You are not being too results oriented. Turn is a fold, even versus described V, at 1/2.

I got thumped yet again at the tables, nearly dropping both 200bb buyins I brought. One buyin of it was standard losing session stuff. Card dead. Aces cracked by a $70 random shove with 73s saying "I'm ready to go home." Big cards whiffing every flop. Mid pairs flopping overs and facing bets. In the entire 2.5 hour session I won one pot almost 2 hours in. That was definitely a record. It was a piddly little limped pot where I rapped in the BB with Q9o and lead a 934 flop. I got one call, and J rolled off. I was ready to lose again, yet my turn bet got another fold and I almost wished I hadn't won just so I could say I went a whole session without winning a hand.

Then there was this hand. I'm embarrassed posting it, but I'm going to own up to it and be honest here. I bluffed off $400. It was a bluff I've made a few times before and it's always been successful. I think I'm still up money making these types of plays, but this one failed miserably. The villain in this hand is not a great player. He plays too loose, and barrels too lightly, but he's not a pure station. He covers me in this hand. I have a shade under $400 to start the hand.

I'm dealt 66 in middle position. One limp in front, I limp, and one limp behind. V pops it to $15 out of the BB, I call, and the button calls.

Flop ($45) 773

V bets $30. He's going to bet his whole range here. I could easily be in the lead here, and elect to call. His range is TT+AQ+ and maybe some other stuff in there. The button calls behind me. He is definitely weak.

Turn ($135) 7733

V bets $45. His sizing is weak, but I don't think that's indicative of his strength. If anything I think he's more likely to have a big pair at this point. But, with the double pair on the board, it's time to have some fun. I raise to $120. Button hesitates for a frustratingly long time before finally folding. V hesitates for 20 seconds and makes the call. His range is now face up as JJ+.

River ($375) 7733J

V checks it over to me. I debate for about 10 seconds and empty the clip for a shade over $200. That's an OK card as the flush probably scares him a bit. He doesn't take too terribly long to make the call and sheepishly flip over my 66 and get shown his pocket kings. He said he didn't see how I had a 7 there and put my on pocket queens. Yes, no one limp/calls 78s at 1/2 but they limp/call QQ all the time. Whatever.

Raising the turn on a paired board is a move I've made from time to time. I probably do it once every 30 hours or so. This is only the second time I've ever had to empty the clip on the river, and the first time I've been called. There's a few things that have to line up for me to make the move, and this hand checked all the boxes:

-Stacks have to be big enough to pose a real threat
-Me having trips+ has to be consistent with how I've played the hand up to the turn.
-V's range can't include trips+
-V can't be a call station.

I think my mistake is that when this particular guy called the turn my river fold equity was so bad that I should have aborted. I think he was a bit too confident he had the best hand on the turn and the river wasn't enough of a scare card to get him to change his mind. My read on him was a bit off, and I chose the wrong person to bluff. I did have one person at the table say it was a sick bluff and he wouldn't have been able to call it. Thanks I guess. My hope was that I would at least get to use my garbage image to make some good value bets later but it was just not mean to be as I pretty much never made a hand the whole night. At least two people at the table were bad regs who hopefully have good memories of me as the idiot who bluffs off his stack the next time I'm at a table with them.

I played a couple back to back sessions. First one was up $95, second one down $55, so up $40. Back to back they combined for one of the most card dead stretches I've had in a while, so I'll take a small win out of it. I didn't do anything stupid like bluff off my stack this time. If anything I played maybe a bit too snug and maybe missed a c-bet or too, but overall it was just a lot of folding. There's a couple hands I will put in LLSNL for a quick checkup.

Since there are no interesting hands, I'm just going to rant about a couple people in the card room.

