Just returned from a family trip to Gulf Shores/Orange Beach and ready to get on the poker grind. Here are a few random food pics. I generally steer clear of seafood unless I am near a coastal region, so it’s a treat to be around the fresh stuff. .

Fried Shrimp @ Doc’s Seafood:


Mahi Mahi Fish Tacos and Shrimp Tostadas @ Cactus Flower:


Shrimp Tacos @ Doc’s Seafood:


Baked Stuffed Crab Shell @ Doc’s Seafood::


Monkeynaut from Straight to Ale Brewery:


Boiled shrimp, fried crab stuffed shrimp, shrimp scampi, whitefish (Not pictured is an IPA from the Good People Brewing Company) @ The Original Oyster House:



The hotel room is booked for Friday and Saturday of this weekend in order to play the $300k event at the WPT Choctaw. I will be firing away at the initial flight(s) on Friday. If I fail to make day 2, I will be firing on Saturday as well. If I happen to make day two on Friday, I will look to play some satellites for cash, or outright cash games. I plan on heading back to Choctaw the following weekend as well to fire at the 1 mil. Gtd.

I have had some results on Carbon since my last post.
7/04
Buy-ins: 1 x $3.50 6max sng
Profit: $13.50

7/05
Buy-ins: $10 @ 10nl, played 1 hour
Profit: $5.18

Current Bankroll: $313.34

*There was also a shrimp Po'boy from the Shrimp Basket involved in this trip that was outstanding*
*Rafters Restaurant & Pub not pictured. I had a rib eye french dip sandwich and a Stout from Fairhope Brewery. Both were nicely done*

Made to day 2 of the $300k gtd at Chcotaw. I was the chip leader at may table redraw for the 2nd day with 94,600, the next closest to me had ~70K. I made one poor mistake raising KT utg, c-bet one pf caller on a dry flop and got shoved on and had to fold. I was down to around 24bb and raised AQ pf, got shoved on by the button for ~10 bb. Villian flips KQ and rivers a straight flush ftw. I get my last 10bb in a couple of orbits later w/ AQ and villains 77 holds. I ended up busting ~20 spots from cashing.

I had a lot of confidence going into day 2 and was further encouraged to see my table redraw. Obviously things didn't go according to plan. However, I truly believe that if I win the AQ debacle of a hand, that I am going to beat the table up and chip up to a good stack. One positive take away was bagging up after a day 1 for the first time in a live tournament. It is nice to have that competence going forward. On to the next tournament, which I believe will be this upcoming weekend for the 1mil gtd.

In other news, I dropped $200 in cash games as well. I wasn't really focused going into the session and was pretty disappointed with my focus. I don't know how fruitful it is to attempt playing sessions of cash games when embroiled in a tournament grind.

Its brutal how one hand is the difference of going really deep in a tournament! It seems like I lose a lot of those type of hands. I lost a huge hand this week with pocket tens vs AK in a tournament at Dover Downs that sent me to the rail! Oh well getting ready for the deep stacks at Parx casino in Philly on Aug 6th. GL bud!

Went 0 for in tournaments over the weekend. I played the 7 PM nightly on Friday, got short and my QQ<AK. I played ~2.5 hours of cash after the tournament bustout on Friday night. I was up $75 or so after some pretty tight play and then got my flopped top set, turn rivered for a sizable pot. I ended up the cash session -$96. My last tournament shot was the $350 buy-in, $1 mil. Gtd on Saturday night at 5 pm. I was miserably card dead for the entire duration of my tournament run. I won 4 pots in just over 4 hours of play. One of the 4 pots that I won was raising and taking it down pre-flop with 88.

My last hand of the tournament; villain (stack was ~35bb, he has been very active. Probably playing 22% of his hands pf, and raising 18% of hands) raised 3bb pre-flop utg, additional villain (stack was ~25bb) to my right flats, I shove 15bb w/ TT. Utg villain flats and villain to my right folds. UTG villain shows QJcc, flops a Q and I am bust.

Admittedly, my tournament game is a bit weak. Can anyone out there speak to the play of villain above. Is this optimal or +ev kind of play? It seemed like poor play to me, raising QJ utg w/ villains stack size and then calling off 15bb w/ QJ against a range that usually has one drawing very thin. The reason I posit this query, is that I found the villain from this situation fairly competent in his play and am looking to see if this is a standardish line I should be taking or at least considering.

