I've toyed with the idea of doing a PG&C for a long time. I've never really wanted to display any of my poker results, however I think I've probably come to a point in my life where it's about time I document some of my behaviour and my thoughts in order to get the best out of myself.

I did this interview for Nutblocker a while back: http://nutblocker.com/poker-player-s...-be-increased/

A lot of what i'd write about me is covered in there.

I'm basically a high stakes PLO live player (yes LOL live). I have been for the past 3-4 years.

Poker has allowed me to travel a lot and as a results i've lived for extended periods in Florida, Macau and Sydney. Nowadays I'm 28, a poker dinosaur, I reside back in London and primarily play at either the Vic casino or the Palm Beach Casino. Usually playing any PLO that runs but primarily between £5/10, £5-10-25 and £25/50.

This year in Live poker I'm up roughly £100k across all of London's casinos. If i'd been offered this at the start of the year up to this point I probably would have been happy. However, if I was truly honest, I've probably ran the best out of anyone and there are many good pro's here who would have won probably 2x this with the run good I've had. I've been ill disciplined on far too many occasions. Playing my A game and taking poker seriously as a job is something that I've struggled with as a weekly occurrence for a long time now.

I recently got back from Vegas where I great time. I played a little poker whilst there. I won $13k playing $25/50, lost $21k playing $50/100 and won $8k or so playing 5/10/20 @ the Aria. Most of the time I think I was stuck in vacation mode in Vegas, this led to some spewy sessions. I think on the whole I played ok though.

I have some serious gambling vices. The truth is I'm definitely a depressive and compulsive gambling addict. I have thought about going to gambler's anonymous in the past but have decided again. Turning up at gambler's anonymous as a professional poker player feels a little aggressive. I have an addictive personality in general. This year some highlights (should read lowlights I guess) have included, getting super drunk and blasting off huge sums of my Vic deposit in the pit. I got uptight about my health earlier in the year and I decided to try and suppress my worrying playing some online blackjack. I lost £25k that night. I have lost 5 figures £s this year sports betting. I have, in my defence, done a good job of quitting the sports betting and hopefully that'll continue. I drink too much, a lot of times I go out to drink one beer or so and that'll turn into a 12 hour bender that'll end with me doing something destructive.

Addiction leads to a lack of confidence. Anyone who's played live poker with me probably would argue that this doesn't reflect on the poker table. This is probably true, I think the live poker table is the one last arena I feel at ease. I was on the cusp of going on Joe Ingram's podcast earlier in the year and ended up not doing so because I didn't back myself to be entertain for 60 minutes or what. It was pathetic really.

tl;dr

CLIFFS:

28yo PLO PROFESSIONAL
IS A SAD DEGENERATE
WANTS TO STOP BEING SAD DEGENERATE

I guess in these things it's the done thing to make some goals, I don't want to make any monetary goals. I know what my hourly is and I have a good idea of what i'll make in live poker if I remain focused. So I'm going to set some life goals:

1) COLD TURKEY - I'm going to attempt to go cold turkey until the end of the year on doing any gambling without EDGE. I am also in the process of trying 5 weeks without drinking.

2) PROFESSIONALISM - I am going try and avoid any online poker and just focus on playing in live game where I have EDGE. I am also going to focus on trying to play my A game regardless of what stake I sit at. Often in London the action can be sporadic and you might have to play £1/2 and £2/5 PLO. Over the course of the year this games can be worth £10-30k to end of year results. When I think about that properly, its pretty good money to be flushing away.

3) CONFIDENCE - In general, and in the past, I've always been a confident and outgoing guy. I'm going to try and go to the gym 4 times a week, I'm not really into weights, getting big, gainz etc but I believe doing exercise does breed a healthy mindset. I am also single currently and have spent a few years joking and being self deprecating saying i'm awful with women. I'm probably not. Before the end of year i'm going to try and go on at least 3 dates. That won't sound like much to many but i've probably only ever been on one other date lifetime so it's a bigger deal to me.

I think that's about enough for now. I'm essentially just going to keep this as a diary, so it might not be that interesting. I will update with results every now and then though and I'll throw in a good story from the past, be it a trip somewhere, or a story from a huge game.

BigA.

I guess maybe to spice this up a little it probably would be more fun to set monetary goals.

Therefore I'm going to try and make another £100k before the end of the year. How achievable this will be will most likely be game dependant, I.e. How often £10/25 runs etc but with good volume it's probably pretty achievable.

Yesterday was a pretty good day. I lost £550 in a decent £10/25 after being down £6k earlier in the day. Some of my old gambling demons kicked in towards the end and rather than book a win I took a high variance line vs the spot in the game on the nights penultimate hand that resulted in me losing a £5k pot. That didn't feel great but overall I was happy with my play on the day as not a lot went my way.

