#1: Poker isnt easy
#2: standard donk bluff by villian not sure why you dont c-bet the flop for value. otr you have no info about his hand whatsoever, worked out good because you caught a bluff but really OP you need to be charging him for the next 2 streets your hand isnt the nuts not sure if your slowplaying or whatnot but start taking these guys to valuetown.

GL in your quest i really admire your move even if it wasnt the financially best one. not many people have the balls to make change, make sure you dont blow this chance tho study hard, play hard! subbed

#1 True, it took years of studying to get to where I am now. It would be more accurate for me to say that for me personally right now, it is easier for me to wake up and go to the casino every day than to an office.

#2 Sorry I really should have included description, I've seen villain bluff river a couple times before. Keep in mind I only played 2 hours too lol so that's a pretty high frequency. Also despite his spew in this hand, I thought he was a pretty decent player so it'd be hard to valuebet him here (he won't have worse aces or kings in his preflop limp/call range like ever). Honestly though I didn't think 52o was in his range either... but hey.

Played 2 hours of 5/10, 2 hours of 1/2, lost $231 at 5/10 and won $31 and 1/2. I was really card dead, I made a total of 2 value bets at 5/10, one which didn't get called, the other which I value cut myself after the other guy checked two pair THREE TIMES on a dry board and I bet 2nd pair. I've had AA once, KK zero times, QQ zero times, JJ once in my entire time at Cleveland. It's ok though I'm still running a great hourly due to running good vs people's ranges, but it would be nice to have some cool hands.

I made my first live poker 4 bet bluff today. It worked.

4 hours, -$200.

Cleveland total: $1092, 15 hours.

sizing on the 4 bet? im curious

pretty crazy titlte.... but u can do it! GL

I actually need to figure out what's proper here. I opened from button to $30 with K3s (right after folding to a check/raise on flop, guy showed top pair, so I figured villain in this hand may think I'm tilt-raising), villain 3 bets from SB to $90, I make it $250 with $1000 behind and he folded.

OK I finally have some poker content to report. Played all 2/5 today (first available between 2/5 and 5/10).

Hand 1:
A few orbits after I sit down, overall very fishy table. Somewhat fishy villain in MP+2 limps, HJ limps, CO limps, I cut out a raise but somehow manage to limp instead with Q9 on the button (very uncharacteristic for me, I'm folding this almost always and raising sometimes). SB folds, 6 handed flop. Villain starts the hand with roughly $250 (hero obviously covers, I have 90bb+ at all times!)

QQJ, $32 in pot
Checked to me, I bet $20, villain is only caller.

Turn 8, $72 in pot
Villain leads for $50. Hero???



Hand 2:
CO limps, I raise A4 on button to $20, loose player in BB calls. Heads up.

Flop 977, $47 in pot
Check, I bet $30, he calls.

Turn T, $107 in pot
Check/check.

River J, $107 in pot
Villain leads for $50, I raise to $165, villain tank folds, I show. IMO this is an extremely good spot to bluff where he won't ever call without at the very least the nut flush, and it's going to be extremely rare for him to have better but he could be easily be either bluffing or value betting a flush hoping I call with a straight or worse flush.

Hand 3:
Button limps, I raise in SB to $20 with KK, same villain as hand 2 in BB calls, button calls. 3 players to flop.

Flop KT8, $60 in pot
I bet $40, BB calls.

Turn T, $140 in pot
I check, villain bets $60, I raise to $185 trying to replicate my earlier bluff motions, villain shoves. ~$510 more to me and I obviously snapcall. Villain shows QT. He actually shortchanged me $10 in this pot due to the mega-newbie dealer making us count our own chips (wtf????), and he gave me two stacks of 19 reds instead of 20 along with a bunch of green chips. Pretty sure it was accidental and he was a nice guy so I didn't bother mentioning it.

Since I was complaining about premiums it's only fair to report that I also got AA once today too. Boring hand, I raised UTG, 1 caller, he called my flop bet and folded to my turn bet.

After playing 5/10 and 2/5 more, I've upped my squeeze/light 3 bet frequency by a huge amount and it's been working out well so far. Mostly taking it down preflop.

+$951 in 3 hours.