I am going to be heading back to my home base casino now for some cash play this week and the following. I am planning on looking for some more tournament series that will are within a reasonable distance of my location. I am very excited that the WSOPc added a stop at the Hard Rock in Tulsa. That puts two stops in my immediate vicinity. Since the WSOPc will have two stops in my close proximity, I am going to seriously be working to grind up a nice roll to play a full bevy of events.


Sorry to hear about your tournament bustout. TT was basically my nemesis hand all weekend, so I feel your pain. Those Deep Stax are pretty nice events, eh? Thanks man, best of luck to you as well!

Just finished the thread, awesome read. I am not far from doing this myself once my contract is completed with my current company. I will be doing a thread to follow much like yours. If you ever wanna grind down in florida again give me a shout. Good Luck and even on the bad days remember that you are doing it your way.

just caught up here too - great thread OP. looking forward to keeping up with how you are doing. GL!

I had an up and down first session back at my old haunt last night. I put in a little bit over 6 hours and came up +$111. Within the first hour of the session I was up $250 or more. My stack got whittled away at by busted AA and ill-timed bluffs (in one I tried to bluff a station, that I didn’t yet know was a station.) I was in the game for $420 and got to move seats two to the left of my LAG target in the game.

We get to the spot we are hoping will come up. I flop top set w/ JJ against LAG villain oop. On the J57 rainbow flop, villain check raised my $20 bet to $59, I smooth call after some deliberation on my line. I check call $55 the 3 ott, after taking time to try and look weak or as if I am thinking about calling w/ top pair or some draws.. The river brings a 5, completing the backdoor flush. I check, villain bet $55, I shove the rest of my stack and it is $49 for villain to call. Villain makes the call and mucks. I kind of feel as though villain flopped a set of 7’s, but I am not positive. I just knew that villain is not slowing down on this hand and that I have enough of our stacks in otr that villain will never be able to fold.

HH of note:

From a hand w/ villain earlier on, I had QQ, 3bet villains $10 open and another players call, to $25 from the sb. Both players call. The flop fell AAK. I check, and it checked around. For the life of me I cannot recall the turn but the river is a J. The turn also checks around. I check the river and Villain bets $20. The other player in the hand calls, and I fold. Villain shows 44 and the additional player shows TT. I fold because I felt like there are so many A’s and K’s in their 3bet flatting ranges. However, I think that I may be getting too good of odds to fold otr, especially considering that I am closing the action. I briefly consider raising ~$100, but I felt like I took too long to think about it and that I will get looked up light after the length of my thinking. I couldn’t come up w/ many hands that I can beat. I think this hand plays into the next hand.

Villain is Loose/Passive, Large, good ole boy, that has shown that he can overvalue his hands.
My image is pretty tight. Not even TAG, I haven’t gotten very involved.
Villain is UTG+1, w/ $275 eff. Stack, and raises to $10. I have been playing w/ Villain for nearly 3 hours and each pfr size has been $10, maybe 5 or 6 times. I 3bet to $25 w/ QQ from the CO, and villain flats.

Pot: $50
Flop: 5x5J

Villain leads for $40. I think that villain could easily have AJ along w/ a host of other hands that I am ahead of. I call.

Pot: $130
Turn: J

Villain bets $50. I don’t like this turn card, and when villain leads, I really don’t like the situation. However, I still think that villain could have some AK, 99, TT. When I look back, I don’t think that I have the equity needed to call. I haven’t stoved villains range yet, but will do so and think that I will come up with unfavorable odds.

Pot: $230
River: K

There goes the rest of the hands that I think that I can beat. Villain bets $30. I feel that I have to call given the pot odds.




I went with a classic. I had a hankering to give Chivas a shot. I will say, **** is smooth as eggs. Not much complexity to the tastes, imo. However, it is an easy drinking, well blended scotch whisky. Would and will do again.


I picked this craft up in a gas station in Texas while I was on the border for the previous poker series. This is a malty tasting stout with, as advertised, a thin honey flavor. While malty, it has the consistency of a Guinness, one that is not very viscous. Excuse the choice of glass please.


