Labax Playing Live In Vegas - Accountability and Reflection
02-02-2018
, 06:58 AM
January is over so it seems the right time to round up what's happened over the last month.
Live poker wise this was my worst month by an absolute mile. I started off the month doing my absolute pieces and being down 3kish in the first few days. This was mainly due to me shotting 1/3 at the Vic and getting rekt. I think rekt is the wrong term, I think I played okay but lost 2 big pots and that was basically it. The increased swings in reg heavy games are pretty sigh and I definitely have some negative emotions towards higher stakes mainly due to be losing in most of the sessions. After this and firing off 1k in a tournament I decided to be a bit more reserved and only really fire the bigger games if they actually look decent.
I started playing a fair bit more online, these are my results for 25z so far.
I would be playing even more on stars outside of live but I got access to a "better" site where I've had very good results since getting on it.
As the month continued I ran even worse. I used to be one of those people who said, it's hard to even have a losing week in live but the reality is if you run bad in every big spot it's very hard to book winning sessions. I'll save the sob story because in reality it's not even necessary, I'm still blessed.
As a quick side note I think it's actually extremely hard to even play well when running bad for prolonged periods of time, you always second guess yourself, care far too much about the exact outcome of a hand and generally you just feel like nothing you do works. Every time you have value villains are making crazy turn folds etc.
Anyway time for a few painful and less painful hands.
1/2
I open A
Q
to 10 UTG, two known whales call sb and bb.
(30) Q42
x,x I bet 20 both call
(90) 7
x,x I bet 75 both call
(300)
A
Sb whale checks and bb jams 250, I feel both whales would raise their sets on turn in this spot after playing with them a lot. BB has got out of line many times donking missed draws and nothing really gets there on river. There's a chance one of them might donk worse like A2cc. We're so high up and without a club I just can't see myself folding especially when I feel sb is also capped. I call and bb whale shows 53o. trolololol
----
Vs the same whale in the 53o hand a few days later.
1/2
One EP limper, 53o reg makses it 8 in HJ and I make it 35 in CO with QQ BTN fish cold calls and HJ whale calls.
(110) Q93
Checks to me I bet 55 BTN folds reg whale calls.
(220) K
He checks and I check back, vs most whales idc I just barrel anyway but this villain is more of a reg whale, far too loose but extremely stationy vs regs in certain spots. Also is capable of bluffing massive too so there's more ev in a xb here vs this villain than most imo
(220) 4 he checks and we jam for 450, pretty big exploit vs whale but I think he has a bunch of one pair hands in this spot as he will often bluff missed draws and we are just going to get tanked called enough in this spot for me to like this size. He tank calls QJo and we scoop.
----
1/2
Big fish opens 10 MP he 3 bet AQo in HJ to 30, he 4 bets to 60, generally he had never been doing this but 700+ deep with awful fish I think we just peel and see what happens.
(123) Q84rnbw
He quickly bets 100 and I'm like urgh here we gooooooo, I call
(323)
8fd he bets 160 and I seriously consider explo folding but villain had shown tendencies to value bluff so I was like urgh kill me. I call and he says "gl mate" just before river is dealt I'm like jesus this guy has it every time.
(643)
Jx he bets 200 leaving himself 160 behind and I just hate my life, sizing looks value heavy as **** ofc but idk hm to ever look into it, like getting better than 4:1 I decide to spew call which I don't like, if I'm on A game I think I find a fold. I call and he slowly turns over JJ. Was tilting too because I said outloud whilst tanking that it would be sick if he had JJ, J is actually one of the worst rivers so I really should be finding a fold on it. I sent it to some friends who said yeah probs call but idk, this is just one of these times in poker where you can't catch a break. Whale was a super station too so legit on any other river I'm likely getting a stack when he checks to me blablabla...
Onto the month ahead I will likely be playing more "online" and having a normal sleep schedule which will result in me attending uni more often.
Any questions feel free to fire away. glglgl
Live poker wise this was my worst month by an absolute mile. I started off the month doing my absolute pieces and being down 3kish in the first few days. This was mainly due to me shotting 1/3 at the Vic and getting rekt. I think rekt is the wrong term, I think I played okay but lost 2 big pots and that was basically it. The increased swings in reg heavy games are pretty sigh and I definitely have some negative emotions towards higher stakes mainly due to be losing in most of the sessions. After this and firing off 1k in a tournament I decided to be a bit more reserved and only really fire the bigger games if they actually look decent.
I started playing a fair bit more online, these are my results for 25z so far.
I would be playing even more on stars outside of live but I got access to a "better" site where I've had very good results since getting on it.
As the month continued I ran even worse. I used to be one of those people who said, it's hard to even have a losing week in live but the reality is if you run bad in every big spot it's very hard to book winning sessions. I'll save the sob story because in reality it's not even necessary, I'm still blessed.
As a quick side note I think it's actually extremely hard to even play well when running bad for prolonged periods of time, you always second guess yourself, care far too much about the exact outcome of a hand and generally you just feel like nothing you do works. Every time you have value villains are making crazy turn folds etc.
Anyway time for a few painful and less painful hands.
1/2
I open A
Q to 10 UTG, two known whales call sb and bb. (30) Q42
x,x I bet 20 both call
(90) 7
x,x I bet 75 both call
(300)
A
Sb whale checks and bb jams 250, I feel both whales would raise their sets on turn in this spot after playing with them a lot. BB has got out of line many times donking missed draws and nothing really gets there on river. There's a chance one of them might donk worse like A2cc. We're so high up and without a club I just can't see myself folding especially when I feel sb is also capped. I call and bb whale shows 53o. trolololol
----
Vs the same whale in the 53o hand a few days later.
1/2
One EP limper, 53o reg makses it 8 in HJ and I make it 35 in CO with QQ
BTN fish cold calls and HJ whale calls. (110) Q93
Checks to me I bet 55 BTN folds reg whale calls.
(220) K
He checks and I check back, vs most whales idc I just barrel anyway but this villain is more of a reg whale, far too loose but extremely stationy vs regs in certain spots. Also is capable of bluffing massive too so there's more ev in a xb here vs this villain than most imo
(220) 4
he checks and we jam for 450, pretty big exploit vs whale but I think he has a bunch of one pair hands in this spot as he will often bluff missed draws and we are just going to get tanked called enough in this spot for me to like this size. He tank calls QJo and we scoop. ----
1/2
Big fish opens 10 MP he 3 bet AQo in HJ to 30, he 4 bets to 60, generally he had never been doing this but 700+ deep with awful fish I think we just peel and see what happens.
(123) Q84rnbw
He quickly bets 100 and I'm like urgh here we gooooooo, I call
(323)
8fd he bets 160 and I seriously consider explo folding but villain had shown tendencies to value bluff so I was like urgh kill me. I call and he says "gl mate" just before river is dealt I'm like jesus this guy has it every time.
(643)
Jx he bets 200 leaving himself 160 behind and I just hate my life, sizing looks value heavy as **** ofc but idk hm to ever look into it, like getting better than 4:1 I decide to spew call which I don't like, if I'm on A game I think I find a fold. I call and he slowly turns over JJ. Was tilting too because I said outloud whilst tanking that it would be sick if he had JJ, J is actually one of the worst rivers so I really should be finding a fold on it. I sent it to some friends who said yeah probs call but idk, this is just one of these times in poker where you can't catch a break. Whale was a super station too so legit on any other river I'm likely getting a stack when he checks to me blablabla...
Onto the month ahead I will likely be playing more "online" and having a normal sleep schedule which will result in me attending uni more often.
Any questions feel free to fire away. glglgl
02-18-2018
, 10:28 PM
So it feels time for another update.
Online is going okay, shotting 50z on stars now (regs seem a lot more solid imo) playing on the app a bit but not as much as I should.
Live has gone reasonably well too, managed to get out of the big hole I was in and the month/year/everything is on track.
Looking back at the 5ish week period where I literally made **** all it's easy to look at the big hands which I ran bad in and say "ahh what can you do" or "I've barely made a hand in weeks, I can't remember the last time I stacked the whale" etc but I think it's easy to enlarge the overall severity of these situations which clouds the reality that you're probably playing very badly too. This was easily the case for myself and I would say the large majority of regs too. This really nails in the quote that the best regulars are the ones who lose the least on downswings.
So we're approaching the 5 month period since this live journey/thread was started and I'm happy with how things are gone, I've worked super hard on my poker and mental game, made some valuable friends and had some great experiences. In the past in poker I've squandered opportunity after opportunity, people around me always telling me I had potential and instead of studying and grinding I would be punting time on YouTube or gaming etc. The past few months has probably been the first time in my life I actually got my **** together and I plan to keep on pushing myself.
For those of you that read my spins thread around a year ago you'll remember the altercations I got into with my parents over poker, from the threats of being disowned to me eventually saying **** it I want to give it a shot there was a lot of difficulty with my family coming to terms with it. The thing is I didn't really want them to come to terms with it, I was doing it for myself, I wasn't going out there to prove others wrong.
A few days ago I got an email from my Dad where he basically said he was wrong, he just knew how gambling turned out for most people and he didn't want me to turn out the same way (I would likely feel the same way in his shoes). He said that he knows what I'm doing requires skill and that it was clear I had the aptitude and rationality to succeed.
I didn't really know how to feel, I still don't know how to feel. I guess it's nice to have some underlying support and I can appreciate the lengths my dad went to in order to say he was wrong (old fashioned british alpha males struggle with this), even if it was just via an email.
I'm also aware the journey is far from over, complacency kills in poker and I know I need to keep working on my game and put in the hours if I want to keep this going.
