You can underbluff a little bit then but certainly not reduce bluffing frequency to 0%

This mofo gets it. Bluffing unknowns for the most part is lighting money on fire.

This is live poker. You can certainly just have spots with 0% bluffs. Like on this board with a super wet texture that runs out blank. With so many possible draws that missed, having zero bluffs vs unknown dude with headphones is probably ok. You just gotta give it up sometimes. Trying to win every pot is a losing strategy.

Im with checkmaker in this one, even online its true vs unknowns depending on the hour/day of the week

Right, but with so many potential bluff candidates and actually quite a bit of showdown against QJ/J9/89/spades AJ has to be one of the worst out there.

If you have KK/TT/77/AA/AK/KQ for value that's 39 combinations. That leaves some room for bluffs unless you start with all 32 combinations of AJ/AQ. Now I don't know if OP bluffs all of them but if he checkraises underpairs on KKTT (or whatever it was) I can assume he picks the vast majority of them. He tends to iso very liberally so all kinds of other junk like 89s/J9s/QJs are in there, together with probably every single AXs and you got yourself a boatload of potential bluffs.

Again I don't know what metric OP uses to select his bluffs but it seems rather random. Maybe he's somewhat balanced here, maybe he is not, but a triple barrel against the population tendency could be very very costly.

OP's bluffing strategy is balanced. He only bluffs villains who have a history of never folding. See the $1000+ bluff he ran against a villain who had called him down in a previous hand.

It's also a bad bluff because with AJ here we beat a lot of our opponents missed draws. So we have some showdown value here. And we are repping very little by shoving the river even though OP claims he plays KQ the same way. But that doesn't matter because we don't have KQ.

As someone that goes for thin value more than most, I'd say he's mostly wrong. Sure, in order to crush the game you have to do many things well including going for thin value, but it kind of amazes me that we are even talking about a guy crushing the game when he hasn't even proven to have the mental fortitude to stick to playing 1/3 over a significant sample size much less beating it over a significant sample size.

The bread and butter of beating live low stakes is and always has been getting fat value from players that can't fold hands. It should be noted that live low stakes players tend to slow play hands more-so than other levels of poker. Going for thin value is much more important in higher stakes because you need every edge you can get against a tougher player pool and those players aren't just going to call you down when they have your range crushed like they will in low stakes.

A 0% bluffing frequency at llsnl isn't that big of a leak.

I prefer to bluff people who I've played with dozens of times and who say things to me like "You always have AK right?" etc. who think I'm a nut peddling nit in spots where they have a capped range and I have an uncapped range and even then I try not to abuse it because they lol "pay me off" all the time anyway. I bluff people who beg me not to bet and I can 100% for sure tell it's not an act.
You gotta be really good at picking your spots for bluffing.

I hate referencing bb/100 in live poker because the #s are not even comparable to online poker. These crazy #s are certainly attainable in live poker. However, it's funny to me that everyone that is trying to win at poker automatically assumes that 10bbs+/hr is automatically bestowed upon them. As if there isn't a ton of hard work and dedication involved and as if they already have everything figured out right from the start (ie no need for improvement).

I suppose that depends who you are talking to but I'd say most of them are delusional in some form or fashion. Most are either lying about their results, inflating their results, or speaking of results over an insignificant sample size. Honestly, you should take everything people in the poker community tell you with a grain of salt.

Most players, I think you should multiply whatever they say their losses are by 2x - 3x and whatever their profits are by .5 - .75

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Come on. Gambling addicts never lie about their wins/losses.

You sir have already correctly predicted the future.

One of your biggest problems is that you think everything in poker comes easy. A lot of people go into poker because they don't want to actually work for a living. Unfortunately, poker takes a lot of work and I'd say the word "grind" barely touches upon how tough playing poker for a living can be over a lengthy period of time regardless of how good you are.

Good info from a recap perspective but I wouldn't be focusing on bad beats if you want to improve.

Running straight line bluffs like this vs unknowns is really bad. If you think this is how you make money at low stakes you are not yet a winning player. One of the biggest keys to winning at poker is patience and you seem to be the opposite of patient.

I think you are understating how important sleep is. When you are tired at the table you recognize you are tired but you're not going to fully understand how much it truly affects your game. When you go through your hand histories the next day don't just brush it off as run bad and minor mistakes. You made a lot of mistakes that bad losing players make. Your focus should be on avoiding those mistakes in the future, not on the fact that you've run bad.

