Tournaments are brutal like that. Bluffing and blind stealing are mandatory or you will run out of chips; it's far too easy to never see a real hand.

Keep the faith.

Ya I am well aware of blind stealing, 3-bet shipped T7o-type stuff several times from the blinds vs the two players on my right who I suspected were opening 100% if folded to them. Was never called so my image held. There was one old guy who loved to defend his blinds (showed down J3s once) and played amazingly bad postflop, he would bet flop in any position if he had anything and would check if he didn't. He was 3 seats to my right so I just raised his big blind from UTG+2 every time.

There was one point in the earlier stages where I had folded a TON, would have a very tight image normally. I finally open a pot, an old guy 3 bets (I have 99), I folded and the guy was like yea Aesah has raised like 3 times in a row he probably doesn't have anything (guy showed TT). I don't say anything but I'm like "?????" to myself, I think he just got the impression since I'm young+asian I must be aggro? I dunno. Ridiculous.

No way in hell I'm losing faith for not cashing a tournament that I won't be cashing in like ~80% of the time or so

Oh for place breakdown I think I busted about ~100th place out of ~470 entrants. Not sure exactly.

Thanks for the comments!

I played 6 hours today of 1/3 and was up $410. I made an awesome value bet against a HUGE station with ace high, and made a good river call with ace high against another guy. I played 1 hand kind of bad, overcalled JJ on the button to an UTG raise instead of 3-betting, 3 players made it to the flop, then I stacked off with 100bb with an overpair on the flop to the third guy (guy had 93o on 983dd). Original raiser led out, he flatted, I squeezed, thought he could very likely be on a draw.

This guy also said he was a pro. Calling an UTG 5x open with 93o though? I see this as a huge leak which is obvious to me, so it makes me wonder: do I have huge leaks that are obvious to him?? Or maybe he isn't really a pro, or maybe his hourly is kind of ****ty but he's good enough to be positive. WHO KNOWS.

St. Louis total: $1236, 58 hours.

Hey man. Just read your thread in one go and find it very interesting

Respetc for making the jump, tempting stuff indeed and reading threads like this is teasing with my dicipline to keep doing what I'm currently doing :-D

Keep the faith and GL!

Thanks for following. I really want to go play poker right now but it's too early on Monday morning, haha. Time to play Final Fantasy 9 I guess.

OK today was cool. I was up $528 in 5 hours.

I went to Lumiere as usual, but when I sat down I had 2 solid old nits who won't stack off unless they get coolered to my right. 2 seats to my left I had the supernit (who is also very solid in general) who soul owned me by folding QQ to my single raise with AA I wrote about a week back or so. Was not looking good. Decision was clinched when the very good player who I bluffed in my 4-16-12 post sat down to my right shortly after. I played about 1 orbit here and was like **** this I'm going to River City.

@River City, early on in my session, I open fold KJ from UTG... accidentally flipped over!!! The table now thinks I'm like the biggest nit in the history of the world now. OOOOOOOPS.

Anyway, I fold every. single. trash. hand. for 3 orbits until a super-aggro villain opens, another loose guy calls, I try to take advantage of my nitmage by squeezing with 53. Of course i should know better by now that no one in LLSNL pays attention to image. Villain calls.

Flop KKT, check/check. I figured this guy is pretty much never folding to a cbet.
Turn 5, he leads out for a little under half pot. I think for awhile, then finally decide to call.
River 3. He overbet shoves. I shrug-call, he says I'm good. I say "show or muck" because I'm a bit scared he was bluffing with like pocket 6's or something, lol. He mucks and I rake in a ~$600 pot.

Sometime during this session, loose guy opens, tight guy 3 bets, I fold QQ for the first time preflop EVER in my poker career. He's a pretty honest guy, told me I was beat when I asked after. Anyway this was kind of a milestone for me, lol.

St. Louis total: $1764, 63 hours.

You actually only have KKT55 in that last hand. Your 3 doesn't play because it is "counterfeited" by the pair on the board.

What makes you think he doesnt know that? He said he was scared the guy was bluffing with pocket sixes so he clearly knew that pocket sixes would beat his hand.