One thing which has continually suffered (ever since I started it really) is university. I don't enjoy my subject (engineering), I find myself continuously unmotivated to even go to lectures. I find myself in a limbo between the "just get it finished" mentality and "**** it follow your dreams". If it was easy for me to just finish it I would but day after day I'm realising how much work it actually is and how much I don't enjoy it. It's even weirder now because I know I can definitely support myself (and then some) dropping out of university and I also enjoy poker a lot too, I was even mulling over the thoughts of it during the midst of the downswing which I think says something. Even my mum said "maybe take a year out and focus on poker" but we all know I'll end up never going back. I don't really know what to do or say but it's not a decision I'll make overnight.
And on a slightly different note here are some hands.
1/2
Two limpers and I complete 43 in SB, aggro fish BB (completely off his lid) makes it 14 one limper (fish) calls and 1k+ deep with both I call.
(45) 942
I check BB bets 25 CO calls I call
(120) 7
I check BB bets 85 CO calls I call
(375) Q
I check BB leads 275 and the CO tank folds and whispers something to fish next to him (I was massive but he's still to act behind and points at me LOL)
Basically cus CO has made hand blockers, live reads and the BB being asbolutely off his lid I decide to call
"You win... I think"
Uh oh get the ****ing stretcher value bluffs incoming.
He shows KJo and we scoop, one of these spots where everyone at the table is in shock and you can't help but feel like a bit of a boss.
---
From a very good 2/5/10 at Hippo which I shotted.
We open A5 UTG to 30, BB and straddle who are both whales call.
(92) A99
Checks through, both had bluffing tendencies so I think vs these whales I lean more towards checking compared to loose passive whales where it's just a pretty standard bet.
(92) 4
Straddle bets 40 we call BB folds.
(172) T
He throws out a pink we snap and he taps the table and says "you have ace?", we do indeed have an ace.
As a side note in terms of nut enjoyment playing in any kind of game where the whales actually bluff has to be the most fun I ever have at the table, after countless hours of 3 barreling top pair and waiting for them to muck it's a refreshing change to actually play against stars who actually have a bluff in them.
Another hand from the same game
---
2/5/10
I open UTG 30 with AJ reg SB calls and same BB and straddle whales from before call
(122) Q83
Checks to straddle whale who bets 85, I call and bb calls.
(377) T
BB chucks out 375 with around 200 behind, whale folds and it's on us and I feel sick. I'm in the tank for legit ages trying to think if this guy has enough bluffs, what our price is, how many outs, is our ace even an out etc and fold. He shows KJ
Online is going okay, shotting 50z on stars now (regs seem a lot more solid imo) playing on the app a bit but not as much as I should.
Live has gone reasonably well too, managed to get out of the big hole I was in and the month/year/everything is on track.
Looking back at the 5ish week period where I literally made **** all it's easy to look at the big hands which I ran bad in and say "ahh what can you do" or "I've barely made a hand in weeks, I can't remember the last time I stacked the whale" etc but I think it's easy to enlarge the overall severity of these situations which clouds the reality that you're probably playing very badly too. This was easily the case for myself and I would say the large majority of regs too. This really nails in the quote that the best regulars are the ones who lose the least on downswings.
So we're approaching the 5 month period since this live journey/thread was started and I'm happy with how things are gone, I've worked super hard on my poker and mental game, made some valuable friends and had some great experiences. In the past in poker I've squandered opportunity after opportunity, people around me always telling me I had potential and instead of studying and grinding I would be punting time on YouTube or gaming etc. The past few months has probably been the first time in my life I actually got my **** together and I plan to keep on pushing myself.
For those of you that read my spins thread around a year ago you'll remember the altercations I got into with my parents over poker, from the threats of being disowned to me eventually saying **** it I want to give it a shot there was a lot of difficulty with my family coming to terms with it. The thing is I didn't really want them to come to terms with it, I was doing it for myself, I wasn't going out there to prove others wrong.
A few days ago I got an email from my Dad where he basically said he was wrong, he just knew how gambling turned out for most people and he didn't want me to turn out the same way (I would likely feel the same way in his shoes). He said that he knows what I'm doing requires skill and that it was clear I had the aptitude and rationality to succeed.
I didn't really know how to feel, I still don't know how to feel. I guess it's nice to have some underlying support and I can appreciate the lengths my dad went to in order to say he was wrong (old fashioned british alpha males struggle with this), even if it was just via an email.
I'm also aware the journey is far from over, complacency kills in poker and I know I need to keep working on my game and put in the hours if I want to keep this going.
One thing which has continually suffered (ever since I started it really) is university. I don't enjoy my subject (engineering), I find myself continuously unmotivated to even go to lectures. I find myself in a limbo between the "just get it finished" mentality and "**** it follow your dreams". If it was easy for me to just finish it I would but day after day I'm realising how much work it actually is and how much I don't enjoy it. It's even weirder now because I know I can definitely support myself (and then some) dropping out of university and I also enjoy poker a lot too, I was even mulling over the thoughts of it during the midst of the downswing which I think says something. Even my mum said "maybe take a year out and focus on poker" but we all know I'll end up never going back. I don't really know what to do or say but it's not a decision I'll make overnight.
And on a slightly different note here are some hands.
1/2
Two limpers and I complete 43
in SB, aggro fish BB (completely off his lid) makes it 14 one limper (fish) calls and 1k+ deep with both I call. (45) 942
I check BB bets 25 CO calls I call
(120) 7
I check BB bets 85 CO calls I call
(375) Q
I check BB leads 275 and the CO tank folds and whispers something to fish next to him (I was massive but he's still to act behind and points at me LOL)
Basically cus CO has made hand blockers, live reads and the BB being asbolutely off his lid I decide to call
"You win... I think"
Uh oh get the ****ing stretcher value bluffs incoming.
He shows KJo and we scoop, one of these spots where everyone at the table is in shock and you can't help but feel like a bit of a boss.
---
From a very good 2/5/10 at Hippo which I shotted.
We open A5
UTG to 30, BB and straddle who are both whales call. (92) A99
Checks through, both had bluffing tendencies so I think vs these whales I lean more towards checking compared to loose passive whales where it's just a pretty standard bet.
(92) 4
Straddle bets 40 we call BB folds.
(172) T
He throws out a pink we snap and he taps the table and says "you have ace?", we do indeed have an ace.
As a side note in terms of nut enjoyment playing in any kind of game where the whales actually bluff has to be the most fun I ever have at the table, after countless hours of 3 barreling top pair and waiting for them to muck it's a refreshing change to actually play against stars who actually have a bluff in them.
Another hand from the same game
---
2/5/10
I open UTG 30 with AJ
reg SB calls and same BB and straddle whales from before call(122) Q83
Checks to straddle whale who bets 85, I call and bb calls.
(377) T
BB chucks out 375 with around 200 behind, whale folds and it's on us and I feel sick. I'm in the tank for legit ages trying to think if this guy has enough bluffs, what our price is, how many outs, is our ace even an out etc and fold. He shows KJ
02-21-2018
, 03:08 AM
One of the more lol hands I've had.
1/2
Co Fish opens 7 off of £160, I 3bet the BTN with AK to 21, SB who I'm 900 deep with cold calls and the CO calls.
(65) QJT
Checks to be I bet 55 both call
(230) 6
Checks to be I bet 175, the SB chucks out four pinks and the woman jams her last 90.
I end up sigh folding cus CC SB fish never work in any bluffs/v bluffs/anything except the goods in this spot.
SB promptly turns over A6
"Nice fold" I thought to myself, I look to my right and see the woman table K9 for a flopped straight flush
1/2
Co Fish opens 7 off of £160, I 3bet the BTN with AK
to 21, SB who I'm 900 deep with cold calls and the CO calls. (65) QJT
Checks to be I bet 55 both call
(230) 6
Checks to be I bet 175, the SB chucks out four pinks and the woman jams her last 90.
I end up sigh folding cus CC SB fish never work in any bluffs/v bluffs/anything except the goods in this spot.
SB promptly turns over A6
"Nice fold" I thought to myself, I look to my right and see the woman table K9
for a flopped straight flush
02-28-2018
, 12:57 AM
tyty 
^
Yeah so basically played chunks of live poker recently.
1/3 Vic
Ep fish limps PLO "reg", picks up raising chips but then limps along in HJ. I wake up with 67 on the BTN and make it 18. EP folds and HJ reg is a proper joker and makes it 62, 750 eff to start the hand, I want to use the "I didn't come all the way on the tube from Leyton to not play hands" line but it's a std peel soooooo...
(130) 855
He bets 75 and since I'm terrible at poker I just call, think raising is far better just denies equity from his lul range.
(280) 6
Reg jams for 600 LOL, we tank for a while, call clock on ourselves due to reg telling me I should even tho he "never calls clock on people" (ok m9). Tbh this is actually a snap, don't even think he plays some of his AA and KK like this and is more weighted to lul broadways.
We call he has QJ, river brick and off to omaha he goes.
---
1/3
Reg who adviced me to call clock on myself opens 15 in UTG, fish calls UTG1 and I 3b KK to 65 in UTG2 1.8k eff with reg (should 3b bigger yeye). He four bets to 240, fish folds and we peel.
(499) 523
He bets 135, we call
(669) 5
He bets 375 and I get seriously close to explo folding, his A4s and A5s are massive on this board and pretty sure I peel these also vs his four bet this deep too so it's not even that explo to fold KK here. I sigh call turn cus kings init.
(1419) Q
He checks I check back and we win vs AQo
---
1/2/5/10 Aspers
I'm in DS (BTC whale to my right so save the comments).
Italian reg thing limps BTN, whale calls straddle I check K9 in DS
(33) KT4
Checks through
(33) 6
Whale checks I bet 25 reg makes it 65, I think he's full of it and start getting the cape ready.
