"The past is just a story we tell ourselves." - Her (2013)

My own past can be found here, in this prior 2+2 thread regarding my first year after graduating Boston College in May 2017. For a brief introduction:

My present story is best told between arrivals and departures, the space between people and places.

Tuesday, August 28th, 2018
Sacramento to Spokane: SMF > SEA > GEG

I live a nomadic life as an LSAT tutor sent around the country at my company's whim. My only friends reliable to be around most nights are my friends at home playing xbox and the blubbery ****ing whales in Bovada's 500nlz pool. I'm trying a new mental technique called "pretending I didn't torch off five figures last WSOP" and it's restored my confidence in my game.

In August 2019, I will attend Columbia Law School. No, I'm not humble about my accomplishments thus far and I know how great the school is. Columbia also boasts the most expensive tuition in the country in the most expensive cost-of-living in the country; I have minimal scholarship aid, savings that might not cover first month's rent, and no inherited / family money.

PLZ HURRY WHAT IS THE POINT OF THIS THREAD: I am going to run a once-in-a-lifetime parlay into $300,000 in a year.

Well, now that I raised expectations, let me temper them: I'm probably not going to come close. I'd be pretty happy if I didn't lose too much and got to next August with like $20k tbh. Poker is really hard, the best players in the world can lose for months on end, and I suck and fail constantly.

I'll use the to indicate paragraphs for my more poker-inclined readers (as well as blackjack/craps/book, as I'm a true degen in all facets of life).

Prior to the summer, I had built a substantial bankroll primarily between the 5/10 games at Seven Mile (San Diego) and the Bellagio, but also zoom, 6-max, and HUSNGs online. I had an awful WSOP in 2018 that tilted me off the face of the earth, busting all of the shots I took in tournaments and breaking even at 5/10. I decided to take a break from the game and use the rest of my poker bankroll to pay off undergrad loan debt; scholarships covered most but not all of my Boston College expenses and I had ~$20k in debt post-graduation.

??? but if u blew all ur cash why r u post?



Back in May, I made a parlay regarding the winners of each major competitive league of legends split winner. That's the dorkiest sentence I've ever written and I apologize to the people who have to be seen in public with me, but in my defense: I was on fire hitting NBA / Champions League parlays and crushing 200nlz / 500nlz on Bovada at the time. I was bulletproof. This parlay hit as the splits wrapped up a week ago in mid-August. I couldn't believe that most of my WSOP losses were recouped.

For those worried about my bankroll / risk of ruin / etc, I appreciate your concern but it would be better spent on people who deserve it. I'm just another kid with another dream of running like god, but if variance doesn't break my way, my life will still be good.

The salience of this post: many law schools and colleges begin again today. The dream I deferred wakes up at 8am and staggers into Legal Research and Writing with a bunch of bleary-eyed over-achievers.

This is going to be one ****ing sick final year.


HHs from week one +$4200 (200z, 500z)

no converter or PT4 inputs until I get home to Las Vegas. got to do these by hand.

500nl zone on Bovada
CO opens to $15
Hero (BTN) 3b to $45 with red AA
BB 4b to $115
CO folds, Hero calls with $450 left behind. BB covers.
Flop: 632r . BB leads $107, hero calls.
Turn: Js bdfd. BB jams, hero calls. BB shows AKss and bricks.

500nl zone on Bovada
$1200 stack, BB $1500 stack
Hero (BTN) opens to $15 with 55.
BB 3b to $60, I call.
Flop: J74r BB bets $41.25, I call.
Turn: 7r BB checks, I bet $69.59, BB raises to $211.88, I call.
River: 2o checks through. BB shows AQo.

ya my hhs are all wins suckaz. if i ever lose ill post those but i doubt itttttttt

gl to me

I will be following as I did in your previous thread man.

Word to the wise, if you're serious about running it up this year and enjoying life, drop the -EV pit games unless you're blowing off steam for peanuts with friends. I'm in a similar position as you right now, graduated College and taking year off to travel/run it up. Do work.

subbed - good luck man

Dug the intro. I suppose I'll tag along, GL GL!

Rooting for life to teach you some humility. Good luck with that and everything else.