Ummm read the hand again. I have 3 pair. Seriously how do you have 8000 posts on 2+2 and don't know that.

My bad!

Update I wasn't able to post last night. Played 3 hours and was up $388 at Lumiere in the evening yesterday. Today my friend who I am staying with is sick so I am staying at home, studying poker (which I have neglected for awhile), and being his delivery boy.

Was pretty easy, I picked up tons of cards (I had AK like 7 times) and generally made good value bets. There's one hand I played really stupidly at the very end of my session where I cbet flop 3-way with AK on QT5, called by someone with position on me and about 1 PSB left. Turn was a T and for some weird reason I froze up and checked instead of shoved. I still can't explain why. River was 5, check/check he shows AK. We chop a ~$100 pot, so I missed out on like $50 there.

Another hand some guy raises UTG for $11, 5 callers including myself in MP with 88. Flop 875r. Couple checks, guy to my immediate right bets $30 into $66. I raise to $100 and take it down. Wonder if there's a better sizing here, but there are so many cards I don't want to see on the turn with up to 6 players making it there. Don't really think I have any other choice here.

Another hand I raised AK, only 1 fish calls. flop AJTr, I cbet, he calls. Turn is a rainbow Q, I checkraise all in (he's shortstack) and he folds! Not sure what he plays this way... interesting. Maybe AQ or something.

St. Louis total: $2152, 66 hours.

I don't understand - why would you shove the turn with that first hand? Not a critique, I actually don't know. Seems crazy to me, then again I think one of my leaks is being too nitty in spots like that.

I doubt there is a better sizing for the other hand. Would he have called a donk raise to $60?

Sounds like you're doing well, keep the updates coming!

Villain in hand 1 won't make that call Unless he has a T or a boat and might even fold a Q to a shove. And he only had a potsize bet left so it's only a shove or a fold. Plus unless Villain wouldve had a boat he still has about half the deck as an out so yeah I can see how he should've shoved there.

Cool, ty for the explanation.

Even if villain has Qx, I have 18 outs. But yea if there's even the slightest chance that villain folds a better hand (hell, even a worse hand, protect my equity vs maybe like ~5 outs), it's a really easy shove.

Also I can't really remember much about villain but a fishy guy might even call with 2 diamonds no pair, heh.

Played 4 hours today, was up $233. Nothing too eventful, I considered taking a shot at the 5/10 game which doesn't run often in STL but wasn't in the mood.

St. Louis total: $2385, 70 hours.

Doing great man! 100% agree on the shove, but also it is mistakes like that which will remind you when the next situation occurs.
We live and learn (even if you already knew what to do )

Keep it up and good luck

Funny thing I witnessed a couple days ago:

1. Effective stacks $300. CrazyGuy calls a preflop raise, maybe like $50 in pot. Flop is 78Qr bet, raise AI, call, call. 3 way all in. Turn is a 6 river is a blank. Some other guy tables AA, 3rd guy mucks. CrazyGuy jumps up and fistpumps and tables 66. Everyone is in shock, but hey.

Literally 3 hands later, flop is something like 5TJr. Some guy bets, CrazyGuy looks at his cards in disgust, looks at me and shakes his head, says "I never hit a ****ing set" and shows me 77 before slamming it down angrily into the muck.

One of my biggest challenges in poker - and it's a doozy - is getting tilted by people like CrazyGuy, especially when I'm the one they are cracking with bad pf raises/calls. You want them at your table. You need them at your table (hey I loved AFGM, sue me).

But damn it's frustrating, expecially when they are the one getting hot that day and busting everyone at the table. Oh well, c'est la vie. I'll learn eventually.

Haha they don't tilt me at all. I am soooooo happy when someone does something like that, if life were a cartoon I'd have dollar signs in my eyes every time that happens.

Today was kind of weird. I played cash for I think 3 hours and was up $159. However I felt I was playing kind of badly so I stopped and jumped into a relaxing $60 buyin tourney.

Hand 1:
Some guy opens UTG to $12, I make it $35 with KK from UTG+1. Caller from MP, UTG calls.

