Hi All,

I am starting this thread as a sorta New Years Resolution for myself to make progress in my Poker "Career" (hobby that I take seriously). This is going to be a long post, so completely understand if you want to skip it. I will be posting my first session directly after, which should hopefully be more entertaining.

Background

So this is going to be more related to the background behind the starting of this thread, and less so my poker background, as you could not pick a more cookie cutter origin story (Mid 20's, white male, moneymaker, home games etc etc). I'll probably talk more specifically about me later. I have wanted to start a poker goals thread for a while, sharing a lot of the same sentiments other threads have (motivation, accountability, improvement, fostering a community). I have been a long time lurker of poker goal threads, and really want to put my best foot forward in being more active in this community.

The reason I haven't up until now is....well im not sure I am all that interesting. I'm not a degen. I have a great job in the bay that I have no intention of quitting. I'm not putting in sick volume (tentative goal is gonna be in the 15-20 hour week range). I dont have 2000 to my name and a dream lol. But I desperately want to improve in poker. I think I'm a solid poker player, and that over my sample size I can safely say I am a winning player. But I'm not lighting the world on fire, and I have almost no experience at higher stakes. I want to motivate myself on to bigger and better things, and would like some sort of record of the journey.

Goals/Bankroll

1. Consistently post in this (and others) threads.

This is a big one for me. I want to improve my game, and provide support to other poker players. Best way to do that is to be active and not lurk any longer. I have an idea of how I want this thread to look like, based on threads I have read in the past. This will be a live poker journey, so I want a lot of hands/reads/thoughts/impressions/stories etc. I want it to be vibrant and interesting, not just a quick +xxxx over 8 hours update. Hopefully this is something that draws other people, however this is important for just myself as well.

2. Play 80 hours a Month

This equates to roughly 20 hours a week. Obviously do-able. Motivation has been a real problem for me, so this goal matters a lot, despite how relatively easy it should be. Playing poker after work is always difficult (traffic in the bay is murder, getting to San Jose takes an hour+ easily), and often I have been using my weekends to spend time with friends and family (not saying this is bad, but if I want to take this seriously I have to cut some drink/play COD nights out of my life).

3. Move to 2/3/5 consistently - Accurately keep track of wins/losses/time played.

So this is going to meld directly into what my bankroll is, which, if I'm being honest is a completely random and meaningless number for me. I don't really have a bankroll as....well this isn't my job. If I lose I'm not going to freak out about it, and I've never been particularly good at recording results. Honestly the stakes 2/3/5 are not scary to me in terms of money on the table. But I don't think I'm a good enough player. I think for a long time I have believed I was solid enough to win at this stake. But over the past month I have gotten a lot of exposure to the types of players in 2/5 - 5/5 games, and they are miles ahead of me. Mentally/Game Theory Wise/Experience etc. And I think a big part of this thread is saying that's ok. I have a good foundation, but we can improve. So we are going to start at 1/2/3, record my experiences, track my results and move up. I think it also makes sense from a poker "journey" perspective to start at the bottom.

We need to identify some "number" to start at, so I am going to set the poker bankroll at $6000 (20 Buy-In @ 1/2/3). There isn't a number I'm shooting for to move up, as again I'm focused on growth as a poker player first and foremost. Ultimately moving up is going to depend on how seriously I take studying, if I am hitting my volume (don't want to play bigger if I am not playing consistently), and then lastly if I have a sample size large enough to prove I am beating the game. This is gonna be fluid. I'm willing to game select some 2/3/5 games as well, but for now I want to focus on improvement then worry about the stakes.

4.Study

Last paragraph of this novel. This is the most important to me. I want to dedicate at least 10 hours a week to study. I have already enrolled for the "Pro" Membership at Red Chip Poker, which I think is a nice starting point. I can listen to the videos at work, and can hopefully take time outside of it to study the more difficult concepts. Watching streams is not studying, and I think this is something I need to understand lol.

The final part of this is something I've mentioned a couple times previously. I want to post hands/theory driven ideas here, and hopefully get a back and forth going. I've never really shared my thought processes with anyone, so it would be nice to practice concepts I am learning, then get feedback to see where I am going wrong.


Anyways appreciate anyone who stops to actually read this. Hopefully this is gonna be a fun journey. Look for my first session I played last night soon!

1/21/19 - Session #1 Monday

Whew. After catching my breath from writing the previous post, I can post my first session of the New Year. Really excited about starting this thread, and had my mind set that I was gonna go play after work Monday. Both of which happened so I guess I am happy with my follow through, even if it is just over one day.

