hey twoplustwo,

I've realized I need a thread to survive the live grind. I have been doing this for eight months and it is tough to ride the ups and downs. I quit working a normal job because a normal job wants everything. They want your peace of mind on your days off, your relationships with your family and friends when you're in a bad mood. Sometimes poker takes the same toll. Other times its great. Amazing. Counting thousands of dollars in cash at 5AM, feeling cracked out, walking on air the next morning, strangers happy to meet you, energized by your confidence. The most I ever made working was $12.50/hr. But my reality is I have bills to pay. Too many expenses. And I recover slowly from losses. And my bankroll management is questionable. And I need more money so I'm gonna need to play more hours, move up in stakes, and learn other games. If I want to do this for real I need to learn PLO, 08, spread limit Holdem, and mix. And I need to be able to play up to 10/20 NL.


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My first hand of live NLHE was on 6/13/2016. I have played ~600 hours and am winning $28/hr at 1/2 and $49/hr at 2/5. I'm up a couple buy-ins at 5/10 but only over 12 hours of play. Total winnings == $22539.

I know my win-rate is strong but it could be better (and yes I know I need 1000 hours in the game blah blah blah--I am certain I am a winning player). Win-rates higher than this are achievable in the games I play and I do not consider myself a great player. I am good at other things, like knowing when to stand up and how to get along with others. I'm hoping to improve my technical game and my focus at the tables. If I put in more hours at the table--which is necessary for me to pay my bills at this point--I think I can win a lot of money at a good clip.

This thread is going to consist of session updates, philosophical thoughts about the game, myself, other players, etc., and whatever else I feel like posting. Although I'm not the smartest, I am smart enough to do this and my approach is probably unorthodox. I hate cog psych and self-improvement literature and all that useless crap--comfort food for people who won't or can't do better. I'm not materialistic and I don't care about money. I do this because I want to have control of my life. Appreciate comments, criticisms, trolling, whatever. Oh and I'm 27 years old, living in the United States. My life roll is ~13k and that includes poker.

Date of session: 2/25/2017
Game: 1/2 NLHE
Hours played: 5.25
Results = -$53

The Big Cooler
Things were going swimmingly the first couple of hours. One of my favorite players was at the table. He gambles with his draws, plays a lot of hands, will give action to anyone, doesn't get upset when he loses, and makes a lot of big hands on rivers because of his pre-flop range and love for backdoor equity. Like most bad players, he is actually quite good, better than your average nitreg. His strategy is as follows: play a lot of hands pre-flop, don't overplay pairs, make unexpected straights and flushes and bet huge to frustrate the opposition and induce light calls. Your classic trappy player that appears more loose and aggressive post-flop than they actually are.

Anyway, I'm up $200 when the following occurs. The player I described above, we'll call him Cal, open limps in the CO. BTN limps behind him. I'm in the SB sitting with about $500 and I look down at AA. Cal has me covered. I raise to 18, the BB folds, Cal calls quickly, and BTN folds. The flop comes A62 with two clubs. I look at my hand again. No club. I decide to bet 1/2 pot. I think that's the perfect bet. Checking top set is really bad for a lot of reasons. First, top set is a big hand and we want to build a pot now. Second, for a player like Cal, we want to induce him to spazz by trying to bluff-raise us or by floating and making a play on the turn. Third, a wet turn will complicate the hand in an undesirable way if the flop goes check-check. 1/2 pot is as much as I can bet without looking super strong--2/3 or 3/4 PSB is going to be interpreted as Ax and because I am somewhat nitty Cal may elect to fold a larger portion of his range.

FWIW Cal and I have been playing a ton of hands together. I've gotten the best of him in three big memorable pots where he made an unlikely straight or flush and I made a full house. So he definitely has it out for me, in a friendly competitive way.

I bet 28, Cal looks at me for a moment and makes a reasonable raise, enough to start committing himself to the hand. He either has total air, a flush draw, an underset, or maybe two-pair. I could flat here but that look super strong and I don't want to check a wet turn and I don't know how Cal would interpret a donk bet. I 3b enough to commit myself, he hems and haws for four or five seconds and jams his stack. I snap with the nuts. The turn comes a blank and I tell him I have top set. He says "clubs," and as soon as he says that the river peels a club. He shows J4cc for the flush and I muck. Not a big deal. I rebuy for $300 and start grinding it back up.