Flop of J94, pot $105
UTG checks, I cbet $60, villain (no good reads, middle age white guy) minraises me to $120, UTG folds. Villain has got about ~$110 left. I go into the tank, I feel like his range for flatting my 3bet preflop should be decently strong, so I thought JJ may be possible here. Then I was thinking nah, he probably has no idea what a UTG+1 3bet means, he can have so much random stuff... also I thought a strong hand would want to raise more to protect against the drawy board. Therefore, I shoved. He instacalls with JJ. Oops. Not sure whether I should have folded.

Hand 2:
1 limper, I make it 20 with AA from HJ. 1 caller from CO. Only read I had on him was a different reg called him on the river with K high and was good, so I thought he was bluffy. I later found out he was pretty solid. Effective stacks are $500-ish, since I actually won hand1

Flop QTT, pot $45
I cbet $30, villain calls.

Turn 9, pot $105
I check, villain bets $50, I call.

River 2, pot $205
I check, villain bets $100, I call.

Villain shows J8 for the turned gutshot straight. I figure if he has Qx or Tx roughly the same amount is going into the pot whether I check/call or I bet and he calls. I don't know though, this hand has me pretty confused. Lots of possible lines. I will probably revisit this hand later.

Shortly after that hand above, I decided to hop into a $60 tourney for some low-stress poker. Played tight early, then when stacks were at the ~20bb level I won 3 pots in short succession with flop raises (example: SB raises, I call in BB with K8, he cbets a T42 board, I raise, he folds. Another example: 1 limper to me in BB with 93, I check, flop K74, I check raise all in, he folds.), so I think people were scared to play postflop vs me . Anyway I raised 2.1x like a bazillion times and everyone always folded. I made it headsup with a 30:1 chip lead (yea 30:1, lol), and ended up getting all in with only a 2:1 chip lead (after he won like 6 flips) with JJ v KK preflop and I hit my set and won. $312 for first.

St. Louis total: $2544, 73 hours.

Hand 1 I sigh shove readless. After hours of play if I had villain noted as passive nut-peddling old man than I sigh fold.

Hand 2, good check OTT. I go c/c too. OTR, I find the fold button. You beat a float/bet/bet line and thats it. The board smashes his limp/call range so hard, and that c/c bet/bet line is so strong..

Yea hand 2 I was really strongly influenced by the fact that some other reg viewed this reg as bluffy. But you're right about a float/double barrel being extremely rare, river definitely should be a fold for sure.

I'm in a writing mood so here is a wall of text report for last night:

In St. Louis, there are 4 casinos with poker rooms. I have been to Harrah's, Lumiere, and River City. I've been wanting to visit Ameristar for quite some time now, but the Bravo iPhone app always shows them having no tables, or 1 table with a huge waitlist. Yesterday, I called what I thought was early to inquire about the situation- I got a spot on the waitlist at 4:00 and was told that the game will usually start around 7:00. I end up calling them back 4 hours later at 8:00, and am told there is 1 table and I'm 5th on the waitlist. SERIOUSLY?! However, I will not be in STL for much longer, so I decided I will go no matter what just to see the place, even if I do not get the chance to play poker. I got there around 9:00.

I was wow'd when I arrived. I think Ameristar is the biggest casino I've been to- I always assumed it would be the smallest in STL since they have the least poker tables running. Anyway, it took me 10 minutes of wandering past restuarants and slot machines to even find the poker room.

Fortunately, I was first on the waitlist. Out of boredom, I decided to play some 3-6 Limit while I wait. I have never played Limit even once before. I played 3 hands. Details as follows.

Limit hand 1: I pick up QQ shortly in the SB, like 7 people limp for $3. I say "I want to raise", and I do... to $6. Obviously everyone calls. I'm already thinking wow this game is dumb.

Flop JTT
I check, some guy bets $3, most of the table calls except one guy who raises to $6, everyone calls. I'm doing a bit of calculation... do I really have odds to setmine postflop? Is this really happening? Anyway, everyone is looking at me, I can't count the pot as it's a kaleidoscope of white chips so I just say screw it and call even though I suspected it was -EV.
Turn J
River 6
Checked down and two guys split the pot with tens full of jacks. This game is dumb.

Limit hand 2: I only saw two more flops, another when I open raised with AQs and folded flop. Final hand I was in BB with QT. Roughly 47 people limp, I check.