The first was an elderly disabled woman. Disclaimer: I fully support the full rights of the disabled, especially when it comes to poker. There may come a day in my life when my body doesn't work as well as it used to, and when that happens, I still want to play cards, and I will do my best to accommodate those that need help at the tables. I've played with blind and deaf people before and it's always been a good time. But this woman was too much for me. She had some sort of neuromuscular disability. Her hands didn't work too great, but she could still grab and check her cards, and move some chips around. Although she was sitting in the #1 seat and the dealer would often help with her chips, which I thought was great.

But she would ALWAYS wait until it was her action to look at her cards, which for her was a much longer process than normal. Then after she checked, her decisions were often long and drawn out. A typical hand would play out like this:

Fold to her. 15 to 30 seconds of her checking her cards. Then a speech. "Oh dealer, I guess these cards are OK, and I'd like to play them. I will call." Koss raises. Folds back to her. "Well, I'm not too sure about these cards anymore. I guess... I guess... I guess I will fold." Repeat.

Thankfully it was a must move and I didn't have to stay too long, and we ended up at different tables. When I got picked to move, I had just folded from the BB, and was told I could play my button before moving. I seriously thought about leaving right then, because god only knows how long my button would take, but I stuck around for it.

Then the next table, immediately on my right, is another a-hole buried in his phone the whole time. I got excited when my room started enforcing the "phone down while you're in a hand" rules, but they've been letting way too much go lately. If he played a full hand he probably had to be reminded on at least two of the four streets that it was his action.

Maybe it's because I used to play 500 hands per hour online, but I cannot understand why people do not do everything in their abilities to keep the game moving. Ugh.

Anyways, results:

Hours played: 49
Sessions: 21.
W/L 14-7
$ won: 862.

The struggles continue. I was seated at a pretty decent table last night, with a couple deep maniacs on my right. It was mostly a night when I was whiffing every flop and my c-bets weren't really getting through. I had a lot of AT-AK hands and didn't hit the flop a single time. Unless you count the time I flopped an A with AT and then got rivered, luckily I sniffed it out and made a good fold. Maybe need to brush up on my c-betting a bit. When I was running good I felt like these were getting through a lot. Then I slowed down on c-betting a bit as I felt I wasn't getting great textures to do it on. Yesterday was all great textures, but so few of them got through, with the biggest loss being on this weird hand:

We're 6 handed and I'm in the BB, and we're all about $400 deep. The button (maniac#1) straddles to $12. The SB (maniac#2) calls. I make it $40 with ATo. Folds to the button who calls, and SB calls as well.

Flop($120) K32. I have the A

I elect to c-bet $70. Btn pops to $170. SB verbalizes fold and I turbomuck. SB shows A3s and Btn shows 23s for bottom 2. It's frustrating I couldn't catch a hand against these guys.

Anyways, here's a graph of my first 50 hours from this run. Hopefully there are many more, and hopefully there's some more winning in there, but this is where I'm at.

That certainly was a session.

Set of 9's loses to a flush.
KJ < KQ on a KKxxx board.
AA < 98 in a raised multiway straddle pot and a 998 flop.
I fired a flop 972 flop with KJ. Turn 9 and I check back. River Q, he check/calls with 52s.
Several more good spots ran out wrong.

Does anyone believe in Karma? I don't, but if it's a thing, hopefully some is coming my way. During one orbit, there's a 5-way limped pot, and I forget what I limped on the button. A few of us limped with reds, so the dealer goes through the change making routine. He goes to deal the flop, and the pot is $15 of 3 red chips. I point out that the pot isn't quite right, I think there's some extra. I feel like the kid reminding the teacher she forgot to assign us homework, but I do have a little bit of integrity. The dealer seems confident it's right. I'm not sure what else to say. After a couple seconds he decides to check the tray, and realizes it's $5 short. He thanks me, and gets it right.