I'll throw in a few HHs too, to keep it semi interesting. This hand was vs an ok old reg but it's interesting to see how unbalanced the older regs are in these spots.

Limped pot 5 way I complete from the 2nd blind with 6c5h4c2c.

Flop comes Q43ssx. I lead £75 into £125. Straddle (old ok reg calls) and fish calls.

Turn comes Ks. Board Qs4s3xKs. Gets checked through.

River 5h. I check, older regs bets £250 and fish folds.

Basically in this spot I don't think the older reg has any flushes except for the nut flush. Older regs play that way, kinda like how Brunson used to fold K hi fd on 3 flush boards on the old HSP. They have the solid reasoning of not chasing non nut flushes in FR games. However in this spot it works against them.

I think if he has nut flush he barrels turn small here. A) cos the fish isn't going to fold any flush on turn here to a small bet but might check it back and b) if I have a set he'll want to me to come along to the river.

If he had the better 76xx straight he's not going to bet this river because the fish can easily have a smaller flush that he's called flop with and then checked back turn for pot control. A standard line in FR.

So I ended up calling and old reg has AsQ66 for all the blockers in the world but inevitably a bluff. Obviously it goes without saying there are several different ways old reg could have gone about playing this hand.

On the whole day was good though, no degening and gambling with edge. All the good stuff. I also didn't really use my computer much. I've had some eye problems in the past few years and I think some of it could be related to computer usage.

£100k total: -£550

Subbed! Iv recently moved an hour out of London and there is a live 2/5 6 card plo game here quite frequently. After about an hour of play half the table is usually sitting with 2-4k each and it looks like it plays more like bingo than anything else. Iv been tempted to give it a shot, but I only have some experience with 4 card plo, any tips? glgl

I'll update quickly as my poker day is effectively over early today and it also ties in nicely with Scoorps post.

I went into the Vic early today to play a £5/10/25 4/5card game at the Vic. This is usually a pretty fun and punty game. Also no one really knows how to play 5card there. Within 90 minutes I was -£10k and decided to call it a day. Most of the damage came when I got ATThhxx in on T85hhx 3way for like £15k and couldn't hold. Oh well.

Basically when the game is essentially regs 5card games are kinda a joke. It's sort of going to come down to who runs the best in the big pots really. Even though there is definitely some small equity just from correct hand selection etc it really is always going to be a punt.

I used to play a 5/6c PLO game in Manchester and crushed it as the field was usually exceptionally soft. If it was a field with 20/30% fish in it I think 5c PLO games are still worth it because with fish the more cards they have usually the worst they are. Even if the edge might come bigger with less cards (i.e. deep NLH and stuff).

Tips for 5card would be simple: keep pots relatively small if you can, don't over value stuff like mid double pair, QQ33x type stuff, double suited mid run downs. Essentially just play a bunch of stuff that draws to the nuts and then try and run good when money goes into pot.

£100k challenge: -£10,550.

Heard about your blast off in the pit, you're a sick man. Stick to the plo you chump. GL, rooting for you

Would love to play a bit more PLO live but always felt like you need to be super-rolled in the games to withstand the variance. Would you say that's still true even at the £1/£2 level?

Yes PLO has a lot of variance. Truth is in the FR lower stake games the style is so low variance that the swings won't be anywhere near as extreme but yeah being well rolled is probably a good idea 🙈

Sick blog, definitely subbed. GL with the 100k goal!

Subbing!

So the PG&C run good is has got off to a lightening start.

I lost another £10,115 at the Vic today. I didn't really have any good spots to discuss just kinda played too loose pre and then got punished in all the higher variance spots.

I have a few positives to reflect on his the start of the thread, I haven't sports bet or done any other degening.

That said I'm struggling to turn up and play my A game every day. I'm losing a reasonable amount of money this month now so I'm lucky forward to it being over. I guess in my next few sessions I really need to focus on playing my A game.

£100k total: -£20,615.

Gl y'all.

Also my posts aren't really that interesting because well yawn, it's live PLO. Either gonna win some money or lose some money. As I result I'll try and field some more questions etc to make the read more worthwhile.

What separates the crushers from the so-so regs in your games?

Are there any underrated skills necessary for bossing live plo?

In a standard line up how does your winrate change if the game is 4 card or 4/5/6 card?

How do the older regs who have been around forever fare versus the new younger crowd?

Good questions MTD.