Flop KT3, checked around.
Turn 2, checked around.
River 6, checked around.

I instaflip my hand over and win. The dealer (unintentionally) berates me for not betting with a "what were you waiting for?". It didn't bother me, I just laugh and say I don't know how to play this game he quickly realizes what he said afterwards and apologizes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At this point the floorman calls me for No Limit. I feel like some guy slaving away at coal mines in Hell when an angel appears and says sorry there's been a mistake you're actually supposed to go to heaven.

Poker at the Ameristar is kind of a paradox. Considering it takes forever to actually get on a table, it would be unreasonable for any remotely decent poker player to want to play there; basically all the guys are probably people who sign up and then go play slots for hours until they are called. However, it logically follows that the play is atrocious. It is so bad that it would be unreasonable for any remotely decent poker player in STL to *not* play there. Anyway the wait time probably balances out with the fish density so that it would be hugely beneficial to maybe 1 pro (if you're in STL and reading this!) to go there whenever possible.

NL hand 1: First hand I play, some guy accidentally raises to $5 UTG (yes, you read that right). 6 callers, I make it $45 from SB with AQ. Folds around to button who calls.

Flop 522
I haven't even acted yet and he instamucks!! This is about the time I start really liking Ameristar.

NL hand 2: Next hand I play is with QQ in late position, limpers to me, I make it $20 preflop. Everyone folds except the same guy to my right.

Flop J83
He checks, I look down at my chips and he mucks before I even do anything again. I show my hand and he comments on how he would have stacked me if it was all clubs instead of spades. I guess it's normal to stack off with a Q high flush draw here?

NL hand 3: Next hand I get QQ again a couple orbits later, I'm in SB with a button straddle (same villain as last two hands). I figure a raise folds out the entire field so I just call and hope I can l/rr someone. No one raises, 5 to the flop.

Flop 33Q
Checked to button, he bets $15. I'm only caller.
Turn 6
Check/check.
River T
I check, he bets $30, I say "raise" and he mucks.

Anyway there are like a gazillion limpers every hand, reminded me of Oaklawn really. I made my standard sizing $20 even though no one else was doing that, would usually get 1 caller who check/folds the flop, or I would even take it down preflop which I'm fine with (tipping $1 every time here is actually a big chunk of the pot!). I opened my range up a bit, but not too much as to preserve my image of always having QQ, which I'm pretty sure some people at my table were convinced of. I ran into pretty much no trouble, didn't win any huge pots but didn't lose more than $20 in a single pot. Ended the night up $301 in 3 hours.

An aside to which made me think a bit more about table image vs. fish:

St. Louis total: $2845, 76 hours.

Omg man awesome write-up! LL HE is just boring, and I completely agree with you on the nits...funny stuff.

Good to see that not everyone playing is a 2p2 shark, I keep feeling like I'm going to wake up one day and the only thing left at casinos will be nits, Aesahs, and Phil Ivey.

Thanks!

OH MY GOD 2+2 IS UP. **** YEA I FELT LIKE A PART OF MY SOUL HAS RETURNED TO ME.

ok so I didn't realize how long 2+2 was down, so I kept session updates as I would normally do in a notepad file. I figured might as well post them, so incoming monster post with 10+ updates or so:

Day 1 (post-hacker): -$453, 4 hours.
Played at Ameristar (hi Andrew). Guy limps UTG, couple other limpers I make it $15 from button with 99, both blinds call. UTG shoves for $100 total. I find a lot of rec players are doing this with hands they simply don't want to fold rather than trapping with AA/KK, e.g., a small pocket pair that can't setmine anymore, as he would have raised any of his value hands instead of limping. I reshove, everyone else folds, he wins with 88.

Few hands later, there's a pretty interesting hand:

~$300 deep, old nitty villain makes it $13 from MP, I flat on button with 99. Another old guy flats from the blinds with $60 left.

Flop J93
Check, villain bets $15, I make it $45, old guy in blinds shoves, villain reshoves ~$300 total to me. I obviously call, villain tables AA.

Turn A
River 5

OK well that actually isn't very interesting at all yet. What IS interesting though is some other dude at the table commented that if villain had called my flop raise, all the money was going in the on turn anyway. I just nodded, but was thinking: what does actually happen if the turn is an A?