I appreciate your continued reading! Sometimes it’s nice to hear that my words aren’t just floating around in space. You’re 100% right about the pit games and that’s one of those demons I continue to battle, but doing exactly what you said - limiting my play to the weekends I’m with college friends - has been effective over the past few months. Enjoy that year off - my first year off was the best year of my life, and the second one is shaping up to be even better.

~~~


A few HHs from this afternoon’s session, +$280

1) 500z Bovada
KQo on the button, $740 eff.
I open to $15, SB 3b to $55, I call.
K74hh flop SB bets $63, I call.
Kd turn SB checks, I bet $113. SB folds.

Not sure if this is a check back spot but I see a lot of hands to get value from. My sizings need some work.


2) 500z Bovada
A8hh in SB, $421 eff.
BTN opens to $10, I 3b to $40, BTN calls.
Th 7s 3c. I continue for $37, BTN calls.
7d turn, I bet $91 and BTN calls.
J river, I jam like $280ish and BTN calls 87dd

Once I got to the river with blockers to A7hh, 87, 98 I felt obligated to fire that third barrel but I probably should’ve checked flop and/or turn.


3) 500z Bovada
86cc on the button, $550 eff.
I open to $15, BB 3b to $60, I call.
953r flop, BB continues for $77, I call.
7c turn bdfd, checks through.
2d river, BB bets $169 and I jam for the rest. BB tank folds.

In hindsight I’m not sure if this line was best. While I can’t see myself folding flop or ever having a raising range in position, turn seems like a spot to bet small with lots of our range but I think I also have a lot of two club hands or pair + straight draw hands that want to avoid getting x/r. Maybe I played it fine but just got owned by a good fold?

Wednesday, August 29th, 2018
GEG > SLC > SMF


“I’m always happy,” Sasha said. “Sometimes I just forget.”
- a visit from the goon squad



The money went in slowly, as it often does in 5/10 games laden with **** regs who calculate each decision over minutes of meticulous tanking. As if honed by some GTO Miss Manners, even their movements tend to be robotic: lean back, extend one arm slow, glide lanky fingers over polymer to cut out chips, and serve them into the pot in a dainty leaning tower that will slide out of the hand with the grace of a debutante. There’s also far less drama between sixteen-year old girls than the Bellagio bad reg pool, but let me get to the heart of the story.

I was effectively on my case money for the trip. The board read QT39 with two clubs. I snapped the turn over-bet jam off with J8cc and insta-rolled my hand over. Seat one speaks up: “I’m live, at least.”



I left my spring work assignment in Tuscaloosa with a World Series dream that was quickly crushed. My first day back, I busted the millionaire maker. Over the next four weeks, I played sixteen live tournaments between the WSOP events, Wynn, and PH. Tournament players know that a sample size of sixteen is pretty small, but **** if I thought I would bust every. single. one before the bubble. I played bad, I ran bad, and thinking about both of those factors made me play worse.

My favorite line of Infinite Jest is one of DFW’s most popular: “Everyone is identical in their secret unspoken belief that way deep down they are different from everyone else.” I thought that I was better at dealing with tilt and handling complex emotions than normal people. I was not. My lack of confidence in my game bled into other areas of my life. I continued gaining weight, skipping gym sessions, and became heavily addicted to the feeling of lethargy imparted only, in my experiences thus far, by smoking a ****ing ton of weed at 3am as I pondered why I couldn't make big folds in certain spots, or win a single **** flip. Of course, only the hands I lose make for a good story.

Desperate to escape the cycle of getting crushed in tournament after tournament, losing $5-10k/week for four weeks straight, I told myself I would grind my salvage my summer with cash games. I ground out 5/10 for a while, breaking even until the night at the Bellagio that was designed to end my poker career.

Super standard stuff had me down a couple BI early: AA < KQo all in pre for a rack to a man I am not 100% certain could read his hole cards, AQdd < AQss on QQ53ss to a friendly Italian reg/pro, a few failed cbets etc.

Eventually, the last $1000 in cash I had brought to Vegas was on the table. If I busted here, I resolved to myself over the Bellagio sports book bathroom’s sink, I would dump the rest of my poker BR into my undergraduate loans. I was ****ing sick of losing; maybe more intelligent or less egotistic maniac would’ve cut and run long before me. But I still had punishment to receive.

I spun $1000 up to $1750 before I was dealt J8cc on the button. CO limp, I open BTN to $50, BB flats, CO flats.
QT3 one club checks through.
9c brings me a sexy little number. BB makes it $140, BTN calls, I raise to $410, BB tank folds, and after that the CO tanks even longer. Eventually he sticks it in with what I soon learned to be T9.
“I’m live, at least."