(163) 6
We check he jams 200 we break his neck and beat 75
Most of his value with whale in pot is just going to be betting flop imo so yeye legit reps hearts and draws etc.
Month has gone v well, working super hard on my game. This might sound like the usual 2+2 "everyone is **** imma work harder vamo" line but I see a lot of leaks with regs especially mentally. There's a lot of "if you check river instead of lead you get it all" ego **** talk from regs and lot's of table game leaks too. I think as poker in general gets harder, mental game will really seperate the men from the boys. Seeing the leaks a lot of 1/3 and 2/5 live regs have makes me motivated to work even harder since I know it's definitely possible to get through these stakes with the right work ethic and mindset.
^Yeah so basically played chunks of live poker recently.
1/3 Vic
Ep fish limps PLO "reg", picks up raising chips but then limps along in HJ. I wake up with 67
on the BTN and make it 18. EP folds and HJ reg is a proper joker and makes it 62, 750 eff to start the hand, I want to use the "I didn't come all the way on the tube from Leyton to not play hands" line but it's a std peel soooooo...(130) 855
He bets 75 and since I'm terrible at poker I just call, think raising is far better just denies equity from his lul range.
(280) 6
Reg jams for 600 LOL, we tank for a while, call clock on ourselves due to reg telling me I should even tho he "never calls clock on people" (ok m9). Tbh this is actually a snap, don't even think he plays some of his AA and KK like this and is more weighted to lul broadways.
We call he has QJ
, river brick and off to omaha he goes. ---
1/3
Reg who adviced me to call clock on myself opens 15 in UTG, fish calls UTG1 and I 3b KK
to 65 in UTG2 1.8k eff with reg (should 3b bigger yeye). He four bets to 240, fish folds and we peel. (499) 523
He bets 135, we call
(669) 5
He bets 375 and I get seriously close to explo folding, his A4s and A5s are massive on this board and pretty sure I peel these also vs his four bet this deep too so it's not even that explo to fold KK here. I sigh call turn cus kings init.
(1419) Q
He checks I check back and we win vs AQo
---
1/2/5/10 Aspers
I'm in DS (BTC whale to my right so save the comments).
Italian reg thing limps BTN, whale calls straddle I check K9
in DS(33) KT4
Checks through
(33) 6
Whale checks I bet 25 reg makes it 65, I think he's full of it and start getting the cape ready.
(163) 6
We check he jams 200 we break his neck and beat 75
Most of his value with whale in pot is just going to be betting flop imo so yeye legit reps hearts and draws etc.
Month has gone v well, working super hard on my game. This might sound like the usual 2+2 "everyone is **** imma work harder vamo" line but I see a lot of leaks with regs especially mentally. There's a lot of "if you check river instead of lead you get it all" ego **** talk from regs and lot's of table game leaks too. I think as poker in general gets harder, mental game will really seperate the men from the boys. Seeing the leaks a lot of 1/3 and 2/5 live regs have makes me motivated to work even harder since I know it's definitely possible to get through these stakes with the right work ethic and mindset.
03-12-2018
, 05:51 AM
So I guess we're at our first reasonable milestone since the start of the thread.
Just broke 1000 hours.
Here's the overall graph including everything from 1k tourney bricks to 2/5. Any live poker I've played in a casino is on this graph.
Here's the 1/2 graph which is like 870 hours with a £27/hr win rate.
Won a fair bit on the app as well which isn't included on above results.
---
After starting in September with next to no experience playing cash at all, I think I've come a long way. Mentioned them before but shoutout to Smit and Jason for being the catalysts behind my success, hope you both are doing well.
To the (literal) few I've shared my results with before posting them publicly, some have said. "Oh live must be easy if you're making this much", "I'm gonna probably start playing live now, I heard xyz is good for live".
I think the overwhelming view from the outside is that live is this portal in poker where everything is easy, whales are plentiful, regs are bad, games are soft etc etc. And to some extent, this is true. However, I feel the reality from observing things over the past 1000 hours is that in the main casino I play at there hasn't been one person come in since I joined (6ish months ago) and establish themselves as anything above a reg-fish (around breakeven). If it was this easy to hop in I think far more people would be doing it, and it's not from lack of trying. I've seen people over and over attempt to shot the games and "make it happen" but for endless reasons end up going back to the drawing board every time.
I'm not writing this to give myself a pat on the shoulder, it's just that the main reason I feel most people fail at live poker is complacency and denial. It's easy to say things like "all the regs are so bad", "this guy is a kappa reg", "I'm on a 0 reg table vamoo". And again like yes, a lot of live regs are lazy but this makes it even easier to fall into a slumber when the people around you are slouches. People will also tell themselves they're grinding and just put in poor quality hours and just use "run bad" as an excuse where their 22 hour session or 90 hour week didn't go to plan.
I think one reason for my initial success since the start of the thread is "as the title says" being able to have accountability for more of my actions and just working harder (and more importantly smarter), this is something I struggled a lot earlier in life and poker. I genuinely think I worked harder than 99% of new regs would have with my initial results ITT. I surrounded myself with the right kind of people, I didn't gloat to people during heaters or ***** during rough patches I just tried to dedicate my mental energy to the things that I could control (+1 to Stoic Philosophy). There was a massive whale who came to Aspers every day for maybe 2-3 months, did 500-1k every night. The bad regs were laughing and thinking about how much they could win, I was writing super in depth notes into her playstyle, how to exploit her in a lot of spots and spent a lot of time looking at hands I wasn't in which she was playing whilst other regs were just on their phone.
To some of you who I know read/lurk this thread and want to become successful at poker, mindset really is everything. I see many people constantly lie to themselves about how things are going how they are doing and unless they really go back to square one, they just have no chance whatsoever, it doesn't matter how many hours they'll grind or what their short term results are, unless they change their mindset and approach to the game nothing will be any different.
But enough about other people for now, what are my plans for the coming months you ask? Well I have uni exams in a couple months and my live volume will suffer heavily. I'll probs be doing 50ish hours a week of uni study and poker time will consist of me probs getting min points for a cash race alongside mainly playing 1-2hours of 50z a day and studying with friends in PIO etc.
On the fence about if I just get uni done or if I take a year out after second year to focus on poker. Even my mum agrees with me taking a year out, don't want to talk about this right now but I'll bring this up in the next post with all likelihood.
Also on the fence about Vegas this summer, could go but I'm a bit of a life nit and might just camp out in London. Games look amazing though sooooooo..... (I'll do a TR as well, would probs go for like 6 weeks).
Whilst this post has had a fairly negative tone I'd just like to say some of the experiences I've had at the tables after the first 1k hours have been some of the best of my life. From watching someone get a national ban/bar for headbutting someone at 11:30am, to watching Israeli-fish doing bags, to tech whales forcing me to get a massage (don't like them tbh :/), to the great great great friends I've made it's been amazing and I regret nothing (except maybe paying off a couple river 3bets which I shouldn't have
)
Here's to the next 1000
Just broke 1000 hours.
Here's the overall graph including everything from 1k tourney bricks to 2/5. Any live poker I've played in a casino is on this graph.
Here's the 1/2 graph which is like 870 hours with a £27/hr win rate.
Won a fair bit on the app as well which isn't included on above results.
---
After starting in September with next to no experience playing cash at all, I think I've come a long way. Mentioned them before but shoutout to Smit and Jason for being the catalysts behind my success, hope you both are doing well.
To the (literal) few I've shared my results with before posting them publicly, some have said. "Oh live must be easy if you're making this much", "I'm gonna probably start playing live now, I heard xyz is good for live".
I think the overwhelming view from the outside is that live is this portal in poker where everything is easy, whales are plentiful, regs are bad, games are soft etc etc. And to some extent, this is true. However, I feel the reality from observing things over the past 1000 hours is that in the main casino I play at there hasn't been one person come in since I joined (6ish months ago) and establish themselves as anything above a reg-fish (around breakeven). If it was this easy to hop in I think far more people would be doing it, and it's not from lack of trying. I've seen people over and over attempt to shot the games and "make it happen" but for endless reasons end up going back to the drawing board every time.
I'm not writing this to give myself a pat on the shoulder, it's just that the main reason I feel most people fail at live poker is complacency and denial. It's easy to say things like "all the regs are so bad", "this guy is a kappa reg", "I'm on a 0 reg table vamoo". And again like yes, a lot of live regs are lazy but this makes it even easier to fall into a slumber when the people around you are slouches. People will also tell themselves they're grinding and just put in poor quality hours and just use "run bad" as an excuse where their 22 hour session or 90 hour week didn't go to plan.
I think one reason for my initial success since the start of the thread is "as the title says" being able to have accountability for more of my actions and just working harder (and more importantly smarter), this is something I struggled a lot earlier in life and poker. I genuinely think I worked harder than 99% of new regs would have with my initial results ITT. I surrounded myself with the right kind of people, I didn't gloat to people during heaters or ***** during rough patches I just tried to dedicate my mental energy to the things that I could control (+1 to Stoic Philosophy). There was a massive whale who came to Aspers every day for maybe 2-3 months, did 500-1k every night. The bad regs were laughing and thinking about how much they could win, I was writing super in depth notes into her playstyle, how to exploit her in a lot of spots and spent a lot of time looking at hands I wasn't in which she was playing whilst other regs were just on their phone.
To some of you who I know read/lurk this thread and want to become successful at poker, mindset really is everything. I see many people constantly lie to themselves about how things are going how they are doing and unless they really go back to square one, they just have no chance whatsoever, it doesn't matter how many hours they'll grind or what their short term results are, unless they change their mindset and approach to the game nothing will be any different.