I guess the top 2 questions are kinda similar. I think the man difference is the really good regs are good at playing exploitable poker when the fish are in the game. As an example, there are certain guys who can adjust their bet sizing, there % of hands they play, their 3bet % etc when certain fun players are in the game and it is profitable to do so. A lot of the London regs who are marginal winners try to play the same solid style every session, whilst in completely reg line up that's a good approach its probably not printing the money as hard as it could be in some special line ups. Also the really good guys are comfortable super deep, 500bb+, they know good spots to apply pressure. I think I'm good at crushing Non-showdown when its deep because a lot of people are terrified and happy to give up the 10-20bb pots over and over to avoid making big decisions.

I guess an ok answer to an underrated skill is being social enough to make fish give you action. Not just to get them in the game but once they're in. I get a lot of action from fish because of random live poker skills I have, chatting to them a bunch, goofing around showing them cards when they ask etc. A lot of fish I know do stuff like limp fold for 1bb pre vs a lot of tight regs they don't like. When a fish is in the game as pro's we want to play as many hands as we can vs them and if being social and likeable at a table allows for that it's probably worthwhile doing.

I haven't really played enough 4/5/6 in reg line ups to answer that but I think in general win rates would be better at 4card. At 4 card there is still a ton of domination vs a bunch of regs that I don't think is possible in 5/6card games.

In general the older regs are gonna have a tough time nowadays. There is one in particular who is still reasonably tough, I actually chat a little poker strat with him hilariously. He clearly tries to evolve his poker with the times. Other older regs are just so dead in the games now. Hilariously they buy in for like £15k at like £5/10 expecting other regs to just roll 1000's of bbs in vs them, despite everyone knowing that their strategy is to 'play really tight'. All that ends up happening is that they end up getting bluffed a ton and playing very unbalanced the rest of the time.

Alas, some good news.

Finally booked a winning day in this challenge. Won £3,695 in a £2/5 game yesterday.

I was pretty happy with my mental game because traditionally £2/5 is a level I don't turn up and play my A game. Yesterday I just focused on the basics and trying to play as solid as possible. As it happened as the night went on the game was exceptionally good so it was easier to remain in the zone.

Going to take a much needed day off today and go to a friends house warming. Apparently his place is amazing so can't wait to see it.

£100k challenge: -£16,920

Looking forward to following and reading about the live poker scene in London. Good luck!

You need someone to help you be accountable for yourself. Put a large sum of your money away where you can't access it for a decent amount of time. Start grinding plo a minimum of 8 hrs a day 5 days a week, just like a real job. Grind your ass off and keep putting money away. Focus on sobriety, exercise, healthy eating, and all that stuff. I know this is all common sense but the key is getting someone to force you to do it. Because obviously your mental will power is severely lacking. Good luck.

GL man

This thread has potential to be amazing

Thread needs stack photos!!!

GL!

Fairly unproductive weekend on the poker front, a great weekend overall though.

I fell of the wagon this weekend a little, fortunately in terms of drinking and partying rather than degening, which I'm at peace with a little more. It was my friend's (space_cowboy on 2p2) house warming. He's just bought an amazing house in London so we spent the day BBQ'ing and stuff and then went out and got fairly twisted on Friday night. That led to Saturday being a write off, I met up with some Uni friends yesterday but managed to get a £2/5 session in later last night.

I won £1675 in the £2/5 so we've got the total going in the right direction again. Annoying to do the absolute bean a few nights before the games die off again. It's not too bad though in London because the £2/5 is so soft that there is definitely a ton of money to be made by putting the hours in. I've been running pretty damn good in all in's the past few days though!

I don't think I'll put up any 'chip porn' photos up, not really my style and we all know what chips look like. Maybe if I put in like a £30k session or something

£100k Challenge: -£15245

Space cowboy the sng God ?

Haha no. That certainly isn't him.

Clearly chose the wrong time of day to go in yesterday. Earlier in the day there had apparently been a crazy good game with one of the looser regs winning £25k in 90 minutes. Unfortunately by the time I turned up the game was pretty much a dead £5/10.

I ended up in some lol spot where I got AKQJssdd in vs AT64hhdd and KQJ7sss for the beans and we ran board twice with the AT64 winning both boards. Decided I couldn't be bothered trying to grind it out in the game and booked a loss and called it an early night.

I've been lacking a lot of motivation lately, kinda just spending way too many hours sat in bed watching Netflix. I've failing hard on my gym goals. I think it's the sporadic nature of the games and stakes is making it hard for me to have anything to focus on and that leads me to taking the easy option of just eating up time

£100k Challenge: -£16745

With the 2nd season of Bojack Horseman out who can blame you

in your opinion what are reasonable vpip/pfr percentages in typical live full ring plo games from 2/2 to 5/10?
typical games where i play include at least 1 but usually a couple of guys who play close to every hand pre, limping a lot. often deep.

fellow london grinder wishing you the best