Didn't feel like posting the chip porn last night, way too tired.



Not playing today, one of the few Saturdays I will voluntarily not play. Woke up late, not enough sleep, feel slow, GF coming over at an earlyish hour, and the room was dead. Will make up for it tomorrow. Everyone and their parents were either at the Spring game or watching it. Football is kind of a big deal here.

You're doing great dude!

Thanks man! Gotta keep on truckin'!

Got in a longer session today. Kind of have to get some longer sessions in if I have a shot at the volume goal. It's going to be hard to get much volume in this week other than Tuesday and Saturday (or Friday).

This session was a lot like Friday, except without the $1k pot. A bunch of bad to mediocre starting hands, a bunch of whiffed flops or middle pair, and no real major hands. I think the biggest pot I won might have been when I stationed J6o BvB on a 568QK runout. Guy limps in SB (if they ask for a chop, I'll give it to them. I don't even look at my cards until it's my turn to act). Flop comes, two hearts, he leads 5 I call. Turn is the Q, he bets 15 I call. River K. He bets 30 I call. He had been betting and raising a lot, and 8/Q/77/99-JJ all doesn't make sense, meaning he has either Kx, probably hearts, 97, or maybe 55.

We made a profit. Don't know how it happened, just kind of grinded it out.

7 hours
+$103

Didn't play the greatest of sessions last night. Started well enough, but then just spiraled out into the great abyss. The only reason I really say that it wasn't one of the greatest were the two biggest pots that I lost last night. Both were hands that were very marginal and I think should be preflop folds.

First one, I'm $300 deep with a player I had never played with before. Either he was getting hit in the face with the deck or he was just extremely super aggressive postflop. There's like 4 limps, I limp along with K8o in SB, BB checks.

Flop ($12): Q86r
Checks to aggro guy in LP, he bets $5, I call, all else fold.

Turn ($22): 7
So the reason I call flop was because I did have middling pair, although OOP could just be a fold. I was also looking for good cards. This was one of them.
Check, V bets $15, I raise to $40. He calls.

I kind of expected that. Nobody had tried to play back at him all night. I thought he'd have some weaker Qx, like Q9+, maybe some weaker two pair hands. Why did I check/raise? Because I was planning on bombing most rivers. I was given a little bit of respect, so I was going to use my image to play back at him. I will admit that K8o is not the greatest hand to do it with. I would much rather 97/T8/98 type of hands that both takes away some of his two pair + has the added equity with the straight draw.

River ($102): T
I bet $70, villain ships, I fold

The only hand he has here that makes any sort of sense would be Q9 or the T9. Obviously I can't call, but given that he is repping such a narrow range I wonder what I do here with two pair or a set. I shouldn't have been in the hand to begin with. Once the hand unfolds, I also choose the wrong combo to bluff with.

The next hand I'm posting is just maddening. Again, I shouldn't have been in the hand. There's 3 limpers so I limp along OTB with Q6. SB limps, BB checks.

Flop ($12): KJ7
Checks to CO who bets $7, I call along with random LP guy.

CO has been a super super straightforward passive player. He has ~$100 to start the hand with.

Turn ($33): T
Checks to CO who bets $20. I can't fold at this point. I now have 15 outs. I'm almost getting the direct odds, and if I get even another $10 from him I'm getting it with implied. So I call, random limper folds. He has ~$64 left.

River ($73): K
CO checks, I go for some thin value with a $30 bet and CO jams for $34 more.

I just kind of smile inside. Flip over my cards to see if I can get a reaction from him. I see nothing. Mathematically, this is a call. GTO wise, this is probably a call. I know it's a call. It's only $34 and I calculated that I needed to be good 16% of the time.

I folded. Everything except the player tells me it's a call. I can only think of one other time in my live experience so far where I've used player type and live reads to trump mathematics and everything I know about poker. It's only saving $34. Thankfully, he had to flip over because he made the high hand of the hour holding KJ.