I'm sorry to bury the story for a minute, but I want to discuss something that weighed heavily on me at a couple of points in my life: my mental fortitude and the battle we all struggle with inside of ourselves.

Have you ever hated yourself? Hate is not a word to be taken lightly; I’m referring to that deep-rooted feeling of self-loathing that provokes a visceral and irrational anger. When you consider how you ended up so pitiful; that point in life where defeat swarms like locusts, gnawing away at your psyche. Success exists only in meaningful existence and you feel yours is anything but. For those of you fortunate not to have experienced this quasi-depressive state, here’s one way to envision it happening:

You try to “find yourself” via searching your own eyes in a mirror, but you are too ashamed to meet your own gaze for long. You peer downward at a chest that nobody clings to at night containing a heart that you want to rip out. You don’t know how your weight has snuck up on you or you deny that you’ve been dumping toxins / alcohol / grease / garbage into your body. But mirrors tend to reveal truth in its harshest form. The evidence is right on top of you, your gut and waistline and thighs.

At night, you contemplate your existence. Your bank account cries out in pain with each trip to the gas station. Your reliance on your meager paycheck renders you bereft of choice; like a baby force-fed vegetable mush, the invisible hand pries your lips open and shoves your miserable job down your throat. And buried within a tomb of your own creation, you repeat this cycle of solipsistic wallowing every day, every week for months.



About a week after the Bellagio dealer burned and turned a nine to punch an exclamation point on that “****!” of a river, I woke up and realized that I hated myself. The next morning, I took a break from poker. Poker was not the underlying cause of my problems but the consistent losing exacerbated all of my struggles and fed my demons. I needed change.

My next work assignment placed me in Sacramento far away from the nearest casino. I had no money to deposit on Bovada. And for a few weeks, I nurtured myself back to mental health. I enrolled at a gym with a basketball court, started hitting the weight room after my classes, and took control over my diet through intermittent fasting. I took a drive to visit friends in San Francisco; I walked along the pier, visited the museum of modern art, and saw that the world was once again available to me. This period in July / early August was one of rebirth. I dropped fifteen pounds quickly and cut the pot back from seven days per week to one/two.

Yet, despite all this, a hole remained. I was no longer depressed but I couldn’t sum up the feeling because I had nowhere to search. I picked up a few fiction books and found varying levels of success in writing (two recent favorites: Everything I Never Told You and The Sympathizer). Two weeks ago, I reread one of my all-time favorite books, the one mentioned in the epigraph: a visit from the goon squad , by Jennifer Egan.

“Structural dissatisfaction: Returning to circumstances that once pleased you, after having experienced a more thrilling or opulent way of life, and finding that you can no longer tolerate them.”

The dream life I envisioned after graduating college - getting into a good law school, teaching the LSAT for a couple years, traveling - suddenly seemed pale in the face of the rush of playing a card game for massive sums of money. It needs to be said, because of some of the degenerates in poker's history, that I would never consider not going to school. But I allow myself one more year to stroke that structural dissatisfaction. Hence, get rich or die tryin.

I needed to return to the game I enjoyed playing so much but without the toxicity that accompanied my relationship with poker over the summer. I needed balance in life to be mentally prepared for poker success. My senior year of college was one of the happiest times of my life yet I recall building my bankroll by driving through sleet and snowstorm to grind out $1/$2 in New Hampshire and Connecticut.

My first few months out of college I spent teaching in Detroit and Ann Arbor and being shown the city in the fall by a girl who couldn’t have been better to me. I also mixed in $2/$5 at Motor City and the MGM to continue pushing that bankroll higher. And finally, sun running at Seven Mile, crushing $5/10 harder than I’ve ever beat an NL game. San Diego needs no explanation as to how I derived enjoyment. Even in Tuscaloosa and Baltimore I had stuff going on in my life beyond work and poker, and this allowed me to stream 200nl/500nl on Bovada comfortably. All of the best times in my adult life have had some tangential relationship to poker, both as a hobby and outlet for the competitive aspect of my disposition.

I did a lot of introspection. Now, I’m back in my element and I added a dimension to my game. Welcome to the ****ing streets.


Transcription of video above:
500nl zone
Hero (BTN): $2216
SB: $2651
BB: $250
I open 53hh to $20. SB 3b to $80, I call.