But enough about other people for now, what are my plans for the coming months you ask? Well I have uni exams in a couple months and my live volume will suffer heavily. I'll probs be doing 50ish hours a week of uni study and poker time will consist of me probs getting min points for a cash race alongside mainly playing 1-2hours of 50z a day and studying with friends in PIO etc.
On the fence about if I just get uni done or if I take a year out after second year to focus on poker. Even my mum agrees with me taking a year out, don't want to talk about this right now but I'll bring this up in the next post with all likelihood.
Also on the fence about Vegas this summer, could go but I'm a bit of a life nit and might just camp out in London. Games look amazing though sooooooo..... (I'll do a TR as well, would probs go for like 6 weeks).
Whilst this post has had a fairly negative tone I'd just like to say some of the experiences I've had at the tables after the first 1k hours have been some of the best of my life. From watching someone get a national ban/bar for headbutting someone at 11:30am, to watching Israeli-fish doing bags, to tech whales forcing me to get a massage (don't like them tbh :/), to the great great great friends I've made it's been amazing and I regret nothing (except maybe paying off a couple river 3bets which I shouldn't have
)Here's to the next 1000
04-08-2018
, 03:20 PM
So it's been a while since my past update, things have actually been going reasonably well. I've taken a lot of time off from live to focus on exams. I'm still studying a lot of poker and playing considerably more online.
Due to things I can't really talk about in much detail, the plans for the summer will revolve around the large (90%?) amount of my volume being online. No I didn't burn out of live, I didn't go on a downswing, far from it actually, I feel I'll actually miss live a lot. I made some very good friends who I respect a lot who I will definitely ensure to still be in contact with. The opportunity for me seems too good to pass up, and no I didn't just find out about it and jumped on the band wagon etc.
But moving aside from all the self-justification and more onto the topic of friends. I feel a super underrated aspect behind having success in not just poker but life in general is who you surround youself with. There's loads of "you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with" and I think it's pretty true.
Part of me used to interpret the above as don't dedicate time to anyone below you, only spend time with people better than you etc. I classed "better" as mainly people better at poker, people with more money than me, people further ahead in life, but now I look at it differently. My flatmate is a pretty chilled out guy, no big issue's in life, no real worries, watches family guy and friends on youtube etc. for a long time we rarely saw eachother outside of the occasional kitchen crossover due to conflicting sleep schedules. However, just to be able to have someone outside of poker who never enquires about it and the fact we can have a casual 20 minute conversation about anything is just way higher value than I ever thought it would be. Similar sentiments can be shared towards my other uni friend who has given me some really solid advice and has reached out to me ensuring everything is okay at times where I actually really needed that.
The same can be said for poker friends too, whilst I have some gto friends who give great mental game and theoretical advice I'm also very good friends with one reg who initially wasn't that great. I think a version of myself from the past would have taken the cynical side and pushed him away because "he wasn't worth my time". And for me getting better theoretically he wasn't worth my time but he was worth my time in many other ways. He showed eagerness to improve, didn't have an ego, was always actively enquiring about lots of things and was (and still is) an extremely genuine (and nice) person. Again the old me would have thought, "how is this benefiting you, you're just helping him and not getting much in return". But the reality was my mindset and my general wellbeing was improving loads via these encounters I would have previously ignored. Like with poker, I think balance in regards to who you surround youself with is key, people are good at different things and can offer you insight which you likely wouldn't have come across if you snubbed everyone below you at first glance.
I'm only really writing about this as a passive reminder for me to keep up friendships with those close to me (less than 10 people I would probably class as "friends" in my life). It's easy when you're playing poker on a consistent basis to let the outside world pass you by, I think it's important from time to time to take a step back and look around you a bit more. On the flip side I think it's also important to know when to not give someone your time and when to cut people off, life is too short to care about everything and everyone. I would say picking your battles is a super important part of life, I see many people waste their energy on things they can't control like a train being delayed or even bitching on a consistent basis about how they run, these achieve nothing constructive and if this energy was used more effeciently I feel everyone would have far more optimal lives.
And in regards to this thread, I'll keep it going even though live volume will drop. This has never really been much about live aside from the rofl hands, I view this thread as more of a way to reflect on how my life is going, some of my online volume will be 50z so I might do some monthly update on how that's going. That's all for now
Due to things I can't really talk about in much detail, the plans for the summer will revolve around the large (90%?) amount of my volume being online. No I didn't burn out of live, I didn't go on a downswing, far from it actually, I feel I'll actually miss live a lot. I made some very good friends who I respect a lot who I will definitely ensure to still be in contact with. The opportunity for me seems too good to pass up, and no I didn't just find out about it and jumped on the band wagon etc.
But moving aside from all the self-justification and more onto the topic of friends. I feel a super underrated aspect behind having success in not just poker but life in general is who you surround youself with. There's loads of "you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with" and I think it's pretty true.
Part of me used to interpret the above as don't dedicate time to anyone below you, only spend time with people better than you etc. I classed "better" as mainly people better at poker, people with more money than me, people further ahead in life, but now I look at it differently. My flatmate is a pretty chilled out guy, no big issue's in life, no real worries, watches family guy and friends on youtube etc. for a long time we rarely saw eachother outside of the occasional kitchen crossover due to conflicting sleep schedules. However, just to be able to have someone outside of poker who never enquires about it and the fact we can have a casual 20 minute conversation about anything is just way higher value than I ever thought it would be. Similar sentiments can be shared towards my other uni friend who has given me some really solid advice and has reached out to me ensuring everything is okay at times where I actually really needed that.
The same can be said for poker friends too, whilst I have some gto friends who give great mental game and theoretical advice I'm also very good friends with one reg who initially wasn't that great. I think a version of myself from the past would have taken the cynical side and pushed him away because "he wasn't worth my time". And for me getting better theoretically he wasn't worth my time but he was worth my time in many other ways. He showed eagerness to improve, didn't have an ego, was always actively enquiring about lots of things and was (and still is) an extremely genuine (and nice) person. Again the old me would have thought, "how is this benefiting you, you're just helping him and not getting much in return". But the reality was my mindset and my general wellbeing was improving loads via these encounters I would have previously ignored. Like with poker, I think balance in regards to who you surround youself with is key, people are good at different things and can offer you insight which you likely wouldn't have come across if you snubbed everyone below you at first glance.
I'm only really writing about this as a passive reminder for me to keep up friendships with those close to me (less than 10 people I would probably class as "friends" in my life). It's easy when you're playing poker on a consistent basis to let the outside world pass you by, I think it's important from time to time to take a step back and look around you a bit more. On the flip side I think it's also important to know when to not give someone your time and when to cut people off, life is too short to care about everything and everyone. I would say picking your battles is a super important part of life, I see many people waste their energy on things they can't control like a train being delayed or even bitching on a consistent basis about how they run, these achieve nothing constructive and if this energy was used more effeciently I feel everyone would have far more optimal lives.
And in regards to this thread, I'll keep it going even though live volume will drop. This has never really been much about live aside from the rofl hands, I view this thread as more of a way to reflect on how my life is going, some of my online volume will be 50z so I might do some monthly update on how that's going. That's all for now
05-09-2018
, 12:47 AM
My first uni exam started yesterday and the last is on the 31st.
Thought I would chuck out an update on how things have been.
Life has mainly resorted around me revising for exams over the past month and a bit. I've snuck in the occasional live session here and there alongside some catching up with friends. I've also been playing a fair amount of 50z.
Before we get into the main plan of action for the summer and year ahead I thought I'd post a hh vs an infamous london trash talker known for reloading 200 at a time and capable of doing absolute piles whilst also handing out some strat advice to regs and fish. After witnessing his antics at the Vic multiple times I walked into Aspers one evenings and saw he was actually sitting fairly deep.
1/2
I open AT UTG1 to 10, definitely a scrape but on a 0 reg table I think it's fine, our villain calls the SB and bb folds.
500eff
(22) AT7
He checks I bet 7 (should likely bet bigger on this texture but it's kinda close), he raises 27 and I think this is totally fine to 3bet but judging from his character his lid seemed pretty far off and yeah that means he might just stack off lighter anyway but I just went with the peel.
(76) 9
He bets 60 and again we're in a super interesting spot on a fairly wet board, there are a lot of bad rivers but I just went for the sneak again since based on previous experiences I've seen him completely airball off, plan was to snap any river at this point.
Well... any river bar this one
(196) A
He bets 160...
You know those times where you just sit back and feel blessed, here I am with the stones vs one of the biggest roflers in London and I don't even care if I'm getting called when I jam since whatever happens I know the reaction is gonna be priceless.
I jam and he folds pretty quickly. And so it begins..
"Nice slow play, nice slow play, you can breathe now don't worry!"
"You had trips right, must've been trips"
"I didn't have trips
I think you missed though right"
"Nah I had a pair" ??? kk m9
fwiw wouldn't be surprised if he had 66 or 88 here or something even worse, could just be an airball and him saying pair on the board, whatever it is I'm still kinda glad I took this line all things considered.
Anyway, onto the coming months, basically because of some prior rofling my final year of uni for my engineering degree is pretty damn important (I mean it's important anyway but I want to ensure I do well, need more marks than most would to get a 2:1 etc etc). This means my hours committed to poker relative to this year will heavily drop. I think live poker will also have to take a back seat from September onwards, schedule wise it would be too hard to balance and I want to get into a solid routine of waking up at a similar time etc and this is next to impossible to do in live.