Cleveland total: $2043, 18 hours.

That hand #3 is sooooo nice....there is little better than having a monster like that when someone has a strong enough hand to pay you off.

Keep it coming!

I played a whopping 1 hour today, and a total of 3 hands. Lost my first buy-in and just didn't feel like playing more.

Hand 1: I raised A2s from MP over a straddle, double barreled a low paired flop and a queen on the turn HU vs a loose player in the blinds. I showed after he folded.

Hand 2: I raised 66 on the button, 2 loose callers including villain that paid me off yesterday. Villain leads for $30 into a $100 pot on T73dd, other guy calls, I make it $170. Wish I had a better hand to do this with (like even AKo). Villain shoves for $130 more, other guy folds, I sigh call. He shows T3o. Awesome.

Hand 3: Right afterwards, I've got like $200 left. I 3 bet with AJo vs a guy who's opening 30%, caller in the blinds and original raiser calls. I shove flop for less than a PSB on T43, guy calls with JTs.

-$500, 1 hour (lol).

Cleveland total: $1543, 19 hours.

Sounds like you were trying to force things. If these had been 3 plays over the course of the evening, I completely understand; can't just set-mine. But one hour? Your first hand was an advertisement for bluffing; isn't the point of cultivating that image to smack people with solid hands after that? I doubt everyone at the table was so meta as to be expecting that. Instead, you backed up wild play by calling with basically air.

It's easy to say "less than a psb" or the like when you are staring into the face of a hand you know you're going to lose. I don't think that SPR should always be blindly followed. I'm not a fan of 'sigh calls'; I didn't like hand 2 or 3.

As usual, I am willing to admit that maybe I'm being too nitty here and this is something I need to learn about, but I still don't like it. Basically going all-in on that board against that betting with 66? A shove with overs? edit: and all of this within the first hour? Why not pick a better spot? What's the rush? Even donks like the villain are going to catch hands every now and then (otoh, he called raise pf with 103o? jesus)

Shake it off, take some time, and come back when you're ready to play.

I don't mind either play. Calling with 66 is only because it's only $130 more into like a $400 pot and he could have a draw (I guess I can MAYBE fold here but I'd feel silly), and in hand2 if either villain is only calling with top pair or better it's very profitable to shove there, try messing around with ranges in Pokerstove. I can even expect folds from low pocket pairs too.

I haven't done much work in Stove myself recently due to being lazy so I figured this would be a good exercise. I'm going to use that example from Hand3 against 1 opponent with some estimations.

Hand 3: I've got like $200 left. I 3 bet with AJo vs a guy who's opening 30%, caller in the blinds and original raiser calls. I shove flop for less than a PSB on T43, guy calls with JTs.

So, I set JT to be near the bottom of his preflop range and came up with this- I didn't even remove monsters but if he shoves AK, JJ+ preflop then his range here could potentially be even weaker:

{ 22+, A5s+, KTs+, QTs+, JTs, T9s, 98s, 87s, 76s, ATo+, KTo+, QTo+, JTo } 20.7%

On the flop, if he only calls with 55 or better (and it's very possible he actually folds 55), then his calling range is:

{ 55+, ATs, KTs, QTs, JTs, T9s, ATo, KTo, QTo, JTo } 9.7%

EV of check/folding is zero bets of course. Against certain villains check/call would be good here. But let's say against this guy shoving is best.

50% of the time when he folds, I win 1 bet.
40% of the time he calls and I lose, I lose 1 bet.
10% of the time he calls and I win, I win 2 bets.

EV of shoving is .5 - .4 + .2 = +30% of the pot using the above ranges. However in reality it's actually much better than that.

Again those are using rough assumptions, but you can tweak them however you like. For example if I remove AQ+, JJ+ from the above range, then he folds much much more than 50%- even more importantly, I have 42% equity against his calling range! I only need 33% to willingly stack off here.

Obviously I am against 2 opponent's in this particular hand, the math is a bit more complex than I care to mess with but it's very clearly a shove IMO.

Hand 2: I raised 66 on the button, 2 loose callers including villain that paid me off yesterday. Villain leads for $30 into a $100 pot on T73dd, other guy calls, I make it $170. Wish I had a better hand to do this with (like even AKo). Villain shoves for $130 more, other guy folds, I sigh call. He shows T3o. Awesome.