Flop: 9s 2s 2h. SB continues for $122, I call
Turn: 7s. SB continues for $410, I call.
River: 7c. SB continues for $783. I jam for $1623 total ($840 more).

Some might say suicidal, I prefer gangster. For context: all hands took place in the 500nlz pool at ~2am pacific. This game devolved quickly into what can only be described through the hand histories.

BTN: $550
SB: $480
Hero (BB): $881
SB raises to $15, I 3b to $45 with T3cc. SB calls.
Flop T72dd, ten of hearts. SB checks, I bet $39 and get insta-click-backed to $78. I call.
Turn 9c. SB bets $55, I call.
River Qd. SB jams $302, I call.
SB shows 42hh.

Hero (BTN): $2086
BB: $520
I open 62dd to $15, BB 3b to $50, I call.
Flop 442 one diamond. BB continues for $60, I call.
Turn Kc. BB continues for $130, I call.
River 5s. BB jams for $280, I call.
BB shows Q8dd

Since August 19th: +$18000

Goal by August 19th, 2019: +$300,000

Remaining: $282,000

This isn’t even my final form.

Excellent writing... GL!

Subbed! GL

Friday, August 31st, 2018

SMF > LAS > JFK









The guapo in the seat next to her tapped her elbow. Senorita, this is not something you'll want to miss.

I've already seen it, she snapped. And then, calming herself, she peered out the window.



It was night and the lights of Nueva York were everywhere.

- The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Junot Diaz)




view from my friend’s apartment where we’re holding the fantasy auction. maybe i should’ve gone into finance





We got our asses beat in every way imaginable. And, as my group of college buddies learned via losing in many intramural leagues over the years, the seven of us all tended toward 'morose' when we lost. Tonight was a little bit different - a more personal sting resonated through the harsh air. Silence clearly preferred by all but for the occasional "****" when a sharp gust of wind blew dry snow into some of our faces, we trudged into darkness alone and next to each other. It was too cold to waste energy blaming or complaining.



Walking through the now-deserted parking lot, our North Faces shuttered in the path of Rhode Island's powdery gusts like heavy fur. At a distance we might have been mistaken for a pack of black bears, trudging through the snow wandering hopelessly in search a final, disappointing meal before winter. Humiliated, we piled into the car without revisiting the events that led to our communal dejection. Instead, we skipped straight to a form of morbid coping; a debate was held on the merits of Aaron jerking his SUV into the flimsy guard rail that demarcated the wild land of pine trees and snow drifts from the two-lane freeway back to Chestnut Hill. I found the odds of death via vehicular manslaughter (assisted suicide?) to be insufficiently low and was staunchly in the "lie in the forest until we fall asleep and succumb to hypothermia" camp. Admittedly the discussion was insensitive, but we were broke sophomores who each lost a couple hundred dollars at Twin Rivers Casino. Was there any alternative to our existence than death?







When I was applying to college, lots of people told me that New England was great because, "being from Las Vegas, you've never experienced the seasons! You want to see the trees change colors, and eat hot chowda on a blustery day, and…." **** all of that. Bitter winds beget bitter minds. I remember thinking the same thing every day to class on my walk down Upper Campus' stairs slippery with disgustingly olive-colored slush: give me palm trees that stay green or inert desert rocks over this frozen tundra bull**** eight days per week.



As we progressed through our four years, my friends did a good job at pushing me to explore more of the region and I slowly grew to enjoy the charms of idyllic New England life. I found affinities in the preppy pastel long-sleeves people wore even in summer and the redyellowgreen fall foliage of Vermont. It helps to be wealthy up there and I would never escape the status and societal symbols of some of my classmates - no weekend sailing trips or fall excursions to Canada - but we managed what we could between brewery trips (The Alchemist our favorite), Foxborough/TD Garden, and nicer restaurants in Boston proper. The most valuable lesson I learned by going to college is that I could enjoy anywhere insofar as I surrounded myself with good people. My roommates, friends, and even mock trial teammates (nerd) helped me through the four years - I certainly would've transferred after one if it weren't for them.







A couple years out from graduation, it's hard to stay in contact with everybody. We do our best to convalesce upon some unfortunate city once every few months, but meet-ups with people spread out so far across the country require the summoning power of a ritualistic shaman and dark magic. We have to settle for one guaranteed weekend per year: Labor Day weekend, centered around holding our annual fantasy football auction. This might not be the gambling content you came to the thread for, but I'm not going to bore you with details about the championship I won last year in dominant fashion in some perverse attempt to convince you that I'm the best recreational fantasy football player in the world (which I am).