The Rest of the Sesh
After that things were uneventful, but I am super proud of myself for sitting there, playing well, and most of all PAYING ATTENTION. I am so bad at paying attention. I pretty much never pay attention. I've found it easier to think on Level 1 and just play my hands totally face-up with little regard for what my opponents are doing. However I know this is terrible, but it's so tempting because everyone is so horrible that you can play total Helen Keller and still be +EV. Anyway, I somehow made up for most of my losses which was unexpected and pretty sweet. Here's some more random hands/thoughts.


What Bro, You Don't Believe Me? (Can someone please explain?)
Explain this to me -- a regular has been running bad. He is not a good player, but he thinks about the game and is somewhat aggressive. He's a nice fellow and I like him a lot. Let's call him David. Lately David has been telling people his exact holding when he has a strong hand, presumably to stop them from betting. I really don't get it. Here's an example from last week. David limps from MP with TT, I raise behind with AJo, and he calls. Flop is AKTr. He checks, I bet, and he calls. The turn comes a blank, he checks and says I HAVE A SET. I bet again, not sure whether to believe him. He starts getting genuinely upset and says I HAVE A SET I'M NOT LYING and aggressively throws his chips in the pot to call. The river brings a second K, he snap checks and says NOW I HAVE A FULL HOUSE. I believe him so I check behind and he shows TT for the full house. NOW DO YOU BELIEVE ME BRO? I DON'T LIE. Yes, now I believe you!

David did it again last night. He limps AJ from EP, and bet 10 into 12 on A87 two-tone. Cal calls and David starts getting heated. WHAT YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME? Another player calls behind. Turn is a Qo. David bets 25, Cal makes it 55, the player behind folds, and David calls with less than a PSB behind. River is a blank. David checks, Cal shoves, and David calls. Cal shows Q7o for two-pair and David mucks.

I'm not sure why David is acting like this. My guess is that he has been losing a lot and now his brain thinks he will always lose. David doesn't have MUBS so this streak must really be getting to him. Sadly, he will run even worse if he misses value with his big hands.


Mistakes I Made
I'll make this quick, just want to catalogue the obvious mistakes I made throughout the session.

1) I opened 75hh from UTG 5-handed. Terrible hand OOP, especially in a game where people call too much. Easy muck from upfront. I play too many hands short-handed and this is a prime example.

2) BTN straddle, SB folds, Cal calls 2 in the BB, I call in MP with A3s, a tight player in LP raises to 15, Cal calls, and now I have to call because we're deep and I'm getting decent odds. However I'm dominated by LP's range, Cal may not spazz multiway, and I've committed 7.5bb pre-flop with a weak Ace. Easy fold pre-flop in MP.

3) I limp behind two players on the BTN with JTs. We see A39 four-handed. It checks around. Turn is an A and it checks around again. River J. Checks to me and I bet 3 because I only have 3 white chips. I should have bet 4-5. Sure enough, someone calls with a smaller pair. Missed a bb there.

Here's a song I've been enjoying. I'll occasionally post music in this thread. This is a mashup of Death Grips, a hardcore hip-hop group, and Macintosh Plus, a vaporwave artist.



A couple more thoughts I want to flesh out later:
--Players who seem good are usually bad.
--Winning at a good clip will make you want to quit poker.
--Trying to play well is the #1 reason people go broke.


Next session will be Monday 2/27. I'm going to get ****ed up today and whatever.

Couple updates to get to today. My last sessions were not fun and my session today--which lasted all of 90 minutes--was especially bad.

Session Update #2
Date: 2/27/2107
Game: 1/2 NLHE
Hours played: 6.25
Results: +340

I had the horrible treat of sitting near to my least favorite person in the room. We'll call him Charlie Craig after Charlie and Craig Reid, better known as The Proclaimers and the authors of my most hated song ever, "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles." ****ing hate that song. Anyway, this guy is your classic rec d-bag. Terrible at poker, but has learned how to be aggressive and now thinks he is the greatest. Plays a lot of tournaments which pretty much sums up his mental capabilities right there. His table talk is extremely annoying and totally inane, he is bitter when he loses and the type of player who becomes boisterous and overconfident when he wins, lecturing other players and trying to look like the man. I think he is relatively successful away from the table but has never grown up. I don't really have any interesting hands v. him but man he just drives me crazy.


