you quit a 6 figure job at 23 to grind poker. hmm. Thats a risky move man. I hope its working out. Whats your profits so far? You can tell them I'll fill your spot lol

Remember he can just go back to it if he fails at poker. Its a nice safety net to have behind you.

If you work hard enough to get to the 100k/year job then I think you deserve a chance to follow your dream.

@Hicham009: Hah, well it's legal here in St. Louis on any table, it's called "Mississippi Straddle" if you want to google it. The majority of players aren't thinking about position anyway, but rather if a straddle for $8 or $11 is more likely to bring them pocket aces

Which is good for me of course. I was talking to a friend and mentioned how different it feels when you sit down at a table and people are talking about bankroll, fold equity, and ranges compared to lucky seats, cards that have been flopping often, and how pocket jacks is the worst hand in poker. The latter really makes the former feel like a waste of time.

But yea the guy was nice, someone else at the table pointed out how it was hurting me by him straddling every hand and he said he would stop, but I told him "hey do whatever you want, I don't mind." However I definitely would not play a long period of time in that situation because it is terribly -EV to act first preflop every hand.

@pls try to bluf: it's at the bottom of like almost every post I've made in this thread but roughly 50/hr over 100 hours-ish.

Sorry didn't see that. & totally agree

gl man

Thanks for the comments guys. I can say without a doubt that I am much much much happier now than I was 2 months ago. AINEC.

I feel like I can enjoy poker for a long time. Even if I play for 20 years, there will still be stuff to learn and a game to improve upon. In my past life filled with video games, I played Warcraft 3 for years, Halo for years, now League of Legends for years while my gamer friends were buying new games every couple weeks. Poker is now also my job, but it remains a very fun game in my eyes right now and I expect to be able to happily play it for years.

I will share some musings I wrote earlier with you guys. Hopefully thought-provoking and/or helpful to your game.

~~~~~

In ancient times, people did not call flop bets with air.

In the recent past, decent players have realized that they can profitably c-bet near 100% against the field, and they did.

In the present, people correctly float with air very often to win the majority of those c-bets.

In the future, people will defeat floats by c-betting only with strong holdings and check/calling or check/raising the turn.

~~~~~

This prophecy by The Great Visionary Aesah* is your reward for following this blog. Armed with this knowledge, go forth and crush the other regs.

*Disclaimer: may not actually be a great visionary

First time trying a phone update while i wait for lunch.

Table just started 4 handed, i raise A7, BB flats. I cbet 2/3 on 763, checkraised 3x my bet. I call. Turn 2 rainbow, i folded to a 115 bet (100 behind). He shows K9o. Thoughts?

Another hand i raise AKhh UTG+1. Only UTG limper calls. Ts6s3d flop. Cbet call. Turn 9h check/check. River Jh, he leads for 1/3 pot. I call he has QJcc. Owned by OOP float. Thoughts?

Both villains are 30ish+hat white guys

There's a lot of information about the players and your table image that you're leaving out. The fact that they are white has zero relevance (well not entirely, I can picture the type just from that), how they are playing and their image of you does.

A.

1. He was making a random move

2. You're giving something away and he has/had a read on you

3. 1 and 2 combined. Are these guys good? Have you been sitting with them a while? Are you playing in the same manner? Has anyone made you lay down before? How often are you laying down to a 3bet?

B.

1. Maybe he was bored or fishy (or again, both). Either is a good thing.

2. He could have picked something up about your play and decided to make one of his own; maybe he put you on mid-pair and figured he had overs so let's gambool. Overall, still sounds like he played the hand pretty poorly and got lucky. Routine calls to UTG raises w/ QJ pf = busto (exceptions abound, of course).

I'm a little surprised you haven't seen these situations before. How much experience did you say you had before you embarked on this journey? Not trying to be discouraging (I sincerely envy you) or hinting that you suck, just curious.

I think decision point for Hand 1 is the flop check raise. Hard to tell without more stack size info.. but it looks like by calling you have a max of 5 outs, and give yourself a SPR <1. Either fold on the flop, or call off the turn.

For hand 2, what were your thoughts on UTG's limp/call HU range? If hes a fishy aggro, call river. If hes even mildly tight or passive, easy fold. In any reasonable range, you only beat 45s, A8ss-A2ss. Most of the time, players wont even limp/call those hands Heads-up.

/ Why you playing day games?! It's like taking a pay cut.

Yea sorry I posted from my phone which I cannot type worth **** on.

In both of these hands I have been playing with respective villains each for ~5 hands total before they occurred. The first one was like the 5th hand dealt at the entire casino all day. The second villain had just sat down.