This weekend serves as the only chance I'll have all year to see some of the guys that I travelled the northeast casino circuit with. Our history can be traced through dive bars, blackjack tables, and bud heavies back to when I was a poor freshman with a 2.6 GPA struggling to find a place in a city that I hated. We drove up on poker trips to New Hampshire through hailstorms, played blackjack at Foxwoods with bills we couldn't afford to lose, commiserated with each other when we would lose anyway. We have been together during all of the times one of us needs the seventh MWAC seed to win for their parlay, all of the times the dealer goes 7-6-3-5 to beat our 20. I come from a fractured family and my social skills are sparse. I wouldn't be the person I am today without the friends that I have.



To be honest, it was really hard to come up with a narrative arc that integrated my college friends with my recent poker hands. But they don't really need any other introduction: I'm about to land in New York and the sight of the biggest city of the world has me hyped up. Let's hear one for the boys.





Quick HH and I'll update some more next week:



On Wednesday night, I suffered the most disgusting hand of my poker career. I've been screwed the same ways every other poker player has by the deck and this isn't some whiny bbv thread. But here's the HH:



$10/20 Bovada

A9 in BTN, $5257 effective.

I open to $47, BB calls

Flop: A 8 5

checks through

Turn: 9

BB bets $40

I raise to $256.02

BB raises to $833.56

I call

River: 2

BB bets $1,380

I raise all-in…



Except my chips didn't move into the pot. I didn't get the satisfying "crshshhshhh" sound effect. I have the stone ****ing nuts on the river and the window freezes. My ****hole Sacramento airbnb internet decided that right around the time I wanted to click the "raise" button, it would first flip me over and **** me silly. I disconnect and lose the pot with the best possible hand.



And so the Bovada HH reads BB folds (timeout). Three years ago, I lost $200 in Rhode Island and wanted to rip my heart out under a rural snowbank. After I disconnected from the four-figure pot, I blinked twice and then giggled like a little girl. I don't know which rationalization is more unhealthy.

That disconnect is gross.

future Economy will need far less lawyers (unless they are also solid programmers)....save yourself a ton of money and time and learn a tech skill/trade skill.

As a lawyer, I’m curious to know why you think this. You know, there’s a lot that lawyers do that computers never will be able to. So while tech may somewhat decrease the need for some lawyers, I don’t think it’s as dire as you make it sound. Technology will certainly make lawyering easier and less time consuming (it already has), but it’s not replacing us anytime soon.

Perhaps he's referring to smart contracts?

nice, columbia is ok. altho i thought GWU was highest tuition? maybe only undergrad

obv not a lawyer yet, but my experience working in law firms the past few years has aligned with Dumbo’s points. the best firms and lawyers I worked with were those that integrated technology into their offices in efficient manners. I’m not sure the technological advances we’re making will change the demand for lawyers, it would merely adjust demand to new fields and companies. A friend who started class at Berkeley this semester told me he’s taking classes on exactly what everest was talking about (blockchain, how cryptos work with smart contracts, etc.) I’ve always been decently tech savvy though (barring my experiences using this garbage tapatalk mobile app) and have no qualms about the direction the type of law I may practice in the future could be going.


facts not necessary for a good thread. in all serious i remembered hearing it but your comment prompted me to look it up and confirm. GWU is very expensive as well, especially for undergrad. As you might note from the student body, the cars at that school ridiculous are lol. For law schools they clock in at 17th.

https://www.ilrg.com/rankings/law/tuition




As for a brief update, I fly back to Las Vegas Monday, to and from Washington for my final class Tuesday/Wednesday, then I’ll squeeze some live poker in that next week. Probably $5/10 at the B, maybe try playing at the Aria but I don’t want to buy in much more than 200bb deep right now.

I'm sure, what was really funny while looking at schools, MIT/Harvard obv pretty expensive yet a good 50%+ are smart cars just tucked into every random crevice possible.

Anyways good luck!

Oh and big +1 Tapatalk sucks. I just use chrome so much easier

September 12, 2018

Las Vegas, NV



Things glowed, a secret life rising out of them. Water struck the roof in elongated orbs, splashing drams. I knew for the first time what rain really was. I knew what wet was. I understood... the meaning of dreams (the waste material of premonitions). Great stuff everywhere, racing through the room, racing slowly. A richness, a density. I believed everything.