Despite all this run bad I'm somehow only stuck $300. I've already stayed one orbit past my curfew, so I'm going to hear about this from my wife. At least it's the last hand. I've got a rack on the rail ready to fill it up as soon as I fold. The old me had a bad habit of playing too loose on my last orbit trying to make something happen, especially on the last hand. Let's see what garbage hand I get to fold before we leave. AA. Are you ****ing kidding me? Here we go:

Raise to $12. 1 call. 2 calls. 3rd call. Yuck, AA UTG in a multiway pot. These end up being swingy thin value spots for big $. The 4th player ca... no wait... he's going to 3-bet. $77. The guy who I've watched open limp hands as strong as 99 and AKo has just 3-bet my AA to $77.

He's got me covered by a bit. He's been playing weak tight and I don't think I've seen him win a hand since I've been at the table. No wait, I take that back. He beat me earlier when I flopped a monster combo draw and couldn't hit. 64cc on a 8c5c4d board, and he had limped 99.

Folds back to me. I actually think about calling, but we are just a bit too deep for that. Any raise size makes it less than a PSB post-flop, and gives him an additional opportunity to decide he's beat and fold. I decide to use my obvious last hand and LAG image, and jam. Maybe he'll level himself into a call.

Now the first limper starts asking for stack counts!? The dealer counts out my stack. $413. I think I have him covered, but it's close. He eventually folds. Finally it folds back to the 3-bettor who starts counting out chips. He pulls back 2 white chips from his $77 raise, and now I know the call is imminent, he's just going to get the pot right. He puts a very colorful $413 out there that includes a great looking mix of black, green, red, and white.

I fast roll my hand but he doesn't show. The board runs out 34577. He sits there staring for what seems like an eternity. He's not going to slowroll me here is he? Then he flashes one card, the 8!?! He mucks the other one. That's a record pot for me. Karma! Unfortunately that only puts me up $148 on the session because of the beating I took in the first two and half hours. Hopefully that was the rest of the run bad working its way out and that hand is a sign of more things to come.

Finally, let this be a lesson to anyone who might actually read this blog. We preach it in LLSNL, but TOP OFF YOUR STACK. I was stuck $300, but because I kept my stack topped off to $400, I was able to double up on my last hand and walk away a winner. If you are a winning player, and are comfortable playing deep, always buy-in for the max. Deep stacked no-limit is superior to 100bb or less buy-in games.

I think I lost like $200 with pocket tens last night. Every time I get them I flop overs and then my opposition pours on the heat. I might need to start questioning their value at 1-2. I did at least successfully bluff catch. The pot was $100, I had QQ, and OTR the board is 7894K. I check called a $20 bluff from QT and won a nice pot.

But then this hand tanked me later. One limper to me in the SB with JJ, and I make it $13 total. BB folds, and limper calls. Flop is 234. I lead for $17 and get called. Alarm bells are going off. I suddenly don't like this hand. Turn is a J. I suddenly like my hand a lot more. I lead for $40 and get called again. River is an 8. I only lose to the two straight hands. I bet $100 and get pretty much snap called by A5o. I feel like playing this slower would have been MUBSy, But doing the combinatorics on it, if his hand is set+ by the river, I'm in bad shape. I feel like flop & turn are standard, but the river is interesting. I think his range of hands he gets to the river with is way wider than the range he can call a bit bet with. So maybe betting small or checking is better? I feel like I'm only getting called by big hands with my $100 bet, and most of those big hands are straights. I might post this hand to see what LLSNL thinks.

Strange session last light but I'll take it.

AT in a straddle pot, a few limps to me OTB and I make it $30. Two calls. Board runs out 23466, we check the hand down, and MHIG.

A6s raise OTB, get 3 calls, flop is QT6hhh, we check the hand down, MHIG.

KJo raise in MP, get one caller, c-bet a QTx board and give up, whiff on everthing, but MHIG.

Flat a raise OTB with KQ. 5-ways to a AT2 flop and I take it down with a flop bet.

I somehow manage to book an $80 win during the 2 hour session despite whiffing most flops. I think I made TPTK with AK early on and that was my best hand for the session.