The unknown aggro villain (who turned out to be quite a nice fellow) tells me that folding there makes me extremely unbalanced. Saying all these things that I already know. I tell him "you don't need to balance at 1/2". Guy had been playing extremely straightforward, fairly passive, and even moved to my direct right saying it's for luck purposes. So is this guy going to be that creative to try such an elaborate bluff? Hell no! It's nuts all the time.

More folding, more raising and not having any sort of flop equity to cbet...it was a frustrating night to say the least. So I racked up 1/2 an hour before I planned to and headed on home.

3.5 hours
-$300

Got home a little late last night, too late to post. Was a bit of a frustrating session, I was up about $300 at one point but then made a bad call and then got my nut flush beaten by a rivered boat. 2nd time that had happened to me in the last week. Was still up about $65 when I left on 7 hours and 10 minutes.

Fast forward to today. Get to the casino after working out a bit after work. Always fun, very tired though. Chipped up a little bit then down a little bit then on a small rush. And then this hand happened, with my favorite dealer dealing it obviously. Three limps, I complete with T6. BB checks.

Flop ($10): 974
Check, BB bets $5, fold to me who calls.

Turn ($20): 8
WTFLIUHFshfewpsfe;saef[. I check. BB bets $15, I raise to $45, he calls.

River ($110): 4d
I bet $100, he calls with a boat and MHIG. Not only that, but I just sneak in for the high hand promotion with 50 seconds left. +$200 from that promotion.

I actually chipped up quite nicely during the session. Increased cbets, I tried a couple of 3bets with one being a bluff. And then made yet another stupid fold. Two limps, I raise in SB with AK in SB to ~$11, BB calls (same player from above) as well as BTN. BTN is definitely a more fun player.

Flop ($35): QJ9
I check. Against two calling ranges at 1/2, it doesn't seem like the best spot to cbet bluff. Sure, I have a gutshot and backdoor equity and overcards. But trying to get a player to fold a hand here still seems a bit like suicide to me. Everyone checks.

Turn ($35): Q
I check again. In hindsight, this should be a bet. I don't believe anyone has much of anything and a bet should take it down. BB surely would have bet if they had anything, and so would BTN. So this was a mistake. BB bets $13, BTN folds and I call.

River ($61): 3 Bink
I bet $25. The flush is obvious. I was kind of begging for a call instead of a check back from a J or even a naked Q. BB raises to $60. Seriously? I tank, and tanked, and made another exploitable fold. I have the K. Q and 9 are already out there. The board is paired. Is he raising with a worse flush without the K or A? Is he raising with a naked Q after a donk bet on the obvious flush board? He showed 33 for the rivered boat. (By the way, that's the third time I've had a flush this week that is beaten by a rivered boat).

So I felt like I played more aggressive this session and chipped up more through just non-showdown winnings than usual. I'm getting more and more comfortable with every live session I play.

4.25 hours
+$600 ($200 from promotion)

My BR has pretty much doubled in 2 months.

So I'm either running hot, playing well, the competition is terrible, or a mix of it. We'll see.

Played a 3 hour 40 minute session tonight, up $181. Also played with perhaps one of the worst but luckiest players I've seen. His stack fluctuated between $100 and $700 all night. I doubled up through him when I flopped a set of 7s on a K76sxs and he check/raise/called my jam on the Jx turn. Then he doubled up his $130 stack through me when his 99 held against AK AIPF. I wish I could have stayed and played with him all night, but alas I was seeing double everywhere being so tired.

Will be taking the next couple days off from poker. Definitely need a break and I should easily make my 60 hour mark by playing Saturday.

youre playing well and the competition is softer as a whole compared to the stakes you were playing online so your hourly should be much higher despite seeing so many less hands per hr, that should increase even more when you jump up to 2/5. of course this is all long term as you are gonna experience bouts of extended run bad just like you would online. hopefully you do start playing online occasionally again to keep improving and studying your hh's. congrats on the great start transitioning to the live felt!