- White Noise (Don DeLillo)



the meaning of dreams (the waste material of premonitions). My favorite line from the novel, I read it to mean something like: the content of people's dreams is pulled from the occurrences of premonition in their own lives, except their dreams did not result in the bad outcomes that may have actually befallen them. That is, DeLillo seems to be quite bleak bordering on fatalistic; our dreams so insignificant in scope that we cannot envision anything but the waste material of our premonitions - those times we feel uneasy and act anyway, or worse, those times we fail to act because we're stricken with fear of undesirable consequences. Dreams exist as outlets for us to dodge confrontation with our own greatest failures.

As with everything I did in BC's English department, I have no idea if my interpretation is fair or accurate. But I did think about my own dreams when I read White Noise almost a year and a half ago, and I want to reflect on them today.



I am only where I am today because of winning a couple flips - one of them literal. There's a video of this floating around somewhere from college, but one very late Saturday night involved me using a quarter, my thumb, and a rowdy audience to make a proclamation: "heads, I go to law school. tails, I take a year off." Someone (maybe it was in a movie?) once said that if I did something this drastic, I would know which choice I truly wanted based off of what I felt while the coin was the air. In that moment I knew I wanted a year off. Tails, of course, came up.

Life seemed pretty ****ing good at the time so you could say I was running hot. I remember the general feeling so vividly: wavy auburn, blonde, black hair; sandals and toned calves peeking out from sundresses and short shorts; wiffleball on the lawn; Lags and rum snuck into book bags for the return trip from class so you'd feel a buzz by dinnertime; even the trips to Wegmans preparing for the night were exciting. I was about to graduate college to begin a year working as a tutor before law school but I was unsure if I'd pass my company's training week. If I failed the training week (as roughly 30-40% of the candidates did) I would have a year off with no money and nothing to do. While not quite the 50/50 odds of a coin flip, I had to overcome the variance of not getting selected to be an incoming instructor. I didn't think too hard about the scenario of what would occur if I had a year off with no job.

My dreams back then were the waste material of premonition insofar as that pessimistic interpretation of DeLillo's understanding of dreams is accurate. I wanted to make it one year, save some money, and avoid hurt. Risk meant potential for pain.



My biggest nightmare a little over one year ago is my reality today. I was afraid of taking time before law school without having a job to fall back on - after I left my company last week, I now have 50 weeks before law school starts where I have no stable income, albeit without any commitments. I don't want to get into the specifics regarding my employment but I was not making enough money to make the stress of the travel worth it. I have some things going on w/r/t finding something meaningful to do over the next few months before school, but what I wanted to stress as important was the feeling. When I quit over the phone last Thursday I felt awash in the same contemplative peace that I felt when I saw the drunken coin-flip land tails to give me a year off; I had aligned myself with some deeper dream, something beyond the waste material of premonition.

I now have a little money, a lot of time, and a ****ton of motivation to do interesting stuff before law school. I quit so I wouldn't be sleeping in a New Haven motel dreading the next morning's rush-hour drive back to Long Island. I'd rather wake up broke under the convention center bridge on Desert Inn back in Vegas any day.



Results on Bovada (200z, 500z, 1000nl 6-max, 2000nl 6-max) from beginning of thread in August through 9/10/18:



(pick one: nice sample size / running above ev / sweet red line bro / **** luckerdog) Goal is to get way more 200z in; I've generally crushed 2-, 3-, 4- handed lineups but need to tighten up ranges at full tables still and 200z on Bovada helps with this better than 500z. I also want to play way more in general, but life has been tumultuous the past couple weeks. Just waiting on payment confirmation for bitcoin to go through so I can redeposit onto Bovada and get in some volume.

Live results, same time period:
GVR $1/2: +$185
Encore $2/5: +$780
Encore $2/5: +$1145

I personally love the Encore as its very easy to get to from my house, the tables, cocktail waitresses, and decor are all aesthetically pleasing, the late-night floors are very nice to me, and the $2/5 can play very deep. I'd like to play some Bellagio $5/10 sooner rather than later, but that room is just more of a hassle for me. I'll probably stick with Encore as long as it feels right.