It was a fun table with deep stacks, lots of limping, and a few players trying to win pots with 72, so there were some big bluffs. I was pretty card dead but was still active in late position. I wish I could find more tables like this.

Results so far this run:

Hours: 60
Winnings: $746
Session record: 17-9

The main challenge lately has been my winning sessions are smaller than my losing sessions. Aside from some big pot F-Ups mentioned earlier in this thread, I think I've been playing pretty well lately. I haven't run many bluffs, but I'm always looking for some spots to open my game up a bit more postflop without punting a buy-in like I've been known to do.

I'm a wuss.

1 limp to me OTB and I raise to $13 with AQo. Two whales in the blinds call, and the limper jams for $15 total. We all call the remaining $2 and go to the flop.

Flop AK7 with a spade draw and a dry side pot. W1 checks, W2 bets $25, I call, W2 calls.

Turn AK78 draw doesn't complete. Same action as the flop.

River AKK78 draw doesn't complete. Check/Check, and I check behind. W1: AJo. W2: ATo. Limper: ?? and I scoop.

Should I have bet the river there? The K smacks their ranges, but I don't think they both check a K there if they have it. I think I'm good about 99% of the time when that river card comes and it checks to me, and clearly they have Aces in their range that can call. I suck.

I haven't had any more doom switch sessions but it's been more of a slow drip of money leaving my roll. I guess I've only played a lol 63 hours this run so far, so it's not like I can expect any consistency, but it would be nice if I could book a nice win again someday

If somebody had a king they would have bet the river given you’d never take the line you took with Kx.

Flop or turn should have been a raise.

Raising feels like a bit of an overplay. I'm sure it's a leak, but I feel like I give people too much credit in side pots. Thanks for the feedback though, I know I definitely will bet this river next time. Anyways, on to today's post:

I haven't updated much lately. I've still been playing, but mostly alternating up and down sessions treading water, with very few interesting hands. Over the past 300 hours or so I've seen a lot of times where both good and bad players come in and go on sick heaters running up their stack to well over $1000. That had never been me. While I don't play long sessions so I know that hurts my odds, I've still seen it happen in short time frames that I know it's possible, if not fairly common. I have been waiting patiently for a long time for my turn in that chair, and last night was that night!

It started out with a hand I think I actually misplayed a bit. I get KK in MP, raise, and get a couple callers. Flop is something like K74r and I check it back. Turn brings a flush draw, checks to me, I bet $20, and get x/r to $50. I 3-bet to $120 and get a fold. I think I crush the board so hard there that I'm getting folds like 95% of the time with that 3-bet and should just flat and let him screw up the river.

Next hand about 30 minutes later, I again have KK in late position. This time it's a $5 straddle pot, several limpers to me, and I pop to $30 getting a couple calls. I again flop top set on a KT7 flop with 2 clubs. Checks to me and this time I bet $45, trying to squeeze some money out of some of the middling hands and draws. One of the callers only has about $70 left and jams. Turn comes the case K, and I scoop the pot plus a $250 high hand bonus.

Finally the piece de resistance. Between the 2 KK hands I've run my $400 up to $600 (high hand money is not in play) and get 88 OTB. A couple limpers to me, and I pop to $13. A LAG in the SB makes it $25, a limper who has me covered flats, and I flat. Flop comes K83r and I'm running hot!

The LAG leads $75, giving himself only about $60 or so behind. While I know he is probably never folding, I'm at least running through his range trying to decide if it's best to put him in now or flat and let him barrel the turn. Before I get my chance, the limper jams for $800!!!!.

I actually spent about 10 seconds to make sure I had my hand right and that 33 was equally or more likely than KK, and make the call. Lag has AA, limper has KQ, and the runout is clean. The limper was visibly pissed and immediately racked up his remaining stack and stormed off. I scoop the biggest pot of my life, around $1350.

1.75 hours, $1190 of profit, and I am almost entirely out of my $1400 downswing. My graph now looks like a bathtub curve.