Folding KK twice on the flop

I am running terrible lately but have been focusing more, as I noted in the last post, and this has saved my ass. If I wasn't playing my A-game I would have been a big loser this session instead of pulling a win out of my ass at the last second.

Hand 1: UTG opens to 11, MP calls, I make it 40 from the CO with KK. UTG and MP both call. Flop comes 987r. Check, check, I bet 90, UTG folds, and now MP jams, covering me and I have about 270. I think MP's pre-flop range is mostly small to medium pairs, broadways, maybe the occasional suited connector. I have played with MP quite a bit and he doesn't bluff often, calling too often pre and playing strong hands less passively after the flop. He definitely has 99 88 77 and JT in his range which is 13 combos minimum, more if he calls my 3b with JTo which is possible. I didn't see him doing this with JJ or TT, I think he would call more often than not based on my observations. I started talking to him a little bit because he's generally talkative, but he shut down and wouldn't even look at me. I took this as a sign of strength because a player bluffing is more likely to interact so as not to raise suspicion. Ultimately, this was not a good spot for him to bluff, and I thought a bluff was unlikely, so I folded. Later MP told me he had JTs in a way which was convincing, and he had been ruthlessly honest, showing and talking about a lot of hands and what not, so I was happy with my fold.

Hand 2: Straddle from a loose player UTG, I make it 20 from UTG+1 with KK, and a very tight player flats in LP. His range is almost exclusively pairs and strong broadways. I think the weakest hand he has in his range is KQs, maybe KJs or the occasionally suited Ace, maybe JTs. The flop comes 853, I bet 40 into 47 and he makes it 150. He rarely, rarely raises post-flop and never has overs in this spot. He respects my play and know I am nitty so he's basically putting me on an overpair and raising. I muck and he shows AA.


Other hands (AKA the beginning of the onslaught of flushes)

Getting smashed by flushes lately. Have run into four or five in the last few hours of playing which totally blows since I've had a strong hand pretty much every time. Didn't pay any of them off though which was sweet.

Hand 1 - Getting Vulnerable: UTG limps, I make it 12 from UTG+1 with two red Queens. Six players call. Flop 543ddc. I bet 49, and MP--one of the only decent players at the table--calls too. MP plays a little looser than I like pre-flop, but doesn't spew much and doesn't raise unless he has it. Another player in MP jams for about 100. They jam a lot and I'm confident my hand is best. I wasn't considering the strong MP player might have a flush draw, I just assumed they would jam over with sets or fold medium pairs after I called. Unfortunately MP calls too and I'm left wondering what he could possible have. Would he call again with a small overpair? Would he flat again with a set and continue to slowplay versus me in a protected pot? The turn is a 9d, and even though the pot is huge and I have a redraw something just doesn't feel right. I check, MP bets 130 and I fold. He shows K7dd and scoops the pot.

Hand 2 - Missing the Tell: This is another flush hand versus MP where I made the same mistake. I played this hand pretty poorly--probably one of the poorest hands I've played in awhile. A loose player straddles on the BTN, I make it 17 from the SB with ATo and get six calls. We were playing seven handed so this was pretty much the whole table. The flop comes T83ssc. I bet 50 into 73, the same strong player in MP calls, and an older rec makes it 150 leaving himself 19 behind. Here is where I picked up a physical tell and didn't listen. I don't think any player who is jamming a flush draw or putting in his chips with a single pair every leaves a few behind. They know they might be beat, they're gonna get all their chips in now, and that's just that. When this player puts in 150 SUPER nervously and has 19 left I know he smashed the flop and is in a different mindstate than normal. However, I justified calling because I figured he might do this with a worse Ten or flush draw and I was getting amazing odds. Once again, I put MP on a marginal hand that would probably fold since he didn't raise my initial bet. Once again, I was wrong. MP calls and we see a Ko turn. I check, MP checks, the short stack shoves for 19 and we both call. The river is the 8s bringing the flush. I check, MP bets 120, and I fold. MP shows KJss for the flush and the short-stack MP shows 33 for a cracked set. Yikes. I was wrong all the way. It was frustrating to lose to the same player twice versus a draw but this one was my bad.