I think that Sam Adams makes quality beers across the board. Of all of the craft beers that I have had, their Boston Lager remains near the top of the heap. It is a beer that is simple and complex simultaneously. I find it to be a perfect balance of malt and hops. The Boston Ale here, while tasting fine, is not what I consider a traditional ale. I found that the alcohol concentration needed to be a bit higher in order to accent the style of beer better.


Some cigars that I picked up. I smoked the Cigar in the middle. I am not versed enough to wax intellectual on the nuances of cigars. However, most cigars I find that halfway through I have had my fill with. With this particular cigar, I enjoyed it thoroughly.




I am glad that you have found this thread enjoyable, and perhaps informative for an alternative path. You are in a good spot to attempt grinding full time, that is for sure. I will hit you up if I find myself in that area. Also, you are certainly right about that last part of your post, I have thoroughly been enjoying my journey.

Welcome, and thank you! Hopefully I will be able to post more consistently than as of late.

The game last night was as buttery soft as any that I have ever played in. The only drawback was that there were not very many huge pots to be had, unless there was a cooler in progress. That being said, twice i sucked out otr against a player that open limped directly to my right, I would raise pf ($15-$20), he would flat my raise, and then check-get in his ~15-25bb stack w/ KK once and AA the other.

I have been squaring off w/ players lately that do not 3bet or 4bet AA and KK prflop. This takes some adjustments on my part. The information from this to me seems immense, however. I instantly can identify these players as weak(possibly tight)/passive.

I am no LAG, typically. However, in comparison to the players in last night's game, my play looked like Dwan in his prime. Constant limp/calling preflop, and players laying it down to c-bets otf. A few times I had players donk into a big field of preflop callers otf and I would just fold my marginal holdings. Also, you can easily just value bet 3 streets and only get played back at by monster hands.

Enough trying to stress how in love with the table I was last night. I was remiss that I didn't get to the casino to play sooner than I did, but the table that I was at started up when I got there so I didn't miss anything with this particular spot. The table picked up a couple of tougher players about 4 hours into my session, and it was getting somewhat late, so I decided to call it a game.

Played 4 hours 45 min., +$327

Good job!

Thank You!

I have been playing pretty steadily on Carbon, on the nights that I don't hit the casino. Typically I play an 1-2 hours of cash or a few sng's. My bankroll is sitting on $324 currently. I am think that, if I can run my BR up to $400 I am going to look into cashing it out. From my research, it seems like withdrawing funds from the site is no small feat. I won't be too heartbroken if I can't get my money off the site though.

I plan on hitting the casino tomorrow night.

In some other news, I just finished reading The Biggest Game In Town. It was a pretty interesting read, although I have seen most of the stories from the book recounted elsewhere. I am definitely a fan of A. Alvarez's witting style. I do like to read quite a bit, usually non-fiction, but a friend gave me this book and I realized that I had never read it. I am currently reading The Rum Diary, I know, another fiction book.

Embarrassingly, I only played a little more 1 hour this evening. I made a huge mistake in a pot and had to seriously question my focus going forward. I am fine being on my B game some of the time, but my mistake was so bad, it isn't even on the grading scale.

So here is what happened:
OMC limps for $2 utg. I raise to $15 from MP. All others fold, and OMC calls. Now, this player will not be calling $15 pre-flop w/o a big hand. I am thinking OMC is somewhere around 77+, AJs+, I don't think villain will be limp calling AA or KK. The flop comes T4xJc, villain checks, I bet $20 and villain calls. I am thinking that the majority of villains range here is AKs, AQs, AJ (all), JJ, TT. The turn is the K. Villain checks, and this is where I totally blank and lose my mind. I check behind. I temporarily put villain on the nut flush, and I do not know why I cannot get past this. On the river, I only see that a club comes off and w/o looking back know my K is ott. Villain checks. So, now I think that villain is scared of the flush and wants to show his hand down. With this being the case, I all of a sudden loose my grip on reality and think that there are no hands that I am getting value from. I check behind and say that I have three kings and turn my hand over. Another player at the table says, "You have a full house!"

I stopped just short of dropping a wtf and see that the river was the 4. Going further, OMC stops short of saying something similar and sand turns over JJ for an additional, smaller, full house.

I fully felt that I was going to be pretty low on the playing ability spectrum following this debacle so I decide to cash out, get a sympathy quesadilla from Taco Bueno, and head home.

