This morning I signed a lease in Pennsylvania. I currently live in Delaware and am moving on 1/2/20. PA now has regulated online poker. Poker Stars is one of the rooms.

Living in Delaware I can only play Play Money on the site now but I have been able to observe the real money tables.

30nl there are 4 way limped pots, bet sizes that make no sense other than turning players hands face up, and all of the other fishiness you’d expect on a legal US site.

I am dropping 20 buy ins of 30nl as soon as I am done unpacking.

So this is the post to get it started. Probably won’t be posting much until I start to play.

Strategy: 2003 TAG exploitative fish crushing poker. ACR gave me the chance to learn and be comfortable playing winning LAG play but I feel it isn’t necessary from what I see on Poker Stars Pennsylvania.

In the meantime I am just brushing up on the basics. I bought The Mental Game of Poker audiobook and Essential Poker Math Expanded Edition.

I’m going through my ACR hand history and reviewing hands mathematically. Doing EV, pot odds, implied odds, ranges, etc to make it all habit in game.

Not worried about too much theory outside of that.

I am also going to probably going to find some MTT course. Nothing too advanced. Something compatible with $10 buy in type tourneys. Just a simple refresher on Early/Middle/Late play, ICM, etc.

Going to be a mix of cash and MTTs. Somewhat aggressive BR strategy but if the field is as soft as I have seen so far then 20 cash buy ins and 50 MTT buyins should do it. If not I can always redeposit.

This is my year to make this a serious income.

Play there. Easier and tougher than you think. 5 cent 10 cent super soft. 15 30 game selective. 25 50 brutally hard. 1 2 9 Handed easy fishing.

Yeah. There were a few solid tables but table selection wouldn’t take long. There’s plenty of action from what I saw. Some of the tables were 45%+ seeing the flop. Pots seems small though. Lots of limping looking to hit bingo or fold.

WSOP plays soft like that too but I live on the DE/PA border and the crap Geolocator for WSOP has me in PA but the Poker Stars one doesn’t or I’d already be on there.

Do you play MTTs too?

Did you really just move to play online poker in PA?

No. I work in West Chester and so does my live in GF. Been commuting and tired of a 30 minute drive to work everyday. Moving 4 minutes away from my job.

Poker Stars is just a bonus.

Yeah that is smart. I know some people who drive an hour plus every day. Well good luck on your journey and hope for the best.

Welcome to PA man. GL, GL. PM me your Stars ID so I can stay out of your way.

And let me borrow that book when you're done lol

Hey in the other thread you mentioned working 12 hour days. What do you do?

I’m a business development manager at a car dealership. I’m interviewing for a new job in the area Tuesday morning. They confirmed I was coming twice now so I think it’s mine to accept or turn down. I’m pretty good at what I do. Hoping the money is good enough because the schedule is lighter.

One more week and I’ll be a PA resident. On Friday I got a promotion at work. It’s a $100,000/yr position. Not bad for a HS dropout and convicted felon. Then again you get what you work for. I definitely put in the work.

The only downside is my poker time just lost another 8-10 hours a week with my schedule. I’m working 4 12 hour days a week and one 9 hour day. I have one day off during the week and Sundays off.

It’s going to allow me to start at higher stakes now. I am kicking around the idea of depositing to start at 50nl. I can put $1500 on a credit card. I cut my bb/100 in half from 10nl to 3bb (evbb/100 was 6bb/100 actual winrate was 11bb/100 over 56,000 hands) and poker dope recommends 40 buy ins. I can redeposit so I think 30 buyins is good enough.

My Geolocator for WSOP is working again. Over the weekend I turned $100 in to $381 playing 20nl and a couple sessions of 50nl (I’m Lagtard on WSOP if you play there) since BR management wasn’t an issue. I hope Poker Stars is as fishy. I’ll be up to 200nl in no time. I’ll probably take the whole roll and get in to a $100 rebuy on New Years and see what happens. Some solid play and a couple good run outs I could win a big part of my bankroll for PA.

Ordering an 8gb quadcore laptop and getting CardrunnersEV/GTO+. Also buying Leakbuster2 to review my entire database.

My condolences.