Now in summer I do have time but I feel it seems somewhat dead to invest a large amount of time into a format which I can't play for a long period. Whilst I will still play some live to effectively socialize I think a lot more of my poker time will go into zoom. It's far easier to balance grind zoom, easy to find those 1 hour pockets of time etc. 50z is a challenge but not going horrendous as of now so I think if I keep working on my game, grind decent volume I should hopefully be in a position to be at 100z by the time uni starts, hopefully be better at 3/4 tabling and then even in my final year it shouldn't be impossible to get some passive volume.
However, I know final year will be a big push for me and definitely require some lifestyle changes. I've always been that impulsive person who mainly focuses on one thing, whether that be sport, MMOs or poker. I've struggled a lot having life balance but it's pretty much a pre-req to succeeding in uni. I think I will actually do a fair bit more blogging throughout the summer and the year so stay tuned
Something to look forward to I guess is that post graduating in June 2019 I'll be spending a few months in the USA which will probably resort in me grinding in Vegas and LA a lot alongside likely doing a road trip and going to some festivals. The plan post uni is to still play poker so hopefully things are kept ticking over with some zoom throughout the year and if I work hard enough I'll lock in the 2:1.
It's funny a few months ago I was very close to dropping out of uni and I'm grateful to have friends both in and out of poker who basically told me it was ****ing ******ed. It's easy to have jaded perceptions when one's time is largely dedicated to one thing and the alternatives you aren't enjoying. I was planning to take a year out to focus on poker but at this stage I just want to get uni over with ASAP and not have it hanging over me.
Anyway that's it for now, glgl!
Thought I would chuck out an update on how things have been.
Life has mainly resorted around me revising for exams over the past month and a bit. I've snuck in the occasional live session here and there alongside some catching up with friends. I've also been playing a fair amount of 50z.
Before we get into the main plan of action for the summer and year ahead I thought I'd post a hh vs an infamous london trash talker known for reloading 200 at a time and capable of doing absolute piles whilst also handing out some strat advice to regs and fish. After witnessing his antics at the Vic multiple times I walked into Aspers one evenings and saw he was actually sitting fairly deep.
1/2
I open A
T UTG1 to 10, definitely a scrape but on a 0 reg table I think it's fine, our villain calls the SB and bb folds.500eff
(22) AT7
He checks I bet 7 (should likely bet bigger on this texture but it's kinda close), he raises 27 and I think this is totally fine to 3bet but judging from his character his lid seemed pretty far off and yeah that means he might just stack off lighter anyway but I just went with the peel.
(76) 9
He bets 60 and again we're in a super interesting spot on a fairly wet board, there are a lot of bad rivers but I just went for the sneak again since based on previous experiences I've seen him completely airball off, plan was to snap any river at this point.
Well... any river bar this one
(196) A
He bets 160...
You know those times where you just sit back and feel blessed, here I am with the stones vs one of the biggest roflers in London and I don't even care if I'm getting called when I jam since whatever happens I know the reaction is gonna be priceless.
I jam and he folds pretty quickly. And so it begins..
"Nice slow play, nice slow play, you can breathe now don't worry!"
"You had trips right, must've been trips"
"I didn't have trips
I think you missed though right""Nah I had a pair" ??? kk m9
fwiw wouldn't be surprised if he had 66 or 88 here or something even worse, could just be an airball and him saying pair on the board, whatever it is I'm still kinda glad I took this line all things considered.
Anyway, onto the coming months, basically because of some prior rofling my final year of uni for my engineering degree is pretty damn important (I mean it's important anyway but I want to ensure I do well, need more marks than most would to get a 2:1 etc etc). This means my hours committed to poker relative to this year will heavily drop. I think live poker will also have to take a back seat from September onwards, schedule wise it would be too hard to balance and I want to get into a solid routine of waking up at a similar time etc and this is next to impossible to do in live.
Now in summer I do have time but I feel it seems somewhat dead to invest a large amount of time into a format which I can't play for a long period. Whilst I will still play some live to effectively socialize I think a lot more of my poker time will go into zoom. It's far easier to balance grind zoom, easy to find those 1 hour pockets of time etc. 50z is a challenge but not going horrendous as of now so I think if I keep working on my game, grind decent volume I should hopefully be in a position to be at 100z by the time uni starts, hopefully be better at 3/4 tabling and then even in my final year it shouldn't be impossible to get some passive volume.
However, I know final year will be a big push for me and definitely require some lifestyle changes. I've always been that impulsive person who mainly focuses on one thing, whether that be sport, MMOs or poker. I've struggled a lot having life balance but it's pretty much a pre-req to succeeding in uni. I think I will actually do a fair bit more blogging throughout the summer and the year so stay tuned
Something to look forward to I guess is that post graduating in June 2019 I'll be spending a few months in the USA which will probably resort in me grinding in Vegas and LA a lot alongside likely doing a road trip and going to some festivals. The plan post uni is to still play poker so hopefully things are kept ticking over with some zoom throughout the year and if I work hard enough I'll lock in the 2:1.
It's funny a few months ago I was very close to dropping out of uni and I'm grateful to have friends both in and out of poker who basically told me it was ****ing ******ed. It's easy to have jaded perceptions when one's time is largely dedicated to one thing and the alternatives you aren't enjoying. I was planning to take a year out to focus on poker but at this stage I just want to get uni over with ASAP and not have it hanging over me.
Anyway that's it for now, glgl!
05-09-2018
, 06:16 AM
05-09-2018
, 07:50 AM
very interesting post, I love to read HH of 1/2 and 1/3 european live cash gamer because I also play in Italy and i think a lot of HHs are more similiar to london or barcelona than vegas where the 1/2 game seems to be too nitty.
My experience is that the 1/1/2 game I play here, with average 400bb stacks and open raise 10-12 minimum is more likely a 2/4 undercovered and also bet sizing I read in 3d by USA players is not perfectly fitting my situation so I do prefer talk with european guys.
I hope you're going to keep posting here, I'm very interested about
and also have a question...
I've been in London 4 times playing a lot at the Vic and Empire, my last time there was in 2011 when the Hyppo and Aspers were just starting their games and at the time they use to run just 1 table.
I'm interested in 1/1 - 1/2 - 1/3 and I'm coming in late august for 5 days
which room do you recommend me the most and why?
It's clear I'm looking for the softest game, I think at the Empire players were less skilled but the poker room was always overcrowded and not so comfortable for long sessions while at the Vic I played also for 12 hour in a row.
Tell me more about your experiences if you can
My experience is that the 1/1/2 game I play here, with average 400bb stacks and open raise 10-12 minimum is more likely a 2/4 undercovered and also bet sizing I read in 3d by USA players is not perfectly fitting my situation so I do prefer talk with european guys.
I hope you're going to keep posting here, I'm very interested about
and also have a question...
I've been in London 4 times playing a lot at the Vic and Empire, my last time there was in 2011 when the Hyppo and Aspers were just starting their games and at the time they use to run just 1 table.
I'm interested in 1/1 - 1/2 - 1/3 and I'm coming in late august for 5 days
which room do you recommend me the most and why?
It's clear I'm looking for the softest game, I think at the Empire players were less skilled but the poker room was always overcrowded and not so comfortable for long sessions while at the Vic I played also for 12 hour in a row.
Tell me more about your experiences if you can
05-11-2018
, 08:11 AM
Quote:
very interesting post, I love to read HH of 1/2 and 1/3 european live cash gamer because I also play in Italy and i think a lot of HHs are more similiar to london or barcelona than vegas where the 1/2 game seems to be too nitty.
My experience is that the 1/1/2 game I play here, with average 400bb stacks and open raise 10-12 minimum is more likely a 2/4 undercovered and also bet sizing I read in 3d by USA players is not perfectly fitting my situation so I do prefer talk with european guys.
I hope you're going to keep posting here, I'm very interested about
and also have a question...
I've been in London 4 times playing a lot at the Vic and Empire, my last time there was in 2011 when the Hyppo and Aspers were just starting their games and at the time they use to run just 1 table.
I'm interested in 1/1 - 1/2 - 1/3 and I'm coming in late august for 5 days
which room do you recommend me the most and why?
It's clear I'm looking for the softest game, I think at the Empire players were less skilled but the poker room was always overcrowded and not so comfortable for long sessions while at the Vic I played also for 12 hour in a row.
Tell me more about your experiences if you can
My experience is that the 1/1/2 game I play here, with average 400bb stacks and open raise 10-12 minimum is more likely a 2/4 undercovered and also bet sizing I read in 3d by USA players is not perfectly fitting my situation so I do prefer talk with european guys.
I hope you're going to keep posting here, I'm very interested about
and also have a question...
I've been in London 4 times playing a lot at the Vic and Empire, my last time there was in 2011 when the Hyppo and Aspers were just starting their games and at the time they use to run just 1 table.
I'm interested in 1/1 - 1/2 - 1/3 and I'm coming in late august for 5 days
which room do you recommend me the most and why?
It's clear I'm looking for the softest game, I think at the Empire players were less skilled but the poker room was always overcrowded and not so comfortable for long sessions while at the Vic I played also for 12 hour in a row.
Tell me more about your experiences if you can
Just as a heads up when 1/3 runs (mainly at Vic) it plays consdirably deeper than 1k, often 1-1.5k+ deep.
In your situation I'd recommend staying between Hippo and Empire, generally speaking they'll be good games at at least one of the places, also bonus for you being at Hippo is you wont contribute the +£1 drop to cash race which you won't be able to play.
05-12-2018
, 08:33 AM
Was randomly flicking through some old hhs and found one which I meant to post recently (hand is from less than a month ago) since it presents spots you don't often see at 1/2
UTG (PLO playing reg thing 650eff) limps, I iso AA to 15 in UTG1, bb and limper call.