Back when i first started grinding 2/5 back in 2011/2012 I had a $1500 stop loss. I'm assuming you have one as well. With a little bit of run bad, a single mistake is all it might take to send me home early for the night rather than having the opportunity to grind out a win for the night. I can't tell you how many times I've had significant run bad and still managed to have a winning session/month/etc. Run bad is going to happen. It's unavoidable. Your mistakes are 100% avoidable.

BTW, one of the most significant edges you can gain over your opponents is a sleep edge. If you are able to sleep weird hours and play graveyard after quitting your job then I would recommend it. If you think low stakes players are bad during the day you'll be amazed at how they play late night when you are wide awake.

Bolded the part that I knew was a caveat before reading your post. Apples and oranges comparison between your room and a donktastic one.

People don't like to fold hands in live poker.

I guess theoretically it's not a major mistake to be balanced in these spots...maybe, sorta, i dunno probably not but what I do know is that you should not be balanced in these spots if you like money whatsoever.

About 5 years ago I had a couple sessions where I lost a lot of money bluffing and I decided to play 1/3 to test out a non-bluffing strategy. My goal was to only play my hands for value and only semi-bluff in spots where i had strong equity (ace high flush draw, pair and a flush draw, etc). I made it about 3 hours into my experiment and realized this was not in any way a good strategy for me. Players at these low stakes levels are so exploitable that I'm just burning money by not bluffing them off their hands. That being said, I still think value is bread and butter to low stakes poker.

Being tired is brutal, I've made a couple of ******ed errors that I know of because I failed to read the board properly. They didn't cost me a lot luckily but I bet I made a heap more that I just don't know about. My motto now is just never play tired for exactly the same reasons I don't drink when I'm buying in for hundos.

Re. bluffing, I never bluff unknowns live. So I cbet ofc, semi-bluff with good equity and stab sometimes with weak equity but no pure bluffs.

Not saying that's ideal, I'm not a killer but just my 2c.

Dude, I've read this entire thread, and up until this point have avoided putting in my opinion, or advice whatever you'd like to call it. But, here's the deal...

You're drawing near dead bro. You have a VERY real chance of failing miserably, and it won't be like anyone didn't tell you, because many of us have. And, it's obvious that after numerous good posts you continue to ignore the timely advice given.

Look, I've been in your shoes. Except, I was more experienced, and better prepared. But, I still failed. That's why everyone is trying to get you to see your huge leaks before you take this plunge.

I don't know your makeup. I don't know how mentally tough and stable you are. I don't know what your plans are if you fail, or how good your safety net is or friends/family there if you need a pickup. Because you will.

Having said all of this, we all know you ARE going through with it so, here's my 0.02:

Support system - Find those people that are or have been in your situation and take heed to their advice. Have someone you can talk with about hands, bad beats, bankroll management, etc. I think you mentioned someone already, so that's good. It's also good to have borrowing power if necessary because even though we hate to admit it, it becomes essential for gamblers at some time in their careers.

Mindset - Only play when your mind is in the right place. Don't EVER play when you're too tired, are having relationship problems, or anything else in real life that can infect your thoughts during play. EVER. If you become annoyed, tilted, or whatever, leave. Seriously, just leave.
Also, don't take it personally. People will seem to be trying to get under your skin, or targeting you. Also, don't go out of your way to target the fish in a manner that makes you vulnerable, or get's you off YOUR game (ie. playing bad hands because the fish is in every pot, etc)

BRM. Talked about this extensively but never understated. This is #1 and it's not even close. 20 buy-ins was what I thought would be a good cushion, but it's not. Even for good players, when you're constantly pulling from your roll for bills, gas, food, unexpected things like car breaking down, etc. 20 buy-ins ain't a comfortable spot to be in at all.

Stop loss- some people say this is unnecessary for good players. That's horse$hit. If you're playing 1/2 for example take $400 ONLY and give yourself 2 buy-ins. when you're rolled for 2/5 take $1000 and so on...