So in the previous post I mentioned I was gonna be playing 1/2/3 in the Bay. This is mostly an overstatement. I basically only play at M8trix. I like it for a couple reasons. The action IMO has always been very good. There is usually a more than fair amount of money on the table. The atmosphere has a Vegas like feel to it. Friday/Sat vibe can be poppin, drinks flowing etc. I do want to branch out and play at some different spots. Obviously Bay 101 is literally right across the street lol.

Anyways, got off work on time (small miracle on a federal holiday), and looked and saw there was almost no traffic driving down to San Jose (big miracle). This seemed like a positive sign of good things to come, so off I went. The drive/wait for a table only took around 45 minutes so I was actually playing around 6pm. Room was pretty packed for a Monday, as I'm sure the vast majority of people in the room had the day off from work.

I was immediately excited the second I walked up to my table. In fact I was a little worried they had sat me at a 2/3/5. We had well above the normal stacks you would expect to see so early in the night(table average was probably 4-500 with 4 stacks pushing 8+). On top of this two of the largest stacks were clearly buddies and very assuredly intoxicated. Not the table to expect to roll up to a 6pm on a Monday but I'm not complaining. Action was very good. Lots of raises/re-raises/straddles. The table from a skill perspective seemed very straight forward. This is a dream situation. Unfortunately I fold pretty much every hand for 45 min. I got a little out of line with A2 in MP in a straddled pot. Raised to $25 which...I mean I dont hate in a vacuum, but given the table dynamics was probably too weak for the first hand I was going to play. In general I like to play very tight with my first one or two hands. A while back I read something that talked about the psychology of starting a poker session with a win, even a small one, and how we should look to play tight to start to give ourselves the best shot of achieving that. Anyways I don't even make it two seats to my left before getting re-raised to $75 and having to fold.

All I play is Kings

Probably 50 minutes into the session I get my first real hand. Intoxicated gentleman limps in second, which folds all the way around to me in SB with KK. I make a raise to 15, he calls, and off we go.

Flop is K42.

Honestly it's hard to call this a really good flop. We just murder it so hard there is literally nothing our opponent can have here. In general I HATE checking value hands. Even OOP I feel like it bleeds value. That being said I really cant see what I get value from betting. I've also seen him make some very aggressive pot bets, so I check it over and hope he does the same here. He does follow through and bet $20, so dare to dream maybe we can get some value. I flat and we go to the turn.

Turn 8

Pretty blank to me. Hopefully he picked up a pair or a gut shot to continue with. I think I should bet here to avoid check backs, but that line would not make any sort of sense. I check it over and he does the same.

River 4.

On this River I feel like check/bet both feel reasonable. What am I getting value from? To me, probably just a 4. I don't think he's ever checking a K on the turn. A 2 or 8 might call but, I would have to size pretty small to make that realistic. I end up betting $60 on this flop, and it feels like a mistake. I think I am just trying to make up for lost value on the turn by betting large, but given the only holdings he can have, betting like $20 or checking both seem like better options. A 4 is always gonna raise me so it's not like I'm losing out by either of these lines. He folds and I rake in a small pot.

20 minutes later we get our next hand. CO limps, SB makes it 17, and I look down at KK. I look up to double check the action that has occurred and realize....Oh there was no limp. The SB just made it 17. In general I always provide the option to chop SB v BB. I have zero problem playing if the person wants to, but it's honestly so rare I cant remember the last time I actually played a SB v BB pot. This feels like a really good spot to raise fairly large, as from what I have seen people who are raising SB v BB feel like they have an edge on the table, and are very sticky against re-raises. I go to $50 and he quickly calls.

Some quick reads on our villain. I know he's a regular, and I'm fairly sure he's competent enough in the game. He has been playing very aggressively. Raising almost every button, and calling large raises to get heads up with opponents. He has already won a couple big pots and is sitting on 7-8 hundred. We start the hand at around 250, so roughly 200 behind going to the flop.

Flop is 646

Pretty great flop for our exact hand. I'm thinking about how much to bet when SB leads $50 straight into me. Weird. Kinda just a weird hand. Is this a bet to protect a hand like 88-10/10? Is he just donking into a paired board knowing I am almost never hitting this? The stack size is a little rough for me in this spot as well. I feel like raising is the best move, as there are a lot of turns that suck to me, but I would also be willing to concede this is an incorrect assumption given how strong we are. Plus what can I credibly raise to with only $200 behind? In the moment I feel like jamming is correct. It keeps draws/overs in my range, and gets values from spades and over pairs which I do not think are folding. He pretty quickly folds, and based on later play, I think this is just a heads up strategy he does almost 100 percent of the time OOP in raised pots. Curious if I should be flatting here though.

I have my two biggest hands of the session for next post, as this one already feels stupid long lol. I think I have to really work on editing this down.