(46) J93
Checks to me and I bet 35, bb folds UTG makes it 120 and we peel
(286) 5
He jams for 499 and my original inclination was to snap but for this much I gave myself a minute to think it through and be sure. Eventually call it off cus he's a candidiate that can definitely have bluffs, there were some other factors such as him losing at sports during the session and being visibly tilted which made this even more of a call, A isn't ideal card but I can't really see myself folding even though he can have 33 and maybe J9s
(1.25kish) 5
On this card I kinda sighed inside cus I expect to get ironed quite a lot by his front door combo draws. Thankfully he said "I missed Khi" and we scoop a nice one.
As a slight side note I might do some travelling in the summer and if I end up playing poker abroad their might be a TR of some kind. Part of me also thinks there's some legit value in not playing poker and zoning out but degens might degen so yeah.
UTG (PLO playing reg thing 650eff) limps, I iso A
A to 15 in UTG1, bb and limper call.(46) J93
Checks to me and I bet 35, bb folds UTG makes it 120 and we peel
(286) 5
He jams for 499 and my original inclination was to snap but for this much I gave myself a minute to think it through and be sure. Eventually call it off cus he's a candidiate that can definitely have bluffs, there were some other factors such as him losing at sports during the session and being visibly tilted which made this even more of a call, A
isn't ideal card but I can't really see myself folding even though he can have 33 and maybe J9s(1.25kish) 5
On this card I kinda sighed inside cus I expect to get ironed quite a lot by his front door combo draws. Thankfully he said "I missed Khi" and we scoop a nice one.
As a slight side note I might do some travelling in the summer and if I end up playing poker abroad their might be a TR of some kind. Part of me also thinks there's some legit value in not playing poker and zoning out but degens might degen so yeah.
05-12-2018
, 01:18 PM
I'm glad you posted that HH this morning, just as I was reflecting on a somewhat similar spot. Let's see if you agree that I have to find a call here:
2/5 NL somewhat drunk villain sitting on ~$4k after running hotter that the sun for the past few hours busting players' stacks for fun (max buy-in is only $500); Hero has the Jesus seat on his left and has been consistently picking up pots from Villain (and others) and sitting on ~$2k.
History is he's entering almost every pot for a raise, calls all 3-bets, bluffs multiple streets winning with sheer aggression, we've value-owned him a few times, called some of his bluffs, folded to some of his bluffs and occasionally paid him off in relatively small pots. However, we've never played a pot larger than ~$1k with him.
V opens MP to $30, Hero $100 with KK, V calls.
Flop ($200) Q73 V checks, Hero bets $100 and V raises to $300. Once he raises I know he's going to be firing multiple streets and trying to take down the pot no matter what he has so I decide to call and see if the flush hits the turn.
Turn ($800) T seems like a safe card and, as expected, V leads for $400, which we call.
River ($1600) 7 and not only did flush draws miss, we're now beating his random Q3 / QT hands. He leads for $1k into my $1350 stack, which perhaps is a bet sizing tell (wouldn't bluffs simply ship?), but can we find a fold here versus this type of villain, since we're only realistically losing to 33 or an incredibly rare 77?
2/5 NL somewhat drunk villain sitting on ~$4k after running hotter that the sun for the past few hours busting players' stacks for fun (max buy-in is only $500); Hero has the Jesus seat on his left and has been consistently picking up pots from Villain (and others) and sitting on ~$2k.
History is he's entering almost every pot for a raise, calls all 3-bets, bluffs multiple streets winning with sheer aggression, we've value-owned him a few times, called some of his bluffs, folded to some of his bluffs and occasionally paid him off in relatively small pots. However, we've never played a pot larger than ~$1k with him.
V opens MP to $30, Hero $100 with KK, V calls.
Flop ($200) Q
73 V checks, Hero bets $100 and V raises to $300. Once he raises I know he's going to be firing multiple streets and trying to take down the pot no matter what he has so I decide to call and see if the flush hits the turn.Turn ($800) T
seems like a safe card and, as expected, V leads for $400, which we call.River ($1600) 7
and not only did flush draws miss, we're now beating his random Q3 / QT hands. He leads for $1k into my $1350 stack, which perhaps is a bet sizing tell (wouldn't bluffs simply ship?), but can we find a fold here versus this type of villain, since we're only realistically losing to 33 or an incredibly rare 77?
05-16-2018
, 02:41 PM
Quote:
I'm glad you posted that HH this morning, just as I was reflecting on a somewhat similar spot. Let's see if you agree that I have to find a call here:
2/5 NL somewhat drunk villain sitting on ~$4k after running hotter that the sun for the past few hours busting players' stacks for fun (max buy-in is only $500); Hero has the Jesus seat on his left and has been consistently picking up pots from Villain (and others) and sitting on ~$2k.
History is he's entering almost every pot for a raise, calls all 3-bets, bluffs multiple streets winning with sheer aggression, we've value-owned him a few times, called some of his bluffs, folded to some of his bluffs and occasionally paid him off in relatively small pots. However, we've never played a pot larger than ~$1k with him.
V opens MP to $30, Hero $100 with KK, V calls.
Flop ($200) Q73 V checks, Hero bets $100 and V raises to $300. Once he raises I know he's going to be firing multiple streets and trying to take down the pot no matter what he has so I decide to call and see if the flush hits the turn.
Turn ($800) T seems like a safe card and, as expected, V leads for $400, which we call.
River ($1600) 7 and not only did flush draws miss, we're now beating his random Q3 / QT hands. He leads for $1k into my $1350 stack, which perhaps is a bet sizing tell (wouldn't bluffs simply ship?), but can we find a fold here versus this type of villain, since we're only realistically losing to 33 or an incredibly rare 77?
2/5 NL somewhat drunk villain sitting on ~$4k after running hotter that the sun for the past few hours busting players' stacks for fun (max buy-in is only $500); Hero has the Jesus seat on his left and has been consistently picking up pots from Villain (and others) and sitting on ~$2k.
History is he's entering almost every pot for a raise, calls all 3-bets, bluffs multiple streets winning with sheer aggression, we've value-owned him a few times, called some of his bluffs, folded to some of his bluffs and occasionally paid him off in relatively small pots. However, we've never played a pot larger than ~$1k with him.
V opens MP to $30, Hero $100 with KK, V calls.
Flop ($200) Q
73 V checks, Hero bets $100 and V raises to $300. Once he raises I know he's going to be firing multiple streets and trying to take down the pot no matter what he has so I decide to call and see if the flush hits the turn.Turn ($800) T
seems like a safe card and, as expected, V leads for $400, which we call.River ($1600) 7
and not only did flush draws miss, we're now beating his random Q3 / QT hands. He leads for $1k into my $1350 stack, which perhaps is a bet sizing tell (wouldn't bluffs simply ship?), but can we find a fold here versus this type of villain, since we're only realistically losing to 33 or an incredibly rare 77?
here this goes from sigh with red kings to near fist pump with black kings. If you're putting him on hands like Q3 it beens he'll have all suited kings making not having the K extremely relevant since these kind of villains will still almost always bluff frontdoor flush draws, this obvs shifts the bluff to value ratio a lot etc etc. Also this "wouldn't bluffs simply ship" is something I never consider into whether I call or not. For every person who does this there's a myriad of other fish who still want to have 300 behind to play with if they get called or raised etc. Also he may have just picked up some chips and decided on a thousand. If you have a sample where he's done this multiple times and you see a pattern sure but if this is a first time thing I'd ignore. Granted you might be saying this because by your wording I get the impression you lost the hand so want to clutch at straws to find folds even but if that's not the case I'd personally recommend staying away from this kind of stuff when making decisions.
And yes we beat his Q3 now but I don't see fish betting Q3 now, they often go towards check/fml call mode with these hands, QT is interesting tho whether he checks or bets. Anyway sorry if that was too much strat but pretty clear call vs villain as stated.
---
Thought I would chuck in another hand which I had vs a whale recently.
I open the CO to 10 with AT
BTN fish reg calls and whale makes it 20 in the bb (has been doing this a lot), 800eff with whale and 500eff with BTN we elect to make a very std flat and btn calls. (60) 843
Whale bets 40 and this deep vs fish I don't think this has to be a raise and play for stacks, I call and BTN folds.
(140) T
He bets 75 and we call
(290) 2
He bets 125, I've had history with villain and he's definitely capable of having bluffs here, now ofc our combo isn't great to call the issue is we don't actually have many hands that get to the river this way, a lot of our strong hands raise flop or turn. Now hero'ing down here with A8/78/89 no club is likely better here but fwiw I still think we're fairly high up in our range especially since we don't have many one club floats on flop MW (like AcTx). We decide to hero and he shows us TT for top set. After the hand I was questioning if it's a call down even with prior info, however based on his antics for the next couple of hours after this reassured me that it's largely fine.
---
Now for another hand vs the same villain. 600eff this time.
We open Q
Q to 10 in the CO same BTN calls and same vill defends BB. (30) T63
Villain checks, I bet 20, btn folds villain calls.
(70) 8
Villain checks and I bet 60 and he calls
(190) 6
I bet 225 and we get snapped by AT
Tbh I think I made a lot of sizing mistakes here vs said villain, he himself called me "the bluffer" (even tho I don't think he's seen me bluff ever?). I think with said image on these kind of textures we can get away with being an absolute rofler and going like 100 turn or even if we near pot turn AP going like 400 on river, granted he has some 6x but he might just not be a believer. Ofc there's a line to be drawn but I felt like I could have easily got more post hand, you never wanna get snapped in live, always tank called (for value that is, bluff wise the tank call is soul destroying). He said afterwards, "I thought you had a FD, I thought you had AK, I was wrong", this just made me cry since I think when we go massive on river he puts us on this chunks too. Vs std loose passive whale this size is always gonna be fine but vs this guy it's a different story imo.