Thanks! I'm still doing as much studying as I can fit in. I don't think I'll be able to play too much online unfortunately (this is going to be a tldr post and the reasons will be below). The variance is definitely real though, I've already had a streak of 7 winning in a row, 7 of 9 losing, and right now a 6 of 7 winning.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm taking a much needed day off today. This was probably the hardest I've ever worked during a work week. I'm not worried since I'm playing tomorrow and I'll easily get my hours goal unless I lose 2 BIs in the first 3 or so hours. I have noticed the lack of pictures other than chip porn in the thread, and everyone loves pictures. So....let's see some. First, the graph. Both of these are all of the sessions I've played live so far:



Next, some stats. If anyone knows how to actually write over words on a picture editing thing when you select edit I would love some pointers. If you've been paying close enough attention, you'll know where all of my play has been:



Sample size means nothing. I think you need at least ~500-1k hours to get close to your actual WR. Without the $700 in promotional winnings I'm at $24/hr. I see the promotional winnings as like rakeback. The more you play, the more you pay but the more you get back as well. I'm kind of torn between keeping it in with my overall totals or just taking it away and counting it as "bonus money".

I think my play has been steadily improving. I'm learning nuances and I'm getting better at being social at the table while also not soft the opponent. From what I've seen, being social and likeable at the table is HUGE. So I try to balance that with also paying attention to every hand, being nice to the dealers and floor staff unlike some of the players I see around my age who also frequent the casino. I also believe I have quite a bit of improving to do. Cbetting into multiple opponents, firing turn barrels (I still believe I've gotten some ****ty turn cards to barrel), and taking more advantage of my position are right up there.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

So my tldr part. I'm struggling a bit with balancing everything. I have a limited amount of time outside of work to do everything I want. I want to play live about 15 hours/week. I also don't want to leave my best friends in the dust. On top of that, my girlfriend wants to spend more time with me which is difficult when it's 40 minutes one way and she is going to be less and less willing with summer coming up to come anywhere close to my area. And I also absolutely need some time to myself just to rest and relax. So this is what a regular schedule looks like for me (I break up days into halves):

Sunday:
Work
Poker

Monday:
Work
Best Friends 1

Tuesday:
(If it's a work until 8/9p shift, work all day pretty much)
If not, it's work followed by either gf or free time

Wednesday:
Usually my required "late" shift, so work all day

Thursday:
Work
Poker

Friday:
Poker
GF

Saturday:
Poker
Poker/Laundry

And at this rate and schedule, I'm having to push aside friends I don't want to or not taking enough time for me to just stop and rest. I personally don't know what to do or how to fix things. I have to take this live poker thing seriously. I don't want to live with a "what if?" the rest of my life. The balance thing I guess is just something I have to figure out. I don't have any time to even consider playing online, nor do I really want to.

So how do I sum up this session?

I'm at the alter with this supermodel and she's about to say "I do," but then a guy supermodel busts in and steals her. But that's ok, because then her hot but not as hot friend feels sorry for me and takes her place.

Let's start with this. I got dealt KK three times today. I was up against AA twice, both from one of the blinds and both from the seat to my direct right. One of them was AIPF, and I got lucky as hell to flop a K. The other I just flatted the BB's 3bet with KK UTG and called his SS shove on a T73 flop. River was a spade, but he had the A.

Here's another one. One limp from HJ, the seemingly only decent player at the table. I have JT in CO, ~$300 effective. With one limp, surely we need to be raising in CO, right? I flatted, but I think that's a mistake. BTN and blinds flat along.

Flop ($10): 986
Checks to me. For some reason, the dealer thinks I check. The card has already been burned so I just roll with it.

Turn ($10): 7
SB bets $5, HJ raises to $10, I raises to $30, folds to HJ who mentions something about JT and calls.

River ($75): A
HJ bets $75. I tank. So I think he is a decent player. If he has two diamonds, and it's clear I have a straight, what could they be? He isn't limping KT, KQ, QT. He isn't playing 9X this way. I'm almost positive given his raise he has to have the T. T7 isn't playing this way. The only plausible hand seems to be T6 that has me beaten. I call, and sure enough he flipped over T6

Next one I get rivered. Iso raise OTB with QJo, old loose lady calls in SB with $70 effective, flop is J52. She xrai, flips over AT, rivers the club.