I've had a couple small down sessions since the big score, but less than $100 total loss, so nothing too crazy. This hand was my biggest loss of the last couple sessions, and it's a spot that doesn't happen too often but I feel like I always come out on the wrong end of it.

The button in this hand is a wild action player. He is limp/calling just about everything pre, and sometimes putting in large ($25+) raises pre with some fairly questionable holdings. He starts the hand with $150 in his stack and I cover. He straddles for $10 OTB.

We're 7 handed and I'm in the BB with TT. I make it $30. Folds to the button who jams, and I snap call. He has QQ. I watched a video where Ryan Fee advocates limping your whole range from the blinds against a button straddle. I'm not sure I'm ready to try it in these games where players both limp too many strong hands and flat raises with too many weak ones, but it's an interesting thought. I do think raised button straddles do generate "better" preflop play because you get a lot more folds when a $5 straddle is raised to $20-$25 then you do raising a $2BB to $12.

Anyways, I feel like I need to be a bit more careful against maniacs when the pot gets inflated. While TT feels like a snap call (and probably rightly was in this case) I do think their ranges get a lot narrower in these inflated spots. They'll play garbage all night but when the big money goes in they seem to have a real hand.

Anyways how about an update on my winnings since tracking my play at 1/2:

Winnings: $4113
Hours: 232
Rate: $17.73/hr.

I'd like to hit a winrate of $20/hr. A couple big splash sessions should get me there. Next weekend the MSPT comes to town, so there should be some nice cash action. I wish I was more comfortable sitting in some of the bigger games, because that weekend is about the only time games larger than 2/5 run in mid-Michigan, but maybe in October if I'm still grinding then. I need to not blow a bunch of money before my Vegas trip in June.

Spot on reflections regarding maniacs. What you say is true for most maniacs, they can raise any two garbage preflop or fire a healthy C-bet or double barrell with a wide range, but when big money/deep stacks goes in postflop they usually have it.

Thats why it is so important to find correlations in each maniacs game that you face in terms of what their bets means, like try to find out if they also is a maniac when big money goes in- cause some are too obviously, even though they can be rare.

Like my friend played against a maniac that had a wide range even with big bets last summer in Vegas. 1-2 $800 effective stacks. My friend 3 bets maniacs 15 open to 60 with pocket 1010. Maniac wastes no time 4 bet shipping allin, my friend snapcalls, maniac tables 6-7 suited. I said to him afterwards that i was impressed of the instacall for 400 blinds deep with 1010, but he was totally in tune with what this maniac was doing and what he was capable of.

Thanks for that . I'm not sure if I'll ever be good enough to snap off $800 with TT, but it definitely does seem like those spots come up occasionally at $1/$2. I haven't been posting as much lately, and I haven't been playing quite as much either. I've been doing some work around the house and getting ready for my work trip, which will include 4 days in Las Vegas working, but I'll be able to get some poker in during the nights. Then my wife flies out for 3 days of vacation. I won't get many huge hours in, but my goal is 15 or so hours of poker, maybe with a shot at 2/5 while I'm there.

On to tonight's hand. Surprise surprise, TT again. A maniac pops it to $10 UTG. I'm two seats to his left, and I re-pop to $40. Normally TT is not a 3-bet against an UTG open, but this guy is playing almost every hand and has recently started raising a lot. Folds to the SB who flats the $40.

Now, this is not just any player in the small blind. He's a guy I've played with probably 100 hours with over the last 4 years. He's the nittiest nit to ever nit. He limp/folds a lot preflop, and really only raises or calls with premium holdings. He usually short stacks for $100, and he's sitting on $150. I am definitely up lifetime over this guy, usually stealing his blinds. I've made it my life's mission never to pay off one of his hands.

The original raiser folds (no surprise) and we take a flop.