The Comeback

I am basically breakeven the whole night which is pretty standard. I was focusing and being patient because ****, what else can I do? I announce to the table I'm leaving when the BB comes back to me, and a few hands before I stand up I find 22 in EP/MP. I limp and call a raise and see a flop of KQ2r three-way. I let the pre-flop raiser bet bet bet to keep the third player in the pot and calling and I jam over his river bet. He sigh calls and shows KQ for top-two, I rack up and pat myself on the back for sticking it out and playing like a professional.

Session Update #3
Date: 2/28/2017
Game: 1/2 NLHE
Hours played: 1.5
Result: -564

Yep, minus 564, almost three buy-ins in less than two hours. This was probably my biggest losing session in terms of hourly, although only half of my biggest losing session ever.


The Hands

Hand 1 - KK v AA: Two limps, I make it 15 with KK in MP, a total unknown MAWG in the SB makes it 37. The table just started so this is our fourth or fifth hand and I've never played v him before, although he knows the other players in the room. I make it 85, and he gets a look on his face like "Wow really?" Pretty bad sign, especially when he shrugs and jams it in for 300 effective. I barely have him covered. Not a great spot in a game where people often flat JJ-QQ, AK pre-flop, but what can you do? I call it off, he shows AA and that is that. I rebuy for 300. He racks up like 40 minutes later after playing maybe one other hand.

Hand 2 - AQ v flush draw: Loose player straddles BTN, I make it 18 from the SB with AQo, only he calls. Flop A97ddh, I bet 21, and he calls. Turn is a 6h, I bet 80 and he calls leaving himself about 40 behind. River is a 2d, I put him in for 40 and he shows 43dd and scoops the pot. I should have bet 3/4 PSB on the flop and jammed the turn, so bad betsizing on my part. But this hand plays out the same either way. I was not tilted at all by the KK v AA hand--that's standard and fine, but this hand happened a few minutes later. I was sitting next to Charlie Craig and both he and BTN were making annoying ass conversation so I am starting to get pretty tilted.

Hand 3 - AQ v T9: This is against the same player as the last hand. Two limps, I make it 15 in LP with AQcc, and three players call. Flop J76ccs. I bet 50 and only the player from the last hand calls. Turn is a 9s, I bet 125, thinking he'll fold a marginal hand to a big bet and also knowing I have a better flush draw a lot of the time. He calls again. River is a red 9 and now he bets all in for like 1/3 PSB. I guess outloud that he had a flush draw or straight draw that backed into trips. I fold and he shows T9cc.


Conclusion

At this point I am tilted as **** as I have gone through three buy-ins in such a short period. Although I am trying to play more hours, I'll have to make the walk of shame to the ATM and pay a ****ing fee which will only tilt me more. Everyone at the table is happy, winning, sharing my precious jewels like a gangbang gone wrong. When everyone is happy, and you're pissed, you're playing their game, not yours. I only play my game so I stood up, cashed out for my remaining 116 and went home.

A brisk 25 minutes walk and a soundtrack of Future, Curren$y, Jeremih, Cormega, and Mobb Deep helped to soothe my spirits. Typing this up quickly before I meet some friends at the club. Nothing helps put poker in perspective like spending time with other people away from the table.

I will play tomorrow if I am not too hungover. Hoping things turn around and I can get in some spots to value bet and not lose to unlikely + better hands. When you're getting enough hands pre-flop and not getting coolered this game is the easiest thing in the world. It's the trying times of having to fold big hands over and over that really gets to me. If I get to a point where I can't fold AA on the flop when I should, then I'm done for the day. Gonna have fun tonight and stay positive.

Sup,

I've been gone for a few days, played some terrible sessions and didn't feel like thinking about them (this reasoning is why I still haven't paid my phone bill from last month). Lost probably ~$1k total at 1/2, most of it in in three big hands. 70% of the losses came from Friday night, where I got in 77 on Q97dds three way and lost to 86o. I've lost two $1.5k pots all-in on the flop with a set since I started this thread. That shows how bad I think I'm running, and it also shows how insanely profitable the games I'm playing are, and why my win-rate up to now has been so high. The $15/hr win-rate cap for your average 1/2 game doesn't apply when stacks are this deep and players are willing to commit with so little.