This next hand I was quite happy with. 3 limpers, I raise AT in CO to $12, all but MP calls. MP seems like a typical 1/2 player.

Flop ($31): KT5
MP checks, I bet $15, he calls. He doesn't have terribly much behind. He called rather quickly too. I think I miscalculated the pot here, hence the small flop and turn bets

Turn ($61): 6
MP checks, I bet $20, MP very quickly calls. Again, what I said above.

Rivr ($101): A
MP fairly quickly goes all-in. Yay, I have two pair, I didn't even think about and folded. The shove was ~$50. It was the timing tells here. With such quick calls, I've read and seen time and time again that it's typically draws. He didn't show, but I'm ~95% confident he had the best hand.

Then this one. 8 handed, UTG OMC limps, I raise AJ in UTG+1. MP, CO, and BTN all call. MP is the main villain here, an olderish looking guy who had started loose but has been felted once and seemed to be a bit on tilt.

Flop ($49): A57
I bet $27. Probably could go $30 or $35 here. MP calls, all else fold.

Turn ($103): 8
I decide to check. I could be convinced to bet here, and it might be best. MP bets $75, 3 greens. Hero....?????



Then the very last hand, I GII against like a $70 stack with AT on QT25. Again, they have the worst possible hand for me to see with 22 and I lose a small one.

7.16 hours
+$246

April final totals
63 hours played
+$1,778
50% exactly of the series watched and studied
BR: ~9 100bb 1/2 BIs from 2/5 shot taking

I'm curious as to what stack size constitutes chip porn. Should it just be stacks of $1k at 1/2?

Too late to do a full rundown, but played 4 hours and 10 minutes tonight. Left later than I wanted, but also got there later than I wanted. Gotta get some kind of exercise in! Anyways, +$560. And pushed my overall hourly back over the $30 mark over the LOL sample size.

Let's just call this the most successful thread that you're not reading.

Anyways, some quick hand histories from last night before I'm off to play the last basketball game of the season:

First ~30 minutes at the table. Seems like a looser type of table. I'm my usual tight self. BTN straddles, looks like an older black man. Loose looking player raises to $12 in MP, I flat in CO with 98. BTN calls

Flop ($39): K94
Checks to BTN who bets $15. MP folds, I call. He doesn't necessarily have a K and I have a pair + BDFD

Turn ($69): K
Hmmmmm. I check, BTN bets $20, I raise to $50. It's a small raise, but the only thing this guy knows about me is that I'm looking like a tight player. He doesn't know that I purposely chose that size to fold out better 9x and overcards that can't call the river bet. He thinks and folds. He said he folded K8 or K7. Don't really believe it, but you never know.

Now this hand. We're 6 handed and this is UTG's first hand at the table. This is the 3rd or 4th time I've played with him, so I have a read on him. He raises to $7, HJ and BTN call. I squeeze to $35 with JJ (suits not important). I think I need to make this $40, but I haven't done too terribly much 3betting. UTG folds (I'm sure he remembers me and respects my play). HJ calls, BTN folds.
I have seen HJ call large raises and get to showdown preflop with 98o and 84o. He has also been a bit aggressive. Definitely the loose aggro but probably too loose kind.

Flop ($86): T84
I bet $45, about half pot. Don't need to go more imo. He calls rather quickly. The quickness of his call doesn't really alarm me here. IMO if he has a strong hand he would think about raising. So probably 99, 8x, Tx. So, given history...

Turn ($176): 6
I check. Villain bets $75 very quickly. I check-raise AI for $225 total. He tanks. And tanks. And finally says "I gotta see it" and calls.

River ($626): 4
I show the JJ, he mucks. MHIG

The one hand I did have a bit of a question about. Folds to HJ who raises to $12. I call with JT OTB. Loose, very splashy player calls in SB. He just recently lost a pot to me where I 3bet his BTN straddle with AA and he called a big turn bet on a terrible board texture.