1 hour and 15 min. played, +$61

I put in two hours online. Initially the game was playing very tight, and I spent the majority of the first hour stealing blinds and cbetting flops for a small profit. I got stuck in the session for about 150 bb’s and then ended up right at even. I ended up with an extremely loose calling station at the table. I relentlessly got value from said player to battle back.

A hand from the session:

Villain in this hand had been playing pretty tight/passive. I hadn’t see this villain play many hands through about 6 orbits, maybe 5 or 6 hands.

My image is an aggressive one, but I haven’t shown down any hands, or made it past the turn since villain joined the table.

Holdem No Limit ($0.05/$0.10) Holdem

*** PREFLOP ***
Hero $10.45 Hole Cards: A2
Utg Folds
Utg+1 Folds
Villain $8.44 (Button) Raises $0.26
SB Folds
Hero (BB) Calls $0.16

Calling w/ hands like this pf from the blinds is probably a leak. I thought that I would be able to take advantage of villain’s passivity post flop, and the smaller than 3x raise size was smaller than the standard open at the table, making me think villain could be opening light.

*** POSTFLOP ***
Community Cards: 846
Hero Checks
Villain Bet $0.38
Hero Raises $1.20
Villain Calls $0.82

I like this flop for my plan, which was to check raise. I also planned to fire multiple streets unless the flush comes. I don’t think that villain is going to be able to stand much heat with single pairs otf, or beyond.

*** POSTTURN ***
Community Cards: 8462
Hero Bet $1.75
Villain Calls $1.75

This looks like another good card to me, so I bet an amount that I think looks like I may have a set or 2pair trying to charge a flush draw. I plan to fire on all rivers that are not an A, board pairing card, or Diamond.

*** POSTRIVER ***
Community Cards: 84629
Hero Bet $3.75
Vilain went All In $5.61
Hero went All In $1.70

I feel like this is a decent river for me to bluff at. Although I haven’t made allowance for villain to have many straight draws in his range, post turn I start thinking that there may be some, so I feel try to bet amount that looks like I am going for value, designed to fold out sd
sd’s that found a single pair. After villain shoves over my bluff, I am getting nearly 8 to 1 and have only the hopes that villain is trying to run a suicide bluff w/ broadway cards that missed the fd.

I stoved this range against my hand:
99-88,66,44,AdKd,AdQd,AdJd,AdTd,KdQd,KdJd,KdTd,JdTd,T 8s-T7s,98s,86s,64s,53s,Ad8c,Ad8h,Ad8s,Ad6c,Ad6h,Ad6s, Ah6d,86o

I have 16% equity there. If my range is close, I suppose that I am getting the odds to call otr. I took pit all of the missed fd's, except for AK-AJ & KQ and am down to 8% equity.

*** SHOWDOWN ***


I have put in around 10 hours online over the past week and the bankroll is currently sitting at $350.

Earlier on this week I was continuing to put in 1-2 hours of cash play on Carbon. I was in a lucrative game on Tuesday night. I lost a couple of buy-ins early on, but I ended up battling back for a profit of about 1.5 buy-ins thanks to the most loose passive player that I have ever set. Cashing out at least some of my roll looks to be a strong possibility, I was able to get my account verified for a cash out. It appears that the standard time it is taking cash outs by check is 2-3 months. I guess that I will have something to look forward to.

I spent most of yesterday driving home from Shreveport. I was able to use a comped night at the Horseshoe in Shreveport, ended up paying $17 for the resort fees and taxes. A buddy of mine is from Shreveport and I have quite an affinity for the place. I binked my first Royal on VP, but I don’t have photo evidence as both my buddy and I with our drunk brains decided to leave our phones in the room, perhaps the karma or whatever created allowed my…. Okay I am going to stop that crazy talk. Neither one of us had our phones, and I was basically too wrecked to remember what happened. Here is a pic of the view from the room:



These are a few of the beers that I sipped, I have shown love to the brewery before itt. The brewery is Great Raft BC, and they make some damn fine stuff. The first two beers are in a bar called Fatty Arbuckles, located across from the El Dorado Casino for any of you familiar with the area. The bottom brew is at Fully Stacked, a restaurant/bar hybrid.




The plan is to get into the poker room either Sunday or Saturday to grind.

5 hours played, -$32.