Anyway exams are going alright, two weeks and I'm done.
05-29-2018
, 06:57 PM
cba with this thread already, why don't you quit poker and go lottery instead, you'll never lose at anything in life that requires luck
05-29-2018
, 10:24 PM
Quote:
So it feels time for another update.
Online is going okay, shotting 50z on stars now (regs seem a lot more solid imo) playing on the app a bit but not as much as I should.
Live has gone reasonably well too, managed to get out of the big hole I was in and the month/year/everything is on track.
Looking back at the 5ish week period where I literally made **** all it's easy to look at the big hands which I ran bad in and say "ahh what can you do" or "I've barely made a hand in weeks, I can't remember the last time I stacked the whale" etc but I think it's easy to enlarge the overall severity of these situations which clouds the reality that you're probably playing very badly too. This was easily the case for myself and I would say the large majority of regs too. This really nails in the quote that the best regulars are the ones who lose the least on downswings.
So we're approaching the 5 month period since this live journey/thread was started and I'm happy with how things are gone, I've worked super hard on my poker and mental game, made some valuable friends and had some great experiences. In the past in poker I've squandered opportunity after opportunity, people around me always telling me I had potential and instead of studying and grinding I would be punting time on YouTube or gaming etc. The past few months has probably been the first time in my life I actually got my **** together and I plan to keep on pushing myself.
For those of you that read my spins thread around a year ago you'll remember the altercations I got into with my parents over poker, from the threats of being disowned to me eventually saying **** it I want to give it a shot there was a lot of difficulty with my family coming to terms with it. The thing is I didn't really want them to come to terms with it, I was doing it for myself, I wasn't going out there to prove others wrong.
A few days ago I got an email from my Dad where he basically said he was wrong, he just knew how gambling turned out for most people and he didn't want me to turn out the same way (I would likely feel the same way in his shoes). He said that he knows what I'm doing requires skill and that it was clear I had the aptitude and rationality to succeed.
I didn't really know how to feel, I still don't know how to feel. I guess it's nice to have some underlying support and I can appreciate the lengths my dad went to in order to say he was wrong (old fashioned british alpha males struggle with this), even if it was just via an email.
I'm also aware the journey is far from over, complacency kills in poker and I know I need to keep working on my game and put in the hours if I want to keep this going.
One thing which has continually suffered (ever since I started it really) is university. I don't enjoy my subject (engineering), I find myself continuously unmotivated to even go to lectures. I find myself in a limbo between the "just get it finished" mentality and "**** it follow your dreams". If it was easy for me to just finish it I would but day after day I'm realising how much work it actually is and how much I don't enjoy it. It's even weirder now because I know I can definitely support myself (and then some) dropping out of university and I also enjoy poker a lot too, I was even mulling over the thoughts of it during the midst of the downswing which I think says something. Even my mum said "maybe take a year out and focus on poker" but we all know I'll end up never going back. I don't really know what to do or say but it's not a decision I'll make overnight.
And on a slightly different note here are some hands.
1/2
Two limpers and I complete 43 in SB, aggro fish BB (completely off his lid) makes it 14 one limper (fish) calls and 1k+ deep with both I call.
(45) 942
I check BB bets 25 CO calls I call
(120) 7
I check BB bets 85 CO calls I call
(375) Q
I check BB leads 275 and the CO tank folds and whispers something to fish next to him (I was massive but he's still to act behind and points at me LOL)
Basically cus CO has made hand blockers, live reads and the BB being asbolutely off his lid I decide to call
"You win... I think"
Uh oh get the ****ing stretcher value bluffs incoming.
He shows KJo and we scoop, one of these spots where everyone at the table is in shock and you can't help but feel like a bit of a boss.
---
From a very good 2/5/10 at Hippo which I shotted.
We open A5 UTG to 30, BB and straddle who are both whales call.
(92) A99
Checks through, both had bluffing tendencies so I think vs these whales I lean more towards checking compared to loose passive whales where it's just a pretty standard bet.
(92) 4
Straddle bets 40 we call BB folds.
(172) T
He throws out a pink we snap and he taps the table and says "you have ace?", we do indeed have an ace.
As a side note in terms of nut enjoyment playing in any kind of game where the whales actually bluff has to be the most fun I ever have at the table, after countless hours of 3 barreling top pair and waiting for them to muck it's a refreshing change to actually play against stars who actually have a bluff in them.
Another hand from the same game
---
2/5/10
I open UTG 30 with AJ reg SB calls and same BB and straddle whales from before call
(122) Q83
Checks to straddle whale who bets 85, I call and bb calls.
(377) T
BB chucks out 375 with around 200 behind, whale folds and it's on us and I feel sick. I'm in the tank for legit ages trying to think if this guy has enough bluffs, what our price is, how many outs, is our ace even an out etc and fold. He shows KJ
Online is going okay, shotting 50z on stars now (regs seem a lot more solid imo) playing on the app a bit but not as much as I should.
Live has gone reasonably well too, managed to get out of the big hole I was in and the month/year/everything is on track.
Looking back at the 5ish week period where I literally made **** all it's easy to look at the big hands which I ran bad in and say "ahh what can you do" or "I've barely made a hand in weeks, I can't remember the last time I stacked the whale" etc but I think it's easy to enlarge the overall severity of these situations which clouds the reality that you're probably playing very badly too. This was easily the case for myself and I would say the large majority of regs too. This really nails in the quote that the best regulars are the ones who lose the least on downswings.
So we're approaching the 5 month period since this live journey/thread was started and I'm happy with how things are gone, I've worked super hard on my poker and mental game, made some valuable friends and had some great experiences. In the past in poker I've squandered opportunity after opportunity, people around me always telling me I had potential and instead of studying and grinding I would be punting time on YouTube or gaming etc. The past few months has probably been the first time in my life I actually got my **** together and I plan to keep on pushing myself.
For those of you that read my spins thread around a year ago you'll remember the altercations I got into with my parents over poker, from the threats of being disowned to me eventually saying **** it I want to give it a shot there was a lot of difficulty with my family coming to terms with it. The thing is I didn't really want them to come to terms with it, I was doing it for myself, I wasn't going out there to prove others wrong.
A few days ago I got an email from my Dad where he basically said he was wrong, he just knew how gambling turned out for most people and he didn't want me to turn out the same way (I would likely feel the same way in his shoes). He said that he knows what I'm doing requires skill and that it was clear I had the aptitude and rationality to succeed.
I didn't really know how to feel, I still don't know how to feel. I guess it's nice to have some underlying support and I can appreciate the lengths my dad went to in order to say he was wrong (old fashioned british alpha males struggle with this), even if it was just via an email.
I'm also aware the journey is far from over, complacency kills in poker and I know I need to keep working on my game and put in the hours if I want to keep this going.
One thing which has continually suffered (ever since I started it really) is university. I don't enjoy my subject (engineering), I find myself continuously unmotivated to even go to lectures. I find myself in a limbo between the "just get it finished" mentality and "**** it follow your dreams". If it was easy for me to just finish it I would but day after day I'm realising how much work it actually is and how much I don't enjoy it. It's even weirder now because I know I can definitely support myself (and then some) dropping out of university and I also enjoy poker a lot too, I was even mulling over the thoughts of it during the midst of the downswing which I think says something. Even my mum said "maybe take a year out and focus on poker" but we all know I'll end up never going back. I don't really know what to do or say but it's not a decision I'll make overnight.
And on a slightly different note here are some hands.
1/2
Two limpers and I complete 43
in SB, aggro fish BB (completely off his lid) makes it 14 one limper (fish) calls and 1k+ deep with both I call. (45) 942
I check BB bets 25 CO calls I call
(120) 7
I check BB bets 85 CO calls I call
(375) Q
I check BB leads 275 and the CO tank folds and whispers something to fish next to him (I was massive but he's still to act behind and points at me LOL)
Basically cus CO has made hand blockers, live reads and the BB being asbolutely off his lid I decide to call
"You win... I think"
Uh oh get the ****ing stretcher value bluffs incoming.
He shows KJo and we scoop, one of these spots where everyone at the table is in shock and you can't help but feel like a bit of a boss.
---
From a very good 2/5/10 at Hippo which I shotted.
We open A5
UTG to 30, BB and straddle who are both whales call. (92) A99
Checks through, both had bluffing tendencies so I think vs these whales I lean more towards checking compared to loose passive whales where it's just a pretty standard bet.
(92) 4
Straddle bets 40 we call BB folds.
(172) T
He throws out a pink we snap and he taps the table and says "you have ace?", we do indeed have an ace.
As a side note in terms of nut enjoyment playing in any kind of game where the whales actually bluff has to be the most fun I ever have at the table, after countless hours of 3 barreling top pair and waiting for them to muck it's a refreshing change to actually play against stars who actually have a bluff in them.
Another hand from the same game
---
2/5/10
I open UTG 30 with AJ
reg SB calls and same BB and straddle whales from before call(122) Q83
Checks to straddle whale who bets 85, I call and bb calls.