Flop ($90) 237 Nit checks to me. Interesting spot here. His range is TT+ AK, probably not AA or KK. Effective stacks are only $110. Normally this is a clear shove. But against him... I'm not sure. He checks. I bet $35. He jams. I level myself into a call, thinking he could be as bad as 88 or even have a couple big diamonds, and lose to KK. I ****ed up, and paid off the nit I swore to never pay off. He said he was worried I had AA. If he has been paying any sort of attention to me over the years he knows I'm much laggier than that. Of course I have an easy fold to his 4-bet jam, so his scaredness got him paid here. I'll tread more carefully in the future.

Thanks to a couple other big pots I played tonight, I only lost about $50. I had a flush draw + a gutter hit in a $300 pot which was nice, but then ran my 3 of a kind into a boat in another huge pot. Back to the grind. Hopefully I can get in about 3 or 4 more sessions in the next couple weeks before I ship out for work on June 4th.

I'll actually be spending the first 6 nights of my work trip in Colorado, about an hours drive from a casino. I've never played there, but I might escape and make the trek one night. We'll see.

Interesting thread OP, following along

Thanks. Hopefully I keep it going. Ive never actually quit playing poker. I just take a few years off at a time. Im hoping my life is stable enough that I keep it going more regularly.

It may switch to an online poker thead if Michigan legalizes online poker. On one hand I like live 1/2 and the easy money, but I know I could get in much more volume online. We will see. At least for now its still 1/2, but possibly some medium buy in tournies coming soon!

I think one thing I need to work on in my game is just to tone down my aggression a bit. One one hand, I really like my style of play. I try to make sure every pot I play is a big one. I feel like I have a skill edge over my opponents at the table, and I want to exploit their mistakes of limping weak hands by raising a wide range preflop and then outmaneuvering them in a good sized pot post-flop. I've really cut back on my limping behind, and have been doing a lot more late position raising of limps with some relatively weaker holdings. Some examples of raises I made last night that may or may not have worked out were:

K9s raise to $15 from the HJ after 3 limps.
J7s raise to $10 from the BTN after 1 limp.
J8s raise to $12 from the BTN after 2 limps.

I realize these are loose raises, but they are probably profitable limps. I feel like raising these hands might have a bit more EV than limping along, and it builds the image I want to give me action on my strong hands.

I think in general I play better postflop than my opponents, so by building a LAG image and playing more pots in position, I can exploit this edge a bit more and try to squeeze every last penny I can out of them.

I just need to be careful not to overplay hands like I may have here.

It's early in the session and I don't have much experience with anyone at the table. We're playing 7 handed. I open black AA UTG to $11, and the blinds call. The main V is an older woman with $150. I cover.

Flop($28) 46T

SB checks, V donks $15. I raise to $50, SB folds. She calls.

Flop($128) 46T9

She checks, I jam, she calls with 66.

While I have no doubt that I am going to lose a fair amount of money with AA when a set is flopped against me, looking back on the hand the flop raise feels like a mistake. While these donk leads tend to be weaker hands, AA isn't really vulnerable to much on this board other than the flush. I'm not sure I can get enough value out of a raise to make it worth it. While I do think I should have a raising range on this board, I'm not sure AA belongs in it. I think this is generally a call down on safe runouts spot. While I can get value from Tx hands with a raise, I also risk folding them out, and it's a bit optimistic to expect someone to stack off with top pair when I'm repping a big overpair and am fairly transparent. I'll have all sets and flush draws I can use to build a somewhat balanced raising range (or just stick to value raises).

Gonna nitpick you here

K9s, if you don't just decide to dump it pre (which I would, & personally I wouldn't overlimp it in MP either), you have to go at least $16 here, and I'd go as big as $20-22. I think 5BB+limpers (& if in danger of being OOP, add 1-2BB to that) should be your baseline IYAM. I think part of the +EV of these larger opens is simply taking it down preflop (vs the weak/tight/risk-averse crowd), or sizing big enough that we only get one caller at most (hopefully the inelastic fish), & a big sizing will accomplish that alot more than the standard 3-4BB+limpers that you commonly see @ LSNL. It's pretty disastrous when you size too small & induce a train of calls w/ a very thin-value hand & also now have very little potential to get a bluff through.