With another guy all-in already and very little side pot, I think this villain has 0% bluffs in his range here. On a drawy board like that, I think villain leads with top set since I can have flush draws and straight draws easily in my range. If he is leading though, what can I possibly beat with 99? He's not going to lead KK or QQ, he's not going to have any Ax after he flats the flop bet except maybe AKcc (and I don't even think he would lead with that!). The only other possibility is AJ, but I'm like 95% sure he doesn't raise that preflop. Therefore I can narrow his hand down to pretty much 7 possible combos: 3 sets of aces, 3 sets of jacks, and possibly AKcc. I have never once folded a set on a board without a straight or flush possibility, but I think I would have folded here on the turn if he called my flop raise and led turn.

Day 2: $403, 4 hours.
I saw a guy I've played with a couple times leaving for lunch and I asked if he wanted company. Turns out he was a VIP member at the Lumiere so I had a nice free lunch. Cool.

I was really, really upset with how I played one hand (and this is why I decided to leave). Guy opens to $8 pre, I flat in position with 22. There's 5 people to the flop.

Flop T42
Original raiser bets $30, I just smooth call. Everyone else folds.

Turn T
He bets $30 again, I make it $125. He folds KK because he thinks I have trip T's, should have raised the flop...

I was definitely influenced by a hand earlier where I raised KK from BB (button straddled), got 5 callers and flopped top set, and it was checked down to the river where some guy in late position tried to steal it with an overbet shove. Some other guy relentlessly complimented me for my patience for checking 3 times (and I think it was the right play, due to straddle it was SPR<2 on the flop). However the situation in this other hand is obviously really different. Sighhhh. I think I cost myself several hundred there.

Day 3: $121, 4 hours.
Hmm I didn't write anything for today... threadsaver then.

Day 4: $70, 2 hours.
Played half 1/3 and half 2/5. 2/5 is ****. I think I was the best player at the table but people playing solid is just so trash in terms of profitability. I basically felt like I was grinding NL100 online making 2bb/100. The only time I witnessed a stackoff (I wasn't in the hand) was TT vs JJ vs open ended straight flush draw on 4TJdd.

Day 5: $327, 4 hours.
Interestingly enough, most of my profit today was redline rather than my usual blueline. I've been light 3 betting, and find that most LLSNL players (in STL anyway) give you credit for a premium pair when you 3 bet, but they call preflop anyway and fold if they don't hit 2 pair or better. I can't say I understand the mentality at all... I've seen the situation where someone flats my 3-bet preflop then folds JJ faceup to my cbet on 953r WAY TOO MANY TIMES. I used to think 3-betting light sucked because you have no preflop fold equity, but people check/fold the flop so often...

Another play I've been using a lot is a postflop raise squeeze. I find it's pretty frequent for someone to open to $15, get 4 callers, cbet a rediculously small amount like $20 on a drawy board and get a couple callers. Pretty much no one can have a strong hand since they would want to protect. I'll make it $100 to go into a pot of $120, which makes it $80 for them to call to win $220 but most people are thinking "wow 5x raise, that is huge!" Even if someone happens to have TPTK they will usually fold against an unknown (me), so I've been having huge success with this.

Day 6: $75 in 6 hours.
This was my longest session for a few days now, one noteworthy thing was I lost about 6 pots in a row against a really fishy lady who flatted all my preflop raises then played passive fit-fold. I shut down after 1 cbet, and she showed me a set or 2pair every time, it was unreal. I did a good job on not tilting and not letting her nonstop string of sets affect how I played against her.

Day 7: $93 in 6 hours.
Why you always have to add in a spazz factor when ranging against non-mega-nits:

UTG limps, I make it $17 from UTG+2 with AA, everyone folds to UTG who calls. We're both about $400 deep.

Flop JJ9
I cbet $20 (too little?), he checkraises to $60. I tank-folded since I figure there's a high chance I'll have to stack off here if I don't, and I figured I'm either way behind or flipping at best. He shows 75

Day 8: -$288 in 5 hours.
One hand I lost $300 almost immediately upon sitting down on. Villain is an unknown middle-aged white guy who has maybe $800 in front and is drinking a beer:

Button straddles for 6$, SB calls, I call in BB with 55, UTG makes it $25, button, SB, and myself call. 4 handed on the flop.

