticing things to do after work than drive to the casino, especially when I've been struggling to win recently. For now just taking it day-by-day and I will still look to get sessions in when I have the time/have the urge to play.

Played 4.5 hours and lost 582

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10K Challenge Update
Sessions: 23
Hours: 108.5
1,578/10,000