Flop ($38): A79
Checks to me. I bet $20. SB calls, MP folds.

Turn ($78): 9
SB bets $30 fairly quickly. I call.

River ($138): J
SB bets $30. I call and MHIG

Turn and river are what I question. I think turn is better as a call given how splashy this opponent is and river as a raise, but I'm not sure. How would you guys have played this hand, and any other hands that I might have played mistakenly?

I was going to post some chip porn from Sunday, but decided against it. The picture I got has at least one T-shirt, and I don't want to post it for privacy reasons.

April Goals:

-Play a minimum of 60 hours. Played 63 hours this month! Not bad for how crappy the volume was at the start.
-Get more than 50% through this live series Got exactly 50% through. I know it says get more than, but the 50% video was literally twice the size of every other video in the series. So, IMO, it counts as two.
-Try to incorporate more FPS against players who are a bit out of line IE they play garbage hands but prey on postflop weakness.
If I could go back and re-name this goal, I'd label it not as this, but more along the lines of "Play more exploitably." Against players like this, ala the table "captains", it's not trying to play FPS. It's playing the way that exploits them. And in this instance, a lot of it comes down to calling down lighter than normal or making plays you normally wouldn't. Good examples of this are limping AA in straddled pots because the last 5 or 6 times the villain has straddled, they've raised. Or calling down with 2nd or 3rd pair because the villain just fires relentlessly when any weakness is shown. These aren't great players; they're just hyper aggressive but that style can win in the short term at 1/2 imo.

May-June 6th goals:
I'm not sure how much volume I'll be able to get in. My GF's sister's wedding at the end along with both her and my birthdays, Mother's Day, and work being extremely busy this first part might limit it. I am going on a week long vacation to Tennessee on June 7th, so might as well include that week for the month.

-60 hours minimum.
-Get at least 75% done with the series.
-Start reading Applications of No Limit again.
-Get out and golf at least twice.
-If the month is successful enough....shot take 2/5 [????]

Good luck in May everyone!

What a session! I do want to start this off by saying I have a decent seat. The rec players were to my direct right. However, to my direct left was pretty much the table captain. He seemed ok, maybe a little loose but definitely aggro pre and post-flop.

Which leads to this hand. 2 limpers to me in SB I see ATo and raise to $12. BB (guy from above) calls and all else folds.

Flop ($28): A 9 8 rainbow
ATo against this guy is probably a good hand to have in a check/call range. So I check, he bets $20, I call.

Turn ($68): 7 rainbow
I check, he bets $40. So at this point I'm thinking that I block the nuts. I could check/raise and attempt to get him off of AJ/AQ. He could also have some T9/8/7 type of hands. So I toy with raising. How good do you guys think raising is here, if it's any good?
I call.

River ($148): 6x BINK
Now I don't know here if betting out is better than check/raising. There is a good chance if he has AQ/AJ that he just checks back. 2 pair? Those could easily bet. I shouldn't have many Tx here. And if he has AJ/AQ, how excited is he in the first place to call? So I go for the check/raise. He bets $40, I raise to $100. I'm not sure I can raise too much more and get call. He calls, shows A9 and I get lucky.

There becomes a bit of a dynamic between us. He's aggressive, and I'm kind of trying to play off that aggression. Eventually I build my stack up to ~$500 when this hand happens. Me and him are about $370 deep. Folds to me, I raise 22 in HJ, he calls in CO and one other player calls.

Flop ($31): T52 BINK
BB checks, I bet $17, CO minraises to $34, BB folds. This minraise from him wasn't all that uncommon. Then he'd take aggression. So I called. Not many turn cards other than diamonds that I really dislike.

Turn ($99): Q
I check, he bets like $40, I raise to $110, he jams for a total of ~$300. So now I kind of thought. He doesn't have QQ. 55 and TT are the only hands that beat me, and that's 6 combos. I came a little close to folding, but probably not as close as I could have and call. He flips over the TT and the river 5 seals the deal.