It's very difficult to lose 2 buy-ins and recover that day. And, it's often bad play that results from trying to "get unstuck", so just save yourself the disappointment and avoid the $1200 loss days

Tilt - the killer of bankolls

This could be included in the part about mindset, but deserves it's own mention

It will happen. How bad it affects your play and therefore your bankroll is up to you, but if you can learn to spot it coming on, and can adjust accordingly, only then will you be able to be a competent professional. A true professional doesn't let beats get to him and just plays the next hand the best they can. I don't think you have shown this in your writing yet, but you will need to exercise TOTAL SELF CONTROL at all times if you are to succeed.

There's a lot more and I would be happy to help you any time, so just ask.

I hope you actually read this 6betme and understand it is out of love amongst players and hope for your success that we spend our time in writing these responses

peace and GL

^^^^ gold

Earlier in this thread OP wrote a 'Im gonna prove all you haters wrong'' post, sparked by the post below.

OP confirmed my prediction of being an even bigger degen behind the scenes with his secretive 10/20 sesh. Everyone who once went broke in their poker carreers knows that this is the demon of all demons. Sooner or later this demon will destroy OPs BR, dreams and life.

Please read this post again OP and try be objective of why it upsets you so much and why it hits so close to home.

I agree hero was prob overbluffing here, I was just disagreeing with the 0% bluff frequency vs unknowns, I’d prob stick to bluffing bottom of my range to not mess up frequencies

My solution to overspending

Right now I feel like the biggest killer of my bankroll is overspending. It wasn't too bad when I only had to spoil myself, but when I have to spoil my girlfriend too, it becomes tough to keep afloat.

The thing that kept spending at a somewhat manageable level before was time: since I worked so often and would usually come home when my girlfriend was asleep and wake up after she's already left for work, I only had a few meals with her per week and that would naturally cut spending.

But since I'm quitting my job in under a week, I'm going to have a lot more time to spend with my girlfriend, especially after I fix my sleeping pattern, and it's just struck me how this is going to be a huge problem financially.

My girlfriend doesn't think in a mathematical way. She doesn't really think about numbers, finances, budgets, bankroll management, EV, variance, etc. She thinks in a more social/emotional way. And I mean, there's nothing wrong with different people seeing the world through different lenses, but this can become problematic when she doesn't really stop to consider things like income vs expenses, and whether we can actually afford the lifestyle we're living or not.

I had a discussion with her last night and told her that from now on, we'll only eat out together once per week, since I can't risk spending 2k per month on restaurants at the same time as I go on a 4k downswing. That will destroy my bankroll and destroy my dream.

I think from her perspective, I'm being a little bit selfish by trying to cut down my own expenses and increasing the burden on her. I also think that she interprets me not wanting to go out to restaurants with her as me not wanting to spend time with her. In her mind, poker is consuming me and it's caused me to stop caring about her. "You care about poker more than you care about me."

I guess that having a highly variable source of income isn't really consistent with trying to live a stable, family life. But I'm going to try my best to make this work. I've heard so many stories of men whose wives left them because of gambling, and it saddens me to think that the majority of people seem incapable of finding a balance between gambling and relationships. I want to be the exception though. I intend to still spend quality time with my girlfriend, but I will make an effort to ensure that we spend more time cooking at home to reduce restaurant expenses. I don't know if she'll eat my food, but I'll certainly eat hers.

Now we know how this will end:

GF dumps him
Life tilt ensues
Straight to busto


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Will definitely help but only if u know what you're doing imo

I... guess I'm all-in?

$1/$3 PLO, 9-handed, $245 effective. Game is super loose-passive. Everyone has me covered except for UTG+2.

Hero is dealt AAJ8 (spades) in CO

UTG raises $10
2 callers
Hero 3bets $54
3 callers
UTG+2 backjams $81
Hero calls $81 (not allowed to 5bet)
3 other callers

Flop ($405, 5ways, locked pot with 4 active players)
643r no spades
(We have $164 behind)

2 checks
Hero tanking...
"I... guess I'm all-in?"
Hero jams $164

Nek minnit It's a 5way all-in and I'm up against 75XX. Gg stack.

Are you totally unable to stick to one game/stakes? Your total lack of focus/attention-span is why many of us think you're doomed. Your mental game is broken & you think you'll turn it around while you play for a living. Totally absurd.


You don't seem to understand any of these concepts any better than she does, based on what you've told us itt. Believe w/e you want, though.

OP accuses girlfriend of being delusional. The irony.