Same problem w/ J7s & J8s, assuming everyone is full-stacked. Go bigger. Take it down, or get it HU w/ position & a semi-playable hand/SPR (this is good whether our plan is to run a bluff or get value). This will also condition your opponents & they will be less suspicious/fearful when you want to size similarly w/ your premiums later on.

Obviously all this is debatable. I just happen to view the game through this particular lens, and I think it works fine.

Continued luck @ the tables.

I think when you have hand that is probably an on the fence profitable limp along, a raise doesn't really hurt the EV that much, but builds the image I want. Maybe I'm wrong, as I lost 2 of 3 of those hands despite my position.

There is definitely value in preflop bluffs trying to steal pots, but I think it's better to not waste a value hand that can be limped profitably. I'd rather choose offsuit versions of those same hands, or even worse hands like 98o.

Another mistake people make is they are way too fit or fold in these games. While they call down multi streets too light, they often fold the flop too easily, so I can steal lots of pots with c-bets. In the K9s hand the flop came A87 and brought a backdoor flush draw. I c-bet, got called, and shut down. The hand checked down and the guy had 77. I'm going to win that pot everytime he doesn't flop a set, and when he does and my disguised backdoor draw hits I win big there too.

Maybe I'm overestimating my edge, and I'm sure I could tighten up some a winner, but with the amount of poor postflop play in these games I definitely want to try and get involved in more pots than I would if the competition was tougher.

A) Image is overrated @ 1/2, though I'll certainly concede it is a 'thing', but I'll just say you can go hours not opening a hand @ these stakes, have people loudly call you out as a nit, etc. open $15 UTG w/ AA & get called in 4-places like it ain't no thing. Yeah I don't mind you trying to manipulate your image some, but just be careful w/ that logic. You gain just as much by them thinking you're a super nit if you know how to bluff effective as well (aka they will make drastic FTOP mistakes vs you often if you adjust properly).

B) I would not choose offsuit over suited versions to ISO, as turning FD's is a fundamental element of barreling, I think hitting a small-mid flush has way higher RIO in limped pots vs raised pots, plus our FE goes way down the more people we invite into the pot generally speaking (thus neutralizing part of the advantage of our suitedness/connectedness to begin with).

C) That CB/Line/Plan on that board texture w/ K9s seem fine to me. No objections.

D) I like to get involved in limped pots when I know there are a handful of POW's @ the table. Otherwise I tend to avoid them w/o the CO/BTN. Yeah we occasionally outmaneuver or squeeze out some value in limped neutral/readless situations, but I think it's pretty close overall, and I doubt many people have a huge sample proving they crush limped pots, even though everyone loves to tout their 'skill edge' as a justification for overlimping all sorts of suited/connected crap. Yeah play @ these stakes is quite poor, but I've come around to not thinking every other person is a drooler who will just hand over a signficant % of their stack in a limped pot just because I'm "better" than they are. That's not how it works.

Thanks for the thoughts. I have noticed my results have dipped a bit recently when I've been lagging it up, so maybe there is something to that. And I know what you mean about image being overrated. The nit I mentioned earlier has been playing in the room for years, playing what I feel is like a 15/5 VPIP/PFR, and I still watch him get paid off by weird crap on occasion. Usually about half the table is regs that know him well and get out of his way, but the other half is people that don't have our history and keep dumping money to him. Although I think on the flip side if you have an aggressive image people will figure that out quickly and try to bluff catch you more, which is usually what I want. It's something to think about though, and I appreciate the insight.

I haven't posted in a bit. I've been taking a bit of time off poker to get a few things done around the house and get ready for my work trip that leaves on Monday, so it's pretty unlikely I play before then. My job is to program engine controllers for an auto company, so I'll be in Colorado making sure things work up at altitude, and then to Las Vegas to test in the heat and on Mt. Charleston. While the work days are a bit long (usually 7:30am to 6:00pm) I definitely plan on being slightly sleep deprived and getting some poker in on my trip.