So I'm crippled to $130 or so. Out comes a couple hundreds. I stay roughly even until this hand. TT player in UTG raises to $10. BTN calls. Seems like an OMC. I look at 33 and call in the BB. About $300 effective.

Flop ($31): A83
I check, UTG bets $20, OMC calls $20. I raise to $60. I miscalculated my raise size. I think I meant to make it $75 or $80. Anyways, they both call.

Turn ($201): 4
Yes! No spade. I bet $110 to set up a river shove. I'm not worried about a flush here. The $110 gives them seemingly decent odds to call and hit their flush draws, especially they have something like pair + FD. Unfortunately, they both fold.



A couple of orbits later, I'm in BB and BTN straddles. SB folds, I look down at AA. Holy crap! The only pocket pairs I had had up until that point was 22, 33, 22, and 44 through 5 hours of play. I raise to $15. UTG calls, same player as TT hand. We go HU.

Flop ($36): 765
I cbet $20. He can hit this sometimes, but if he hits it really hard then he's raising. When he just flats the $20, I'm positive I have the best hand,

Turn ($76): 5
Even better! I bet $50, he calls.

River ($176): Q
I bet $85. It's a river value bet that I might have been scared to make a couple of months ago. For no real good reason either. What's calling? 88-JJ, QdXd, maybe I'm bluffing with my missed diamonds. He calls, MHIG.

And another questionable hand. A new table captain opens to $12 in MP. 2 calls, I call in SB with 55 and BB calls.

Flop ($60): JT5
Normally I'm donking. I think given the way the hand played out, donking might be best. I check, checks to table captain who bets $30. CO raises to $60. Here's my dilemma. Do we call with table captain left (we're ~$400 effective) and BB, or do I raise and GII with CO (who has like $40 behind). I decide to raise to $200. I think if I call, table captain probably calls as well. 9, Q, K, A, and heart aren't my favorite cards in the world. Captain folds, CO calls and my set holds against T8.

Then the final big hand of the night. We're like 8 handed and I raise 65 to $10 in UTG+1. OMC in CO calls along with table captain and another player in blinds.

Flop ($40): 723
Checks to me. I sense weakness and I can have overpairs. So I cbet to $25. OMC calls, everyone else folds. I'm putting him on clubs, 7x that should be able to fold to multiple streets.

Turn ($90): 8
Hmmm. Interesting. I bet $50. Staying with my plan. He calls.

River ($190): 9
I jam, he calls his like $75 more and MHIG. He shows 22 and I do kind of feel bad. He was a nice fellow, but there aren't friends at the poker table.

So I ran both good and bad. On one hand, I lost a $7-$800 pot with set over set against an aggro player. On the other hand, I had some ok runouts. I'm just glad that I was able to come back from that hand and book a really solid, profitable session.

6 hours 45 minutes
+$238

Still lurking. Fun and educational read. You do poker right bro. Keep up the serious good work.

Thanks man! It's difficult for sure but seeing the results of what I'm doing just motivates me more to stay on the same hard work path!

Yeah stacks of 1k+ are chip porn worthy IMO or some 2/5 stacks would be sick

Awsome progress so far btw keep it up :>

Wanna have a competition for fun this month btw...?

My live challenge too
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/17...016-a-1596499/

Thanks! I wouldn't mind having a friendly competition. What kind of competition? I think you'll crush me in both volume and winnings by looking at your thread...maybe $$/hr?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Today is one of those days where I remember Jared Tendler's words quite well. Sometimes, the bad players HAVE to win with their bad cards. And these bad players HAVE to win because otherwise they wouldn't keep playing. So, a variance filled day. The two 3bets that I attempted both got 4bet :O. That never happens. I missed a whole hell of a lot of flops and the not so good players smashed a whole hell of a lot of boards. So, when that happens we're going to lose.

Here is the second 3bet hand. Villain is a young white guy, never seen him before and the 2 or 3 orbits I did see him he seemed fairly tight. I'm also in the middle of eating a big soft pretzel. He has to see me as tight and perhaps even tighter imo when I do this while eating.