Finally, I'd describe my playing style as junkyard dog. Here are some spewlord HHs:


Encore $2/5, utg straddle to $10
$250 effective
fun guy on the button blind shoves $250. bb/straddle are super nits.
i call Q9o in small blind, guy has A9o and doubles up.


ok this hand is pretty funny, I was honestly pretty delusional at the time but I remember my thought process clearly.
Encore $2/5, utg straddle to $10
hero (utg+1): $2000
fun guy (utg straddle): $200
israeli woman (mp): $650
6-handed because of people getting up from the table. I open 65hh to $30 and get called in three places. straddle has not looked at his cards yet.
763hss flop checks through.
9h turn straddle bets $70, I call, mp calls, lp folds.
9s river. straddle looks at his cards for the first time then jams $100, I take a few seconds and raise to $270 honestly thinking that the woman in mp was by far the strongest in the hand, and if I could shove her off her hand I'd win. Well, she did tank fold... a flush. And she was disgusted when I meekly rolled over my 65hh to get owned by the straddle with T8o. yikes all around


Encore $2/5, utg straddle to $10
I have $2000 and cover bb ($800) and straddle ($650). super loose image and same V in straddle as last hand.
t9o in sb. folds to me, i limp, bb limp, straddle checks.
A99r flop checks through.
Ts bdfd turn. I bet $100, bb calls, straddle calls.
Js flush completes river. I think for a minute before just jamming. bb folds, straddle snaps with J9o. Honestly not sure how else I'd play this hand differently - maybe the most difficult decision point is fold, raise, or limp pre?



Hand #3612931630: Hold'em No Limit ($2.50/$5) - 2018/06/03 0:23:29
Table '#1248' 6-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: Hero ($1,009.59 in chips)
Seat 2: Dealer ($642.25 in chips)
Seat 3: Small Blind ($3,042.38 in chips)
Small Blind: posts small blind $2.50
Hero: posts big blind $5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [5 K]
Dealer: folds
Small Blind: raises $12.50 to $15
Hero: calls $10
*** FLOP *** [6 Q 3]
Small Blind: bets $25
Hero: calls $25
*** TURN *** [6 Q 3] [9]
Small Blind: bets $75
Hero: raises $172.50 to $172.50
Small Blind: calls $97.50
*** RIVER *** [6 Q 3] [9] [J]
Small Blind: checks
Hero: bets $337.74
Small Blind: raises $2,170.10 to $2,170.10
Hero: calls $459.35 and is all-in
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Small Blind: shows [8d 9h] (a pair of Nines)
Hero: shows [5c Kc] (a flush, King high)



Hand #3650975170: Hold'em No Limit ($2.50/$5) - 2018/08/28 5:11:48
Table '#1289' 6-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: Small Blind ($1,203.50 in chips)
Seat 2: Hero ($606.50 in chips)
Seat 3: Dealer ($535.50 in chips)
Small Blind: posts small blind $2.50
Hero: posts big blind $5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [7d 2d]
Dealer: raises $12.50 to $12.50
Small Blind: folds
Hero: calls $7.50
*** FLOP *** [5d 7s 3s]
Hero: checks
Dealer: bets $15
Hero: raises $72.50 to $72.50
Dealer: calls $57.50
*** TURN *** [5d 7s 3s] [2s]
Hero: checks
Dealer: bets $100
Hero: calls $100
*** RIVER *** [5d 7s 3s 2s] [9h]
Hero: checks
Dealer: bets $350.50 and is all-in
Hero: calls $350.50
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Dealer: shows [8c 8s] (a pair of Eights)
Hero: shows [7d 2d] (two pair, Sevens and Deuces)
Hero collected $1071.5 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $1073.5 | Rake $2.00
Board [5d 7s 3s 2s 9h]
Seat 1: Small Blind (small blind) mucked [2c 8h]
Seat 2: Hero (big blind) showed [7d 2d] and won ($1071.5) with two pair, Sevens and Deuces
Seat 3: Dealer (button) showed [8c 8s] and lost with a pair of Eights



Hand #3651899926: Hold'em No Limit ($2.50/$5) - 2018/08/30 4:11:27
Table '#1289' 6-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: Hero ($500 in chips)
Seat 2: Small Blind ($598.88 in chips)
Seat 3: Big Blind ($397.49 in chips)
Small Blind: posts small blind $2.50
Big Blind: posts big blind $5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [7d 7h]
Hero: raises $15 to $15
Small Blind: raises $47.50 to $50
Big Blind: folds
Hero: calls $35
*** FLOP *** [Td 7s 3c]
Small Blind: bets $36.21
Hero: calls $36.21
*** TURN *** [Td 7s 3c] [9s]
Small Blind: bets $109
Hero: raises $304.79 to $413.79 and is all-in
Small Blind: calls $304.79
*** RIVER *** [Td 7s 3c 9s] [Jc]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Hero: shows [7d 7h] (three of a kind, Sevens)
Small Blind: shows [8d Kd] (a straight, Seven to Jack)
Small Blind collected $1003 from pot

Very good writing, you don't think in going pro? You prefer law than poker, because of how volatile money is in poker?

thank you! as far as law > poker, i’m not particularly tied to the idea of being a lawyer for my entire life but i just don’t believe in the long term viability of poker as a career path

to expand on this thought:

realistically on my current path, my median scenario is to go to law school as broke as any Manhattanite can be said to be, graduate, practice corporate law long enough to pay off my student loans and whatever salary i can save while burning out, and then transition into something more enjoyable in a city less crowded than NYC by 30?ish. if i outperform expectation, maybe I’ll get paid more faster or get to do more exciting work quicker.


i do not believe nor is there evidence to suggest that either a long-term pursuit of lsat tutoring or something like grinding 1500+hr/live poker can come close to approaching the EV of columbia law in my opinion. ya, corporate life for seven years can be soul sucking and miserable but frankly poker gets stale pretty ****ing fast too; if you want to play 8-20 hours per week you’ll get mostly weekend nights and strong action. to play live full time requires 30-35+/hr per week at a casino, and realistically all but the {best / most disciplined / lucky / some combination thereof} players will need to put in 45-50 hours per week of beating $5/10 at like 7bb/hr (!) to equal today’s standard first-year associate’s salary.


you’re not trading your freedom, you just shift the person to whom you’re responsible. instead of kissing ass of someone in a suit, you get to say “nh” to the drunk guy who stacked you again. the same bad regs take turns rehashing the same tired jokes to an audience of tourists that are now exposed to the same dumb **** in the bellagio that they have heard 100x back at home at the horseshoe hammond. you must persevere in spite of spending 9h+/day at a table in a fluorescent lighted room playing cards (mostly folding!) at exactly your 7-10bb/hr winrate, with no support staff, no benefits, and the strong possibility that you will at some points have unprofitable months and potentially years because of one sick streak of pots getting pushed the wrong way, people having the one combo they couldn’t have, massive combo draws that brick and sets that remain unmined.


i am confident with the low variance as beating $5/10 for that much is not a given for anyone (esp. myself). ultimately, i wouldn’t want my financial freedom to be tied to cards falling in a certain order; i can’t outwork the people in poker to be good enough to guarantee i’d outperform all but the worst variance. even my mediocre law school outcomes surpass my crushing $5/10 outcomes

quick update since i’m not gonna ****ing write a story about today’s session:

i ran into KK three hands in a row. five times between two dealers’ downs. i QQ, AJs and AKo the first three hands, and 77/66 the next two. I avoided getting stacked in any of these hands.

KK wasn’t enough to finish me off. enter 52o.

-$2600 in two hours before i got up and left.

Thanks for the answer!

I understood your point of view and its very personal, but I believe that on a different scenario makes a lot of Sense to Go pro, for example, a person that really hates studying stuff for all the "well payed" jobs and have a passion for the game of poker, makes sense to go thru that, but thats not your case apparently.
Anyways, GL on your journey!

Things have been very busy for me lately between planning a few upcoming trips (Detroit/Ann Arbor, Austin, and LA on the agenda in the next couple months.) Some random thoughts:

I’ve acquired my first client since I left TestMasters last month which felt pretty good. Everything in life has been nice tbh except for the poker - an $8k or so downswing the last two weeks has not been fun, thus the sparse updates - but I’ve honestly felt pretty good about my A/B games. It’s mainly my D game that’s catastrophic for my win rate. My mental game struggles are going to be the subject of my next long form post when I fly to Detroit on October 11th.

In the mean time, four of my friends from BC are coming to Vegas this upcoming weekend for the standard debauchery / pit games. None of us big MMA fans so the Khabib/McG fight will be eschewed in favor of tickets to the Drake / Migos concert. I plan on taking my foot off the gas w/r/t pit games this trip as we have pool days, the concert, and night clubs planned.

A quick financial breakdown for those interested. For these weekend trips, I usually limit myself to $2000 as a pit-game stop-loss and play BJ starting at $25/hand, but this weekend I‘d like to keep expenses under $2k total. After the rooms and Drake tickets, I’m already in for $500. Another $400 on food with the following restaurants planned: Wynn buffet, Lakeside or SW, Partage, and as always, Pho Kim Long at 4am. Spend another $100 on standard vices sufficient for a good time, and that leaves the BJ roll a bit light. Still, we’ll try to spin it up early.

$5/10 HH from the Bellagio I wanted to share:
Hero in CO with AJdd, $1300.
Asian woman in MP opens to $40 off $900.
I call, BB calls.

987ccs flop checks to me and I bet $55, she calls.
8s turn checks to me and I bet $110, she calls.
5d river checks to me and I bet $260, she tank calls. I roll over AJdd and she says “nh” and mucks. Sick value bet imo.

Drake & Migos this Saturday, Wisconsin / UMich @ the Big House next Saturday, and Franklin BBQ in Austin the Saturday after that. Poker downswing doesn’t feel so bad anymore.