Looking forward to this thread as I live in PA myself. Haven't got on PS because they need my SS card to verify my acc and I lost it and have been too lazy to go the office and get a replacement. Next week probably. We had some battles on WPN. I've seen some MTT action on Twitch and the pool looks soft but sheeeeiit then again every MTT looks soft. I have high hopes though that it will be like PartyPoker Mike Sexton soft compared to WPN. I would definitely start at 50NL if you can.

GL bro.

So I got moved in last night and played some 10nl just to get familiar with the site. I can’t figure out how to get Drive to pick up the tables or hand history. Sending them a log now. Hopefully I get it figured out. Sucks now being able to post hands right now.

Figured out the HUD issue. I had to change where PS stores the hand history. Deposited $200 to get started. Ridiculous amount of rec players at 10nl. I have a 100% match bonus with the $200 and can deposit another $400 in the next 60 days and have it matched with the deposit bonus. I have to see how quickly the bonus points accumulate to decide what stakes I need to play to clear that bonus. Going to deposit the other $400 for sure and can hopefully clear the whole thing and move up in stakes pretty quickly.

10nl and the 30nl games I was watching were pretty juicy. Lots of limping, players getting sticky, and bet sizing tells. I’m pretty sure a solid TAG game will help me avoid really bad downswings but with fishy play comes fishy beats. As long as I don’t hit any long runs of bad beats I should be playing 50nl by May between deposits, bonuses, and winnings.

1st grind session is tomorrow night. I’m off Tuesdays so I can get on around 8 after my house settles down and play until 12-1. I think any more than 4 tables is going to be too much of a load on my 2gb Ram laptop.

Debating on buying a new one now or using my winnings to purchase one later. Poker is the only thing I really do with it. The games don’t seem tough enough to have to do solver work or anything else. My HUD and Flopzilla should be enough for study.

Who’s twitching PS (PA)?

There’s some kind of issue with my hand histories. I had about 200 hands not be saved by Poker Stars so they aren’t in my HUD hand history. I wanted to post a bluff I made with 65s I 3bet from SB vs an aggressive reg in CO that was on a 3 7 K board that ran out with a 3 flush that I triple barreled and got the fold when the flush completed. I told the story of the flush draw, then hitting on the river perfectly with what was really a busted straight draw.

Starting BR $200 and now BR is at $241. Haven’t cleared any bonus yet. Going to take a while at 10nl. Plan on depositing again soon to move up to 30nl with 20 buy ins. If I clear the $600 bonus and keep my BR even or growing at that time I can move up to 50nl with 24 buy ins and whatever I won in the meantime.

Player pool isn’t as soft as I thought. There’s plenty of fish. Table selection is tough because some of the other good regs are table selecting as well so I’ll be in line on a table with a high% to the flop and by the time I get there they already busted the fish. That’s one of the downsides to 6max.

Good side of that though is I got game for the regs too. Value betting the weakest of the weak players is ok because you pretty much win 80% of the time with ABC poker but I think once you become a somewhat good player you want the challenge of being the best player at the table.

Reviewing some spots now. May post a few hands. I don’t recall too many interesting spots other than stuff from the batch of hands that didn’t save. Hopefully a new laptop will solve the problem. This ****ing $250 Lenovo Thinkpad sucks. I need to get a real machine. I have a Discover card with a $5000 limit collecting dust. I might pull the trigger on an 8gb laptop. If I do that then I’ll want a solver and everything else and I know it’s going to turn in to a $2000 spending spree. I’m trying to get better with money but I think I can rationalize it since poker is an investment. Lol.

This is $32 and Im guessing about 200 hands short. I like posting these after sessions. I also noticed another glitch. My stakes aren’t being counted correctly. I’m sending a log to DriveHUD. I have a feeling it’s an issue with my laptop though.

Like I said I don't have too many interesting spots in the hands that actually got recorded.

I intentionally avoid marginal spots vs players I perceive as solid for the most part but as I said earlier if I get in the mix with a good reg the strategy changes. These are some hands where I was using exploits to my advantage. Most of my opponents in these hands were nothing more than World Class button pushers. Just some non GTO/PIO thought process for the micros. To be a big winner IMO this is how you have to look at spots. It doesn't matter how PIO sees them. No balance, no MDF, no randomization.