In hand1, 100BB deep, I think average villains bluff frequently enough for 1 barrel but not 2. Honestly it was just a really spazzy play on his part that happened worked out- he made a comment that he doesn't give anyone credit for a hand when playing 4-handed after I showed, and he was surprised I folded that. I really don't know what I should be doing if that situation comes up again, probably just fold flop. Stacking off vs complete unknowns with top pair of 7's seems not profitable in the long run.

Hand2, of course villain played poorly- I was wondering if my call with A high on the river OK there for 1/3 pot. I think he check/calls with Tx or 8x or any pocket midpair, I don't think he value bets for that little so I figured he had a busted draw. Complete unknown guy at the time- afterwards, this guy shortly ran up about $1200 playing every hand for about 30 hands in without even looking at half of them. He was just in a gambling mood I guess (including the hand against me) but was actually fairly solid. For his range, I think he is limp calling anything that can make both a straight and a flush (lol).

Actually this is my first time playing here during a weekday morning so I wanted to see what it was like! Not too different I feel overall tbh.

Total today I played 6 hours and made... drumroll... $7. YEA.

Couple interesting hands.

I overlimp 97 on button, very tight, aggressive villain (I suspect he's a pro) makes it $17 from the blinds.

4 to the flop, $68 pot. K75
villain leads for $35. Everyone folds, I call.

Turn is a 3 ~$130 pot
villain check/calls for $65. I put him on something like AK (YEA THATS RIGHT).

River T
I shove for $210. Villain tank folds. Actually now that I write it out, this hand seems kind of standard but I usually fold flop here so I pretty much never make this play, heh. I showed the bluff.

Hand two against same villain a couple hours later (he has loosened up preflop after several whales sat down), I overlimp with 89 on button, villain makes it $20 from blinds, station calls, I call. 3 handed on the flop.

Flop J87 $60 pot
Checked to me, I bet $40. Villain calls. Station folds.

Turn 2
Check/check.

River 9
Check, I bet $75 into $140, villain calls with TT. I think villain should view my range here as polarized to straights or air, and since I showed a bluff earlier I thought he might try a hero call with 1 pair. Ended up value-owning myself, but I think it was an OK play since villain should not have many T's in his range.

St. Louis total: $1485, 39 hours.

The bolded part really hits the nail on the head. All that money on mid-pair? Yuck. He made a play, it happens. You'll get bluffed 100000 more times before it's all over. Moving on.

You're going to run into laggy players who occasionally make weak little river bluffs to try to win the pot (and if they sense weakness in you, the solid players too!). Like mckendry said: if he's a spewy LAGmonster, sure, maybe it's a bluff. If you've been lucky enough to catch him trying to bluff people, even better.

The problem is that you haven't been playing with him long enough to know what type of player he is, and a bluff is the only thing you can beat at this point. He could have also been timidly betting an underpair, making a value bet, or sheeipshly betting because he was just saved by the river.

Nothing of poker strategic interest happened today, oversetted some guy for $600 pot (I did a good job of getting money in before the flush came I guess). Lost a flip on the flop for $1100 pot, KK on TJQ vs TJ (I 3 bet shoved, I've seen villain checkraise draws here. I actually thought I was slightly behind but stove gives me 51% equity with my BDFD). Lost AK vs AT AIPF for a $200 pot.

I didn't feel like playing more after that, game was mediocre anyway. My shortest session in STL so far. Ended up down $488 in 3 hours.

Someone tried to steal my spot on the waitlist while I was at lunch by saying he was *insert my name*, which was kind of interesting. He even tried to change his story and claimed that his name was actually first afterwards lol. I mean seriously??? How does anyone think they can get away with that? He played two hands total and lost $300 with AA. Dealer said it was karma, heh.

"the long run never comes" Well, I know I'm still just starting out but damn, can't help but think if I had won that KK hand my winrate in STL would be more than double what it is now.

St. Louis total: $997, 42 hours.

Not much I feel like talking about today, played 3 hours, had 3 bad beats and left. 1) AQ vs some steaming guy who raised huge with Q8 UTG, I flatted. Most of the money in preflop and the last bit (SPR < 1) on a JT9 flop. 2) AK < QQ. 3) All in on turn with 6 high flush, drawing dead to K high flush.

Down $376 in 3 hours.

St. Louis total: $621, 45 hours.

1. **** happens, sometimes over and over and over and over.
2. What was the situation here?
3. Gotta be careful with those man, been burned on plenty myself.

Sucks, but I'd still rather have your kind of bad days than mine. At least you're doing what you love.

AK < QQ was in a straddled pot, I single-raised preflop from UTG+1 or so and shoved flop of low cards (HU on flop).