Here's my rough plan:

June 4th through 9th we'll be in Colorado. Denver for 2 days, and then the rest in Frisco. One of the days in Frisco (probably the Friday) I plan on heading out at night, about a 45 minute drive to Black Hawk where there are some card rooms. I'm not sure which room yet. It looks like from Bravo that Ameristar is the busier room, so probably that one. If anyone reading this has a recommendation, I'm open to suggestion. It will be my first experience with this pseudo NL spread crap that I assume is the result of some antiquated state law, but I'm sure I'll adjust fine.

Then Sunday is probably my favorite day of the trip. It's a scenic drive from Summit County Colorado to Las Vegas. It's about 8 hours of some pretty amazing views all through Colorado and central and Southern Utah, followed by a couple hours of flat desert heading into Vegas. We get there around 5pm. I want to play some rooms I've never played in before, including at the WSOP. I've been in the convention center, but never played, so here is my plan for Vegas:

6/10 - MGM Grand 1/2
6/11 - Caesars Palace - If I run well in CO and MGM this will be a 2/5 session.
6/12 - WSOP - I'm on the fence here. If I have the energy, this will be a $365 nightly deepstack. If I go deep I'll be running on fumes the next day, but the 13th is our last working day and it's usually a lighter one. If I'm tired, I'll just play some cash.

On the 13th I pick my wife up at the Airport and we are on vacation until the 16th, so very little poker during this time. We're staying at the Flamingo, so maybe an occasional light session there.

I also reserve the right to abort any of the above plans if I get drunk and just feel like hanging out with some work friends. Alcohol has been known to have that affect on me. The only time I'm firm on playing is making it out to the RIO for some cash or a $365.

I'll try to post some updates from the trip. They are some long and busy days, but if I can stay on top of my work I should be able to get in my planned poker sessions and hopefully come home with a bigger roll than when I left!

HFGL.

Nice. Ameristar was definitely best for cash in Blackhawk as of when I left Colorado about 4 years ago. Golden Gates for donkaments.

Donkaments you say? I do enjoy a good donkament, as I rarely have time to play them at home. I see they have a $140 at 7pm. That just might work. Thanks!

On Garick's advice I went to Golden Gates tonight for some donkament action. It's probably been about 4 years since I've played one, but I fell into the groove pretty quickly. The quality of players were definitely quite poor. It was most of the same bad limping you see at 1/2, with a couple people that didn't even seem to know what they were doing.

First level I pick up AA in the BB, 3-bet it, and get two callers. Flop comes 237. I bet and get a call. Turn A. I check, he bets big, I shove, and get snapped off by 45. The board does not pair and I think I'm the first one out. 2 minutes later I'm back in a seat on my 2nd bullet. I pick up KK early on and win a nice size pot. Then I get my AQ in vs. a short stack AK and lose back what I won. The first hand at 400/800/100 I pick up AK UTG+1. UTG makes it 2000, I jam for 11500, another short stack calls, and UTG calls. UTG has A9, and the other shorty has AK. UTG hits the flush. i opt against a 3rd bullet even though it's still in the rebuy period.

My co-worker who came with me was doing OK at the craps table, so I decide to join him, and my luck follows me from the poker room, and another $100 flushed there.

Black Hawk is definitely a cool little town though. We both sort of regret not exploring more as we were planning on a later night but ended up both being done gambling earlier. Maybe next year.

I'm definitely re-thinking if I want to dump $365 on a tourney in Vegas after how this one went. I'm fairly confident I have an edge against the field I just played against, but even then my odds of cashing are so low I'm not sure if I'm willing to part with $365 that easily. I guess it will depend how I do at 1/2 Sunday and Monday. One more day of work in Colorado and then it's Vegas time!

loldonkaments!