In this hand, I'm risking $170 to win $130 with my flop raise, so I need both opponents to fold roughly 40% to show immediate profit even if I lose the hand 100% of the time when called. I think I easily have this, sometimes you lose but I do this play all the time and it usually works. Reasoning: who the **** bets less than 1/3 pot with a good hand on a fairly drawy board, and the guy who flats that bet almost definitely can't have a good hand because he would want to protect. I'm expecting guy2 to fold over 90% of the time here, and guy1 to fold about 75%.

After he shoves over my squeeze, it's a very easy call. I have to call $130 to win ~$570, so I need a bit less than 20% equity. I know for a fact this guy raises rather than limps his good hands so using the following estimated range for opponent I have that (it's a pain to set diamonds only filter for suited stuff so I'm not going to give the percent, and yes I realize I didn't put T3 in there):

{ 77, 33, AJs-A2s, KTs+, T7s+, 86s+, 54s+, ATo, KTo, QTo, JTo, T9o, T7o, 98o}

I want to clarify that the Stove analysis in the above two posts was VERY rushed and not that good- it's only meant to serve as a very rough estimate. Don't worry too much about it if you disagree with anything, you're very possibly right. Shouldn't change the outcome by much though.

No, these are exactly the types of things I need to learn to take the next step in my game and I thank you for taking the time to write all that out (was probably like 30 seconds for you but it is greatly appreciated lol). Have never used Stove, know I should be, and when I really get back to studying I certainly will.

I don't believe in soulreading or any of that crap; the vast majority of the time you are better off sticking with the math. I still feel you were trying to rush things a bit. This is not to say I disagree with you, especially in the face of the math validating your decision. My point is that sometimes the math (hand ranges are the way to go but not flawless of course) doesn't tell the whole story, you know you're going to lose, and saving that $130 is a better idea.

Anyway, you're clearly a superior player to me so I wouldn't give what I say that much thought. Thanks again for taking the time.

Thanks for the comments! Always appreciated.

Well, I knew I was going to lose after I saw his hand and the turn and river

However, like I said I expect villain to fold roughly 50% of the time, and the other guy to fold a much higher frequency since he can have ATC in his range here. Even if they don't fold, I expect to have ~25% equity when called (errr, I wrote 42% earlier somehow which very obviously isn't right).

Ill believe when you scan a pay stub. $9000.00 a year dont count.

lol are you ****ing kidding me

u play live IIRC how do you detail hands so well i be like WTF happened again!

[x] living birth control reminder
[ ] mature
[ ] haters post useful comments
[x] troololollolol

God damn it I hate immature kids and stupid people. Go play elsewhere.

Nah it's my fault for making a stupid title. Bad habit from my previous job, like I said I used to work a lot with scientific publications in which eye-catching titles are highly desirable. OH WELL.

@welsh, sometimes I note the cards/bet amounts in my phone. Also I usually play really tight preflop so I don't play that many hands period

Thanks for the comments.

This is so awesome to hear. I don't think your decision to pursue poker was a bad one, but the extra income, an addition to your resume while you're out of the workforce, an outlet if you're needing a break, and a reference if/when you're over poker sure is tough to beat.

Thanks for the comment!

Man, there is no question IMO! I have never, ever heard of anyone who said "I wish I had more money, I really regret taking a pay cut merely for a funner job".

On the other hand, how many times have you heard of guys saying the reverse: "I wish I didn't spend so much of my life doing that job I hated".

Also I just found this dorky graph I made a couple years ago that indicates I'm running way below EV.

i forgot what your job was before what was it?

Was hired for bioinformatics. Majority of the stuff was microarray analysis, although I did a little bit of a bunch of things. Unexpectedly became a writing legend around the office somehow (it still baffles me tbh) and ended up doing a lot of scientific technical writing. At the end it was probably like 40% data analysis, 40% writing, 20% random stuff. Was pretty good stuff but really just too lonely and wasn't something I enjoyed/wanted to keep doing.

At least for now I love poker, I love the game itself and I love going to the casino to hang out with people. It's my calling.

I don't think we ever knew