Flop AAJ
checked around.

Turn 5
SB checks, I check, UTG bets $35, button calls, SB min-checkraises to $70, I call, UTG and button fold (wtf).

River 8
SB bets, I call. He shows AJ.

Everyone at the table says I can't fold here, but SB's min-checkraise clearly shows he's not afraid of the straight or backdoor flush draws (so probably not trip aces), also has basically no fold equity, so what hands are even in his range besides boats?

Day 9: +$193, 3 hours.
I made a really stupid fold where I opened to $20 with AJ, some old guy who I've never seen raise shoved for $60 total and I folded thinking it had to be AA/KK/QQ/AK when I only needed ~30% equity. He showed A8 Gotta call in these spots, easiest call ever.

Day 10: +$1869 in 7 hours.
-$248 in 5 hours at 1/3, +$2117 in 2 hours at 5/10. My first time playing 5/10, I bought in for $1152. It was a 5-handed or 6-handed table for the majority of the time I was there. Had a pro to my left, everyone else just generally solid. It was really reminiscent of online play: people raising 3x, lots of pots taken down preflop or going heads up to the flop, not what I'm used to at all, which is raising 7x and getting 4 callers. I played pretty straightforward. Early on I showed a double barrel bluff with T9 on 557J3, I raised preflop from UTG+1, UTG limper and big blind call. 3 handed on flop checked around, 1 caller from the blinds on the turn who check/folded river (this play might have been a bit spewy from me, but it's the first hand I showed any aggression on at all so I thought I'd get credit). I replicated the same bet/motion two more times shortly after with value hands but villain folded each time. Ran up about $500 when the following hand happens:

Villain (middle aged Indian guy wearing sunglasses) straddles on button to $25, both blinds call, I make it $150 from UTG with AJ. Button calls, everyone else folds. We're ~150bb deep.

Flop J94, pot $350.
I lead for $225, villain calls.

Turn Q, pot $800.
I check, villain bets $350, I call.

River K, pot $1500.
Villain shoves for my last $800, I thought about this for longer than I've spent on any hand ever, then called. Villain mucks, entire table is applauding my call with third pair but damn I would have felt really, really, really dumb if he showed me a straight.

The single biggest factor in my decision was that this is a game that runs once a week in STL with basically the exact same players every time, so as an unknown, I'm sure villain views me as scared money- since I look like an internet kid, I also figured he might expect me to cbet 100%, and would therefore float often since I can't have many hands that hit that flop with a UTG raise (6-handed). The turn and river cards are obviously great cards for him to bet when checked to, and I figured he would do this with any non-showdown value hands he called the flop with. Anyway /shrug biggest pot I've won in my life. Hooray!

As for the actual poker, he's repping basically only a T, so T8, QT, JT, JT, T9. Given stack sizes, I feel like he would shove T8 and QT on the flop with these stack sizes since SPR<1.5 on the turn, and that the turn bet for $350 was just really weird for middle strength hand given those stack sizes for various reasons (he pretty much has to fold an open-ender if I shove over his turn bet, ). Furthermore I felt Qx or Kx or even two pair and maybe a set would just check behind on the river. While I didn't think he had a value hand, the real issue that made me think for so long is I couldn't think of that many hands he can actually have. Pretty much just Ax, 87, or low pocket pair.

In general, when someone takes a line that makes no sense it's usually either air, or they binked the river HARD. Although I'm ~150bb deep, due to the straddle and my preflop 15x open this hand plays more like 30bb deep postflop, and I only have to be good on the river ~1/3 of the time so I figured he had enough air there.

I was debating whether to include my shot at 5/10 in my total, but I included losses from 2/5 when I first arrived in STL so it's only fair

Day 11: 4 hours +$322.
Ameristar as usual has the worst players ever.

Day 12: 3 hours +$206.
Last day in STL! Summary of trip report will come shortly in a separate post. Thanks for reading if you've made it this far If you skipped to the end without reading, you still get one heart for being in this thread