Alright. So lets fire off these last two hands before I make my way down for session two. We've been playing about an hour and a half at this point, booking a small win with a stack up to around ~$350 ish. Feeling very comfortable at the table, action is still going strong. It's about 10-15 min after our last hand when our this hand begins.

CO limps for 3, we look down on dealer with....well the only hand in my range KK. Raise to 15, BB flats, CO folds.

BB has me covered with a stack of around 700. He has been playing pretty snug for the most part. I get the impression he is a pretty standard regular. Has headphones on, isn't talking all that much. In general has not struck me as someone who is going to get out of line too much. I think his flatting range in this spot is going to be something to the effect of 22-99, 45s+, and maybe A10-AQ off. Pretty standard, everything else I think I'm getting a re-raise or a fold.

Flop comes 48Q , which he checks over to me.

I lead for 20 really liking this flop. He thinks for maybe a couple seconds or so and puts in a raise to 70. Immediately I get the impression this is a draw. Obviously 44 or 88 is in his flatting range, but given the size of the raise, I really dont think he is going that large with a set. OOP im expecting to see a lot of flats from him, or raises to like 50-60. There are no legitimate two pair combinations I am going to put him on in this spot, so I'm putting him on a flush draw with overs/combo draws. I flat, expecting to probably call down turn and river on blanks.

Turn is the 2. He thinks for maybe 3 seconds max before announcing all in, effectively shoving 250ish into a pot of 180. This is a case where I've really made up my mind on the flop, and the huge bet on the turn in my opinion feeds into my read of a big draw. If I lose to 44 or 88 in this spot wp, but on a brick of a turn I'm never folding. In actuality I snap call, almost beating him into the pot. River is an off suit 9 and I table my hand which is the winner. He shows 56 , and mentions he should have looked at my stack before shoving so large. I provide a pretty standard platitude of "Well you didn't get it bad or anything", to which he quickly responds, "Oh no. I know I have the fold equity to get one pair hands and overpairs out. Thats a tough call to make". I whole heartedly disagree with this statement, but I suppose it makes sense if playing a pot for 700 dollars makes you nervous or not. Outside of scared money I think this is a pretty easy call in our spot.

Last one is a fun one that I am on the fence on deciding whether I played it correctly or not. Folds around to the CO who limps, I raise to 15 on button with AK, SB, BB, and CO all call.

SB is a newly seated older woman, who I believe is the type to never raise, calls everything, and basically donate to the game 100 dollars at a time. BB is the same from hand 3(400 effective), and CO(700 effective) is the same aggressive player from hand 2.

Flop of AJ7 literally smacks us in the face, giving me basically the world. Checks to me. I bet 35, SB calls, BB folds, and CO calls. SB feels like an Ax, but she only has 50 back at this point so I'm not particularly worried. CO range is a little more interesting, as I'm not entirely sure what his limping range is given how aggressive he seems to play in late position.

Turn is a pretty big blank 2. Checks to me and I bet 70. SB calls her remaining 50 ish. CO thinks for a second and....raises to 200. Um. What? At this point I'm entirely confused as to what he has. Obviously I'm never folding but....it doesnt really make any sense. This is something I really want to highlight because....I think I'm wrong. At the risk of plummeting down the hind-sight rabbit hole, I think it is really possible for us to identify what he has.

Does he ever have sets here? If his previous play is any indication, no never. In position he is almost assuredly raising every pocket pair. Does he ever have two pair here? No. I'm not putting AJ in his range, because he is raising that all day. Same with A7s. J7 suited, maybe A7 off...but it's so thin. And based on the strength I'm showing + the SB call, there is no way he is not raising two pair on the flop. So that leaves what?.....maybe A2? With sets and two pairs out, he has....straight draws/flush draws/or a combo that makes any sort of sense, and maybe a bluff if he thinks the board is scary enough to get folds. I am MURDERING this range. It's obviously harder for him to have a flush draw here given my hand, but regardless this feels like the only thing outside of air he should show up with.

Because of this, I think I should jam. I can potentially get stacks in for combo draws. Straight draws fold and air folds, but on brick rivers those are folding anyways. Given the SB is in the hand, he really doesn't have air anyways. As played I flat, and we go to a river which is another blank 6.

CO checks pretty quickly and I check behind. I dont think I am ever really getting called from worse. I table and beat SB A10. CO tables 108 for a straight draw/flush draw. I'm happy with the pot but, obviously thinking back this is a huge missed opportunity for another 400+. Again maybe falling victim to hindsight.

I end up leaving 30 min later for a +650 in 3 hours. Really cool start. Thought I played well enough, and am looking forward to tonight. Here's hoping its another easy win.