What kind of bad days of yours are you referring to?

Aesah, how much longer will you be in st. louis? I plan on playing at Harrahs again in the next few days. Would like to stop by and say hi.

I'll play in the morning flight for the main event of the WSOP STL circuit event. While on the topic, still have just a bit of action I'd like to sell (no markup/markdown). I'd be down to meet a fellow 2+2er, maybe grab lunch or something.

Today I played 7 hours and was up $206 at River City Casino. I played really well overall, but was quite card dead. I actually felt worse after this session than I have felt after any (although not TERRIBLE), and here's why:



I'm not going to write about all the things this guy did, but he was trying his hardest to give money away and I barely got any. I smooth called a 7x pot overbet (yes, that's right, 7x pot) on the turn with the nut straight, I checked to him and he checked behind river with 72o, middle pair. Some other epic plays he did include calling an all-in preflop for 100BB with 98o, snap calling a $400 PSB on the turn with 9 high and a flush draw, constantly misreading his hand/board... yea. Yea that's ~$3500 in front of him there.

One hand I was really questioning for awhile, against same villain (raise flop?! Call turn?!):

He opens to $30, I 3 bet to $85 with AJo in position. He flats, HU on flop. I have about $700 and he covers.

Flop 235r
He leads for $80 into $170, I flat.

Turn Q
He leads for $165, I folded and he showed Q9o.

Thoughts?

St. Louis total: $826, 52 hours.

I think you played it fine. You raised with what was likely the superior hand given his range. He made a stupid call. He got his magic card and made a substantial bet, you still had nothing and only 7 cards to help you (3 of course, not that you knew). You got out.

edit: raising the flop might have been better here, he still had nothing and you still had him dominated. don't know how much you're supposed to factor in fold equity vs a maniac.

I understand your frustration and welcome your venting, people are happy to have you share your experiences. But you have to understand - with crystal clarity - you're going to have many days where the maniacs get lucky. You will not see the billion times they are at a table playing like this and losing their shirt. You cannot let them get to you, especially where you're just starting out. Some days you will be the one with a stack like that and it'll be worth it; you went on a hell of a run to start your adventure, so you know this already.

I do not like the playing for the flip on the flop. At all. Sure, it's not huge spew: what is it, 48 vs 52%? And then there's the fold equity to consider. Even with the straddle, were you getting proper pot odds? It just makes me wonder: why play all your chips for a coin toss? Anyone please feel free to correct me, I'm here to learn.

Very briefly (this is not my thread): being a broke college student working a retail job wears on you. You have earned your degree and a chance to do something fun; so have fun with it!

Regarding the AK hand I'm not raising to flip. When I get called by a shorter stack, then I think it's pretty much a mandatory shove on the flop in that situation, too much random stuff an unknown (30-ish white guy) can have. He happened to have a monster but I would not be the least bit surprised if he called and flipped up top pair with 56o, or if he folds T7s face up.

Can't really think of any villains where check/fold would be good here. Check/call might be better versus certain villains though.

Thanks for the comments as always.

The AJ hand is pretty similar to the hand where I had A7 with top pair a few days ago and was shown K9o as a bluff. Called a flop bet, folded turn. In this hand, of course he happened to hit his Q but maybe he would have made this play holding 87o as well.

I don't really like folding flop because I think I have the best hand almost always, and I don't like raising flop either (if I wasn't so deep and could just reasonably shove flop, I wouldn't mind that). I don't really like calling that much either =P but meh. I still think my flop call represents strength and even this guy may be hesitant to double barrel air, but who knows.

Anyway I will take tomorrow off to rest up for a big 3 day tournament (hopefully I make it that far ).

I think that 2 overs and a gutter is a big enough peice to consider raising like 2.5x on the flop. As played folding turn is fine.

I really would like raising flop if stack sizes were different, but here I just don't know what to do if I make it $250 total and he shoves or flats. If he shoves I have to call $400 to win $1070 with A high for 235bb (SPR of 4.5).

Pot would be $670 and I have $400 behind on turn and (basically zero fold equity vs any pair) if he flats.

But yea I think raising flop would be good. This hand was near the start of his run so I wasn't sure if his 10x preflop open meant a strong hand, I later found out he was doing this with 72o and stuff.

Played the $1620 WSOP-C main event here, busted with 1 minute left in the day AJs vs 44 AIPF, about 12bb or so. I played my A game the whole tourney but was frustratingly card dead, only got 1 premium hand (AK/JJ+), it was aces and I folded to some old guy who almost certainly flopped a set.

A couple interesting hands I may write about later but I don't really feel like it now.