On the flop I have a marginal cbet vs a fish. I have two back doors but vs a station with these stats he has every A down to A2o as well as 9x that isn't folding the flop and turn but could fold the river to a big enough bet. He also has the spade flush draws as well. All of them. Every 2 spades combo in the deck. It's an 18 hand sample but he is playing 89%. So it is hard to lock him on any range of hands. So when I didn't get the fold on the turn the river bet is burning money because he is never folding anything but the flush draws. If he has the missed flush draw I have showdown value so I don't need to bluff to win the pot unless he has a hand like he had.

Hand History driven straight to this forum with DriveHUD Poker HUD and Database Software

NL Holdem $0.30(BB)
SB ($70.30) [VPIP: 41.8% | PFR: 26.6% | AGG: 22% | 3-Bet: 0% | Hands: 81]
BB ($60.08) [VPIP: 16.9% | PFR: 10.8% | AGG: 42.9% | 3-Bet: 8.3% | Hands: 66]
UTG ($23.10) [VPIP: 16.7% | PFR: 0% | AGG: 28.6% | 3-Bet: 0% | Hands: 13]
HERO ($32.08) [VPIP: 24.1% | PFR: 19% | AGG: 28.4% | 3-Bet: 4.9% | Hands: 254]
CO ($29.55) [VPIP: 0% | PFR: 0% | AGG: 0% | 3-Bet: 0% | Hands: 5]
BTN ($20.32) [VPIP: 88.9% | PFR: 16.7% | AGG: 51.4% | 3-Bet: 0% | Hands: 18]

Dealt to Hero: K T

UTG Folds, HERO Raises To $0.90, CO Folds, BTN Calls $0.90, SB Folds, BB Folds

Hero SPR on Flop: [8.63 effective]
Flop ($2.25): 9 A 5
HERO Bets $1.07 (Rem. Stack: 30.11), BTN Calls $1.07 (Rem. Stack: 18.35)

Turn ($4.39): 9 A 5 3
HERO Bets $2.09 (Rem. Stack: 28.02), BTN Calls $2.09 (Rem. Stack: 16.26)

River ($8.57): 9 A 5 3 8
HERO Checks, BTN Checks



This was a tough spot multiway. BU is a whale and is never folding any Q or pocket pair but when he bet the turn then that typically puts Tx in his range. Something I put a lot of value in is bet sizing. If BU had a Tx he probably pots the turn as opposed to the half pot bet. They usually play face up. Bet big when strong and push the half pot button to "see where they are at". That has rarely failed me. Having BB in the hand slowed me down. HU I would have went for 3 streets vs BU. I don't think he is ever folding worse there.

Hand History driven straight to this forum with DriveHUD Poker Tracking Software

NL Holdem $0.10(BB)
BTN ($10.94) [VPIP: 56.5% | PFR: 0% | AGG: 38.2% | 3-Bet: 0% | Hands: 46]
SB ($25.05) [VPIP: 44.2% | PFR: 32.6% | AGG: 32.4% | 3-Bet: 10% | Hands: 44]
BB ($8.88) [VPIP: 62.5% | PFR: 6.3% | AGG: 22.5% | 3-Bet: 0% | Hands: 32]
UTG ($8.49) [VPIP: 49.1% | PFR: 17% | AGG: 25.5% | 3-Bet: 0% | Hands: 53]
HERO ($11.12) [VPIP: 24.1% | PFR: 19% | AGG: 28.4% | 3-Bet: 4.9% | Hands: 254]
CO ($6.13) [VPIP: 17% | PFR: 5.7% | AGG: 23.5% | 3-Bet: 3.8% | Hands: 53]

Dealt to Hero: Q A

UTG Folds, HERO Raises To $0.30, CO Folds, BTN Calls $0.30, SB Folds, BB Calls $0.20

Hero SPR on Flop: [9.03 effective]
Flop ($0.95): Q T 6
BB Checks, HERO Bets $0.70 (Rem. Stack: 10.12), BTN Calls $0.70 (Rem. Stack: 9.94), BB Calls $0.70 (Rem. Stack: 7.88)

Turn ($3.05): Q T 6 T
BB Checks, HERO Checks, BTN Bets $1.45 (Rem. Stack: 8.49), BB Calls $1.45 (Rem. Stack: 6.43), HERO Calls $1.45 (Rem. Stack: 8.67)

River ($7.40): Q T 6 T 2
BB Checks, HERO Checks, BTN Checks




This hand I had notes on villain. He bet when checked to and folded to a raise twice. When he didn't fold I wasn't sure about the double barrel but I can still get hands like TT-88 to fold. Villain was aggressive so I expected Jx to come over top vs my check raise so the double barrel seemed to be better than a check.