We're 7 handed, villain raises to $7 in UTG+1. 3 callers. I look down at AQ and 3bet it to $45. We're $230 effective pretty much. Villain tanks for a little and shoves. Folds to me. So now, AJs is a pretty clear fold. AKs seems like a pretty clear call. What about AQs? I did the math and IIRC it seemed pretty close, all I remember is that I had to call $144 more. So $144 into $255. I need 36%. Against an unknown young white guy, I assigned him a range of AK+, TT+ in flopzilla. It's showing I have ~34.5% equity. I folded after doing the tank and thinking I had roughly 30%.

That wasn't the trickiest hand I played today though. The trickiest hand, BTN straddles. There is one limp and I look at KK in UTG+1. Raise to $20. I get MP and CO to call. Profiles, because I've played multiple sessions with each villain. MP is very loose. An any ace type of player. Is capable of taking small stabs with nothing. CO is probably in the top 10 of worst players I've played with in the room. He plays a lot of junk hands for $20, $30 preflop and will hang on a couple of streets with bottom pair.

Flop ($65): 979
I bet $40. Think I can easily get calls from 7x, T8, maybe lower pairs. Both players call. There was an instance where I thought MP was going to raise looking at his mannerisms.

Turn ($185): A
Absolutely not the card I wanted to see. I know MP can have an ace. I don't think CO has an ace. If I bet here, I think I just throw money away imo. What do you guys think? I check and it checks around.

River ($185): 7
Awesome. I literally beat nothing but pure air and missed straight draws. I check, MP bets $40 (wtf??), CO calls $40. I tank. I thought I was ahead of CO. I wasn't too sure about MP. In reality it should be flipped. I'm probably ahead of MP and I'm not sure about CO. It's probably a spot I may have to call, but I folded. CO shows J7 and scoops it.

Should we bet the turn? I'm not really convinced either way. I played for 5 hours, saw the CO guy literally build his stack from like $200 to $1k with some of the godliest flops and turn/river cards ever, finally got shortstacked and jammed my KQ on QJ8 into him. He obviously had T9 and I took the remaining buy-in I brought with me and went home. Sometimes you just have to accept that it's not going to be your day, so you cut losses early and enjoy the rest of the day.

5 hours
-$500

That range seems way too wide for a 4 bet shove from an unknown that you think is probably tight, especially at live 1/2. Much more likely to be QQ+ and (maybe) a few combos of AK, which is a range that has you just crushed.

W/KK...

Nah im never betting the turn (esp MW), and we never get here with an ace besides AA lol and it's way too thin to bet there for value.

That being said i don't think either one of these villain's will "get out of line" and try to "make a play" unless i have the read they are semi-competent and still we are playing multi-way very less likely.
Really villain dependent, on the end i prolly would of lol called the 40 bucks nice fold

Yeah one of "those" sessions... mental game is what seperates the really good players from average players tbh and i think it's more important live then online.
In live poker you only get to see so many hands per hour and it's important to remember sample size as well as making the best of every situation (marginal ones as well that you know are +EV, even if you are running like god).
Like just yday i folded KQo 7-handed UTG after scooping a big pot... (mistake and as soon as i folded i regretted it).

Playing your A-Game > $$$. Having the right mentality i have found increased winrate substantially lol.

Btw chip stack competition to see who can cash out the most in 1 session this month (pics obviously) ?

Im not in my natural habitat anymore so i will be playing in a less actiony poker room/casino's.

Thanks for the analysis! I definitely agree that his range is probably on the much tighter side. Plus he didn't see the other time I 3bet from the BB and folded to a 4bet.

Something that was going through my mind, really the main reason why it took me so long to fold, was trying to figure out if TT and JJ was in the range. The argument I made to myself (I'm by nature on the tighter side) was that his stack size would be very awkward playing either of those hands. He flats JJ and TT, he all of a sudden has just a 1.5 SPR in a 3bet pot. But at the same time, it's hard for him to even think about jamming against an unknown with one of those hands IF he assumes unknowns at 1/2 are only 3betting the nuts in that spot. But yeah, range is definitely very tight there.