I started the session off with AA,KK,QQ,AK(X2), all within the first hour and a half of the session. KK lost to a set of deuces. The other hands took it down with a raise pf or cbet otf with the exception of this:

Villain is extremely weak pf and mostly passive post flop. If there is severe passivity shown by other players after the flop, he may semibluff with fd's and sd's,

I am MP w/ two red Q's. One limper to me, I raise to $12, villain otb calls, blinds fold, limper calls $12. When villain calls, I put him on a pretty strict range of hands, mainly all 22-AA(Yes villain will cc KK&AA pf), all "Sooted" A's, ATo-AK, most suited K's. At the time of this hand, I thought villain was centered more toward premium hands.

Flop: 69T

limper checks, I bet $20, villain calls, limper folds. Villain is going to be pitching middle and bottom pair, as well as pocket pairs that didn't make a set. I am putting villain on a pretty big hand, as I think that most of his continuing range leans more towards big hands.

Turn: K

I check with the intention of calling a small bet, but also thinking that I may get a check behind from his hands that are scared of the flush coming in, and just general confusion on villian's part. To my chagrin, villain bets $40. In my mind, a passive post flop villain like this isn't firing $40 ott w/o a hand. I think and fold. This spot truly felt like villain floated/is drawing w/ AK otf and he hit his K. Me thinking after the hand feels like a dummy due to the fact that the Kc comes ott making such impossible. I really should have bet the turn and stayed in control of things. I think that I opened the door for villain to play perfectly against me.



The session has me in the game for 200bb in the first 2 hours. Later I hit a Royal Flush w/ pocket AA and win a ~200bb pot. I am up 125bb after 4 hours the game. My stack ultimately whittles down to where I end down $32 due to my raising pf, whiffing the flop, and other players getting smacked by the flop.

The plans are to be back at the tables on Thursday. I plan on putting some serious thought into my session from last night in the meantime to my next session, in effort to make some adjustments in my play. From the table talk of some of the players last night, I got the feeling that they were making some serious adjustments to my play, or at least trying to.

Great thread, gl man!
Keep them beer and whisky pics coming, good stuff

Played 4 hours and 35 min., +$6.

My table was extremely tight/nitty up until my final hour.A couple of action players ended up setting down and spiced things up. At one point in the session I developed an awareness and presence of real comfort at the table. I was really able to get locked in for the majority of the session once I had been in the game for about 30 min. I would say that I played my A game overall for the session last night.

Thank you, I am glad that you found some entertainment. I will definitely continue with the beer and whiskey updates.

I am always open to suggestions on what to try next if anyone reading the thread would like to chime in.

Played a little over 6 hours on Saturday, -$56.

Each time I won a big pot, losing a big pot immediately followed. I was in the game for $500 at one point, and then came back to even, and the up and down continued throughout the session to where I ended up. For a second time the bad beat jackpot got hit on a night that I initially planned on being in the room and decided against it at the last minute. At least this time I didn’t lose out on $3k for being in the room.

I had just won an ~150bb pot w/ a set of Q’s against another player’s, generally a nit, top two pair. Villain just sat down, this is his first hand. He seems to be handling his chips competently, and he bought in for the max. So, $300 eff. My image to the rest of the table is pretty aggro, although the QQ hand previously mentioned is the only other hand that I have played at this table.

2 players limp to me in the CO, including villain. I raise to $15 w/ AK. Button, bb, and both limpers call $15. Somehow, I missed how many players took the flop, I only counted 4 initially, but then noticed the 5 after the folds.

Pot: $75
Flop: KJx8

All check to me, I bet $40. Again, the small sizing was due to my misinterpreting the number of players in the hand. Although, I think that I still should be betting close to pot on this wet board. Villain calls $40.

Pot: $155
Turn: A

I do not like this card. Villain checks, I check behind. I am not sure if I should be bettig in this spot or not.

Pot: $155
River: 4x

Villain quickly slides out $100. I study villain for a while as I am truly on the fence between folding and calling. Villain appears very calm and confident, almost to the degree only a true acting job could produce. I call.



Should be back at the tables tonight.

Great reports and Good Luck!

Played 3 hours and 35 min. last night. +$26.

The reason for my short session was due to a couple of different factors. The first being my nitty table. The second being a tough, LAG player that got seated directly to my left.

A buddy traveled with me last night. My buddy goes very hard gambling. For instance ~$1500 was dropped on BJ in less than an hour. This is pretty foreign gambling behavior for the casino I typically play at, so he was getting some looks for refusing red chips, he is all about the Green and Red.