I took Saturday off to get some rest and lick my wounds, had a vodka and Red Bull for breakfast and played Hearthstone for most of the day.


Current Thoughts on Poker

I hate playing for a living when I'm losing. Having long streaks of not picking up hands and losing huge pots tilts the living **** out of me. Ideally I would like to have non-poker work Monday-Wednesday, play Thursday-Saturday, and take Sunday off. That would be about 20 hours of poker a week, which would be a sweet schedule that would allow me to play at the best times without getting burnt out. Not having non-poker income was a pretty big mistake looking at my life now, but you live and your learn. My second big mistakes was not being frugal about my monthly expenses. Currently paying about $1k/month in rent, electric, utilities, etc., but if I had scrounged I could be paying about $600 max which would be a huge difference. Even after having relative success at poker in terms of winning online and live I am not any happier. Same goes for having more money than I've ever had before. I wake up in the beautiful duplex I rent and I feel exactly the same as when I was optimizing ATM overdrafts to minimize fees and combing the floor for change to buy a deucer of 2-11.


Technical Goals

It's obvious from this thread that I don't have a professional attitude about my livelihood. This is partially due to laziness, but mostly egotism and insecurity. Instead of ruminating over psychology I'd like to decrease my variance and increase my confidence by improving my technical skills. Something Limon said in a podcast that stuck with me: (paraphrasing) "Poker isn't a game where you can come in and do the same thing everyday. You have to be constantly adjusting and changing, observing and learning if you actually want to make it." It's too easy to sit down and play my standard game instead of pushing myself to play for real.

Pre-flop goals: Find good spots to limp, and to call behind with speculative hands. I fold an insane amount pre-flop, mostly because the standard raise in the 1/2 can be up to $20 and all pots go MW. SPR is low on the flop, so medium suited cards really suffer, especially when people are playing hands like K4s, J7s, and all their suited Aces. However I'd like to play more hands because I'd like to take more shots at people who will put their money in bad. I learned from studying a bit of Omaha how important pre-flop hand construction is, to play hands in PLO ring games that will dominate worse draws when all the money goes in. Thus, in this NLHE game, I'm looking to play speculative hands that will make draws strong enough to jam the flop. I'm looking at Axs hands that often have 12 outs, and some hands like JT and T9 that can make nutted straights. A loose, stack-off game plays more like a slot machine than a strategy game. When stacks are shallow and ranges are wide and pots are MW you're basically trying to click a button and hit a huge payout.

C-betting Goals: I'm going to try something Bart Hanson talked about in an early episode of Cash Plays. Bart said it makes sense to continuation bet 80-90% of the pot versus weak competition if you don't have SDV and you don't want to double barrel. When you bet that large, your opponents will fold their weaker hands such as medium pairs and gutshots, all of which are calling a 50% PSB. A big continuation bet maximizes our FE and increases our EV. Bart said the opposite is true when you have a hand versus a calling station. In that situation you should make enticing bets, closer to 50% of the pot, early on to build a big pot, and then bet large on the river.


Anyway

I'm gonna go on a run, stretch a little, and eat something before I head to the game. Might study some more poker too, just to get in the right mindstate. Wish me luck!

A larger c bet will work more but the disadvantages vs double barrel:

You win the pot only not the pot plus a weak c bet.

With a smaller c bet plus small turn bet you gain more info. You might get met with a flop check raise on either c bet size. With a smaller c bet you save money. Also a double barrel looks strong, maybe stronger idk. Also sizing is player dependent. Good luck.

Good point. Thank you!


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I'll be making live updates. Mods, apologies if this is considered too frequent. I will try to keep it under five posts for the night. I'm going to post hands that I might have played differently if I wasn't paying attention.

1/2 NLHE
Very tricky and scary thinking gambler opens UTG to 15 and a tight reg calls behind. I call on the BTN with A8s, eff stacks 300. I'm calling because UTG will open hands worse than A8, and the caller will play his hand face-up. Flop comes KQx two-tone, no hearts. I resolved to stab if the pot checked to me. UTG puts me and the caller on big cards and won't bluff these boards with his total air. The pf caller will always bet flop with TP or better. It checks to me, I make it 35, and they both quickly fold.


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whats the app you're using for tracking results? looks nice