(377) T
BB chucks out 375 with around 200 behind, whale folds and it's on us and I feel sick. I'm in the tank for legit ages trying to think if this guy has enough bluffs, what our price is, how many outs, is our ace even an out etc and fold. He shows KJ
https://www.cardplayer.com/poker-new...ways-get-worse
06-28-2018
, 09:01 PM
Quote:
im a fish bad poker player by why did you fold the flush river (isnt the price too good to fold pot odds wise even if your beat??? mean 350 into 450 you havent got to catch a bluff or be good alot for that to be profitable call no? not that im good at math lol i didnt sit my GCSE's lol or attend last 2 years of school ha) also why didnt you raise that flop in the 3bet pot? i mean you got an edge over even top pair there granted small but its there and least a flip isnt it alot if fish is 3betting wide/junk? with the pair and flush draw and blocker too a gutsshot straight getting there if thatys floating about.
just curious
also if you be kind enough how much money do you think you should have to try grind live? 1/2 poker games, only ask as well i love poker and always wanted to play live (as honestly it just looks more fun chill and social) but yh definitely dont have £200 laying about casually lol, so my plan is to try grind up something online from the 5nl hopefully, but yh was just curious how big a roll you recommend so i either lose it slowly or hopefully build it up ha.
Cheers hope get reply
just curious
also if you be kind enough how much money do you think you should have to try grind live? 1/2 poker games, only ask as well i love poker and always wanted to play live (as honestly it just looks more fun chill and social) but yh definitely dont have £200 laying about casually lol, so my plan is to try grind up something online from the 5nl hopefully, but yh was just curious how big a roll you recommend so i either lose it slowly or hopefully build it up ha.
Cheers hope get reply
Live definitely is more social and chilled. Money wise is always a hard question. It can depend on so many things like living costs, how much disposable income you have, what style you plan to play (and how deep you sit etc etc.).
I think if you're looking to play a bit in your free time in shallow 1/2 games at a place like Hippo 4-5k isn't the worst amount to have. I'd definitely recommend trying to grow your roll from online. Although nothing wrong with putting some money aside from work to build up a roll and play live for fun on the evenings and weekends.
Quote:
according to this guy it can always get worse lol, live limit holdem player apparently
https://www.cardplayer.com/poker-new...ways-get-worse
https://www.cardplayer.com/poker-new...ways-get-worse
---
So it's been around a month since the last update. Contrary to the general 2+2 theme of lack of updates=downswing things have been going very well.
Since my exams ended on the 31st May I've logged 160ish hours and 5k profit (lul live poker money variance, altho still in line with what my ev hourly likely is) for the month of June. Normally when playing "full time" I go nearer to 180-200 hours but I've been seeing a lot of friends and family over the past couple of weeks which meant a few more days off than usual (never a bad thing!).
I've also been railing the world cup pretty hard, few of my friends have told me it's coming home and I've promptly told them to switch off butttt it would be kinda nice if it did
Wimbledon is also coming up too which I look forward to every year so I'm pretty pumped sports wise for the coming weeks. Spoiler:
I think I'll chuck in some hhs now and after them I'll post a fairly long update on how I see the next few months going.
1/2/4/8
Reg opens EP to 30, fish calls BTN and we call AQ
in the straddle, as a side note this is probs one of the first times I've ever not squeezed this in my life and it's because of our friend who since this encounter has been RIP'd from this poker room 
He calls and before the flop is dealt..."Tom if you check I'm making it 180"
(123) 642
I check he makes it 180, folds to me and 1.4k eff at this point I rip it in.
He turns over 75o and says "I gotta call you Tom I'm up and down..."
Didn't even ask about RIT cus I knew the drill, just becomes case when you keep asking people who don't do it imo.
^That aside obvs was semi bricking this one, I've played a lot of pots similar to this and even bigger than this but for some reason I guess it's because it's just a sick sweat ngl. In my mind I'm just thinking "end it end it on the turn".
(2.9k) Turn is a 6
(2.9k) River is a T
I turn over my cards and to this day I still get the "Must be nice, 3k pot with ace hi" from people in the room.
---
1/2/4
Reg opens HJ to 12 and we peel BTN with 65
with villain who has also been RIP'd in bb, somehow I'm HU with the reg here (this probs would happen 0.1% in this game and thats not even an exaggeration). 1k eff
(31) T65
Reg bets 17 I make it 75 he calls
(181) K
He checks I make it 110 he calls
(401) K
He checks and I bluff 325 and we get a snap fold, super unsure about river sizing here tbh, can just go super polar and overbet but I don't think people fold flushes anyway, maybe this reg does tho.
---
Same villain from above opens CO to 10 and sb fish calls and we make it 55 with A
K(165) JT3
Checks through
(165) 5
Checks through
(165) 6
I relucatantly go for it here and don't know if it's that good, sb looks disinterested but reg could sigh me off here. I bet 90 and to my suprise the reg makes it 225 with 215 behind. We put on the
and jam for 440 and we get a tank fold. It's kinda micky mouse ngl since we probs bet a lot of our nut flush draws on flop but I feel this reg will likely sigh fold range since it's v hard for us to be bluffing here. ---
2/5 Hippo
Asian big whale limps 5 EP and we make it 25 in MP with AA
, reg calls the CO and whale calls. 2 bags deep with both. (82) JT6
I bet 50, reg folds and whale makes it 130, we peel.
(342) 4
He bets 200 and I call
(742) 2
He bets 530 and we tank call
Like this is actually a very disgusting spot, whale had generally been pretty loose passive so it's always sigh when you see them raise you on flop but his lid had been a bit off and he'd shown one or two bluffs before. This hand is pretty awful to call with as it blocks a lot of his bluffs, we snap KJ
black aces etc. Eventually I tell myself he can have rofl hands like 43 and flick it in, he rolls over 43 and we win. ^not 100% of exact turn and river but essentially bricks as shown above
---
Last hand is from 2/5 at the Vic.
Still not sure where I stand on this one.
We open AK
to 15 UTG1 and young reg looking guy who sat down with 1k calls the CO, rest fold.(37) Q77
We bet 20 he calls
(77) A
I check and he checks back.
Basically I don't give villain that many Ax peels in this spot both pre, don't think reg type people are going to flat A7s or AT/AJo here pre much with regs to act after but I could be wrong. I think pop tends to overfold on these textures a lot so explo wise I dedided to check. Didn't think Qx would call down a triple at high enough freq to warrant tripling, I think checking with a K
is a lot better as it blocks his call range on turn of KJ and KQ, still think I like checking this though.(77) 5
We bet 100 and we get called fairly quickly and we're good. I think some regs get fairly stationy vs bet check bet lines so picked a Kappa sizing hoping we'd get some I wanna see what you have calls from PPs. Really curious as how people construct their CO vs UTG1 range in live poker because I always feel it consists of just chunks of PPs, yeah maybe someone flats QTs from time to time but it just seems like 33-88/99 a lot.
---
Just as an irrelevant side note before I get onto more serious stuff, I've had a cold recently and it legit makes live horrible to play. From my perspective it's **** but I've also been that guy blowing his nose at the table who I tend to semi cringe at. Went to the vic a couple nights ago and after 3 hours I just sacked it off and went home because I just felt like **** and felt like a wanker blowing my nose every 2 mins. It seems to be getting a bit better and I hope the worst of it is gone when I wake up tomorrow. Interesting to know what some regs think on this, let's say if you have a cold but doesn't think it effects your play, are you just snap doing long live sessions etc. I've leant towards trying to rest a bit more and just respecting getting ill every so often is a fact of life.
So onto the future which is extremely important. My last year of uni stars in September, I'm sure most of you know that the last year is the most important by far and the reality is I've been a bit of a binman for the first two years of university. This year I'll likely have some resits and I want to start covering topics before I start.
Basically I'm in a weird spot, I want to crush my final year of uni, it's around 9-10 months of hard graft for something that keeps endless doors opens for my future. However I'm 100% sure I want to continue to play poker professionally post university. Being honest with myself, I know in my final year it will be too hard to combine both live poker and university and expect to do well in my final year.
This basically means I'll have to sack off live for the coming 8ish months. However I feel just leaving poker for a year and hoping my edge is still there next summer is also a super bad decision. The plan is to play zoom and study lots in my free time away from uni in an attempt to keep things ticking over. I'm in two minds about starting a online cash game thread on here, think that part of PGC is just crazy toxic and I'd rather try not to surround myself in that area. I might keep this thread going or start a new one journalling my thoughts on his this year goes as its a extremely pivotal point of my life, would probs not have online hhs.
I'm also looking to find people to study with and am happy to pay for coaching if the opportunity is right. Super eager to learn and I'll be dedicating pretty much all my time before uni asides from studying for the course towards online play once this month finishes. PM me if you'd like to talk about these things.
Reflecting on this thread and where I was around a year ago I think I've come a long way. Bringing back the tastyyy comment "you never lose with anything that requires luck" I remember being in Croatia last summer losing a 200x spin where I ran 3.5-4k below ev when I had a tiny life roll, this was crushing but I think if you're in this game for long enough you have extreme highs and extreme lows. It's about how you deal with them which matters the most. It's also without question that I've ran good, I'm definitely fortunate that I didn't run in the bottom 20% of variance especially at the start (inb4 some troll fyps 99%) as it would have probably been showers and all over.
People often say, "I feel very fortunate to be able to play a card game for a living" and they end it there, it's humble, it's grounded, it's admirable and I feel the same. But I also feel just a plain sense of pride that I've been able to get where I am. It's not like I'm a sicko either, sitting next to some bosses at the vic recently gave me the regular reminder of how deep this game is and how far it's possible to go. I've always been a pretty uncertain person, always changing my mind about what to do but as I said earlier I'm 100% sure I want to continue playing this game for a living after university, I think I've played the thousands of hours required both online and live to get past the honeymoon phase where you're on a heater and everything seems great and poker seems like the best thing in the world. The plan is to move to the states after graduating and grind in LA and Vegas. Luckily some of my live friends will be joining me, I still plan to catch up with them every so often and maybeee rofl the occasional session, to Team Rofler, I'm not really going anywhere
Last edited by Labax; 06-28-2018 at 09:08 PM.