On my way out of the casino, I decided to plug a slot, more for the effort of commiserating with my buddy, and I ended up binking $500 in three spins. Then I parlayed another $60 on an Ellen Degeneras machine. Friend and I hit downtown for a drink after the casino and I tried Caol Ila 12y and I got my buddy a Glenfiddich 12y. In regard to the Caol Ila, it was a bit sweet for my taste, and is more in The Macallan spectrum of single malts. The nose was exquisite and the finish was smooth, but I like the smoky, peaty flavor heavy in the taste.

TyTy!

The session started off with me winning a 50bb pot w/ a set of 2’s, this was the 3rd hand of my session. I had played the previous two hands as well. The action went- otf, I check/call, turn I check/call, river I lead for ¾ pot and get a call. Villain didn’t show but it felt like he looked me up light. Villain didn’t show or declare a hand.

A few hands later, ~10, I lost w/ JJ against two ai’s pf. Action went; folds to young/fairly active player in the hj, he open limps. Button shoves ai for $18, I flat JJ in the bb. I kind of want to invite the the open limper in, as he has $95 left. Open limp villain now shoves ai for $95. I don’t think villain is open limping AA-QQ in lp, not his typical MO and would be extremely creative/dumb for him. I think that he could have AK-AJs and a few other in between. I call. Board runs out Jx42Ax5x. I felt great after the flop, as well as after the runout.

I lost hand trying to barrel into what turned out to be a flush, from a lady that I had been successful blowing off of hands. Lady villain turned the flush and the river put a fourth heart on the board. She had $65 behind and thought that her flush/paired board was a monster that she was slow playing. I would go on to find out from her that she doesn’t ever slow play hands on account of her being afraid of being drawn out on. Lady villain shows 57 and I know that I could have barreled her off and lost my nerve ott futily.

Biggest hand of the night for myself came on a hand where villain 1 is on for a $5 utg straddle:

Villain1 is a very active player, is sitting about $47 behind due to his just losing a big pot.

I raise to $18 utg+1 w / T8 (my stack is $200 and image is TAG bordering on LAG). I had $12 in my hand, and noticed the straddle at the last second, and moved it up to $18. I don’t like this raise in retrospect. There is a good chance that villain 1 will be shoving pretty wide and I won’t have the proper odds to call given his short stack size. Again, I didn’t notice how short he was until I had the raise in my hand, so I must be much more observant in the future.

Action folds to a very weak player(Villain 2) in mp. He calls. Villain 2 has $215.

Villain 1 flats.

Pot: $54
Flop: Q46

Villain 1 shoves his last $47 in. I have a decision to make now. I decide to flat and hope that villain 2 behind finds a call as well. Villain 2 takes a second, looks to really be thinking things over. Villain 2 sloppily slides out chips and raises $50 on top. I decide that it is time to blow my cover and put the last of my $135 in, and don’t think that villain 2 is ever finding a fold after his line for $38. After some tanking, where villain asks me some questions to which I offer no response, he calls and I tell him that I have a flush. Villain 2 turns over AQ (for the life of my I cannot recall if he had the AH or not). I guess that it still possible to find some spots out there were villains get 100bb in w/ tp.

Pot: $321
Turn: Q
River: 4x.

I had another hand where I cc villain 1 from the previous hands pfr of $15. Two others end up coming along. Flop came: K83r, Villain 1 bet $25 otf, I call ip, others fold. 3 Turn went check check. River is 4x and villain 1 bets $55. I think for a bit and call and mhig.

Later in the session I get the clock called on me. This was a first for me in a cash game, seeing it or having it done. I have had the clock called on me once or twice before in tournaments, but never cash. The crazy thing was, I had only been thinking for 30 sec. Or less. Clock caller mumbled something about the hand and the dealer said that he couldn’t say that and that if he wanted to call the clock he needed to call the clock. Then he called. I only ended up thinking for about 15 more secs into the clock and call and mhig. I asked the dealer if the blinds were about to go up or something.

This is a beer that I brewed back in February. It is a nut brown ale. I have been letting it bottle condition for a while, so I thought that I would give it a go. It was a lighter tasting ale, but had all of the nutty notes. I could go a little more in depth on my brewing process with this creation compared to the previous IPA, but it probably isn't very interesting.