Hand History driven straight to this forum with DriveHUD Poker Tracking Software

NL Holdem $0.30(BB)
HJ ($60.91) [VPIP: 41.8% | PFR: 26.6% | AGG: 22% | 3-Bet: 0% | Hands: 81]
CO ($86.70) [VPIP: 16.9% | PFR: 10.8% | AGG: 42.9% | 3-Bet: 8.3% | Hands: 66]
BTN ($35.55) [VPIP: 28.8% | PFR: 1.9% | AGG: 38.7% | 3-Bet: 0% | Hands: 53]
HERO ($32.92) [VPIP: 24.1% | PFR: 19% | AGG: 28.4% | 3-Bet: 4.9% | Hands: 254]
BB ($31.94) [VPIP: 32.3% | PFR: 6.5% | AGG: 27% | 3-Bet: 6.3% | Hands: 64]
UTG ($27.66) [VPIP: 23.3% | PFR: 18.6% | AGG: 38.1% | 3-Bet: 16.7% | Hands: 43]

Dealt to Hero: K A

UTG Folds, HJ Folds, CO Folds, BTN Calls $0.30, HERO Raises To $1.20, BB Folds, BTN Calls $0.90

Hero SPR on Flop: [11.75 effective]
Flop ($2.70): 6 2 J
HERO Checks, BTN Bets $0.90 (Rem. Stack: 33.45), HERO Raises To $2.70 (Rem. Stack: 29.02), BTN Calls $1.80 (Rem. Stack: 31.65)

Turn ($8.10): 6 2 J 2
HERO Bets $3.85 (Rem. Stack: 25.17), BTN Folds


HERO wins: $7.70

Last hand. This is a classic preflop maniac that is weak post flop. He is raising 60% from the CO. T9o is rarely a 3bet bluff but vs a player like this I am doing it with most of my BB calling range, especially the bottom of it since his range is so wide here. On the flop I have enough equity to maintain the initiative and fold out all of his broadways and AXs which are all in his call 3bet range given the player type. So this is a good spot to deny equity.

Hand History driven straight to this forum with DriveHUD Poker Tracking Software

NL Holdem $0.30(BB)
CO ($71.48) [VPIP: 41.8% | PFR: 26.6% | AGG: 22% | 3-Bet: 0% | Hands: 81]
BTN ($86.92) [VPIP: 16.9% | PFR: 10.8% | AGG: 42.9% | 3-Bet: 8.3% | Hands: 66]
SB ($29.40) [VPIP: 28.8% | PFR: 1.9% | AGG: 38.7% | 3-Bet: 0% | Hands: 53]
HERO ($30.77) [VPIP: 24.1% | PFR: 19% | AGG: 28.4% | 3-Bet: 4.9% | Hands: 254]
UTG ($30.99) [VPIP: 32.3% | PFR: 6.5% | AGG: 27% | 3-Bet: 6.3% | Hands: 64]
HJ ($23.17) [VPIP: 43.8% | PFR: 6.3% | AGG: 20% | 3-Bet: 0% | Hands: 16]

Dealt to Hero: 9 T

UTG Folds, HJ Folds, CO Raises To $0.90, BTN Folds, SB Folds, HERO Raises To $2.85, CO Calls $1.95

Hero SPR on Flop: [4.77 effective]
Flop ($5.85): 2 7 8
HERO Bets $3 (Rem. Stack: 24.92), CO Folds


HERO wins: $5.56

H1 and H2 played perfect. Nothing to see here.

H3 turn bet looks weaks, would you use this sizing with AA/KK after x/r flop?

H4 if V has low fold to 3b then this is horrible hand to 3b with. T9s much better. Better to extend value range with AJ, AT, KQ against this type.

I agree with you in 90% of spots but his pre flop and post flop game is night and day. He was aggressive pre and very passive post flop. So with his range so wide he is usually folding to a cbet or second barrel on a dry board. He misses the flop 60% of the time (as does everyone pretty much). My thoughts were get him to put money in pre knowing there was a good likelihood he folds post flop.