Oh I've made some ridiculously exploitable folds so far. $30 here, $40 there. But it adds up, it's probably added ~$1/hr to my winrate. As far as mental game goes, I agree it's so much more important live than online. You have to keep your composure and juggle so many things that you don't have to online. When things just aren't going right, I think it's totally ok to pick it up and try again another day.

I'm totally down for this! No prop bets or anything, I don't bet on things other than during a poker game. I think you have a slight edge given your 2/5 history.

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Happy Mother's Day to all the moms that might be reading this thread! Took the day off completely from poker (my most profitable day of the week) to spend time with the family. Important to do every now and then.

Yeah no prop bets i don't gamble anyways im a student :3

We'll just make it strictly 1/2 btw

Yeah mental game comes and goes for me actually some days i feel like no amount of 2 outers OTR can stop me from losing my composure... other days i'll end up playing my B-Game/C-Game... It's best to cut a session short when you aren't playing ur A-Game anymore.

Awesome thread. I'm from Ohio myself and have spent some time at the Horseshoe in Cincinnati! Down here grinding it out in Tampa now

I'm game! Let's say best stack between today and June 3rd, the last day before I go on vacation.

I think the biggest thing with mental game with regards to A/B/C games is your pre-game routine. I know that before I head to the casino I'll hop on my exercise bike and go for 25-30 minutes. Helps me to clear my brain and give a bit of a boost of energy, which leads me to playing my A or B game much more often.

Thanks for checking it out! How is Horseshoe Cincy, I've never been down there but heard that they have bigger games than Columbus. Good luck down in Tampa!

Played a session on Tuesday night. I should avoid the casino on Tuesday night, at least according to my Tuesday win rate. Anyways, back to the session. Not going to post too many hands. The biggest one I lost was 6 handed, I flatter KTo in BB to a CO raise (I didn't think villain was any good and flatting is standard for 6max) after sb calls. Flop is K43, co bets I call. Turn is 3. CO bets, I call. River is T. I donk out, CO raises, I call and he shows 43o.

In fact, the first three times I went to showdown last night villain had a boat every time. So going through my head was a "this isn't my night" kind of mantra after being down 300, all against boats. To add to that, the table wasn't exactly a juicy lineup.

It was at this point that I decided:
A) I was playing fine
B) I can't just quit when the luck isn't going my way

So I threw in the last 200 I brought with me and got ready to rumble. My stack from then until about 1020 (before I got.here I had decided to leave at 1030) hovered between 300 and 400. Then this hand happened. I thought it was big. One limp, I raise to 10 with A2cc in HJ, BB and limper call. Notes on BB

Seemed kind of like a tool. Played a few too many hands for limps, wanted to be aggressive. I had also 3bet him once from the blinds with A5s. Check/raise the flop on him, again from the BB, with A5s on 542r and barreled a Q turn. He folded both times.

Flop (31) J95
Checks around. This just doesn't seem like a good board for me to cbet and get someone off a draw, 9, J.

Turn (31) J
BB bets 20, limper folds. It's to me. He can literally have any two cards here. But if I call, my hand looks like 88, 9, TT. I can also call on a good amount of river cards. Pretty much A-9, not including 8. And he will shut down with his showdown hands. And there are some river cards I can bluff on if he shuts down. So I call.

River (71) 7
He bets 35. So I'm sitting here again trying to piece the puzzle together. I think for about 45 seconds (I was about ready to call) when he calls clock. Thanks for confirming your tool status, I called faster than I ever had with A hi. I also made him show and he flipped over 43o. I slowly flipped my A2 over. He totally deserved that.

Why did I call quickly when he called clock? Something I read years ago. Players who have a good hand want you to call. Players on a bluff don't want you to think. Needless to say, I will try to not play with that tool again. Also, he definitely went on tilt after that and I was so happy.

I wound getting unstuck and lost only 38 through 4 hours and 40 minutes. I feel good about the session overall considering I got to pretty much unstuck at a tougher table lineup.