Played 5 hours and 4 mins, +$279.

Sweet! Life looks like it is going great.

Played 4 hours 54 min., -$368.

The nittiest game that I have ever played in last night, transformed into one of the loosest after about 3 hours at the table. A player, that I will post a hh on a little farther down, completely changed the dynamic of the table. Said villain had a vpip very close to 100%, and actually he was probably around a 95/75. Our villain ended up getting in a confrontation with about 3 players at the table, myself included. Along with the big pots that he played, he had a lecture for the opposition. One of the best lectures involved telling another player he should have bet for value ott and otr against him with top pair, J kicker. The funny part is, villain bet 30bb on both streets for him.

I ended up running some a couple of A high bluffs into some big hands, once flopped top set and the other was villains KK. I also lost a decent amount w/ TT after the flop was all under cards and I had to fold the turn. The TT hand could have gotten worse but I found a fold and villain showed AA. I guess all in all I just ended up running into big hands and for the most part lost the minimum.

Villain is the very active player from the text above. I am not aware of just how active villain is going to be, as this hand comes about 5-10 hands of his sitting down. Villain has ~$250 and is UTG.

I feel like my image to villain is loose/passive. I have $160 in front of me. I have AK otb.

Villain raises to $10, action folds to me, and I raise to $25. Folds back to villain who calls.

Pot: $25
Flop: 237x

Villain feigns inattention, and vaguely checks. I think that villain is pretty weak with this sort of act, and I want to keep the action under control and see what comes ott. I check behind.

Pot: $50
Turn: 8

Villain bets $35 and I call pretty quickly. I think that villain could be betting any two cards, A high flush draws, etc. I like that I have the Kc in my hand.

Pot: $120
River:9

Villain bets outs $65. I think that villain could have whiffed with AQx-A2x. I am also putting some random broadway cards in villains range. I think that this bet sizing is also much too large for a value bet w/ what is out on the board. I feel as though I thought longer than I needed to, whether I am right or wrong, and call.



After a losing session like last night, I feel less compelled to hit the tables. Some of the wind leaks out of my sails after sessions like last night. I am still at an over competitive stage in my psychology where I don’t take losses well. I guess that could be a positive in some instances. Maybe others more sage than myself out there have some quality advice how they feel after a losing session, or maybe how one should feel after a losing session. Some of my feelings I think spring from a feeling of not being good enough to play poker for a substantial earn. Or it may not even be a lack of skill, but rather some of my leaks in gameplay are minor and easily fixable, but I know deep down that I don’t have the drive to put in the hours that I need to to be successful at this juncture. Could be that all of the issues that I have mentioned are just elements of the game that I need to improve upon. Perhaps all of the issues that I have mentioned, upon my improvement of them, will yield some fruitful results in the long term. I think I am rambling a bit now, but I am hoping to flesh out all of the leaks in my game as whole.


Some ups and some downs. Many more ups since leaving my job however. Thanks for checking in.

You still alive?

Yup, still alive! After a a buddy and I visited my friend getting his doctorate (I include this because of all the indulgences of his environment) in Lubbock, it more closely resembles barely alive. The trip included a 21 beer day(this was inspired by the Wade Boggs ep. of Always Sunny in Philly), rare steaks, a trip to the zoo (strip club), and other general debauchery.

I wanted to chime in on the 1 year anniversary of this thread, but I was too disappointed in my volume and I figured why bother. I am trying to piece some plans together and may get this thread back on track, and then again, I may not.

I did end up cashing out $424 from Carbon. I wrote awhile back that I initially got started on Carbon with $0, and built a small roll up via fun steps, and then thru $0.10 hyper turbos. So, it was pretty cool to arrive in 3 figs from scratch.

Also, it was fulfilling to learn the ropes of bitcoin and use that as a deposit/withdraw method. I say fulfilling because the concept of bitcoin once seemed very abstract to me, and with MUCH help from the Carbon deposit/withdraw thread in the Internet Poker subforum, and a little study on my part, I was able to get a grasp on the mechanics of bitcoin.

Hopefully I am able to get a grip on what steps I need to take in order to get on track for some success, whatever success means to me. I will say that I feel like I am in a good place in life right now, and I may continue to just cultivate that feeling and way of life. Until next time...

Good Luck in whatever you do in life! If you post I'll be reading it!