Bankroll 323.81. Got a $5 bonus not related to the deposit bonus. Still cleared $0. Hopefully Saturday night I can get a good degen session in. New position at work takes up so much time. Can’t put close to the volume I would like to. Only about 500 hands this week but making some BBs for sure. Wasn’t going to play tonight but decided if I see a juicy table I’m sitting in. Found a 30nl table with 48% seeing the flop and an avg pot of $9 and an open seat. Couldn’t pass that up. Stack an aggro fish twice and played about 40 more hands then got up.

I need to start stealing more but it is hard because they call everything. I am calling 3bets at a high frequency but implied odds hands value go through the roof vs these stations it is tough to fold. I have to see how much I am losing there to make a good decision going forward.

A couple of "Praise the Lord for Regulated American Poker" hands. Not sure how PIO plays these spots vs these players but would love to know.

Hand History driven straight to this forum with DriveHUD Poker Tracking Software

NL Holdem $0.30(BB)
CO ($50.18) [VPIP: 54.2% | PFR: 0% | AGG: 24% | 3-Bet: 0% | Hands: 24]
BTN ($33.23) [VPIP: 39.4% | PFR: 15.5% | AGG: 30.9% | 3-Bet: 5% | Hands: 71]
SB ($65.99) [VPIP: 36.8% | PFR: 23.7% | AGG: 35.3% | 3-Bet: 8.3% | Hands: 38]
HERO ($35.45) [VPIP: 23.5% | PFR: 18.7% | AGG: 29.9% | 3-Bet: 4.8% | Hands: 334]
HJ ($42.56) [VPIP: 69% | PFR: 24.1% | AGG: 52.1% | 3-Bet: 8.3% | Hands: 30]

Dealt to Hero: K K

HJ Raises To $8.70, CO Folds, BTN Folds, SB Folds, HERO Raises To $35.45 (allin), HJ Calls $26.75

Flop ($71.05): A 2 6

Turn ($71.05): A 2 6 9

River ($71.05): A 2 6 9 T




Hand History driven straight to this forum with DriveHUD Poker HUD and Database Software

NL Holdem $0.30(BB)
SB ($48.68) [VPIP: 54.2% | PFR: 0% | AGG: 24% | 3-Bet: 0% | Hands: 24]
BB ($54.70) [VPIP: 40% | PFR: 0% | AGG: 33.3% | 3-Bet: 0% | Hands: 15]
UTG ($32.63) [VPIP: 39.4% | PFR: 15.5% | AGG: 30.9% | 3-Bet: 5% | Hands: 71]
HJ ($65.84) [VPIP: 36.8% | PFR: 23.7% | AGG: 35.3% | 3-Bet: 8.3% | Hands: 38]
HERO ($68.90) [VPIP: 23.5% | PFR: 18.7% | AGG: 29.9% | 3-Bet: 4.8% | Hands: 334]
BTN ($31.35) [VPIP: 69% | PFR: 24.1% | AGG: 52.1% | 3-Bet: 8.3% | Hands: 30]

Dealt to Hero: 5 5

UTG Folds, HJ Raises To $0.75, HERO Calls $0.75, BTN Calls $0.75, SB Calls $0.60, BB Folds

Hero SPR on Flop: [9.27 effective]
Flop ($3.30): 7 5 9
SB Checks, HJ Checks, HERO Bets $3.14 (Rem. Stack: 65.01), BTN Raises To $6.28 (Rem. Stack: 24.32), SB Folds, HJ Folds, HERO Raises To $68.15 (allin), BTN Calls $24.32 (allin)

Turn ($102.05): 7 5 9 3

River ($102.05): 7 5 9 3 Q

My $200 deposit is almost $400 with a small amount of time put in. I’m playing 30nl because the tables are so soft. This is an average table. It’s me 4 loose passive fish and an aggro fish with a stack I have position on. I’d be at a dream table if I had 2 nits to my right.

Those games look great, gl

My first 1000 hands. $200 BR is now $500. Crushing at 92bb/100. Redline is a winner as well as getting to showdown. Somehow I still haven’t cleared any of my deposit bonus. They have so many different bonuses and rewards I am thinking only a small part of the rake is reserved for deposit bonuses.

Dabbled in some 50nl tonight. Only reason I did was I found a juicy game.

Im going to deposit another $100 and have 20 buyins at 30nl then grind to get that bonus cleared and move up to 50nl once I reach $1000.

so off this small sample can yhou give a comparison to skill level between WPN vs starsPA?